Cheap Travel Insurance for Australian Travellers

Some think that a very large part of Australia is desert and dangerous. But really the Australian Outback is not all desert or as dangerous as some think. My own nephew drove through the desert alone from Melbourne to Canberra, a driving distance of 660km and driving time of approximately 7 hours. He got my sister all worried, but she couldn't do anything. Well he survived the trip.

Some may be scared of poisonous snakes and spiders, but some seasoned outback travellers says it is not all that dangerous. Anyway, if you are worried, there is always air travel. There are regional airlines like Skywest Airlines (serving Western Australia), Regional Express (serving South Australia and a few neighbouring towns), Air Link (New South Wales), Brindabella Airlines (between Canberra and Newcastle plus Albury and Australia-wide charter service), MacAir Airlines (Queensland), Maroomba Airlines (Western Australia), Sharp Airlines (Victoria), Skippers (Western Australia), Skytrans Airlines (Queensland airline, including air charter), AirNorth (Northern Territories), Eastern Australia Airlines (New South Wales), Sunstate (Queensland), Regional Link (Northern Territory), Tasair (Tasmania) and Virgin Blues (throughout Australia plus New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tonga and Cook Islands).

And don't forget the international airlines including its own Quantas Airways. Then there are chartered flight operators like Airnorth (charter services throughout the Northern Territory, the Kimberley region of Western Australia and throughout South East Asia), Alliance Airlines, Corporate Air, and Sunshine Express Airlines (Queensland and New South Wales).

And of course Australians are not that provincial as to neglect international travel for vacations as well as for business. Whatever it is, if you travel, it is always wise to get travel insurance for your protection. If you are on a budget, you can look for cheap travel insurance where you can compare, buy online and save. They say they are recommended by Lonely Planet and they cover travellers from over 150 countries including Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada and the UK. And they say you can claim online even when you are still away. If you are a frequent traveller, you should look for Multi-trip Travel Insurance which cover multiple trips within a year. Backers mostly travel for a long time, often for months and to it is not unusual for them to travel to remote places. They thus have different needs and should look for Backpacker Travel Insurance. For skiing (snow skiing) enthusiasts, there are special Skiing & Snow Travel Insurance. The site also cover for the needs of senior citizens, long term travellers, students and those travelling for adventures.

Adelaide Festivals

South Australia`s capital city is Adelaide which is the fifth largest city of Australia. It is located beside the Southern Ocean and its location was first chosen because of its closeness to the Torrens River. It is a pleasant city with wide boulevards, large public squares and is surrounded by parkland. Since it is the administrative and commercial center of South Australia, the government and financial offices are here and they are mainly located in the city center in the North Terrace boulevard, King William Street and in the metropolitan area. It host many festivals and is famous for its arts and sports and wine. It can be considered a cultural city.

Festivals

The Adelaide Festival of Arts

The Adelaide Festival of Arts is a biannual event held in March (Autumn) every "even" year (meaning years like 2006, 2008, 2010...). It is an internationally renowned event and one of the world's greatest celebrations of the arts. The last one in 2006 had over 100 performances with about 30% of them sold out. Over 900 artists with nearly 30% international artists participated. Plan your visit to Adelaide for the next festival which will be from 29 February to 16 March 2008.

The Adelaide Festival of Ideas

The Adelaide Festival of Ideas is also a biannual event held over 4 nights and 3 days, attracting well known thinkers of different disciplines from around the world to exchange ideas. There will be forums, lectures and dialogues focusing on sharing of ideas, innovative thinking and intellectual debate which are mainly free to the public. The festival is held in many venues along the North Terrace boulevard.

This years Adelaide Festival of Ideas was from 5-8 July 2007 which mean you just missed it and you want to attend the next one you will have to wait another 2 years.

South Australian Living Artists Festival

The South Australian Living Artists Festival this year will be held between 3 to 19 August 2007 at the Adelaide Central Business District. More than 1400 artists from South Australia will present a range of exhibitions, displays and installations of their art to the public. It will be spread across 300 venues and visitors will get the opportunity to meet artists and see them at work.

The Adelaide Writers' Week

The Adelaide Writers' Week is Adelaide`s week long literal festival and bring together well known local and international writers and is a great opportunity for readers to meet their favourite writers. The Writers` Week in 2006 attracted an estimated 100,000 plus attendees. There will also be a book tent selling books. The next Adelaide Writers' Week will be held from 2-7 March 2008.

