Australia

The wide brown land, Australia may be the smallest continent but is undeniably huge as an individual country, being the sixth largest. Much of the vast interior is desert, with the major cities scattered around the green-fringed edges. Disconnected from the rest of the world for millennia, the indigenous Aboriginal Australians operated an untouched society until the arrival of Europeans from the 1600s onwards, first Dutch, then British. The loss of what was to become the United States prompted Britain to set up penal colonies in Australia and tighten its grip – even today, an estimated 20% of Australian residents have convict ancestry. Australia has since developed into one of the leading economies of the world, with massive natural resources, and many people still emigrating for a sunny life down under.

Ever since I was about 5 years old and living in the UAE, I’d wanted to go to Australia. I can’t remember why, and it’s likely I didn’t actually know – perhaps it was because I fancied going somewhere very far away, or maybe I just liked the name. Anyway, my opportunity finally came in Spring 2008, but only for about ten days during leave from offshore.