Australia

It covers an area of 7 686 848 sq km and the population is 18 322 23; Australia has one of the lowest density in the world - only 2 people per 1 sq km. The capital city is Canberra (325 400) and the main ethnic groups are: British (90 %), other Europeans (5 %) and Aborigines (about 200 000).

Geography
 Australia is the smallest continent in the world and lying in the Southern Hemisphere 1 between the Indian and the Pacific Oceans. There are Coral and Tasman Seas and many large islands such as Tasmania (on the south, separated by 240 km wide Bass Strait) or Papua-New Guinea (on the east-west, separated by Torres Strait) over Australia.
Nearly half of the continent occupies the Great Western Plateau on the west, in central part there are also three big deserts - the Great Sandy Desert, the Gibson Desert and the Great Victoria Desert.
The Central Lowlands are mostly covered by tropic forests and savannah with occasional   creeks 2 and rivers which become dry in the dry seasons as well as three large lakes - Lake Eyre, Lake Torrens and Lake Gairdner.
The Eastern Highlands are the Great Barrier Reef 3 on the north-east coast - it is the largest coral reef in the world. East part occupies the Great Dividing Range and south-east are the Australian Alps (Mount Kosciusko, 2 228 m).
Many of Australia’s rivers are fill with water only during the rainy season. The biggest are the Murray (2 575 km) and the Darling. Also most of Australian’s lakes are dry for months.
The majority of people live in the big cities in the south-east coast - in Sydney (3,7 million), Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane.
Australia is one and only continent where grow rare eucalyptus 4. It is also home of remarkable 5 animals such as kangaroo, koala bear, Tasmania devil, wombat, platypus 6, dingo, Emu and many lizards 7 (such as Hatteria with one eye on the top of head) - this animals cannot be found elsewhere in the world. It is mainly due to the fact that for long prehistoric periods this continent was isolated from the others.

Climate
The Australian climate is various. In the northern and north-west parties there is a tropically hot
and dry atmosphere but on the other side north-east has heavy rainfalls 8 because of trade-winds 9  .  

Political system
The full and official name for Australia is The Commonwealth of Australia. It is the independent sovereign federation of six states - New South Wales (Sydney), Victoria (Melbourne), South Australia (Adelaide), Queensland (Brisbane), Western Australia (Perth), Tasmania (Hobart) and two territories (Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory). It is the member of Commonwealth with Elizabeth as the head represented by the Governor-General. It follows the British system so the executive power has the Australian Prime Minister and the Cabinet and legislature is the Federal Parliament.


Important events in history
The first (original) inhabitants of this country were the Australian Aborigines, who lived there for over 40,000 years. The existence of this continent was believed long ago in the Ancient (by the Greek astronomer and geographer Ptolemy) and its acquired the name from the Latin term ‘Terra Australis’ - South Land.
Australia was discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman in 1642. In 1770 Captain James Cook explored eastern coast and the first white settlement was made up in 1788 of 730 British     prisoners 10  and the first British colony was called English New South Wales. During 1850s and 1890s immigration and the economic growth increased because of ‘gold fever’. In 1901 the six colonies became the Commonwealth of Australia.


Places of interest

    In my opinion, the most popular Australian attraction is the Ayers Rock (Uluru), a huge rock in the centre of Australia. It is the holy place of all Australian Aborigines. It is the most spectacular to observe this rock during all the day because it changes its colour in each day’s time from pink to brown to silver-grey.
    One of the biggest Australia’s tourist attraction is the Great Barrier Reef with its 23 000 km of  corals of all colour.
Sydney is the biggest Australian city, founded by English settlers. The business centre of this city is in Port Jackson, the biggest market with wool. We can recognised here old houses, which were built in Victorian style as well as big glass modern skyscrapers in Downtown.
The most famous attraction in Sydney are The Opera House which looks like a large white sailing-  ship 11  or the Harbour Bridge, 140 meters above a sea level. There can be 6 000 cars, 28 000 people and 128 trains in the same time.

