For The Love of Travel - March/April Issue by Harrison Lazarides

P U B L I S H E R ’ S N OT E hat a terrific start to the year this has been. We have seen the World’s 5 Star Airline – Qatar Airways touch down in New Zealand setting a new World record of the longest commercial flight. Qatar Airways sets the bar very high when it comes to guest experiences on its airplanes and on the ground. And with great fares to Europe they are a sure try. If you’re planning a trip to Europe this year, I recommend booking with Qatar Airways. We’ve launched the autumn edition with a refreshed look and feel. There are more destinations and articles focus on a variety of different angles for your reading pleasure. In this issue, we take you to Sikkim – which is located in the North East region of India on the foothills of the Himalayas. Wedged between Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal this ‘Lilliputian Land’ reflects an ever changing panorama that spans the entire scenic spectrum, from

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jungle filled river valleys marginally above sea level to pine forests and orchid-dotted rhododendron groves in an alpine-like setting. If you’re headed to Ireland, don’t miss the north Antrim coast which is Northern Ireland’s most spectacular playground. And Vancouver offering a great mix of urban cosmopolitan culture mixed with great Canadian outdoors. This arguably is the best time to travel. If you’ve dreamed of a destination to travel to, its time to get packing. With airfares at their all-time low, strong Kiwi dollar and deals galore, the world is within your reach. Where ever your travels take you this year, I wish you come back with the fondest of memories. Don’t forget to share with us your love for travel on our Facebook page. Happy landings,

Harmeet

CO N T E N T S

S U M M E R O F YAC H T I N G .

T E E N S O F TA I WA N .

SIKKIM INDIA.

AU S T R A L I A .

I R E L A N D.

T H A I L A N D.

VA N CO U V E R .

E C UA DO R .

SOUTH AFRICA.

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M AC AO.

VA N UAT U.

CREDITS PUBLISHER.

HARMEET SEHGAL

CREATIVE DIRECTOR.

HARRISON LAZARIDES

SUB-EDITOR.

ARNOLD FRIEDMAN

DIGITAL PUBLISHING.

Z MAGS

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND IMAGES.

AMY BINGHAM ROB MC GOVERN THOMAS KING FLEUR KINSON RONAN Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;CONNELL BRIAN JOHNSTON TONI KARACSONY.

For the love of Travel magazine is published quarterly by Travel Media Limited Limited. All contents are subject to copyright and cannot be reproduced without written consent of the publishers. While every precaution is taken for the accuracy and advice to the readers, the editor, the publishers and the proprietors cannot be held responsible for any damages or inconvenience that may arise from any incorrect information provided. Opinions and views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publishers. We do not solicit any products and services showcased in the magazine. For sales enquiries, please get in touch with your local travel agent. ISSN (Print edition) 1170-7712 ISSN (Digital edition) 1170-7720 Please address all correspondence and queries to: For the love of Travel info@fortheloveoftravel.net.nz www.fortheloveoftravel.net.nz

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Fly with China Airlines to discover the beauty of Taiwan

China Airlines is Taiwan's largest carrier and leading airline with a 4 star SkyTrax rating and full service experience. Operating to Taipei from Auckland via Sydney or Brisbane and from Christchurch via Sydney or Melbourne, the airline also flies to a 62-city Asia network covering Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and India, as well as 30+destinations in Europe, the USA, Guam and Palau. China Airlines files daily ex-Auckland with year-round services & 6 times weekly ex-Christchurch with seasonal services from 30th October 2016 to 25th March 2017. For more information, please visit our website at www.china-airlines.com or contact 0800-359-330

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S U M M E R O F YAC H T I N G Your upper point of view The Ferretti Yachtsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 881 RPHâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new layout maintains the structural excellence of the original yacht, with the addition of an upper deck containing a pilot house that dominates the sea. The internal environment respects the innovative solutions introduced on the Ferretti Yachts flagship which inspired the 881 RPH. On board, the spaciousness of the interior together with the use of light tones, such as elm and soft-colored materials make the salon stand out in terms of size and luminosity. The living area has a symmetrical layout,

with a double sofa on both sides. A retractable 32 inch plasma TV in the centre separates the salon from the dining area which contains a table capable of seating eight people comfortably. Situated on the lower deck, the master cabin has two large open windows on either side which make it an extremely spacious and luminous suite. In addition to the master cabin there are two twin bed cabins with en suite bathrooms and a VIP cabin in the bow. The Ferretti 881 RPH has been fitted with new engines, two 2,211 horsepower MTUs that easily meet all expectations, pushing the top speed to 29 knots with a cruising speed of 26 knots.

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T H E F E R R E T T I 881 R P H

ENGINE MTU 16V 2000 M92 ENGINE POWER 2.211 OVERALL LENGTH 27,03 m HULL LENGTH 26,94 m WATERLINE LENGTH 22,15 m MAX BEAM 6,72 m MAX SPEED (prediction data) 30 kn CRUISING SPEED (prediction data) 26 kn RANGE (prediction data) 325 nm UNLADEN DISPLACEMENT 81.000 kg LADEN DISPLACEMENT 93.600 kg FUEL TANK 9.000 l WATER TANK 1.320 l NO. OF PEOPLE ON BOARD 24

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T E E N S O F TA I WA N Taiwan is hardly top of mind when planning a holiday with teenagers. The shy island nation has long hidden behind the shirttails of mainland China to such an extent that many of us know little about its rich history, culture and appeal. But thanks in part to a burgeoning tech-led economy, modern living standards, crimefree cities and a manageable size – just one hundred and eighty kilometres from tip to tail, Taiwan is also a

destination perfectly set up to welcome families with older kids. Chuck in an endearing kookiness, pure natural beauty and breadth of unique experiences, and this “new kid on the block” Asian destination delivers something “alternative” to a demographic that are notoriously hard to please. So here are ten ideas to persuade them it’s a place to be seen!

A N YO N E F O R T E A ?

Having a cuppa doesn’t scream “perfect for teens”. But mixing, melting, shaking and stirring your own bubble tea is a guaranteed crowd pleaser. Taichung’s Chun Shui Tang Tea House is widely credited as the birthplace of Taiwanese Bubble Tea, a hugely popular iced tea and tapioca brew. Thirty years on, the craze is still going strong and can be widely tasted across the country. Book a bubble tea-making lesson and learn from the pros while also learning about traditional Taiwanese tea making. A take-home tea shaker and certificate might even help seal the deal. www.chunshuitang.com.tw

A R T I N AC T I O N

The industrial city of Kaohsiung boasts Pier 2, an innovative arts precinct re-born from former docklands. Emerging creatives rent space at minimal cost, courtesy of a government scheme to diversify the local economy. Guided tours meander through the crazy outdoor sculptures and graffiti art and provide colourful selfie backgrounds before heading inside to workshops and retail outlets. With an everchanging list of tenants every visit is different. So expect a range of ‘art’; anything from exhibitions of plastics, craftsmen wielding soldiering irons to shops full paper craft and fanzines. Sloth-like teens will love the hipster aesthetic and unhurried pace and relish a coffee and cake in the delectable bookshop.

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W H AT ’ S F O R DINNER? Food here is fresh, delicious and affordable and many restaurants have Western menus and English speaking staff. Fussy teens are well catered for and will love the cheap eaton- the-run street stalls, simple locals-only eateries and convenience store takeaways. For signature Taiwanese dumplings head to Din Tai Fung in Taipei’s 101 Tower. The window into a heavily-staffed dumpling production line delivers guaranteed entertainment whilst meals are being prepared. Be sure to stop by one of the many themed restaurants. From favourites like Hello Kitty to robots to teddies, expect creative and expensive themed food. For some eating turd-like piles of chocolate ice cream out of toilet bowls in Taipei’s Modern Toilet Restaurant may be a step too far. www.dintaifung.com

DUCK DUCK G OO S E No visit to Taiwan is complete without a visit to a traditional night market. A perennial favourite is Kaohsiung’s Liu-He Night Market where food, fashion and electrical goods vie for attention. Taste strange tropical fruits, stock up on flashing phone chargers or grab cheap designer fakery. Stop by the duck stall, a locals favourite, where every body part conceivable from webbed feet to beak are on offer.

SPORTS NUTS For sports-mad teens Taipei’s state-of- the-art indoor sporting arena Taroko Park, is a mustsee Brush up on basketball, golf, skating, soccer and baseball skills and regardless of effort, thanks to the air conditioning, never raise a sweat. Head outside to the theme park and go-karting circuit, the latter a miniature replica of the F1 Suzuki track in Japan. www.tarokopark.com.tw

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S P E E D PA S T THE TEMPLES

Buddhist temples are not to every teen’s taste, so why not head to Kaohsiung and combine culture with high adrenalin wakeboarding? At The Lotus Cable Wakeboard Park boarders are pulled around the water by an ever-rotating cable. Instructors speak English and after a few face plants, most teens will master the technique needed. While they repeat the circuit for several hours, amble around the shores of Lotus (Lianchi) Lake taking in the spectacular Dragon and Tiger Pavilions, Pei Chi Pavilion and the giant Confucious temple. www.lotuswakepark.com

PEOPLE POWER Meet the country’s oldest activist and his colourful home at The Rainbow Village in Taichung. When The Taiwanese Government planned to re-develop a 1950s military housing village, ex-soldier Huang Yong-Fu refused to leave his home. In peaceful protest, he painted his home in vibrant colours with distinctive patterns and shapes. His story went viral and the demolition was cancelled. Most days ninety year old Mr Huang welcomes visitors from around the world and sells souvenirs. And if nothing else, a visit will spark animated discussions around the dinner table that night

