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Adventure holidays

A guidebook and a time when travel included spontaneous discoveries.

I thought guidebooks were dead. Then I picked up an old, second-hand one

I found a dog-eared Lonely Planet in a sleepy street library. It was from 2008, a year I spent the most formative months of my life in South-East Asia.

  • Paul Marshall
Maria Island, and the isthmus that separates its two parts.

Hiking a wondrous, isolated Aussie island where dreams lived and died

Dark-eyed Diego Bernacchi is the doomed optimist consumed by a fantastical vision to transform this forsaken place of exile into an empire on the east coast of Tasmania.

  • Anabel Dean
The Camino path takes walkers to pretty fishing ports such as Zumaia.

It may be your idea of hell, but I loved this famous European hike

The Camino del Norte is first and foremost a religious pilgrimage and, if done in full, starts near the French border and ends about 830 kilometres later.

  • Karl Quinn
While cruise ships in the rest of the world focus on bigger ships, the opposite is true in Antarctica.

I refuse to feel guilty about visiting this pristine destination

My cute penguin video had barely uploaded to Instagram before my phone hummed with indignant texts. “How could you go to Antarctica?” “That’s so irresponsible.”

  • Justin Meneguzzi
Cycling the Lake Dunstan Trail.

Most people do this NZ trip for the views. I had a different motive

I’m looking forward to mountains and valleys, lakes and rivers, but I’m hoping this slow exploration will help me get to know the people and places better too.

  • Justine Costigan
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Ayers Rock Resort.

Seeing Australia’s big attractions could soon get much easier

Journey Beyond’s acquisition of Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia means cross-country rail trips, Uluru and a reef escape could all be part of one itinerary.

  • Julietta Jameson
Eisbachwelle, or the “Eisbach wave” in Munich.

The world’s most unlikely surf break has suddenly vanished

The Eisbach Wave, one of Munich’s most offbeat attractions, suddenly disappeared late last year. But its once turbulent waters could well serve as a metaphor.

  • Anthony Dennis
Into the Zodiac to explore Dambimangari Country and the Horizontal Falls.

The clever French invention opening up Australia’s wildest coast

Want to poke around among the mangroves at high tide? Want to get a spray from a Kimberley waterfall? The Zodiac will get you there.

  • Jim Darby
Lord Howe Island has a surprisingly large number of hiking trails.

This tiny island is home to some of Australia’s most beautiful hikes

It’s just 11 kilometres long, but this volcanic remnant somehow packs in a wealth of trails. None are long, some are tough, all are beautiful.

  • Andrew Bain
The traditional ger homes of Mongolia.

The 2250km, more diverse alternative to the Trans-Siberian railway

A journey through Mongolia on a Soviet-era train feels like a step through a time portal.

  • Jamie Lafferty