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Tags: Christmas Alternatives / Sydney Travel / Australia Travel / New Years Travel / Holiday Travel / Travel Deals / → All Tags
We're Dreaming Of A White (Sand) Christmas Down Under
Think a white, sandy Christmas might be better than a white snowy one? All you northern hemisphere people can be guaranteed a very different experience if you decide to celebrate Christmas in Australia, where temperatures can easily reach over the century mark and a swim at the beach is way more likely than a snowball fight.
The nice thing is that it's not even too late, if you decide skipping the drag of family festivities is what you want. There are still plenty of packages available to get you Down Under for a few days around Christmas time, including heaps of lastminute.com travel packages from LAX to Sydney, including airfare and accommodation for a week for around $2,000 for a five-night stay.
Tags: Airport Check-In / Airline News / Airport News / Airports / Qantas / Australia Travel / → All Tags
Frequent Flyers On Qantas Can Simply Swipe And Fly In 2010
With the rise of LCC (low cost carrier) airlines and their love affair with new technology, it seems like the airport check-in process is becoming the least time-consuming and easiest portion of catching a flight. There's the touchscreen kiosks, dedicated bag drop counters, and even the ability to check-in and print your boarding pass online.
In Australia however, Qantas is still the gold standard, and luckily they're just as into updating the check-in process as we are. Focusing on cutting check-in time for their domestic passengers in half, Qantas is rehauling their system with the "next generation of check-in."
What that means for you Qantas flyers out there.
Tags: Best Job in the World / Ben Southall / Australia Travel / Hamilton Island / Tourism Queensland / → All Tags
Is Queensland's 'Best Job In The World' Really The Worst?
The now very-well-known tourist board campaign which recruited Ben Southall for the Best Job in the World—experiencing and blogging about life on the paradise of Hamilton Island in Queensland, Australia—apparently earned the state about $360 million worth of publicity (not bad for a $2.2 million outlay). Now that everyone knows that Queensland is a great place to go thanks to Ben's twitter pictures and blogs, there's one big problem: nobody's going.
Despite the massive interest in Queensland, international tourist numbers dropped by almost 8% over the last year, and almost 14% fewer international business visitors arrived. Of course, the global economic crisis can probably take a fair bit of the blame for that, but Queensland is still worried.
Tags: Food Travel / Australia Travel / Lists / → All Tags
The Top Five Aussie Foods To Try Down Under
Being a country mostly made up of immigrants, Australia is not renowned for having its own incredible foods the way, say, somewhere like Italy is. But that doesn't mean that there aren't some very important Aussie foods to try on your trip Down Under. Okay okay, so everyone's knows (and possibly sticks their nose up at) Vegemite, but you can't deny it when in the country; you've got to try it.
And without further ado, we present the list of The Top Five Aussie Foods To Try Down Under:
Tags: Airplane Hell / John Mayer / Qantas / Australia Travel / Twitter / → All Tags
Qantas Has Issues And John Mayer Tweets Them
The flying kangaroo, AKA Qantas, has got problems. As if banning beer on some flights wasn't bad enough, the planes and the pilots have been misbehaving too.
Last week, there was the case of the pilots who forgot to put the landing gear down on their way into Sydney, forcing the pilots to abort the landing and go again later. Those pilots have now been suspended although the lack of landing gear is being put down to a "brief communications breakdown" by Qantas.
Tags: Travel Contests / Design Travel / Australia Travel / → All Tags
If You Can Design A T-Shirt, You Can Win 11 Days In Australia
Tired of the colder temperatures and all the leaves to be raked already? It's spring in Australia! But of course, heading Down Under costs a pretty penny, and for creatives it most likely remains a dream destination. That's where Threadless and STA Travel step in with their "Threadless Loves Travel II" contest. Last year's winner got a trip to Iceland, $2,000 in cash, and slew of other perks. This year they're looking to a warmer destination by giving away an 11-day trip to Australia, new luggage, headphones, a $500 Threadless gift card, and the $2,000 in cash.
So how do you enter and win? Break out your best graphic design, drawing, or photoshopping skills to create a T-shirt inspired by travel. If it wins the most votes, it's Australia here you come. So far only six designs have been submitted, so the odds are good. Here's the design that won last year, for a little inspiration, but we know you can do better with Australia at stake. Submissions are accepted until December 2, so get brainstorming!
Related Stories:
· Threadless Loves Travel II [Threadless]
· Threadless Loves Travel I (Winner) [Threadless]
· Travel Contests coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: winning design for Threadless Loves Travel I]
Tags: Qantas / Australia Travel / Beer Travel / Drinking Travel / In-Flight Drinks / → All Tags
Beer Ban On Select Qantas Flights Is Un-Australian
Aussies are definitely not impervious to the charms of a cold can of Fosters; after all, they do have record-breaking pub crawls and boats made of beer cans. But if you're flying on a domestic Qantas flight Down Under, there are a few less beers going round these days.
