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

How To Hike Australia’s Blue Mountains

by Jessica Festa on

“Does anyone know why we call these the Blue Mountains?” asks Tommy, our hiking guide.

My friends and I look at each other unsure. I feel silly I hadn’t bothered to research such an obvious question.

“They are covered in Eucalyptus Trees, which spritz Eucalyptus oil from their leaves,” Tommy explained. “In the sun, the mist creates a haze that appears blue from a distance.”

The Blue Mountains comprise a mountainous region in New South Wales, Australia, and are part of the Great Dividing Range, the third longest mountain range in the world. The Blue Mountains themselves are actually longer than the Rocky Mountains, although not as high. Dramatically cut by deep chasms, hikers have the ability to explore the trails along the mountain ridges and down into these gorges.

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When To Visit

When hiking through the Blue Mountains, you’ll experience climatic shifts as you traverse through the different areas of the region. Whether it’s summer or winter, prepare for both seasons, as the weather can change rapidly. While you can visit anytime of year, Australia’s spring, which runs September to November, is when adventure sports like canyoning, rock climbing, abseiling and mountain biking begin their peak season. Additionally, you’ll also be able to experience an array of festivals in the area like the Festival of Walking, a nine-day event featuring everything from street walks to advanced treks, and The Capertee Challenge mountain biking event, where participants ride among sandstone cliffs and abundant wildlife. Other seasons also have perks, like vibrant foliage in the autumn, refreshingly crisp air in the winter and golden warmth in the summer.

Getting There

There are many ways to get to the Blue Mountains from Sydney. Depending on which area of the Blue Mountains you are going to, the drive will take about 45 minutes to two hours by car. The nearest point is Glenbrook, while the farthest is Jenolan Caves/Oberon. Most visitors choose to spend their time in Leura or Katoomba, which is about 90 minutes from Sydney.

Taking the train is another option. City Rail offers trains directly from the city center or airport. This option is quicker than driving, and also includes access to the hop-on hop-off bus in the Blue Mountains, which visits more than 30 attractions. Trains run every hour, sometimes more than once.

Many travelers also opt to go by coach bus. Generally, buses leaves from Circular Quay. There are numerous companies, which you can browse by clicking here.

Hikes

You don’t need to be an athlete to hike in the Blue Mountains. Trails range from easy to experienced, and some paths are even wheelchair accessible. First you should choose your home base(s), which includes Glenbrook/Warrimoo, Springwood/Faulconbridge, Lawson, Wentworth Falls, Leura, Katoomba, Blackheath, Lithgow, Megalong Valley, Mount Victoria/Mount York, Bells Line of Road, Mount Wilson or Oberon.

While most of the previously mentioned areas contain an array of trail levels, some are more proportionate to one skill level. For example, those looking for an easy, scenic stroll should head to Glenbrook/Warrimoo, Leura or Katoomba. Moreover, experienced hikers will enjoy Blackheath, Katoomba and Wentworth Falls.

Katoomba

During my trip, I explored a few of the areas, and have my own personal recommendations. There is a reason Katoomba is thought of as the “must see” area of the Blue Mountains, as there are many noteworthy natural sites. The hike from Echo Point to Katoomba Falls is easy/moderate and is about 2.5 miles to return. You’ll get to view the iconic Three Sisters, a unique rock formation that was created by erosion and now appears to be three distinct but concise rock towers. Orphan Rock, Jamison Valley, the ridges of Kings Tableland and Mount Solitary are other sites you’ll take in. You can easily add on to the trek to be able to see Furber Steps, the Scenic Railway and a large boulder outcrop known as the Ruined Castle.

In Katoomba, you should also visit Scenic World for a chance to experience the Scenic Skyway, Scenic Railway, Scenic Cableway, Scenic Walkway and Scenic Cinema. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Scenic Railway is said to be the steepest funicular in the world, with an incline of 52 degrees.

Wentworth Falls

The Wentworth Falls area has everything from the leisurely 3-mile, round-trip “Charles Darwin Walk” to a difficult 4-mile circuit with exceptional views, waterfalls, rain forests and bird watching. On the “Charles Darwin Walk,” you’ll follow the babbling Jamison Creek and will get to sit at the top of Wentworth Falls. Other waterfalls on the trek include Queen’s Cascades and Weeping Rock. If you’d like to make your hike more difficult, start at the Wentworth Falls picnic area and make your way to the Conservation Hut. You’ll pass numerous waterfalls as you walk fenced cliff edges. Keep in mind that while scenic, much of this trail is uphill, so you’ll need to be fit.

