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Cape York is one of the most enduring 4WD destinations in Australia. Roderick Eime jumps into a showroom condition VW Touareg for the ultimate road test to the top. |
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Sisowath Quay, in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh, is emerging as one of the world's great boulevards |
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In New York, Christmas surprisingly rises above crass commercialism |
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Exploring the bayous and byways of French Louisiana |
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Taveuni Island, straddling the International Date Line, is a lush getaway |
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Alice Springs, in Central Australia, combines cultural and adventure tourism in one exhilarating package. |
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Some fresh ideas for spending time out in Sydney |
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Cruising the Interstates, negotiating Tinseltown’s spaghetti junctions, raising the dust in the Mojave Desert....images made familiar by the silver screen. What is the reality? |
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Sheriden Rhodes discovers retro furnishings and a personal chef in Australia's most alluring seaside retreats. |
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on Amorgos Island, Greece |
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Western Australia's sparkling Batavia Coast, running north from Perth to Geraldton, is now more accessible than ever |
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The Maldives is a beach destination every inch as good as the postcard-perfect images you’ve seen |
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German Heritage in the Adelaide Hills |
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A former leper colony now makes a most attractive getaway from Carnarvon, on Australia's mid-west coast, discovers Fiona Harper |
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Rub shoulders with millionaire fish farmers and other larger-than-life denizens of the Outback around the rugged coast of South Australia’s little-known Eyre Peninsula |
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Queensland's surprising capital re-invents itself |
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Here are five (or more) fresh-air things to do in and around Brisbane |
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The awesome seascapes of Western Australia's Buccaneer Archipelago |
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Visitors to Byron Bay, the most easterly town on the world's most easterly continent, sometimes wonder if they are still on planet earth. |
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Perfect surf breaks, world class food and a laidback lifestyle unlike anywhere else. It must be Byron. |
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Caloundra, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, is powering ahead |
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The sign at the town entrance tells it all: “Welcome to Cunnamulla, settled in the Dreamtime.” Aussie towns don’t get much older than that. Nor do they get much more welcoming and community-spirited.
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Australia's capital bristles with artworks - both good and bad |
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Capricorn International Resort, near Rockhampton (Australia) offers low-cost holidays to handicapped and underprivileged guests |
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French Catalonia takes the lead of the Spanish Catalonian heartland |
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"The world's southernmost city has the look of a frontier town. The architecture is eclectic, with buildings in progress, some half finished, and many roads pockmarked, obviously damaged by the severe weather. The warmer season, roughly from November to March, seems hardly long enough to catch up on all the jobs which accumulate during those colder months when, in the depth of winter, there are only seven hours of daylight each day." |
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The four-hour cross island walk began as a single lane road winding into the foothills, past ramshackle villages struggling to keep the fast growing jungle at bay. Rarotongan village kids ran beside the road giggling and waving while the dogs were as laid back as the adult villagers, barely lifting their heads in the tropical heat to give us more than a brief glance as we passed by.
Fiona Harper fights tropical lethargy in the Cook Islands. |
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This article describes the P&O Pacific Princess cruise along Australia’s eastern seaboard to Cairns and the Whitsunday Islands. It includes information on the accommodation provided, seafaring language (staterooms, not cabins), the abundant food and even a peek at the galley, as well as the various shore trips, and an updated factfile. |
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Queensland's lush rainforest retreat |
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Mauritius was uninhabited when the Dutch landed on the Indian Ocean island in 1598. Only awkward looking flightless birds greeted their arrival. |
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For a truly invigorating experience, take a trip to this warm island paradise in French Polynesia. Visit the colorful Papeete markets, swim with friendly stingrays, find a deserted island or have breakfast delivered to your own over water bungalow. |
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Cunning dingoes roam Fraser Island, in southern Queensland, often getting just a little too close to visitors who long for a gentle wildlife encounter. Visitors are advised to keep a close watch on their belongings, particurlarly their passports. |
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Tourists come from as far away as Korea Japan and China to see blue nosed dolphins at Port Stephens on the coast, just north of Sydney. |
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Yachting and golfing go hand in hand with the opening of the Whitsunday Islands' first resort golf course and sophisticated yacht club. Perfect for superyacht owners with a penchant for sweeping fairways amid hilltop greens, stylish elegance arrives in the Whitsundays.