GETTING STUCK IN In Taipei’s Shihlin District, The Kuo Yuan Ye Bakehouse is famous for pineapple cake, a traditional Taiwanese wedding gift. Prebook a cookery class and create cakes – under instruction - to their unique recipe. Teens will find making miniature pineapple versions a surprisingly meditative experience. Almost as popular is the Cake & Pastry Museum - a canny ploy to kill time whilst cakes bake where traditional silk wedding dresses and headwear can be worn for hilarious photos. www.kuos.com/museum/en.html

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R O B OT WA R S

DO I N G I T F O R T H E K I D S

Save the teens from fighting and challenge them to do it with robots instead in the city of Taoyuan. The snappily named Sha Yang Ye Robotic Dreams Future Factory is all about engineering, but inadvertently is one of the most original attractions in Taiwan. Teens will love the hands on opportunities to control, move and manipulate robots and use their bodies to remotely manoeuvre lifelike robots in a real robot war. Watching a band of robots sashay in time to music whilst wearing hula skirts is a unforgettable experience. www.robot.shayangye.com/tw/factory-17

Teens are oft accused of treating their homes like a hotel, so finding standout accommodation is a challenge. Luckily Taiwan has a range of quirky hotels with particular appeal for teens Taichung has the innocuously named Red Dot Hotel with comfortable family rooms. Stand-outs are the disco-lit lifts and the spiral slide between floors. Who can resist a slippery dip? In Taipei treat the family to the sophisticated ambience of Home Hotel. The artworks proclaiming various home-themed affirmations,â&#x20AC;?Home is where the heart isâ&#x20AC;? and the like, are a fun touch. Or wake up to giraffes, rhinos and mesmerising lemurs at the Lee Foo Resort, a haven of calm and comfort amongst the crowds of a zoo, safari and theme park. www.reddot-hotel.com/en/

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hile the former Portuguese colony is one of the world’s most densely populated areas, Coloane is a green haven that offers a more sedate experience away from the bright lights of the city. One of East Asia’s undiscovered gems, the tiny territory of Macau is a Special Administrative Region of China and thanks to a population of around 650,000 living in an area of just over 30 km2 it can seem a bit crowded. But fear not, there are still one or two places to escape the throng. Back in Macau’s not so distant past, the SAR was made up of two islands and a peninsula. Then the land between the islands was reclaimed and the two islands joined together. Coloane was the southern island, and now it is the southern part of the new merged island. It is the least discovered part of Macau and has hiking trails as well as some interesting history. It isn’t a stretch to say that Coloane is a haven from the rest of the territory - which is rather manic. It has a quaint village centre, green open spaces and even a couple of beaches. Coloane is also a great place to try Macau’s now famed egg tarts and see China’s animal ambassador. Macau doesn’t have mountains, but it does have a few hills, and Macau’s largest is Alto de Coloane at 170 metres. At the summit is the wonderful A-Ma Cultural Village. The 7,000-sqm complex is a dedication to the goddess A-Ma (sometimes called Tin Hau), the Goddess of Seafarers, and the gem at the centre is the beautiful Tin Hau Palace.

Nearby is a 20-metre statue of the goddess A-Ma (the world’s tallest, but then there is not likely much competition). The goddess even lends her name to Macau itself. Local legend tells of a junk boat that was caught in a storm off the coast of Macau. On the verge of sinking, the boat was delivered from certain destruction by a young woman who ordered the seas to calm and thereby saving the crew. The bay was named for her which in Cantonese is A-Ma Gau.There are 11 walking trails in total in Macau which vary in length and difficulty. One of them is a short trail that leads around Seac Pai Van Park which contains the Macao Giant Panda Pavilion which is home to giant pandas Kai Kai and Xin Xin. For a historical walk, the Seac Min Pun Ancient Path takes walkers from Hac Sa beach to Coloane Village. Once the only route between the two places, it offers hikers a taste of what locals once had to go through in their day-to-day lives.

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Coloane Village has more cultural sites and is a great place to enjoy lunch. The beautiful Chapel of St Francis Xavier is the villageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most popular tourist attraction, but it is the humble monument at the other end of Eduardo Marques Square that people should be looking at. Commemorating a victory over pirates who had routinely pillaged peasants and fishermen in Coloane for decades in the early part of the 20th century. Kidnapping a group of local children and holding them for ransom, the locals decided to fight back. After several days of bloody fighting the children were freed, and the monument erected in remembrance. You could build up your appetite by playing a round of golf at the Macau Golf & Country Club.

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Home to the Macau Open, the course has great views of the South China Sea and interestingly is accessible from the top floor of Grand Coloane Resort. As for eating, Coloane has several great spots depending wha what you fancy. The main square has a few great al fresco restaurants, the best among them being Nga Tim, which offers a good range of Portuguese and Cantonese dishes. The clams are particularly good. In winter boxes of hot coals are put under tables to keep feet nice and warm. Miramar and Fernandoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s offer authentic Portuguese and Macanese food, but both are also tourist hotspots and are likely to be quite busy. Usually more sedate is Cafe Panorama at the Grand Coloane Resort.

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The African chicken, a Macau speciality, is good. A cocktail on the al fresco patio, which has a large open fireplace, is a good way to end any day. For dessert there really is only one place to go and one thing to eat - a Portuguese egg tart from Lord Stowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bakery, but be prepared to queue as they are incredibly popular. As Coloane is less populated, it can be nice to spend a few hours touring around by bike. Two kilometres down the traffic-light Estrada de Aldeia from Coloane Village is the entrance to Cheoc Van Beach. Cleaner, more picturesque and thankfully less popular than Hac Sa Beach, Cheoc Van Beach itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a great place to take a stroll or lie out for a few hours if it is nice and sunny. Follow it up with a jug of sangria at beach-side Italian restaurant La Gondola and watch the sun disappears over the South China Sea. Dragging yourself away from the the bustling Cotai Strip and the shops of the Macau Peninsula can be difficult, but those who do will be rewarded with good local food, beautiful colonial-era buildings and a new found appreciation for this diminutive enclave.

For more information, check out the Macau Government Tourism Office on www.visitmacao.com.au

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edged between Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal, almost hidden in the north-east corner of India, just above the State of West Bengal, Sikkim is not a conventional package tour destination. With no airport possible because the land is too mountainous and no railway feasible because the gradient is too steep, it’s likely that Sikkim will remain that way. Only the most determined travellers have a close encounter of the first kind with this landlocked “Lilliputian Land”. Although, its picturesque state capital of Gangtok is around 120 kilometres from the two major transport hubs of India’s north-east, Bagdogra, the nearest airport or New Jalpaiguri/ Siliguri and the closest rail terminal is still a four to five hour road odyssey to Sikkim. The journey, however, is unforgettable as it makes its way through some increasingly beautiful countryside. The ever changing panorama spans the entire scenic spectrum, from jungle filled river valleys marginally above sea level to pine forests and orchid-dotted rhododendron groves in an alpine-like setting. The rushing waters of the seldom-ever above freezing, but, raft-able waters of the Testa River accompany travellers for most of the fascinating journey. Foreign tourists are somewhat of a novelty even in Gangtok, a quaint but bustling, ridge hugging, river fronting terraced town deep in the foothills of the Himalayas. Flitting between its ramshackle wooden houses, adorned with pagoda roofs, is a colourful microcosm of humanity. The original inhabitants of the area were the Lepcha. Their descendants still live in the more isolated valleys of northern Sikkim. Occasionally, a few locals make a pilgrimage to the markets and bazaars on the 1,520 metre high Gangtok. More commonly seen, however, are the Bhutias and Nepalese. 34

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The former, brought Buddhism from Tibet some seven centuries ago; while, the latter, the state’s main ethnic group, arrived in the valleys some 200 years ago. The colours of the ethnic costumes are an added bonus to any exploration of the capital. Even if organised sightseeing blitzes aren’t particularly appealing, it’s still a good (and inexpensive) idea to take the guided tour of Gangtok organised by Sikkim Tourism. The main reason for this is that while there isn’t an endless array of things to see and places to go in the capital, just getting from point A to point B and on to point C is time consuming, and with scores of terraces to be navigated it’s also very tiring. Another advantage is that local guides often provide intriguing anecdotes. After having seen the priceless paintings on silk, do be sure to visit the Cottage Industries

Emporium where in its many workshop students are taught the traditional art of Thanka painting, along with weaving, wood carving and carpet making. This centre specialises in the production of carpets, shawls, blankets, carved wood tables called Choksies, plus, silver and coral ornaments. Everything made here is in traditional Sikkimese style. The best example of this typical style is clearly seen at the nearby Research Institute of Tibetology. Situated just below the institute is a well landscaped terraced garden studded with some 200 varieties of orchids. At their blooming best, from March till November, they represent only a small sample of the state’s botanic exotics. Complimenting the rare flora is a menagerie of unusual fauna.

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Topping the list of rarities is the snow leopard, an almost mythical animal. The snow leopard, a fleeing recluse, has been seen in habitat ranging from 1,800 to 3,600 metres. Another uncommon animal is the Red Panda, which frequently eludes detection as it resides mostly in treetops. Living under a sky filled with 600 species of butterfly and an equal number of bird species and subspecies are muntjac, also know as barking deer or musk deer; this is a species on the endangered list, along with shaggy yaks, some of which are utilised as beasts of burden for special Sikkim ‘Yak Safaris’. Within Sikkim’s tiny embrace are dozens of monasteries (gompas) where the rites of Buddhism are practiced and preserved. Without doubt, the most visited of these is Rumtek. Reached by bus, taxi or hire car from Gangtok it’s an enjoyable 23 kilometre excursion through tranquil, colour-splashed farmland to this architectural wonder. The first Rumtek Monastery, built in 1717, eventually crumbled to dust. The magnificent structure was built in the 1960s and still awes visitors today.

