Australia Adventure

Ed Stafford - adventurer extraordinaire and Guinness World Record holder for walking the length of the Amazon River - likes a challenge. Casting about for an adventure that would top the extraordinary feat he recounts in Walking the Amazon, Stafford decides to maroon himself on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific. His mission: to survive for 60 days equipped with nothing - no food, water, or even clothing - except the video cameras he would use to document his time.

This charming account of the voyage of two men in a small boat half way round the world from Plymouth to New Zealand in 1953 is a rare insight into a time, not long ago, when sailors had no GPS, electronics, radio or any of the mod cons that we take for granted today. Without lifejacket or a life raft, they 'just took what came along', hand steering all the way, navigating by sextant, hand-cranking their engine and using oil lamps for light at night and for navigation. Sailors will be staggered how primitive conditions were only a few decades ago, even though it was the norm at the time.

On May 13, 1945, 24 American servicemen and WACs boarded a transport plane for a sightseeing trip over “Shangri-La,” a beautiful and mysterious valley deep within the jungle-covered mountains of Dutch New Guinea. Unlike the peaceful Tibetan monks of James Hilton’s best-selling novel Lost Horizon, this Shangri-La was home to spear-carrying tribesmen, warriors rumored to be cannibals. But the pleasure tour became an unforgettable battle for survival when the plane crashed. Miraculously, three passengers pulled through.

Life hasn't been much fun for Milly Dynes lately. There seem to be problems everywhere she looks. She's always loved her home in Tidgy Bay, but at the moment she wishes she was somewhere—anywhere—else. Then Eliza Vanda turns up-and magic comes with her.

This is an incredible story of adventure, human ingenuity, persistence, and resilience that shows firsthand what it is to adventure as a woman in the most dangerous of circumstance, what it is to be truly alone in the wild, and why someone would challenge themselves with an expedition others would call crazy. For Marquis, her story is about freedom, being alive and wild by nature.

When girl Detective Friday Barnes solves a bank robbery she uses the reward money to send herself to the most exclusive boarding school in the country, Highcrest Academy. On arrival, Friday is shocked to discover the respectable school is actually a hotbed of crime. She's soon investigating everything from disappearing homework to the Yeti running around the school swamp. That’s when she’s not dealing with her own problem - Ian Wainscott, the handsomest boy in school, who inexplicably hates Friday and loves nasty pranks.

Entertainment Weekly calls acclaimed author and essayist J. Maarten Troost a "funny, candid, and down-to-earth travel companion". Both witty and poignant, Headhunters on My Doorstep follows Troost as he retraces Robert Louis Stevenson’s path through the South Pacific. Somewhere between AA meetings in Tahiti and discovering how the Island of Merrymaking got its name, Troost reconnects with himself, his family, and the beauty of life.

Debut novelist Karen Healey taps Maori mythology for this fresh spin on the fantasy genre. Seventeen-year old Ellie Spencer has a crush on the cute and mysterious Mark. That’s the normal part of her life. But something terrifying also haunts Ellie and her community. People are being killed—and their eyes are being removed. Ellie soon learns two shocking truths. First, Mark is part patupaiarehe, the Maori equivalent of a fairy. Second, a war is brewing.

Will Chaffey is 18 when he boards a plane in New York bound for Australia. Taking time off to work and travel, Will meets an enigmatic wanderer and herpetologist. Together they cross the inland desert to the tropical northwest coast, home to the saltwater crocodile, a known man-eater and a predator who has been hunting since the age of the dinosaurs. They devise a plan to explore the remote Prince Regent River, a trek so dangerous it had never been attempted by outsiders.

As the pearling ships return to Bannin Bay after a long diving season, 20-year-old Eliza Brightwell awaits the arrival of her father’s boat. But when his lugger finally limps in, it brings a tale of tragedy: Charles Brightwell, master pearler, has gone missing at sea. Whispers from the townsfolk point to mutiny or murder. Headstrong Eliza knows it is up to her to find out who—or what—is responsible for her father’s disappearance. Searching for the truth, she delves beneath the glamorous veneer of the south sea pearling trade.

