Thanks to Hoggywart for capturing this video of the RHS Spring Flower Show at Bute Park, Cardiff back in 2007. The show enjoyed glorious spring sunshine and there were lots of excellent floral displays to inspire gardeners; it is a good excuse for a spring break to Wales.
Next week, WOMAD returns to Parque de Santa Catalina in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, for another weekend of music, arts and dance from around the world and the really good news is that the festival is free. You have just enough time to arrange a short break, so you can enjoy some great performances plus the usual workshops and global market.
While browsing some video clips to give you a feel for WOMAD Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, I came across this great solo performance by drum maestro, Billy Cobham at the 2007 Womad festival. The performance was captured by Ruth (rbrimel) and tomorrow, I will try to upload another of her videos from the festival, featuring the exuberant Culture Musical Club.
It seems that the Australians have a thing about big wheels. The quiet village of Evandale in northern Tasmania, has incorporated a Penny Farthing Championship in its annual village fair, which is held annually in February.
Last year, British cyclist Jonathan Summerfield competed in the championship, while riding around the world on a handmade penny farthing. Jonathan visited 23 countries during his 35,367km (21,976-mile) circumnavigation of the globe, replicating the feat of fellow Briton Thomas Stevens, who rode around the world on a penny farthing bicycle back in 1887.
Here is a video from Australian, Tony Nahrung, that will give you a feeling of warmth during the cold, damp days of the British autumn. It features the people of the Devon town of Ottery St Mary and their remarkable tar barrel rolling festival. That this festival occurs on 5 November each year should give a clue to what happens at possibly the most crazy event in the UK, eloquently described by Tony as "an insane night of fun, drinking beer, dodging burning tar barrels, chilling by a huge bonfire and enjoying rides at the fun fair." That's right, burning tar barrels.
The chosen few, known locally as Barrel Rollers and affectionately referred to as Devonian Nutters, hoist burning, wooden, tar barrels onto their shoulders and run through the streets. Teams of Barrel Rollers, men, women and children, represent the different pubs in the village, carrying on a 17th century tradition to rid the town of evil spirits.
Brest has been on the French cyclist's map for many years before this year's Tour de France. Paris-Brest-Paris or the PBP as it is known, is reckoned to be the oldest bicycling event that is still in existence.
It was originally a 1200km bicycle race from Paris to Brest and back again but since 1931 it has become two independent long distance bicycle tours. One is called randonnée (also called Brevet) and is held every four years, while the other event is known as an audax and is held every five years. Union des Audax françaises organises the audax and the Brevet is organised by the Audax Club Parisien.
There is a ninety hour time limit for the event, and the clock runs continuously. The riders are expected to be pretty self-sufficient, buying supplies on route and many riders sleep as little as possible during the event, sometimes catching only a few minutes of sleep by the side of the road before continuing.
Wabeck has produced this compilation of video and stills, that give a good impression of the atmosphere surrounding the 2007 Paris-Brest-Paris randonnée.
Here's a short video, showing some of the more spectacular kites at last years kite festival in Berck sur Mer. Thanks to Erich Schlaikjer, who captured this footage while camping around France with his family during the 2007 Easter weekend.
I came across this video taken last year by Judith Porter, on a short trip to Timbuktu. It was posted by Jerry (imgip) on YouTube and he has several other videos shot in the region.
The World Health Organization provides free advice for anyone planning travel; enabling travellers to be informed about the potential hazards they may encounter in the countries they are travelling to and to learn how to minimize any risk to their health. They point out that forward planning, appropriate preventive measures and careful precautions can substantially reduce the risks of adverse health consequences.
While the medical profession and travel industry provide a great deal of help and advice, the WHO remind traveller's that they should take responsibility to ask for information, to understand the risks involved, and to take the necessary precautions for the journey. Travel light but travel with knowledge.
China's famous Yangtze River, is suffering from a severe water shortage caused by a longer than normal dry season; water levels are falling dramatically and the concentration of pollutants is rising, both of which are impacting the river's wildlife. Media reports indicate that the problem was initiated by the severe drought experienced in the upper reaches of the river during the autumn and that the situation will continue to worsen in February. According to U.S. scientists at the NOAA National Climatic Data Center, 2007 was the warmest year ever recorded for the Earth's land areas.
James Castrission, and Justin Jones, landed safely but their condition makes the feat of New Zealander, Colin Quincy, even more extra-ordinary; he became the first person to row across the Tasman solo, taking 67 days to make the crossing in 1976.
An Australian foursome completed the journey in the opposite direction in half the time, 31 days, arriving in Sydney Harbour on December 30, 2007.
Speed skating with a few bumps, twists and hairpin turns at the bottom of steep inclines. A measured cocktail to make sure participants are shaken and not a little stirred by the time they reach the end of the track. Enjoy this video clip, posted by rouizz, of last year's Red Bull Crashed Ice event in Quebec City.
I want to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, so I thought that a seasonal end of week video would be a good idea. There are many Christmas songs, some have a message, some make you think, this song from Slade just makes you want to party.
Merry Xmas everyone and thanks to Maribel for taking the trouble to post the video. Have fun.
Between now and December 31, 2007 Trusted Tours and Attractions, a division of Historic Tours of America, is running a promotion and giving away an iPod Nano to one subscriber of their online travel newsletter. All you have to do is to subscribe to the Trusted Tours and Attractions monthly newsletter from the company's homepage at http://www.trustedtours.com/newsletter.aspx. The travel newsletter offers interesting stories, travel tips, travel articles, and money saving deals on sightseeing tours and other attractions.
Historic Tours of America, owns and operates numerous sightseeing tours, museums and attractions in 6 different U.S. cities.
The annual "Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light" at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry runs through January 6, 2007. It features more than 50 trees, each decorated by volunteers from Chicago's ethnic communities to reflect holiday traditions from around the globe, and has been dazzling families for 66 years.
The interior of USA's Yellowstone National Park opens for the winter season on Wednesday, December 19, 2007. Visitors will be able to take commercially guided snowmobile and snowcoach trips over snow covered, groomed roads to popular destinations including Old Faithful and Yellowstone's Grand Canyon. Xanterra Parks and Resorts provides lodging, food service, cross-country ski rentals and lessons, snowmobile rentals and snowcoach tours of the park. Details are available online at their Yellowstone website. Information on other authorized winter operations providing snowmobile and snowcoach trips into the park is available on the web at the National Park Service, Yellowstone website. Visitor centers will be open at West Yellowstone, Old Faithful and Mammoth, and the National Park Service website also has details of ranger-led activities and evening programs that are available throughout the winter.
The road from the park's North Entrance at Gardiner, Montana, to Mammoth Hot Springs and through the Lamar Valley to the Northeast Entrance and Cooke City, Montana, is open all year to automobile traffic. Updated conditions on all park roads used by automobiles, snowmobiles and snowcoaches are always available by calling (307) 344-2117. Starting December 19, visitors will also be able to check the status of park roads during the winter season online.
Travelling around Singapore is a cinch and it just got a whole lot easier, and cheaper. There is a notably efficient public transportation network of taxis, buses and the modern Mass Rapid Transit rail system.
A comprehensive transport guide for tourists has just been launched, including information on tourist hotspots and how to get there. For S$8 a day, tourists can buy a card which allows one, two or three days of unlimited travel on buses and trains.
