Man Without A Passport

Well, I managed to get my passport submitted and put in the queue. Going to the consulate was like my previous trips to US Embassies, which is to say it was a very weird experience. First, the whole “appointment” thing was a total farce. It turns out the system ended up making my appointment at …

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The Great Ocean Road

What are the top drives you’ve taken? By that, I am referring to very scenic stretches of road where the journey is really the destination. On my current trip, I’ve only rented a car a few times, but in those few times, I’ve taken several spectacular road trips. The Hana Coast Road in Maui was …

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The Seven Wonders of Australia

A natural wonder at Australia's Kakadu National Park

Australia is among the wealthiest countries in the world, and it’s the sixth-largest country by land size. Don’t be fooled by the size, though, as the interior is sparsely populated, and most of the life is lived along the eastern and southern rim of the continent. That means when you’re planning a trip to Australia, …

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Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens

Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens - UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription of the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens: The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens are a surviving manifestation of the international exhibition movement which blossomed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The exhibition building was constructed as a Great Hall, a permanent building initially intended to house …

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Greater Blue Mountains Area

Greater Blue Mountains Area - UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription for the Greater Blue Mountains Area: The Greater Blue Mountains Area (GBMA) is a deeply incised sandstone tableland that encompasses 1.03 million hectares of the eucalypt-dominated landscape just inland from Sydney, Australia’s largest city, in south-eastern Australia. Spread across eight adjacent conservation reserves, it constitutes one of the largest and …

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Willandra Lakes Region

Willandra Lakes Region - UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription for the Willandra Lakes Region: The Willandra Lakes Region, in the semi-arid zone in southwest New South Wales (NSW), contains a relict lake system whose sediments, geomorphology and soils contain an outstanding record of a low-altitude, non-glaciated Pleistocene landscape. It also contains an outstanding record of the glacial-interglacial climatic oscillations …

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Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House - UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription for the Sydney Opera House: The Sydney Opera House constitutes a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture. Its significance is based on its unparalleled design and construction; its exceptional engineering achievements and technological innovation and its position as a world-famous icon of architecture. It is a daring and visionary experiment that has …

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Tasmanian Wilderness

Tasmanian Wilderness - UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription for the Tasmanian Wilderness: In a region that has been subjected to severe glaciation, these parks and reserves, with their steep gorges, covering an area of over 1 million ha, constitute one of the last expanses of temperate rainforest in the world. Remains found in limestone caves attest to the …

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Gondwana Rainforests of Australia

Gondwana Rainforests of Australia - UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription for the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia: The Gondwana Rainforests contains the largest and most significant remaining stands of subtropical rainforest and Antarctic Beech (Nothofagus moorei) cool temperate rainforests in the world, the largest and most significant areas of warm temperate rainforest and one of only two remaining large areas of …

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