One month into our stay, we'd managed to dispatch most of our charges. We executed the chickens. One of the cats disappeared, clearly disgusted with our urban ways. And Lucky [the cow] was escaping almost daily. It seemed we didn't have much of a talent for farming. And we still had eleven months to go." Antonia Murphy, you might say, is an unlikely farmer. Born and bred in San Francisco, she spent much of her life as a liberal urban cliché, and her interactions with the animal kingdom rarely extended past dinner.

The Kidd family is on their way to Australia to find Lasseter's Gold when they are challenged by fellow treasure hunter Charlotte Badger, who challenges them to a race to the gold! But when the Kidds pull into port in Australia, their parents are suddenly arrested—they've been framed! It turns out Charlotte Badger is a pirate, and she's planted a priceless stolen black opal on the Kidds' ship, The Lost!

Culture Smart! New Zealand provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies, and sensitive issues. These concise guides tell you what to expect, how to behave, and how to establish a rapport with your hosts. This inside knowledge will enable you to steer clear of embarrassing gaffes and mistakes, feel confident in unfamiliar situations, and much more!

Young wombat Lola doesn’t quite fit in. Wombats are supposed to be shy and quiet, but Lola is talkative, curious, and always getting into trouble. When her village is attacked by a Tasmanian devil leading a group of swamp rats, Lola’s parents are captured - and the rats say it's on the orders of the queen! To rescue her parents, Lola will have to leave home for the very first time and set off on a wild adventure. Even with the help of friends she meets along the way, Lola will need every ounce of her bold bravery to help rescue her family and save the kingdom!

Explorer is the story of what first led Benedict Allen to head for the farthest reaches of our planet - at a time when there were still valleys and ranges known only to the remote communities who inhabited them. It is also the story of why, 30 years later, he is still exploring. It's the story of a journey back to a clouded mountain in New Guinea to find a man called Korsai who had once been a friend, and to fulfil a promise made as young men. It is also a story of what it is to be 'lost' and 'found'.

This is the most comprehensive guide to these islands. Where to stay, where to eat, how to get around, what to see and do. All of the practical information you need is spelled out in detail. And hundreds of color photos bring the islands alive!

In the lonely expanse of Northern Australia lies the second biggest national park in the world. It is a place where fire transforms landscapes, floods drown flatlands, and ancient writing haunts cliffs. In this tropical wilderness, ancient fish spit water at passing insects, unnamed waterfalls tumble into vast gorges, and giant crocodiles rule the dark rivers. This is Kakadu National Park - Australia’s natural and cultural treasure.

The Great Ocean Road extends 400 kilometres, or 248-and-a-half miles, along the southwest coastline of Victoria, which is Australia’s most southern mainland state. It takes the traveller through sandy coastal villages and glitzy holiday towns, from dramatic beach cliff-faces to old-growth rainforests and from surfing havens to waterfalls. To drive the length of it takes about four hours from near Victoria’s capital city of Melbourne to the impressive coastal rock structures known as the Twelve Apostles.

Alice-Miranda and her friends are off to the Australian Outback! They’re going to help an old family friend who’s found himself short staffed during cattle mustering season. The landscape is like nothing else - wide open and dusty red as far as the eye can see. It’s also full of quirky characters, like eccentric opal miner Sprocket McGinty and the enigmatic Taipan Dan.

Two weeks into the System Apocalypse, and the transformations are just beginning. Mutated insects, carnivorous toads, and angry drop bears were not on the school curriculum, but when the apocalypse hits, you roll with it. Parenting a teenager has prepared Kira for the worst; she just didn’t expect that to include the end of the world. A menacing conglomerate of alien hunters is breathing down their necks, and new threats lurk just over the hills. Kira and the rest of the Australian survivors of Brisbane must level up, bolster defenses, and prepare for an incoming invasion.