The only thing that's askew is that this ever-so-British-looking Thames Town, that's complete down to a traditional fish and chip shop and street signs showing High Street, Oxford Street, Queen Street and similar, is anything but British. Full
Story.
England : Oxford Castle
Holidaymakers looking for the out-of-the-ordinary can today do time in the one-time cells of what was once one of England's toughest prisons, a hell-hole housed within the 5-metre thick walls of the country's historic Oxford Castle. Full Story.
Kempton : Tasmania
KEMPTON's not one of those places that springs quickly to mind when
planning a motoring holiday in Tasmania, yet the little community has
had the welcome mat out since the mid-19th century. Full
Story.
Spain : Barcelona
While there's no danger of running out of things to do in Barcelona, there is a serious risk that you'll be so overwhelmed by the number and variety of the city's attractions. Full Story.
Malaysia
: Langkawi
The Curse of Mahsuri goes back to a time
none can put an exact date to, but which historians believe was
probably around 1820. Full
Story.
Prague
: New Year's Eve
Sparks shower nearby revellers; laughter and
squeals of delight fill the air and we expect to hear screams of pain
too, but they must be drowned out by all the fun. Full Story.
How
To Be A Good Travel Flyer
Here are some tips on how not to be one of
those who drive fellow travellers to the point of rage and temporary
insanity. Full
Story.
England
: Charles Dickens
From when he was a young boy Dickens had a
fascination for ghosts which culminated in arguably his most famous
novel, A Christmas Carol in which the skinflint Ebenezer Scrooge
changes his ways after a visit by three spirits. Full Story.
Skiing
in Korea
Unlike Australian and New Zealand alpine
resorts this picture-postcard winter playground has a vast indoor water
park, Peak Island, that's about a two-minute walk from the Dragon
Hotel. Full
Story.
NSW
: Newcastle
Amongst historical nearby attractions is
Fort Scratchley that formed an integral link in our defences against
potential invasion, whose canons were Australia's only ever to fire in
anger. Full Story.
Italy
: Umbria and Tuscany
Perugia is the capital of Umbria about
halfway between Rome and Florence and it's Perugina chocolate factory
makes the world-famous chocolates called Baci – Italian for "kisses".
Full
Story.
Vietnam
: Mekong Cruise
This captivating cruise is aboard the
stylish 62-stateroom AmaLotus that’s owned by Australia's APT
Touring, and which began her Mekong career only in September this year.
Full Story.
Ubud
Writers and Readers Festival : Writers Festivals as a Travel Experience
The 2011 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival
offered a cultural smorgasbord, or Rijsttafel, as a banquet is called
in Indonesia. It was a whimsical fusion of colours, flavours and styles
from Indonesia, Australia, and all the continents on the globe. Full
Story.
The
Antarctic Peninsula
Can't get enough of David Attenborough's
Frozen Planet - then why not get off your butt and head straight to the
Antarctic Peninsula. Antarctica's treacherous, spiny tendril is an odd
but irresistible location. Full Story.
Savannah
- The Future Ship Lost In Time
Costing nearly US$50m which came from the US
Atomic Energy Commission, Savannah quickly ran into trouble over the
size of her crew - and their pay. Full
Story.
Travelling
Green in Indonesia
Near the Udayana University between Jimbaran
Bay and Nusa Dua where the environment provides the right vegetation
for larvae, pupae and butterflies for at least 80 species and allows 50
species of birds to flourish and fly. And there are five
species of land snails and the occasional squirrel. Full Story.
Geelong
Wine Region : Toast to the Coast
The Geelong Wine Region is part of the Port
Phillip Wine Zone in the State of Victoria. It's a cool climate wine
region with a similar terroir to the famous French wine regions of
Bordeaux and Burgundy. Full
Story.
General
: Top 5 Impossibly Remote Holiday Destinations
We're talking about the world's most-remote
island destinations, places that have even the eyes of your travel
agent glazing over, and yet have holidaymakers lining up to visit like
there's no tomorrow. Full Story.
Canada
: Clayoquot Wilderness Resort
Clayoquot is for the serious seeker of
communing with nature, strolls on km's of empty beaches, walks through
cedar and rainforests, and a quiet so almost-cuttable you could target
a pine needle hitting the water at a hundred paces. Full
Story.
New
Zealand : Sea Kayaking the Abel Tasman
The Abel Tasman Coastal Track is one of New
Zealand's nine Great Walks. My friends and I made Abel Tasman National
Park a two day sea-kayaking destination. Full Story.
New
Caledonia & Vanuatu : Santo
The quick-thinking Captain Nelson then swung
his ship towards shore, planning to beach her, but she ploughed up onto
a hidden coral reef instead. Over 5000 troops and crew were ordered to
abandon ship, slithering down ropes and nets. Full
Story.