Posts on this blog are more often about interesting places to visit, rather than places that most travellers should avoid at all cost, but the article Polluted Planet, that was recently posted on MSN Environment, does just that. They are described as hellholes, which are the relics of an environmentally ignorant industrial era and are considered contaminated cesspits, where even visiting might result in death.
They are the world's ten most severely polluted places, conveniently listed alphabetically, with thumbnails and a Windows Live Map, for further information. The list spans seven countries and affects more than 12 million people, who obviously have no choice but to try and survive there.
This weekend sees the final leg of the 2007 Anaconda Adventure Race, Australian national series, at Lorne, Victoria, the series began back on 5 August, 2007 on the Gold Coast.
The Lorne Anaconda Adventure race is a gruelling 1.9km ocean swim, 800m beach run, 11.2km time trial run, 13km paddle, 22.7km mountain bike ride and a 2.8km beach run. It can be completed, either as an individual where you do all legs, or in teams of up to 4 people, with everyone doing a different leg, which puts it in easy reach of anyone ready to give it a go.
Last year's winner was Jarad Kohlar and he is back to defend his 2006 title, alongside more than 1000 competitors, who have converged on the coastal town of Lorne, basking in a cool 22 degrees of summer sunshine.
With Malaysia celebrating 50 years of nationhood in 2007, their ministry of tourism came up with a great promotional video to promote Malaysia to the world. Not convinced that the backing track will get many plays but Malaysia has a wonderful Asian culture and history, well worthy of a visit.
This is not a political blog but occasionally a piece of news is brought to my attention that is beyond belief. It is news that directly impacts millions of tourists and news that the world deserves to hear. The information appears to be valid and I forward it without comment; make up your own mind.
I will however, begin by quoting the Buddhist Thought for the Day: "If you want to have friends, you must be friendly. If you want to make peace, you must be peaceful. - Peace Pilgrim...", which coincidentally, I happened to read just before I saw the article Merry Christmas Hawaii - And Bombs Away! by freelance writer, Cathy Garger.
According to a recent Associated Press article, "B-2 Stealth Bombers Hit US Targets" and the Cathy Garger article in OpEdNews, the United States government is using both Hawaii and Alaska to expand its war games and better train pilots by dropping bombs from stealth Air Force B-2 bombers on them around Christmas time.
No doubt the Alaskans aren't to happy about this and the Hawaiians have begun a protest movement because their land has been found to be previously contaminated with depleted Uranium from military exercises. A problem that would be compounded by bombing, since it would cause the toxic dust to become airborne. They point out that Hawaii is a special place, loved, enjoyed and visited by millions of people every year from all over the world. It truly seems beyond belief that tourists face being greeted with the US military's own unique brand of hospitality, which Cathy Garger describes as "the invisible gift of inhaled Uranium aerosol blowing in the warm tropical winds."
Here's a fun vid on which to end the week, from Theme Park Review. It does a great job of recreating the atmosphere at Universal Studios Orlando, Islands of Adventure & Halloween Horror Nights. Including Incredible Hulk, Dueling Dragons and some of the best roller coasters footage I have seen.
The producers note that the onride footage in this video was taken with permission from the park and filmed by professional ride photographers. They stress that you should never attempt to take video on roller coasters without proper permission from the park because filming on rides can be extremely dangerous. I would add that the danger is not just to yourself.
Back in May, 2007, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Universal Orlando Resort, announced that they are constructing a Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios (Islands of Adventure) in Orlando, Florida, occupying over 20 acres, it is described as a theme park within a theme park and is to be called "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter". It is Scheduled to open in 2009.
On December 6, 2007 the controversial Hawaii Superferry finally gets to begin daily round-trip voyages between Oahu and Maui.
The ferry is scheduled to leave Honolulu at 6:30 p.m. and arrive in Kahului at 10:15 a.m. Then it departs Kahului at 11:15 a.m. and arrives in Honolulu at 2:15 p.m.
Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure Playtest at Epcot and Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage at Disneyland have been awarded 2007 THEA Awards for Outstanding Achievement.
Walt Disney Imagineers won the prestigious awards within the themed entertainment industry for creating outstanding new experiences at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts. More.
Harry Potter fans are being offered the chance to appear in 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince™', the next movie in the series of wizardly goings on at Hogwarts.
Marking the launch of 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix™' on DVD, MSN and Warner Home Video are running a competition that will provide one lucky, lucky fan, the once in a lifetime opportunity to be a part of motion picture history, with a walk on part.
The sinking of the passenger ship Explorer, while on a cruise to Antarctica, has raised concerns from a shipping union over the operation of cruise ships in increasingly remote locations. The union, Nautilus UK, points out that the sinking of the Explorer, is the latest in a series of similar incidents, recording at least three others in 2007 alone.
Only three months ago, seven passengers on board the Aleksey Maryshev were injured when part of a glacier fell onto the deck of the ship, while it was on an adventure cruise in the Arctic.
Understandably, questions are being asked about the suitability of some ships to operate in increasingly exotic, dangerous and remote environments, where they are often a very long way from adequate search and rescue cover.
November 28, 2007 is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Englishman, William Blake, the son of a draper who became a visionary, artist, engraver and poet. Not given the recognition he deserved in his lifetime, one of his most famous works is 'Jerusalem', indeed some would now like it to become a new English national anthem, all of which gives me an excuse to reproduce it here.
And did those feet in ancient time, Walk upon England's mountains green: And was the holy Lamb of God, On England's pleasant pastures seen!
And did the Countenance Divine, Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here, Among these dark Satanic Mills?
Bring me my Bow of burning gold: Bring me my Arrows of desire: Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold! Bring me my Chariot of fire!
I will not cease from Mental Fight, Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
'Till we have built Jerusalem, In England's green and pleasant Land.
William Blake (1804).
It is surprising that in those days, some amateur archaeologist didn't think it would be a good idea to ship it back brick by brick! - Just joking :-)
This year's National Tree Week in the UK, runs from 21 November to 3 December, 2007. An annual event that was begun in 1975, it has been responsible for the planting of over 20 million trees.
"National Tree Week," say the Tree Council, "is the ideal opportunity to do one great thing for the environment, plant a tree."
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is again sailing to the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary to save Humpback, Fin and Minke whales from Japanese whalers.
It appears that some of the recent media coverage has been misleading. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society reports that it does not use violence and never has used violence and is not threatening violence. Apparently, in a ramming incident last year, it was a Japanese whaling ship that rammed the Sea Shepherd ship.
The Japanese will only be stopped by economic and social pressure. Copy this post and send it to a few friends, telling them what you think of the Japanese whalers. Let's use the power of bloggers to let the Japanese know what the world thinks about a country that allows its countrymen to engage in whaling.
Traditionally, this is the week that the major New York City department stores unveil their decorated holiday windows and such is their appeal that they draw an estimated 6,000 window gazers per hour at the season's peak. Read a nice review from Jennifer 8. Lee, in the New York Times Blog.
Each week, for a whole year, from October 1, 2006 until September 23, 2007, Canadian singer/songwriter Kevin Bath, released a CD every week. Each album had 8 original songs written, performed, recorded and released by him.
The result, 52 CDs containing 416 songs, by one musician, setting a new world record.
