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Australia Travel: Great Australian
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The vast interior of Australia is known as the Outback. This term describes the vast deserts in the centre of the Australian continent. However it is very hard to define exactly where the Outback starts and finishes. The Outback is best described as a feeling rather than a physical location. When you have traveled for hundreds of miles from civilization, and when you realize that you are in the middle of nowhere, or you are just struck with awe at the sheer size and emptiness of the landscape, then you know that you are in the Outback. The Outback is a harsh and sparsely populated environment, so you need to be prepared if you decide to travel through there.
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Australia did not become an independent republic until 1901. Even then, it remained a part of the Commonwealth of British Nations, with the Queen of England as its head and a population consisting primarily of Anglo-Saxons. Throughout the 20th century, Australia maintained its ties with the UK, even though the post-WWII years saw increased immigration from other parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. In 1999, Australians voted in a referendum to decide whether to become a republic, but the proposal was rejected by 55% of voters.
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As Australia has a large number of immigrants, there are a number of minority languages spoken by a sizable number of Australians including (but not limited to) Arabic, Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian and Greek. However, since it is expensive to travel from Australia and there is no single commonly used second language, Australians commonly do not have a fluent second language unless they are part of a family who immigrated recently. It is fairly rare to find signs in a second language, except in urban areas with a high population of Asian immigrants and students, where signs and restaurant menus in Vietnamese and Chinese are a common sight; and ... around Cairns in tropical Queensland where some signs (but not road signs) are written in Japanese, due to the large number of Japanese tourists.
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Australia has a high quality tertiary education system, which attracts hundreds of thousands of students from abroad. International students pay higher course fees than their Australian counterparts. However, when fees are compared to similar universities in the US or UK, they do still represent excellent value.
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Whether you are visiting Australia for a holiday, wanting to immigrate to the land Down Under or you just want to tell someone what you think of the government, you have come to the right place. If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You need to register before you can start posting messages: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. If you have an Australian related business or website, you can promote it on the forum, but please don't get carried away. Any commercial posts not related to Australia will be removed.
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Australia drives 'on the left'. Overseas visitors who are used to driving on the 'right' should exercise great caution until they get used to this. Car hire companies and local (generally friendly) police will give advice on whether your car licence is valid in Australia. Distances and speeds are specified in kilometres and fuel is sold by the litre.
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