Sydney Australia has plenty to offer its locals and tourists alike with its wide range of attractions and activities that are guaranteed to fill the hours of the day. Considered as one of the best tourist destinations of today, Australia is a place where adventure awaits those who want to experience something different while they are on a vacation.

Parks and Nature

If you love the outdoors then you will love what Sydney has to offer you. Sydney is peppered with coastal strips, bushlands and rainforests which mean there is always something that will cater to your interests. You can go hiking, biking and even go on picnics in parks or on secluded beaches with your loved ones.

Arts and Culture

Sydney also boasts of its rich culture and the arts with its numerous exhibits and performing arts like those that are performed in the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Theater Company. Don’t miss the pleasure of viewing amazing art works by visiting art galleries that Sydney is filled with. You will find plenty of interesting artworks that will pique your imagination here.

Shopping and Fashion

When it comes to shopping and fashion, Sydney doesn’t get left behind. Well-known international brands have come to set up shop in Sydney to sell their latest wares while outdoor markets will give you a chance to discover hidden treasures in their midst. Doing retail therapy here in Sydney is an experience you won’t forget.

Wine and Dine

Treat yourself and your loved ones to scrumptious meals with Sydney’s diverse food choices. Whether you want to experience fine dining or just want to grab a bite after shopping, there is always something for you here. The best part when dining in Sydney is that these restaurants and cafes offer enchanting views which are guaranteed to heighten your dining experience. You can relax and unwind in Sydney’s pubs at night where you can enjoy a drink or two while taking in the night life.

Family Escape

Sydney also has something for families planning a vacation together. There are many activities to do here like horseback riding, kayaking, surfing and even touring the numerous hotspots in and around Sydney. Take your kids on a trip to the zoo like Taronga Zoo and Sydney Tower Eye.

There are lots of things that you can do while you are in Sydney, Australia whether you are on your own or with the whole family.

An awesome reason to trot the globe is to explore popular caves in sleepy towns and parts unknown.  This is not about the paved ones with walls treated with shotcrete like the Sung Sot Cave in Halong Bay, Vietnam. A cave’s mysterious essence is lost when it’s been commercialized and brightened up with spotlights. The best caves are the ones that smell of bat guano and generally untouched by technology.  Here are some cool caves from around the world.

Lilburn Cave in Sequoia National Park in California is filled with marbled stones from that go endlessly throughout the formation. There are a total of 240 caves in Sequoia and geologists believe that there are still unexplored and even hundreds more undiscovered underground tunnels.  Trekkers go up slippery stones and tread through underground waters of the cave that nature elaborately formed.

Feel like visiting Superman’s lair? The Los Crystales Cave in Naica, Mexico resembles Christopher Reeve’s crystal surroundings in the Superman films.  Cavers have to enter the formation wearing a special ice suit due to the extreme hot temperature. Although tourists say it’s all worth the sweat.

The Longmen Grottoes is home to 100,000 carved wall statues and 1400 caves of various sizes.  The walls are also encrypted with Chinese characters which add to the grottoes’ ancient flare.  The whole mountain carving started in 492 AD and it continued for 500 years. Visitors can witness pagodas and Buddhist figures while sailing along the scenic Yi River in Henan Province.  The Longmen Grottoes has been declared a World Heritage Site.

Tucked in an uninhabited Staffa Island in Scotland is a sea cave called Fingal’s.  It is considered as a National Nature Reserve by the country’s National Trust.  The cave formation is the result of solidified lava flow that formed a hexagonal fracture pattern.  The ocean continues into the cave where tourists can see perfectly perpendicular basalt columns from the arched roof down to the water level.

New Zealanders bestowed the name Glow Worm in the caverns of Waitomo for a reason.  Thousands of Arachnocampa luminosa illuminate the walls of Waitomo caves creating an enchanted scene in the underground river.

Puerto Princesa in Palawan, Philippines is home to one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.  An opening on the side of an islet leads to the longest underground river cave formed out of limestone karst.  Tourists can marvel at stalactites and hundreds of bats.  The underground river is part of the Subterranean River National Park which is a popular eco-tourism site.

Aside from the attractive panorama and unique culture, another good reason to visit a foreign country is to enjoy their celebration of food.  Thousands of cities around the world declare holidays for their food heritage and each place celebrates it in their unique way.  Here are some food festivals that just might make you book a trip.

