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

Undersea Eatery

by Erik Olsen on

I caught news about this cool restaurant in the Maldives at first over at this blog, and I was getting all giddy over the post heralding a “all new undersea restaurant”. Then I realized that the blog post was dated in 2005, so I had to rewrite things.

But I am still going to post about the restaurant because I have to say it’s really cool. I literally just left the Atlanta Aquarium and was blown away by some of the huge walk-in aquariums. Whale sharks swam overhead! But to sit and have dinner, perhaps a lightly baked fish, with the ocean and sea life overhead, well, that’d be great. Not to mention how cool to be in the Maldives, said to be the location of some of the best diving on the globe. So if you’re planning a trip to these islands before they disappear under the waves due to global warming, check out the Ithaa Undersea Restaurant, and then let us know what you think.

South Pacific Wine?!?!?

by Neil Woodburn on

Wine tourism is a very popular and lucrative industry. And, it can be enjoyed in wonderful locations around the globe such as France, California, Spain and the South Pacific.

Huh?!?!? The South Pacific?

Yep. According to an article in the Independent, a lone winemaker is practicing his craft on the remote island of Rangiroa in French Polynesia.

Writer Roderick Gilchrist recently made the journey to tour the vineyards, located just past the coconut trees and white sandy beach, and try out the wine.

The vineyard was the brainchild of a Frenchman who shipped 200 tons of Tahitian earth to the island and then planted red grapes from France and white grapes from Italy. The fruits of his labor now produce 50,000 bottles of Vin de Tahiti annually–a wine that Gilchrist describes as delicious, but with a slight coral aftertaste.

Sea Lion Attack

by Erik Olsen on

Just when you thought it was safe to pet those cute little sea lions on the beach. OK, maybe they’re not so little. And they’re not so cute, either. The fact is, sea lions are known to bite. They are relatives of dogs, after all, despite their misnomerish name associating them with felines. But you would not expect them to body slam you, right? Yet that is exactly what happened recently in Australia, according to this news story.

The story has it that 13-year old Aussie Ella Murphy had her jaw broken and got three teeth knocked out after a huge sea lion leapt out of the water and hit her head on as she was being towed on a surfboard behind a speedboat.

“This thing just exploded in a full-on, frontal attack,” a family member said. Scary.

Now, I’ve dealt with my share of sea lions in California. They tend to be loud, but I’ve never seen one go after somebody. Maybe there’s something about Aussie waters that makes them mean. Or maybe this girl said something to him as she was surfing past that made him mad. But seriously, I’m keeping extra distance next time I see a herd of these guys hanging out on the rocks.

Lost Locations

by Neil Woodburn on

We’ve posted a number of times here on Gadling about the ABC hit series, Lost. This is perhaps the only show on television in which I wish I could thoroughly explore nearly every location in which a scene has been filmed.

Of course, you must know by now that the series is shot on the beautiful Hawaiian island of Oahu. I’ve come across a number of articles and websites pointing out some of the locations but none have been as detailed and organized as LostVirtualTour.com. This site allows one to search for locations by episode and geography.

Coolest of all, the site provides detailed descriptions about the real life locations themselves. For example, the scene featured above was from season 3, episode 12 and was shot in the Ka’a’awa Valley–a fantastic location owned by Kualoa Ranch (and which was also used in the filming of Jurassic Park). LostVirtualTour.com provides information on how to get there, phone contacts, a company which will provide Hummer tours of the valley, and the website of the ranch itself. Talk about detailed information! Quick! Get me a flight there as soon as possible!

The Extreme List

by Erik Olsen on

Sure, there are the 1000 Places to Go Before You Die. That’s a fine list and one that can help the average traveler see the best places in the world before drawing your terminal breath. But is there such a thing as Extreme Things to Do Before You Die. I mean, there seems to be Extreme everything else. Extreme cooking even.

Here is a site dedicated to Extreme places. The highest place on earth – Mount Everest (or maybe not), the lowest place on earth the Dead Sea, the largest natural feature on the Earth – the Great Barrier Reef, the oldest piece of earth on, um, Earth – in Australia. And my favorite: Mount Thor, Canada: the Greatest Vertical Drop on the Earth with a 4100 foot shear cliff that must fill the dreams of many a BASE jumper.

The list goes on, and to be honest, it is quite an enjoyable read. What’s even better is that nice photo accompany most entries. Now this would be a great goal, to visit and photograph yourself, perhaps even to dance, at every one of these places.