great barrier reefThe Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest collections of coral reefs; it is the world’s largest living structure. It is located in the Coral Sea on the north east coast of Queensland in Australia. Its large size and beauty attracts tourists from all across the globe almost all year round, almost two million people visit the Great Barrier Reef every year. It is made up of around 2900 individual reefs and over 1500 different varieties of fish inhabit these reefs. Almost all of the reef system was made world heritage 1981, this covered 348,000 square kilometres of land.
Climate change is one of the biggest threats to the Great Barrier Reef today. The warming ocean temperature is causing the sea life to leave or die out and almost %60 of coral has been bleached due to the rising sea temperatures. It is also affected by runoff water containing pesticides and garbage; this pollutes the water and kills the marine life. Many organisations such as WWF are doing as much as they can to preserve the Great Barrier Reef from further destruction. |
Right: http://www.imagesmith.com.au/dive-great-barrier-reef/
Left: http://www.nationalgeographicexpeditions.com/expeditions/south-pacific-solomons-great-barrier-reef-papua-new-guinea/detail |
kakadu national park
Kakadu National Park is located 240km east of Darwin in Australia’s tropical north; it is Australia’s largest terrestrial national park. It is home to very rare species of Fauna such as the Hawksbill turtle or Golden finch. It covers more than 20,000 square kilometres and is a place of rich animal and plant diversity. The traditional owners of the Kakadu national park are called Bininj Mungguy and they lived on and cared for the land for more than 50,000 years.
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Right: http://www.theodora.com/wfb/photos/australia/australia_photos_48.htmlLeft: http://www.backpackthent.com.au/places/kakadu-national-park/
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uluru
Better known as Ayers Rock, Uluru was created over 600 million years. It is located about 335km southwest of Alice Springs and west of the Simpson Desert. It is about 3.6kms long and 1.9kms wide, with a circumference of 9.4kms. The aboriginal people local to the area surrounding Ayers Rock have been there for over 10,000 years. It was originally at the bottom of the ocean but it now sits 348m above sea level.
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Right: http://www.borismar.com/gallery/panoramic-horizontal/uluru/
Left: http://www.atn.com.au/nt/south/uluru.htm |
the pinnacles
The pinnacles also known as the rock stars in the outback can be found just 250kms north of Perth in Western Australia in Nambung national park. They were formed 25,000 to 30,000 years ago from the Indian Oceans coastal winds eroded the surrounding sand, leaving the limestone pillars. It covers roughly over 17 thousand hectares of land. It provides a natural habitat for an extensive range of native animals.
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Right: http://travel.ninemsn.com.au/yearofweekendsaway/wa/870651/lancelin-and-pinnacles
Left: http://www.australiascoralcoast.com/Listing/Pinnacles |
fraser island
Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. It is over 123kms in length and 22kms wide at the widest point. There are over 100 freshwater lakes and it is the only place in the world where tall rainforests are found growing on sand dunes. It is home to over 230 species of birds including one of Australia’s rarest birds the ground parrot. It is located off the Queensland coast approximately 350km north of Brisbane.
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Right: http://www.swimwearworld.com/blog/our-top-three-dream-beach-destinations/
Left: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_Island |