This was just after the Chinese occupied Tibet and His Holiness Gyalwa Karmapa, the head of the Kagya-pa sect of Tibetan Buddhism, took refuge in Sikkim. The then ruler of the then independent country of Sikkim welcomed him, granting him a parcel of land to set up a new monastery. The incomparable Rumtek Monastery was built as an exact replica of the monastery at Chhofuk in Tibet. It’s not just the traditional architecture, the carved and painted woodwork or the stunning murals and icon treasures that attract cameraclutching visitors; it’s also the daily routine and rituals of the 1000 or so monks who live at Rumtek, the biggest and most famous of all the monasteries in Sikkim. Within its well ornamented and highly decorated interior, maroon robed monks chant ancient mantras to the monotonous drone of great drums and blaring trumpets. Silver lamps filled with butter oil flicker before paintings of grand masters. In the courtyard, young devotees recite their long-studied lessons before stern-faced teachers. Beyond it all in the shadow of Kanchenjunga prayer flags, flutter their messages of devotion to the heavens, adding even more sparkle and spectacle to this dream destination called ‘Sikkim’.

To arrange your India experience contact Wendy Wu Tours, who specialising in group tours and independent travel arrangements for India. Web. wendywutours.co.nz, Tel. 0800 936 3998

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T H E G R E AT E S C A P E ( G I B B R I V E R R OA D , AU S T R A L I A ) he woman in the tourist office in the minute town of Kununurra had a face burnt dark by the sun, paler around the eyes where sunglasses had protected her skin, giving her a bug-eyed, somewhat hysterical air. As she spoke she italicised words, terrorising me with the most innocent comments. “There’s no problem with the Gibb River Road surface at the time being,” she assured me. “Actually, it’s just been graded, so it’s dry and passable, if a bit corrugated in places. Naturally, road conditions can change very quickly. You do of course have a four-wheel drive?”

I didn’t. All I had was a clapped-out VW Combi dating from 1974, and when I said so the tourist official began thrusting brochures in my direction, offering a variety of other more sedate attractions, as if she couldn’t imagine I’d be foolish enough to abandon the highway. But my sister and I already had spent several days camping at Kununurra. We’d already cruised on Lake Argyle, and taken a little trip to Hidden Valley National Park right on the outskirts of town. Now it was a far grander adventure we were looking for.

“Is there anywhere to get petrol on the Gibb River Road?” The woman pursed her lips. “It’s possible,” she said, as if speculating on the arrival of snow. “Some of the stations out there might have some, but they won’t necessarily want to sell it. It depends on when they had their last delivery.” My sister Nicola grimaced at me; we didn’t have any way to carry extra petrol. We squinted at the large-scale map of the Kimberleys, following the Gibb River Road across riverbeds and through worn-down mountain ranges.

Then we wandered around the racks of tourist leaflets. I picked out a paper on the Kimberleys. “Carry sufficient water and food to last three to four days longer than anticipated,” the information invited warily. The Kimberleys are legendary in Australia, with many Australians considering it the ultimate in outback adventure. The attractions of this far northwestern corner of the continent are its spectacular scenery—rugged hills, plunging gorges, rust-coloured rock—and its remoteness, for this is truly one of the last great frontiers. FOR THE LOVE OF TRAVEL

At the same time, the Gibb River Road that cuts through the region makes part of the Kimberleys accessible to the ordinary traveller. The road was created to transport beef from remote pastoral stations to coastal ports at Derby and Wyndham. The main stretch between Kununurra and Fitzroy Crossing is virtually all dirt road, and under good conditions it takes four or five days to complete the 700 km journey. In the dry season (April to September), especially after a grader has passed through, the road presents few problems, and despite the sensible advice about using a four-wheel drive, the trip can, in fact, be made in an ordinary family car or camper van. With the tourist officialâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s warnings about flash floods and lack of petrol ringing in our ears, we bade her farewell. 42 FOR THE LOVE OF TRAVEL

The next morning we left the tarmac behind us and started down the Gibb River Road. Nicola drove as I squinted out at stunted bushes, potholes, and crumbling road edges. Sometimes, the Road was a great red ribbon of thin, soft dust over a hard-packed surface of natural earth. It was difficult, because of the dust, to see the corrugations left by the grading machine that so recently had passed this way; if the van hit them unexpectedly, there was a tremendous rattling through the bodywork of the van, and saucepans and books were sent flying. At other times, the road was a gray strip of rubble, made up of stones and pebbles that pinged and rattled on the vanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s under-surface and threatened imminent punctures. Sometimes, infrequently, it was pale sand, causing the wheels to spin and the van to slew violently from side to side.

In short, visitors to the Gibb River Road shouldn’t expect to average much more than thirty kilometres an hour with frequent stops for rests; the difficult driving conditions, coupled with the heat and the glare, are exhausting. After a while, though, as you get used to the conditions, you begin to relax and see beyond the dust and difficulties to the weird beauty of the Australian outback. You drive across riverbeds, dry but for a few remaining pools of water, blue fragments among heaps of stone. Beyond, the ancient eroded hills are purple and rust-red. Deeper into the Kimberleys, Barnett River, Manning, and Galvan’s Gorges are beautiful places, tight valley ends of plunging rock, cupping deep water holes afloat with water lilies, kept fresh with trickles of moisture that expand into roaring waterfalls during the Wet. With their coolly refreshing water and shaded confines crowded with lush vegetation, these gorges offer a well-earned respite from the heat and aridity of the track. The Gibb River Road also passes by various oases of civilization—the huge cattle ranches (or stations as they’re called in Australia) along the way. The best known is El Questro, not far out of Kununurra, with its own share of gorges and hot springs. You can camp by the river, but El Questro also has luxury accommodation and offers everything from heli-fishing, gorge cruises, and camel rides to dirt biking. Accommodation is also available at Mt House, Mt Barnett, Mt Elizabeth, Jack’s Waterhole, and Home Valley homesteads strung out along the track, but you would be wise to book in advance. Otherwise, you can simply stop by the roadside in a camper van, or camp on station land, which attracts a small fee in return for some basic facilities. These stations also have small general stores (expect tins, not fresh food) and they usually can sell you petrol. FOR THE LOVE OF TRAVEL

On the fourth afternoon, four hundred kilometres into the Kimberleys, my sister and I turned off the Gibb River Road down a long, winding track and camped at Adcock Gorge. The next morning, we scaled the gorge walls to sit triumphantly on the lip of the waterfall. The river at our backs was nothing but stone and rock, cutting through the vegetation straight and almost as flat as a Roman road, parched of all moisture. Cockatoos, disturbed, wheeled indignantly along the cliff face, their white wings catching the sunlight as they swooped around the stunted bushes that grew miraculously from its fissures. Back down under the boab trees, the engine of our van made a noise like a rhino with a bone stuck in its throat and fell silent. In my unease, I shouted insultingly at my sister and bundled her out of the driving seat, but I made no impression on the recalcitrant motor. “It’s a two-hour walk to the Road,” Nicola said. “You’re supposed to stay with your vehicle if you break down. Wait for someone to come along.” “Come along! This isn’t Fifth Avenue on a Saturday morning.”Half an hour later, she added: “Well, I suppose some people come here. That guy in the hiking boots was here earlier.” “Well he’s not here now. He’s off swatting flies in some other God-forsaken place. I knew we wouldn’t have enough petrol.” This was perverse, because we had, in fact, managed to tank up at Mt Barnett, although I didn’t feel it necessary to mention this. “We haven’t run out of petrol.” Nicola clambered wearily back into the driver’s seat and turned the key. The engine caught. “Get in, get in,” she screamed, pressing down on the accelerator and almost leaving me behind. We kept going, almost afraid to stop now, aghast at our own inadequacy, hauling our way up through the King Leopold Ranges and finally turning southward, leaving the Gibb River Road proper but staying on an unsurfaced track that eventually would lead us back to the highway near Fitzroy Crossing. We stopped in the relative safety of the campsite at Windjana Gorge, a quiet and atmospheric place, haunted by giant fruit bats and freshwater crocodiles. In the evening, the yellow of the cliffs seemed to seep out of the flesh of the earth and shimmer upwards, setting the sky on fire until it glowed with tongues of flame while the rocks grew darker, their colour rusting, until they were black. Next day, we explored Tunnel Creek, an immense cavern with deep pools of water where Jundumurra, one of the great figures of Aboriginal rebellion against white settlers, hid out for more than three years, until he was cornered and shot in April 1897. At nearby Geike Gorge, the water gurgled and freshwater crocodiles sunned themselves on the sandbanks. After all, these were beautiful places. With the sun gone, the limestone cliffs, deeply indented and eroded into Gothic fantasies, now glowed honey-coloured in the last remaining light; and I smiled to myself, glad I’d been.

