A photo that…takes my breath away

I was siting on the cliffs where Nullarbor Plain meets Great Australian Bight with whales swimming under my feet and was watching to endless horizon of the Great Australian Bight in South Australia. The view which takes your breath away.

A photo that…makes me laugh or smile

What a polite squirrel I met in the market

A photo that…makes me dream

Who wouldn’t want to spent time on pure white sand beach with crystal water? Champagne beach is called best beach in Vanuatu and is one of best beaches in the South Pacific and I can’t argue with that.

A photo that…makes me think

Everybody heard about global warming, but not so many people saw what is happening. Glaciers are one of best examples to see effects of climate change. I saw it in Southern Alps in New Zealand, in Rocky Mountains in Canada and US. This is current photo of Mikkajekna glacier in Sarek National Park in Sweden. The mark on the rock shows where tip of glacier was 22 years ago. Will be any glacier here in 50 years?

A photo that…makes my mouth water

Have you ever tried to taste Beaver tail? You should try one in Canada. BeaverTails is chain of pastry stands which sells pastry shaped like beaver’s tail. It was one of my favorite desserts in Canada. I would love to have one now

A photo that…tells a story

There is a statue in Sydney near State Library of New South Wales. It was erected in honor of Matthew Flinders who was first to sail around Australia. Can you tell what is so special about this statue?

Need a hint? Check behind the statue. Can you see another small statue in the lower left corner? It is Trim. The cat. The statue was erected by Trim’s admirers and I just want to quote Matthew Flinders:

“The best and most illustrious of his race the most affectionate of friends, faithful of servants and best of creatures. He made the tour of the globe and a voyage to Australia, which he circumnavigated, and was ever the delight and pleasure of his fellow voyagers”

A photo that…I am most proud of (aka my worthy of National Geographic shot)

This is hard one, because I have tons of aka worthy of National Geographic shots But because I can show only one, so it will be this one. It was taken during my volunteering in game reserve in South Africa. It wasn’t most friendly lion, but I loved to make shots of it.

Uff, I done it!

Now I would like to nominate 5 other bloggers I love to read and I could see they have lots of pictures to show

Lis @ listraveltips.com/travel-blog
Sophie @ www.sophiesworld.net
Marlys and Michael  @ easyhiker.co.uk
Lili @ muza-chan.net
Jade @ vagabond3.com

The rules of 7 Super Shots are here. I will be waiting to see your shorts.

The post My 7 travel shots appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.

But…There is one place, which must be on to do list of every  keen shipwreck diver or any recreational diver who might wiling to do only one shipwreck dive.

On my trip to Vanutau…Stop! Vanuatu? Where it is? Vanuatu archipelago is located east of northern Australia and north of New Zealand. Here is the map.

So, lets continue. On my trip to Vanuatu the main attraction on my list was Mount Yasar. It is active and one of most easy accessible volcanoes in the world ( I’ll write separate post for it later). But after spending some time and researching what else to see and to do in Vanuatu I found one thing I never heard about before.

On Espiritu Santo island (the largest island in Vanuatu) you can dive SS President Coolidge which is probably is perhaps the most accessible shipwreck of this size and type in the world. When I saw pictures of the ship I involuntary started compare it with Titanic.

SS President Coolidge isn’t such large as Titanic, but still it is 654 feet/199 meters in length (Titanic’s length is 882 feet/269 meters). SS President Coolidge was build as a luxury liner providing trans-pacific passage and commercial service. On the ship was spacious staterooms and lounges, private telephones for passengers, saltwater swimming pools, beauty salon, gymnasium and etc.  During Second World War SS President Coolidge was converted to troop carrier. It could carry over 5000 troops and was never intended to see any action.

During the War on Espiritu Santo island was established large military base with harbor heavily protected by mines.  In late 1942 SS President Coolidge was struck by two mines  during entry to this harbor, but happily most troops (except 2) safely reached the shore before ship sank.

In 1983 Vanuatu government declared that no recovery of any artifact would be allowed from the Coolidge. Since then it become as one of the best playground for divers in the world. Divers can see guns, cannons, Jeeps, helmets, trucks and personal supplies.  It is so close to the shore and during low tide you can put on your diving gear and just walk to the wreck as these troops in the above picture.

To see everything or almost everything you’ll need at least 10-15 dives. Also you can do night dives. This means you need to stay at least a week on the island to explore the ship. I hadn’t so much time as I found out about this ship almost at last minute of my trip to Vanuatu. I manage to dive only two times and saw only bow, but still it was very impressive and I would love to come back to this site.

You don’t need to have ship wreck diver certification as all dives are guided so you shouldn’t worry about it.  There are couple diving shops in Santo. I was using Allan Power Dive Tours and happy to recommend it.

Thought it is quite a trip to get there now. Couple years ago it was direct flight from Brisbane in Australia  to Santo, but now the only option is trip with stop over in capital Port Vila. But in clear day it is very beautiful flight with view to over islands.

The post You can’t dive Titanic, but there is President Coolidge appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.

Planning trip to Australia, New Zealand or some islands in South Pacific? You can get free visitor guides or maps from Jasons.

Although it is not totally free if you reside outside Australia or New Zealand. If this is the case you will need to pay for postage.

You may ask why do you need any of these publications if you already have Lonely Planet or Rough Guide or similar guide? Of course it is up to you, but these mentioned above books usually takes about two years to publish which means a lot of things can be different now. Jasons publications are updated every year so you can expect to get latest information about attractions, accommodation, transportation and etc. Maps are not very detailed and better to be used only as references, although I was happy with map of Samoa I used to drive around islands.

At the moment of this post they have visitor guides and/or maps of Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Niue, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, part of Australia and New Zealand. But they update this list regularly, so check it later again.

Some of these guide could be found at i-sites or airports in New Zealand. Didn’t see them available in Australia (at least in Sydney) in information centres.

The post Free Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific visitor guides and maps appeared first on Vi Travel Tips.