1.  Who does not love succulent lobsters?  The Maine Lobster Fest in a sleepy town of Rockland in New England is packed with contests, children activities, entertainment and, without doubt, lobster eating.  First, the event opens with a parade of a giant lobster float. And then people can flock the tents that sell all kinds of lobster dishes.  While that’s happening there’s a lobster crate race, a lobster cooking contest, and an exhibit for marine life.  Maine is situated on the shores of a gulf that provide lovely ocean views, water fun and fresh seafood.  Catch the next lobster festival on July 31.
2. You still have time to get on the plane to Mexico and join the Mesoamerican Festival in the city.  This even will highlight Mexican cuisine as a cultural treasure of this part of the world.  It will showcase Mexican kitchen staples such as cocoa, chilis, plantains, corn, tequila and many other delights.  The event will be attended by famous chefs who love being around Mexican food.
3. While in Spain, La Tomatina the biggest food fight in the world happens at the end of August.  Spain’s Tomato Fight Festival in Buῇol lures 30,000 locals and participants from all over Europe.  They engage in a harmless battle of throwing over ripe tomatoes.  It’s said that 100 tons metric tons of the red fruit are thrown on the street, creating a red pool of mush and people are dripping from the tomato juice.  A canon is fired to signal the end of the two-hour tomato frenzy after which the people jump in the Buῇol River to enjoy the rest of the day.
4. If you’re feeling classy and feel like only chefs can make you gastronomically happy, the Food & Wine Festival Classic is happening in Aspen on June 14-16.  It will feature gourmet food and the best bottles of wine there is from around the world, endorsed by more than 70 celebrity chefs, restaurateurs and wine connoisseurs.  Participants are invited to participate in the Grand Tastings where culinary delights are sampled with wine. There’s also a dessert bash wherein guests with a sweet tooth can relish in hundreds of variety of baked goods.

There’s not one soul in the world that does not like chocolate.  People can get intoxicated with wine, others choose not to eat cheese for health reasons, but no one can say no to chocolate.  It is for this divine edible that chocolate chasers travel the world in search of the best brown morsel experience.  Here are some places that Willy Wonka fans might want to explore.

Cacao farms create a deeper appreciation for chocolate.  There are hundreds of cacao farms around the world that allow outsiders to witness the cocoa process.  Ghana is home to the Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa Farm.  The visitors are taken through a genesis of the cacao from the propagation up to its harvest and drying. Anyone who has taken a bite of the roasted bitter cacao bean will never look at chocolate the same way again.  Other cacao plantations chocolate lovers can visit are Willie’s Cacao Farm in El Tesoro, Venezuela and the Organic Chocolate Trail in Bocas del Toro in Panama, among others.

If you want palatable experience with chocolate other than in its candy form, Catalan, Spain is where you ought to be.  Chocolate is a big part of the city’s cuisine, used as a flavouring ingredient in various dishes.  The Catalan style veal stew is made savory with unsweetened dark chocolate.  Even escargot can be made sweet and bitter with the dark chocolate added in the end.  Indeed, the people in Catalan express their love for chocolate in a wider variety.  And where can one find true expression of this but in the El Celler De Can Roca, the world’s best restaurant of 2013.  The Roca brothers’ true passion for culinary arts is encapsulated in a love affair with the coveted bitter sweet ingredient.  The head chef, Joan Roca, incorporates cocoa butter in most of his signature dishes.  He also garnishes main entrees with powdered cocoa which elevates the taste of different ingredients.  Chocolate is most celebrated in Jordi Roca’s department: desserts.  The main theme for his sweet treats is no other than chocolate which he utilizes with nuts, coffee, mint in most unique presentations.

If one is not afraid of death by chocolate, then the chocolate factory is a perfect destination.  Not far from the Roca brothers’ restaurant is the Torras chocolate factory.  The centuries old factory located 60 km from the French border is visited each year by 20,000 chocolate lovers from around the world.  The guests are encouraged to taste the different kinds of chocolate that can only be experienced in Torras.

Fifty gastronomic hubs from around the world were recognized by a pool of international restaurateurs, gourmands, chefs and restaurant critics.  The members of the panel submitted five of their favorite restaurants, including only two establishments from their region, and the three remaining votes are casted for other eateries outside their respective city.  Voters are not allowed to write their own charcuterie in the ballots.   They also must have eaten in their choice of diners in the last 18 months.

El Celler de Can Roca from Catalonia, Spain stole the top post this year as the World’s Best Restaurant.  Situated in a bustling city with strongholds of medieval Spanish setting, the Roca brothers Joan, Josep and Jordi have built a modest-sized restaurant that sits 45 diners.  Founded in 1986, it sat next to El Restaurante de Can Roca, another establishment from the Rocas that helped built a good family name in the culinary world from 1967.  The brothers moved the restaurant in 2007 to a modern building with custom-built kitchen features.  The new structure still exudes simple elegance with wooden floors and simple interior, using smartly innovated enlarged kitchen to accommodate up to 30 chefs at a time.

The Rocas have focused their expertise in traditional Catalan cuisine, with twists of molecular gastronomy techniques and unique plating using Rosenthal china.  The diners are welcomed with five appetizers that represent various flavors from around the world.  These small portions tickle the palates and whet the appetite for the main course.  The three brothers all had a hand in the menu, with Joan as the head chef, Josep is the wine steward, while Jordi is in charge of desserts. El Celler de Can Roca has been getting recognition from various award-giving bodies and has been featured by reputable restaurant reviews with excellent ratings.

