Recently in _Australia, New Zealand, Oceania Category

Unexpected discoveries can often lead to photographs that inspire, like this view of Easter Island moai from an unusual angle. Through the end of October, National Geographic wants your photos for its 2009 International Photography Contest. Submit photos in the People, Places or Nature categories and you could win a digital camera kit and get your photograph published in the pages of National Geographic magazine.

It costs $12 to enter each photo; you can submit up to six by October 31, 2009. Editors will judge for creativity and quality. Winners will be announced in early December.

In the meantime, you could download some of the editors' picks here for your computer wallpaper, rate images on a scale from one to ten, or put together a jigsaw puzzle of a photograph as you race the clock.

Photo: Easter Island by Jerry Zelko, National Geographic International Photo Contest, Sept. Week 3, Places

Check out our new Photo of the Week of Lord Howe Island, a Jurassic Park-esqe spot off the coast of Australia. Download it as your wallpaper for some travel inspiration. This is one of the sites featured in the special issue of National Geographic Traveler, "50 Places of a Lifetime: The World's Greatest Destinations, Part II," October 2009.

Check back for a the Photo of the Week each Thursday.

Photo: Tom Till/Getty Images

So it's come to this. Our friends over at Gadling just posted a video from an unfortunate American tourist traveling through Australia by train. Nineteen-year-old Chad Vance stepped off the platform during a crew change, and the train began to leave without him. Instead of waiting for the next train, he jumped on, clinging to a tiny stairway platform for over two hours in sub-zero temperatures. He obviously got bored while there, so he had time to take a video of his escapade (one can only imagine his status update: "Stuck on train platform. Cold. Bored. Please Help!").

Eventually, one of the train's staff noticed him and pulled the emergency brake. He was brought inside and given a cabin upgrade (hot showers!) and continued on his travels through the outback. Fortunately for Chad they found him when they did, as the train had another 3.5 hours to travel before it reached its destination.

[Gadling]

Lost Girl blogger Amanda Pressner is in Australia for a few weeks and is sharing her finds with us here on IT.

Australia may be the poster country for the Endless Summer, but it might surprise you to know that the sun does actually set in the land down under--and the colder months eventually arrive. So how does Oz's largest and most iconic city manage to cope when the mercury plummets (below 60 degrees!), the sky gets dark at 5 pm and winter gloom threatens to set in?

Well, we're talking about Aussies: They throw a party, of course.

This year marks the kick-off of Vivid Sydney, a cultural extravaganza that's designed to turn the city into a living canvas of light and sound during the winter season. The organizers are already calling it the biggest festival of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere. Running from May 26th through June 14th, Vivid will feature four major cornerstone events that will take place in and around the city's harborfront.  

The three-week program was originally conceived to give the locals reason to celebrate during a previously sluggish interlude on the Aussie event calendar. Vivid Artistic Director Mary-Anne Kyriakou, who's both a musical composer and a lighting designer, had seen similar festivals in Europe and knew of the uplifting impact that light could have on the mood of an entire city--particularly during the darkest time of the year.

What do you do when you live in a country home to nine of the world's 16 species of penguins? Host a Penguathalon, of course!

At Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter (looks something like our SeaWorld) in Orakei, New Zealand, some 80 penguins partook in the world's first Penguathalon, an event that allowed king and gentoo penguins to go head-to-head (or rather, flipper to flipper) in soccer, surfing, waddle races, Frisbee, and swing ball.

According to the Telegraph, the event "is about more than just delighting visitors. It showcases a variety of the enrichment activities developed by the curatorial team to ensure the physical, mental and emotional well-being of the birds in its 80-strong colony."

The Penguathalon was very popular, and Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter hopes to host the event next year.

Video: courtesy of the Telegraph.co.uk

Grant Martin raises a glass to the charming class of cocktail mixers who don't phone it in on a Monday night.

There isn't much to do on a Monday night in Wellington, New Zealand.

As many travelers know, socializing is an important part of any cross-country trip - meeting new locals, absorbing culture and evolving your itinerary as you learn. Monday is just not a day for merrymaking; bars tend to close early, clubs don't open at all and everyone takes a collective breath from a good long weekend.

And so, at 9 p.m. on a Monday night, the traveler who is all caught up on email, postcards, journal entries and ramen noodles finds himself alone at one of the only open bars in town. In Wellington, you find yourself at Matterhorn.

