Airlie Beach in Far North Queensland is the gateway to the magnificent Whitsunday Islands on the Great Barrier Reef. Airley Beach is a town of about 3000 and growing rapidly with some of the most beautiful beaches, scenery and access easy access to the larger cities of including Mackay it is not hard to see why. The town is a very popular destination for backpackers and travellers wanting to experience the reef and all it has to offer. The town has a vibrant centre with great dining and plenty of bars and entertainment areas for visitors. Nearby Shute Harbour offers boarding points for the many ferries and water transport to the nearby islands while the rural ‘Beef’ town of Prosepine is only 30 minutes away offers access to air service to the larger east coast cities and regional Queensland centres. Read the rest of this entry »
There is no shipwreck more popular than the Titanic so its only fitting there are a few museums that are devoted to the ship that would be nearly 100 years old today. Recently Belfast announced a £100 million plan for a Titanic museum on the shipyards where she was built, that is due to open on the sinking’s centenary in 2012. There is also a travelling Titanic exhibition that we have seen in a few places as well as this interesting one in Branson, Missouri. Shaped like the front bit of the Titanic in half scale, the museum claims to be the worlds largest museum attraction The museum looks cool with recreations of the grand staircase as well as other parts of the ship, an iceburg and a bit of memorabilia. We understand the reason for Belfast building their museum but we just wonder who come up with the idea to build a ship shaped attraction in the landlocked state of Missouri. A TV ad for the museum is above that should give you an idea what its grand staircase is like. Read the rest of this entry »
Tasmania is a pretty cool place that the rest of Australia often forget about especially when drawing a map of the country, often annoying the Tasmanians, Recently Tasmania has fought back with a clever ad campaign that mimics the trailer for the Baz Luhrmann film Australia. The movie has been hyped a fair bit as being the next big thing with tourist operators hoping it will attract a bit of extra coin into the country. Watch the Tassy ad above and you can check out the trailer for the movie via the link below. Read the rest of this entry »
The Hiroshima Castle which is now sometimes fondly called the Carp Castle dates back to the 1590’s but was rebuilt after the atomic attack of 1945 in 1958 and today serves mainly as a museum of the city’s history prior to the war. The castle stands in beautiful gardens with moats full of carp and the odd turtle. In the late 1500’s and 1600’s the castle was an important seat of power in the Western Japan region and was built for Lord Mori Terumoto. Many Japanese castles were destroyed during the Tokugawa era in the late 1800’s but it took the events of 1945 to destroy this structure. The original castle was made primarily of pine and stone, where today the castle has reinforced concrete behind its lovely facade.
Ueno Park is one of the larger parks in Tokyo and home to many of Tokyo’s cultural attractions including the Ueno zoo, Tokyo National Museum, National Science Museum, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. The centre of the park is home to the Shinobazu Pond, which has a magnificent temple dedicated to the goddess of Benton on an island in the centre. It it truly beautiful when the lotus flowers are blooming late summer, but the park is probably more popular in the spring when the cherry blossom blooms thousands flock to see the flowers. The park is only a minutes walk from the JR Ueno Railway station making it easily accessible from all parts of Tokyo.
Until the company’s bankruptcy in 1999 Eaton’s was a beloved Canadian institution in retail stores and catalog stores. But today the name remains as Toronto’s premier shopping mall. the amazing centre features over 300 stores with just about everything imaginable on sale and also houses some pretty good restaurants cafes and hours of enjoyment for all. The focal point of the centre is a magnificent fountain which shoots water over 30 metres into the air, and the 265 metre long glass galleria gives the centre a airy and spacious feeling all year round. The Bay or Hudson Bay is the centre’s largest department store and has floors and floors of merchandise- they even have a gallery where you can see 400 of the finest examples of Canadian Art a must for any art lover. Be sure to visit the Labyrinth- here the paths of the Chartes Cathedral in France have been reproduced- they are quiet stunning. The centre is so huge there are colour coded signs so you know what direction you are heading- red sends you south, orange to the west, Blue to the north and yellow heads you easterly- a great idea for those direction challenged. Read the rest of this entry »
The Intrepid was a United States Navy aircraft carrier which was built for World War II, and later served in Vietnam and was even used to recover spacecraft of the Mercury and Gemini programs. Today the mighty vessel is the centre attraction Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City. In the last weeks the museum has been given a $120 million refit and reopened after 2 years of work at Pier 86 on New York’s west side. The deck of the Intrepid is home to many significant aircraft which have served the Air Force and Navy over the last century including quiet a few fighter jets and even a supersonic bomber. The Intrepid was also home to one of dozen Concordes in the world. The Concorde is currently off site and in need of some repairs after damage and it is hoped that it will be on display at the museum soon.
About 30 miles from Las Vegas on the border of Nevada and Arizona you will find the massive Hoover Dam Hydroelectric Powerstation holding back Lake Mead. Completed in 1935 it was the largest electric power station and largest concrete structure in the world. with enough concrete to pave a two lane highway from New York to San Francisco. Tours of the power station are available daily where visitors can see and hear first hand the amazing engineering and construction feats accomplished to build this mighty structure. The power generated serves not only the glittery lights of Las Vegas but much of Arizona, Nevada and most of Southern California. Interestingly the power station dosn’t store power it just generates what is needed at the time.
Stuttgart’s Mercedes Benz Museum is probably the best automotive museum in the world with over 160 vehicles all magnificently displayed in a building designed by UNStudio who also designed the New Zealand Te Papa Museum, which can only be described as art. There are over 16500 square metres of exhibition space with some of the world’s finest examples of Mercedes Benz automobiles. The exhibition starts at the top floor and works it’s way down spiral ramps to the bottom with giant showcases of vehicles on all levels. Amongst it’s huge collection are cars, buses, trucks from all eras of the Mercedes Benz timeline all shining like jewelery in the beautiful displays. One highlight is the Gallery of Celebrities where visitors can get up close to the Popemobile, movie and music stars cars and even a Mercedes owned by Princess Diana.
In June 1770 His Majesty’s Bark Endeavour in the charge of Captain Cook limped into a safe harbor on Australia’s vast Cape York Peninsula after reef damage, this harbor was to become Cooktown. Cooktown today is the northernmost town of the east coast of Australia being around 300 km north of Cairns and home to about 1600 people. The town grew to over 7000 during the gold rush in the 1870’s and during the 1940’s was an important base for the Second World War with some 20,000 Australian and American troops based around the township playing important roles in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Today the town is a popular tourist destination with the Lakefield National Park and Great Barrier Reef in easy reach and with the road now sealed from Cairns to Cooktown many more people are enjoying the laid back charm of this lovely tropical town. Cooktown is also an important a service centre for the residents in the remote regions of the far north.