You can listen to his work by visiting his website and read more about Kevin Bath in an article on ChartAttack.
The first forecast of the American ski season from the Boulder-based Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC), which started up operations this week, indicates that a few inches of the white powder could pile up by Wednesday morning. It seems that colder temperatures, along with a dusting of snow this week, could significantly improve the outlook for Skiing during Thanksgiving in western Colorado. The best chance for snow being Tuesday night.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center has upgraded its website with more archived reports on avalanche accidents and a Google Maps platform offering information on avalanche problems and travel recommendations.
France is starting to deal with a series of open-ended strikes that are expected to paralyse public services and utilities. Beginning today, only about 12% of the high-speed TGV trains are running and there is almost no Paris metro service. Paris Opera House and Comedie Francaise State Theatre are expected to be closed, while disruption is anticipated to escalate next week when civil servants, teachers and other public employees will stage protests.
EDF electricity and GDF gas are caught up in the turmoil and even the magistrates and court clerks are planning to take to the streets. As you might expect, the French students have got involved and to cap it all, next week there will be no forecast from Meteo France weather employees.
This is bad news for Parisian hoteliers who report that over a quarter of their reservations have been cancelled already. More information and comment.
The Barcelona World Race is a new two-handed, non-stop round the world yacht race, which will be held every four years. For the first time, this race will see the world's best professional sailors from both solo and fully crewed disciplines coming together to compete against each other in teams of two.
The inaugural race starts on 11 November, 2007 and there are nine IMOCA Open 60 class yachts, ready to go. Promo Video
Winter Wonderland is set to transform Hyde Park, London, between Hyde Park Corner and the Serpentine, into a magical world of ice and festival fun, providing fun, laughter, and excitement for all. As well as the stunning ice rink, Winter Wonderland includes gentle rides for younger children. There will also be a brilliant German Christmas Market, including authentic arts, crafts, presents, foods and traditional mulled wine, from a range of genuine traders making it the ideal place to do some Christmas shopping and enjoy the atmosphere of the Festive season. The bandstand will feature regular carol concerts and, when time allows, even Santa himself is scheduled to make an appearance in the run-up to Christmas. The site is free to enter, with tokens for all rides and attractions available for purchase on the day but advance booking for the Ice Rink is strongly recommended throughout the season.
Winter Wonderland in London's Hyde Park, runs for six weeks from 1 December, 2007, to 6 January, 2008. It is the perfect event for family, friends and colleagues to delight in the exciting Christmas atmosphere, and you can use this link to book tickets for the Ice Rink through TicketMaster.
Throughout most of Europe tomorrow morning (at 2am), European summer time comes to its official end and the clocks go back one hour. But to ward off the winter blues, there are plenty of festivals.
We begin this weekend with Halloween and then a few days later, the British celebrate with Fireworks night. It doesn't stop there though, in a multicultural world, these events are followed by the Diwali festival, or 'Festival of Light' also called Deepavali, on November 9. Diwali is a major Indian festival that is observed by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs around the world, to symbolise the victory of good over evil with lamps lit as a sign of celebration and hope for mankind.
Visitors to Leicester, England, have a unique opportunity to experience a 'Taste of Asia' for themselves, with a short break package in this year's official Curry Capital of Britain. The special packages have been put together by Leicester Shire Promotions, the city's tourism board, to showcase Leicester's vibrant Asian culture and exotic gastronomy, combined with its Diwali celebrations, which are said to be the largest outside of India.
Then of course, we move on to the Christmas markets, Christmas and the New Year parties.
The Dutch vehicle reached the final checkpoint at Angle Vale, Adelaide, late Thursday afternoon, having starting at Darwin on Sunday morning. Competitors from across the world raced across Australia during daylight hours but the team from the Netherlands again outstripped the opposition, clocking up their fourth consecutive World Solar Challenge. An Australian and a Belgium car are battling it out for second place but they will not reach the finish line until Friday.
Here is a nice event for Halloween. At 6:00 PM on Sat. Oct. 27, 2007, in Toronto, Canada and simultaneously around the world, there will be an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the Largest Simultaneous Dance. Of course, being Halloween, the dance routine has to be the famous Michael Jackson's 'Thriller', which appropriately celebrates its 25th anniversary this year; doesn't time fly when your a Zombie.
Thousands of people in cities around the world are learning the 'Thriller' dance and if your not already involved, you can check out a participating event near you by going to the Thrill The World website.
The current record is 197,569 young students doing the Hokey-Pokey at 681 locations across Canada in April 2002.
October 24, 2007, is Take Back Your Time Day; although it is essentially a U.S./Canadian initiative to challenge the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine that now threatens the health of their people, communities and environment, we believe that it is relevant to all societies influenced by American business culture.
Joe Robinson, one of the founders of the 'Take Back Your Time' organisation, says, "This is not about slacking, not about being lazy, vacations are as important to your health as checking your cholesterol or getting exercise. They're the antidote to runaway stress. Research shows that an annual vacation can cut the risk of death from heart disease in women by half and in men by about a third. Vacations can also cure burnout, the last stage of chronic stress, but it takes two weeks for the process of re-gathering crashed emotional resources to occur."
The motto of this blog is 'Making life a holiday with interesting vacation and adventure ideas'. The concept being to enjoy a lifestyle whereby, like the surfers, you live the dream. If surfing is not your scene but you love to paint, carry a sketchbook with you, and use it. If you love to run and you have to work for a living, run to work. But most of all, make sure that you get quality relaxation time. It is said that an hour a day can keep the doctor away.
Business also gets a big dividend from vacations. "Three week vacations have proven to be a boost to productivity and profits at enlightened American firms with that policy. Performance goes up when people come back from a vacation," said Robinson. "In the knowledge economy, the source of true productivity is a refreshed and energized mind."
Congratulations to Penny Edwards, a UK teacher who has just completed the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii; finishing in the top ten for her class, in one of the most gruelling race events in the world. Not bad for someone who did not take up running until her 40s and is now a very fit 52 year old. More.
Congratulations also to Chrissie Wellington, who won the women's event and became the first British athlete to claim an Ironman World Championship title. This under-sung, relatively unknown 30 year old, did not turn pro until this year and only took part in her first Ironman a couple of months ago, a race which she won convincingly.
Winner of the men's event was determined Australian, Chris McCormack, who says that he has dreamed of being the World Ironman Champion for 20 years.
The Ford Ironman World Championship involves a 2.4 mile swim in the open sea, a 112 mile cycle ride and then a 26.2 mile marathon run through the lava fields of Kailua-Kona. Nearly 1,800 athletes took part in the event, ranging in age from 18 to 78 years old. Yes, 78. Most of the Ironman athletes have quite a story to tell, some exceptionally inspirational and you can read more on the Ironman website.
Over the next couple of weeks, mountain and outdoor adventure lovers are in for a treat on both sides of the Atlantic.
In Scotland, the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival from 19 - 21 October, 2007, is an annual event, now in its fifth year, that uses films, lectures and exhibitions to inspire an enjoyment of the natural environment.
Then, in Canada, the annual Banff Mountain Festivals gets underway, from October 27 – November 4, 2007. The Banff Mountain Festivals, which include the famous book and film festivals, are dedicated to promoting mountain culture and offer inspiring mountain stories, together with the exhilarating beauty of mountain landscapes.