There are many other places of interest worth visiting in Adelaide and many events worth attending. I will blog about them next time or you can use the search box above (tick "Web" to search for them). But if you do plan on visiting Adelaide for its renowned festivals or for other reasons, do book your accommodation ahead of your arrival. If you are on a budget, try Cheap Hotels in Adelaide. Most festivals are held in or near the town center, so getting a Adelaide City hotel may be a good idea. You may even want to try their Last Minutes Deals. In all cases they offer a Lowest Rate Guarantee which promises that if you find a rate lower than the best available Cheaperthanhotels.com Internet rate on another web site for the same hotel/accommodation, on the same dates and inform them within 24 hours of booking your room(s) with us, they will honour that rate for the night(s) for which the lower rate was found and refund you the difference.

Why go to Buckingham Palace? You can see something more impressive in Stockholm

Australia is very close connected to Great Britain. As most of you know, the populating of Australia with people of European origin started with the sending of convicts from Great Britain, so many of the inhabitants of Australia will have ties with Great Britain. The Queen of Great Britain is also Queen of Australia, so it is probably natural for Australians to visit Buckingham Palace where the Queen resides and where you can see the daily changing of guards. But why visit Buckingham Palace? You can see a similar ceremony with greater pomp at the Royal Palace at Stockholm, the Swedish Royal residence. It is one of the largest and most classy palaces in Europe. It was built in 1754 on the remains of an earlier medieval castle. The changing of the guard takes place in front of the palace every day at 12.15pm. On Sundays, it will be at 1.15pm.

The Stockholm Royal Palace is located in Gamla stan (Old Town) with its cobbled streets and narrow 17th-century alleys. Gamla stan will be of interest to history buffs with many building of Swedish architecture from the 17th century. Shoppers will like Gamla stan with small and large shops lining the streets offering jewellery, souvenirs, rare books and gifts. You may also encounter street musicians. There is also the 13th-century Cathedral, the Storkyrkan.

Other major Stockholm’s attractions are the island of Djurgården with entertainment outlets, museums, restaurants and forested green space. It used to be the royal hunting ground, but now tourists hunt for souvenirs at the Handarbetets Vanner (handicraft centre). You can also visit the art galleries. Thrills and spills at available at Gröna Lund, Stockholm's amusement park. Skansen open-air museum is located at Djurgården where you can ogle at Nordic wildlife at the zoo. There will also be folk dancing. At Junibacken, you will find the National Museum of Cultural History and the Vasa Museum which shows the restored 17th-century vessel raised from Stockholm harbour. It was in 1628 that the ancient warship, Vasa sailed from Stockholm on her maiden voyage and sank. It was discovered in 1961, salvaged and restored. It is now the world's only well preserved 17th-century ship.

There are many other attractions in Stockholm which will be quite different from what you can find in Australia. Plan on a visit? If you are on a budget, you can probably find cheap hotels in Stockholm. If you plan to travel in group of 11 or more, or planning a conference at Stockholm , you can probably get discounts and conference facilities (if required) at the Group booking form. Want the convenience of staying in Stockholm city center. Book your accommodation at Cheap hotels in Stockholm City Centre. There are many other possibilities. Go check out their site for yourself.

Go to Hawaii if you have enough of Gold Coast, Australia

Gold Coast and the Great Barrier Reef are great places to visit, but if you go there often, it can become routine and boring. How about visiting Hawaii for a change? Things you can get there that you can't get at the Gold Coast include viewing the spouting humpback whales, dormant and active volcanoes, Hawaiian culture such as the Hula dance, etc. Hawaii stress on ecotourism, and there is plenty of nature you can experience and local culture you can sample there and it is ecotourism if you stick to the web definition of ecotourism: "Travel undertaken to witness sites or regions of unique natural or ecologic quality, or the provision of services to facilitate such travel." There is no mention of offsetting CO2 emission caused by the round trip travel by such tourism. I found an Australian site (which gave a lot of choices of departure and arrival points, even including non-Australian departure points at ClimateFriendly. I filled in a form and found that a round trip from Melbourne, Australia to Honolulu, Hawaii for 1 person will result in trip of 8874km and a carbon emission of 5.3 tonnes. For the environmentally conscious, there are sites that offer ways of offsetting that if you trust them. Just use the search engines to search for them.

Hawaii consists of six island (some says eight) and the biggest island is Hawaii Big Island. North of that is the interesting Maui Island, and at the southern tip of Maalaea Bay is Kihei. Kihei is a bustling place and yet can be a relaxing place to spend your vacation and is not as expensive as places like Wailea. You can find affordable accommodations as described in Kihei Maui Condos. You can get more information about Kihei condominiums at A Kihei Condominium at Fantastic Price.

