Queensland
The Sunshine State
Australia has a fairly straight-forward second level of government. There are six states and ten territories. Four of the territories are internal, being on the mainland; six are external and are such places as the Christmas Islands and the Coral Sea Islands. State and Territory governments have a level of control that might be considered semi-autonomous in other countries. They have the right to legislate on most matters except those of national importance, such as defence. The exception is the Jervis Bay Territory, which is a somewhat small territory and administered by a federal department but represented by the Australian Capital Territory in Senate.
Our first foray into Australia will be the state of Queensland. That is mostly due to the fact that Queensland has the airport that is as far north as one can go in Australia; at nine degrees south it is about as far south of the equator as Panama City is north. We'll be travelling to Hobart at some point, which is at around 43 degrees south. That makes 34 degrees of latitude from top to bottom in Australia (not counting their claims to a portion of Antarctica). Our little plane can go almost 180 nautical mph, which would be three degrees an hour, an hour being a good time for a flight. So simply flying top to bottom will be at least 11 or 12 flights, and as it happens, flying left to right would be at least 12 or 13 flights. And of course we won't be going in anything like a straight line. So we're going to be in Australia for a long long time.
So first up is Queensland; home of the Kanakas, Qantas and cane toads. G'day mate!