Blackheath

Trekking in Blackheath will allow you to discover the top area of the Blue Mountains for all-encompassing views of the area. One simple yet historical hike I recommend is Walls Cave. You’ll start at the end of Walls Cave Road where there will be a sign guiding you down a dirt path to Greaves Creek. Crossing over a small bridge, continue downstream until there is a bend in the creek. Here you will find Walls Cave, which was once inhabited by aboriginals.

if you’ve got a few hours to spare and want something more challenging, Walls Ledge-Centennial Glen-Porter’s Pass is a worthwhile trek. The beginning of the trail can be found near
the Centennial Glen Road parking lot. Right at the beginning, you’ll traverse winding hills following the cliff line where you will be able to look out into the valley. Follow the Porter’s Pass arrows, and along the way you’ll take in Kanimbia Valley, descend into a canyon and enjoy Centennial Glen Waterfall.

What’s your favorite Blue Mountains hike?

[Images above via Shutterstock; Gallery images Jessie on a Journey, Shutterstock, nosha, Jeremy Vandel]

‘The Perennial Plate’ Partners With Intrepid Travel For Online Food Documentary Series

by Laurel Miller on

I’ll be the first to raise my hand and say I despise most of the food shows currently on television and online. That’s why I got so excited when I heard about “The Perennial Plate,” a weekly online documentary series, “dedicated to socially responsible and adventurous eating.”

That angle by virtue does not a good show make. But Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine, the team behind the show, have the ideal background to make this concept work, which it does. Throw in a collaboration with well-regarded Australian adventure company Intrepid Travel, and you have the makings of a cult classic.

In case you’re thinking this is another “No Reservations,” or “Bizarre Foods,” the focus is different in that the duo explores the increasingly connected global food system, minus the machismo. That said, there’s plenty for those more interested in armchair travel.

Klein has an impressive resume as a chef, filmmaker and activist, while “camera girl” Fine has a background in graphic design and writing, and has previously released short, food-based films. Together, the two have completed two seasons. The first took place over the course of a calendar year in their home state of Minnesota. The second was filmed across America, taking viewers on a journey of “where good food comes from, and how to enjoy it.”

Season three, which premieres in October (check their site for dates), is the first since joining with Intrepid Travel. The season kicks off with a tour of Vietnam. Future episodes will include China, Japan, India, Argentina and Italy.


The Value Of Second Visits

by Rachel Friedman on

We fall in love with places, just like we do with people. Maybe you worship Chicago or Bangkok or Buenos Aires – or all three. Regardless of the locale, certain corners of the world feel like they belong to us, so profound is our sense of attachment to them.

Some of these spots we adore because of their aesthetics, while others are tied to memorable experiences – where you had a romantic first kiss, or swallowed that disgusting bug to prove your backpacker mettle.

And then there are those places beloved because they are settings for what I call the “traveler epiphany.” It’s that moment (or moments) when you realize travel is not merely a take-it-or-leave-it hobby but rather that you must travel. It is an Urge with a capital U that cannot be ignored. Wherever you realized this, whether on an elephant in Thailand or at a barbeque in New Jersey, you no doubt remember the revelation as a powerful one – and fondly – and this is probably how you remember the place where you first experienced it, too.

But recently I returned to Australia, one of the countries that helped solidify my identity as a traveler, and was surprised by how unfamiliar it had become in my absence. I hadn’t visited in eight years, when I briefly lived there. I was biding my time back then, a new college grad, when an Aussie friend invited me to stay. We had met the summer before in Ireland, where I had started entertaining the notion that I might like not just to travel but to settle in somewhere foreign – and digging my heels into the Sydney sand for a stretch felt like an excellent plan.On that first trip to Australia, I lived with my friend, Carly, and her parents, Pete and Muriel, who quickly became a surrogate family. Carly was the sister with whom I had the kind of dangerous, youthful adventures easy to glamorize after you’ve lived through them. Pete and Muriel’s happiness was a revelation, and they single-handedly restored my faith in the institution of marriage. Sydney itself came across as a land of good cheer and good times, like Ireland without the bad weather. Every Aussie was beautiful and free-spirited. We went to the beach every day. In sentimental hindsight, even my dead-end waitressing job was a joy. If you had asked me then about my soul mate, I would have named Sydney, and I would only have been half joking.