Teams are gathering in Darwin, Australia, for the 2007 Panasonic World Solar Challenge, which takes place 21 to 28 October. This is the 20th anniversary of the biennial event, in which teams research, build and design vehicles that are capable of completing the 3000km journey from Darwin in the North, to Adelaide in the South using only sunlight as fuel. And of course, then proving that their vehicle works, in the spirit of friendly competition.
59 vehicles from 19 countries are competing. There will be 18 solar vehicles competing in the Solar Challenge and a further 21 solar vehicles competing in the Adventure class. There is also a Greenfleet Demonstration class for bio friendly fuels that has attracted 20 other vehicles of all shapes and sizes. Read more about the Panasonic World Solar Challenge in an article from Steve Dow.
Today, October 15, 2007 is Blog Action Day. In its inaugural year, bloggers around the web are uniting to write posts about environmental issues and we are proud to be joining in with the thousands of blogs across the blogsphere. It is estimated that the combined blog posts will be read by over 13 million people, which makes blogging a pretty powerful medium for change.
Man has been impacting the environment since first walking the earth but it seems to me that the most harmful actions occur when we try to gain personal advantage at the expense of someone else, or even at the expense of other creatures. Look at illegal logging, the environmental damage caused by massive dam projects or the current arguments about who controls the Arctic. Consider the arguments surrounding the Hawaiian Superferry project or global warming, whale hunting and over-fishing; you get the idea; the list of examples is endless, from cheap air travel to political zealots driven by greed.
The inference of the preceding observation is that we can perhaps do most good for the environment by avoiding the acquisition of personal advantage at the expense of someone else, or other creatures. Interestingly this is essentially the Buddhist creed, expressed by AmidaBuddha.org in their thought for the day, Lead a righteous life; lead not a base life. The righteous live happily both in this world and the next. - Buddha.
Easily said, hard to argue against, but even harder to live by.
I have just watched South Africa beat Argentina in the Rugby World Cup semi-final to join England in the final and I guess that they started as favourites to win but I have just learned of a South African success that probably wasn't foreseen; a group of South African farmers have just beaten the Americans at their own culinary delicacy, winning the Guinness World Record for the biggest pumpkin pie ever made. The previous American record weighed in at 920 kg and the new record is a salivating, 1150 kg. Over a ton of pumpkins was used to make the world record breaking pumpkin pie, which is to be distributed among the poor. More yummy information about the pie.
South Africa, Botswana and Namibia have agreed regional co-operation in tourism, with the aim of avoiding long queues and unnecessary detours for visitors travelling in the region, as a result of the 2010 soccer world cup. To this end, a Tourist Access Facility, located on the South Africa and Namibia border, in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park has just been opened and this will enable tourists to take a short cut across the border at Mata Mata, without having to leave the park. Information from SABC News.
The 24-hour version of the New Zealand 'three-day Classic Southern Traverse' adventure race on the Southern Lakes, comprising trekking, paddling and mountain biking, is scheduled for November 17 and 18, 2007. This will be its second year and organiser Geoff Hunt is keen to see it become a regular event.
Next year will see the return of the Classic Southern Traverse to the Southern Lakes region. Would be competitors in the 24 Hours of Southern Traverse are encouraged to get their entries in as soon as possible because entries close in about three weeks. More.
The Spice Girls have leased a posh plane for their upcoming reunion tour, which begins December 2, 2007 in Vancouver, Canada.
Sandy Maple, posting in Luxist, offers an artist's impression of the plane, nicknamed Spice Force One, and reports "the Boeing 757 that will carry the reunited girl group around the globe will sport official Spice Girl reunion artwork on the fuselage and interior. In addition to a makeup parlor and a creche, the plane will be outfitted with a dining room, business center, state-of-the-art bathrooms, a media center and sleeping quarters."
The last WOMAD festival of 2007 is again in the Canary Islands, 22 - 27 November. Fabulous music, arts and dance from around the world, with the exhilarating backdrop of the beachside city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
The festival is free and open to the public, so no need to book tickets, just be there.
It might be long dark nights and falling leaves in the north but the southern hemisphere is celebrating the coming of spring. In one annual celebration, Canberra's Commonwealth Park is transformed into a tapestry of colour with more than a million bulbs and annuals in bloom at a free, month long, festival, the Floriade, which is the largest flower festival in the Southern Hemisphere. Yes, it goes under the same name as the famous Netherland's festival but this Floriade occurs every year; the next Netherland's Floriade occurs in 2012.
This year's Australian Floriade runs until 14 October, 2007, and visitors are able to wander around flower beds inspired by an Australian icons, myths and legends theme and enjoy good old Aussie entertainment, food and much more. During the month-long Floriade festival there is always plenty of activity at Canberra's most popular tourist attractions. Kids are entertained throughout Floriade with children's arts, crafts and activities, and loads of extra entertainment every day of the school holidays. Floriade and the spring school holidays is a busy time in Canberra, so it is best to book accommodation early. Tourist information and accommodation advice can be found at visitcanberra.com.au.
The start of autumn in the northern hemisphere, is marked by night and day being of nearly the same length; this occurs when the sun crosses the celestial equator. This year, 2007, the Autumn Equinox occurs on September 23; of course, the Southern hemisphere welcomes spring and lengthening hours of daylight.
It is not surprising that such a significant astronomical event should be celebrated by pagan religions such as Wicca. The year's crops are harvested, tribute is paid to the sun and mother earth, and preparation is made for the impending days of darkness. The Wicca name for the Autumn Equinox is Mabon, it is called Mea'n Fo'mhair by the Druids who pay homage to the Green Man.
Harvest festivals and celebrations are commonplace throughout the northern hemisphere and ancient harvest customs are still widely practiced throughout Europe. Central to many of these is the Corn Dolly or John Barleycorn, which is said to contain the spirit of the grain; notoriously portrayed in the Wicca Man. There is a modern day Wicca Man festival in Scotland but this has little to do with religion or the Autumn Equinox and will form the subject of a future post.
Two end of week videos today because they are both quite short clips, but they convey the atmosphere of the traditional Chinese mid-autumn festival quite nicely.
First up is a clip from Claudia, who has posted this video of the street light-up for the mid-autumn festival at Chinatown, Singapore.
Next is a slightly longer and fascinating clip posted by chinarye, of last year's mid-autumn festival celebrations in Hoi An, Vietnam. The video features a man in dragon costume, dancing on top of a high pole. Spectacular and precarious in equal measure.
Stock up on the mooncakes and dig out the lanterns; 25 September, 2007, which is the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, is the date of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival.
Chinese communities throughout the world will be celebrating one of their most colourful and happy festivals, when the harvest moon is welcomed with a sea of lanterns.
Florida is the hot US destination for Halloween month. Two of the biggest annual festivals are Biketoberfest at Daytona Beach, which this year celebrates its 15th birthday over the weekend of October 18-21, 2007 and the infamous Fantasy Fest at Key West, which this year, runs October 19-28, 2007.
During Biketoberfest, 100,000 bikers from throughout North America and Europe, converge on Daytona Beach to party, meet up with fellow bike enthusiasts, party, enjoy street festivals, concerts, charity rides, expos, seminars, celebrity appearances and parties. Fantasy Fest on the other hand, is focused on partying, bizarre and raucous costume competitions, street parties, body painting, parades and parties.
