Australia is an island continent which is
surrounded by water on all sides, so its border is not
shared with any other country. To the east lies the South
Pacific Ocean; west the Indian Ocean; to the north the
Timor, Arafura and Coral Seas; and to the south the Southern
Ocean and Tasman Sea. The Bass Strait separates Tasmania
from the mainland.
Australia boasts some of the best beaches on the planet and
the huge coastline stretches for nearly 37,000 km, which
includes 11,011 beaches, more than any other nation. Most of
Australia's cities and towns are situated on the coast,
within a few kilometres of the ocean, which amounts to 12
million people, or 85% of Australia's population living
within one hour's drive of the coastline. Nearly 90% of
these people live in a 50 km wide coastal strip that runs
from Cairns to Adelaide.
Australia's coastline extends through a wide range of
climates from the tropical areas in the north to temperate
areas in the south. Coastal environments include areas of
rainforest, mangroves, estuaries, rocky and sandy shores,
cliffs, islands, towns, cities and coastal communities.
Highlights of the Australian coastline include The world
famous Great Barrier Reef which is the largest reef on
earth. It extends for over 2000km and is made up of about
3000 individual reefs. The Great Barrier Reef has been
designated a World Heritage Area and contains over 700
tropical islands.
Another World Heritage site is Fraser Island, which is the
largest sand island in the world. The island stretches
approximately 144km along the Queensland coastline and is
between 25 and 50km wide with sandhills rising to almost
240m in places. There are numerous freshwater lakes on the
island, some more than 60m deep, and parts of the island are
covered by dense rainforest. The reason for the island's
World Heritage status, is due to the complex ecosystems that
exist on top of the sand. Sand doesn't retain water, but
water is retained when plants decay; that material forms a
layer on top of the sand. This in turn allows more plants to
grow, and this also explains why river levels flow according
to the rainfall that fell decades ago. It takes this long
for rain water to filter through the top soil and sand, to
join the river system.
The Twelve Apostles are another major attraction of the
Australian coastline. They are located along the coastline
of Victoria, near Port Campbell. The Twelve Apostles are
rock formations which rise out of the ocean and stand up to
100m above sea level.
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