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

TV From Everywhere

by Erik Olsen on

The Web is an amazing place. I know, that’s a rather absurd statement of the obvious, if not a completely useless platitude. But that is exactly what came to mine when I saw this site called Medinalia on a random click-stroll around media sites. I’ve seen similar sites to this before (I can’t remember where, though), but the thing I lie about this one is that it seems to be very well organized and nicely designed. Essentially what Medinalia does is allow you to watch television channels from countries and cities all over the world. They are listed alphabetically from (yes, Neil) Albania to Yugoslavia (what, no Zimbabwe channels available?!), and the various programs can be viewed by not just country, but also by type (i.e. Christian, Adult) and language (anyone out there eager to catch a little Papiamentu TV?)

I imagine one could spent a fair amount of time checking this stuff out. The only problem on my end seemed to be buffering. Maybe my connection today is slow, but it took a good long time to get some of these channels to play, and even then the experience was often frustratingly bad quality. But it is still a rather amazing grouping of lots of visual media from around the world and, well, the Web IS an amazing place.

World Factbook Updated

by Adrienne Wilson on

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been in an elevator and the permits were expired by a range of two days to two years. Why I take notice of those rectangular size certificates in lift boxes worldwide isn’t hard to comprehend, for the most part I don’t want to get stuck in one. I don’t fancy the thought of getting trapped somewhere in between my final destination and so it peeves me that those certificates are almost never updated. Anywhoodle, this isn’t a piece about the lack of attention or examination of elevators. Nope, not at all. Not even close. It’s about things that do get updated. Things we can count on and trust like the online World Factbook.

Updated as of July 20, 2006 there are a couple points of interest in this new edition. For example Serbia and Montenegro are both formally and officially recognized as separate Balkan countries. There is a new Appendix G which includes weights and measures. Some country maps introduced in the 2001 edition have been revised and regional maps have been updated to reflect boundary changes and place and name spelling changes. Most of you who use the factbook on a day-to-day basis have probably already been made aware of the new changes and for those who haven’t – now you know.

Word for the Travel Wise (07/15/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

After finding out about the happiest country on Earth earlier, I figured it’d be nice to know some of the local language and luckily for us, the Vanuatu tourism website has included enough to get anyone looking to visit around the town.

Today’s phrase is a Bislama word used in Vanuatu:

mi glad tumas – (me glad too much) I am very happy

Bislama is a Melanesian creole language and one of the official languages used in Vanuatu. For the most part it is a phonetic lingo and a mixture of words from English, French, and various North, Central, and South Vanuatu langs. There are 6,200 first language speakers and 128,000 additional language speakers. Check out the Wikipedia for additional background and historical facts regarding Bislama. To start learning some words and phrases right away go to the official tourism site for the tropical South Pacific island country.

The Happiest Country on Earth is…

by Adrienne Wilson on

For those of you unfamiliar with the reality TV series Survivor or have better things to do with your time than watch average folk battle it our for prizes and such by competing in gladiator type competitions, you may not be familiar Vanuatu. Perhaps, you’re fortunate enough to know about the group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean without the help of television and if you are you may also like to know that Vanuatu has ranked tops as the world’s happiest country. According to this Yahoo News piece, a study measuring people’s wellbeing and their impact on the environment has ranked Vanuatu at the top with Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, and Panama trailing close behind to complete the world’s top 5 happiest places to reside. Not really surprising if you ask me. Islands always come off as cheerful places to me and having been to Costa Rica myself, I could certainly see myself living there. As far as Vanuatu is concerned – I’d love to go there as much as I’d love to go to Somalia. Happiness is what you make it.

The Happy Planet Index is complied by the British New Economics Foundation (NEF) and also combines life satisfaction, life expectancy and environmental footprint to rank countries. Hopefully the results won’t drive herds of shutter-bug tourists to happy little Vanuatu or away from Zimbabwe, an African country my friend finds as one of the best, but ranks 178 on the list. The U.S. comes in at 150, Canada (111), France (129), Germany (81), Japan (95) and Russia (172).

What do you think? Agree or disagree? What do you consider the happiest place on Earth?

Go Sledging

by Erik Olsen on

We’re always on the lookout for new outdoor sports and activities to bring your attention to. Here’s a piece on a new sport called river sledging. River sledging is kind of like boogie boarding, and kind of like white water rafting….and it’s also a bit like sledding. So mix these things together and throw in a bit of New Zealand craziness and you’ve got river sledging.

Looks like several Kiwi companies are offering opportunities to sledge on the rivers of New Zealand, and now doubt it’s coming or has already come to the US. Looks like you have to wear a helmet because you might get pummeled by dangerous boulders, but it also looks damn fun. Leave it to the kiwis to come up with a sport like this…they are the ones, after all, who came up with Zorbing.