The continent of Australia is located below Asia and the equator in the southwestern hemisphere. It is surrounded by water, with the Indian Ocean to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. The area of Australia is about equal to that of the United States (not including Alaska) but the total population is only eighteen million people. About 80 percent of those people live in just ten cities, all of them by the sea. So actually, most of the country is pretty empty of people and the main reason for this is the fact that Australia is a very dry country. In fact, two thirds of the continent is desert. Still, apart from the flat desert lands, there is a variety of terrain throughout Australia. For example, there are large areas of tropical rain forests in the northeast, a mountain range that extends along the eastern coast (the Great Dividing Range), snowfields in the southeast and flat tablelands in the west.

            You may also divide Australia into several regions. The Eastern Highlands have low mountains, plateaus and coastal plains that stretch along the east coast of the continent. This area receives more rain than the rest of the country and has a pleasant climate that is suitable for farming and for grazing cattle. For these reasons, most Australians live near the Great Dividing Range. The Central Lowlands are located in the mid-eastern part of Australia. Here the climate is hot and dry and therefore not very suitable for growing crops. However, cattle ranchers are still able to graze their animals on the tough grass and shrubs that are found there. The Great Western Plateau, the third region, is high, dry and flat. Three large deserts are found here and few people live in this region. It is usually called the outback. The fourth region, the Great Barrier Reef, is the largest coral reef in the world. It lies in the Coral Sea and has been made into a national park to protect the coral and rare forms of sea life that are found there.

           The climate in Australia ranges from the tropics in the north to the much colder climates of Tasmania, an island located off the southeast coast of the mainland. Because Australia lies below the equator, the timing of its seasons is the opposite of when the different seasons occur in the United States, for example.