Australia is one of the strangest and most unique destinations on the planet - Fact! From bizarre Aussie Laws that some say still exist to this day, to downright weird wildlife, Australia is definitely one of a kind. Some of these Australia facts you may have heard before but I bet there'll be a few surprises! So here are some weird or interesting facts about Australia.
1. Australia has the world’s longest golf course measuring more than 850 miles long.
2. Australia is home to 21 of the world’s 25 most venomous snakes.
3. Perth is the only city in the world which can have aircraft land in its CBD.
4. The wine cask (Goon!) was invented in Australia (obviously).
5. Australia is even bigger than you think it is. It's almost the same size as mainland USA.
By Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). (Map from CIA World Factbook, 2015.) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
6. The largest cattle station in the world is located in Australia and it's bigger than Israel.
7. Australia is ranked second on the Human Development Index which takes into account a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living. Nice!
8. 4 out of 5 Aussies live less than 50km from the coastline - now that's living the dream!
9. Each week there are an estimated 70 tourists that overstay their visas (who can blame them)?
10. Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke set a world record for sculling 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds. Hawke later suggested that this was the reason for his great political success.
11. The first Police Force in Australia was made up of the most well-behaved convicts.
12. The world's largest sand island can be found in Australia - Fraser Island!
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13. It would take around 29 years to visit one new Aussie beach every day (there are 10,685 of them!)
14. The Great Barrier Reef is the planet’s largest living structure.
15. It even has its own Post Office box!
16. Aussies drink 1.7 billion litres of beer per year, that's about 680 bottles of beer for each adult.
17. Australia's Capital city, Canberra, meant "woman's cleavage" in Aborigine and was named that because the city is cradled between two mountains.
18. In Canberra it's legal to film hard core porn and selling the end-product has been made legal in the city. (Being a politician must get boring!)
19. AFL (Australian Rules Football) was invented to keep Cricketers fit in the off season, there are claims that the game may have been influenced by Indigenous Australians.
20. The world's largest rock is not actually Uluru, but Mount Augustus in Western Australia.
21. Mount Augustus is actually twice the size of Uluru.
By Graeme Churchard from Bristol, UK (Mount AugustusUploaded by PDTillman) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
22. There are 60 wine regions in Australia.
23. Actually around 1.3 billion litres of wine are produced each year in Australia.
24. It is the 6th largest country in the world.
25. Australia ranks 56th in the world in terms of broadband speed - really?!? We're 7th for mobile speed though.
26. There are 1 million Camels that roam wild Australia's Deserts - the largest number of purebred camels in the world.
27. Australia exports it's camels to the Middle East.
28. The wombat deposits square poos.
29. You can fly from Perth to Melbourne faster than you can fly from one end of Western Australia to the other.
30. Melbourne was briefly called Batmania. You can still visit Batman Park in Melbourne.
31. A baby kangaroo when born is only about 2 centimetres long.
32. And did you know that there are over 60 different types of kangaroos?
33. And that Kangaroo meat can be purchased from the supermarket and is known to be a leaner and healthier alternative to beef or lamb with a 1-2 percent fat content.
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34. An Australian election TV debate was rescheduled so it didn’t conflict with the finale of reality cooking show Masterchef.
35. An Australian man once tried to sell New Zealand on eBay, with a starting price of A$0.01.
36. It is a known fact that Wallabies like to break into Opium crops, get high and run around in circles to create a "crop circle".
37. A gay bar in Melbourne won the legal right to ban women from the bars, because they made the men uncomfortable.
38. Moomba, Australia’s largest free festival held in Melbourne, means ‘up your bum’ in many Aboriginal languages.
39. The Australian Alps actually receive more snow each year than Switzerland.
40. Aboriginal culture is the oldest culture on Earth.
41. Western Australia is home to a number of Pink Lakes - such as Lake Hillier.
By Kurioziteti123 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
42. Australia has 19 World Heritage Listed sites.
43. The country holds the Guiness World Record for the most amount of Christmas lights on a house - over half a million!
44. Australia’s richest woman Gina Rinehart earns $1 million every 2 hours.
45. 91% of the country is covered by native vegetation.
46. Australia invented the world's first seat belt law in 1970.
47. 33% of Australians were born in another country.
48. Over 300 different languages and dialects are spoken in Australia including 45 Indigenous languages.
49. In fact 21% of Australians don't speak English at home!
50. WA is home to what is believed to be the oldest evidence of life on Earth - the Stromatolites.
51. Vegemite was created by left over Yeast used to create Beer - so that's why it tastes so good!
Liked this article? Check out these 10 Strange Places you need to visit in Australia!
Main image: By Weyf (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
