It's big, it's dry and it's hot but...

It's English-speaking and has the best beaches and most stunning natural scenery in the world.

It's a country - a continent, actually - where vibrant, modern cities thrive against the backdrop of the sizzling Outback.

And whose inhabitants' favourite way to stay cool in the sweltering heat is to sink a stubbie of the amber nectar.

Yes it's Australia, the world's biggest desert island, aka the Lucky Country.

Lucky because everything is cheap, the weather is good and, as thousands of travellers find every year, everyone's living the life of Riley.

It's blindingly obvious the moment you step off the plane that no-one has a care in the world.

Not such a lucky country, though, for the poor Aborigines, who found themselves hunted, kidnapped and hounded to the fringes of society by the British settlers, where they remain to this day.

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