Travel

[caskur™]

yes, yes....that is where I would love to be right now....

on an island doing NOTHING except watch the seagulls and breathe the salt air and be waited on, hand and foot...LOL

[caskur]

Where is this location members?

Any takers?

[caskur™]

That is very cramped livng there. That has to be Malta.

Malta is known for its world heritage sites,most prominently the Megalithic Temples which are the oldest free-standing structures on Earth.

[caskur™]

The oldest structures man built were made with lentils. That is the flat stone balancing across pillars. You wouldn't survive an earthquake living in one of those. One earthquake and you'd be squashed like a pancake.

[caskur]

That is very cramped livng there. That has to be Malta.

Malta is known for its world heritage sites,most prominently the Megalithic Temples which are the oldest free-standing structures on Earth.

It is Malta.

Malta in reality is a lot dirtier though. It also has a lot of poverty.

[Demeters Daughter]

Aaah; all these island pics are making me long for summer. Long Island has some of the best beaches in the world, especially the North and South Forks!

[caskur™]

The singer Chris Isaacs comes to Australia at least twice a year. He has said on two occasions that he used to brag about Californian beaches and how great they were, until he saw Australia’s beaches….now when he goes home he says he shuts his mouth and says nothing… .He is a gorgeous man, that guy is. Great singer, fantastic sense of humour, good looking…down to earth….we love him in Oz.


But alas, a couple of weeks ago, there was sea tragedy in Queensland. A ship against the crews wishes, sailed towards a cyclone [hurricane] and lost its oil from being battered by the seas so for a stretch of beach in Queensland, there is one hell of a clean-up….I think they’ve gotten on top of it now though cuz it isn’t in the news lately.

[caskur™]

Mangroves are very important places for the sea life as many species start their life at the mangroves.

I was watching a documentary last night on the mangroves. They are very important trees that grow on the edge of swamp land and where all the food grows for other larger creatures....and there were these funny looking mud crabs called Fiddler Crabs with one giant claw apiece fighting each other over mating with the female. It is hard to imagine crabs mating.....they looked ridiculous too....it was funny.....btw, the crabs didn't rip each other claws off either....it was more for show than anything.....I just think one of the crabs was gay and was looking for a mating...LOL




But the funniest looking creature in the Australian mangroves has just got to be the mudskipper…..I’m trying to score a picture of them face on….LOL….here is one from Wikipedia….I can see where artists get their inspiration from for science fiction movies.



this youtube is a bit too dark as it was shot by an amateur no doubt...lol...mudskippers are fish that can also hop across land.

[caskur™]

This one is better...

Mudskipper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUaB7p5qaII&feature=related

[caskur™]

South Island gets its own Lonely Planet

www.Stuff.co.nz | Monday, 02 March 2009



DEDICATED GUIDE: Travel bible Lonely Planet is releasing a
guide to New Zealand's South Island, catering for travellers
who spend a lot of time there. — Photo: Lonely Planet.

Travel guide Lonely Planet will publish a dedicated guidebook to New Zealand’s South Island.

“This is something that our readers have been crying out for, and we’re pretty excited to be finally bringing it to them,” said Errol Hunt, author and Lonely Planet’s Australia-Pacific commissioning editor.

“It’s aimed at travellers who spend their entire time in New Zealand on the South Island, so removes the need for them to buy the heavier full-country guide,” Errol said.

320,000 Australians, 61,000 Britons and 43,000 Americans all fly directly to New Zealand’s South Island each year.

• The guide will be available in April.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/1750870/South-Island-gets-its-own-Lonely-Planet


Capital start for a smart guide to the other island

By CAMERON WILLIAMSON - The Dominion Post | Tuesday, 31 March 2009

The most surprising thing, on opening Lonely Planet's good-looking new guide to the South Island of New Zealand, is a beefy chapter on Wellington.

This morning, admiring the harbour and the hills, I and my fellow capital-dwellers were convinced we were in the North Island. Reassuringly, Lonely Planet agrees. “But it's such a major travel hub and point of entry for the South Island, we thought it was important to include it,” they say. And showing admirable balance, Stewart Island at the other end of the long, underpopulated land mass the tourists love, is included in rich detail also.

While no guidebook can hope to be right up-to-date, capital visitors looking for caffeine at the “grungy bunker” Espressaholic, or Maori- fusion food at Kai in The City, or hoping to catch a film at Rialto cinema, will find the businesses no longer exist.