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W H I S K E Y O N T H E R OC K S

The north Antrim coast is Northern Ireland’s most spectacular playground, with stunning geological oddities, cute little towns and vividcoloured beaches. Fleur Kinson marvels at the Giant’s Causeway and more. When you first see the Giant’s Causeway, you struggle to

believe it’s an organic part of the landscape. ew natural phenomena look more man-made than this. Surely some eccentric Victorian gentleman built the thing to entertain his children? How else to explain the perfectly dovetailed arrangement of hexagonal stone columns, forming an irresistible maze of stepping-stones beside the crashing sea? It looks so obviously a novelty pleasure-ground wrought by cunning design. And yet the forces of geology unthinkingly spawned it. Sixty million years ago, a massive subterranean explosion spewed up a broad seam of molten basalt, which cooled and solidified, crystal-like, into thousands of interlocking columns. Around 37,000 of the things spread from here – the northeast coast of Ireland – to a spot in southwest Scotland a dozen miles across the Irish Sea. The majority now sit underwater (and ever more are joining them with the rising tide of climate change). Of course such a spectacular oddity inspired supernatural legends. The ancient Irish giant Fionn Mac Cumhaill (a.k.a. Finn McCool) laid the stones, so the story goes, as a footpath across the sea – so he could stroll over to woo a comely Scottish giantess. Hence the monicker “Giant’s Causeway.” It’s a major tourist attraction. Delighted visitors have been coming to wander agog across the mazy hexagons since 1693, when the Royal Society first drew popular attention to the place as a great wonder of the natural world. Today, the slowly vanishing stones attract hundreds of thousands of excited people every year. I arrive on a cold spring day, descending a steep cliffside path to reach the geological marvel far below. The panoramic views from on high are magnificent – great green hunks of grass-topped land fracturing suddenly to plunge towards a foamy sea. Strange rock formations hug the shore. There’s a “Giant’s Chair” licked by bouncing waves, and a cascade of stone “pipes” making the “Giant’s Organ.” But it’s the

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It immediately brings out the child in everyone. You can’t help climbing all over it. The strange landscape rises and falls, creating a series of tiny plains and hillocks all made of tricksy polygonal steps. The delight lies in the necessity to place each footstep on a different hexagon or pentagon, as if advancing across a gigantic game board. But it’s amazing there aren’t more accidents. Seaslime grows in the shallow pools lying atop some of the columns, creating banana-skin conditions for the unwary foot. Normally as surefooted as a mountain goat on uneven terrain, I nearly slip over a couple of times. There are treacherously steep bits, too, where you must cling to the stone with both hands and pull yourself anxiously up or round the tallest of the sprouting columns. I climb on all fours to the top of a sharply diagonal slope and sit beside a perilous drop, then realize there’s no way back down other than inching undignified from step to step on my rear end. In the dull, cloudy weather, the Causeway makes an eerily monochrome scene. Black stone shines wet against a boiling white sea. In other spots, the colour of the rock inches towards a gingery warmth, or blooms with modest-hued lichens. The crashing waves, meanwhile, seem eerily lit from within by a pale turquoise light. Eventually, staring at the endless hexagons and pentagons, with all their edges and lines, sends your eyes a bit funny and you long to rest them with views across the serene green fields atop the cliffs behind you – or to gaze far out to sea while wandering one of the vast, pale beaches that spool so beautifully along this wonderful 50 FOR THE LOVE OF TRAVEL

stretch of coast. I bid farewell to the magical Causeway, and weave a gasping path back up the high cliffs. Five minutes’ drive to the west and I’m stepping onto the enormous, elemental space of Whiterocks Beach. There are no buildings, just wide golden sand backed by high, grassy dunes. At a far end, split white rocks with cavelike fissures evidently give the place its name. Wild, limpid waves crash and hiss beside me as I stride along, and tiny, fast-legged little birds race through their wake. Contented folk stroll past in the roaring wind, attended by ecstatic dogs. Well-wetsuited surfers gamely try their luck far out in the waves. I walk a mile or two, until I see the proud buildings of Portrush in the distance, then head back to the car. Windblown and cherry-cheeked from hours scampering beside the sea, I decide now is the perfect time to check out another much-loved local site: the historic whiskey distillery in the neat little town of Bushmills, five minutes away. It’s the oldest legal distillery in the world, apparently, having been set up fully licensed here in 1608. Today, Bushmills is one of Ireland’s best-known whiskey brands, and the distillery is the little town’s main visitor attraction. Irish weather is famously unreliable, and touring a cosy, fragrant whiskey distillery makes an especially appealing prospect when the skies take a wet and windy turn. About 120,000 visitors toured the site last year.

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I join a tour with six other people, and we’re led around by a knowledgeable, mild-mannered guide named Leonard. The distillery is hugely atmospheric – all giant copper kettles, gleaming steel vats and stout wooden barrels. Esoteric signs and labels float past, their words strange, warming and evocative – “mash tun,” “yeast hoist,” “wash back,” “still house.” Our progress through the chambers is an olfactory adventure. We’re enveloped – almost overwhelmed – by aromas that shift from beery to bread-like, from banana to raisiny – the yeasty fermentation of the grain, the sweetness of the developing liquour. Then there’s the delicious, faintly- spiced corky-wood smell of drying barrels. Rather excitingly, we’re not allowed to take photographs or leave our mobile phones switched on because the distillery air is saturated with alcohol and highly flammable. One little spark, and whoosh. We learn lots of interesting facts. Perhaps the most interesting is the difference between Scotch whisky and Irish whiskey. It’s more than just that little letter e. It’s how each tackles a key stage of production. Basically, to make either spirit, you start with barley grain, dampen it so it starts to “malt” or germinate, then stop the germination before it goes too far. The difference is that in Scotland they use peat smoke to arrest the germination, while in Ireland they stop it by putting the grain in a drying kiln. Hence, the complex peaty and smoky flavours of Scotch whisky and the smoother, gentler flavours of Irish whiskey. Following the tour, Leonard treats me to a private tasting session of different spirits. We enjoy increasingly animated discussion of the various flavours and how they’re achieved. The several Irish whiskeys I sip are smooth and mellow, and the one that has been aged inside old sherry barrels has absorbed an obvious grapey flavour. The American bourbon, meanwhile, is sweet and packed with vanillin flavours absorbed from its fresh oak barrels. After all this smoothness, the one Scotch whisky in our selection hits the back of my throat like rough hessian. It’s like licking a burlap bag. Fascinating. I wander around Bushmills town for a while to clear my head, then travel on to nearby Portrush, a charming, classic Victorian seaside resort – all sea-view guesthouses and tidy stone promenades. Surprisingly, Portrush also has a large student population, and I vow to check out its raucous nightlife later. But first, some tranquil time on its East Strand – a gorgeous vast beach with particularly vivid sand. In the grey, early evening light, the sand glows hot-chocolatepowder pink towards the dunes, and an almost custard 52

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yellow towards the water. It seems positively eager to be bright, to be iridescent, to shimmer. And it’s so smooth! The gloss left by any retreating wave is mirrorlike and long-lasting. I turn and gasp at views of the pastel plasterwork and orange streetlights of the town reflected in its wet sands. Tomorrow, I’m scheduled to travel a few miles east and climb across the famous rope bridge to Carrick-a-rede Island. Slung 25 metres above the crashing foam and swaying pitilessly with every step, the bridge promises an absolutely terrifying time (and that’s what visitors love about it). I’m not relishing the prospect, so the terra firma of this exquisite beach seems all the more wonderful right now. Tonight, there will be nightlife and tomorrow vertiginous thrills, but for me the real magic of this exceptional coastline always will lie in its otherworldly rocks and its glowing sands.

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One of the world’s most popular tourist cities, Bangkok has a host of renowned attractions. From the intricate splendour of Wat Arun temple, to the teeming commerce of Silom night bazaar, the restorative peace of Lumphini Park and the canal charm of Damnoen Saduak floating market, these attractions draw throngs of travellers. There are, however, many great alternatives to Bangkok’s main sights, some of which are largely overlooked by tourists. Here is your Alternative Guide to Bangkok: Wat Saket – alternative to Wat Arun Wat Arun temple’s central spire glowing in the fading evening light on the banks of the Chaopraya River is one of the iconic sights of Bangkok. This 80m-tall Khmer-style tower, embellished by complex porcelain designs, is the centrepiece of perhaps Thailand’s most famous temple. Just across the river, in the historic 54 FOR THE LOVE OF TRAVEL

precinct of Rattanakosin, is a shimmering gold temple which is a wonderful alternative to Wat Arun. Perched on a hilltop overlooking the oldest part of Bangkok, Wat Saket owns a commanding location. It offers the best views of any temple in the city, giving visitors a 360-degree vista stretching from Bangkok’s modern downtown area along the river to Wat Arun and all the way around to the Grand Palace. Steps lead around and around the temple’s whitewashed base until you reach the top, which is decorated by a towering golden chedi. Before Bangkok became spiked by skyscrapers, this chedi was the highest structure in the city. Open to visitors each day from 7:30am to 5:30pm, Wat Saket is home to dozens of monks, whose early morning and evening prayers echo through its manicured grounds.

Talad Rod Fai market - alternative to Silom night market Few people in Bangkok drive a harder bargain than the blunt vendors at the city’s best-known night market in Silom. Thai people very rarely shop here because of the often absurdly high prices on clothes, fashion accessories and handicrafts. But, because it’s the only night market in the touristy Silom area, it’s popular with travellers. Silom night market runs through the middle of a seedy nightlife area and your chances of being ripped off are higher than anywhere in the city. The atmosphere could scarcely be more different across town at the Talad Rod Fai night market, a huge open air bazaar in the carpark of Seacon Square shopping centre. Where Silom

market’s customers are close to 100% Western, at Talad Rod Fai almost all of the shoppers are Thai. This means that there are no inflated price tags for tourists – foreigners can take advantage of bargain local prices. It also translates to a much friendlier atmosphere as the market is not plagued by unscrupulous vendors like Silom. Talad Rod Fai has more than 100 stalls which sell everything from t-shirts to shorts, sunglasses, shoes, bags, makeup, electronics, mobile phone accessories and even quirky items like antique furniture and collectibles. It also has several funky bars and a remarkable array of food, ranging from traditional Thai sweets to savoury snacks.