Here you meet Claire, the Scottish bartender with dark flowing hair tied in a ponytail, wearing an olive drab, short sleeve, button-down shirt and tattoos from her shoulders to her elbows. Only Claire isn't busy like she is on Fridays, bouncing from snifter to dishwasher to customer, pouring Woodford or 42 Below. It's a slow night, and as you watch her patiently clean barware and meticulously line up bottles you know she's got time to talk.

Sidecar. Vodka tonic. Gin and tonic. With careful measure she pours each drink into a mixer, properly chills the concoction and deposits it into a prepared glass. "Where are you headed?" she'll ask you, in a light Scottish accent that's starting to fade into Kiwi.

No plans.

"It's poker night at Havana," she suggests. "Up Cuba Street, down a dark alley. You could walk right by it." She smiles. And so you go.

IT Contributor Andrew Evans offers an all-inclusive guide to all things penguin.

Penguins are never passé. Be they marching or tapping their happy feet toward another sequel, the little black and white birds are still very much in everybody's minds and hearts. I also imagine that kids who play with plastic penguins in their Happy Meals grow up to be bigger kids who want to see the birds in real life, in the wild.

Admittedly, live penguins are so astonishingly cool--the way they tilt their heads from side to side to get a good look at you, the strange braying chorus they sing, and that distinctive penguin smell that's part fishy dishwasher detergent and part dusty, old attic. Travelers often bemoan the fact that penguin Grand Central is in almost-inaccessible Antarctica, a destination better suited for scientists, explorers, and millionaires. Still, that doesn't mean you have to cross wild penguins off your wish list. The southern hemisphere is filled with alternatives for seeing wild penguins in their natural habitats.

The following locations offer options for safe and sustainable human interaction with wild penguins:

1.    Isla Magdalena, Chile: This lone clump of rocks in the Strait of Magellan is home to over 50,000 breeding pairs of adorable Magellanic penguins. After a one-hour ferry ride from the city of Punta Arenas, the boat drops you off for a good 90-minute visit with the birds. A marked path guides you safely through the penguin nests and up to the island's lighthouse for a remarkable view. (Insider's tip: in case you're tempted to use your hands to climb up those giant mountains of yellow 'dirt' for a better view, don't. That isn't dirt.)

2.    Galápagos Islands, Ecuador: The Galápagos penguin is the world's northernmost penguin species. They live right on the equator, but look and act a lot like the penguins from colder climes. The best viewing spots are on Isabela island (the largest in the archipelago) and the west coast of Fernandina island.

3.    Boulders Beach, Simon's Town, South Africa: Gigantic granite boulders and tropical-looking turquoise inlets are the exotic home for the African or jackass penguin. A system of raised wooden walkways leads you right into the heart of penguin territory, including the penguins' own sandy beach. Afterwards, enjoy a swim at the people's beach next door.

Although the bushfires that have struck southeastern Australia in the past month are thousands of miles away, that doesn't lessen the concern I have for my many friends living in in the state of Victoria. But last week a glimmer of hope came to all Australians in the fuzzy form of a now very famous koala.

David Tree and his fellow firefighters--who shot the video, above--spotted the female koala, who they named Sam, while driving through Mirboo North. The Herald Sun reports:

"I could see she had sore feet and was in trouble, so I pulled over the fire truck. She just plonked herself down, as if to say 'I'm beat'," [said Tree]. "I offered her a drink and she drank three bottles. The most amazing part was when she grabbed my hand. I will never forget that."

Sam happily drank three bottles of water before wildlife rescuers came to get her. The koala is now in the care of Coleen Woods, who says Sam has become rather friendly with male koala Bob. A happy ending for everyone.

Did you know that in every issue of the magazine, we publish a playlist of tunes tied to a different destination? This month, we take you to New Zealand. Our own music critic Tom Pryor comes up with a list of must-downloads. "If all you know about New Zealand's music scene is opera star Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, then it's time to take another look," he says, choosing a mix that includes fierce Maori hakas and traditional choral music to fertile indie rockers Flight of the Conchords, which we featured last week. We'd like to hear what tunes you'd add (or subtract).

You can download our March playlist for New Zealand on iTunes here. See the complete list of songs after the jump.

