On The Bucket List: Australia

Adventuring in Australia is on the bucket list because it exemplifies and fulfills the saying, “Go big, or go home.” Australia is brimming with natural and man-made wonders; these are six of the “must-see” places and creatures on my list. Consider it a sneak peek at my travel itinerary.

Eastern Rosella (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Beautiful birds. Australia is a birder’s delight. Some of the most colourful and interesting avians hail from Australia, including cockatoos (Galah, Yellow Black-Tailed, Gang-Gang, and Major Mitchell’s being some of the more esoteric breeds you’ll have a hard time finding outside of the continent), parrots (the Rosellas), finches (Zebra, Gouldian, Red-Browed, Australian, and Blue-Faced Parrot), kookaburras, and the “big birds” — ostriches, emus, and cassowaries. I am lucky to see a small fraction of these Australian birds here in Vancouver (at the Bloedel Floral Conservatory). 

Ayers Rock (Uluru) by rileyroxx (CC-BY 2.0)

Kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, wallabies, and wallaroos, oh my! Roos may be commonplace sights on Australian roads and golf courses, but the only Canadian zoo that I have seen marsupials in the flesh is a handful of Western Grey Kangaroos and Bennett’s wallabies at the Greater Toronto Zoo in Ontario.

Uluru/Ayer’s Rock. There’s nothing like having a natural museum in the guise of a 1,100+ ft tall sandstone rock formation “in your backyard.” Uluru/Ayer’s Rock is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and home to a large and exotic selection of fauna and flora. It’s also historically significant, being the site of many rock caves, springs, waterholes, and ancient paintings. That Uluru/Ayer’s Rock has also been revered among the indigenous tribes for almost 10,000 years¹ adds to its mystique.

Sydney Opera House (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sydney Opera House. Does music carry further and sound better on the water? “Songs on the sea” has a certain alliterative charm, doesn’t it? Another UNESCO World Heritage Site, this distinctively designed performing arts centre–with its shell-like roofs–has hosted more than 60,000 performances in the Sydney Harbour during its illustrious 40-year history (extrapolating from the figure of 1,500 performances per year²).

corals on the Great Barrier Reef (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Great Barrier Reef. If anything could entice me to learn to scuba dive or snorkel, it’s the largest marine aquarium in the world. With over 3,000 individual reefs³, this UNESCO World Heritage Site, the world’s largest living structure (and the only one to be visible from space)⁴ is home to many kinds of cetaceans and endangered species, and puts even the largest public aquariums around the world (i.e. Ripley’s Aquariums) to shame!

Kakadu escarpment, wetlands (Photo credit: Tourism NT/Wikipedia)

Kakadu National Park. No visit to Australia would be complete without a visit to this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Breathtaking landscapes that feature wetlands, waterfalls, floodplains, stone country, estuaries, in addition to an eclectic diversity of wildlife. With a land area of almost 20,000 square kilometers (making it the largest national park in Australia),⁵ I don’t think a one-day pass to this park would be enough time to fully appreciate everything that Kakadu National Park has to offer nature lovers.

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Statistics Sources:
¹ Uluru/Ayer’s Rock Wikipedia Profile (en.wikipedia.org)
² Sydney Opera House Wikipedia Profile(en.wikipedia.org)
³ The Great Barrier Reef: Australia’s Great Natural Wonder (greatbarrierreef.org)
⁴ The Great Barrier Reef: Australia’s Great Natural Wonder (greatbarrierreef.org)
⁵ About Kakadu National Park (parksaustralia.gov.au)