How Big Is Australia?

Covering a total area of 7.69 million square kilometres, mainland Australia is the world's largest island - but the smallest continent. Australia is big - in distance, the continent stretches about 3700 kilometres from north to south, and 4000 kilometres from east to west, making it the sixth-largest nation after Russia, Canada, China, the United States and Brazil.

Because it stretches through numerous climate zones - from tropical to temperate - Australia offers a huge diversity of environments, scenery and climatic conditions rarely found in a single country. Whatever your areas of interest - sightseeing, natural attractions, historical places, outdoor activities - chances are you can see it or do it somewhere in Australia. The downside of Australia's immense size are the vast distances one often needs to travel. When planning travel within Australia, allow adequate time to get from one place to another, and remember that if you travel everywhere by air, you might be saving time but you will also miss so much of Australia's unique natural beauty.

Of the world's six largest countries, Australia is the only one that is completely surrounded by water. Along its 36,735 kilometres of coastline are in excess of 7,000 beaches, many of spectacular beauty, stretching endlessly beyond the horizon. Some have not had their sands disturbed by visitors in decades, and visitors to many that have often find they have the beach to themselves.

The mainland and Tasmania - Australia's largest island - are also surrounded by many thousands of small fringing islands and numerous larger ones. Nearly forty percent of the total coast comprises island coastlines. There are also 618 continental islands which were once part of the mainland, as well as 44 low wooded islands and approximately 300 coral cays.

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