Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter is no longer with us but he has left behind one of the worlds most beautiful zoos. This interactive zoo is located on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland Australia about an hours drive north of Brisbane. Set in thickly planted palms and bushland are some of the world’s most amazing animals including Elephants, Tigers, Koalas, Kangaroos and of course plenty of reptiles including the saltwater crocodile. The zoo gives visitors a once in a live time chance to get up close and touch some of the rare and endangered animals including a chance to feed the three Asian Elephants. There are shows in the massive Crocasium Stadium and lots of fun to be had for all ages a trip to Queensland would not be complete without a visit to Australia Zoo.
Melbourne’s Crown Entertainment Complex and Casino is one of the cities favorite playgrounds with tens of thousands trying there luck or grabbing a bite to eat or catching a great show. Crown is one of the largest casinos in the Southern Hemisphere and gives most of the Vegas lounges a run for their money with over half a kilometer of entertainment and fun, with gaming, restaurants, bars, theatres, clubs and botiques plus two of Melbourne’s most luxurious hotels. Several times a night from sunset the waterfront forecourts of the Crown complex explode with huge fireballs. The balls of flame explode into the night air enthralling the watching crowd and worrying a few low flying ducks and seagulls.
Like the Eiffel Tower the La Basilique du Sacre-Coeur in Montmartre is one of Paris’s most known structures. Built over 40 years and opening in 1919 this breathtaking Catholic church is one of the worlds most stunning and beautiful. And the spectacular views of Paris are absolutely amazing night and day.
As this is one of Paris’s most popular attractions there are many people who try to prey on the unaware tourist. Pickpockets are everywhere so are people trying to tie string around your finger only to charge you for cutting you loose. These people are best ignored, and most of the illegal souvenir sellers are overcharging, buy your trinkets in the local streets below.
If you are looking for some interesting souvenirs and nick knacks from Prague look no further than the Green outside the Old Town Hall. The area has been set up as a marketplace will small stall holders selling everything from religious statues to tea towels and spoons and a great selection of bohemian glassware and matryoshka the Russian nesting dolls. The Green was once the north wing of the town hall but in 1945 as the German forces were leaving Prague they thought it was silly taking all their unused ammunition back to Berlin so they decided to use it destroying the Town Hall. It received extensive damage and the north wing was never replaced.
Te Papa Museum is the Museum of New Zealand and would have to be one of the best museums found anywhere in the world located on Wellington’s beautiful waterfront the Te Papa has an amazing range of exhibits which will educate young and old and a great way to learn about New Zealand, its people, its land and its culture.
There are spectacular animal exhibits which show some of New Zealand’s unusual wild life, a dinosaur hall and very interesting earthquake exhibition. There are always special exhibits showing and the museum and kids will love the discovery centres which are specially tailored to the young.
The museum building itself is an amazing structure, taking over four years to construct making it one of the largest museum projects in the world. Interestingly the building is built on huge shock absorbers to protect the centre’s priceless collection from ground movements during regular New Zealand earthquakes.
The Chelsea Flower show held every May is one of London’s premier events in fact it is more than a flower and garden show it is more a society event to be seen at. Everyone who is everyone (or wants to be anyone) attends from TV and film stars, Lords and Dames even the Queen pops in to smell the roses. The show is all in the name of Charity the Chelsea Royal Hospital is the benefactor. Every year dozens of new flowers make their world premier and there are some spectacular gardens on display from the world’s best landscape designers.
Stuttgart is the home of Mercedes Benz and in 2006 the company opened what is probably the best automotive museum in the world. This magnificent building is a piece of art as its self but houses a priceless collection of Mercedes Benz memorabilia with one of the finest auto collections on the planet. The centre is set out on a time line with the horse and buggy at the start of the journey and the future at the end with all periods of its 100 plus year represented along the way. Highlights include a celebrity gallery where vehicles owned by famous people are on display here you can see a Mercedes Benz ‘Pope Mobile’ owned by Pope John Paul II, Princess Diana’s convertible Benz, Ringo Stars Car and a range of other huge names including kings, presidents and movie stars. The centre also boasts a huge new car display area where you can see every product they produce.
It’s the 4th of July so today we take a look at one of the worlds best zoos, the San Diego Zoo in Southern California. This zoo has one of the worlds finest collections of animals and plays an important role in conservation and the breeding of endangered and threatened species. One of the most popular animal exhibits is the Giant Panda’s which are truly magnificent. The zoo has recently opened a Monkey Walk which is also very popular here visitors can get very close to a selection of interesting primates in a very real environment. Visitors to Los Angeles can visit visit the zoo in a day trip but San Diego has so much to offer including a historic townships, waterfront precincts, great shopping and the Zoo’s wild animal park adventure… and the Mexican border is only minutes away on the train.
This has got to be one of the coolest advertising gimmicks of all time. 7 Eleven and the Simpsons Movie have joined forces to make 12 real Qwik E Marts throughout the USA and Canada to coincide with the Simpson’s movie which opens later this month. Not only have the stores been decked out to look like the cartoon store they have a huge rage of Qwik E Mart products including the Slurpie renamed Squishies, Crusty-O cereal, special pink donuts and plenty of Springfield’s favorite characters throughout the stores. The existing 7 Eleven stores throughout the USA also have a large range of Simpsons products one favorite is going to be Buzz Cola. For real Simpsons fans the stores are also running an amazing competition where shoppers can win the chance to appear as an animated character in the next series of the hit show up staring next to Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and the whole Springfield community.
Kalgoorlie lies in Western Australia’s outback 4 hours east of Perth and once was home to 93 pubs and 100 brothels. Today the mining town doesn’t quiet have that number of either, but the Exchange Hotel still stands and has a very colourful history it was a pretty rough old town back 100 years ago when everyone was after their fortune mining gold. The old red brick pub could tell a story or two including the times when barmaids were only allowed to work naked. Today the pub has much more dignity and is one of the town’s most photographed landmarks. They serve ice cold beer and cook up a pretty damm good steak too.
If you are looking for some interesting souvenirs and nick knacks from Prague look no further than the Green outside the Old Town Hall. The area has been set up as a marketplace will small stall holders selling everything from religious statues to tea towels and spoons and a great selection of bohemian glassware and matryoshka the Russian nesting dolls. The Green was once the north wing of the town hall but in 1945 as the German forces were leaving Prague they thought it was silly taking all their unused ammunition back to Berlin so they decided to use it destroying the Town Hall. It received extensive damage and the north wing was never replaced.
