1 Australia is the smallest continent and one of the ten largest countries in the world. It is also the lowest, the flattest and, apart from Antarctica, the driest continent. It lies in the Southern Hemisphere between the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
2 One of the most striking characteristics of Australia is its global isolation. This explains much of the strangeness of Australia's unique fauna and flora. Some Australian animals and plants exist on that continent and are not found in the wild anywhere else on Earth. Among them are hundreds of kinds of eucalyptus trees and the only egg-laying mammals on Earth, the platypus and echidna.
3 You probably know that kangaroos carry their newborn babies in a special pouch - a flap of skin covering the nipples. But not only kangaroos do that. Some other animals carry their young in a pouch, too. These animals are called marsupials. The largest and most varied assortment of marsupials is found in Australia. There you can find the kangaroo, wallaby, wombat, koala, and many others.