World Geography Blog: November 2009

There are 1500 hundred species of Australian spiders.
If you read about our spiders you might not like this: the average person swallows three spiders a year.
We have over 6000 species of flies, about 4000 species of ants, and there are about 350 species of termites in Australia.
The combined mass of all termites in the world is more than ten times the mass of all people.
Termites are also called white ants, but they're not ants, in fact not even closely related to ants.
Australia has the world's largest population of wild camels with one hump.
The Tasmanian Devil does exist, and it has the jaw strength of a crocodile.
Sharks are immune to all known diseases.
There are more than 150 million sheep in Australia, and only some 20 million people.

No part of Australia is more than 1000 km from the ocean and a beach. (The point in the world that's the furthest from any ocean would be in China.)
Australia has the world's largest cattle station (ranch). At 30,028 km² it is almost the same size as Belgium.
Population density in Australia is usually calculated in km² per person, not people per km².
Australians have 380,000 m² per person available. Yet well over 90% are cramming into our coastal cities. (Don't ask me why, I sure prefer it here in the Outback.)
We call Australian's from Queensland "banana benders", and people from Western Australia "sandgropers".
Tasmania has the cleanest air in the world.
The Great Barrier Reef has a mailbox. You can ferry out there and send a postcard, stamped with the only Great Barrier Reef stamp.
The Australian Alps, or Snowy Mountains as they are also known, receive more snow than Switzerland.
Melbourne has the second largest Greek population in the world, after Athens.

World Geography Blog