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Benjakitti Park - alternative to Lumphini Park Dominated by concrete, steel and glass constructions, Bangkok has a dearth of green spaces compared to most Western cities and also many other Asian metropolises. With its metropolitan area now home to more than 15 million people, Bangkok is a teeming city, which means that moments of peace and engagement with nature are highly valued. This has made the huge Lumphini Park in downtown Bangkok one of the city’s most popular locations for rest and relaxation. Less than 2km away to the east is the smaller but equally pretty Benjakitti Park. Where Lumphini is a tourist attraction, Benjakitti is a favourite with locals who live in the surrounding areas of Asoke and Klong Toei. Built around an artificial lake, this park is a mecca for exercise. In the mornings and evenings, its 2km exercise track is filled with joggers and walkers, while the adjacent cycling track is always busy. You don’t have to be in an active mood to enjoy Benjakitti – it is one of the best spots in Bangkok for a picnic. Buy some food from the many street vendors near Asoke station, on the north-eastern corner of the park, and then sit on one of the benches on the western side of the lake. The views across the water towards the gleaming skyline of Asoke are wonderful.

Khlong Lat Mayom floating market – alternative to Damnoen Saduak floating market Floating market tours are advertised in hotel lobbies and tourism agencies across Bangkok. Most of these involve a 90-minute drive to Damnoen Saduak floating market in Ratchaburi Province, southwest of the city. Like Silom night market, Damnoen Saduak is a tourist trap. Visitors can expect to be hassled by touts, charged crazy prices for river boat rides through the market and pay way over the odds for any items purchased from market vendors. There is no need to travel so far only to be faced with rip-off merchants when you can travel just 30 minutes into Bangkok’s western suburbs to the far superior Khlong Lat Mayom floating market. Built around a central canal, on which visitors can take cheap longtail boat rides, this weekend market is wildly popular with Bangkok locals. It gets very busy during the middle of the day, so it’s best to visit early in the morning or in the mid-afternoon (it is open from 9:30am to about 4:30pm). Wander through its narrow alleys to inspect dozens of stalls which sell an eclectic range of goods. There is a particular emphasis on fashion, which ranges from basic t-shirts, shorts and blouses to locally-made designer dresses, jeans and accessories. The handicrafts here are impressive, with fine craftsmanship and a greater variety of designs than can be found at Bangkok’s main tourist markets, Chatuchak aside. The real highlight of this market, however, is the incredible food section. There is a large fresh market, selling fruit and vegetables, and then an array of stalls specialising in Thai sweets. The sticky rice and mango here is utterly delicious. At the edges of this food market are several vendors selling Thai dishes like hearty noodle soup, papaya salad and green and red curries. All of these treats are not just tasty but also remarkably cheap.

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Benjakitti Park - alternative to Lumphini Silom or MBK to search for bargain handbags, Park Handbag-making class – alternative whether made by local designers or knockoffs of international brands Now tourists can make to Thai cooking class Thai food is world famous and over the past decade Thai cooking schools have increased dramatically in popularity all across the country. In Bangkok alone there are dozens of businesses which offer lessons on Thai cooking, which vary from short, basic classes to comprehensive courses which can span days or even weeks. Such hands-on courses provide great variety to a holiday in Thailand. One new immersive tourist experience being offered in Bangkok taps into the city’s reputation as a mecca for lovers of handbags. Many visitors to Bangkok make a beeline for markets like Chatuchak,

their own luxury handbag under the guidance of experts in a studio in downtown Bangkok. Based inside an old mansion in Phrom Phong, Bangkok’s most upmarket suburb, the Gong Bang has a variety of leather product courses. For visitors with limited time they can spend an hour or so making a personalised leather keychain in the design studio. Or they can spend up to a week in the studio designing and creating a handbag from an extensive range of highend European fabrics. Experienced handbag designers will take them through this process, step-by- step as they create a truly unique souvenir from Thailand.

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Sonja Anderson writes.

Vancouver is a cosmopolitan city offering uptown sophistication, right in the heart of the great Canadian outdoors. This is the kind of place where you can go mountain hiking in the morning, shopping in the afternoon, and dance the night away to live entertainment in the evening. Vancouver is a city that encompasses great natural and man-made beauty and sophistication; sandwiched between the west coast ranges and the bluer-than-blue Pacific coastline, this is a vibrant, yet, laid back destination.

Riding the Seabus into the city of Vancouver is a sort of urban eco-tour. As the huge ferry departs dockside, leaving Lonsdale behind on this gorgeous northern summer morning, the view just across the blue-aquamarine waters of the Burrard Inlet is one of buildings nestled at the foot of emerald forest-clad mountains. Just off the hefty bow of this, people-only, ferry is the white monolithic skyline of the very vibrant and affluent

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city centre. I muse that the forward and aft panoramas are so very different. They confirm that this Pacific metropolis is a well balanced act of a highly dynamic duo, the sparkling Canadian west coast environment and the excitement of a cosmopolitan lifestyle. Vancouver has two-million residents spread over 114 square kilometres; an area packed with eyepopping beauty, cultural diversity, good eating, and exciting shopping all wrapped up in Canadian charm. As an east coast Canadian by birth, now living abroad, I still find Canadians to be so friendly that getting lost in one of their major cities is a delightful experience. Canadians are more than willing to offer directions; especially when you tell them youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re from out of town.

As a first-time visitor to Vancouver, I found the downtown area pretty easy to navigate as all the streets are laid out in a grid pattern. My hosts John and Margot suggested I use the Seabus terminal on the waterfront as a central point of reference from which to pivot daily plans. Everyone knows the Seabus; city buses are boarded from right out front of the terminal, and all of downtown can be reached by public transport. Sights outside of Vancouver proper are also reachable by Seabus with free transfer to suburban buses. On my first morning in Vancouver, I alighted from the ferry service and easily identified the five white sails that make up the roof of Canada Place; a convention centre and cruise ship terminal with IMAX theatre on the waterfront. Theatre screenings take place daily from 10:00 am through to 11:00 pm. I saw five-storey high, three dimensional images of underwater world’s beluga whales and dolphins. The visual experience was for the most part, overwhelming and so real that I felt as if I had a dive mask on! After spending around 45-minutes underwater, I decided that I needed a land experience, so back along the waterfront I walked into Gastown. This newly-restored section of the city, now declared a heritage site, was actually the site of Vancouver’s first saloon; the cobblestone streets and gas-fired street lights give off a cosy small town vibe. In the 1960s, Gastown

Nearest to the city, and only minutes west of downtown, Stanley Park is a 405- hectare sanctuary of pure visual pleasure and untainted natural wonder. Access to the park is by way of Stanley Park Drive. Visitors access the park by bike, car or on foot, and, believe it or not, horse drawn tram! I chose Stanley Park Horse Drawn Tours; a sort of open-air bus pulled by beautiful Percheron and Clydesdale horses. The even paced clip-clop of their gigantic hooves provide a backdrop that is ingrained in my memory of my visit to the magnificent Stanley Park habitat with its huge native tree stands of Douglas-fir, Western Red Cedar and Sitka Spruce Western Hemlock. The equine trams leave every twenty to thirty-minutes from a kiosk just inside the park at the Georgia Street entrance. I had the option of combining my tour with visits to the Vancouver Aquarium, access to the Harbour Boat Tour or exploration

was the Haight -Ashbury of the north, and today remains an eclectic mix of art galleries, eateries and clothing shops. Although the steam driven clock on the corner of Cambie and Water Street is a classic Westminster, it doesn’t chime, but, it does whistle on the hour. I loved the Spirit Wrestler Gallery situated at 47 Water Street; this is a wondrous collection of First Nation (indigenous Canadians are referred to as First Nation Peoples) sculpture, jewellery and artwork from all over Canada. I was totally mesmerized by the magnificent display of works from other Pacific nations such as New Zealand, the Cook Islands and Tonga. As this was a shopping day for me, I hopped a bus and rode right through the city centre up Granville Street and over the Granville Bridge to Granville Island. Here you’ll find the very best of arts and crafts from all over the world on display in the 250 shops housed in approximately 50 huge warehouse-like buildings. Although, I am a browser, I quickly realized that in a place like this, a dedicated shopper can buy anything from exquisite indigenous art and local handmade jewellery to cookie-cutters, hammocks, fresh fruit and vegetables, and fish. Exhausted by noon, I decided to grab a bite to eat. Sammy Peppers is a nice little place overlooking the water. The seafood chowder and grilled-squid were absolutely delicious and went down very well with a nice glass of Canadian Pinot Grigio.

of the Vancouver Art Gallery, all within the realm of Stanley Park I decided to hop off the horse-drawn tram just off the Brockton Oval to see the sensational, and imposing, hand carved Totem Poles. The poles stand almost as high as the surrounding Douglas-fir trees. Each totem depicts a story of ancestry connected to different indigenous groups throughout British Columbia. In sharp contrast to these imposing handcarved masterpieces, when I took a backward glance, a view of a very different man-made beauty delighted my eyes. The Lions Gate Bridge is an elegant structure arching across 1900 metres of the Burrard Inlet. The bridge gives vehicle access to the northern shore suburbs of Vancouver; it is an eloquent testimony to the contrast between today’s British Columbian culture and that of the past.

