A quick introduction to the land down under

For my first entry I am going to give a brief introduction of the place I am going and why I am going there.

I am going to University of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia to study geology. It is located on the Southeast coast. I'm going to be living a few miles outside of the university with 5 other girls, one of which is my good friend Laura Lee.

I am leaving February 2nd to fly to South Lake Tahoe to ski with Josh for a few days before I depart the country. On February 7th I will fly out of Los Angeles to Sydney and will not arrive until February 9th. It's going to be a long plane ride...My only request is that Laura and I make it on the same flight because it's going to be a heck of a lot longer without her.

Here are some facts about Australia in general:

In land area, Australia is the sixth largest nation after Russia, Canada, China, the United States of America and Brazil. It has, however, a relatively small population.

Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth. Its interior has one of the lowest rainfalls in the world and about three-quarters of the land is arid or semi-arid.

Australia is about the size of the lower 48 states, but has a fraction of the population. The population of the US is very much larger than Australia's. Australia has 20.8 million people compared to the US population of 299.1 million.

About Newcastle:

The city is located 98 miles North of Sydney and is the second largest city in New South Wales with a population of 280,000. It is the 7th largest city in on the continent.

Newcastle's harbour, Port Hunter, is the second port of New South Wales and the seventh port of Australia in the volume of its shipping trade. Exports include coal, iron, wheat, wool, and frozen meat.

Australia's biggest earthquake struck here in 1989.