Making The World Safer For Bananas

by Brett Atkinson on

Whether you’re hiking the Appalachian Trail or hanging out of Vietnam’s Reunification Express, there’s nothing like a fresh banana to give you a boost of energy. Trouble is the tasty fruit in the handy natural zipper pack does not respond well to being left in a day pack with a guidebook and GPS.

Finding a bruised and forgotten ‘nana is not the best way to end a day.

The Banana Bunker is designed to keep Ecuador’s finest fresh throughout the busiest travels.

There’s no word yet if the design work has been completed on the Aubergine Apparatus or the Pomegranate Pouch.

Hanging Off A Rope In the New Zealand Rainforest

by Brett Atkinson on

I’m pretty happy I live in Auckland. Just over a million people with an increasing cultural diversity, loads of good restaurants, and a surprising number of international concerts (although that means for every visit from Interpol and Ryan Adams we get, we also have to host Tommy Lee’s woeful Supernova).

Across recent weeks I’ve been exploring Auckland’s wilder side in a series of articles on “Urban Adventures” I’m writing for a local magazine. An earlier post was on Bungy Jumping off the Auckland Harbour Bridge , and I’ve just returned from canyoning in the Waitakere Ranges to the west of Auckland with my nephew Matthew.

Togged up in wetsuits and safety helmets, we’ve just spent three hours working our way down the Blue Canyon‘s cavalcade of eighteen different waterfalls. Each of the cascades has required a slightly different technique. On some a spectacular and energetic leap has worked best. On others we’ve been forced to slide on our backsides down mossy natural water slides. Throw in a couple of watery abseils for good measure.

All the while we’ve been surrounded by native birdsong in a stunning chasm that’s only a few metres across at its widest point.

It’s been a great day. Not bad for somewhere that’s only 45 minutes from downtown Auckland .

See Canyonz for more information

The World’s Top 10 Volcanoes

by Martha Edwards on

When I was 21, I spent one hot, sweaty day hiking over loosely-packed to shale to arrive at our destination: the peak of the Volcano on the island of Santorini in Greece. I had envisioned the volcanoes from the movies — steaming, black and full of red-hot molten lava, but this just looked like a large pile of rocks with a crater in the middle. I mean, it’s pretty obvious that hiking up an active volcano wouldn’t be safe, but this was still a bit of let-down, especially after a tedious hike after a late night of drinking Ouzo. I’ve seen better vistas on hikes before than this one. Still, it might be worth a visit if even just to say you’ve hiked up a volcano.

But there are definitely better volcanoes out there to see, like the ones mentioned on this list of the world’s top 10 volcanoes. Here’s what made the list:

  1. Kilauea – Hawaii
  2. Mount Liamuiga Volcano – St Kitts
  3. Mount Kilimanjaro – Tanzania
  4. Mount Vesuvius – Italy
  5. Augustine, Douglas, Illiamna and Redoubt volcanoes – Alaska
  6. Niyragongo Volcano – Zaire
  7. Yellowstone – United States
  8. Shiga volcanic complex – Japan
  9. Ambrym Volcano – Vanuatu
  10. Mount Taranaki — New Zealand

To find out why these made the list, check out the full article.

World’s Biggest Spider Web Found in Texas

by Matthew Firestone on

Everything is bigger in Texas, and this monster spider web is no different.

Discovered by park rangers at Lake Tawakoni State Park in Texas, the football-field sized web is actually the result of millions of spiders working together. Strangely enough, spiders don’t normally organize themselves in large social units, though so far their efforts have been incredibly successful.

Described as ‘fairy-tale white’ by the rangers who first arrived on the scene, the web is now a few shades darker as it is completely blanketed by ill-fated mosquitoes. The smorgasbord will likely continue until the autumn when the spiders short lives will come to an end.

Photo and article sourced from the BBC.

Alaska Float Plane Photo Gallery

by Neil Woodburn on

If you’ve been enjoying Gadling the last couple of days, you may have read our two-part series highlighting the joys of float plane fishing in Alaska.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime vacation I recently took with a group of old friends from high school, most of which had never been to Alaska before. It was a do-it-yourself trip that turned out to be surprisingly inexpensive and expectedly wonderful. We saw bears and bald eagles, caught so much salmon we had to throw most of it back, hiked through magnificent scenery, and otherwise indulged in all that is Alaska.

As one might expect, nearly a week of fishing for salmon from a remote Alaska cabin produces quite a number of fantastic photographs. While many of them were already included in the two-part series, we’ve grouped the others into an amazing Photo Gallery that truly captures the Alaska experience. But be careful; viewing these photographs may be dangerously motivating — you might just leave the wife and children at home and venture into the wilderness just as we all did.

Affordable Float Plane Fishing in Alaska Part 1
Affordable Float Plane Fishing in Alaska Part 2