Fiona Harper takes on 18 holes at Hamilton Island Golf Club, followed by sundowners overlooking Dent Passage at Hamilton Island Yacht Club |
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At Echuca, where the Campaspe and the Goulburn run into the mighty Murray, floods –and drought – were always been a way of life for Australia's largest inland river port. |
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The people of Futuna Island, in Vanuatu, are the Polynesians in this overwhelmingly Melanesian country |
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Estonia is much more than just its mediaeval capital Tallinn |
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Shrug off the winter woollies and soak up the warm embrace of Noosa. |
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Eumundi: Spirit of the Rainbow Serpent: Ngumundi, the black snake credited with creating the landscape around the Queensland Sunshine Coast town of Eumundi, seems to have done a great job. |
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This article details the amazing Fraser Island off the coast of Queensland and includes information on accommodation provided, and cuisine, things to do and see. |
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They say the best holidays are those with an element of romance. They also say that sometimes the best romances are those that end with the holiday, leaving nothing but happy memories. That's the kind of romance you get when you fall for sea lions, discovers Fiona Harper. |
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Fiji's many island resorts truly offer a little tropical bliss for everyone. And, for special treatment, be sure to bring the kids. |
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4WD or kayak are the best means of transport in the rugged interior of Fiji's main island, Viti Levu |
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You know that there's something special about a place when you've hardly arrived there, and already you are planning how you'll return. Soon. Flinders Island is like that. |
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What better summertime drive than to follow Virginia’s Appalachian parkways through some of the finest countryside in the eastern United States? |
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In the last few years, New Caledonia has become less reliant on tourist arrivals from France and more regionally focussed, whilst stubbornly retaining its quaint French colonial heritage. |
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The Aboriginal heritage of the world's largest sand island |
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Fancy setting up a bucolic retreat in the French countryside? |
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Beechworth's colourful Celtic and Chinese heritage |
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After civil strife, earthquake and tsunami, the Solomon Islands are on the rebound |
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The astonishing architecture of Brunei |
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Newcastle, "capital" of north-east England, has for the fourth consecutive year been nominated as the country’s favourite city-break destination |
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Stockholm's glorious (but short) summer |
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This article details the history and background of Lindeman Island as well as what is available on the island and includes information on accommodation provided, the food,and activities for all ages. |
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The high-rise Reef Hotel, on Queensland's Hamilton Island, is the only thing that blots this otherwise pristine environment. |
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Hainan is one of China’s fastest emerging holiday destinations. |
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The vibrant and bustling seaport of Hong Kong has enjoyed a prominent part in the grand opera of Asia. Roderick Eime travelled to Hong Kong for a whirlwind tour of the sights, sounds and smells of the former British colony and discovered a bright and brassy city with a long and colourful history |
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The Ballinasloe Horse Fair in central Ireland is the oldest in Europe |
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The Hunter Valley is Australia's first and still one of its best wine-growing regions. |
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This article details the food and wine of the Hunter Valley and also includes information on accommodation provided, local food and cuisine, and the wealth of things to do and see. |
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The golf course at Brunei’s Empire Hotel and Country Club is one of the world's most challenging courses. |
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A live geography lesson in wide screen, Zimbabwe is an ideal place to take kids on a family holiday but check first - many lodges won't take children under 12 and they often aren't allowed on game drives. |
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Stepping into the workshop at the Wooden Boat Centre, waterside on the Huon River at Franklin in southern Tasmania, Fiona Harper inhales the sweet aroma of Huon Pine permeating the air. |
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Fiji’s islands are a dream escape for anyone, where you can laze under a palm tree or snorkel to your heart’s delight. |
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Israel's small size belies its wealth of historical treasures |
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Ghosts still roam parts of Estonia's Hiiumaa Island, renowned for its wilderness and heritage. |
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There is something decidedly exotic about hopping onboard a private jet and being whisked away to a far-flung South Pacific Island. Particularly so when your destination has been declared one of the 100 most beautiful hotels and resorts of the world.
Reporting from an exclusive retreat on a privately owned island in Fiji, Fiona Harper discovers that perfection has a new name. It's called Laucala Island. |
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Japan's Hida region is Japan's heartland |
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Rummage through the rocks and pebbles around Rubyvale and you might just turn up a small fortune. Here in outback Queensland, the streets are paved, not with gold, but with emeralds, rubies and sapphires. Share a yarn with the drifters and fossickers who came for a weekend and stayed for life. |
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There is no elegant way to climb up onto an elephant. Tricia Welsh learns this at a mahout’s course in Northern Thailand. |
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‘A Sunday landscape’ was Mark Twain’s appraisal of Mauritius in his 1897 book, “More Tramps Abroad”. He wasn’t being rude, merely expanding on his clutch of impressions of this island which included ‘a dainty little vest-pocket Matterhorn’ |
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Sabah's Kinabatangan River is a wildlife refuge without peer, home to both orang-utans and the endangered Proboscis Monkey |
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While the rest of Australia bakes in a dry heat, Darwin welcomes the summer months with bracing showers which reveal the Territory's staggering natural beauty. |
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Norfolk Island's first instance of major violent crime propels this tiny island nation into the world spotlight. |
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Often overlooked by their media tart cousins, the Whitsunday Islands, Fiona Harper explores some of the lesser known islands of north Queensland. |
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This article continues with details of modern Vietnam and includes information on accommodation provided, local food and cuisine, things to do and see. |
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Queensland’s striking Sunshine Coast lazily arcs north from the tongue twisting towns of Caloundra and Mooloolaba, past Maroochydore and Mudjimba to end at Noosa.
