Australia is massive, and very sparsely peopled: in size it rivals the USA, yet its population is just over eighteen million - little more than that of the Netherlands. This is an ancient land, and often looks it: in places, it's the most eroded, denuded and driest of continents, with much of central and western Australia - the bulk of the country - overwhelmingly arid and flat. In contrast, its cities - most of which were founded as recently as the mid-nineteenth century - express a youthful energy.
The most memorable scenery is in the Outback, the vast desert in the interior of the country west of the Great Dividing Range. Here, vivid blue skies, cinnamon-red earth, deserted gorges and other striking geological features as well as bizarre wildlife comprise a unique ecology - one that has played host to the oldest surviving human culture for at least fifty thousand years.
The harshness of the interior has forced modern Australia to become a coastal country. Most of the population lives within 20km of the ocean, occupying a suburban, southeastern arc extending from southern Queensland to Adelaide. These urban Australians celebrate the typical New World values of material self-improvement through hard work and hard play, with an easy-going vitality that visitors, especially Europeans, often find refreshingly hedonistic. A sunny climate also contributes to this exuberance, with an outdoor life in which a thriving beach culture and the congenial backyard "barbie" are central.
While visitors might eventually find this Home and Away lifestyle rather prosaic, there are opportunities - particularly in the Northern Territory - to gain some experience of Australia's indigenous peoples and their culture, through visiting ancient art sites, taking tours and, less easily, making personal contact. Many Aboriginal people - especially in central Australia - have managed to maintain their traditional way of life (albeit with some modern accoutrements), speaking their own languages and living according to their law (the tjukurpa). Conversely, most Aboriginal people you'll come across in country towns and cities are victims of what is scathingly referred to as "welfare colonialism" - a disempowering system in which, supported by dole cheques and other subsidies, they often fall prey to a destructive cycle of poverty, ill-health and alcoholism. There's still a long way to go before black and white people in Australia can exist on genuinely equal terms.
|
| |
Major Cities
- Melbourne is Australia's second-largest city, with a population of around three million - about half a million less than Sydney. Rivalry between the two cities - in every sphere from cricket to business - is on an almost childish level. In purely monetary terms, Sydney is now clearly in the ascendancy, having stolen a march on Melbourne as the nation's financial centre. The state government, led by Steve Bracks of the Labor Party, has continued the work of former premier Jeff Kennett, who tried and mostly succeeded in lifting the economy out of the doldrums in the 1990s, mainly by severe cutbacks or privatization of public services and of previously state-run utilities boards. While Kennett's fiscal puritanism definitely scored points by reducing public debt and improving the credit rating of the state, critics were quick to counter that out-sourcing or privatizing public services did not necessarily translate into greater efficiency and even more importantly that Victoria's economic growth has been achieved at a very high social cost - wealth is now more unevenly distributed, with increasing numbers of homeless people and drug addicts on the streets. In 1999, Kennett surprisingly lost the "unloseable election" to rank outsider Bracks, largely because his government neglected rural Victoria - Kennett once memorably described Melbourne as the vital heart of the state and rural towns as the "toenails" - but also because Kennett's election campaign focused almost entirely on his autocratic style of leadership, which proved a big turn-off for voters. Since seizing the reins of power, Steve Bracks has enjoyed a remarkably high standing in the polls, and his style is more inclusive and less confrontational than his predecessor. He has also concentrated his party's efforts on improving the key areas of health and education, as well as providing greater funding for rural areas. Hotel Accommodation Melbourne Australia
- Sydney has all the vigour of a world-class city, and a population approaching five million people; yet on the ground you'll find it still possesses a seductive, small-town, easy-going charm. The furious development in preparation for the year 2000 Olympics, heralded as being Sydney's coming-of-age ceremony, alarmed many locals, who love their city just the way it is. It was not so much the greatly improved transport infrastructure, or the $200 million budget which improved and beautified the city streets and parks, but the rash of luxury hotels and apartments still adding themselves, often contentiously, to the beloved harbour foreshore. It's a setting that perhaps only Rio de Janeiro can rival: the water is what makes the city so special, and no introduction to Sydney would be complete without paying tribute to one of the world's great harbours. Port Jackson is a sunken valley which twists inland to meet the fresh water of the Parramatta River; in the process it washes into a hundred coves and bays, winds around rocky points, flows past the small harbour islands, slips under bridges and laps at the foot of the Opera House. Hotel Accommodation Sydney Australia
- View all cities
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| Australia, Hotels, Hotel, Accommodation, Melbourne, Sydney |