Immediately upon arriving back in the United States, I began infusing my time in Australia with nostalgia, like a baker carefully injecting cream into pastry. For years after I visited, I proclaimed to friends and family: I would move to Sydney. I would. I treated the country like a dead boyfriend, one who I desperately wished to see again but who was now, sadly, entirely inaccessible.

***

Upon returning to Australia this past June, my old notions of the place were put to the test – from the moment I landed, in fact. I remembered everyone in Sydney as tan, good-looking surfer types, and distinctly recall how even the passport control agent was crush-worthy. This time around, though, the immigration officials seemed just as pale and beleaguered as in the U.S. (though not quite as miserable as in the U.K.). The points of difference didn’t stop there. My Sydney had been cheap but this new Sydney was expensive (an effect of the devalued American dollar). In my Sydney, the stunning Opera House had an almost angelic glow but in this new city it was reduced to a dull aluminum block on certain rainy, winter days. Even my second family had changed. Carly was pregnant and no more able to replicate our hard-partying youth than I was (on my 30th birthday I had made the unhappy discovery that hangovers now lasted two or three days instead of one). Pete and Muriel were still the loving couple I remembered, but had they always nagged each other like that? My time in Sydney started taking on a surreal quality as I processed this new reality, scanning my archive of material from eight years prior in order to make sense of these new impressions.

Was I seeing this altered Sydney because of some inherent change in the city itself or because I was different? Probably a little bit of both. Surely we cannot expect places to stay exactly the same. Just like us, they evolve. But I had also changed as a person and as a traveler. I wasn’t a wide-eyed backpacker this time around. Like realizing the difference between loving someone and being in love with the idea of loving someone, I was no longer throwing myself at every country I visited. I was more investigative, more circumspect.

Once I realized this, I put less pressure on Sydney to conform to the ideal city of my past, and was able to see a more balanced view of the place I still adore – even more so because of this new understanding.

People seem to be happier when they look back on their lives through a nostalgia lens, filtering out the unpleasant and keeping its opposite. But is it good for travel?

Returning to Sydney was an unsettling lesson in the ways we can warp places to suit our memories of them. But ultimately I’ve learned that I like the exercise of returning. It’s nice feeling your way around somewhere for a second or third or fourth time, when you’ve already done all the greatest tourist hits and are now relieved of any particular duties besides absorbing the place.

Australia is no longer just one of the countries I discovered myself as a traveler. It’s now also where I learned something about the way I want to travel. And I’m grateful to Sydney for showing me this new piece of my traveler identity – and for having the best coffee in the world. But that might just be the nostalgia talking.

Who Said Humans Couldn’t Fly? Wingsuit Diver Alexander Polli Defies Gravity

by Jessica Festa on




Whoever said humans couldn’t fly has never seen GoPro HD Athlete Alexander Polli wingsuit dive. Polli is one of the top wingsuit divers in the world, spending a majority of his time trying to find the planet’s best base jumping spots and exploring treacherous terrain. This video shows the adventurous traveler peacefully gliding high in the sky above New Zealand, Switzerland and Norway.

On his YouTube page, Polli explains, “This is proximity flying with a wingsuit and proximity flying in tracking gear (tracksuit) without a wingsuit; tracking gear consists of a jacket and pants that inflate with air, which then increases push force when you move your body through the air.”

Proximity flying with a wingsuit is one of the world’s most dangerous sports, and doing the excursion without the wings is even more risky. However, watching the video above, Polli sure makes it look easy. That being said, this stunt should only be done by trained athletes.

Final Season of Anthony Bourdain’s ‘No Reservations’ Debuts Labor Day On Travel Channel

by Laurel Miller on

You know the old saying; it’s always best to leave the party when you’re having a great time. So it is with Anthony Bourdain, chef/author/keen observationist of the absurd/master of the pithy sentiment, and dark lord of the filthy, matted belly of the culinary underworld. On Labor Day, the Travel Channel will premiere the ninth and final season of its Emmy Award®-winning series, “No Reservations – The Final Tour.”

On September 3 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, Bourdain will take viewers on a tour of Austin. Later episodes will span the globe, culminating in a Brooklyn-based finale. If you want to get your Tony on, check out the nine-hour “No Reservations” marathon beginning at 12 p.m. ET/PT. Tune in, turn on, pig out.

Below, a compilation of the Travel Channel’s favorite “Bourdainisms.”