Oceania

Travel through Oceania by country:

Australia, Indonesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu

Travel through Oceania by popular city:

Auckland, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Wellington

Travel through Oceania by popular things to do:

Cook Islands, Sydney Opera House

Travel through Oceania with our writers:

In the Corner of the World, Work and Play in Queensland

Explorers discover ‘lost world’ in Papua New Guinea

by Kraig Becker on

A team of explorers from the U.S. and Britain, along with locals from Papua New Guinea, recently descended into the volcanic crater of Mount Bosavi, where they discovered a “lost world” with a host of new species that have been evolving in isolation for thousands of years. The crater is more than a kilometer deep and three kilometers across, and lacks the major predators that are often common in rainforests around the globe. The result, is that many creatures were able to adapt to living side by side in an environment that remains nearly completely cut off from the outside world.

In the five weeks that the explorers and scientists were in the crater they found a wealth of interesting creatures, including kangaroos that live in trees, a new type of bat, and a fish that makes grunting noises. They also discovered 16 new species of frogs, including one with a set of fangs, as well as a new breed of rat that my now hold the record as the largest in the world.

The scientists on the expedition were surprised and amazed at these discoveries, and are now making renewed calls for the preservation of rainforests across the planet. The amount of new species they found in just five weeks makes you wonder what else is out there, still hidden in the jungles, that we don’t know anything about. There is still a lot of this world left to explore and plenty of new things to discover, despite what we might think.

Disgusting tourists use Uluru as a toilet

by Katie Hammel on

The otherworldly red rock of Uluru (Ayers Rock) that rises above a flat expanse of Australia‘s Northern Territory has long been considered a sacred site to the native Aboriginal people. Against their wishes, over 100,000 people climb the rock, which is just over 1100 feet tall, each year. Recently, the National Parks service proposed a plan that would close Uluru to climbers.

There were many reasons given for the proposed climbing ban, including the site’s significance to the Aboriginal people, increased erosion on the rock, and the danger involved in climbing the rock(it is estimated that around 35 people die while attempting to scale it each year). A guide for the Anangu Waai tour company has now cited another reason – people are using the sacred spot as a toilet. After they get to the top, they take a “bathroom break” out of sight before starting their descent. It’s an idea so revolting that you hope it can’t possibly be true, but the director of the National Parks has backed it up. He says that in busy times, the levels of E. coli at the base of Uluru reach dangerous levels as the filth washes down the rock with the rain.

The Northern Territory government opposes the proposal. If Uluru were to be closed to hikers, fewer people might visit, and the area’s tourism industry could suffer. As per usual, environmental and social ideals become tangled with economic concerns and the country’s Environmental Minister will have to consider both when he makes his decision on a 10-year plan for the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, which he says will be made “in due course”. Looks like it you want to climb Uluru, you should get there now….but please hit the bathroom before you go.

[via Times Online]

Nine great photographic adventures

by Kraig Becker on

Yesterday we told you about the highest photography and videography workshop in the world, which is scheduled to take place in April of 2010 on the North and East side of Everest. Today we have nine more great photography adventures courtesy of Outside Magazine, who asked their favorite photographers to name the best locations for getting amazing photos.

Topping the list is Antarctica, which gets high marks for its stark beauty and acres of penguins. They recommend a cruise from Geographic Expeditions that is 23 days in length and includes guest lectures by Peter Hillary (son of Sir Edmund Hillary) and photography workshops from a guy named Art Wolfe.

If heading to the South Pole seems a bit on the cold side to you, perhaps you’d prefer to go to Nepal instead. Outside claims that it’s practically impossible to take a bad picture in the Himalaya, and I’m inclined to agree with them. They recommend staying on the Nepali side of the mountain and making the trek up to base camp with Berg Adventures on a 24-day adventure in the Khumbu Valley.

Most of the other trips on the list are equally high on adventure, but lack the distances involved in traveling to Nepal or the Antarctic. They recommend similar photographic adventures in Colorado, New Mexico, and California, amongst others. Each of the locations will give you plenty of interesting landscapes to shoot or to serve as spectacular backdrops at the very least.

I recently had great advice from a photographer friend of mine who told me that the trick to shooting great photos is to shoot great subjects. Who would have thought that it was that simple?

British woman completes second stage of trans-Pacific row

by Kraig Becker on

Way back in May we covered Roz Savage as she set out on the second leg of her attempt to row solo across the Pacific. Now, 105 days later, she has finished that stage, arriving on the island of Tarawa yesterday, where she was greeted by her support team and hundreds of locals, who gave her a traditional island welcome.

Last year, Roz became the first woman to row solo from San Francisco to Hawaii, a distance of 2324 miles. This year’s second stage covered another 3158 miles and sets up a third and final stage, from Tarawa to Australia in 2010. When she’s finishes sometime next summer, Roz will become the first woman to complete a solo row across the Pacific Ocean. Back in 2005, she finished her first ocean row, by crossing the Atlantic in 103 days.

Tarawa was not Roz’s intended destination on this leg of her journey. Originally she had planned to arrive at the island of Tuvalu, but ocean currents and winds helped to push her further west than she had hoped, forcing her to row several hundred miles further than what had been scheduled.

While this epic journey is inspiring enough on its own, Roz is also rowing for a cause. She is hoping to raise awareness about a number of environmental concerns, including the use of plastics, and the importance of recycling. The health of the oceans, as you can imagine, are important to health of the entire planet, and that is a message that Roz hopes to convey, as she makes her environmentally friendly expedition across the Pacific.

Congrats to Roz on finishing the second leg of her journey, and good luck in 2010 on stage three.

Learn while you travel

by Kraig Becker on

Are you the type of person who loves to learn new things? You’re reading Gadling, so obviously love to travel. Have you ever thought of combing both of those things into a learning vacation? If so, then check out this article from the London Times Online which lists some of the top learning holidays from around the globe.

An example of some of the great trip options that the Times suggest include learning to cook in Tuscany with a travel company called Tasting Places, which specializes in cooking holidays in a variety of countries around the world. Looking for something a bit more adventurous? Then how about learning to SCUBA dive in Egypt with Scuba Travels, who will take you to the Red Sea where you can explore a number of great dive sites, several of which have wrecks. Other suggestions including learning to be a cowboy on a Colorado ranch, training in the Brazilian martial art of Capoeira, or discovering your inner-artist by learning to paint in Andalusia.

These are just an example of some of the best learning vacations around, and chances are, what ever activity that you’re passionate about, you can take a vacation and manage to learn more about the topic. Whether it’s rock climbing in Thailand or learning the Tango in Argentina, there are plenty of exotic locals you can visit under the excuse of learning something new.