Few, if any, nations capture the imagination of visitors as effectively as Australia. Quite a distance separates
Australia from the United States and Europe, and even from Asia, although less so. Nonetheless, many
people around the world want to visit Australia. In recent years, Australia’s relationship with Asia has been
strengthened, as noted below. Australia is simultaneously an island, a nation, and the driest and most fragile
of the seven continents. About a third of Australia is desert, but there are also mountains and rain forests.
Australia is an urbanized country, with more than half its population settled in just five cities and almost
85% living in towns, most of which are close to the coasts. Nevertheless, the sparsely populated outback
fascinates in a manner similar to America’s Old West. For instance, Ned Kelly of outback fame is a real
bandit whose death by hanging made him mythic, somewhat like Billy the Kid in the United States, and
Australians know that he looked the judge straight in the eye before being hanged and said, “I will see you
there where I go.”