Australia is wider than the Moon's diameter
Australia measures about 4,000 kilometres east to west, wider than the Moon's 3,475-kilometre diameter.
Author not specified in the imported source
Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Australia ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Australia has 10,000 beaches
Visiting a different Australian beach every day would take about 27 years to see them all.
Author not specified in the imported source
Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Australia ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
The Great Barrier Reef is visible from space
Stretching over 2,300 kilometres, the reef is the largest structure built by living organisms.
Author not specified in the imported source
Queensland, Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Monuments of Australia ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Uluru is mostly underground
The visible rock is the tip of a formation that continues several kilometres below the desert surface.
Author not specified in the imported source
Uluru, Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Uluru ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Australia has a pink lake
Lake Hillier stays bubblegum pink even in a bottle, thanks to salt-loving microorganisms.
Author not specified in the imported source
Lake Hillier, Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Lake Hillier ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Tasmania has the cleanest air
Air measured at Cape Grim after crossing the Southern Ocean is among the cleanest on Earth.
Author not specified in the imported source
Tasmania, Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Tasmania ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Australia's longest fence runs 5,600 km
The Dingo Fence stretches further than the distance from Berlin to Kabul, built to protect sheep country.
Author not specified in the imported source
Dingo Fence, Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Dingo Fence ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Melbourne's laneways became galleries
Once service alleys, Melbourne's laneways now hold legal street art walls, tiny bars and coffee counters.
Author not specified in the imported source
Melbourne, Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Melbourne ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Sydney's opera house has a million tiles
Just over one million self-cleaning Swedish tiles cover the shells, in two subtly different finishes.
Author not specified in the imported source
Sydney, Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Sydney Opera House ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Australia has more camels than Arabia
Feral dromedaries introduced in the 1800s now number in the hundreds of thousands across the outback.
Author not specified in the imported source
Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Australia ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Kangaroos cannot walk backwards
Their tail and leg structure prevents reverse movement, which is partly why the kangaroo appears on the coat of arms.
Author not specified in the imported source
Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Wombat droppings are cubic
Wombats produce cube-shaped droppings thanks to uneven intestinal walls, so the pellets do not roll off rocks.
Author not specified in the imported source
Australia · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Australia ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
New Zealand has more sheep than people
The ratio has fallen from twenty to one in the 1980s to around five to one today, still comfortably ahead.
Author not specified in the imported source
New Zealand · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Demographics of New Zealand ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
New Zealand had no land mammals
Before humans arrived the only native land mammals were bats, so birds filled almost every ecological role.
Author not specified in the imported source
New Zealand · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): New Zealand ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
New Zealand was the last big land settled
Polynesian navigators reached Aotearoa around 1300 AD, making it one of the last large landmasses humans settled.
Author not specified in the imported source
New Zealand · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): New Zealand ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Milford Sound is really a fiord
Carved by glaciers rather than a river, Milford is technically a fiord, and it gets over six metres of rain a year.
Author not specified in the imported source
Milford Sound, New Zealand · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Milford Sound ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
New Zealand has a legally recognised river
In 2017 the Whanganui River was granted legal personhood, with guardians appointed to speak for it.
Author not specified in the imported source
Whanganui, New Zealand · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): ACT New Zealand ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Rotorua smells of sulphur
Geothermal activity vents hydrogen sulphide across the town, earning it the nickname Sulphur City.
Author not specified in the imported source
Rotorua, New Zealand · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): List of city and town nicknames in New Zealand ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Bungee jumping was commercialised in Queenstown
The first commercial bungee site opened at the Kawarau Bridge in 1988, inspired by Vanuatu land diving.
Author not specified in the imported source
Queenstown, New Zealand · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Queenstown, New Zealand ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Vanuatu invented land diving
Naghol divers leap from wooden towers with vines tied to their ankles, a harvest ritual centuries older than bungee.
Author not specified in the imported source
Pentecost, Vanuatu · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Vanuatu ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Fiji has more than 300 islands
Fiji comprises around 330 islands, of which about a third are permanently inhabited.
Author not specified in the imported source
Fiji · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Fiji ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Samoa skipped a day
In 2011 Samoa jumped the international date line for trade reasons, and 30 December simply never happened.
Author not specified in the imported source
Samoa · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): History of Samoa ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Tonga was never colonised
Tonga is the only Pacific nation never formally colonised, retaining its monarchy throughout.
Author not specified in the imported source
Tonga · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Tonga ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.
Kiribati spans all four hemispheres
Kiribati's scattered atolls cross both the equator and the date line, giving it an enormous ocean territory.
Author not specified in the imported source
Kiribati · Oceania & the Pacific
External reference (site language): Kiribati ↗
Imported text; story or fact not individually verified. A reference may provide background only.