Let me ask you, dear reader, a question. Which lake when
full, has its surface it the highest altitude above sea level: Lake Burley-Griffin,
in Canberra, or Lake Geneva, in Switzerland?
Instinct probably
told you Lake Geneva, but wariness probably then trumped that, warning you that
there was a trick in the question. So on that basis alone you probably guessed
that it was Canberra’s lake. But don't worry. You are still right. Lake Burley-Griffin’s
surface is at 555.93 metres (1,823.9 ft) above sea level. Lake Geneva, at 372
metres above sea level, is the lower of the two. Canberra itself has an
elevation of approximately 580 metres (1,900 feet ).
One factor which must be taken into account is the latitude
of each city. Geneva is about half way between the Equator and the North Pole
at 46.2°N. Canberra at 35.3° S is only about one third of the way from the
Equator to the South Pole. To be comparable with Geneva it would have to be at
the same elevation, but at the latitude of Hobart, or of Dunedin in New Zealand.
But I think I have presented
enough evidence so far to establish the credentials of the Australian Capital
Territory, centred on Canberra, as the Switzerland of Australia.
---oooo000oooo---
So to our next question: the following villages, towns and
cities are listed in alphabetical order.
Geneva, Switzerland
Guthega, NSW
Jindabyne, NSW
Lausanne, Switzerland
Thredbo, NSW
Zermatt, Switzerland
Zurich, Switzerland
See if you can list them in order
of increasing height above sea level. (For the answer*, scroll down.)
The scenic little
town of Zermatt, which as the name suggests sits below the famous and towering
Matterhorn, is about Switzerland’s highest significant settlement, though the
little village of Juf (population 30) is about 500 m higher. Surprisingly perhaps,
Guthega NSW, which is Australia’s highest village, is only 30 m lower than Zermatt,
though the latter is 10 degrees closer to the North Pole than Guthega is with
respect to the South Pole.
Of course,
everything I have mentioned so far is dwarfed by the highest mountain on any
planet in the Solar System, which is Olympus Mons on Mars, whose summit is 22
kilometres above the level of its base.
The *answer is:
Geneva (375 m)
Lausanne (601 m)
Zurich (869 m)
Jindabyne (915 m)
Thredbo (1365 m)
Guthega (1590 m)
Zermatt (1620 m)
|
And now, immediately below is a
fuller list of mountain summits and settlements, listed again in order of increasing
height above sea level, except for the last:
Khancoban - NSW
|
329.25m
|
Mount Wellington (above Hobart, Tas)
|
1,271m
|
Thredbo
|
1,365 m
|
Guthega
|
1,590 m
|
Denver
|
1,609.3 m
|
Zermatt (pop in
high season 20,000)
|
1,620 m
|
Juf, Switzerland (pop 30)
|
2,126 m
|
Mt Kosciuszko summit
|
2,228 m
|
South Base Camp, Nepal
|
5,364 m
|
Mount Everest summit
|
8,848 m
|
Olympus Mons (on Mars) 22 km
|
22,000 m
|
Only 30 vertical metres separate
Guthega and Zermatt. Denver, on the high plains of Colorado and the highest
large city in the US, is smack-bang in between the two of them. (The highest US
state capital, by the way, is Santa Fe in New Mexico.) But a glance at the list
below shows that my beloved little Snowy Mountains resort village of Guthega,
NSW is officially only 20 m below Denver, and 30 m below Zermatt.