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I found another suspension bridge in the suburb of Capilano; the bridge offers access to foot-traffic only. The 16-hectare Capilano Park, declared statistically as the most popular tourist site in Vancouver, is home to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, the oldest suspension bridge in Vancouver. Made of hemp rope and wooden slats, the bridge was originally constructed in 1889 to give access to the forest for logging. The current model is constructed of steel cable suspended 70 metres above the swift Capilano River, giving visitor access to sweet-smelling temperate rainforest and steep canyon country ecology in Vancouver’s backyard. The 170 metre-long sway of the Capilano Suspension Bridge was a little daunting, but I gritted my teeth and walked across. Although, I felt the reflexive bounce of the bridge in response to the fifty-odd people that were walking with me, I have to say, the wonders on the other side of the canyon made it all worthwhile. A series of suspended bridges, accessible by ladder, allowed me a walk through a treetop wonderland amidst the magnificent forest canopy. The journey back across the bridge was more relaxed, and, as I sat to watch a performance of Haida dancers, I was drawn into their beautiful songs and drum beating which echoed throughout the forests of this steep walled canyon. Early one morning, I made the trip to the summit of Grouse Mountain to get a feel for the mountain wilderness that surrounds the metropolitan area. Although, buses do arrive from all parts of the city regularly, I decided to access the Grouse Mountain Skyride station in North Vancouver by taxi. The ten-minute cable car ride to the summit of Grouse, with views to the city and the Cascade and Olympic Ranges, 64 FOR THE LOVE OF TRAVEL

left me gasping with delight. I felt that the ride was just way too short, but it did give me some insight into why people love this city. Once at the peak, I really wanted to see the bears and wolves for which the Grouse Mountain Refuge program is so famous. I walked alongside the, now threatened, grizzly; on the opposite side of a corral fence of course. These huge animals, standing at around 2.5 metres high and weighing in at up to 680 kilograms at full maturity, looked almost cuddly as they lumbered through the forest and played in the creek bed inside their enclosure home. Devin and Mike, minders of the grizzly bears, prepared to feed the bears whilst surrounded by a group of fascinated onlookers. As the huge animals stopped every few feet to sniff the ground and the air, patiently waiting to be fed, the two men talked enthusiastically about the refuge program for bears brought to the mountain as young orphans. “It is a two-and-a-half hectare habitat site that is home to two semi-mature bears,” says Devin. “Bears are a mystery to most people, but they are very sensitive to change in habitat and we are learning so much from their behaviour.” “At Grouse, we want to become leaders in wildlife refuge, collecting data and creating education programs for visitors and schools”, said Mike. Mike and Devin also care for five grey wolves at the base of Grouse Mountain, but unlike the grizzly’s whom these two minders said will never return to the mountain wilds, there is a plan to eventually return the grey wolves to their natural habitat. Besides the animals, Grouse Mountain had a myriad of hikingtrails, and as I walked away from the grizzly enclosure and up into the forest, I caught a glimpse of the city far below me.

The sight was almost ethereal in the temperate sunlight and I mused on what a perfect combination of outdoor and city living Vancouver really is. Making my way to the city centre at dark, I chose to end my last day checking out the sophisticated night life of Vancouver. While, there are literally hundreds of places to choose from, Doolin’s Pub on Granville Street seemed like a great spot for my hosts and I as we sat and people-watched over a couple of Canadian Club whiskeys. Below us in the basement of the pub, clubbers at the Cellar, a favourite nightspot for those who love ‘90s music, celebrated and partied the night away. The sounds of Stayin’ Alive drifted into the mountain-cooled city air. I smiled; it isn’t hard to appreciate those lyrics in Vancouver.

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ith some of the greatest travel experiences in the world, South America has something special on offer for all travel enthusiasts. From the Inca Trail leading to Machu Picchu, to wildlife viewing in Manu National Park in Peru and riding high in the Peruvian Andes on the world’s highest railway the Tren de la Sierra, travellers will find plenty to explore in South America. The thunderous Iguazo Falls in Argentina are an incredible sight to behold. Travellers come from across the world to marvel at the grandiosity of the falls. The best way to view the falls is said to be from the Brazilian side. Located in Brazil, you’ll find the mighty Amazon River, the rich wildlife of Pantanel, the incredibly hot beaches of Rio de Janeiro, and the Rio Carnival, the world’s wildest festival. In Chile, travellers marvel at Atacama Salt Lake’s, El Tatio Geysers, and the torn pinnacles of Torres Del Paine peaks. These are just a few of the many things to see and do in South America. The best place to experience both indigenous culture and the Amazon rainforest is in Ecuador. Visitors can fly into the nation’s capital, Quito, from either Australia or New Zealand. Both LAN and Qantas have direct flights via Santiago. Quito is a picturesque little city nestled amidst a ring of volcanoes in the Andes at an elevation of

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around 2,850 m (9,350 ft) above sea level. Ecuador is located between Peru and Colombia; it is the gateway to the Amazon and the enchanted Galapagos Islands. The language of the people is Spanish. In the space of a three week trip, one can easily spend a week cruising in the Galapagos Islands, a week at the jungle lodges, and a week in Quito, exploring Old Quito and several volcanoes. Horse riding and mountain biking enthusiasts can stay at Hacienda El Porvenir, near the Parquet Nacional Cotapaxi, near Volcan Coptopaxi – at 5,897m, this is the world’s highest active volcano. Guests can enjoy everything from horse riding in the mountains, downhill mountain bike riding, to the ‘El Canon Del Salto Canopy Tour and zip lining. Zip lining utilises several cables that stretch across a gorge from one side to the other. Whilst there, I heard of one family that flew in from Europe just to go horse riding with the Andean Cowboys; also known as Chagras. Guests staying at the Hacienda El Porvenir enjoy delicious home cooked meals of fresh trout caught in local streams, dinning by the warmth of a cosy open fireplace where they can relax and unwind in a friendly atmosphere. Other haciendas in the region are Hacienda el Tambo, near Vocan Quilindana, and Hacienda Santa Rita, near Volcan Pasochoa.

There are several good tour options available in Quito. Pablo Montalvo, our naturalist guide at the Hacienda El Porvenir, gave us some great ideas and directed us to Volcan Quilotoa, about four hours from Quito. The volcano is assessable by mule and a swim in the emerald green crater-lake is a great way to relax after the journey. If you’re looking for a day trip, a visit to Volcan Gua Gua Pichicha is a great choice; this is an active volcano with a crater lake. On the way to the Bellavista Cloud Forest, famous for hummingbirds, you can stop at Volcan Pululahua where you’ll see local’s farming the crater. The Zumbahua Market on Saturdays is another fantastic place to visit for a great day out. There are several tour companies such as Tropic Journeys in Nature that arrange tours to jungle lodges like Napo Wildlife Centre, Yuchana Lodge, Sani Lodge and Kapawi Lodge.

Be sure to ask Tropic Journeys in Nature about their Huaorani Programme where guests can camp near and interact with the Huaorani Indians on the upper Shiripuno River. There are several smaller tour companies with offices in Quito where one can book horse riding, mountain climbing, and white water rafting tours. With private guides like Pablo Montalvo available, travellers can organise their own tours. Some of the most beautiful guided tours are located in places like Mindo, Mitad Del Mundo, Otalvo, Papallacta, Cotopaxi, Quilotoa, Banos, Riobamba, Ingapirca and Cuenca. Cuyabeno National Park is an excellent place to view wildlife in the wetlands of the jungle; visitors will spot tapir, pink dolphins, manatees and other such wildlife. I flew in from Australia and stayed at three separate jungle lodges as well as the Galapagos Islands; the wildlife was extraordinary. I found all of these places refreshingly different in what they had to offer.

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Yuchana Lodge is nestled on the banks of the Napo River near the tiny rainforest community of Mondana, set amidst 3,600 acres of rainforest. The rainforest is home to thousands of exotic species; the land is part of Yuchana’s protected rainforest. In the native tongue of the Quichua, the word Yuchana means, ‘a place of learning’. I am told that there are around 10,000 Quichua Indians living on the upper river. The Yuchana Lodge was built by the Foundation for Integrated Education and Development (FUNEDESIN) in 1995. The lodge invests its profits in the foundations high school education program, as well as sustainable development and conservation projects. The people at the lodge are more than happy to share their broad knowledge of the local people and culture with guests. As a result, one afternoon we visited a Quichua traditional healer man who performed a spiritual cleansing ceremony on us. He blew smoke over our bodies and dusted us with leaves. Amazingly, I felt truly refreshed after the cleansing. Juan, a naturalist who was to later lead us on a jungle trail, told us stories of his training as a young Shaman in his home village of Cambandsa, near the Peruvian border. We even got to try out the healer’s blowgun and spear on a fresh palm stump, but our shots fell short in comparison to the healers. While staying at Yuchana we got to sample the produce of Yachana Gourmet. The shop buys cacao from local farmers to make exotic chocolate for the lodge. A chocolate Yachana twist is served with every meal, as well as homemade chocolate spread and jams made from local cacao and fruit. Jungle chocolate, made from cacao nacional, a rich and aromatic chocolate bean, is said to be the world’s purest and most flavoursome chocolate. Yachana Gourmet also produces jungle chocolate with pineapple, macadamia nuts, Brazil nuts, essence of coffee, raisins and coconut. Juan and Delfin are naturalists working for the lodge; both speak Spanish and English. Juan led us on Yuchana’s jungle trail; his ability to spot creatures was uncanny. He found us poison arrow frogs, birds, fungi, sleeping bats and forest dragon lizards; he even whistled in a few capuchin monkeys. The poison arrow frogs, mostly red/maroon on top, were bright blue on the sides and legs. Indians use the toxin of poison arrow frogs to coat their blowpipe darts. Yuchana Lodge uses solar power and is currently switching to canoes powered by low grade palm oil. The dining room is very homely and has a lively atmosphere thanks to the jovial staff and guides. At the end of the day many students come over from the agricultural school to work in the kitchen and dining room; this adds to the jovial family atmosphere. Meals at the lodge are excellent; the menu is put together using local ingredients such as stinging nettles, which, taste a little like spinach. Almost all of the food is grown by the local agricultural school nearby.

