New England
A lovely, scenic alternative to the coast, with rustic beauty and a cooler year-round climate, the New England Highway begins in Sydney, continues along Hwy 15 to Brisbane, and is serviced by most major bus lines. Most of this 380km stretch of road is dotted with inviting country towns. The highway traverses the Hunter Valley, with scenery transforming from Newcastle’s industrial machines and coal ships, along Maitland’s vineyards, past Singleton’s army base and mines, and through Muswell-brook’s coal mines and Scone’s horse stud farms. It then begins the dramatic climb up the Dividing Range from Tamworth to Armidale, in New England proper.
The national parks in the New England region (clustered in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales) are worth re-routing an itinerary for. There are absolutely no entrance fees, and almost all of the parks have picnic areas, camping sites, toilets, fireplaces, and spectacular views. Unfortunately, most are accessible only by vehicle (some only by 4WD), although there are companies attempting to start cheap shuttle service.
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Australia still top dogs despite Ashes woe
Australia's domination of world cricket was seriously challenged in 2005 for the first time this century after the most dramatic series in living memory.
England's 2-1 victory over Ricky Ponting's team wrested the sport's oldest prize out of Australian hands for the first time since 1989.
Although Ponting's men recovered quickly to crush West Indies 3-0 and consolidate their position at the top of the world rankings, the defeat by England showed up clear chinks in their armour.
Elsewhere in 2005, the global pecking order remained largely unchanged with South Africa, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New
New South Wales
From a historical perspective, there's no disputing that New South Wales is Australia's premier state. It was here that British convicts lived through die first bitter years of colonization, dreaming of what might lie beyond the impassable Blue Mountains, and here that explorers first broke through the Great Dividing Range, opening the interior of the country for settlement and ensuring the stability of the colony. In the central plains and on the rich land of the Riverina, Merino wool and agricultural suc¬cess provided the state with its first glimpses of prosperity. Then, in 1851, prospec¬tors struck gold just
Australia : Tasmania
With Australia lying empty in a far corner of the Empire, England seemed to have a perfect solution for its 18th-century prison overflow problem. Parliament members happily sent their rabble across the ocean, washed their hands, and went to tea. But lawlessness was still a huge problem in the new prison colony, and penal officials in New South Wales decided to ship the troublemakers away once again. Australia was already at the end of the earth, but Tasmania was at the end of Australia. The British considered assignment to the wild little island, then known as Van Diemen's
Western Australia
To say that Western Australia is immense is something of an understatement. The water pipes that stretch from Perth to Kalgoorlie are the length of England. The state boundaries enclose an area three-and-a-half times the size of Texas and could contain the Netherlands 70 times over. You can drive for hours along the desert roads with¬out seeing another car. Yet most visitors, like most Westralians, never see more than a fraction of it. Of the state's 1.7 million people, 1.3 million live in the Perth area, and most of the rest are close to the coast, among the vineyards