The diverse New Zealand landscape is among the most beautiful in the world: pristine beaches, rolling green fields, awesome mountains. But residents in Tekapo aren't so much concerned with what surrounds them on the ground, they're much more interested in preserving what shines down from above.

The small South Island town of about 800 people is on a mission to receive UNESCO's approval to become the first starlight reserve, an idea first generated four years ago. Locals have been darkening their Canterbury town since 1965, and have since restricted lighting use within a 19-mile radius of the town. Today residents use low-energy sodium streetlamps and household lamps that face down. Even the local skating rink installed special lighting that prevents ultraviolet rays from reflecting into the night sky, according to the Associated Press. The AP also reports that more than two-thirds of people in the U.S. and about one-fifth of the world's population cannot see the Milky Way from their homes, a statistic that the folks of Tekapo hope to change.

For more places to see the night sky, check out other Dark Sky Destinations.

Photo: Neil Gardner

Rainer Jenss and his family are currently on an around-the-world journey, and they're blogging about their experiences for us at Intelligent Travel. Keep up with the Jensses by bookmarking their posts, and follow the boys' Global Bros blog at National Geographic Kids.

The Jenss family holiday season extends a week or two beyond the traditional parameters of Thanksgiving and New Year's because our children's birthdays fall just before and after those two days. To celebrate Tyler's 12th birthday, we did what many locals do to escape the big city of Sydney during the first week in January--we headed for the nearby Blue Mountains. In many ways, this excursion reminded us a lot of our drives to 'the country' outside the New York metropolitan area, albeit without the dramatic scenery of Wollemi National Park as a backdrop. In our pursuit of avoiding hotels as much as possible on this trip, we found the perfect retreat in Bilpin Springs Lodge: a spacious, self-contained B&B neatly tucked amongst an expanse of gum trees and apple orchards.    

Upon our arrival, we were immediately greeted by the caretaker Tony, who showed us around the homestead where we'd spend the next three days, and the boys made a bee-line to the trampoline parked right on the front lawn. As he ran down the list of all the possible activities to consider around the area, I told him how we just wanted to take a break from the hectic pace we've been on for the last six months and just hang out. He smiled and said, "That's terrific. Not too many of our foreign guests come here and do that. They're usually in and out of here pretty quickly." I figured this was a good sign that we might have the place all to ourselves, and we pretty much did.

Rainer Jenss and his family are currently on an around-the-world journey, and they're blogging about their experiences for us at Intelligent Travel. Keep up with the Jensses by bookmarking their posts, and follow the boys' Global Bros blog at National Geographic Kids.

As a New Yorker, I've never gone down to Times Square to ring in New Years Eve, nor have I really had any desire to do so. Call me what you will, but enduring the frigid cold to watch a ball drop is not how I wish to celebrate the turning of the calendar. I'm sure people who make the effort have a great time and it's one of those events you've gotta experience at least once, but for me, it's ultimately the thought of being jammed together with a mass of humanity that's the biggest deterrent. So why would I choose to be in Sydney on this particular New Years, especially with two kids in tow?

This year is quite different for our family, and so is Sydney. December 31, 2008 not only marked the end of one of the most memorable years of our lives, it represented the halfway point of a yearlong-round-the-world journey that began six months ago. As we were putting together the itinerary before we took off, we projected ourselves in Australia during this time frame and figured there was only one place we could possibly be to celebrate the occasion. Sure, we might have to contend with a substantial crowd down by the harbor, but at least there'd be no freezing temperatures (it's the middle of summer down under). This would definitely make the whole thing more tolerable, and besides, we'd get to watch one of the most magnificent fireworks displays found anywhere.

Rainer Jenss and his family are currently on an around-the-world journey, and they're blogging about their experiences for us at Intelligent Travel. Keep up with the Jensses by bookmarking their posts, and follow the boys' Global Bros blog at National Geographic Kids.

I do concede that I am not a travel writer, so fluently articulating the essence of a place is not something that comes easily to me. This is a particular challenge when it comes to Tasmania, which seems to have almost too much to describe. I can say with great assurance, however, that it feels very little like the mainland of Australia we'd experienced so far. Sure, there's the rugged coastline with crashing seas and desolate overland wilderness that you would expect from an island seemingly not far from Antarctica, but in reality, closer to the equator. But we also saw stunning beaches and jaw-dropping ancient forests that we never would have anticipated. The capital city of Hobart has a thriving cultural scene, but with a real laid-back feeling of ease and contentment I haven't found in too many big cities. No 'uppity', self-righteous attitude here. So as our ten-day visit starts to wind down, I've actually forgotten that we're still in Australia.

