Rainfall in Australia is low as well as unreliable because of its size, and has a variety of climates. Its excessive dryness contributes to two thirds of Australia's land surface which is classed as desert or semi-desert. These large inland areas have an average rainfall of less than 250mm a year. In summer, Northern Australia receives heavy rainfall, where as Southern Australia experiences dry conditions and is generally cooler.
During winter, Northern Australia is still fairly sunny and warm while South Australia has cool wet winters, and Eastern Australia remains fairly wet all year round, in comparison to the western parts of the continent.
Landform (94 words).
Australia generally has shallow soils with low fertility. Our best soils are found on the slopes and plains, where grass lands and woodlands used to exist, which is situated west of the great divide. These soil areas today have been used for agricultural purposes. The formation and production of soil can be a slow process, which is why the soil resources that exist now, cannot be renewed in the future. Our land degredation is the result of the accelaration of massive soil erosion which was actually caused by the settlement of the Europeans.
Flora and Fauna(228 words).
Because of being so isolated, Australia developed original forms of flora and fauna. Forests can be mostly found on the eastern border of Australia, and rainforests in the north east of the continent, where the weather is hot and soil consumes generous amounts of rainfall. In these areas there are also many tropical grasslands or savannas, as well as tall, coarse grass with scattered trees , which is known as savanna woodland. In more southern areas, trees are less common and grass is relatively shorter, eventually turning into large amounts of desert, which is a long term result of Australia's unreliable rainfall patterns. Only dry shrubs such as saltbush and spiky grasses survive in these harshly dry conditions.