The Aussies are justifiably proud of the largest coral reef on earth – the Great Barrier Reef. It can be seen from space and is believed to be the world’s biggest single structure made from living organisms. Composed of some 3,000 individual reefs and 900 islands, it stretches for 1,616 miles and is strung out over 133,000 square miles of the Coral Sea in Queensland, north east Australia. Already a World Heritage site, it generates $1bn a year in tourism revenue. A definite in the top seven
Famed as being the inspiration for Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, the Galapagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator, 600 miles west of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean. They are famed for their vast number of endemic species and are already a World Heritage Site. Tourism today is strictly controlled on the islands, having risen from just over 41,000 people visiting in 1991 to over 180,000 today. The islands are apparently a favourite haunt of Andrew Marr (which may or may not be a plus point). Darwin would turn in his grave if the islands didn’t make the top seven
The playground of Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, who liked to hunt there, the Grand Canyon was created by the Colorado River over a period of 6 million years. It is 277 miles long, ranges in width from 3.7 to 18 miles and has a depth of more than 1 mile. The area was first inhabited by Native Americans, who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. A top ten contender if for no other reason than if the United States does not have a contender, most Americans will ignore the competition
With a temperament similar to that of Italy’s soon-to-be-former PM Silvio Berlusconi, Mount Vesuvius is a volcano east of Naples. It is the only volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years, but is best known for its eruption in AD 79 that led to the destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. It has erupted many times since and is today regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. Likely to be the only European wonder in the top seven
