Travel

. Every year, hundreds of Kiwis skip the New Zealand winter for back-to-back summers. They head north to teach American kids loads of fun activities at summer camps across the United States. Summer camp is an American tradition, almost a rite of passage, and for Kiwis looking to experience the American way of life while working in a fun environment, Summer Camp USA is a unique opportunity. I'm an Aucklander aged 20, and I travelled with IEP New Zealand to work as a "counsellor" at a summer camp near Belfast, Maine, the heart of New England in the northeast of the US. I wanted to travel and to work with kids, and Summer Camp USA sounded like an interesting experience. About 600 Kiwis travel each year to work as counsellors and instructors. It's a great chance to live in another country with a very different culture. As a counsellor, I was in charge of a cabin of up to 20 girls. Some camps are single sex, some mixed. Some kids stay the whole eight weeks of summer,
(Read the full post about ‘Happy campers in the USA’…)

Perched on a mountain in the Gold Coast hinterland, Gwinganna is considered the Rolls-Royce of health retreats. That suits me. But as my brother drove me up the retreat's steep driveway - it could double as a black-diamond ski run - my casual optimism disappeared. There's no television, no radio, no newspapers, no pass-outs. That's right, they lock you in. I immediately wanted a cigarette and 400 Lindt balls. The grounds were magnificent and tranquil and the staff serene and smiling, even though the nicotine and alcohol cravings had me screaming, "It's a cult!" on a loop in my head. My panic eased when staff told me I could use my BlackBerry in assigned areas. "No," my brother told them, "she's a CrackBerry addict." The staff took it and cheerfully locked it in the retreat's safe. I went to my room and was immediately distracted by the opulence. The king-size bed was princess-worthy with about eight pillows and a mattress so
(Read the full post about ‘Gwinganna - the Rolls-Royce retreat’…)

It's hard not to think of Norman when you're spending the weekend at The Vintage. His craggy, hatted features are festooned on posters throughout the development in the heart of the Hunter Valley wine district. The Queenslander, who notoriously blew more majors than he won, designed the course a decade ago. Today it is regarded as one of the finest golf courses in Australia. Friends will vouch for the fact that I'm a pathetic golfer. But the A$39 ($48) nine-hole dash after 4pm (including an electric buggy) is too attractive to miss. Especially as I've got two caddies on hand, not one. My six-year-old, no sports fan, loves being the scorer because he can practise his maths (though my embarrassing score isn't helped by the three or four shots he adds to each hole). Meanwhile, the four- year-old has taken to shouting "terrible shot, Daddy," even before I've hit the ball. You don't have to be a golfer to enjoy staying at the clumsily named Grand
(Read the full post about ‘Fairway to heaven’…)

Although the bulletin stresses Airbus is not prejudging a formal investigation outcome, it makes two specific recommendations. The first is that during painting of an aircraft care should be taken that key sensors are not painted over. The second warns that low-speed tests must be performed at a safe altitude. The Air New Zealand French manufactured Airbus A320 had been under charter to a German firm. It was taken to Perpignan in southern France where it was re-painted into Air New Zealand livery by EAS Industries. On November 27, two German pilots, four Air New Zealand officers and a New Zealand aviation inspector flew the plane out of Perpignan and over the nearby Mediterranean Sea. For as yet unexplained reasons, the plane suddenly plunged into the sea without being able to send out a distress call. No one survived the crash. Airbus said in their bulletin that as a result of preliminary work and in line with international treaties, "without prejudging from the outcome of the
(Read the full post about ‘Airbus warning hints at possble causes of Air NZ crash’…)

Ambitious projections of a jump in tourists from Australia have also been dumped. The predictions of dropping numbers from New Zealand's key tourism markets Australia, Britain and the United States are "on the money", Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said. The numbers come from an industry report by Goldman Sachs JBWere analyst Shamubeel Eaqub that picks a drop of 45,000 tourists from those top markets. With Australians making up 37 per cent of inbound tourists and American and British visitors typically big spenders, Mr Eaqub's "worst-case" predictions equate to $113 million less tourism income in 2009. The figure includes only what the tourists would spend in New Zealand and does not count international airfares. Tourism Ministry figures picking an almost 4 per cent increase in visitor numbers from across the Tasman this year have been scrapped. Prime Minister John Key, also the tourism minister, got back to business yesterday after a
(Read the full post about ‘Tourists stay away in droves’…)