Citing unruly behavior, mostly from drunken mine workers heading home after a couple of weeks working in the desert, Qantas has banned full strength beer and spirits on all flights within Western Australia. This follows existing bans on sales of spirits on intrastate flights in other parts of Australia.
Tags: Australia Travel / Spring Festivals / Spring Travel / Horse Racing / → All Tags
Down Under Gears Up For The Melbourne Cup
It might be fall in States, but spring has just sprung up Down Under and we're ready to get out and play at some of the continent's best seasonal festivals. The biggest event this season is definitely the Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne. You might wonder that a bunch of horse races grabs the attention of so many Aussies and anyone visiting at the time, but the highlight of the carnival—the Melbourne Cup—is correctly dubbed "the race that stops a nation".
And you don't have to know the slightest thing about horses to get involved. Come next Tuesday afternoon, you won't be able to get service in any shop in Australia as everybody will have their eyes glued to the TV to watch the Melbourne Cup race. Over 100,000 people attend the race in person, and most of them get dressed up either in their best dress or a crazy costume; like at the Kentucky Derby, the most important thing is to have a great hat.
Tags: Airfare Deals / V Australia / Richard Branson / Australia Travel / Music Travel / → All Tags
V Australia Can't Wait To Get You Down Under With An Aussie Rock Band
The always spunky Richard Branson and his Virgin team are no slouches at putting together clever promotions, and this time his Aussie long-haul airline V Australia has got a smart one going called Jet with JET.
One jet, of course, is the plane that V Australia is going to fly you in from Los Angeles to Sydney. The all-capitals JET is the great Aussie rock band that will be on the plane with you, and then will perform at the Homebake Music Festival once they back to Oz.
Tags: Australia Travel / Extreme Sports / Stunts / Queensland Travel / → All Tags
Queensland Will Let You Act Out The Movie Stunts Of Your Dreams
When we're on vacation, being set alight or jumping off tall buildings is not exactly high on our list of must-dos. But everybody's different, and if you've dreamed of performing stunts like you see in the movies, then on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, you can find just the right place to spend a day.
The Movie Stunt Experience is a day out that still has the thrills and spills of a typical Gold Coast theme park, but you're the one doing the spilling. If you book the A$299 ($275) full day program, experienced stunt people will first teach you and then let you try film fighting choreography, flying on a wire, commando-style abseiling, falling from a pretty great height and, perhaps scariest of all, being set on fire. So far, every tourist has come out alive. See if you can break the record.
Related Stories:
· Movie Stunt Experience [Official Site]
· Move Over Lara, This Is My Scene [The Age]
· Queensland Travel Guide [Jaunted]
Tags: Business Class / Airfare Sales / Qantas / Business Class Travel / Australia Travel / Travel Deals / → All Tags
Get Comfy En Route Down Under With Qantas' Biz Class Sale
Australia seems like a long way from just about everywhere, right? (Maybe not from New Zealand!). So if you want to get there in a bit of comfort, it would be great to splash out on a business class seat. Aussie airline Qantas wants to make this financially easier for us for a while, with a 40% off sale on business class seats from Los Angeles, San Francisco or New York down to Sydney or Brisbane.
Business class is certainly a nicer way to travel on those long, long-haul flights, although the funny thing is that Qantas claims to have invented business class back in 1979; if you prefer to believe Wikipedia, it was actually British Caledonian in 1978.
Tags: Movie Set Travel / Melbourne Travel / Australia Travel / Melbourne / Movie Travel / → All Tags
Where To Start A Rumpus In Melbourne, Australia
Director Spike Jonze chose to film "Where The Wild Things Are" on location with puppets, rather than in front of a blue screen; an expensive gamble that paid off, considering the movie brought in 32.5 million dollars this weekend. To get the location just right for his adaptation of the beloved children's book, Jonze considered locations in Argentina, Hawaii, New Zealand and California before settling on Melbourne, Australia. Here's a look at where you can go "wild" in Melbourne.
What to Do:
Jonze took full advantage of Melbourne's unique surroundings for the film. He used a burnt-out forest near Gembrook, just outside of Melbourne, as the movie's primary location. He also filmed scenes at the cliffs of Bushrangers Bay in Victoria and among the boulders of the You-Yangs. The You-Yangs are a series of granite peaks that rise dramatically in the Werribee lava plains and can be explored on foot or by bike. The You-Yangs Regional Park is perfect for a day of hiking, biking or picnicking off the beaten path. The park is open daily until sunset, mountain bikes can be rented via All About Mountain Bike Tours.
