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AUSTRALIA
This beautiful country has been my home for more than six years.
I've been lucky enough to get to know it's beauty from west to east, from Perth to Sydney,
I was backpacking through tropical Queensland, drove on the coast of Victoria and flew across the outback.
One needs a lot of time, effort and determination to discover Australia's secrets and overcome huge distances
that for an European might seem unattainable.
Sydney is conveniently located on the east coast, surrounded by Blue Mountains, a climbing heaven on one side and amazing beach
stretches, paradise for surfers and divers on the other. I like to wonder through Sydney streets on my bike and discover
alleys and secret spots that almost always uncover a fantastic view.
The ocean offers it's strength when I need it the most, mountains provide a challenge and the city with it's beautiful harbour,
architecture and gardens provides a space for relaxation, attempting to create a perfect balance in this far-from-perfect world.
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WARRUMBUNGLES, NSW, AUSTRALIA
The Warrumbungles qualify on all accounts. And Cornerstone Rib is an excellent introduction to the area.
It is 200m of grade 14 heaven in 5-6 pitches.
Three of us left behind the dangers of Sydney traffic early one Friday and eight hours later rolled into Pincham carpark.
The next day it's an early start. We wake up at 5am, have a quick breakfast and set off just after 6am.
Summits are made for lunch, particularly on days like this.
Take in the view, snap a few pictures and check the comments in the log book.
Then we descend the green glacier. If the ascent by itself doesn't make this a great climb the cool, green,
fern-filled descent and final rap in the setting Sun surely does.
We reach camp by dark and celebrate with a beer. Richard fires up a tasty curry followed by my date cake with rich chocolate
and port sauce. Climbing, dining and gazing at stars till I drop asleep...
Written by Andrew Jacob, my friend, climbing partner, astrophysicist and outdoor enthusiast
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WHITE CLIFFS, NSW, AUSTRALIA
White Cliffs competes with Tibooburra for the status as the hottest town in outback NSW. The highest
measured temperature on the surface reached up to 57.2°C and the minimum has fallen to minus
7°C. That's the reason why most of the buildings are underground. Many residents live in dug-out caves
with connecting rooms under the surface to escape the searing heat of summer.
After a six hour flight on a single engine plane, we arrived to White Cliffs.
White Cliffs from the air looks like a lunar landscape with its craters, hillocks and plains
stretching far into the distance. 60,000 bloodstained holes dug out by men's bare hands are proof of a cruel past,
yet the search for opals continues, fuelled by the lure of financial escape and freedom.
It is a place of contrasts that somehow mix well together and create a feeling of harmony.
Now I can say that I've experienced the magic of the red heart of Australia, its fiery desert sunsets, never-ending horizon,
where your eyes see 60km into the distance. It's redback spiders, that appear to be the guardians of every opal mining shaft,
astonishing landscape - three quarters of amethyst blue sky and a quarter of red earth.
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QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND
"The inner mountain is a mountain that is not climbed.
That is the one we learn to know. For oneself."
La montagne interieure by Lionel Daudet
For me New Zealand has always been a place of remarkable beauty and extraordinary natural wonders.
I've been lucky enough to visit New Zealand twice, for the first time I skied on Mt. Hutt - a mountain from the top
of which I could see the ocean waves pounding onto the shore - a bizzare experience.
The second time I travelled to the Lord of the Rings' territory, Glenorchy, a small place just out of Queenstown
with vast plains stretching to the feet of the mountains.
In New Zealand everything seems cleaner, bluer, greener - the nature is more striking than anywhere I've ever been.
I think that the third time around I will take my backpack and walk my feet away from mountain pass to mountain pass.
Why? Just because I can...
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RAILAY BEACH, THAILAND
When I first read about Railay Beach in a Sydney paper, I cut out an article, searched the web and entered the information
into My Favorites folder under Dreams. About two years later my dream came true and I found myself arriving at Railay Beach
on a longtail wooden boat.
