Map of Australia
The map of Australia breaks the great island-continent down into seven areas. It divvies up the mother mainland into six connected states and leaves the seventh, Tasmania, alone just off the south-eastern corner, like the forgotten child of the mainland.

When you look at the map of Australia you can see how the states are put together and for the most part, how their names give away their location. Western Australia takes up a third of the map of Australia, with the Gibson and Little Sandy Desert comprising most of it. The city of Perth rests along the western coast, the biggest city in a state that seems to define the word "outback."

The Northern Territory and South Australia take up the middle third of Australia. They seem to act like a natural barrier between the more populated east and the barren west. If you look at the middle third of the map of Australia, with the right kind of eyes, the railroad line that runs from Darwin in the north to Adelaide in the south looks like a vein tracing its way down a young man's forearm.

In the northern-eastern corner of the map is Queensland, which looks like it has a unicorn with its horn, the Cape York Peninsula, jutting out into the Coral Sea. The state has one of Australia's greatest attractions, the Great Barrier Reef, just to the east of its coastline. If you head south from the Reef and stay along the coast you'll find some of the best surfing in the world, along with the beautiful city of Brisbane.

Just south of Brisbane and Queensland is New South Wales. Along with the nation's capitol, Canberra, New South Wales has Sydney, which is home to one of the most identifiable symbols of the country. Besides kangaroos and boomerangs, The Sydney Opera House is the most recognizable feature in the country.

And last, but certainly not least, is Victoria. Even though Victoria is the second smallest state on the map of Australia, it holds the countries second largest city: Melbourne.

Now, no matter how vivid of a map of Australia you have, it can't even begin to capture all the possibilities and wonders that lie between the 10th and 40th southern parallels. A picture, or map in this case, may be able to say a thousand words, but even a thousand words would barely scratch the surface of the land ‘down under.'