Most people harbour a particular image of Australia, such as the Opera House or Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock. Yet these famous icons do scant justice to the richness of Australia's natural treasures and its cultural diversity. Australia offers a wealth of travel experiences, from the drama of the outback and the spectacle of the Great Barrier Reef to the cosmopolitanism of Sydney and arguably the best beaches in the world. Australia is an enormous country, and visitors expecting to see an opera in Sydney one night and meet Crocodile Dundee the next will have to re-think their grasp of geography. It is this sheer vastness, and the friction between the ancient land steeped in Aboriginal lore and the New World culture being heaped upon it, which gives Australia much of its character.

Full country name: Commonwealth of Australia
Area: 7,682,300 sq km
Population: 18,600,000 (growth rate 1.4%)
Capital city: Canberra (pop: 311,000)
People: 94% European descent, 4% Asian, 1.5%
Aboriginal Languages: English, Aboriginal languages (plus Italian, Greek and numerous other European and Asian languages)
Religion: 75% Christian, 1% Muslim, 1% Buddhist, 0.5% Jewish
Government: Independent member of the British Commonwealth

GDP: US$555 billion
GDP per head: US$29,652
Annual growth: 4.5%
Inflation:1.6%
Major products/industries: Minerals, oil, coal, gold, wool, cereals, meat.
Major trading partners: Japan, ASEAN, South Korea, US and the EU.