Oceania travel guide, all the things you need to know to organize travel and holidays in the continent surrounded by the oceans.
Oceania in a nutshell
- Number of component states: 32
- Area in sq km: 8,939,562
- Population: 31,690,000 (first half 2001)
Territory
Oceania includes the Australian continent (with Tasmania), New Zealand, New Guinea and numerous islands and archipelagos in the Pacific Ocean grouped by convention in Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.
Oceania offers a varied landscape, from forests to mountain ranges with many paradisiacal islands dotting the surrounding temperate waters.
Due to the different geological characteristics there are some islands where animal and plant species are characterized by a certain uniqueness.
Origin name
The name Oceania is used because the Indian and Pacific oceans together with the adjacent seas enclose the lands of this region.
Climate
Most of the islands included in the intertropical region enjoy a uniform climate, with abundant rainfall and temperatures mitigated by winds (breezes, monsoons, trade winds).
New Zealand and the coasts of South Eastern Australia have a temperate climate.
The regions of the Australian interior are characterized by a continental climate with strong annual temperature fluctuations and low rainfall.
Hydrography
The hydrographic network is underdeveloped even if there are important rivers in Australia (Murray-Darling), in Tasmania, New Guinea, and New Zealand.
Eyre (low and brackish) is the most important lake and is located in the lowlands north of the Australian Great Bay.
Flora
The vegetation in Oceania takes on exclusive characteristics as it is favored by ocean isolation.
Recommended readings- Fraser (Australia): what to see on the island
- New Caledonia (Oceania): what to see
- Sydney (Australia): what to see
- American Samoa: useful information
- Oceania: useful information
There are: tropical forests and arboreal savannas with pines, eucalyptus and steppe bush formations.
Temperate forests are present in New Zealand. In coral atolls the typical vegetation is made up of palm trees.
Fauna
In Oceania the species of Marsupials, Monotremes and primitive birds are characteristic.