And if they dwell too long on this chapter, with its comprehensive coverage of the Kapiti Coast and the Wairarapa, they might just miss the ferry.

Once across Cook Strait the guide, written for the more than 450,000 British, Australian and American travellers who visit the South Island each year, is exhaustive in its coverage of every stop on the main tourist trails, and clever about its advice for those who want to get off it: “Truly wild places are rare in today's world, but the South Island delivers them in droves: fiords, sounds, glaciers, cloud-topping mountain ranges, remote islands, raggedy peninsulas and wide river plains.”

“You might meet other travellers seeking the same solitude, but there's plenty of wilderness to go round.”

With a history chapter supplied by James Belich and a nice summary of the Captain Cook legend by Tony Horwitz, it's no wonder visiting travellers are well informed, although editors make the common mistake of pluralising our PM's name. But the book supplements its savvy and up-to-date travel information and advice with solid information on culture and environmental awareness — warning of the danger (and repercussions) of unthinkingly contributing to the spread of “rock snot” or didymo that threatens to choke our rivers and kill our delicate freshwater fishery.

All told, it leaves a reader with an unequivocal appreciation of New Zealand's core value: “There are few wild places on this not-so-lonely planet as pristine, diverse and staggeringly good-looking.”

• New Zealand's South Island, Lonely Planet, paperback — $36.95.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/features/travel/2303098/Capital-start-for-a-smart-guide-to-the-other-island


http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/Primary/BestsellingTravelGuides/PRD_PRD_3511/New+Zealands+South+Island+Travel+Guide.jsp

[Outlawed]

No one wants to go to New Zealand.

They only have sheep and fields to look at.

[caskur™]

My family said New Zealand was beautiful and going by the big screen views of the landscape in The Lord of the Rings, I would say it was too.

[arete]

I'd love to go to NZ!  It looks so storybook-ISH.
Sometimes the landscape is the best entertainment of all.

[caskur™]

Ok recently, I took a short trip to Busselton. That is only a 3 trip by car down the south coast of my state.

Busselton boasts the longest jetty in the Southern Hemisphere and is under repair so you cannot walk its length for the time being however this is the spot and it’s a pretty spot…..

http://www.busseltonjetty.com.au/

THE BUSSELTON JETTY IS CURRENTLY UNDERGOING A FULL RESTORATION PROJECT TO RESTORE IT BACK TO 'AS NEW' CONDITION.  ACCESS TO THE INTERPRETIVE CENTRE AND THE FIRST 200M OF THE JETTY IS STILL PERMITTED.  VISITORS ARE ENCOURAGED TO COME TO THE INTERPRETIVE CENTRE AND SEE OUR SECTION DEDICATED TO THE RESTORATION PROCESS COMPLETE WITH IMAGES, ENGINEERING PLANS AND A TIMELINE AS THE PROJECT UNFOLDS.
 
 
The 140-year-old Busselton Jetty, measured at 1841 metres, is the longest wooden jetty (pier) in the southern hemisphere and today is one of Australia's most unique eco-tourism sites.
 
Just two and a half hours drive south of Perth, the seaside resort town of Busselton is situated at the northern gateway to the Margaret River Wine Region. The Busselton Jetty attracts over 400,000 visitors a year and is the most popular tourist attraction in the South West region. It is an ideal starting point for any visit to the South West Capes.
 
The Busselton Jetty Underwater Observatory, with more than 300 individual marine species, is host to an awe inspiring "forest" of vividly-coloured tropical and sub-tropical corals, sponges, fish and invertebrates. It is described as Australia's greatest artificial reef.
 
Each year during autumn and winter, the Leeuwin Current brings a narrow band of warm water down the Western Australian coastline. This warm southerly current is responsible for the incredibly diverse array of tropical and sub-tropical species in Geographe Bay including coral growth at a latitude of 33 degrees south. The west coasts of other southern hemisphere continents such as Africa and South America have no coral growth below 5 degrees south.

[caskur™]

Calamity gives birth to one of a handful of dolphins to give birth in captivity..
cool stuff...

Coffs Harbour..

http://video.google.com.au/videosearch?hl=en&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&as_sitesearch=&as_qdr=all&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images&q=dolphin+calamity&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=IEcYS7TrFo3o7APR7MnRDw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CA4QqwQwAA#hl=en&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&as_sitesearch=&as_qdr=all&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=images&q=dolphin+calamity&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=IEcYS7TrFo3o7APR7MnRDw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CA4QqwQwAA&qvid=dolphin+calamity&vid=-7858396001677589760