Caribbean
: Mayreau
Mayreau looks convincingly straight out of
the Garden of Eden, and we're told that in fact, at under four square
kilometres, it is one of the tiniest dots in all of the jumbled
patchwork of islands and cays that make up the Caribbean. Full Story.
Germany
: Rothenburg
Before the coining of the name Romantic
Road, Rothenburg still had a country air about it, with the occasional
cow or sheep wandering along its cobbled alleyways. Full
Story.
How
To Survive Overseas Travelers
Tourists from France expect the world to
speak French. Those from the south of the United State are amazed that
the few others anywhere else eat grits. Full Story.
Scotland
: The Witchery
Once they were slums that those down on
their luck would wait agonising months, often years, to get out of -
today the most affluent wait up to nine months to get into them. Full
Story.
Mississippi
: The American Queen
Vessels that could carry up to 400-plus
passengers, or purely freight-only, churned up and down the river
24-hours a day, and plied a myriad tributaries that reached like
tentacles into an amazing 31 States. Full Story.
Sailing
The Mediterranean
Remarkably within a year guests were
clamouring for repeat sailings, and travel agents found well-heeled
clients wanting to be pampered aboard a SeaDream yacht as a means of
escaping the continuing political and economic turmoils at home. Full
Story.
Ho
Chi Minh City
Crickets, guests soon learn, are in fact a
pretty staple local food item in the region because of their high
protein content. Attracted by battery-powered fluorescent lights at
night amongst the rice fields. Full Story.
Outback
Australia : Travelling On The Sheep's Back
As part of a self-drive tour of Australia's
outback, Marjie Courtis visited three disused shearing sheds in three
days, and old river landings and ports on the Murrumbidgee, Darling and
Murray Rivers. Full
Story.
New
Zealand - 4WD Adventures
On arriving in Auckland, David and Amanda
decided that a "nice long drive" would be a good way to see the
country, so they bought a campervan, and weeks later ended up in
Queenstown. Full Story.
Geelong
: A Bright Look At Itself
Geelong takes a bright look at its past with
a series of more than 100 boldly painted and decorated bollards,
permanently ensconced on its waterfront. The bollards, reclaimed from a
dilapidated pier on Corio Bay. Full
Story.
USA
- Deadwood
Students of America's Wild West are as
mystified today as ever they were about the real relationship between
two legendary figures of Deadwood - Wild Bill and Calamity Jane. Full Story.
New
Zealand - On Track To Mt Misery, Moas & Possum Pies -
TranzAlpine Rail
When the New Zealand government decided in
1883 to build a railway line between Christchurch on the South Island's
east coast and Greymouth on the west, many of its ministers mused
openly about an appropriately slap-up celebration to which to invite
themselves for the line's completion. Full
Story.
Canada
- Vancouver
The Prince of Wales is open from May to
early September each year - from October to April the local population
dwindles to around just-over 100 hardy locals who see through winter. Full Story.
Australia
- Eyre
This ample track, a good 50 metres wide in
places, went just as far as the huge microwave tower that was about 10
km south of the tarmac, then it closed in. Full
Story.
The
Unknown Truth of London Bridge
The idea crashed like a lead balloon, with
not a single expression of interest in buying the bridge when it was
advertised world-wide. Then Mr McCulloch arrived on the scene. Full Story.
Australia
- Mt Hotham
It's cold in Australia, which can mean only
one thing - great snow! Mt Hotham has undergone a transformation in
recent years, more snowmaking and lots of village developments. Full
Story.
Australia
- Great Southern Railway : The Ghan
Originally begun in 1878 to link Adelaide
with Stuart - now Alice Springs - it took 51-years to reach Alice, and
another 75 years after that to get to Darwin. Full Story.
Mauritius:
Making up for Lost Dodos
In Mauritius one can also pay homage to the
long-lost dodo and other extinct species, a consequence of Western
colonisation. At Ile aux Aigrettes (Egret Island) a set of sculptures
of a number of extinct species. Full
Story.
New
Zealand - Hobbiton
By now you must have heard of the movie
trilogy The Lord of the Rings and how it was filmed across the Tasman
Sea in New Zealand. Now you can visit the real Hobbiton! Full Story.
Haberfield,
Sydney - Food, Foodies & Focaccias
Visit Haberfield, Sydney for an Italian food
experience. This suburb, 6 km west of Sydney's CBD, celebrates three
different cultures at Piazza Federazione on Ramsay Street and sports
three flags, one Italian, one Australian and one Aboriginal. Full
Story.
Las
Vegas - Sahara Hotel & Casino
For The Beatles it was their digs when they
played the local Convention Centre in 1964, and the casino robbery
scene in the original Ocean's Eleven was filmed in its vast 7,900sq
metre casino. Full Story.
