Natural Park

Around 200 different types of freshwater fish populate Australia's rivers and lakes, less than on any other continent, and these are separated into true freshwater species and those whose ancestors were saltwater residents. Of course, thousands of other species swim in the oceans that encircle the continent; the Great Barrier Reef alone holds 1,500 kinds of tropical fish, as well as 4,000 different shellfish and 400 unique species of sponges.

Larger animals you'll see around the beaches are fluffy, rounded rockhopper penguins, which often congregate along the rugged outcrops of the south. Royal penguins are the main inhabitants of far-flung Macquarie Island, while fairy penguins march in world-famous nightly processions on Phillip Island, offshore of southern Victoria. Dolphins frequently swim alongside speedboats and ferries. On the beaches around the country you'll find seals and sea lions. while offshore you might spot any of 17 species of whales making their annual migrations to and from Arctic waters. Dugongs also cruise the calm, warm northern river estuaries in search of tender grasses, and the inland tropical waterways are the favorite haunts of platypus families. If you get out on the reefs, you can swim with black-tipped, tiger. and great white sharks off the east coast, and with enormous, spotted whale sharks off Ningaloo Reef in the west.