Treasury

A long line of mountains runs from the north to the south of the east coast. It is called the Great Dividing Range, because it divides the green, wet coast of eastern Australia from the hot dry lands in the centre.

Australia has three different climates. In the north the weather is tropical — hot and wet.

In the centre, the climate is very dry, and the land is mainly desert. In the south, it is pleasant with cool winters and warm summers.

The four great deserts of central Australia cover 2,000,000 square kilometres.

There are six different states in Australia: Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. There are also two territories: Northern Territory, and Australian Capital Territory, with Canberra, the nation's capital city, in it.

Each Australian state has its own government and its own capital city. The state capitals are Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, and Adelaide.

Where do all the Australians live? In fact most of them (85 per cent) live in the cities of the east coast. But even these cities are not very big. There are only 16 million people in Australia, and it's a very big country.

Australia is sometimes called 'the lucky country'. One reason is the wonderful riches under the earth: gold, silver, iron, coal and many precious metals. Oil and natural gas have helped to build big industries. Victoria, the south-eastern state, has a large number of industries. Oil is no problem for them.

Sydney is the best known place in New South Wales. In fact, it's the best known place in Australia. But New South Wales has more than cities. There are, for example, the Blue Mountains. They are covered with forests of blue-coloured eucalyptus trees. The air above the forest contains millions of microscopic drops of eucalyptus oil. When the sun shines, the air of the Blue Mountains is a real, beautiful blue.

The Great Barrier Reef on the coast of Queensland is a garden under the sea. There are 1,400 different kinds of fish, and more than 300 kinds of coral. Tropical fruit and flowers grow on the beautiful islands. It's not surprising that more holiday-makers come to Queensland every year.

South Australia is the driest of all the states, but it does have the Murray River. The river brings greenness and life to the state's south-east corner.

There are two kinds of gold in Western Australia. First, there's the real kind — the kind that comes out of the ground. Gold was found in Kalgoorlie in 1893. Kalgoorlie still exports some gold, but the new gold of Western Australia is wheat. Big farms grow millions of tons of wheat every year, and wheat has become Australia's second biggest export.

Tasmania, the island south of Australia, is small. It is the same size as England. It is also very different from the other states. There are no deserts in Tasmania. It often rains, both in winter and summer. Only half a million people live in Tasmania and a large part of the islands is still covered with wild, beautiful rain forests. These forests are full of wonderful flowers and interesting animals, like the little Tasmanian devil.

Great Britain is a country of forests and plains. There are no high mountains in this country. Scotland is the most mountainous region with the highest peak, Ben Nevis. The rivers of Great Britain are not long. The longest rivers are the Thames and the Severn. The capital of the United Kingdom, London, stands on the banks of the Thames. As the country is surrounded by many seas there are some great ports at the seaside: London, Glasgow, Plymouth and others.

Wales is a country of lakes.

Seas and oceans influence the British climate which is not too cold in winter but never hot in summer. Great Britain is a beautiful country with old traditions and good people.

The Caucasus is a range of mountains which extends from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. The highest mountain in Caucasus in Russian Federation and in the whole Europe is Mount Elbrus. The Urals extend from the Arctic Ocean to the steppes. This mountain chain divides the European and Asian parts of Russia. The Urals are famous for their valuable minerals. There are 150 volcanoes in Kamchatka, 30 of which are active. The Russian Federation is very rich in mineral resources, such as oil, natural gas, coal, iron, gold and others. Russia borders with fourteen countries including the former republics of the USSR, which are now independent states. Russia borders with Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Poland, China, Mongolia, Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan and so on. Today Russia is one of the world's largest grain producers and exporters. So, today Russia is a great industrial country. The main cities of Russia are: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, Ufa, Perm, Rostov-on-Don, Vladivostok. Many villages in Russia are famous for their specific crafts: painted boxes in Palkn, wooden tableware in Khokhloma, and toys in Dymkovo. Moscow is the capital of Russia. It is one of the biggest and most beautiful cities in the world. Moscow is a modern city. It's Russian political center, here the government of our country is working. Moscow is called the port of five seas, as the Volga Canal links Moscow with the Baltic, White, Caspian, Black sea and the Sea of Azov. Moscow is also Russian cultural center. There are a lot of theatres, museums, institutes, libraries and cinemas. Young people like to visit The Central Military Museum. There are many tanks, guns and war documents there. Many people choose to see The Kremlin and the Red Square. There are many fine buildings, wide streets, green parks, large squares, churches and monuments in Moscow. There are a lot of famous monuments to Pushkin, Fedorov, and many, many others. Moscow is a very big city and its transport must be very comfortable and fast. There are a lot of buses, trolley-buses, trams, a lot of metro stations (about 190 stations). There are 9 main railway stations in Moscow and several airports around the city. The main stadium in Moscow is The Central station in Luzhniki. Many competitions and football matches are held there. The Olympic village was build for the 22 Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980. It's a big complex for sport games.