|
|
|
Taveuni Island, straddling the International Date Line, is a lush getaway |
|
|
Long distance cruising onboard a yacht can be a leisurely, personally satisfying lifestyle. Until one runs aground on an unseen sandbar that is.
Join Fiona Harper on a yachting adventure that sees her 15m yacht aground in far northwest Australia. |
|
|
Not that long ago there was no such thing as a ‘holiday’ in India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands. A visit to this remote, 700 km long archipelago in the Bay of Bengal was nearly always a one-way affair. |
|
|
Words can not properly describe and photographs can not adequately capture the breathtaking beauty of Aitutaki. |
|
|
The Maldives is a beach destination every inch as good as the postcard-perfect images you’ve seen |
|
|
A former leper colony now makes a most attractive getaway from Carnarvon, on Australia's mid-west coast, discovers Fiona Harper |
|
|
This Singapore-sized island kingdom offers the ideal stopover introduction to the Middle East - sunshine and sparkling turquoise waters, smart shopping and a few sights, six hours short of London. |
|
|
Having sailed along the coast of Arnhem Land, traversing the Gulf of Carpentaria and into one of the most remote towns on the Australian coast, Fiona Harper hungrily anticipates a return to civilisation, dropping anchor at Seisia on Cape York, Queensland.
|
|
|
The villa accommodation boom is leading Bali's renaissance as a top-end destination. |
|
|
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. |
|
|
Karen Halabi sails the Whitsunday islands off Australia’s eastern coastline on a cruise ship that once sailed the Mediterranean. |
|
|
Mauritius was uninhabited when the Dutch landed on the Indian Ocean island in 1598. Only awkward looking flightless birds greeted their arrival. |
|
|
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. |
|
|
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. |
|
|
As Fidel Castro fades from the Cuban stage, now is the best time to visit |
|
|
Where else to Eat, Pray, (and) Love? Elizabeth Gilbert’s personal journey in search of self-fulfilment reached its conclusion in Ubud, the spiritual heart of Bali. |
|
|
Thomas E King journeys from the Thai island of Koh Samui, in the south of the country, to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in the far north-west |
|
|
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. |
|
|
Over 25 years on from the war between Britain and Argentina that claimed nearly a thousand lives, the Falkland Islands town of Stanley - the world's smallest and most remote capital - is once again an important port. |
|
|
4WD or kayak are the best means of transport in the rugged interior of Fiji's main island, Viti Levu |
|
|
After civil strife, earthquake and tsunami, the Solomon Islands are on the rebound |
|
|
Three outstanding fields of green have made Bali the world's best golf island. And one of them is located inside a volcano! |
|
|
Stories from Greenland by Glenn A. Baker |
|
|
At first sight it’s an unlikely destination: Waikiki West perhaps, an Hispanic Hawaii, America transplanted to a dot in the ocean due north of New Guinea. |
|
|
Thai'd of Mediocrity? These Hip New Thai Hotels will leave you inspired. And not only are they super cool, they beat with a very warm heart.
