Australia

Australia's biggest attraction is its natural beauty. The landscape varies from endless sunbaked horizons to dense tropical rainforest to chilly southern beaches.

Scattered along the coasts, its cities blend a European enthusiasm for art and food with a laid-back love of sport and the outdoors.

Visitors expecting to see an opera in Sydney one night and meet Crocodile Dundee the next will have to re-think their grasp of geography in this huge country. It is this sheer vastness that gives Australia - and its diverse population - much of its character.

The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef, lies a short distance off the north-east coast of Australia.

South Australia offers a temperate climate with most of the population living here. Northern Australia, with a tropical climate, has a vegetation consisting of rainforest, woodland, grassland, mangrove swamps and desert.

Sport plays an important part in Australian culture, assisted by a climate that favours outdoor activities. At an international level, Australia has particularly strong teams in cricket, hockey, netball, rugby league, rugby union, and performs well in cycling, rowing and swimming. Nationally, other popular sports include Australian rules football, horse racing, soccer and motor racing.