Australia

Australia is a land that refuses to be summarized—home to the oldest continuous cultures on Earth and landscapes that swing wildly from coral reefs to outback deserts. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have walked this land for over 65,000 years, their Dreamtime stories etched into every rock and river. But Australia’s modern history carries the heavy weight of British colonization, beginning with the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 and the subsequent displacement of Indigenous communities. Today, Australia pulses with a culture of resilience and reinvention—whether it’s First Nations art reclaiming its space in global galleries, or a sun-soaked surf town throwing a festival that no one remembers finishing. And let’s not forget the Great Barrier Reef—Earth’s largest living organism, because even the underwater world here goes big.