Geographical Regions
Because of where Australia is located in the South Pacific, it has a wide range of geography and climate. In the picture of Australia below, the dark red is hot desert. This part of Australia is practically desolate with hardly any population centers and hundreds of miles between towns or cities.
Australia Geography
Surrounding the vast deserts of Australia are the grasslands where more human and animal life can be found. The light reds and yellows are the grasslands, where flat deserts give way to rolling hills with more moisture and cooler temperatures that allow for more plant life.
The greens on the north and east coasts of Australia are the rainforests. The most popular landmarks here are the Gold Coast and the Daintree Rainforest, which is a World Heritage Site. In fact, the northeast coast of Australia is the only place in the world where two World Heritage Sites border each other, side by side. Here, the Great Barrier Reef borders the Daintree Rainforest. We'll learn more about those two amazing sites in a few minutes.
Daintree Rainforest and Great Barrier Reef
Finally, the blues along the southern and southeastern coasts of Australia represent the temperate coastal geography, much like the southeastern coast of the United States, with warm summers and cool winters. The majority of the Australian population lives in this area, located in cities with rolling hills, grasses, and Joshua trees.
Geographic Highlights of Australia
Likely the most popular geographic feature of Australia is what was once called Ayers Rock but has been renamed Uluru - the name it was given by the original inhabitants of Australia. More than 550 million years old, this sandstone statue in the middle of a completely flat desert is something the native people of Australia worship and geologists find amazing. It is the remnants of what was essentially a sandbar in a large inland ocean, but how it maintained its form while the rest of the ocean floor turned into desert continues to amaze tourists
Another often visited and famous geographical area of Australia is the Gold Coast and, as we mentioned earlier, the Daintree Rainforest. Daintree is Australia's largest rainforest at just over 800 square miles and is unique because it can literally grow right up to the edge of the ocean in some places. A white sandy beach separates Daintree from one of the most beautiful underwater geological features of Australia - the Great Barrier Reef.