When we eventually made it to Hobart a couple of days after Christmas, we were warned that the Australian holiday (as in vacationing) season would be kicking into high gear and to expect big crowds to be joining us as we toured around. We were certainly greeted to a festive atmosphere as the nation's attention turned to the inner harbor and Constitution Dock for the conclusion of the annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, considered to be the most demanding open-water racing competition in the world.  Much to our good fortune, this coincided perfectly with our arrival.

One of the benefits of traveling with children is that you can use them as decoys for conversation starters with the locals. We were having dinner at Mures Seafood Restaurant right in the harbor, when a large group, consisting of mostly husky guys with matching windbreakers, sat down at a table next to ours. I suggested the kids ask one of them if they had participated in the race and if so, how they finished. Reluctantly, the boys did as they were told and as it turned out, were now talking to Mark Richards, the skipper of the winning boat Wild Oats. Seated beside him was the boat's owner, Bob Oatly, who happens to also own Hamilton Island, the first stop in our month long stint in Australia. They were obviously impressed with the fact that we were traveling around the world for a year because the next morning as we were walking along the pier checking out all the yachts, the skipper waved us over and suggested we come on board Wild Oats for a look around, much to the envy of the large crowd gathered around to get a glimpse of the winning boat. The boys were later further impressed when they saw Mark, Bob and Wild Oats splattered all over the front pages of every major newspaper that day!

It's not often you stumble across a job that will pay you to kick it on a tropical island, but the tourism officials in Australia are doing just that. The job: being the caretaker of a tropical island off the Queensland coast. The lucky devil who lands this gig will sign a six-month contract (starting July 1, 2009) to go live on Hamilton Island in a three-bedroom villa with a pool. The primary task of the caretaker will be to explore the Great Barrier Reef islands and then report back to Tourism Queensland via a weekly blog, video diary, and photo gallery. Tourism Queensland will facilitate this process by organizing an itinerary of excursions and events for the caretaker. Potential activities include sampling a new  luxury spa on Hamilton Island, or breaking in some new snorkeling gear on Heron Island. Secondary duties include feeding fish, cleaning the villa pool, and collecting mail. And this person will be paid about $100,000 (AUSD150,000).  We kid you not.

Indeed this brilliantly conceived marketing investment is expected to generate more than $70 million in publicity for Queensland, so it's a win-win situation for everyone involved. Applications (in the form of a 60-second video) are due February 22, 2009, so get started here. I know I am!

Photo: Courtesy of Tourism Queensland

Rainer Jenss and his family are currently on an around-the-world journey, and they're blogging about their experiences for us at Intelligent Travel. Keep up with the Jensses by bookmarking their posts, and follow the boys' Global Bros blog at National Geographic Kids.

Ask most Americans what they know about Tasmania, and I'm guessing the Tasmanian devil will top the list of probable replies. Inquire further as to where it's located, and a correct answer will surely be less likely. Besides the fact that I could identify it on a map, I knew relatively little of "Tassie" other than it was English speaking and it was predominantly Christian. This was important because we wanted to make sure that wherever we spent Christmas, there'd be some semblance of the holiday spirit for the kids.

Once the reservations for Tasmania were booked, I started to hear nothing but good things about where we were committed to be at the end of December. 'A lot like England', 'stunningly beautiful,' and 'well-kept secret' were among the descriptions thrown my way. Since it's not too far from New Zealand and falls along the same path of the 'roaring 40's' westerly winds, I anticipated seeing more rugged landscapes and gorgeous scenery. As we would learn, untamed wilderness and bountiful wildlife are not the only treasures of this once isolated island off the southern shores of mainland Australia. Gourmet food, up-and-coming wines and a thriving urban scene are also part of the mix that I had not expected.

In this month's issue of Traveler, Hotel Central features some of the finest Australian stations, the Aussie version of a cattle ranch. There are a variety of ways to experience the outback at its best; accommodations include lodge guestrooms, bungalows, and tented cabins. But for as little as $10 (USD) per night, you can camp on a cattle station and fall asleep under the Southern Cross stars.

