## COOL PLACES IN NEW ZEALAND ##

QUEENSTOWN

Queenstown is New Zealand's most popular destination and regarded as New Zealand's adventure capital. Quuenstown hosts most of the countries bungy jump sites and many other outdoor activities such as shotover jet and white water rafting.

BAY OF ISLANDS

The Bay of Islands is a "must see" if you are visiting New Zealand. Its one of the places renowned for having 144 islands, with many superb beaches and secluded bays and abundance of marine life.

MOUNT COOK

The highest Mountain in New Zealand and its most popular tourists destination. Mt Cook National Park located in the Canterbury region is another National Park.

TONGARIRO NATIONAL PARK

The Tongariro National Park, located in the Taupo, is a World Heritage Park and one of the oldest National Parks in the world. The park contains three superb volcanoes - Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe.

KAIKOURA

Kaikoura situated in the middle between Christchurch and Picton on the East Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Here you can swin with dolphins in their natural habitat and see some amazing marine life.

MORE INFO:
http://www.travelphant.com/2009/09/top-10-cool-places-in-new-zealand.html

## PLACES OF INTEREST IN AUSTRALIA ##

ULURU (AYRES ROCK)

In the ‘Uluru-Kata Tjunta’national park stands the magnificant Uluru/Ayres Rock, a large sandstone rock formation,it is a sacred site for the Aboriginal people and is listed as a World Heritage site. It is one of Australia’s most recognised natural icon’s. It is noted for it’s changes of colour, glowing red briefly at sunset is a remarkable sight, this is due to the oxidation of iron at it’s surface, as the sun sets it changes from red to purple and then to black, and in reverse at sun rise.  Water soaks through the sandstone and soaks down through the rock to emerge at the bottom as springs giving wildlife and plants an invaluable water supply in an otherwise arid area. The rock stands 348m (1,142ft) high and measures 9.4km (5.8miles) in circumferance. The Anangu. traditional landowners, give guided tours around the rock and talk about the flora and fauna of the surrounding land and the Aboriginal ‘Dreamtime stories’ of the area. The Anangu people would prefer if people did not climb the rock, they do not forbid it but just prefer that for reasons of tradition and for the safety of visitors it was not climbed. It is not an easy climb and there have ben deaths of climbers over the years, most being due to heart attacks.

CRADLE MOUNTAIN-LAKE ST CLAIR NATIONAL PARK

Cradle  Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park is situated in the Central Highlands of Tasmania’s wilderness area World Heritage site. It has stunning scenery of craggy ridges and crests, lakes and valleys scooped out by glaciers, wildflower meadows and ancient pines mirrored in the glacial lakes. The park contains many walking trails, which take one past glacial lakes,icy streams and waterfalls cascading out of rugged mountains. Birds and animals that can be seen in the park include bennett’s wallabies, pademelons, quolls, tasmanian devils, echidnas, wombats, possums, ravens and currawongs.

THE TWELVE APOSTLES

The twelve apostles are one of the three most popular tourist attractions in Australia. They are a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. They have been formed by erosion  with the crashing waves of the Southern Ocean. The stacks are susceptible to further erosion from the waves. On 3 July 2005, a 50 metre high stack fell crashing into the sea leaving only eight remaining. They are a spectacular sight to behold from the clifftops, especially at sunrise and sunset as they change colour from black to brilliant yellow under a full sun.

MORE INFORMATION:

http://www.thetourexpert.eu/countries/australia/places-of-interest/

## ISLAND IN JAPAN ##

Kyushu Island  

• Kyushu, Japanese Kyūshū (“Nine Provinces”),  southernmost and third largest of the four main islands of Japan.  

• It is bordered by the East China Sea on the west and the Pacific Ocean on the east. 

• Its name refers to the nine ancient provinces (kuni) into which the island was divided. 

•  The island, with an area of 14,177 square miles (36,719 square km), is composed of a complex system of volcanic ranges.

Okinawa Island 

• Okinawa is the fifth largest island in Japan (excluding the disputed islands north of Hokkaido). 

• The island has an area of 1,201.03 square kilometers (463.72 sq mi). It is roughly 640 kilometres (400 mi) south of the rest of Japan.