No nepotism at all.....

.....involved in our continued appreciation of  John Fowler's thoughts and comments related to the ongoing manoeuvres by the Argentinian government against the Falkland Islands.  The John Fowler of these articles in the Falklands' Penguin News is the Deputy Editor of the newspaper, not my dad's cousin of the same name.  Just wanted to be clear.

Shout it loud enough and even the good guys believe it....

Deck the halls with bells and.... Hobbits

Though not due out until next December, a for the new (and first of two) Hobbit films, A Hobbit's Tale: An Unexpected Journey, has been released just in time to whet your appetite just before Christmas.

Again it's being filmed in New Zealand like the LOTR trilogy, making the most of NZ's spectacular landscapes to recreate the wilderness of Middle Earth.

(I'll be honest, I'm quite excited!!)

And finally,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us here at TID!!

Even more Falklands....and a bit of New Zealand too...

....missed this last week but thanks to Twitter it wasn't missed for long....

The Falklands have made yet another '"Top Destinations for 2012" list, this time Travelbite's top 10.

Sadly no Guyana in the list this time but New Zealand did make an appearance.  I for one can vouch for a trip to Hobbiton (near the town of Matamata on NZ's North Island), the actual set where the filming took place for for the much awaited "The Hobbit" film and also for the earlier "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

If you're a Lord of the Rings fan, big or small, it's brilliant, won't fail to raise a smile for even the most reluctant visitor and given the right weather conditions and time of day, it might even feel just a little bit magical.

Strip and save energy?

As the summer heats up down in Chile, men are being urged to cast off their ties in a unique government bid for offices across the country to use less energy on air conditioning.

An advert is being aired in which the Economy Minister Pablo Longueira and several other government officials casting off their ties and urging others to do the same.

We just wish it was anywhere near that warm here in Buxton....

More Falklands, but never enough....

In case you missed it, here's an article by UK journalist, travel writer and photographer Graeme Green about time he spent recently in the Falkland Islands, which appeared in The Independent's travel section last Saturday (17th Dec).

Falkland Islands: Far and wild in the Atlantic

Makes me envious and want to be there right now, but I'll have to be patient and just wait what will turn into 11 very short months I'm sure, until it's time to head off to start the commemorative yomp we're organising which will take place in the Falklands in November next year.  Can...not...wait!

More details about the yomp can be found here on our website......please sponsor us if you can.....

Elephant seal, just one of many you'll come across in the Falklands

Mount Tumbledown memorial, overlooking Stanley on East Falkland

And there's more....

....Guyana - another of our specialist destinations - also made it into Wanderlust's top 50 best new trips of 2012, this time at number 31.

We'd have put them at number 1 and 2.....but would've argued which would've been which.....maybe joint 1st....

Grass Pond - Rewa

Kaieteur Falls

Approximately 80% of Guyana remains as untouched tropical rainforest

We're not the only ones...

The Falkland Islands has been named in the top 20 of Wanderlust Travel Magazines top 50 best new trips of 2012. (As of course we knew it would be!)

With the 30th anniversary of the conflict coming up next year (for which TID is recreating the iconic 'yomp' to mark the occasion), its sure to be all things Falklands in the near future.

Have a look at our website and see all this wonderful part of the world has to offer...

Running, Kayaking and Cycling.... Blind

A journey from one side of a country to another you would think would be quite tough, mentally and physically. Running, kayaking and cycling the 243km from one side of New Zealand's South Island would be a great effort for anybody.

A New Zealand woman, Neelu Memon, has decided to do just that, even if she is near blind, and has no balance because of a condition she contracted when she was younger.

Having already scaled Mt. Aspiring, she will start on the west coast and run the first 36km, including a 33km traverse of the Southern Alps. The cycling leg will entail pedalling 140km over three stages, and finally she will paddle 67km down the Waimakariri River to the east coast. (Each with a guide of course)

Good luck to her, though we're sure she won't need it!

Deadly birds and ghostly insects

Puffin the Takahe has caused a stir by chomping (or the bird equivalent) down a duckling in front of some school kids.

A bit grisly for them, but that wasn't the strange thing....

Takahes were thought to be veggies... from this video, looks like Puffin and her fellow birds aren't as friendly as they look....

(Interestingly, you will be able to see Puffin and her mate T2 on our new Zealandia page, coming soon!)

On a more milky note, trampers in NZ have found an albino snail, something which an expert said she'd only seen once before in more than 30 years of studying snails...

Obviously something strange is happening to the animals down in NZ....

Flying pigs anyone?

When is a dictatorship not a dictatorship? When I say so!!

Here's the third of John Fowler's series of extended political articles for the Falkland Islands' Penguin News.

His thoughts and comments are, of course, much more considered and thought-provoking than my flippant, non-helpful ones (ref. the title of this post).

Now how do we go about removing self-serving egotists from the world of (allegedly) democratically elected governments?

Penguin News, 05 December 2011: For old time's sake....


John's previous two articles in the series:

Penguin News, 22 November 2011: Oil might lubricate the process to real dialogue in the South Atlantic
Penguin News, 09 November 2011: The Falkland Islands in search of a voice by John Fowler

Little carrot or a big bug?

Definitely a big bug....

A man in NZ has spent 2 days tracking down a Giant Weta on Little Barrier Island. Giant Weta's are the biggest insects in the world, and weigh up to three times that of a mouse.

When he did find one up a tree, he let it have a chomp on the end of a carrot, before letting it go.

Its been said to be the largest one ever found.

Bear Grylls would be full for the rest of the day.........