As mentioned above, Kihei is part of the Maalaea Bay, a place where spouting humpback whales come to have their babies in winter. You can watch them from the shore or take a whale watching boat tour that departs from Maalaea Harbor daily during the seasonal migration. You can also enjoy the nice beaches in Kihei or other parts of the Maalaea Bay. You can also enjoy nice view of the Mt. Haleakala, a dormant volcano.

If Kihei is not the place you are planning to visit, you can get more information on other condominiums on Maui Island in Maui Condos are cooking

You don't have to restrict yourself to Maui Island or just condos. You can find Hawaiian Vacation Rentals, Hawaiian Condos, Hawaiian Hotels on other islands at Hawaiian Beach Rentals.

Scuba Diving In The Great Barrier Reef - Australia

Scuba Diving In The Great Barrier Reef - Australia
by: Chris Chew

One of the world's most famous scuba diving dive sites is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The Great Barrier Reef, off the east coast of Australia is the only living organic collective on earth visible from outer space. The other is a man made structure, The Great Wall of China.

This reef is regarded as one of the wonders of the world and was declared as a World Heritage in 1981. It is the world's largest coral reef ecosystem. Being so huge, magnificent dive spots and beautiful marine life and sceneries abound.

The Great Barrier is more than 300,000 sq km in size and consists of more than 3000 reefs. Deciding where to dive in this huge diving destination can be a gigantic headache. Then again, that is a happy problem because of the many wonderful choices you have.

One of the greatest dangers to the reef, especially to the corals is the Crown of Thorns starfish. This starfish eat corals and have ravenous appetites. Vast stretches of underwater life had on many occasions been destroyed by the Crown of Thorns starfish. Do not try to save the reef by cutting up the starfish. It will not die that way, instead it multiplies just like viruses splitting themselves up to multiply their numbers.

Wreck diving is a favorite scuba diving activity. Amongst the many wrecks are Captain James Cook's ship "Endeavour". Another famous wreck is that of the HMS Pandora, which met its fate in 1791. There are about 30 shipwreck sites, most of them are opened to wreck divers.

More than 2 million people visit the reef every year spending about a billion US dollars collectively making tourism as the main pillar of the eastern Australia economy. Since tourism dollar is very important, it is vital for the Australian economy to protect the reef from destruction hence it is protected in many ways. As a form of protection, fishing is restricted in some areas and animals such as dolphins, whales, dugong (a seal look alike animal sometimes mistaken for mermaids) are protected.

For the more adventurous divers, there are dives to view shark feedings, especially the ferocious man eater, The Great White Shark. Divers are put into the water in steel cages to view these man eating sharks closed up. For non divers, there are island hopping cruises as well as whale watching cruises to enjoy the Great Barrier Reef.

About The Author
Chris Chew has been scuba diving for more than thirty years. Read more travelling articles at his websites at asiatravelbest.blogspot.com and www.asiatravelbest.com.

Be Crocodile Wise in Australia

Be Crocodile Wise in Australia
by: Jamie Stone

Many people have a lot to learn about the dangers of a saltwater crocodile while visiting northern areas of Australia. Many encounters are unintentional and often the results are devastating if not fatal. People should learn more about the crocodile, where they breed, how to spot for signs of crocodile, their most active periods of the year and general safety when camping near water. The following information is to help people realize the dangers of swimming in northern Australian waters.

Many accidents can be avoided with increased awareness.

It's common name, the Saltwater Crocodile, is also known as the Estuarine Crocodile and 'Saltie'. They are found around the coast of Australia anywhere north of the Tropic of Capricorn and inland for up to 100 kms or more. They are the world's largest reptile and have a closing jaw pressure of around 3000 pounds per square inch.

Saltwater crocodile attacks DO happen in Australia on a regular basis, though the majority of attacks occur mainly on cattle and wildlife. Any stories you hear about these creatures stalking other animals and humans, about their size and their strength is probably NOT exaggerated. Many deaths to people have happened over the years due to them not taking the threat seriously enough and ignoring warning signs.

Always read the "observe crocodile warning signs", these are to be taken seriously! They are erected in that particular area where a crocodile is frequently spotted and could still be living or even breeding in that area. These signs are there to warn the people of the risk and should never be ignored!

Just because you don't see a crocodile doesn't mean it's not there!