Both festivals provide an excuse to party. Just be careful not to mix them up, you might get away with the leathers at Fantasy Fest but I'm not sure how the toga would be received at Biketoberfest.
Saturday, 22 September sees the start of this year's Oktoberfest in Munich, with the tapping of the first keg of Oktoberfest 2007 beer. Such is the popularity of the event that virtually every hotel bed in the city and its surrounds, is booked for months in advance; so if you haven't already booked a visit to Munich or have the fortune to live in Mingga, your best chance of getting to Oktoberfest is to plan on next year.
For beer lovers in New York, there is an alternative celebration of the golden nectar, the Fifth Annual Brewtopia, or Great World Beer Fest, featuring hundreds of international brews to taste. Craft beers from little-known labels or small producers, like Captain Lawrence Liquid Gold or Bethlehem Brew Works Rude Elf Reserve, and an international array of beer-friendly foods, like sausage and pretzels. The festival runs October 26 and 27, 2007.
An enormous field of black truffles has been discovered in Poland but it is rare to find them in north-east Europe. Normally they are found in Western Europe, where the season is just getting underway; they are a scarce food and sell for about 3600 Euros a kilogram.
Best known are the black truffles from Périgord in France and the white truffles from Piedmont in Italy. Each weekend in October and early November truffle hunters and merchants come and sell their products at the famous Tartufo Market in Alba. Alba is also home of an annual truffle festival which this year runs from 29 September to 11 November.
The world's largest recorded white truffle (over 2.5 kg) was found in San Miniato, which competes with Alba for the reputation of having the highest quality white truffles, and the San Miniato National White Truffle Market is held every year during the last three weeks of November.
Another autumn tradition in Europe, is the annual Beaujolais Run. As in previous years, a Beaujolais Run from the UK starts at 08.00 on Tuesday 13th November from Goodwood House.
Competitors then drive to France via Eurotunnel and Reims, arriving in Mâcon on Wednesday 14th November. That night, they join vignerons in the town of Beaujeu for the release of the Beaujolais Nouveau at midnight, whereupon competitors can collect this year's Beaujolais Nouveau and rush it back to the UK.
A video from Charliechicpea (part 3 in a series) of this summer's Velocette Motorcycle Owners Club Rally at Stanford Hall, Lutterworth, Leicestershire, England. Velocette has been described as one of the most beautiful hand built motorcycles ever made and a 350cc MkVIII Velocette was the machine rode by Bob Foster in 1950, when he was crowned world champion.
The Dorset branch of the UK Velocette Owners Club, will be holding its annual charity bike run, the Bob Foster Run on 7 October, 2007.
Nature produces the ultimate tapestry of colour with every leaf fall. As noted in my previous post, the dazzling colours have fuelled a billion dollar tourist industry in America's north-east .
But it is not just the Americans that make 'leaf peeping' a national obsession. The Japanese have a special word, momijigari, which describes watching the changing colours of trees in autumn, and climate change has resulted in Britain experiencing riots of colour that match the legendary displays of Vermont, making 'leaf peeping' in Britain, every bit as big an activity.
To satisfy the demands of 'leaf peepers' to view the best displays of autumn colour, the Forestry Commission provides interactive maps of the best places to see foliage colours across the whole of the UK.
Autumnwatch in the UK has started for 2007 and the Woodland Trust are recording the first instances of seasonal events, this includes great interactive maps of the first autumn tinting and leaf fall.
Plenty of noise, loads of smoke and lots of people in oily boiler suits, walking around the small UK village of Tarrant Hinton, all indicate that this weekend is the middle of the annual Great Dorset Steam Fair, 29 August to 2 September, 2007. A bit like an alternative Burning Man Festival, the fair rejoices in bygone days, when most people's knowledge of a carbon footprint was that which appeared on the seat of slacking apprentices. Then after a week of chaos, the site returns to green fields and pastural calm. As always, there is plenty to see and do; a day is hardly enough time to enjoy everything on offer. The Great Dorset Steam Fair is regarded as the leading steam and vintage preservation event in the world and is attended every year by well over 200,000 people from around the globe.
More than 3,000 railway enthusiasts are expected to attend the Swindon Railway Festival, on Saturday 15 September and Sunday 16 September, 2007. The festival is to be held at STEAM, the UK's Museum of the Great Western Railway, which is housed in the beautifully restored Grade II railway building, right in the heart of the former Swindon railway works. In its heyday, 'the works' was the powerhouse of a railway network that was regarded as the most advanced in the world.
The Swindon Railway Festival celebrates the town's glorious railway heritage and features some of the UK's biggest and best model railway layouts. Pop guru Pete Waterman is also a keen railway enthusiast and he will be exhibiting his 'Just Like the Real Thing' models. Other features include Hornby and Bachmann roadshows, model making and repair workshops, railway art, talks, book signings and trade stands.
A large number of Railway Holidays from around the world, can be found in our listings.
Latest consumer research from Mintel looking at changing trends in the leisure marketplace, indicates that Britain is becoming a nation of cycling enthusiasts. During 2006, biking-mad Brits went on an exhausting 450,000 two wheeled holidays, with some operators experiencing as much as a third increase in bookings on 2005 figures.
"The growth of independent travel is creating a new breed of holidaymaker, who is resourceful, adventurous and hungry for a taste of authenticity away from the crowds. Cycling is a great way to explore the hidden secrets of a region, enjoy intimate contact with local culture and an opportunity for travellers to feel good about benefiting local economies," comments Richard Cope, Senior Travel Consultant at Mintel.
Mintel believes that the greatest future scope for the cycling holidays market lies in combining biking with mainstream holidays. Operators could re-brand more holidays as "cycling-plus" trips, offering cycling interspersed with other experiences such as R&R, spa, walking, boating and other hobbies. "Whilst Britons cycle less than many other Europeans, we take more frequent holidays and cycling breaks have enormous potential. These do not have to be the preserve of cycling clubs and the Tour de France-emulating hardcore. Cycling holidays will also appeal to families, sightseers, and those simply seeking relaxation and escape from the crowds," explains Richard Cope.
Mintel has provided key insight into leading global trends for over 35 years. More information is available on their web site
Every year, tens of thousands of people converge on the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, USA, to create Black Rock City and celebrate one of the world's great modern festivals, the Burning Man Festival. They pride themselves on taking nothing but photographs and leaving nothing but memories. The festival is dedicated to self-expression, self-reliance, and art as the center of community.
This year, the festival takes place August 27 to September 3, 2007 and in keeping with the global awareness of environmental issues, the art theme for Burning Man 2007 is "The Green Man".
Some very creative minds are associated with the Burning Man community and besides creating some great art, also create great environmental projects. A subject I will expand upon in future posts.
This should give you guys food for thought over the upcoming holiday weekend. According to a consumer survey conducted by the UK's Bradford and Bingley, one in five British women wouldn't mind swapping their husbands for someone else.
The company also found that more than half of the people over the age of 35 wish they had travelled more. Now does this mean that a tenth of over 35s can save their marriage by going on a tour or that a tenth of over 35s who go on a tour, might come back with a different partner.
Whatever, it is clear that people enjoy the adventure of travel and it becomes a source of regret if every opportunity is not taken to experience as much of the world as possible.