|
|
|
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. |
|
|
What do three widely separated islands have in common? |
|
|
Halfway down to sub-polar Macquarie Island lies a cluster of five subantarctic island groups, scattered across the Southern Ocean to the south and east of New Zealand. |
|
|
I’m soaring over the Lion City! Tucked away in air conditioned comfort some 165 metres above a dynamic city my 360° view from the Singapore Flyer, Asia’s largest observation wheel, encompasses the ever changing cityscape and well beyond to parts of neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia. |
|
|
Ghosts still roam parts of Estonia's Hiiumaa Island, renowned for its wilderness and heritage. |
|
|
Savusavu, on Fiji’s second biggest island Vanua Levu, is dressed to kill. |
|
|
Russia's remote Kuril Islands are not a people place |
|
|
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. |
|
|
Birthplace of the revolutionary movement that tore Mozambique apart in the 70s and 80s, the northwest of this country is a spectacular landscape of twisted rock forms - the background to one of Africa's most colourful rail trips. The trip by road to the coast concludes a fascinating journey of discovery |
|
|
Often overlooked by their media tart cousins, the Whitsunday Islands, Fiona Harper explores some of the lesser known islands of north Queensland. |
|
|
Enigmatic ruins of a floating city, built by a lost civilisation, survive on the remote Micronesian island of Pohnpei |
|
|
Tourist Police or policing the tourists? |
|
|
With an eye to colour and a nose for design a brush applies paint to a canvas. The only thing unusual is that this artist has four legs and a long trunk. |
|
|
Manila offers a golf course built around a Spanish fort and another golf resort with a course inside a volcano. |
|
|
Discover an island of rain-drenched forests and coastal mangroves, whose mysteries deepen through the bottom of a glass of stupefying sakau, a drink made from pepper bushes. |
|
|
Beaches, shopping, nightlife, golf ..... Phuket excels in all departments. Putt around Phuket and enjoy its fine fairways. |
|
|
Qualia, a truly Australian resort on the Great Barrier Reef, joins Australia' s luxury resort scene. |
|
|
Fiona Harper jumps onboard a yacht at Sunferries Magnetic Island Race Week, Queensland. |
|
|
Gentle sea breezes brush over towering palm trees. An islander strums a guitar; another sings a tune. The romance of Rarotonga has begun. |
|
|
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. |
|
|
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. |
|
|
On December 3, 1894, a “cloud of gloom” drifted over Samoa as Robert Louis Stevenson was laid to rest on a peaceful hillside outside of the quaint capital of Apia. |
|
|
The mountainous hinterlands of Samui seclude and nurture one of the most scenic golf courses in Thailand. |
|
|
Grinders cut and polish and welders spark and flash … another ‘monster’ is born at a unique workshop on the Thai island of Samui. |
|
|
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. |
|
|
It’s not necessary to pack an alarm clock when preparing for a golf holiday at the Borneo Highlands Resort, a foliage swathed sports sanctuary located an hour outside Kuching in East Malaysia. |
|
|
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. |
|
|
Don’t overlook one of the last frontiers in the South Pacific, writes Philip Game |
|
|
Kiribati hold its head high, in the face of rising sea levels |
|
|
The British introduced golf to Colombo’s sophisticated sporting scene in 1879 with the construction of the Royal Colombo. Though there are a handful of courses spread throughout the tiny, teardrop shaped island, interest in the great game continues to flourish today . |
|
|
This article highlights all the other Ss that can be applied to Singapore: strict, sleek, savvy, sixty…. and many more. |
|
|
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. |
|
|
Sri Lanka's capital Colombo is an intoxicating mix of cultures |
|
|
The noise was deafening. The roar of blood pumping through my head as we charged forward, hell bent on hitting the start line milliseconds after the gun went, was drowned out by the commands of our tactitian.
Fiona Harper jumps onboard a chartered pocket maxi yacht at Hamilton Island Race Week. |
|
|
The chieftain of Kundu Hite (Skull Island) in the Solomon Islands is last in a long line of headhunters |
|
|
Startling contrasts in the former Portuguese enclave just across the water from Hong Kong in the Pearl River estuary - casinos, lavish hotels and Grand Prix excitement on one hand and languid, family-based villages with famous traditional junk building yards on the other. |
|
|
European holidaymakers flock to Malta for the sunshine, but the rest of us savour fine food with an Italian touch, and other legacies of a long and tortuous history - including the post-War exodus of emigrants. |
|
|
Nauru, the world’s smallest island republic, searches for a sustainable future... but is money laundering or hosting Australia's unwanted boat people the answer? |
|
|
Fiji’s exclusive Turtle Island hideaway came into being through one man’s journey of self-discovery. |
|
|
A staggering number of spas have opened in Thailand since the new millennium, where you can experience everything from rice body scrubs, organic facials, traditional Thai massage through to sublime spa cuisine. Sheriden Rhodes checks out what's on offer. |
|
|
Fiona Harper discovers the cruising grounds of volcanic Vanuatu. |
|
|