Australia
- Bokissa Private Island
This rare little gem is called Bokissa
Private Island Resort, just off Santo in the north of Vanuatu, and made
famous by James A. Michener who penned his famous Tales of the South
Pacific about its beauties. Full
Story.
Cycling
North East Victoria
Cycling and food pursuits complement each
other wonderfully in North East Victoria. Join Marjie Courtis as she
cycles her way around NE Victoria enjoying the sights, the wine and the
food. Full Story.
Holiday
Special - Top 5 Impossibly Remote Holiday Destinations
We're talking about the world’s
most-remote island destinations, places that have even the eyes of your
travel agent most-likely glazing over in disinterest. Full
Story.
USA
: Yosemite
Whether it is the thousand-foot waterfalls
or Yosemite's monumental granite peaks, you are left gasping at the
natural beauty of the world's most famous glacial valley. Full Story.
Orange
- NSW
Orange is 260 kilometres west of Sydney via
Bathurst. While there drive to the top of Mount Canobolas: it's the
highest point in a straight line between Sydney and the Indian Ocean,
and offers splendid vistas of Orange. Full
Story.
Madagascar
: First & Third World Encounters
Madagascar is a place of the unexpected. You
can expect Bank and Road Encounters of the Third World Kind, and Mobile
Phone Encounters of the First World Kind. Full Story.
Queensland
- Fraser Coast
Chris says the two have tackled wave over
two metres high, and yes, sometimes they've both been "wiped-out" in
those conditions. But they scramble back on board to once again brave
the wild surf. Full
Story.
Madagascar
: Follow the Lemur
In the grand scheme of the animal kingdom,
the enchantingly alien lemurs belong to the class of mammals, the order
of primates and the family of Lemur (Lemuridae) both found at the
Lemur's Park, Antananarivo, Madagascar. Full Story.
London
- St Sepulchre
St Sepulchre is still the venue today for
regular free lunchtime recitals on that grand 300 year-old organ, while
the 12 bells that still ring out from its 32m high bell-tower are those
mentioned in the macabre 17th Century nursery rhyme "Oranges and
Lemons". Full
Story.
Madagascar
: No Ordinary Island
Marjie Courtis found that in many ways her
preparation for Madagascar was good, but in many other ways, it was
totally inadequate. But visiting a unique country like Madagascar is
not something one can readily prepare for. Full Story.
Gordon
River, Tasmania
Our three day, two night cruise delivers us
around the scenic Macquarie Harbour into which feeds the great Gordon
River. The itinerary is an unhurried mix of still water river cruising,
soft adventure, sightseeing and lavish cuisine. Full
Story.
Townsville,
Queensland:Yongala Dive
Further dives found the Yongala to be laying
on her starboard side and facing north, her hull fully intact in 20- to
30-metres of water. This suggested she’d been swamped in the darkness
by mountainous seas that had sent her quickly to the bottom. Full Story.
Bowral,
NSW
Walt Disney in 1964 turned this and parts of
seven others into a Hollywood musical starring Julie Andrews and Dick
van Dyke, a classic that's proven a near-50-year success. Full
Story.
Port
Vila Kiwanis Club Charity Cup Day, Vanuatu
When a group of expatriate Aussies in
Vanuatu's capital Port Vila decided that life without a racetrack just
wasn't the same as back home, they decided if they couldn't get to a
racetrack, they'd get a racetrack to them. Full Story.
Keeping
An Even Keel In A Bubbly Sea
For Mustapha the ship's parrot, the lure of
a life before the mast proved to be a fatal attraction. Full
Story.
Millau,
the Millau Viaduct & the Massif Central, France
Le Viaduc de Millau (Millau
Viaduct) is a man-made wonder spanning a wondrous valley in
the Massif Central of France. The elegant multi-span cable-stayed
bridge has linked the Causse Rouge and the Causse Larzac above the Tarn
Valley. Full Story.
Winter
Fun - Indoor Skiing
At least two snow domes (as indoor skiing
areas are refered to as) are opened each year around the world. As of
today, more than 3 dozen snow domes of various sizes are operating
around the world. Full
Story.
Hotels
- The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Restaurant and bar staff are all Directors
of Lasting Impressions, while the housekeepers all boast of being
Directors of Immaculate Impressions. Full Story.
Cambodia
- Angkor
Restoration work still continues today on
the more-than 100 temples that make-up the 81ha complex of Angkor Wat
(Angkor means City and Wat means Temple,) and which draw more than
one-million visitors a year. Full
Story.
Namibia
The enormous dunes of the Namibia, the
world's highest and oldest, date back 80 million years and strike the
visitor with their sublime, sculpted shapes and majestic, apparently
endless ranges. Full Story.
Cairo
Product Director Fiona Orton says that after
this year’s revolution,
services and facilities for tourists have returned to normal in Cairo,
Luxor, Aswan, Abu Simbel and the Sinai Peninsula. Full
Story.