At El Questro Wilderness Park, choose from camping at the Black Cockatoo grounds or, if you prefer your own space away from fellow campers, you can pitch your tent at a private site along the Pentecost River.  

Camping along the Pentecost River also is an option at Home Valley Station. The Bindoola River Camp is located about 2.5 miles from the main Homestead, complete with views of the gorgeous outback sunset and landscape. If you're looking for someone to share ghost stories with, the more social site at the Homestead grounds, near the Dusty Bar & Grill, Station Store, and lagoon-style pool, may be just what you're looking for.

With the money you'll save by forgoing luxury lodgings, you can afford to participate in the activities offered at the stations...like a daily boomerang contest. Check them out after the break.

Poor Australia. Our family had just spent the most magnificent month in New Zealand, and none of us wanted to leave. I had anticipated this might be the case after hearing nothing but rave reviews from people who had been there. But our around-the-world ticket dictated that we had to board a plane for a short 3 1/2 hour flight from Christchurch to Brisbane. So we set off knowing that Australia would have its work cut out to match the experience we had just had.

Upon arrival, we found ourselves in anything but a Christmas atmosphere with just a little over two weeks to go before the big day. Having relatives in southern Florida, we've spent late December in warm weather before, but this was different. Instead of houses draped in flashing lights and lawns adorned with holiday displays, the kids stared bewildered at caricatures of Santa riding a surfboard and signs in store windows offering "Beginning of Summer Sales." This just didn't compute properly to a nine- and eleven-year-old, but the 85-degree temperatures and sunny weather quickly helped make sense of the situation and got us all excited to start exploring Australia wholeheartedly.

The itinerary for our time Down Under had been pretty well mapped out before we arrived, in large part from the recommendations of the national and local tourist boards. Our plans included quite a few stops to view native wildlife and take in the country's fabulous scenery. New Zealand had set the bar pretty high in this category and anyone who's traveled extensively knows it's easy to get caught up in comparing experiences and rating different places for things like food, hotels, and in this case, natural beauty. You find this on the cover of travel magazines all the time ("Top 50 Places Rated"). So when we arrived at O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat in the heart of Queensland's World Heritage Lamington National Park, I didn't expect to find anything different or overwhelming that could top what we'd seen in New Zealand.  To my pleasant surprise, it wasn't just what we saw that impressed us (the sunset over the Green Mountains was an all-time classic), it's what we heard.

Rainer Jenss and his family are currently on an around-the-world journey, and they're blogging about their experiences for us at Intelligent Travel. Keep up with the Jensses by bookmarking their posts, and follow the boys' Global Bros blog at National Geographic Kids.

It goes without saying that not all travel destinations are created equal. Conventional wisdom says that places like New Zealand and Bhutan, for example, are best suited for adventure travelers, while China and Japan would favor history buffs or those in search of a more cultural experience. On the flipside, adventure seekers can find plenty to do in Asia, while Maori traditions and Himalayan Buddhism would appeal to anyone interested in cultural enrichment. But what happens when you travel in a group where some people are into one thing, while others prefer something completely different? Welcome to the world of family travel!

Before the kids were born, Carol and I took a vacation to Australia, and like many of its visitors, planned the trip around diving the Great Barrier Reef. While researching the area around Cairns, where most scuba excursions originate, we learned about the town of Port Douglas and the Daintree Rainforest, which offered romantic and adventurous side-trips well worth investigating. While actually there, we discovered some terrific restaurants and atmospheric pubs that only the laidback Australian vibe could supply. We also did our live-aboard scuba trip, which allowed us to immerse ourselves in the marine world with eleven consecutive dives over the course of three days and nights, all in the company of a dozen other underwater enthusiasts.         

Other than the fact that the minimum age for taking up scuba diving is twelve, even our pre-teen boys wouldn't want to be subjected to hanging around on a dive boat in the middle of the ocean for more than a few hours. And since swanky eateries and outback bars wouldn't be too appropriate either, we kept Cairns and northern Queensland off the itinerary, opting instead for the more kid-friendly southern part of the state. So while I enviously bypassed the dazzling dive sites offered throughout the country, we set our sites on the Whitsundays Islands and the Sunshine Coast for aquatic pursuits.