Quick Facts about Australia

Did you know the Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth — big enough to see from space? It stretches over 1,400 miles off Australia's coast and is built by billions of tiny coral animals. Larger than Italy, it's the only living thing on the planet astronauts can spot with the naked eye.

Did you know Uluru appears to change color through the day? The giant sandstone monolith in Australia's Red Center burns vivid orange-red at sunrise and sunset as the low light catches iron minerals in its surface. It's a sacred site to the Anangu, its traditional owners.

Did you know the Sydney Opera House is covered in over a million tiles that shrug off dirt? Its "sails" are clad in 1,056,006 self-cleaning Swedish tiles in two subtly different finishes, so the roof gleams white from afar but never looks flat up close. Rain rinses it clean.