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Since 1991, FUNEDESIN and its projects have invested approximately four million dollars into the Ecuadorian Amazon, saving 4,300 acres of tropical and secondary rainforest. The foundation has also established the Yuchana Technical High School and Mondana Medical Clinic, which provide full time health care to 8,000 Quichua, both indigenous and colonists. All the profits from Yuchana Lodge go to support FUNEDESIN and programs like the pilot project to replace destructive cattle herds with endemic capybara, a kind of giant rodent that I am told is very good to eat. Yuchana Lodge now run a program called the ‘adopt an acre of rainforest’ program, where individuals can adopt and protect an entire acre of tropical rainforest. Individuals can also support FUNEDESIN’s communitybased biodiversity fund through the ‘adopt a chocolate tree’ program. The lodge has won several awards and accolades. Rob Rachowiecki, author of Lonely Planet Ecuador, says, “Yachana Lodge is the best true ecotourism project I have found in 17 years of travel in Ecuador. I highly recommend the lodge and congratulations to you all.” The lodge is a two-hour canoe ride from Coca. Three or four nights are a good length of time to stay at Yuchana Lodge as this allows you to spend some quality time with Juan or Delphin. Another great place to stay, with excellent accommodation, meals and nature guides, is the Sacha Lodge. The lodge is located near the Napo Wildlife Centre. Guests can take dugout canoe safaris and rainforest canopy walks with a 43 metre high observation tower. A highlight of Sacha Lodge and the Napo Wildlife Centre is the parrot clay licks where yellow-crowned Amazons, macaws and parakeets gather en-masse to lick the clay on the river bank. It’s a Rio Carnivale for birds! Kapawi Lodge on the Pastaza River was next. This river has carved the deepest straightest valley in the Eastern Andes, running through Ecuador, Peru, and on to Brazil. Kapawi Lodge has some 20 double cabins built around a lake. Each has a private bath and a balcony with lake views. As there is no piped hot water, staff will bring solar bags of hot water to your cabin. The lodge uses solar power, biodegradable soaps and recycles rubbish. The food is excellent and served in a main diving room. There is a bar and day living area for guests to sit back and read in. Each cabin has a private bath and a balcony with lake views. Kapawi Lodge also takes its guests to a clay lick. There is a great sense of excitement as you navigate the river at dawn. As dawn the yellow-crowned amazons, chestnut-fronted macaw, dusky-headed parakeet and orange-cheeked parrots all flock to the clay lick. A 240 km flight from Quito, via Coca, saw us land at a dirt runway at Kapawari. When it rains the pilot must wait for the runway to drain before landing. The closest town is a ten day hike away, but it’s this remoteness that makes visiting Kapawi Lodge so special.

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On the Ishpingo River, we motored upstream for hours glimpsing elusive sightings of pink dolphins, sloth, and monkeys like the saddle-backed tamarin and dusky ti-ti. We marvelled at the elegant hanging nests made by lovely yellow birds known as oropendola. As for piranha, every time I threw my fishing line in the hook would come back clean of meat. We went swimming in the river, despite fears of black caiman and piranha. Our Ecuadorian guide Felipe didn’t swim too far from the canoe and our Achuar guide didn’t swim at all; perhaps they knew something we didn’t. I have never felt such a rush of adrenalin as I did when clambering back into the canoe after Felipe yelled “Caiman behind you!” He was just joking, of course. We met an Achuar family in their home village; this was a real highlight of our visit to the Kapawi Lodge. We were kindly given a bowl of chicha to drink.

The women chew the manioc root, which is then spit back into the bowl to aid fermentation. While many guests were not keen to try chichi, the locals are somewhat offended if you don’t have a taste. In 1968 -1970, Catholic and Evangelical missionaries first established peaceful contact with the Achuar, eventually converting many of them to Christianity. As the missionaries encouraged them to live in villages rather than being spread far and wide throughout the forest, their way of living has changed dramatically. Since 1991, most Achuar belong to an organisation known as FINAE, the organization is divided into eight associations. Napo Wildlife Centre, on the Napo River, was our next stay. To reach the lodge one must leave the canoe on the Napo River, and with the help of guides, paddle your way by canoe to the oxbow lake where the lodge is located.

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We watched snail eating kites prising water snails from their shells. After dark, we went paddling and armed with a spotlight saw dozens of caiman eyes, as well as a fairy land of firefly lights on the water edges. The lodge is a great place to see wildlife. From a special viewing tower we saw primates, red howler, squirrel monkey, white-fronted capuchin monkey, pygmy marmoset sucking sap from trees, white-bellied spider monkey, saddleback tamarin and a troupe of golden-mantle tamarin. One evening we even encountered a family of giant otters frolicking in the creek. Meal times were spent with guests and our nature guide George. The meals were excellent 74

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and the personalised service was on par with the finest wildlife lodges in the area. Whenever we returned from an outing, the barman would be waiting with icy cold fruit juices in hand! Although visitors would enjoy staying at any one of these lodges, all three lodges are different. For wildlife and cultural experiences, I would recommend any of the three lodges mentioned here. As our days came to an end we clambered into the canoes for our journey back to Coca, and then on to Sydney, our hearts, however, forever remained in the Amazon.

FLIGHTS LAN Airlines operates daily from Auckland direct to Santiago with onward connections to Guayaquil and Quito in Ecuador. A C C O M O D AT I O N Kapawi Lodge: www.kapawi.com Yuchana Lodge: www.yachana.com Napo Wildlife Centre: www.napowildlifecenter.com Jungle Lodges & Quito Hotels - Contact: Tropic Journeys in Nature www.tropiceco.com T O U R O P E R AT O R S Tropic, Journeys in Nature: www.tropiceco.com Jeeps for Rent: Pablo & Santiago Montalvo - Tours around Quito jeeps@interactive.net.ec; pablo.guia@interactive.net.ec Climbtour trekking and jungle tours Email: climbing@climbingtour.com www.climbingtour.com Peregrine Adventures: www.peregrineadventures.com

HACIENDA EL PORVENIR Contact: Tropic Journeys in Nature at www.tropiceco.com Or, Tierra Del Volcan at www.tierradelvolcan.com VISAS Tourists do not need a visa for a stay of less than 90 days, but please do check first with your tour operator. VA C C I N AT I O N S Yellow Fever vaccinations are recommended; take malaria medication.

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Excuse me, but where are the gardens along the Garden Route? Where are the neatly-mowed lawns and pretty flowerbeds? What is that baboon doing sitting on my car bonnet, and why the heck didn’t someone tell me I’d be wading through a swamp in pursuit of flamingos? I’ve been driving for days, and frankly there hasb’t been a rose or a tulip in sight. Just crashing waves and wild, isolated beaches, and chains of serrated mountains hiding misty valleys where leopards moan and birds called turacos bark like dogs. Really, the Garden Route is a mighty magnificent place, just as long as horticulture isn’t your chief interest in life. Why it’s called the Garden Route is anyone’s guess, but why it’s a highlight of South Africa is easy enough to answer, though. Not one inch of its 770-kilomtre length is less than beautiful. Hike through damp forests with monkeys, swim in the Indian Ocean off pristine beaches, or go boating with dolphins. And when you’ve had enough of all this nature, civilisation is only down the road in the form of a nice cold beer on a hotel terrace. Garden Route it ain’t; Paradise Road it might well be. The Garden Route refers to the stretch of N2 highway between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth in South Africa’s southeast corner. More precisely, the most scenic section runs along the coast from Mossel Bay to Storms River, about half the total length. This is a popular holiday spot for overseas visitors and wealthy South Africans alike, and it’s well supplied with accommodation that

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ranges from luxury retreats to campsites. Travel by rental car is very easy, with excellent roads. There’s no point in zipping along the highway, for this is a region that invites days of meandering exploration. There are plenty of minor roads to head down, not to mention a bewildering variety of hiking trails, making this a holiday that can be as energetic or as laid-back as you wish. Heading out of Cape Town, the N2 passes through rolling wheat country. A first detour south to Cape Agulhas brings you to the southernmost tip of the African continent, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet in a collision of huge pounding waves. The most spectacular coastal scenery, however, begins at Mossel Bay, where the N2 from Cape Town dips down to the coast. A little further along the N2 lies George, a good base for holidaymakers. If any part of the region can be compared to a garden, it is the lush green countryside around George, sandwiched between the coast and the backdrop of the Outeniqua Mountains. It was described in 1811 as “the prettiest village in the world” by novelist Anthony Trollope, and nothing much has changed since then. The town is dotted with historic buildings in Cape Dutch and European styles of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Outside the library in York Street is an oak tree under which slaves once were bartered. Pieces of slave chains and an old lock still are embedded in the bark of the venerable tree in an eerie reminder of Africa’s dark past.

