Why you should visit Europe’s least touristy country
A lively capital, an ancient cave monastery, the world’s biggest wine cellars and a Soviet time warp await visitors to Europe’s least touristy country.
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Author: pdg
Stairway to heaven
In the bush west of Kerikeri, a small town in northern New Zealand, a Korean spiritual leader says he is building a global headquarters for an organisation of 100 million members.
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Waitangi Day in pictures
A selection of my favourite images from Waitangi Day, the anniversary of the signing of New Zealand’s Treaty of Waitangi, taken since 2010.
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Best photos of 2018
From a new Prime Minister’s visit to a tearful whale stranding and a mass haka in the rain, these are a few of my favourite news photos of 2018.
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Another Samoa: Tramping in the tropics
Hikers’ haven American Samoa is home to the only US national park in the Southern Hemisphere.
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The Birdman of Atiu
Birdman George has made it his life’s mission to save the feathered creatures of Atiu in the Cook Islands
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Bushwalking in the Grampians
Wildlife abounds in the Grampian Mountains of northwestern Victoria.
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Five things to do in Australia’s Grampians
Hiking, wildlife spotting, Aboriginal culture and wine — a few of my favourite things in Victoria’s Grampian Mountains.
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Fiji’s Sawa-i-Lau Caves: ‘Swim towards the light’
A trip to an underwater cave in the middle of an island pushes the author’s most basic fear buttons.
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Vanuatu in pictures
Vibrant coral reefs, lush rainforests, other-worldly landscapes created by active volcanoes, extraordinary homegrown religions untouched by missionaries, and some of the happiest people on Earth – welcome to Vanuatu.
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15 things to do in American Samoa
American Samoa is just a short hop from Apia in the other Samoa, yet it’s so far off the Kiwi traveller’s radar it might as well be on another planet. But if you do end up in the only US territory south of the Equator, what can you do there? I decided to find out.
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Brother’s bones home at last
In 1976 Paul Thomas promised his mother he would bring his brother’s remains home. In 2018 he finally succeeded.
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Romania’s singing sheepdogs
One of my favourite experiences during my last visit to Romania involved a chance encounter with a shepherd, a pack of singing sheepdogs and a 19th-century-style road crash involving a horse-drawn cart.
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American Samoa in pictures
American Samoa is so far under the radar even well-travelled friends looked at me blankly when I told them where I was going.
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Walking with koalas
Koala love-calls provide the sound track along the coast-hugging, 100km Great Ocean Walk in Victoria, Australia.
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Inside the world’s second biggest wine cellar
The two biggest biggest wine cellars in the world are in … France? Italy? California’s Napa Valley? The former Soviet republic of Moldova? The answer might surprise you.
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Best and worst hotels
My pick of best and worst accommodation ranging from a flash eco-resort to a chicken coop.
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Phone booths of the world
The phone booth has, tragically, become an endangered species — hence my mission to preserve these once ubiquitous features of our urban landscape through photography.
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Best Mideast stopover: Dubai or Oman?
Your long-haul flight is touching down in Dubai and you want to make a stopover of it – but do you stay in the United Arab Emirates or head to nearby Oman? Here’s my verdict.
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A walk in another world
Most Pacific islands lure visitors with promises of sun-soaked beaches — but on Atiu one of the biggest attractions is a place where the sun never shines.
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