Australia

Australia

Australia is a continent and it is also a country of its own. Australia is located between the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. Australia is often called, “the land down under,” because it lies entirely within the southern hemisphere. In Latin, Australia means “southern.” The official name of the country is “the Commonwealth of Australia.” Australia is surrounded by water like an island, but geographers classify it as a continent rather than an island because of its great size. Australia covers about 5% of earth’s land area. Most of Australia is low and flat, the highest and most mountainous land lies along the east coast.

Main attractions

Sydney has an almost endless variety of attractions to entertain visitors of all ages. Come face-to-face with Australia’s diverse wildlife, go behind-the-scenes at an art gallery, see a performance at the Sydney Opera House, immerse yourself at a museum or visit a World Heritage-listed convict heritage site in the heart of the city.

At Australia’s most popular tourist attraction, the famous Sydney Opera House, it’s easy to spend hours exploring this World Heritage architectural wonder. You can join a behind-the-scenes tour, enjoy a meal or a drink at one of the many bars, restaurants or cafes and then see a world-class performance beneath the famous white sails of the building.

A big city needs some big thrills especially for family holidaymakers. Introduce the kids to animals from around the globe at Sydney’s harbourside Taronga Zoo or check out Featherdale Widlife Park,  a 40- minute drive from the centre of the city, featuring more than 2,200 animals including little penguins, koalas and kangaroos.  At Sydney Aquarium and Oceanworld Manly, the kids will see Australia’s beautiful marine life at close quarters. WILD LIFE Sydney at Darling Harbour features interactive displays, daily animal feeding sessions and walk-through habitats including Koala Encounters, The Outback and Butterfly Tropics.

Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House, situated on Sydney Harbour at Bennelong Point, is considered by many to be one of the wonders of the modern world.

Designed by Jørn Utzon and constructed under some controversy, it was opened in October 1973.

The Opera House is one of Sydney's most popular icons with tourists and travellers from the world over visiting, photographing and standing in awe of the cultural centre of Sydney.

Experience Sydney Opera House - one of the world's most creative and busiest performing arts centres and greatest triumphs of modern architecture.

The Opera House is home to 1600 performances each year including ballet, opera, theatre, dance, music, comedy, kids shows, talks and more.

Taronga Zoo

Situated on spectacular Sydney Harbour, Taronga Zoo is an experience not to be missed. Located just 12 minutes from the city by ferry.

Taronga Zoo is home to thousands of exotic and native species including native animals such as Kangaroos, Koalas, Tasmanian Devils, Platypus, Wombats, Wallabies, Quokkas, Emus and Crocodiles. Exotic species include rare Western Lowland Gorillas, Sumatran Tigers, Snow Leopards, Sun Bears, Chimpanzees, Giraffes, Zebras, Thai Asian Elephants.

Don't miss the Seal Show featuring the stars of the Great Southern Oceans exhibit. This show is a lively, informative look at marine wildlife. Plus enjoy Taronga's iconic Free Flight Bird Show at the amphitheatre offering panoramic harbour views as you watch the birds fly swiftly over your head!

Featherdale Wildlife Park

Gold Medal winner 'Tourist Attraction NSW' 2012, Featherdale houses the world's premier collection of Australian wildlife, allowing visitors to get up close to 2,200 animals from over 280 species. Cuddle a koala, have a photo taken and hand feed kangaroos. Located at Doonside, en route to the famous Blue Mountains, Featherdale is Sydney's ultimate interactive wildlife experience.

From the initial greeting by the swaggie and joey at the entrance to the park, you are encouraged to get up close to Australia's native wildlife. As well as numerous koalas and kangaroos, features include face-to-face encounters with all kinds of wildlife including wallabies, emus, an amazingly diverse range of birds and 40 species of reptiles in the Reptilian Pavilion.

You will also get the chance to encounter some more unexpected highlights such as Bettongs, Fairy Penguins, Jabirus, Bustards, a 4.5 metre Saltwater Crocodile and 30 species of endangered or vulnerable animals.

Uluru National Park

Uluru National Park is the home of Ayers Rock, a huge monolith in the centre of Australia. The park also contains the nearby Olgas (or Kata Tjuta), but, as far as Australian national parks go, it is a relatively small at only 70kms wide. The park was set up to protect the monolith, which retains the Aboriginal name of ‘Uluru’.

Alice Springs is the nearest main town to Uluru National Park, about 460kms by road from the northern entrance. The expanse sits in the southwest of the Northern Territory and is served by the Red Centre Highway (4), which first goes through the service town of Yulara, where all the accommodation and facilities for visitors to the park are best.

Uluru National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is considered sacred by the Aborigines, who were in the area 10,000 years ago. The land was given back the ‘Anangu’ Aborigines after being occupied white settlers, although it is now leased to the Australian government and co-managed. Although Ayers Rock is open to all (A$25 for a three-day pass) and visitors can climb the rock, the Aboriginals try to discourage this activity as they see it as disrespectful to their ancestors.

Others

Other top Sydney tourist attractions include Luna Park, a fun-packed, harbourside amusement park and Sydney Tower Eye, the highest point above Sydney with breathtaking 360 degree views of the harbour, beaches and, in the distance, the Blue Mountains. You can board a destroyer or squeeze into a submarine at the Australian National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour; from Sydney Observatory you’ll observe the night sky and the stars of the Southern Cross.