Which way to Budapest?

Isabelle Whitehead from Pymble Ladies College is a geography champion

There are two types of people in the world - those who can read a map, and those who frustrate the driver by sending them round in circles before claiming, "This time I know exactly where we are!"

Isabelle Whitehead is preparing to become the poster girl of the former category. Having already proven she knows her latitude from her longitude, she is now off to represent the state in the 2005 National Geographic Channel Australian Geography Competition.

The 15-year-old Pymble Ladies College student managed to beat thousands of wannabe topographers and meteorologists before going head to head with Norman Ma from James Ruse High School in a tense tie breaker.

Isabelle will now compete for the chance to represent Australia in the National Geographic World Championship in Budapest, Hungary. A country that a geography wiz like Isabelle will tell you features Europe's biggest stalagmite caves at Baradla Cave, contains Central Europe's largest freshwater lake called Lake Balaton and the country's highest peak is Kékes-tet, which only reaches 1014 m high.