Australia's Wild Places

It may come as a surprise to non-Australians that the island continent, renowned for its flat plains and searing deserts, actually has snow-capped mountains of its own. The peaks of the Australian Alps are not tall, but they're over 600 million years old. Mt. Kosciuszko is the highest mountain on the continent and its slopes harbor rare and unusual species, adapted to the harsh conditions.

Just 460,000 people live in Tasmania, an island off the southeast coast of mainland Australia. While its human population is small, the majestic state is rich in natural wonders and is known for its large tracts of pristine wilderness. Wallabies, wombats, and the island's unique carnivorous marsupial, the Tasmanian devil, enjoy their isolated habitat, nearly devoid of natural predators.

The Australian desert is home to some of the most famously deadly animals in the world. In this episode, we take a journey with botanist Peter Latz, who believes the biggest influence on the Australian arid landscape has been fire. Years ago, Peter wondered how different this country would have looked without the influence of it.

On the remote coastline of Australia's northwest, there are great natural wonders to be found. Above the sea on this sun-baked coast, there is very little, but each year, mysterious ocean visitors arrive. The biggest fish in the sea, the whale shark, vanishes almost as soon as they arrive, but what brings them to this place at all?

Daintree National Park is a magical meeting of rainforest and reef, lying at the heart of the world heritage listed wet tropics of Queensland. The area is a living link to our planet's distant past, to a primeval world from more than 50 million years ago. Biologist Peter Byrne and his research team ride a giant crane to gain a unique view of what many consider to be the last biological frontier.