Visit Australia and New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand are great places to visit.

Australia is the most interesting and scary place on earth. It has wonderful beaches with records of continuous sunshine, along with the highest levels of skin cancer in the world.

It boasts nine of the ten most poisonous snakes in the world, two of the most poisonous spiders, and the most dangerous thing in the ocean, the box jellyfish. These are far more dangerous than the great white shark or a gigantic saltwater crocodile, in spite of what our movie scare-masters wish us to believe.

Going to the Outback is like being Crocodile Dundee. It feels rugged, big, dangerous, and wonderful. I love it.

Whether I was driving across the empty outback on a one-lane highway dodging truck trains fifty meters (150 feet) long or scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, I never tired of the adventure.

My best recollection was seeing the Big Dipper clearly in a star filled sky at a hotel way in the outback. It was faithfully pointing at the North Star, as always, which was straight down into the ground! Yes, the North Star cannot be seen in Australia. It can only be seen on the other side of the world.

You cannot but have a great time in Australia. It is a rule they have down there.

New Zealand - New Zealand is the ultimate adventure travel destination in the world. They are some of the nicest, most friendly people I've ever known. I keep running into them everywhere in my travels, from China and South America, to the Greek islands and the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

Even though the sheep often outnumber people, the landscapes of New Zealand are beyond description. No wonder the director and most of the movie locations of the "Lord of the Rings" are located here.

Besides, it was these people who invented bungee cord jumping, jet boating up wild rapids, and Blackwater Rafting.

What is Blackwater Rafting, you ask?

It is like whitewater rafting through mountains, instead of down them.

You put on a wet suit and spelunking (caving) helmet and boots. You grab an inflated truck inner tube and climb down into a series of caves that contain a rushing stream.

You jump into that stream with your inner tube and your helmet light on. And down the underground river you go. It's like being flushed down a giant toilet.

After shooting through many underground tubes and over 10 foot waterfalls, all carved out by that same steam, you feel like the Navy SEAL on a particularly dangerous mission.

Unbelievable!

You come out a mile or so later into the bright sunshine completely exhausted and thrilled beyond measure.

This Blackwater Rafting, almost single handedly, defines the wild and crazy mind of the Kiwis, as everyone calls the New Zealanders.

Go there and be more than amazed by this outstanding land and these wonderful people.

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