"Our iconic trains have long connected guests with some of the country's most extraordinary landscapes, and these Suites elevate that experience to an entirely new level," Chris Tallent, Journey Beyond's CEO, said in a statement.
These reefs are living, breathing snapshots of a watery world that you can peek into: refreshing oases where the noise of the land falls away; in its place, an intricate and utterly at-ease slice of life that you're lucky enough to witness.
The latest figures show 58% of eligible 18- to 24-year-olds have registered for the Maori roll, up from 50% in 2023. This increase follows years of tense relations between Indigenous New Zealanders and the centre-right coalition government.
Ireland is an island where ridiculously beautiful sights pop up in the most unlikely of places, from gravity-defying sea stacks found at the end of a dirt road, to hiking trails that make you feel like you're walking on the moon.
King, however, has reigned supreme on the country's banned baby name list for the past 16 years (other than one blip: being ousted by Prince in 2023). In fact, multiple rejected names last year were related to royalty (Prince, Princess, Queen and Sovereign among others). Others were nixed for relating to cannabis (Indica, Indika and Sativa).
According to color psychology, this soothing shade helps decrease stress and improve focus-and travelers can reap these much-deserved benefits in lush landscapes around the world. Here are 10 of the greenest places on earth, which combine serenity with unforgettable adventures.
This golden strip of sand, fringed by turquoise waters, is part of the popular Abel Tasman National Park on Tasman Bay (also known as Te Tai-o-Aorere) at the top of the South Island. Awaroa Beach is nothing if not beloved. So much so that in 2016, almost 40,000 Kiwis banded together to buy the beach from a private entity for more than $2 million and donated it to New Zealand's Department of Conservation.
On an empty beach at the bottom of the world, the waves that roll over the sand are midnight blue and lit by the stars and a waxing moon. I'm only vaguely familiar with the constellations that hang above Great Barrier Island, known for centuries to the Māori as Aotea, some 56 nautical miles northeast of Auckland, New Zealand. I'm not all that used to seeing them so clearly,
Snowfall in the Southern Hemisphere on March 2 is a rather unusual occurrence - it is still summer, after all. Nevertheless, Tūroa Ski Area on New Zealand's North Island shared some snowy videos this morning after a cold front brought a couple of inches of the fluffy white stuff in the middle of summer.
A focused Sunday-through-Tuesday storm brings the only meaningful snowfall window, with the best accumulation in Canterbury and lighter spillover elsewhere. Guidance supports a regional high-elevation refresh around 20 cm-30 cm at the top end, while most other fields stay in a modest 1 cm-6 cm range. Expect mostly dense to moderate snow quality during the core burst.
A deep area of low pressure to the south-east of New Zealand's North Island swept into the region on Sunday, bringing heavy rain, gale-force winds and dangerous coastal swells that lashed exposed shorelines. The storm triggered power outages, forced evacuations and damaged infrastructure, with further impacts likely on Monday as the system lingers for a time, before tracking southwards later.
Hilo, Hawaii on the Big Island has been a top pick for many spring travelers, according to Kayak. The booking company found that this spring break, flight searches to Hilo are up 60 percent and that airfare is down 26 percent, when compared to last year. An average, roundtrip economy flight over spring break is $503, according to Kayak.
A tiny critically endangered moth, named after the Avatar films because of the proposed mining activity threatening its primary habitat, has been crowned New Zealand's bug of the year. The Avatar moth won by a wide margin, earning 5,192 of the more than 11,000 total votes cast. It won 2,269 more votes than the runner-up, the mahoenui giant weta, one of the world's largest insects. Other contenders included the wonderfully spiky hellraiser mite, the country's heaviest spider the black tunnelweb and a giant earthworm
I spent six weeks traveling solo across New Zealand from Auckland down to Queenstown. Despite being a seasoned traveler, I still made mistakes like staying in the wrong city too long. I should've booked fewer excursions and looked up where to sit for better views on my bus routes. Even after traveling the world solo for 10 years, I still make mistakes when visiting new destinations.
One minute you are riding the perfect wave, the next you're being dumped from a great height and having your world tipped upside down. Which is essentially how Razor will now be feeling after being ousted as All Blacks head coach barely two years into his tenure. On the surface he was everything New Zealand rugby could have wished for. The serial domestic winner who had guided the Crusaders to seven successive Super rugby titles, the empathetic everyman with the break-dancing skills to match.
It might be only 40 minutes by ferry from Brisbane, but when North Stradbroke Island, or Minjerribah, comes into focus - a soft line of bush, dunes and open water - and you roll off the barge, the city skyline feels like a sci-fi memory. It's no wonder that the locals and in-the-know Brisbanites guard this island with a conspiratorial hush.
Rather than just looking out to sea, why don't you also set sail on it? Hawaii has great options for boat rides, but the vast open waters can mean windswept hair (the bad kind). While some tousling is unavoidable, a drawstring bucket hat with ties under the chin can help keep your hair in place-all while protecting your face from the sun. Where to wear it: Maui is home to The Sailing Trilogy, a company that's
Maui's dreamy landscape turned into a nightmare on Aug. 8, 2023. What began as a brush fire, fueled by dangerous winds, quickly engulfed the historic town of Lahaina and damaged other parts of the island. The deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century claimed 102 lives, destroyed more than 2,200 structures, and caused an estimated $5.5 billion in damage.
Greenland is currently making headlines, much to the chagrin of Greenlanders. U.S. President Donald Trump's ambition to seize this island, an autonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO founding member, has turned global attention to a corner of the planet they probably hadn't considered before, or to Wikipedia or AI tools, to find out who lives on that enormous white patch in a corner of the American continent, and how.
