Of course: the continent of Oceania is not just Australia, it comprises New Zealand and all those small, exotic and quite interesting Pacific and Polynesian islands and archipelagos as well. But, consider the size of Australia, nearly five flight hours from Perth in the West to Sydney in the East, or 4000 kilometres of road to be covered in an almost straight line. The sheer size of Australia implies that it is practically impossible to cover its sights of history, culture and scenery in full. The bad news is that it's not possible, the good news, though, is that it isn't necessary either. For, even staying within a limited geographical range, one can absorb the immense diversity of Australia, with modern cities that have developed in respect of their short but interesting history, with grand coastal and mountain land scenery that carries one away in awe and amazement. Australia is simply a phenomenal country to travel in. Sadly, a constant factor in each story behind each corner is that the development of what Australia is today, has come at the cost of uprooting Aboriginal communities, a wrong that Australian society commendably appears to try and undo today, but a wrong which penetrates so deeply that it cannot really be undone. As a visitor one can contribute though, by showing due respect.

 

There is no better place to realise this than in the 'Outback' of Central Australia, in the Northern Territory around Alice Springs and the Uluru Rock. This is probably where the real soul of Australia lives, where the Aboriginal tragedy vividly questions and provokes, but also where the sentiment of boundless expanses of arid desert is an open invitation to genuine adventure and exploration. What a contrast this is with flamboyant Sydney, where the early days of the convict settlement are long forgotten and where the iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House around the scenic Sydney Bay can hardly eclipse the feverish drive of the Southern hemisphere's most important business city. Now, this is definitely not an issue in laid back, subtropical Cairns or in the quiet coastal village of Eden. Here attention actually goes to the thousands of whales travelling the Humpback Highway on their annual voyage to the summer feeding grounds of Antarctica. New South Wales, Queensland, the Northern Territory: another area of Australia, another experience, ready to be lived.