Their breeding season is from September to May and the warmer weather makes the cold-blooded animals even faster. Be particularly careful at night! A breeding mother is more aggressive, guarding it's eggs until they hatch. The nests are made from plant matter and mud, and usually found above tide level. Keep this in mind when setting up camp or just exploring the bush.

Avoid places where animals or cattle drink. That's where a crocodile would be waiting for an opportunity to attack. Saltwater crocodiles are very conservative with their energy. They stalk their prey and hide underwater and wait to pounce. A crocodile you can see is less dangerous than one you can't see, so stay well away from the water's edge even if you are camping, fishing or just going for an evening walk.

Crocodiles can launch out of the water; never stand on logs overhanging water and always keep your arms and legs inside a boat when fishing.

No warning signs? DO NOT SWIM no matter how hot or inviting the conditions may be. The "saltie" is mostly found in saltwater, but they are also found in freshwater rivers, billabongs and swamps. Consider swimming in any northern waters dangerous regardless if there is a sign or not!

A crocodile sliding into the water from a river bank will leave a characteristic mark; keep this in mind when setting up camp! Never clean fish at the water's edge or discard fish scraps in the water. Most important if camping always keep the camp site clean and free from food scraps and any smelly fish bait. Remember crocodiles are most active at night, food scraps and fish bait left outside your camp site can invite a hungry crocodile and a shocking midnight scare.

Adult males can reach sizes of up to 6 or 7 metres (20 to 23 feet).

Maximum weight varies, but has been known to exceed 1,000 kg in 18 to 19 foot adults. 5 metre adults are closer to 400 to 500 kg.

One of the largest crocodile ever recorded in Australia was 8 metres 64cm (28ft 4 inches) shot by Krystina Pawloski on the Norman River in North Queensland in 1957. Never torment or provoke a crocodile. They are a protected animal to stop poaching and should always be left alone.

Always remain crocodile wise when traveling to northern parts of Australia and always keep the previous information in mind to avoid any tragedies or loss of life.

Be safe and enjoy your trip!

About The Author
Jamie Stone
jamiestone4870@hotmail.com
Australian Freelance Writer

The Surfing Capital Of Australia

The Surfing Capital Of Australia
by: Kadence Buchanan

If surfing is your thing, then you must check out Bryon Bay, the Mecca of surfing in Australia. There you will find a place where surfing is not just a sport or favorite past-time but a lifestyle and local obsession.

Set against a back-drop of warm weather year-round and spectacular beaches, Byron Bay is an inviting venue that promises a laid-back lifestyle. Why, you can even go native and be part of a teeming “alternative” community whose ranks are constantly being bolstered by an increasing number of writers, artists and filmmakers.

Byron Bay is nestled at the North Coast of New South Wales in Australia. It boasts of four main beaches. Byron Main, the most popular of the four, is perfect for surfing newcomers because of its smaller swell that usually breaks close to the shore. It has non-stop breaks and is great for swimming.

The Pass is the next most popular beach in Byron Bay just south of Byron Main. It is a favorite of long boarders who comb the beach in droves during summer.

Watego Beach is hidden from view and, as such, is ideal for surfers who want to avoid the crowds. The challenges it offers are more difficult for surfers, which is why the most advanced surfers prefer Watego Beach.

Finally, there is also Tallow’s Beach, the most isolated of Byron Bay’s four beaches. Most tourists have not discovered it yet especially since it is only visible from Byron Bay’s headland. It is rare to find outsiders wandering around Tallow’s Beach but the locals just love it.

Aside from surfing, Byron Bay is also a great scuba diving venue and one of these rare places where you can sit back and occasionally catch a whale or two passing by. At night, dolphins come out to play and it is not unusual to see these friendly creatures swimming side by side with people.

There’s also an excellent fine dining restaurant on Byron Bay called Fins which offers succulent seafood and an impressive wine list. Fins is one of Australia’s best restaurants.

Fine Dining

Fins Restaurant

Fins Restaurant offers fresh local seafood spiced with local herbs and supplemented by an attractive wine list. The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide has awarded FINS with two chef’s hats every year since 1998. Fins also received a Restaurant and Catering Award of Excellence as "Best Seafood Restaurant All Regional NSW" in 2005 as well as the award for "Best Seafood Restaurant in Australia" in 2004.

About The Author
Kadence Buchanan writes articles for The Travelling Lifestyle - In addition, Kadence also writes articles for The Outdoors Lifestyle and Recreation Source.