Economy
There are big reserves of minerals and metals (mainly coal, bauxite and zinc), but deposits 12 of gold have been completely exploited 13 . Australia is one of the top exporters of beef, lamb and high quality wool (the biggest producer in the world) and wheat 14 . Other agriculture items are e.g. cotton, fruits and vegetables.
New Zealand

It covers an area of 268 675 sq km and the population is 3 407 277 inhabitants. The capital city is Wellington (326 900) and the main ethnic groups are: Europeans (mostly British 87 %), Maoris (12 %), and other Polynesians.

Geography
New Zealand (Aotearoa in the Maori language) is located in south-west Pacific Ocean, south-east of Australia and consist of two large islands - North Island and South Island - and many small islands (e.g. Stewart Island). They are separated by Cook Strait which is 150 km wide. New Zealand is larger than Great Britain, but the density of population is quite low. This country is rolling, hilly and mountainous, there is very little flatland 1 and lowland areas only around the coast.
    Almost 80 per cent of the population live on the North Island. All the larger cities - Auckland (910 200), Christchurch, Hamilton and Manukau lie here. There are many hot springs and geysers and also a lot of volcanic activity. The most spectacular volcanic area, thermal lakes and exploding geysers are in the Rotorua district. On North Island also lies the biggest lake - Taupo (over 606 sq km). Many of the New Zealand’s rivers are short and torrential 2 and the largest river is the     Wanganui 3.
The South Island has the highest mountains, the Southern Alps (Mount Cook, 3 764 m) and there are many glaciers 4 and fjords too.
    Because of its locality to the west of the international dateline 5 New Zealand is one of the first countries to see the Sun at the beginning of each new day. This country is also located in a earthquake zone even near one of the major fault line 6, which encircles the Pacific Ocean.

Climate
This country has a very pleasant and healthy climate with plenty of sunshine and good rainfall, with warm summers and mild winters.
    New Zealand is world known for its diversity and extraordinary 7. In the wildlife we can find many creatures which aren’t found anywhere else in the world. Kiwi - a roundisch, flightless bird is New Zealand’s national symbol. But this bird is now in great danger to becoming extinct 8. Also the possum 9 - a small marsupial animal 10 with a long tail - is very interesting creature but it causes a lot of damage to undergrowth.

Political system
Like Australia, as well New Zealand follows the British pattern 11 . This country is the member of Commonwealth with the Queen Elizabeth II as the head represented by the Governor-General. The executive power has the Prime Minister and his Cabinet and the legislature is made of two chambers Parliament. New Zealand is divided into 93 counties, 9 districts and 3 town districts.


Important events in history

The first settlers of New Zealand were Polynesian tribes - the Maoris - who migrated from the south Asian mainland and settled this islands during the 14th (8th ?!?) century. The first European to see New Zealand was the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman, who discovered its western coast in 1642. Between 1769-77 this country was explored and descriptioned by James Cook. Actual colonisation begun in 19th century by with the Maori chiefs accepted the sovereignty of the British Crown in 1840 - the Maori people were guaranteed protection of their lands. In 1852 Britain granted there self-government but there was a strong Maori resistance against it. Many conflicts between the British settlers and the Maoris led  to 12 war between 1860-70 and in 1867 Maori got four seats in NZ Parliament. There are no differences in basic legal, education and politic rights between the Europeans and Maori in this time.  

Economy
New Zealand is a rich agricultural country. The green farmlands 13 are suitable for grazing 14 all the year round - so this country is specialised in livestock and sheep breeding 15 (sheep outnumber humans by more than twenty to one!). There is growed 16 fruit and vegetables too. The industry is closely connected with agriculture. Grazing industry producing wool, food-stuff industry produced meat, butter and cheese. The main natural resources are natural gas, coal and sulphur 17 . The living standard is one of the highest in the world.