Rare snowfall has hit Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, South Asia has faced the worst monsoon floods for years and Australia's Murray River, no longer holds sufficient water to flow out into the sea. Such extreme weather could be linked to global warming
The Murray River is the lifeblood of Australia's farming country, a legendary river that thundered 1,500 miles from the Snowy Mountains to the Indian Ocean. Now, it's choking to death in the worst drought for a thousand years.
Is the "Big Dry" a warning that the Earth is running out of water? Professor Tim Flannery, an Australian environmental scientist and an international leader on climate change, has no doubts. "Australia is a harbinger of what is going to happen in other places in the world," he says. "This can happen anywhere. China may be next, or parts of western USA. There will be emerging water crises all over the world." Few scientists doubt the "big dry" is caused, in part, by climate change.
You can get more information on the "Big Dry" from freeinternetpress.com or read an extensive article by correspondent Claire Scoby, in The Bulletin
According to DEFRA, the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, apart from small, designated zones, the UK countryside remains open to visitors. There is no need for people to stop visiting the countryside, which is great news for walkers, cyclists and climbers.
There is an interactive map of Protection, Surveillance or Restricted Zones and you can enter a place name, postcode or map reference to check if it is in a designated zone.
Foot and Mouth disease is a disease of cattle and very few human cases have ever been recorded, even though the disease is endemic in animals in many parts of the world. The last human case reported in Britain occurred in 1966. The disease in humans, is mild, short-lived and requires no medical treatment. However, it is highly infectious in cattle and easily spread, hence the need for restrictions and special bio-safety precautions in designated areas.
Defra encourages users of the countryside to apply common sense precautions and follow standard practice in the countryside:
Do not stray from the right of way onto grazing land.
Avoid walking amongst livestock.
Never touch or handle livestock.
Keep dogs on a lead where there may be livestock.
Take any waste, including food, home.
Use any disinfectant footpads or baths which the landowner provides.
Specific restrictions and recommendations apply to the movements of horses and dogs in a Protection Zone.
The National Geographic World Championship is an international student competition held every two years and this year, the event, which was held at SeaWorld San Diego, has been won by Mexico who defeated defending champions USA. Canada took third place, finishing ahead of the other teams from Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Chinese Taipei, France, Germany, Ghana, Hungary, India, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore and United Kingdom.
The winning question was: "What historic site was carved from sandstone in about 1200 B.C.? This site includes two huge temples and statues of an ancient ruler." Mexico correctly answered, "Abu Simbel."
Here is a video clip of Mexico answering the winning question, courtesy of National Geographic, who organized the competition that was sponsored by SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Adventure Parks.
The Edinburgh Festival is underway but just a hop and a skip to the west, thousands of musicians from around the world have descended on Glasgow for the World Pipe Band Championships, 11th August 2007.
8,000 musicians from over 50 countries, will be playing in 225 bands at the championships and it is estimated that the performances will be watched by 50,000 spectators.
Freediving, also known as skin diving or snorkeling, has been practiced as a competitive sport since the early 20th century but in recent years, many more people have been captivated by the sport. The movement has been inspired largely by Martin Stepanek of the Czech Republic, and a new generation of divers including New Zealander, Niki Roderick. From August 5 -11, in the Red Sea, Dahab, Egypt, at the Sony Free event, Stepanek, with a single breath of air, will attempt to swim down to a depth of 112 meters and return to the surface using only his monofin, his strength and his endurance. At the same event, Roderick will attempt to break one of free diving's longest-standing World Records in the Women's Variable Weight discipline, by diving 123 meters, feet first on a weighted sled that runs along a rope. More.
The highlight of the New Zealand winter calendar has to be the The Burton New Zealand Open snowboarding competition and once more, Snow Park in the Cardrona Valley gets to host the event, which this year runs from 7th - 11th August, 2007. In 2007, it's bigger, better and longer than ever; the Cardrona Valley and Wanaka township will again be transformed as more than 5000 spectators, a record 230-plus riders from around the world, film crews and journalists descend on their community.
Half Pipe, Quarter Pipe and Slopestyle disciplines are featured in the Burton New Zealand Open, which forms part of the Burton Global Open Series of international snowboarding competitions, playing out in six countries throughout the course of a year.
It isn't too soon to be planning your next snowboarding break and we have plenty of snowboarding breaks to choose from in our database.
30 July to 5 August 2007, is National Parks Week in the UK, a celebration of its 14 National Parks. They are large areas of land throughout England, Wales and Scotland, containing the finest landscapes in the UK, considered worthy of special protection for the benefit of the nation, and are available for everyone to enjoy free of charge. A whole range of events are being held in each of the National Parks (Brecon Beacons, The Broads, Cairngorms, Dartmoor, Exmoor, Lake District, Loch Lomond and The Trossachs, New Forest, Northumberland, North York Moors, Peak District, Pembrokeshire Coast, Snowdonia, Yorkshire Dales). Each park has its own character and there is something for everyone to enjoy. Picnics in the Park, beach art, dry stone walling demonstrations, guided walks and canoe safaris are just a few of the activities and adventures on offer. Go to the UK National Parks' website for details of the National Parks Week Events.
We have lots of Family Activity Holidays and breaks to choose from in our specialised directory.
Every other year, there is a special arts festival called Europalia which usually highlights a single country's heritage. This year's festival coincides with the 50th Anniversary of the EU and to mark the occasion, the cultural diversity of the 27 EU countries will be celebrated through the visual and performing arts over four months, from October 3, 2007, until February 3, 2008.
The festival is centered on Brussels but this is a large festival and extends throughout Belgium and neighbouring countries. Visit the Europalia 2007 website for program details.
Disturbances in the weather patterns due to global warming are not confined to the northern hemisphere. Many of New Zealand's boarders and skiers are finding that their winter sports activities are being curtailed by a lack of snow close to home.
Bethany Marett, writing in the The Timaru Herald, reports that the the slopes around Canterbury and Mt Hutt in South Island, are bare of snow and snow boarders have been forced further south in search of the cold white powder.
Pilots from around the world are gathering for the 2007 World Hang Gliding Championships, which runs August 7-19 in Big Spring, Texas, USA. Over 150 pilots will be competing, with launches expected to be at noon during each day of the championship.
Few people could be unaware that the UK has experienced exceptional rainfall. It seems that the cause is global warming, which has resulted in the Gulf Stream shifting its position. The almost continual rain, punctuated by torrential downpours has led to flooding throughout much of the UK, most recently in the heart of the country.
There has been a great deal of media attention on major tourist areas such as Shakespeare's Stratford upon Avon but thankfully the town itself did not suffer too badly, the surrounding areas were badly affected, though the flood waters are beginning to subside and transport links are unaffected. This is great news for festival goers who are converging on Long Marston Airport, just outside Stratford upon Avon, for the Global Gathering Festival, Friday 27 and Saturday 28 July, 2007. The organizers have confirmed that the site remains unaffected by the floods and that the festival is on. Come rain or come shine this weekend, Faithless, Basement Jaxx, 150 top DJs and 50,000 revellers will be partying at the biggest dance event in the world.
One of the world's greatest and most important arts festivals, the Salzburg Festival, begins its 2007 season on Friday 27 July and runs through to 31 August, 2007. Being the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, it is not surprising that the festival is best known for hill to hill music, listen carefully and you might hear Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp children, but the festival also has a notable drama section and this year includes a new and innovative production of Ein Sommernachtstraum (Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's dream).
