Crazy dust storm covers Sydney in red haze

by Katie Hammel on

Residents and tourists in Sydney, Australia, might be feeling as though they been transported to Mars, and in fact, a glance around at the city covered in red dust against a red-orange sky does bring to mind images of what a colony on the red planet would look like. Despite its other-worldly appearance, the haze that converged on Sydney yesterday is earth-bound, composed of red dust from the Outback.

Australia has been suffering one of the worst periods of drought since the 1940’s and an eight-year dry spell and record high temperatures have combined to create the country’s worst dust storms in 70 years. The storms normally only affect the interior of the country, but this time, they’ve covered Sydney as well, all but shutting down the airport and halting the service of passenger ferries for several hours.

According to The Age, air quality in Sydney was reported as 40 times worse than the level regarded as “poor” and 20 times the “hazardous” level. People are being advised not to go outside, especially if they have respiratory problems, and to take care when driving in the poor visibility. Officials said they had received over 250 calls from people reporting breathing problems as a result of the thousands of tons of dust in the air.

The storms were visible on radar and their effects were felt as far away as New Zealand, 1400 miles away.

For more amazing images of the dust storm, click here.

Gadling goes Zorbing

by Grant Martin on

We’ve written about Zorbing a few times at Gadling, the crazy extreme sport where you jump inside of an enomous plastic ball and bounce around as it rolls down a hill. Think of yourself as the rodent inside of a giant, cushioned hamster ball. It’s hard to resist.

Various iterations of the sport have been around for a few years now, including an official franchise in Tennessee and a whole host of copycats, but the technology was born in Rotorua, New Zealand, a small, adventure-centric town three hours south of Auckland.

Here, you can get your Zorb in a few different flavors: alone, with water, with a friend, down a zig zag path, or combinations therein. Since I was with another guy and wanted the “ultimate experience,” I chose to take the zig zag path with water.

So what’s it like?

Well, at the bottom of the hill you first change into swim trunks, then they shuttle you to the top and you jump in line. Once it’s your turn, they ask if you want water (highly recommended) then they toss a bucket full of warm water into the waiting Zorb. Draping a slippery rug into the entry, the attendant asks you to dive in, then they zip closed the inner sphere. On three, you kick back towards the bottom of the hill, and off you go.

The whole thing lasts about 45 seconds, but it’s the most disorienting, wonderful, happy experience of your life. The Zorb spins below you as you try to maintain some sense of location and focus, then as it changes directions you bounce back and forth inside of the inner sphere. It’s fun in a wholly wild, new way.

Worth the $35 to ride? Sure, at least once. Check out a video of the experience after the jump.

New Zealander auctions off Paris Hilton’s boarding pass

by Katie Hammel on

A man flying from New Zealand to Fiji on August 12th found a little surprise at his business class seat. Slipped between the pages of his in-flight magazine was the boarding pass of celebutant Paris Hilton, who had traveled to Fiji a few days prior.

Rather than toss the pass, the man decided to put it up for sale on a New Zealand auction site. Despite his claim that is “certainly has no other value” aside from being an unusual bit of memorabilia, as it “doesn’t smell of her perfume, have anything to do with panties”, the bids started rolling in. The price increased, and the man decided to donate the proceeds of the sale to a local charity.

The auction closed Monday at NZ$710 (US$485). So how would Paris feel if she knew her boarding pass was being auctioned off? Well, she did know – she posted a link on twitter, calling the story “random”.

[via Jaunted]

Work at a winery in New Zealand

by Jamie Rhein on

Working while you travel is one way to fund time away from home. In New Zealand, turn to wineries for seasonal possibilities.

According to Horticulture New Zealand, a Website dedicated to New Zealand’s commercial fruit and vegetable growers, for those who don’t mind a bit of physical labor, opportunities abound to earn money thanks to New Zealand’s wines. Plant, prune, pick, and pack are the four P’s that help fuel the wine industry. Each job can be had depending upon the region where you want to head, the time of the year, and your level of expertise.

From February to May, for example, the demand for workers is extremely high in Hawke’s Bay, but other regions don’t need many workers at all. To help locate where you might find work, check out this link for the calendar that features the regions and the numbers of people needed for each month.

Another Web site, PickNZ, offers contact information to help you land that wine related job. While you’re working, envision those places in New Zealand you can head to come pay day. In the evening, soothe your aching muscles by enjoying a glass or two of New Zealand’s finest.

For more working in winery information, check out this Travelers Notebook post. Although it’s from 2007, the links within it led me to the above info. An important detail not to miss is the need for a New Zealand tax identification number if winery work is in your future.

Prudes take umbrage with Air New Zealand videos

by Mike Barish on


Last month, we told you about Air New Zealand’s new in-flight safety video that features the flight crew in nothing but body paint. That, of course, came on the heels of their new ad campaign featuring their staff in – you guessed it – nothing but body paint. We thought the in-flight video and television commercial were innovative and quirky examples of an airline showing some actual personality. Sadly, not everyone has what we here at Gadling call “a sense of humor.” Some people are offended by the videos and they’re starting to speak up.
According to news.com.au, many Kiwis who have flown national airline recently think that the risque videos are inappropriate. “Enough is enough, this is our national airline, not a strip joint! I for one won’t bother booking with you again,” one perturbed passenger said. Another Kiwi lodged a complaint with New Zealand’s advertising watchdog. The complaint stated, “All genital areas were hidden but they left nothing to the imagination and (it) conjured pictures that none of us needed.”

Air New Zealand is defending their campaign, which they say “highlights the transparency of the airline’s all-inclusive domestic airfares.”

I, for one, agree with the airline. Lighten up, people. It’s kitschy. It’s creative. It’s devoid of any “genital areas.” The television commercial is better than what most companies throw out there. And the in-flight video beats listening to a bored flight attendant phoning in the delivery of the safety spiel because she’s done it a million times before and just can’t muster up the energy to care anymore.

Just to stick it to the prudes who can’t seem to accept that life is too short to complain about everything, I’m slapping the in-flight safety video in this post. Watch it again for the first time.