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Archive for March, 2011

Kangaroo Island is known as the Australian “Galapagos” because of its rich diversity of wildlife. Take a guided night tour to see the little penguins march out of the sea to their homes along the coastline. Stop in at the Seal Bay Conservation Park where you’ll see the rare Australian sea lion. A hike through Flinders Chase National Park will get you up close to kangaroos, possums, echidna, koalas and platypus in the wild.

Australian outback is the rugged interior of Australia and home to red hills, fiery sunsets and a dramatic sense of spaciousness. Here you can hike the Aboriginal Dreaming Trail with an Aboriginal guide to experience the local culture and history. You can also hike, bike, take a scenic flight or 4-wheel drive tour of the breath-taking landscapes of gorges adorned with aboriginal art, mountains, caves, waterfalls and canyons. Here you’ll also see plenty of wildlife in their beautiful natural settings.

These are just a sampling of some of the outdoor adventures available in Australia. There’s also world-renowned white water kayaking, some of the best diving in the world on The Great Barrier Reef, and a multitude of hiking, biking, ballooning, canoeing and other adventures to be had.

Exploring Queenstown’s Skippers Road is an adventure in itself. Hand carved out of solid rock, the road twists and turns around steep cliffs with magnificent views. Because the road is so dangerous, it is only accessible by guided tour. The area hosts a number of adventure sports. Depending on your appetite for thrills, you can take a ride on the flying fox, go white water rafting or get a vertical view of the canyon attached to a bungy. Less terrifying options include blasting along the Shotover River in a jet boat, walking across a historic pipeline or a visit to Winky’s Museum.

Some of the other outdoor adventures in Queenstown that will have you playing on the edge include:

• Heli-skiing, skiing and snowboarding
• Bungy jumping
• Canyon swinging
• Hiking
• Rock climbing
• Mountain biking
• Horse riding
• Sky diving
• Hang gliding
• Parapente, or para-gliding
• Jetboating
• Kayaking
• Sailing
• Golfing
• Gold panning
• Canyoning

Rotorua sits squarely on the Pacific Ring of Fire, and is home tribal home of the Te Arawa people, who settled in lakeside geothermal areas more than 600 years ago. Geysers, boiling mud pools, marae stays, hangi feasts, an authentic pre-European Maori village and indulgent spa therapies will provide plenty of activities to write home about. Refresh your spirit with a day outdoors trout fishing, kayaking, waterskiing, swimming, hiking or mountain biking. And if it’s excitement you crave, you can challenge your spirit with adrenalin-charged extreme activities such as sky-diving, jet boating and zorbing.

These are just a sampling of some of the outdoor adventures available in Australia and New Zealand. There’s also world-renowned white water kayaking, some of the best diving in the world on The Great Barrier Reef, and a multitude of hiking, biking, ballooning, canoeing and other adventures to be had.

The mindset of a traveler is always to learn and experience what a country has to offer which, as a result, aids in their personal growth. It also adds to their general world knowledge and makes them more knowledgeable and experienced travelers. While abroad a traveler desires to absorb all the positive aspects of a new country and views it not only as a learning experience but all as an adventure.

What I mean by an adventure is that they are opened to unexpected events that may occur at any time. They can adjust to unexpected changes, maybe because of meeting new people in their travels or just deciding on a whim to change their plans because they may have discovered something else would be interesting to see or explore. In a nutshell, they are not confined to excursions or their immediate surroundings but journey to a distance land to experience all that it has to offer. With this mindset, you are sure to become a traveler and not the ordinary tourist who just looks at famous sights while taking hundreds of pictures.

You’ll be too busy making friends, enjoying a cultural event, possibly speaking the language with natives, sitting on a hill overlooking a city, or dancing with that special someone that crossed your path which, in my opinion, will always leave you with lasting and memorable experiences for years to come.