It is easy to travel to Salzburg from the rest of Europe and there is much to see and do in this charming Austrian city famous for its baroque architecture and breathtaking mountain scenery. more
The Red Bull X-Alps, literally takes off on July 23, 2007, as 30 participants embark on an 850 km adventure race across the Alps, from Krippenstein in the Austrian Dachstein range, to Monaco. Arguably one of the world's toughest adventure races, competitors will paraglide, run and climb for 12 to 20 days, taking as little as three to four hours sleep per day; there are four check points on the course, Marmolada in Italy, Eiger in Switzerland, then Mont Blanc and Mont Gros in France.
Live Tracking technology on the Red Bull X-Alps web site will enable the exact location of the competitors to be monitored throughout the race.
There are many paragliding holidays in our searchable database of activity holidays and you may also find our article on Paragliding Vacations interesting.
$1 Million, 10,000 Miles, 100 Hours, 50 Aircraft, touching all four corners of the United States
Dawn on August 3rd , 2007, sees the start of the Great Air Race in Georgia. It will be the longest air race in US history and 100 participants will be competing for $1 Million in cash and prizes. The race will last 14 days, cover 10,000 miles and require 100 hours of flight time, all filmed by Papillon Productions for a reality television series. The planes finish in Florida on August 17, 2007.
Tomorrow morning, 17 July, 2007, visitors to the Southbank will see a model of the Taj Mahal sail up the Thames to London Bridge Pier, marking the beginning of India Now, a three-month festival in the UK's capital which will showcase India's contribution to world culture. This is the most comprehensive festival of culture ever to be staged in London and celebrates the riches of India's diverse and dazzling traditions, including new Indian trends across art, film, theatre, food, music and fashion. The festival is to be launched by London Mayor Ken Livingstone, together with a host of celebrities, including Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, English actress Joanne Lumbley and Indian cricket team, Rahul Dravid.
This weekend, July 14-15, 2007, Sidney, that's British Columbia, Canada, not Sydney, Australia, will host the largest SCUBA show ever held in Western Canada. The Sidney Dive Expo is expected to attract visitors from all over Canada and the Pacific North Western USA.
More than 40 exhibitors including the biggest names in SCUBA will be displaying their wares and there will be numerous demonstrations, pool sessions and events. There will also be educational seminars and local dive charter operators are to provide special chartered dives.
Sidney is one of the most favoured dive sites on lower Vancouver Island and home to the famous artificial reefball project.
Scotland's Edinburgh in August is unique and at its centre is the Edinburgh International Festival of classical music, theatre, opera and dance. This year it celebrates its 60th year and runs from the 10 August to 2 September, 2007.
A central theme of the 2007 festival is Renaissance and earlier music, spearheaded by a performance of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo which itself celebrates 400 years since its first performance, regarded as the birth of Opera.
There are a large number of Music Holidays to be found in our database.
The annual Yeats International Summer School in Sligo, is organised by the Yeats Society to celebrate the poet's life and work; this year the festival dates are Saturday 28th July to Friday 10th August 2007.
William Butler Yeats is considered to be Ireland's greatest lyric poet and one of the greatest lyric poets of the twentieth-century. He led a movement known as the Irish literary renaissance which revived Irish folklore, legends and traditions.
Yeats drew much inspiration from County Sligo's beautiful scenery and the town of Sligo makes a good base for a wide range of activities.
We try to cover as many different activities and special interests as possible and if you have ever tried to keep a Yo-Yo going up and down, this is for you. It is a video posted by hanakuso997 of Hiroyuki Suzuki (mickey) and the performance that won him the 2006 World Yo-Yo championship. Remarkable.
The championships are held each year, at the beginning of August and the 2007 World Yo-Yo Contest will be held in the Rosen Plaza Hotel convention center, Orlando, USA, Wednesday August 1 through Saturday August 4, 2007. Beginning at 5pm on Wednesday evening, the event site will be open 24 hours a day, but note that there will not be any events on Sunday August 5, 2007 and that the championship is one week earlier than last year.
Liverpool, UK, is gearing up for major events to celebrate the 800th anniversary of its first royal charter. There will be one hell of a party around August, including the Hub, billed as the UK's largest, free, urban youth festival, which takes place at Otterspool Promenade on 14 and 15 July, 2007. Then next year, Liverpool becomes the European Capital of Culture 2008; this year's European Capital of Culture is Sibiu, Romania.
Hub is into its fifth year, and promises two days of live music, skating, skateboarders, parkour, BMX bikers, adrenaline wind tunnel, street art, urban fashion and more.
A replica Viking ship has begun an epic trip across the North Sea to Dublin, Ireland, from the Danish port of Roskilde. The seven week voyage aims to recreate journeys made by the Vikings 1,000 years ago.
The ship, called the Sea Stallion, is only powered by sail, and 65 volunteer crew members who will be rowing and braving the elements on the open deck throughout the trip.
There are some interesting History Holidays in our listings, though most are thought to be less demanding than two months role play as a Viking sailor!
The Club Marine Melbourne Boat Show is again at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre from 5 to 9 July, 2007, with plenty of activities for the whole family.
There will be ski shows from the Victorian Water Ski Association and demonstration races by the Australian Powerboat Association. With wall to wall displays of boats and accessories, from canoes to cruisers, this is an exhibition that attracts interest from both the experienced sailor and novices.
Our database holds numerous Water Sport Holidays but also check out our Sailing, Canoeing and Cruising holidays.
The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization is dedicated to resolving the mystery surrounding Bigfoot and produce conclusive evidence of the species' existence. To this end, they organize expeditions to areas where there have been Bigfoot sightings, or reports of activity, and invite interested members of the public to join them.
Details of this years expeditions, including an expedition to Northern Ontario, Canada, can be found on their website.
Hundreds of small earthquakes on Sunday, 17 June, 2007, caused the closure of most of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park because of the imminent threat of an eruption of the Kilauea volcano. Campers and livestock were evacuated from portions of the park.
The area around the volcano is an important wildlife habitat and features trees and ferns that are found nowhere else in Hawaii. Kilauea has been active for 24 years and is possibly the world's most active volcano.
Ian Youngs has written a great piece about surviving the Glastonbury Festival mudbath. UK festival goers are looking forward to this weekend's Glastonbury Festival but true to form, the weather forecast suggests it is, as Ian graphically puts it, 'shaping up to be a full-on glorious mudfest'.
1997, 1998 and 2005, saw so much rain and mud that the dates have passed into festival legend. There are some great photos accompanying the article, including one from 2005 with the caption 'Come prepared - but not necessarily that well prepared'; the picture shows a couple of guys paddling across the camping ground in a canoe!
If you chicken out or just couldn't get tickets, you can enjoy the festival coverage by the BBC. They are even providing a webcam and live streaming of performances.
The World Rafting Championships are held biennially by the International Rafting Federation, with teams from 42 member countries around the world competing in three different disciplines, Sprint, Slalom and Downriver. Each team consists of 6-members with an optional reserve member. From June 27 to July 2, 2007, the 2007 World Rafting Championships are being held on the Naerinchon River in the mountainous region of Gangwon Province, east of Seoul, Korea.
