Reply #2: Fires to the south of us, floods to the north . . .

[MrModerate]

I tell you, this place is EXTREME!

Before I came to Australia I had a picture of the place in my mind that was clearly shaped by watching too many Paul Hogan movies (too many = 1) -- the sere Outback, sun, scrub, Uluru, dusty kangaroos.

Now that I'm here, I find the place where I live (Brisbane) is actually a rainforest (at least where they haven't paved it over), and further north it's a frakkin' jungle plus plus.

Sure, the center of the country's a moonscape (as advertised), but the variation in climates along the east coast (and to a lesser degree, the west) is radical. Just about every sort of ecosystem you'd care to mention, except frozen.

They don't do "frozen" around here. (1)

Nevertheless, I love it.

(1) To be accurate, there are some ski areas down south, but pretty lame if you've ever been to the US Rockies, Maine, Canada, Swiss Alps, etc., etc.