My 6am alarm hadn’t yet sounded, though I woke quite abruptly. I could have sworn I was woken by the intense sound of a lion roar. Though that was surely a ridiculous concept. I wasn’t in Africa – I was in a luxury four poster canopy bed in Australia’s national capitol. It must have been a vivid dream.
Though as I began to doze off again I suddenly had the feeling we were being watched. And as I pulled back the curtains I was stunned by what I saw. We were in fact being watched. There was a Giraffe peering in from outside our room.
If you’ve ever dreamed of an intimate experience with African animals, Australia has the lodge for you. While there are a number of zoos that offer overnight sleepovers, Jamala Wildlife Lodge takes the concept to a completely different level.
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Gold Coast Australia, or Surfers Paradise, is bigger, brighter, and more epic than you could possibly imagine. An iconic Australian coastal destination famous for sun, sand and surf, this is where travelers head for a truly good time.
With so much to see and do, this guide is your ultimate resource to the Gold Coast’s best beaches. These are some of the best in Australia.
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There’s nothing I hate more than having to hand-wash while traveling. The skin on my knuckles gets rubbed raw, my nails get bent out of shape, and it’s usually done in the dirty sink of a shared hostel bathroom. Or a questionable looking lake. Though hand-washing is a necessarily evil when on a long trip/trek where you have to pack light and can only travel with a couple of pairs of clothes. And hundreds of travelers put up with it. Not any more.
In 2010, one Aussie traveler came up with a brilliant idea. A concept which would allow travelers to do their laundry on the road for free, and be able to wash clothes while traveling without having to use a dirty sink.
Weighing less than an apple, the Scrubba Wash Bag is a pocket-size device that allows you to wash your clothes and travel clean, light and free. Designed for travelers, trekkers and campers, the secret to its ingenuity is the hundreds of resilient nobules that act like a flexible washboard, a fusion of old and new technology, that allows you to wash your clothes in minutes. Though unlike a traditional washboard, you can easily slip it into your backpack.
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Iceland is a country full of natural wonders, and it is difficult to remain unmoved by the amazing diversity of it’s landscape. Though contrary to popular belief, Iceland is not an island which is covered completely in ice.
Iceland is a stunning playground with everything from majestic glaciers, cracked lava fields, gushing geysers, vibrant green fjords and geothermal lagoons. Also, due to its location between two tectonic plates that are spreading apart in the mid-Atlantic range, the country has a high concentration of active volcanoes; one of the highest in the world.
In fact, Iceland has 30 active volcano systems, 13 of which have erupted since Vikings settled here in the 9th century AD. While the country tends to see an eruption on average every 5 years, most recently have proved to be harmless, seeing thousands of tourists hiking, biking or driving closer to the craters to witness nature put on a spectacular show.
The following is an Iceland guide to the country’s top 10 volcanoes for your European Bucketlist.
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People often take their drinking water for granted. In most western countries we don’t think twice before grabbing a glass and sticking it underneath a tap. But when you’re traveling the tap water may not be safe to drink.
You need drinking water no matter where you go, but with travellers diarrhea, giardia, hepatitis A, typhoid and cholera among the illnesses that can be transmitted with bad water, it pays to know which parts of the world guarantee clean, safe tap water, and where you should be sourcing bottled water instead.
The water you need to be most concerned about is water that might contain microorganisms that will make you sick, and in less developed countries, you are more apt to run into water that contains a variety of microorganisms you want to avoid. But according to the CDC (United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), you may be drinking bottled water more often than you think.
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It’s a popular meme, “come to Australia, you might accidentally get killed“, and while granted, we do have more deadly snakes than any other country in the world, and over 2,000 species of spider, it’s not exactly like we have wild lions, tigers, elephants, grizzly bears or hippopotamus roaming around!
True, Australia is probably the only place on earth you’ll ever see a python swallow a salt water crocodile whole. And we do have a snail that can fire a poison dart. Though realistically, you’re more likely to be eaten by a domestic cat than by a shark, and bees pose more of a threat throughout Australia than our spiders do…even though it’s the spiders who seem to incite more fear among visitors to our very foreign shores.
Despite the bewildering variety of frightening animals found in Australia, no-one should be put off visiting for fear of encountering them. With a little common sense, no one visiting Oz should be unduly worried about the wildlife; quite the opposite, it’s a great reason to visit.
The following is a field guide to the most deadly Australian creatures. Keep in mind that you’re more likely to be killed by a horse, but it can’t hurt to be clued up about Australia’s most poisonous fauna.
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As we began our trek through the wilderness of Denali National Park we knew we were not alone. Fresh footprints marked our trail, and the chew marks on the wooden sign which noted our location at Sable Pass were quite obviously the jaw imprints of a grizzly.
Though far from being afraid, we had actually come for the bears, attempting to track them by their prints and scat which led from right outside our camp deep into the backcountry throughout the park.
These are our top tips on being bear aware, and our favorite photos from our recent trip to Alaska.
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Whether you’re hiking through the Arizona desert, trekking through the Amazon, or perhaps exploring the tropics of Northern Queensland where pythons have been known to swallow Australian crocodiles whole, chances are you may come into contact with a snake at some point during your trip. And, after having stepped on a venomous cottonmouth in Florida, watched as a boa wrapped itself around our camera tripod recently in Joshua Tree (see featured image above!), and aggravated a deadly rattlesnake in Arizona, trust us, we would definitely know!
As a global traveler it’s important to be prepared – the following are essential tips and tricks you should be aware of re snakebite for emergency situations while hiking abroad. Would you believe, all photos are our own!
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It all began on November 25, 1990 – the date that Elephant Seals began using the beaches at Piedras Blancas.
What started off as less than 50 seals in a small cove has evolved into a colony which now stretches all the way to beaches that run along the Pacific Coast Highway, and it truly is an unbelievable spectacle to see.
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Many of us are doing everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint at home. We’re making an effort to recycle, catching public transport where possible, and reducing the amount of electricity we use. Now that global warming is at such a critical point, we’ve realized that we should be doing everything we possibly can to reverse it.
But what about when we travel? Do any of us think about what impact we might be having while we’re skipping and jumping between countries?
I know it’s not pleasant to think that we might be damaging the environment by exploring new places, but unfortunately travel leaves a carbon footprint too.
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We were hiking through the Arizona desert when we heard the unmistakable rattle of a highly venomous snake. A warning that we were too close for either party’s comfort.
Though while many would have turned on their heel immediately, the photo opportunity was worth risking our lives for.
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