Melbourne Australia is known for it’s Philip Island fairy penguins but now penguins from the Antarctic are finding their home in this great city. A magnificent new exhibit costing $28 million dollars has just opened at the Melbourne Aquarium featuring five king penguins and 13 very inquisitive gentoo penguins. Bred in captivity these majestic birds have been the biggest attraction these school holidays with thousands of families visiting the aquarium to enjoy these amazing creatures. The enclosure is kept at Antarctic temperatures and is covered in shaved ice and snow there is also a huge pond where the penguins can dive and play. Visitors can view the penguins both on the snow and from a huge glass pane window on the pond. The Melbourne Aquarium is the only place you can see either King or Gentoo penguins in Australia. The aquarium also features a very interesting Antarctic exhibition so visitors can not only see and learn about the penguins but learn a bit about this cold and mysterious southern continent. Read the rest of this entry »
While the rest of country is battling icy winds and heavy snowfalls, Orlando’s enjoying pleasant 70-degree highs and sunny skies. Jealous? You don’t have to be – winter is one of the best times for planning a vacation to Orlando, especially given all the fun you can have at Universal Studios Orlando, Walt Disney World , and SeaWorld Orlando . It’s the off-season for tourism in Orlando, meaning fewer crowds and shorter lines on your favorite rides. Throw in the pleasant weather, and there’s no doubt that Orlando is looking pretty good this time of year. You may just want to consider ditching work and taking time off to enjoy some of these Orlando theme park highlights. Read the rest of this entry »
Dating back to 1959 the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum has become one of the best-known landmarks in New York City and is one of the 20th century’s most important architectural buildings. The Guggenheim Museum is home to a renowned permanent collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art as well as featuring special exhibitions throughout the year. The Museum is located on Fifth Avenue at the corner of 89th Street in the Upper East Side in New York City. The museum overlooks Central Park and is great spot to start a walk across the park around the Central Park Reservoir across to Central Park West where you will run into the memorial to John Lennon. Known as Strawberry Fields, the memorial sits in the park opposite his old apartment building (The Dakota) on the opposite side of the park from the Guggenheim. Read the rest of this entry »
The 101 floor Taipei 101 is one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world and also one of the very few that is transformed into a countdown clock and fireworks display on new years eve. The skyscraper has 8 levels in an Asian pagoda style up to the top of the tower and its from these levels that the fireworks are attached that creat the spectaular display that you can see in the video above. Read the rest of this entry »
The biggest annual fireworks display in Australia has to be new years eve on Sydney Harbour. Sydney’s Harbour Bridge is the main stage for the fireworks and every year a new theme to accompany the fireworks is created where an icon of the theme is illuminated on the bridge as part of the display. Around 1.5 million people viewed last years event with hotels always being fully booked over the new year period. The benefit of the fireworks in Sydney is that there is so many places to view the fireworks from as the huge harbour has several great vantage spot from the Gladesville Bridge to the Heads of Sydney Harbour the most popular spots around the bridge area often fill up by the afternoon of the event with the area from Circular Quay round the Sydney Opera House to Mrs Macquarie’s Chair in the Botanic Gardens being the most popular. If you are heading to the event hit up the official website below to get the low down on where to get the best view. Read the rest of this entry »
With new years eve only a few days away we thought we would take a look at some of the celebrations around the world the week on tripandom. One of the most famous new year events is the Times Square Ball Drop where a large ball is dropped down a pole in a similar way as a time ball was once used to alert sailors of the time. The Ball Drop dates back to 1907 and has since become one of the most watched new year events around the world with the event televised across the USA and making the evening news in many other counties. Up to a million people go to watch the ball drop each year creating a bit of a crowd control issue for police in the areas around Times Square.
The Radio City Christmas Spectacular is an annual stage show fetauring the leggy Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. The 90 minute show combines singing, dancing and humor in a christmas theme. The show is known for it’s spectacular stage settings, like in the video above that cleverly moves a bus around in front of a projection of New York’s city streets. The show is performed at Radio City Music Hall as well as at various locations around the US and Canada and is one of the most-watched live shows in the United States, with over 2 million viewers per year. The show was first performed in 1933 and generally runs from early November through to the end of December.
The Christkindlesmarkt or Christmas Markets are in full swing in Germany and the biggest of them all is in Nuremberg where more than 2 million people flock to the Hauptmarkt to buy their goods from the more than 150 stalls. The stalls run for about a month, and close Christmas eve and are one of Europe’s most magical experiences. Snow, bud lights and beautifully decorated stalls, and not forgetting some great gifts. Crafts,wooden toys, ornaments, seasonal foods like gingerbread, Christmas cake and of course the warm Christmas wines. The markets are held in quiet a few centres around Germany including Munich,Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Berlin other European centres like Toulouse France, Salzberg in Austria and even Leeds in London and Birmingham have their own. Chicago and many US cities have them too. Read the rest of this entry »
We did a story a few months ago in Lego Land in San Diego, well another one of the popular themeparks is being planned for 2013 in Johor State, Malaysia not far from the Singapore border. The park will cost about US$210 to construct and is the first step in making this part of Malaysia a huge family tourist destination. Along with the park and some other yet to be announced tourist complexes there will be residential areas and a huge waterfront city the new precinct will be more than 2 1/2 sizes the size of Singapore when complete. It will be the first Lego Land in Asia with very successful parks in Denmark, California, Germany and Windsor in England. There are plans also for a huge park to open in Dubai in 2001.
Movieworld on Queensland’s Gold Coast is home the Wild West Falls Adventure taking visitors around a old mine site in a log boat. The attraction covers over 28,000 square metres and the huge rendered concrete and steel Wild West Falls mountain stands 35 metres over the theme park. The boat ride takes visitors on a journey through the old mine, there is a ghost town, some gun shots, geysers and teetering rocks, there’s even an exploding bridge before heading into the mine shaft for a thrilling 20 metre plunge out the top of the mountain to the ponds below at a rocketing 80 km per hour. The ride is one of Movieworld’s most popular with more than 1000 people being able to ride the boats every hour, and with Queensland’s great weather getting wet is half the fun.