Galapagos
Islands
UNESCO World Heritage listed Galapagos
Islands, even though the islands themselves, particularly the more
remote uninhabited ones, remain largely unchanged. Full Story.
Borneo
Like so many of the world's wilderness
habitats, Borneo is a land under threat. In 1997, the world was
reminded of island people's precarious farming methods when the annual
burn-off continued unabated due to the late onset of the monsoonal
rains. Full Story.
Easter
Island
Just how and from where they arrived has
long been a raging debate amongst anthropologists and archaeologists.
An enigma made all the more intriguing by the fact that almost all of
the oral history is hopelessly garbled. Full Story.
Thailand
- Golden Triangle
When summer arrives in Thailand’s Golden
Triangle, the sun turns an
eerie blood red as rice farmers burn the residue from their
recently-harvested crops, leaving a surreal haze drifting across this
ever-mysterious pocket of Southeast Asia. Full Story.
NSW
- Southern Highlands
Some shots will be fired and then there'll
be the famous 92nd Gordon
Highlander bayonet charge – we have to teach a lesson to our favourite
enemy, those perfidious French! Full Story.
Canada
- Alaska
&
Vancouver
Some of the less-charitable on Canada’s
Vancouver Island were little
backward in suggesting that one of their local doctors, Howard
McDiarmid would do better sticking to medicine than dreaming about one
day becoming an hotelier. Full Story.
Snowboarding
- Buying The Right Snowboard
Unless that money tree you planted when you
were five has started
bearing real fruit, you may have to put this "all new gear" pipe dream
on
hold for another few seasons. Full Story.
Outback
Australia - Nullarbor
Links
Only three true golf courses are involved
(2-holes each at Ceduna,
Norseman and Kalgoorlie,) with artificial greens at the others.
Fairways could, at the most kindly, be referred to as “rough,” and
to
date only one player has carded a hole-in-one. Full Story.
NSW
- Kiama
Old churches, the magnificent Italianate
post office, and many historic
commercial and municipal buildings still retain a grand 19th century
solidity about them… as does the sandstone-lined harbourside walk that
on weekends hosts a bustling market. Full Story.
Latvia
- Riga
For most visitors to Latvia, the search for
12 Alberta Iela, on the
northern fringe of Riga’s CBD, and the struggle up some eight flights
of steep, narrow stairs to the Janis Rozentals & Rudolfs
Blaumanis
Museum, would be low on their list of priorities. But it shouldn't! Full
Story.
Hawaii
: When Hollywood Meets Hawaii 5-0
We told you here some fifteen months ago
that Hollywood was toying with
a re-make of one of the most popular TV detective series ever, Hawaii
Five-O that was filmed for twelve years from 1968, and which 30 years
later is still on TV screens around the world today. Full
Story.
The
Amazon
When making a choice about which lodge to
visit, try and make your stay worthwhile with a visit of as long as
possible. Amazonia is both relaxing and exciting, but a hurried visit
will leave you wanting. Full Story.
Sailing
The Mediterranean
As one Australian travel writer wrote after
sailing SeaDream in the
Mediterranean, “dining is like you're in the world's finest restaurant
– with a ship underneath it". Full
Story.
Puerto
Rico - Carmelite
Convent
In this first of a two-part feature,
David Ellis discovers a boutique hotel in Puerto Rico with a history as
rich as any tale Hollywood could conceive out of the Caribbean; and
next week he continues its remarkable journey from convent to flophouse
to an extraordinary boutique hotel.) Full Story.
Across
the Atlantic - Malaga in Spain to Madeira in Portugal
It's not for just a week, but a whole
12-nights as we
swan our way from Malaga in Spain to Madeira in Portugal, and across
the Atlantic to San Juan in the Caribbean. Full
Story.
Australia
- Tasmania In Six Days
A drive along the east coast through some
picturesque towns led to an overnight stay at the
beautiful seaside town of Bicheno. It also gave us the
opportunity to take a tour on a boat around the Freycinet Peninsula
during which we spotted
dolphins and fur seals. Full
Story.
Canada
-
Clayoquot
Wilderness Resort
Clayoquot is for the serious seeker of
communing with nature, strolls on km's of empty beaches, walks through
cedar and rainforests, and a quiet so almost-cuttable you could target
a pine needle hitting the water at a hundred paces. Full Story.
New
Zealand
- Sea Kayaking the Abel
Tasman
The Abel Tasman Coastal Track is one of New
Zealand's nine Great
Walks. My friends and I made Abel Tasman National Park a two day
sea-kayaking destination. Full Story.
Australia
- Northern Territory :
The Ghan
Prior to the arrival of that
first service, the train for many years terminated at Port Augusta, and
from there passengers continued on by road to Stuart. Full Story.