You might want to abandon the car and take a steam train from nearby George to Wilderness. The trip takes three hours and, since you don’t have to keep your eyes on the road, it provides an ideal way to sit back and enjoy the scenery as the train chugs past cliffs, lagoons, forests, and beaches. At times, the train goes along the cliffs, with the pounding surf beneath. Mind you, the train wheezes and jolts – it’s pulled by a locomotive built in 1846 – and isn’t the most comfortable experience; in winter, tourists sit wrapped in woollens and clutch thermoses of tea against the cold. The N2 road also will lead you to Wilderness, which is a relatively upmarket resort village with good beaches and a lagoon. The nearby reserve, mostly marshes and lakes, is home to flamingos and spoonbills. If you think bird watching is a boring pastime, you might change your mind after seeing giant kingfishers hunting across the lagoon. Flocks of flamingos moving in pink clouds across the silvery sheen of the water, like a scene from Out of Africa, also are not to be missed. The next stretch of the Garden Route eastwards leads into Knysna, an ugly name for a beautiful town on which all the natural splendours of the Garden Route seem to converge. Not much further, Plettenberg Bay is smaller and more upmarket, and certainly the best place to pause for a few days in order to enjoy the surrounds at more leisure. This lies in a picture-postcard landscape of lakes ringed by pine forests and alive with wading birds and other waterfowl. East Head provides spectacular views of the ocean and the lagoon on which Knysna sits. The forests of giant yellowwood trees around here are damp and dripping with ferns and mosses. Forest walks, bird watching, and more scenic drives are attractions. The town itself merits at least a pleasant stroll, if not an overnight stop, and also is the place to buy woven fabrics, pottery, and handcrafted wooden furniture made from local hardwoods. If you’re an ardent angler, then don’t miss the Angling Museum. It follows the history of rod, reels, and hooks and claims to be the only museum of its kind south of the Equator. Nearby, the Robberg Peninsula has an 11-kilometre trail from which you can observe seals, humpbacked whales, and a variety of sea birds. It’s a popular place for anglers, too. This windswept peninsula also has shell deposits left over in middens that are remnants of the beachcombers who lived here at the time of first European settlement. A little further on, Plettenberg Bay has more stunning coastal scenery in its golden beaches, frothing surf, and river mouths. It’s very upmarket in places, with the holiday villas of wealthy South Africans and one of the country’s most exclusive holiday resorts. Although there are several nature walks around here, this really is a place to wake up late, play a round of golf, and watch the sun set, accompanied by a gin-and-tonic. There are plenty of fine accommodations in Plettenberg, such as Bay Lodge on Hopwood Street, a luxury property with just six rooms. The designer-style hotel has a breakfast lounge with views of the bay, where you can sit in your bare feet and soak up the sun as you munch on freshly cooked muffins. Out of town, Lilypond Country Lodge is an alternative, tucked among gum trees in the countryside, and with a very fine guest-only restaurant – further proof that fine dining and wilderness are far from incompatible in South Africa. FOR THE LOVE OF TRAVEL

If you’re feeling a bit more active, Plettenberg Bay also offers plenty of water sports. In fact, the warmth of the Indian Ocean and the many lakes of the Garden Route make water sports available just about everywhere along its length. Swimming, boating, water-skiing, wind surfing, canoeing, and diving all are available at Plettenberg and many other places along the coast. Deep-sea fishing out of Mossel Bay is another possibility. Some of the coast’s surfing spots are of international standard, including Lookout, Kuerbooms, and Robberg beaches. Jeffrey’s Bay is rated by some as having the best surf in South Africa; its streets are lined by surf shops, whale-watching outfits, and ice cream parlours. From Plettenberg Bay, it’s best to leave the N2 and instead take the R102, which passes several gorges and leads through a cool forest where monkeys, duiker, bushbuck, and brightlycoloured loerie birds can be spotted, not to mention plenty of startling butterflies and lizards. At Storms River Mouth, there’s an unspoilt rocky shoreline, a breathtaking campsite location, and Tsitsikamma National Park. It’s the haunt of forest elephants, though you’re unlikely to encounter the shy beasts. 80 FOR THE LOVE OF TRAVEL

There are numerous trails here leading through the tangled undergrowth and overhanging trees. The best-known path is the Otter Trail, a five-day, 48-kilometre coastal trek that probably is the most popular in South Africa. Bookings for the trek and campsites must be made through the National Parks Board office in George or Cape Town. Only twelve

people are allowed along the trek each day, so this truly is getting away from it all. The Garden Route finally leaves the coast at Storms River, where the foolhardy take a bungyjump from the road bridge. Still, just keep on driving and the splendid scenery continues until you get to the outskirts of industrial Port Elizabeth, and back to urban realities.

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AU T H E N T I C I S L A N D S P I R I T I N VA N UAT U.

Jetting into Vanuatu, across the cobalt sea and the crisp, iridescent palette of lagoon blues, all the hues of my tropical holiday daydreaming were there to greet me, as Mike Yardley reports. It was my first foray to Vanuatu, and I was particularly excited about experiencing the unsullied, non-commercialised bliss of Lelepa Island, which fringes the west side of Havannah Harbour. Day tours, including banana boat transfers from the mainland, are manfully operated by Lelepa Islanders, packaging a kaleidoscope of authentic experiences and insights into one magical day. This is how tourism should be, I thought to myself. After being dutifully collected from The Havannah Resort, under a cavernous blue sky, we zipped across the glittering harbour as a pod of dolphins playfully

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splashed about seemingly on-cue, before I was escorted ashore onto Lelepa’s sugary sands. The beach that I was deposited at was the sweep of sand immortalised by Survivor a decade ago, much to the titillation of reality-television viewers. In fact, amongst my group of day-trippers, a lovely couple from Italy were impelled to visit Lelepa Island because of the TV show! Local residents and guides, Japin and Aaron, led us on a fascinating rainforest tour, pointing out some signature botanical attributes. Draped in sycamore trees, this is the specimen that is used for carving the trunk into an outrigger canoe. It takes one day to complete the mission. Japin pointed out a vine called One Day Rob, from which the juice is extracted and tipped into sea. It apparently makes the fish “drunk” and easy prey to catch. Meanwhile, the liquid in the leaf of the wild hibiscus is extracted by Lelepa locals as a traditional lubricant for pregnant women.

When they go into labour, the expectant mother will drink the liquid, apparently ensuring the birth proceeds smoothly. As gentle winds fanned the multitude of swaying palms, Aaron emphasised the spiritual significance of the cycad palm, or namale, as the locals call it. SYMBOL OF PEACE It’s a profound symbol of peace in Vanuatu. Every village chief will have a namale growing outside his house and it’s enshrined on the national flag. I was also led over to a cliff face of volcanic rock and limestone, which is home to scores of massive coconut crabs. Living in the rock stack, these aggressive critters are a celebrated delicacy in Vanuatu. But as Aaron grimly observed, snaring and subduing one of these crabs takes skill and agility. They only come out at night and if you’re not careful, they will bite your finger off with relative ease. After enjoying a delicious lunch of local beef, chicken, crisp salads and succulent tropical fruits, I enjoyed a spot of snorkelling and kayaking in the crystalline, turquoise-tinted waters. Then it was on to Fels Cave which brimming with rock drawings of men, fish and birds that date back to 900

AD. According to legend, the mighty chief Roi Mata died in this cave in the 16th century. It’s the size of this cave which surprised me, 60 metres long. Up until the 1840s, it served two key purposes: as a cyclone refuge but also as a hospice, where the village elders would spend their last days of their life. If these cave walls would talk – just imagine the stories! The locals illuminate the cave with candle-light for tourists to walk through, adding to its evocative atmosphere, along with the hundreds of squealing fruit bats that dangle from the cave ceiling! Our group were then whisked to the southwestern shoreline of Lelepa, which is festooned with spectacular coral gardens. I don’t think I’ve experienced such an extraordinary level of neon-coloured coral intensity quite like this in the South Pacific. Everyone in our group concurred that it was the best spot of snorkelling they’ve ever encountered. One final frisson to complete a truly memorable day was a stop at Lelepa Island’s village of Natapao. Brightly coloured laundry swayed on washing lines in this simple but tidy village.

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Japin remarked to me how terrified he was when Cyclone Pam tore through Vanuatu. Japin chillingingly noted how the cyclone barreled over the island only to stop and turn back on itself, changing direction for a second bite. Lelepa Island is home to 500 residents and it’s the children that melt the heart. As we browsed from the extensive range of authentic souvenirs, an excitable group of young kids treated us to a village singalong, topping off a flavourful day to remember. www.lelepaislandtours.com MOSO ISLAND Another highly enjoyable jaunt is to take in the Turtle Sanctuary on Moso Island, which is situated right next to Lelepa, flanking the western side of Havannah Harbour. The Hawksbill Turtle Conservatory, based at Tranquility Resort, is currently home to 200 juvenile turtles, raised from hatchlings until they reach one year old. Founded by Own Drew over a decade ago and staffed by volunteers, I was guided through the conservatory by Sun and James, marvelling at the multitude of tanks swarming with young turtles. All the hatchlings are gathered up, just as they reach the waterline on Moso Island’s Helipad Beach. The eggs are laid between to October and December and about 60 days later, the hatchlings will break free from their eggs. The temperature of the sand determines their gender. At 28C, they’ll be female. But at 27.5C, they will be male. After nurturing them through their first year, the turtles are tagged and released from the beach where they hatched, into the ocean. So far

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the sanctuary has released over 1200 turtles into the ocean and some of them have been identified are far afield as Fiji and Sydney. Sun told me that without their intervention in that formative and perilous first year, very few would survive. Only 1 in every 10,000 Hawksbill Turtles make it to adulthood. WWF ranks Hawksbill Turtles as the 4th most endangered species on the planet. You’ll feel uplifted by their noble endeavours. Where to stay? If blissed out seclusion is a biggie when it comes to your tropical island fantasises, splash out and add five star frills to your escape, lapping the luxurious delights of The Havannah. As the name would suggest, this exclusive boutique resort overlooks Havannah Harbour on Samoa Point, named in honour of the first missionaries who came to Vanuatu from Apia. www.thehavannah.com Air Vanuatu flies three times weekly from Auckland, departing Auckland on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Just 3 hours away, you’ll enjoy flying on Air Vanuatu’s brand-spanking new Boeing 737-800, with complimentary refreshments, tasty meals, charming service and new plane smell! Bag a great fare at www.airvanuatu.com May until November sees Vanuatu at its glorious best: sunsoaked, the dry season and low in humidity. For further information on holidaying in Vanuatu, head to www.discovervanuatu.co.nz

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