Scuba diving Vanuatu

While it may seem that Port Vila and Santo get all the attention with their many wrecks and reefs, in truth the whole island group of Vanuatu has an enormous variety of diving experiences to suit all levels and interests. Almost divers will arrive in Port Vila, but how can you extend your experience when you've ticked off the well-known operators in town?

New World War 2 museum for Luganville, Espiritu Santo

I’ve made several visits to Luganville over the last few years but one new addition to the main street caught my attention. A tiny building in Unity Park at the western end of Main Street, almost on the banks of the Sarakata River, is where Stage 1 of the South Pacific WWII Museum will be located

Visiting Seattle USA

Seattle, the capital of the US state of Washington, is fast becoming the choice jumping-off point for cruises departing to Alaska.  

North to Alaska: Cruising with Holland America

Holland America Line brings more people to Alaska than by any other means and have been doing it longer than any other cruise line.

Which US capital city can you not drive to? It’s a great trivia question and it's true: you cannot drive to the state capital of Alaska, Juneau. But you sure can cruise there.

The Suite Life: Why upgrade to a suite on your next cruise?

Royal Suite Class RCCL

Firstly, the comment that “walking around the decks must be like attending the New Year store sales - an absolute bun fight – and the restaurants must be packed as well.”  Not true. Some passengers get their daily exercise walking around the deck - others love the pools.

From On Board: Ovation of the Seas

I have to say from the outset that I am no big fan of monster ship cruising - yet here I am on Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas along with 4000 other passengers heading for New Zealand. So how did that happen? 

Now is the time to visit Australia’s North West #WesternAustralia

As with so many popular travel destinations, Australia’s North West suffered under the COVID restrictions, then took another punch to the body with catastrophic floods.

Groote Eylandt: Is this the best fishing in Australia?

I still have fond memories of fishing with my grandmother on the Murray River back in the 1960s, before the invasion of European carp. We would sit on a massive river gum root coaxing tiny translucent shrimps onto little hooks in our quest for callop, cod or catfish.

Cafe Culture in Oslo

Thick Blankets of Fog and Fur

My flight arrived into Oslo from Bangkok at about 7.30am on September 13th. The middle of September is the very beginning of autumn, but the city was waking up to a thick blanket of fog.

Thailand's giant ICONSIAM is the world's most expensive shopping mall - but the food is cheap

#hugthailand # amazingthailand

Should we include Bangkok among the world’s greatest shopping cities? Does Thailand's frenetic capital rate against the traditional Asian retail meccas of Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai? Travel journalist, Roderick Eime explores the mighty megamall of ICONSIAM.

If we were to ask veteran ABC journalist and presenter, Jonathan Green, then the answer is an emphatic ‘yes’. In his Radio National podcast series, ‘Return Ticket’, Green examines Bangkok’s fascination with the glittering megamall and declares “there is no better placed on Earth than Bangkok to study the proliferation of the mall.”

Green draws particular attention to the opulent shopping metropolis that is Bangkok’s newest megamall, ICONSIAM. Opened in 2019 to great fanfare on the eve of the global pandemic, the US$1.5 billion complex must have had investors in a cold sweat as cities and travellers came to a grinding halt for two years.

Read the full story at Amazing Thailand.