Anyone planning to travel to the US for fewer than 90 days for business or tourism without a visa will be required to obtain an on-line travel authorisation before they go. Travellers from 35 countries are being asked to obtain authorisation from the US Department of Homeland Security at least 72 hours before they board a plane or cruise ship destined for the US. The Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) is a web-based automatic question-and-answer system that can determine the eligibility of visitors to travel to the US under the visa-waiver programme. The programme has been voluntary since August and is now mandatory. Further information is available on the website https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov, where online applications are available. If an application is declined, travellers will need to contact their nearest US consulate to obtain a visa. The online application form asks travellers to say if they are drug users and to divulge certain criminal convictions or past terror
(Read the full post about ‘US travel permit now mandatory’…)

This four-hour walk is within the Ruataniwha Conservation Park and starts at Parsons Creek, just before a one-lane bridge on the Lake Ohau Road. The walk starts with a short, steep climb, but soon goes through beech trees wrapped in mistletoe. Information panels explain how this plant is spread by native bellbird and tui. There are three different varieties of mistletoe found in the Ohau Forests with the red version the most common on the walk. The Conservation Department (DOC) carries out possum control because possums eat the mistletoe and also compete with native birds for food. The beech trees the Mountain Beech can live for 400 years. They flower in spring and are wind pollinated. These remnant beech forested areas around Lake Ohau survived early forest fires in the region. However, they are under threat from wilding pines that grow much faster than the beech trees and can invade the forest. Moa, weka and native quail used to roam the Ohau forested area, but are all now extinct.
(Read the full post about ‘Walk gives great Ohau views’…)

On the coast of the far north-east of England, not far from the border with Scotland, is a pretty fishing village on a quiet harbour called Seahouses. From Seahouses you can take a boat to the Farnes, a rugged group of islands in the North Sea which is home to countless birds, among which the tens of thousands of puffins are a must-see attraction. The title 'clowns of the sea' ascribed to the puffin, on account of its outsize orange beak, does not do these unlikely birds justice. Birds are often beautiful, graceful and elegant, but rarely cute in the way our favourite mammals are. The puffin is an exception. With its sleek dinner jacket plumage, tubby body and striking oversized beak, the puffin cuts an ungainly and endearing figure. It is possible to get almost within touching distance before they register the intrusion, scamper off and dive into a burrow. Among each other, they seem sociable sorts as they hop around rocks and potter about the greenery. The quick-fire
(Read the full post about ‘Puffin fun on the Farne Islands’…)

Budget airline Virgin Blue announced on Christmas Eve it would slash fuel surcharges for trans-Tasman and Pacific Island flights, a lead Air New Zealand is reluctant to follow. Only last month, Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe said that to recover the full cost of jet fuel, airfares needed to rise 20 per cent, not fall. But with crude oil below US$40 a barrel and the carrier's backyard routes under siege from low-cost rivals, Mr Fyfe's arm could yet be twisted. A spokesman for the airline said: "Air New Zealand has been continually reducing airfares during the past three months." In the buildup to Christmas the airline again reduced Tasman fares by between $10 and $20 and smart saver and flexi saver fares on domestic jet services by $3. And across the rest of the network it has dramatically increased the number of lowest available fares, including doubling the number of cheapest fares on New Zealand domestic services. Its fares may yet be chopped further
(Read the full post about ‘Oil prices down but airfares stay up’…)

Airline staff are working around the clock to reunite travellers with about 750 suitcases, bags and backpacks that have piled up at international terminals in Sydney and Melbourne, one affected family said.The airline did not confirm the number of lost bags. However, a spokesman said a technical issue in the cargo hold of a Boeing 747-400 flying from Los Angeles to Melbourne led to all baggage being loaded on to the next available flights.The Quinns were told a suitcase full of Christmas gifts for their two young children had gone missing between London and Sydney when they arrived on Saturday night.Sue Quinn said airline staff told her on Sunday that theirs was one of about 250 items without owners.And when she called again this morning the tally had risen to 750. A fault with the baggage handling system in Los Angeles was partly to blame, Mrs Quinn was told."Santa had hid his pressies in my bag and I don't know whether to go shopping and start again or wait for them
(Read the full post about ‘Qantas luggage lost: passengers in limbo’…)