Busiest Sea: English Channel

The English Channel between France and England is one of the busiest sea lanes in the world. The English Channel is about 350 miles long and no more than 21 miles wide at its narrowest, between Dover and Cap Gris-Nez. The Channel joins the Atlantis Ocean to the North sea.

Each day, dozens of big cargo ships sail through the Channel to and from the great ports of northern Europe. The ships include oil tankers and container vessels. Between them, they carry huge loads of food, fuel, mineral and manufactured goods.

Wattle, Near Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia

The national floral emblem of Australia, and a herald of spring, the yellow-gold wattles brighten the bushland and fill the air with a perfume that is distinct and sweet. As enjoyable as the pleasant aroma of the bloom is in the bush, once indoors, it can be quite overpowering and like so many Australian native flowers, the wattle dies fairly quickly after being picked. The largest genus in the flora of Australia, the wattle (Acacia) is well distributed throughout the South-East, extending into Queensland and the arid areas of the inland. It has over 600 species, which is more than half the total number occurring in the world. In Europe, the acacia is known as Mimosa, but to the honor of British botanists, the early Australian settlers called it a wattle tree, as its long, pliant twigs were ideal fro making wattle and daub huts. 'Wattle' is a term used for the thin branches in general that held together the walls of mud.

The Ord Dam, Western Australia

The Ord Dam traps the colossal flood waters of the Ord River which is fed by clyclonic rains that fall only between December and March. At that time, the serenity of the dry season's still, hot days changes to a violent mood of angry skies and tumultuous thunderstorms. The Ord Dam lies in the eastern Kimberleys about 3220 kilometres from Perth and 885 kilometres from Darwin. The sprawling town of Kununurra, built in 1960 is the centre for irrigation scheme. At Lake Angyle, where the Ord's storage waters cover an area around 910 square kilometres, there is a touch of civilization at the spacious tourist village, set high on a ridge that commands superb views over the dam and surrounding mountains. Wildlife abounds now that there is permanent water.

Grampians, Victoria, Australia

Lying 241 kilometers east of Melbourne and at the tail end of the Great Dividing Range, the Grampians is one of the country's richest floral regions, harbouring over 8000 different plants, which is about one third of the state's whole indigenous flora. It is thought that the remarkable abundance of floral wealth is due to the area providing a natural refuge for plants million of years ago when the rest of the continent was undergoing marked geological upheavals. There are three main ranges. All have bold, precipitous bluffs on the eastern side and, to the west, slopes that fall away gently to merge with the valley's plain.