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Surprises in store in Australia's most ethnically diverse town |
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Tourist Police or policing the tourists? |
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Visitors to SW Queensland in the Australian outback are invariably stunned by the richness and abundance of nature-treasures. |
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Pink elephants are not uncommon after a long night of partying. They eventually go away but imagine a three-headed pachyderm that’s still there in the morning! |
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Fiona Harper jumps onboard a yacht at Sunferries Magnetic Island Race Week, Queensland. |
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The history of the Grampians, the oldest National Park in Victoria (Australia), has just undergone drastic revision. |
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The Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad, straddling the border between New Mexico and Colorado, is a scenic delight |
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With 40 of Australia's top jazz musicians supported by highly acclaimed up and coming stars, the Great Tropical Jazz Party is a melting pot of jazz in tropical north Queensland. Following closely on from Sunferries Magnetic Island Race Week, Fiona Harper takes in some cool jazz beneath the palms. |
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Handcrafted outrigger canoes, whitewashed churches, the occasional cricket pitch, beehive-shaped fales, the 45 minute drive from Samoa’s international airport to its South Seas capital is an excellent introduction to the very heart of traditional Polynesia. |
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Like sand through the hourglass, these are the days of our long-suffering feet. Eschewing the need for a 4WD to explore Fraser Island, Fiona Harper decides to explore by foot instead, walking the sand trails that crisscross the worlds largest sand island. |
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Whatever your inclination, there's a beach to suit your fancy. Sheriden Rhodes presents six of the best and what makes them sparkle. |
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The seaside towns of South Australia’s South-East cling to a sun-scorched coast, a shadeless landscape of low limestone crags, dunes and lagoons. |
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Cruising the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, Bruny Island reveals a few of her secrets to those who linger long enough to look beyond the wildlife and the laidback lifestyle.
Fiona Harper takes time out in southern Tasmania. |
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This article starts with the Seine River and continues with details of Paris. It includes information on accommodation provided, local food and cuisine, things to do and see. |
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The Red Sea's premier resort still entices, even given the occasional terrorism threat |
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This article visits the forgotten medieval town of Stanjel, as well as Slovenia itself and includes information on accommodation provided, local food and cuisine, things to do and see. |
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The twin towns of Daylesford and Hepburn Springs, in Victoria, are united by the outstanding healing qualities of their natural mineral springs |
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Ghosts and opium dens are just a part of the colourful history of Maryborough, Queensland |
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Kiribati hold its head high, in the face of rising sea levels |
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his article details the various crops and produce of this fertile island and includes contact information for vineyards, cheese-makers, restaurants, bakers, and oyster growers among other things. |
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This article details food producers and wineries in the north and north-west of this island-state and includes information on accommodation, dining and things to do and see. |
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Sunny Samui and cultural Chiang Rai are tempting destinations providing superb places to relax and recharge after exploring dazzling heritage attractions. |
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This article highlights all the other Ss that can be applied to Singapore: strict, sleek, savvy, sixty…. and many more. |
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This article details the custom of these men who bring their caged birds to a cafe so they can learn from each other how to sing beautifully in order to win singing contests. |
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The west coast village of Tiendanique, in New Caledonia, is the birthplace and home village of Jean-Marie Tjibaou, architect of Kanak independence. |
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The chieftain of Kundu Hite (Skull Island) in the Solomon Islands is last in a long line of headhunters |
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The two approaches to northern Italy's Gran Paradiso National Park reveal a huge diversity of landscapes |
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This article details hot-air ballooning in Australia, the facts and figures and safety issues, and includes a breakout box on the history of ballooning. |
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Glancing over my shoulder at our driver, momentarily I wonder if I've stepped onto the wrong long-tail boat. Her face fully covered by a menacing full-faced balaclava, she navigates our vessel away from the dock. Fiona Harper takes a journey upstream to the floating markets of Bangkok, Thailand. |
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In a spectacularly scenic part of America, Utah really stands head and shoulders above the rest |
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Fiona Harper discovers the cruising grounds of volcanic Vanuatu. |
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Bali's priceless treasures are at last recognised by UNESCO |
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Lafayette’s annual (April) Festival International de Louisiane, deep in Cajun Country of Louisiana, is a celebration of all things Francophone. |
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Roderick Eime travels to the scenic east coast of NZ's South Island to investigate the 'deep secret' of Kaikoura |
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Australia is a wildlife paradise full of some of nature’s oddest creations says Karen Halabi. |
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