About Sydney

[an error occurred while processing this directive] About Sydney

Gateway to the Summer Games - About Sydney


	About Sydney This year, for the first time ever, the city of Sydney, Australia will host the Olympic Games. Sydney is a vibrant city on the southeast section of the continent, the most populated part of the country. South and west of Sydney is Canberra, Australia's capital city. Learn more about the land down under that has the honor of hosting this year's Olympic Games.


		About Australia \| Facts, Figures, Maps \| History Animals \| Virtual Tours \| Weather \| Time

About Australia
Australia is the only country that is also a continent. It is the smallest continent in the world, with an area that measures just less than three million square miles. Although Australia is surrounded by water on all sides, its land is mostly dry and even desert-like in many places.

The first known inhabitants of Australia were the Aborigines, who lived in Australia thousands of years before the first Europeans arrived on the shores. Beginning in 1788, the British settled Australia by establishing a group of colonies. In 1901, these colonies joined together under a common constitution to create the Commonwealth of Australia, which is soon to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

Australia is home to many interesting animals, like the koala bear and the kangaroo. Offshore, thousands of marine animals and organisms live in the Great Barrier Reef. Considered one of the world's natural wonders, the Great Barrier Reef is made up of 2,900 individual reefs that extend along the east coast of Australia.

There is a lot more to learn about Sydney and Australia!

Facts, figures and maps of Australia.

History of Australia & Sydney

Unique Animals of Australia

Learn about Australian animals like marsupials and monotremes.
Find out about the strange platypus.
See other unique animals on the Australia Downunder site and the All About Australia Animal page.
Print out pictures of Great Barrier Reef animals to color.

Virtual Tours
Don't just read about Sydney, see it! Visit the city and explore the sites of the Olympic Games on these virtual tour sites.

Sydney 2000: Olympic Venues: Zero in on the places where the athletes will compete. See photos of the places, read facts about the venues, and look up schedules of the events that will take place at each location.
The USOC site has short summaries about Sydney 2000 Games sites.
Watch 360° movies of the Olympic venues on NBCOlympics.com.
Take a look at photos of Australian landmarks.

Weather
What's the weather like in Sydney? Search these weather sites for competition conditions.

Sydney 2000: Climate Explains the climate and lists average daylight hours, rainfall, and wind speeds.
Bureau of Meteorology Australia Provides rainfall and temperature maps, definitions of climate terms, and special forecasts for the Games.
USA TODAY Weather: Offers city forecasts, precipitation maps, and satellite photos.

Click on image above for up
the minute weather conditions.

Time
Find out the local time in Sydney using these time-conversion sites:

CNN World Time (interactive map and conversion calculator)
The World Clock
World Time Server

Currency
Want to know how far your money will go in Australia? Try these currency calculators.