Everything I have seen on the pictures was even more beautiful in reality - from the distance I could see towering limestone
cliffs sheltering incredible beaches; almost hard to imagine a horror when the tsunami hit the beach only a year ago.
On arrival I was overwhelmed by peaceful and quiet atmosphere; a perfect place to spend the next few weeks of adventure,
climbing, diving, trekking while enjoying relaxing Thai massages and delicious food.
After some time I got to know the locals and carefully pulled out my camera.
I hope you enjoy some of the most beautiful pictures I've taken, colorful sunsets and images
I took while climbing above the big blue.
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ROVANIEMI, FINLAND
If I was a child and I believed in Santa, I would have thought that this was a trip of a lifetime - I visited Santa Clause,
chatted to the Elves and rode the reindeer sledge through a frozen land.
I was surprised how quickly I got to Napapiri - an Arctic Circle, from the safety of my small town.
It took only 10 hours including drive to and from the airport. I expected Finland to be very cold, dark and beautiful.
All this was true. December in the Arctic is that time of year when the sun only scrapes the horizon before it sets back again
creating astonishing, colorful day light with sunrises at 9am and sunsets just after lunch time.
I was hoping to see some the Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis. As we were in the heart of Finnish Lapland,
it was an excellent location for probing the secrets of the earth's geomagnetic field.
Unfortunately I wasn't lucky enough to have a sight of them but I did get a taste of the frozen arctic.
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DUBAI, UAE
Do you want to buy a private man-made island situated next to the desert or spend some time in an underwater hotel?
Then Dubai is a place for you.
It is a leading centre for business and tourism in the Middle East and I can see why.
In the last ten years the city with its 900,000 inhabitants rose from the desert on the shores of The Gulf.
It is an exotic place of contrasts with confronting Arabic culture, desert safaris, high-rise buildings and gold markets,
heaven for the rich. From luxurious shopping malls to ancient souks and adventurous trips to the desert,
there are plenty of things to do.
The Sheikh is the king and the money is the way to freedom in this artificial built city.
To put this statement into perspective, the cost of one of The Palm resorts, the Jumeirah project - an artificial island
being built off the coast of Dubai - is estimated at around US$2 billion!
I realised with astonishment that every stream and every lake I saw around the first-class hotels was man-made,
so was the ski slope in the shopping centre. For me most of the things in Dubai seemed out of place, exaggerated and unreal.
It is one of a few places in the world of which you can't become a citizen of unless you have a birth certificate from UAE.
People have limited time to live and earn tax-free money, most of them hoping for the better future.
The streets are crowded by tourists and locals driving luxurious cars. The architecture is astonishing
but the building has only begun. The proof is a view of a thousand cranes on the skyline.
It is a race against time. And so the construction of "city of the future" continues before the nation runs out of oil
and humans run out of common sense.
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SLOVAKIA
Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we heading? It is usually in an unsuspected moment that clues to the eternal
questions rise from the depth of the human knowledge. Ideas may spring up in the bustle of a city,
in the mystic gloom of a cathedral, or in the stillness of mountain tops. Haven't you ever encountered such a mystic experience?
If not then you have probably never slept under the starry midnight sky, with the gently rustle of the forest leaves all around
and the stars of Orion shining above your head.
Throughout such a magic night questions come inevitably flowing into our mind...
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CZECH REPUBLIC
Everybody has a place to come back to. For me, that special place is Czech Republic.
A small country in the heart of Europe which in the past two decades has overcome many political and cultural changes.
Even today a lot of people still recall name Czechoslovakia which hasn't been in existence as a single nation
for more than 13 years.
Everyone who has visited Prague knows that it is one of the most beautiful European destinations.
The city has been nick-named a "city of a hundred towers" because of it's astonishing architecture.
Prague has been a cultural centre of Europe and a meeting point of many significant personalities.
See for yourself and maybe the images of Czech Republic will stick to your mind and it will become your next destination.
It really is worth a visit.
By Lubomir Peska
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