Nine awesome places to visit

NOT all places live up to the hype and they can leave you feeling like you missed something. But then there are places so epic they are sure to impress.

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NOT all destinations live up to the hype. There are, however, plenty of destinations and attractions around the world that have exceeded my expectations.

Here are some of these places. You won’t regret paying them a visit:

ICELAND

It’s incredible. Picture: Flickr Moyan Brenn

Prepare yourself, because this country is truly moving. It’s all about the crazy landscapes — geysers, hot springs, waterfalls, glaciers and black-sand beaches. If you go outside of the peak tourist season (mid-June through August) accommodation is cheaper and you have the sites pretty much to yourself. I went in October, picked up a hire car from the airport and drove around for 10 days. Now I want to go back again and again. It’s a long way from Australia — but if you happen to be in London you could consider adding on a trip to Iceland (it’s three hours from London to Reykjavik).

ULURU, NORTHERN TERRITORY

Beautiful at any time of the day. Picture: Flickr Lawrence Murray

It’s just a big rock. However, anyone who has been to see it will tell you Uluru is so much more than a massive sandstone monolith. Is it the star-filled sky? The fact that this special place carries great spiritual and cultural significance for the local indigenous tribes? It’s difficult to pin down, but Uluru sure lives up to the hype.

QUEENSTOWN, NEW ZEALAND

What’s not to love about somewhere so pretty?

So nearly everyone on the Eastern Seaboard seems to have been to Queenstown, but I only discovered it last winter. Why didn’t anyone tell me I didn’t need to fly all the way to Europe to see stunningly beautiful mountains with snow?

MONGOLIA

There’s so much space out here. Picture: Flickr Stephen van der Mark

Mongolia — it’s fantastic. The clear blue sky and the pastoral rolling grasslands of the treeless steppe will steal your heart. This place was everything I dreamt of and more — I fell head over heels with the remote, natural beauty, Mongolia’s nomadic culture and the abundant wildlife. The food, however, is not great — the most common rural dish is cooked mutton, often without any other ingredients. It would be a nightmare for a vegetarian.

WAZA NATIONAL PARK, CAMEROON

Keep aware when these big guys are around.

Cameroon’s Waza National Park, a fenceless reserve made up of 170,000 acres of savanna, was the highlight of my trip to the west Africa country. The park is home to lions, giraffes, elephants, cobs, ostriches, antelopes, leopards and waterbuck. It’s the most famous park in Cameroon and one of the most spectacular in French-speaking Africa.

However, you might want to wait a while until you book your holiday as it’s currently unsafe — recent cross-border raids by the Nigerian Islamist extremists of Boko Haram have all but halted such visits by tourists.

MALOLO ISLAND, FIJI

Wow. Just wow.

When I visited Fiji as a teenager I hated it, maybe it was the fact that I was ripped off. A taxi driver, who drove me from my hotel into Nadi one day invited me to his family home for a meal. He picked me up that night and I enjoyed the curries his wife made. But then he handed me a bill for $100 for food and transport and demanded I pay it, which, stupidly, I did. The next day it got worse — I got sunstroke. So when the idea came up to visit Fiji as an adult, I wasn’t keen. But I gave it another go — and wow, was I blown away.

Malolo Island (25km by boat from Nadi International Airport) is the Fiji of my dreams. I’ve now stayed at both resorts on the island — adults only Likuliku Lagoon Resort and kid friendly Malolo Island. And if you can get there — go, you won’t be disappointed.

LEGOLAND, DENMARK

The 10-hectare Legoland park in the small town of Billund has rides, entertainment, its own bank, post office, tourist office and even its own airport. If you make it all the way to Denmark and on to Billund (three hours by train from Copenhagen), then you may as well go the whole hog and stay at Hotel Legoland, the park’s official hotel. It’s so close that you can practically roll off the roller coaster into the bar. Inside there are creations made out of bricks everywhere you look, from Darth Vader in the lobby to an assortment of firemen, pirates and knights in the corridors.

BHUTAN

Just hanging out on the mountain.

If you’re a mountain and hiking lover, it’s highly likely that this small and untouched country has been on your radar for some time. It holds so many surprises. It’s a deeply Buddhist country with incredible monasteries, a dramatic Himalayan landscape and fun loving and well educated people. I met locals that have never encountered a tourist before — an incredible experience for me, and hopefully for them too.

HONOLULU, HAWAII

It’s hard to tire of a view like this.

There’s a lot about Hawaii to love — the sugary white beaches, the mix of Polynesian and American culture, the sunsets that are just as good as the postcards and the food — island farmers markets, food trucks and fusion menus by Hawaii’s star chefs.

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