For the first time in four hundred years, a group of actors will tour a Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet, out of the Globe theatre. Like the Elizabethan players before them, they will be performing not in theatres, but in a collection of the UK's most picturesque and historically resonant settings. As a climax, they will present a one-off performance at the 'home of cricket', Lords.
The troupe of actors will entertain outdoor audiences with a stripped down version of Shakespeare's classic love story, true to the old principles of touring theatre. Recent historical evidence has indicated that touring was regularly undertaken by Shakespeare's theatre company.
Dates, venues and box office numbers: 17 June Shakespeare's Globe Box office 020 7401 9919 / 020 7087 7398 19 to 24 June West End Festival, Glasgow Box office 0870 220 1116 26 to 28 June Williamson Park, Lancaster Box office 01524 33318 29 June to 1 July Pavilion Gardens, Buxton, Derbyshire Box office 0845 127 2190 3 to 8 July Queens Square, Bristol Box office 0117 987 7877 (Bristol Old Vic) 11–15 July Leeds Castle, Maidstone, Kent Box office 01622 880008 16 July Wimbledon Cannizaro Park Festival Box office 0870 060 2512 18–20 July Sterts Theatre, near Liskeard, Cornwall Box office 01579 362382 21 to 22 July Trelissick Gardens, Truro, Cornwall Box office 01872 862 090 31 July to 2 Aug Hedingham Castle, Halstead, Essex Box office 01787 460 261 3 to 5 Aug Belvoir Castle, Grantham, Leicestershire Box office 01664 851111 (Melton Theatre) 7 to 10 Aug Claremont Gardens, Esher, Surrey Box ffice 0870 240 4068 11 to 16 Aug Wadham College, Oxford Box office 0870 609 2231 (Oxford Shakespeare Company) 17 to 19 Aug Newby Hall, Ripon, Yorkshire Box office 01423 322 583 21 to 23 Aug Hopetoun House, near Edinburgh Box office 0131 226 0000 (from 11 June) 24 to 26 Aug Alnwick Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland Box office 01665 511162 2 Sept Lord's Cricket Ground, London
This weekend sees the start of the 2007 Rat Race Series, beginning in Bristol.
The Rat Race takes adventure sports right into the streets, waterways and urban landscape of British cities. Over a whole weekend, teams of three run, climb, mountain bike, abseil and kayak, as they navigate their way around a city course that is only revealed hours before the event begins.
Rat Race dates for 2007 are:
BRISTOL 16 and 17 June, 2007 EDINBURGH 14 and 15 July, 2007 MANCHESTER Saturday 11 August, 2007 LONDON 29 and 30 September 2007
Naturally, there will be a fair bit of partying as well.
The Shrine, Los Angeles, is part of Hollywood's Golden Era. Home of the Emmy Awards and of the Oscars for over fifty years. Now for five days the Shrine, is to become the biggest movie theatre in America, with 6,300 seats. The Shrine Expo center is 56, 000 sq.ft. of independent and connected exposition space, where real exploration vehicles and mini-subs meet famous Sci-Fi props & miniatures. The event is the Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival, December 6 - 10, 2007. Themed "from the abyss to the stars", the event is an extension of the annual Paris festival of films, based on or in the spirit of Jules Verne's novels, such as "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea" and "Around the World in Eighty Days". According to the sponsors, the Los Angeles event will not interfere with the annual event in France. Organizers, led by US astronaut Buzz Aldrin, said that the event would celebrate "the spirit of adventure and the preservation of our planet."
Jules Verne Adventures invites producers and directors worldwide to enter their documentaries into the competition for the Jules Verne Awards (unreleased programs will be privileged) and in the out of competition selection, showing the best of the international production. There is no entrance fee and in the competition : minimum duration is 26 minutes. Closing date September 15, 2007.
Next week, Munich celebrates its film and television industry, beginning with the Munich International Short Film Festival which runs 14 to 20 June, 2007, and then followed by Filmfest München, the Munich Film Festival, which runs from 22 to 30 of June, 2007.
Munich is Germany's film capital and this year, Filmfest München celebrates its 25th year; it is Germany's largest summer film festival with roughly 200 films on 15 screens. The general public are encouraged to participate in this audience-friendly festival, which attracts more than 65,000 ordinary movie lovers, over 600 members of the international press and 1000-plus film-related professionals.
Four hundred years ago, three settlers' ships made land at a swampy island, which became America's first permanent English settlement, Jamestown. In celebration of the 400th anniversary of their adventure, the neighbouring, larger harbour of Norfolk, has been asked to accommodate a fleet of more than 50 tall ships, military and character vessels, in Sail Virginia 2007. Running from Friday, June 8, to Tuesday, June 12, 2007, the fleet is expected to include a replica of one of the Jamestown settlers' ships, Godspeed, usually berthed at the Jamestown Settlement living history museum. Another of the ships, the Picton Castle, will be fresh from a starring role as a pirate ship in the new reality TV series, Pirate Master, where 16 modern-day pirates are sent on a high seas adventure, living the life of buccaneers, travelling around the Caribbean island of Dominica in search of hidden treasure.
Downtown Norfolk will be infused with the same adventuresome spirit of America's founders, by over 1,000 artists, actors, musicians, historians, Native Americans and sailing crews from around the world. Sail Virginia is being combined with Norfolk's 31st annual Harborfest, a festival with live music, good food and spectacular fireworks, held along the Elizabeth river, admission is free and includes tours of the ships.
I came across this picture record of the recent 2007 Great Wall of China Marathon. The 1300 runners were mainly foreigners from 36 different countries , with a handful of Chinese nationals and four goats; there is a picture of the goats but it is not clear if they were accompanied by a herder or just joined in to the melee.
The route includes 3700 steps of the Great Wall of China and is possibly the world's most beautiful and extraordinary marathon. Spaniard, Salvador Calvo won this year's marathon, breaking the course record. Next year's Great Wall Marathon is scheduled for 17th May, 2008.
Information on other authorized winter operations providing snowmobile and snowcoach trips into the park is available on the web at the 
The last WOMAD festival of 2007 is again in the 
It might be long dark nights and falling leaves in the north but the southern hemisphere is celebrating the coming of spring. In one annual celebration, Canberra's Commonwealth Park is transformed into a tapestry of colour with more than a million bulbs and annuals in bloom at a free, month long, festival, the 
From August 5 -11, in the Red Sea, Dahab, Egypt, at the Sony Free event, Stepanek, with a single breath of air, will attempt to swim down to a depth of 112 meters and return to the surface using only his monofin, his strength and his endurance. At the same event, Roderick will attempt to break one of free diving's longest-standing World Records in the Women's Variable Weight discipline, by diving 123 meters, feet first on a weighted sled that runs along a rope. 
A whole range of events are being held in each of the National Parks (Brecon Beacons, The Broads, Cairngorms, Dartmoor, Exmoor, Lake District, Loch Lomond and The Trossachs, New Forest, Northumberland, North York Moors, Peak District, Pembrokeshire Coast, Snowdonia, Yorkshire Dales). Each park has its own character and there is something for everyone to enjoy. Picnics in the Park, beach art, dry stone walling demonstrations, guided walks and canoe safaris are just a few of the activities and adventures on offer. Go to the UK National Parks' website for details of the 
