A Great Travel Guide to Australia From Rhino Car Hire in Australia

The vast continent of Australia can only be navigated properly by car, especially as large parts of it are desert.

Australia is the only country which is also a continent and is the world's sixth largest country despite being the smallest continent.

Because of its great size Australia has everything the visitor could possibly want; world class beaches and surf, mountains and ski resorts, valleys and vineyards and a massive area of outback to explore. It is also home to an incredible variety of animals, not all of them safe to spend time around. While Australia has 'cute and cuddly animals? like koalas and kangaroos, huge salt water crocodiles, great white sharks and many poisonous snakes and spiders also live in Australia.

This biodiversity is partly due to the range of climates which occur over this gigantic landmass. In the south east there are the Snowy Mountains which get heavy snowfall in winter, while the north is hot and tropical with temperatures in the town of Darwin rarely dropping below 30 degrees Celsius. On the other hand Australia's island state of Tasmania has cloudy and cool weather which is quite similar to the conditions in the United Kingdom.

The other states in Australia are Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland, The Northern Territory, New South Wales and South Australia.

While some of the original settlers in Australia were from British penal colonies, today the residents come from all over the world while there are about half a million Australians of Aboriginal descent. This has made Australia very multicultural.

The main cities of Australia are Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. While the distances between these cosmopolitan cities are all huge the quality of the roads is good and the experience of driving though Australia is pleasurable.

Although these are the largest cities in Australia with Perth being on the west coast, Brisbane on the east coast and Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney on the south coast, Australia's capital is actually in Canberra.

That said Sydney should be the first port of call for visitors to Australia as this breathtaking city has to be seen. Sydney harbour is famous for the iconic Opera House building and Sydney bridge.

Car hire Sydney is the quickest way to get around the many districts which include the area to the west of the Circular Quay known as The Rocks and East Sydney which has some great nightlife. From Sydney you can drive to many stunning beaches and the wildlife park around the Blue Mountains range.

Australia is home to one of the world's natural wonders - The Great Barrier Reef which is the only living organism which can be seen from space. To visit the Great Barrier Reef your best bet is to travel to the city of Cairns where you will find many companies which offer guided boat tours out to the reef for divers and snorkelers alike.

Rhino Car Hire operate from multipe locations in Australia includng Sydney and Melbourne airport.

Andy Williamson is an Australasian correspondent for Rhino Car Hire Australia and he has written about Car Hire Sydney and other destinations.