http://www.budgetshotels.com/Australia_and_South_Pacific/Hotel bookings for any budget from cheap hotels to luxury accommodation hotel reservations Australia is typically regarded as the smallest of the seven continents. There is no universally accepted definition of the word "continent." The lay definition is "One of the main continuous bodies of land on the earth's surface." (Oxford English Dictionary). By that definition, the continent of Australia includes only the Australian mainland, and not nearby islands such as Tasmania or New Guinea.