Australia is not only the smallest, but also the most remote continent on Earth. Due to the fact that the country's relief has not changed since the Tertiary period, relict species of plants and animals are still preserved on the mainland. Australia's natural attractions are preserved in national parks.
In the Kakadu National Park, there is an Aboriginal shrine - a sacred rock with well-preserved cave paintings, whose age is 18 thousand years. The rivers are home to the legendary double-breathing fish, whose length is two meters. Kakadu Park is called the paradise of crocodiles, since here you can find several species of these reptiles, from the most harmless to the very formidable. The pride of the park are frogs, of which there are more than twenty species. Among them are a bull frog and a frog-shaped toad.
In Australia, a “marvelous” eucalyptus tree grows everywhere, which, due to its medicinal properties, is called the tree of life. On the island of Kangaroo you can admire whole eucalyptus groves. Eucalyptus can be seen even on the Australian coat of arms. These fast-growing evergreen trees, reaching a height of forty meters, are now found in different parts of the world.
There are other natural attractions in Australia. The largest attraction located off the coast of Queensland is the Great Barrier Reef stretching for 1,500 kilometers. But the mainland’s most famous monument is Ayers Rock, a red mountain rising 348 meters in the middle of a completely flat desert. Aborigines call her Uluru.
Many legends and traditions are associated with this shrine. Uluru is a chameleon mountain that changes color during the day depending on lighting. This is a real wonder of the world, the mystery of which has not yet been solved. Tourists have been visiting this place since 1950.
Half a million people come here every year. Local aborigines, protecting the land of their ancestors, oppose climbing a sacred mountain, so many tourists, out of respect for local traditions, refuse to trek. For those who are attracted to the pristine sights of Australia, a new hotel complex has been built.
Those tourists who want to get acquainted with the fossil specimens of flora and fauna related to the Tertiary period can visit the oldest Australian museum located in Sydney - the largest city in the country. The Australian Museum was founded in 1827. In total, Australia has thirty-one museums. In the National Museum of Victoria, located in Melbourne, along with collections of fish and birds belonging to the Tertiary period, there are samples of stone tools and ritual objects of the natives. All states have art galleries, science museums, and art museums. But museums do not exhaust the sights of Australia. Sydney has the largest aquarium in the world. The Sydney Aquarium contains more than six thousand marine animals and fish that visitors can watch through the glass. Here is one of the largest collections of sharks in the world. Some individuals reach a length of three or more meters. Sydney Aquarium was opened in 1988 in honor of the bicentennial of Australia.
In general, the Sydney aquarium is considered one of the largest attractions in the country, and over the year its number of visitors reaches one million people, more than half of the visitors are foreign visitors. After spending only a few hours here, you can get acquainted with almost all representatives of the marine and freshwater fauna of Australia.
The Sydney Aquarium has an unusual and very original architecture: you can enter the building only by going through the open mouth of a shark. The Aquarium has several sections dedicated to the Southern and Northern Rivers, the Great Barrier Reef and the Southern Oceans. Tourists have enough impressions from visiting the Sydney Aquarium for many years.
Australia for European tourists has always been a country full of exoticism, found no less than in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. A visit to this remote continent may be the realization of the most cherished dreams of many travel lovers.