Just how big is Australia? (and how small is New Zealand)

[johnr]

I often get asked this question so I thought I'd put up a couple of graffics to demonstrate it.

Australia is of course humungous. It also, being mostly desert, has the lowest density population in the World. (3/square mile last time I heard.) There are I believe (or used to be) 2 farms there each of which was larger than Texas.



New Zealand is of course somewhat smaller, though not as small as some apparently think. by comparison we have 25 people per square mile (maybe a few more these days)

[wrbix]

How many sheep/sq mile?

Beautiful country BTW! Fine folks.

[oldbike54]

 Wow , a geography lesson with coffee , thanks John 

  Dusty

[Markcarovilli]

John

never knew that - thanks for the enlightenment....

Mark

[Bisbonian]

My wife and I just got back from 3 weeks driving a camper van around New Zealand.

I think most of the people in New Zealand are centered in and around Auckland.

It's a beautiful country and we had a great time.

[Guzzistajohn]

Thanks for the geography lesson, the maps really put things in perspective. How many tanks of gas do you think it'll take to get a V9 Guzzi across NZ from East to West?

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Australia is the worlds' biggest island.  And the largest country to be completely surrounded by water.
 Not just water but oceans of it.

[wymple]

Give Australia a bit more credit, as the rest of the world does. The consensus is that we class it as a continent, with Greenland being the biggest island. If you just go by it being surrounded by water, Antarctica is twice as big, and even Africa qualifies. Australia is one of the big boys, those NZ guys are sooooo jealous! 

[Phang]

I can't breathe... 

[oldbike54]

I can't breathe... 

 OH MY ! Probably a good place to be in the restaurant business 

  Dusty

[Phang]

OH MY ! Probably a good place to be in the restaurant business 

  Dusty

The rankings are based on total population divided by total land area but not reflecting the actual situation.

Hong Kong is far more crowded than Singapore as they have less usable/habitable land.

You will bump more shoulders in 100 meters (yards) in Hong Kong than a year in Singapore.

[oldbike54]

The rankings are based on total population divided by total land area but not reflecting the actual situation.

Hong Kong is far more crowded than Singapore as they have less usable/habitable land.

You will bump more shoulders in 100 meters (yards) in Hong Kong than a year in Singapore.

 Doesn't Singapore also have huge areas set aside as parks ?

  Dusty

[Phang]

This will give you a rough idea on how much greenery the island has.

p/s: the north west patch is a military restricted area, not accessible to the public.

[Dean Rose]

Fell in love with Singapore when I was there, they actually enforce their laws.

Dean

[oldbike54]

  Love these lessons , bet most MC forums don't see much of this type of discussion 

 Phang , wow , just wow , looks like 35 % or better of Singapore is set aside as park , makes a city very livable.

  Dusty

[PJPR01]

  Love these lessons , bet most MC forums don't see much of this type of discussion 

 Phang , wow , just wow , looks like 35 % or better of Singapore is set aside as park , makes a city very livable.  Dusty

There's a price to that livability...it's horrendously expensive and I think some of the things we consider as freedoms are severely curtailed.  Beautiful, but sterile is what I have heard from friends who have lived there (Chinese and non Chinese friends by the way).

[oldbike54]

There's a price to that livability...it's horrendously expensive and I think some of the things we consider as freedoms are severely curtailed.  Beautiful, but sterile is what I have heard from friends who have lived there (Chinese and non Chinese friends by the way).

 Unlike Houston , which we all know is still the wild West 

  Dusty

[ohiorider]

Unless someone re wrote the geography books, here's what they drummed into us in elementary school:
In order of size, I believe:

Asia
Africa
North America
South America
Europe
Australia
Antartica

[Phang]

  Love these lessons , bet most MC forums don't see much of this type of discussion 

 Phang , wow , just wow , looks like 35 % or better of Singapore is set aside as park , makes a city very livable.

  Dusty

I caught this little guy on the tree in front of my apartment with my phone a few weeks ago.

Not too bad for a place with seven thousand people per square kilometer 

[oldbike54]

 That's cool Phang 

  Dusty

[ITSec]

Let's not forget that Australia has a big brother (by another million square miles) - a little colder and somewhat more precipitation, and about 8 people per square mile. Australia may have got the convicts, but Canada got the Quebecois. Not sure I should finish that thought.... 

[PJPR01]

Unlike Houston , which we all know is still the wild West     Dusty

Chuckle chuckle...good one Dusty!  At least Houston and Singapore have approximately the same humidity levels...so I've heard! 

[oldbike54]

Chuckle chuckle...good one Dusty!  At least Houston and Singapore have approximately the same humidity levels...so I've heard!

 Houston doesn't have high relative humidity , it has absolute relative humidity  Like living in an arboretum  There used to be a joke about why the astronauts lived in Houston , it was so they could vacation on the moon 

  Dusty

[pehayes]

Just returned from 3 weeks on Tasmania.  Forget Australia.  Just go to the southern state.  Wonderful roads.  No traffic.  The Taswegians refer to Australia as the desolate island to the north.   

Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA

[PJPR01]

Houston doesn't have high relative humidity , it has absolute relative humidity  Like living in an arboretum  There used to be a joke about why the astronauts lived in Houston , it was so they could vacation on the moon    Dusty

The moon has humidity?  :)  :)  Let's set up a colony right away then!  Easy hop to Mars from there... ha ha!

[wymple]

Unless someone re wrote the geography books, here's what they drummed into us in elementary school:
In order of size, I believe:

Asia
Africa
North America
South America
Europe
Australia
Antartica

Antarctica is nearly double the size of Australia, which is the smallest of the seven continents.

[PJPR01]

Oddly enough though, from Mexico on down, they teach that The Americas is 1 continent, contrary to our U.S. perspective of having 2 separate American continents, which always leaves poor Central America in limbo somewhere, as an appendage to S. America.

[johnr]

How many sheep/sq mile?

Beautiful country BTW! Fine folks.

Thanks for the complement wrbx.  There used to be 64m sheep in NZ as opposed to 3.5 m people. The number of sheep is vastly less now with the rise of dairying in the country but I don't know the current figures.

[johnr]

My wife and I just got back from 3 weeks driving a camper van around New Zealand.

I think most of the people in New Zealand are centered in and around Auckland.

It's a beautiful country and we had a great time.

Hey I'm really glad you enjoyed it Bisbonian. How far south did you get?

You are quite right, 1/2 the total population lives in the greater Auckland area (and the rest of us hope they stay there  ) 3/4 of the whole in the North Island and the rest in the South.

[johnr]

Give Australia a bit more credit, as the rest of the world does. The consensus is that we class it as a continent, with Greenland being the biggest island. If you just go by it being surrounded by water, Antarctica is twice as big, and even Africa qualifies. Australia is one of the big boys, those NZ guys are sooooo jealous! 

Well, believe it or not, we are not jealous at all. Anyway the continent you speak of is Oceania, (or Australasia) which just happens to include us. Australia on it's own doesn't qualify.