The second restaurant to rock the food-loving community is Noma run by renowned chef Rene’ Redzepi who glorifies Nordic cuisine in his own modern interpretation.  Noma has coveted the top position of best restaurant for three years, deservingly so. It sits in central Copenhagen, a city that has had an affair with Europe’s most prized ingredients for more than 200 years.  The Nordic/Scandinavian menu has received praises from international gastronomic adventurers.  Meanwhile,  two more European establishments steal the third and fourth spots.  Osteria Francescana of Modena, Italy and Mugaritz of San Sebastian, Spain had placed top 3 and 4 respectively.  The only American restaurant in the top 10 is Eleven Madison Park from New York which grabs 5^th place.

Imagine this:  A man decides to go retro and wants to use his Walkman, which Sony has stopped manufacturing eons ago. The old player has already lost some parts vital to playing his collection of tapes.  So then what does he do?  He draws the missing Walkman component on an app with the help of his tablet, and prints the spare part with a 3D printer.  It’s a crazy scenario, what with being retro and still have tapes around.  But what blows the mind is the technology that’s able of create a replica of almost anything with the 3D printer.

3D printers are adding excitement to the generation ruled by technology.  Companies like MakerBot, Sculpteo, Formlabs, and 3D Systems have ventured into the next big thing in printing.  The 2013 Consumer Electronics Show was a debut venue for these companies as they showed off their futuristic printers.  It was like a scene from sci-fi movies when the machines produced solid three-dimensional figures.  The printers will do successive layers with specially engineered powder, binders and dyes following a digital 3D input in the computer. Each cross section of the image is copied down to .05 to .01 millimeter in diameter, which is just slightly thicker than a human hair strand.  The best thing about the first 3D printers ever made is it can follow any geometric shape.  One printing can go from hours to days, depending on the size and complexity of the components.  Printers currently go from a price range of $499 to around $4,400 depending on the extruder type, the volume it can print out, and micron resolution.

The implications of being able to produce the exact piece that humans need or simply prefer will revolutionize utilitarianism in the most profound way.  Astronauts can have a lighter load when they’re sent out to space.  As long as they take along the digitized copies of every shuttle spare part and tools in their computer hard drive, they can materialize anything that will help them it their space mission.  Now an astronaut won’t even have to worry about forgetting to bring a toothbrush.  Someday, people won’t be going to hardware shops for the smallest stuff because they can already print out bolts and screws.  Custom-building parts will definitely be easier, and this will have a great impact on prosthetic medicine.  Want an Iron Man mask or Thor’s hammer?  Print out your favorite superhero novelty item  and be the ultimate Marvel geek in cosplay parties.

Photo Credit: STARFEEDER @flickr

It’s not only in the movies where people who were born to rags made their way all the way to the top. As a matter of fact, they do happen in real life. There are many well-known individuals today who were born with nothing yet managed to turn their life the other way around and are now among those in the billionaire list. Here are some exemplary stories that are inspiring in their own way.

• Oprah – Oprah’s young life was full of hardships where she experienced wearing dresses made from potato sacks and was even molested by her own kin. She left all these behind when she co-anchored in a radio show then was given her own talk show which propelled her to stardom. She is the first black woman who became a billionaire.
• J.K Rowling – Famous for her Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling has also experienced the hard life when she was unemployed  and living on welfare while raising a child on her own. Things turned for the better when her first Harry Potter book hit the bookstands and the rest is history.
• Howard Schultz – Howard Schultz started his life living in the Brooklyn projects. He worked his way to receive an athletic scholarship that got him a college education. He started at the bottom when he started working until he reached the moment when he was able to purchase Starbucks from the original owners. His sharp thinking made Starbucks a household name in terms of coffee and already it has thousands of outlets spread out across the globe.
• Li Ka-Shing – This Asian billionaire was forced to stop studying to work making plastic flowers. Today, he owns two of the biggest companies in his country namely Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong and he is worth about 31 billion dollars.
• Chris Gardner – His life story was portrayed by Will Smith in the movie In Pursuit of Happiness. If you haven’t seen the movie, let us say that Chris Gardner was a homeless man who survived plenty of struggles in his hard life and is now a motivational speaker and multimillion stockbroker.

These rags-to-riches stories are really heart-warming especially when you get to see that even those who were born with nothing can make a name for themselves. With perseverance and dedication, anyone can achieve their goals in life no matter what their status in life is. This is what these stories are filled with and are worthy of emulating.

It was only after Steve Jobs death that his final masterpiece was finally completed. Christened Venus, his state-of-the-art, 260 foot yacht reflected simplicity and elegance in its sleek and streamlined design. The ten feet high windows which were installed at the hull of the yacht were made by Apple’s chief engineer as requested by Steve Jobs.

The design of the yacht itself is reminiscent of all the products Jobs has made during the course of his career and with Philippe Starck’s minimalist style Venus is simply a beautiful sight to see. Teak decks, windows that reach the ceiling and high technology gadgets are among those that can be seen in the interior of the yacht. At least six of the iMacs found in Venus are reported to be found on the bridge for controlling the massive yacht.

According to Starck, the yacht’s design showcases the intelligence of the man behind the success of Apple and although many will find its design a bit weird, this was a product of his and Steve Jobs collaboration during the five years they’ve been working together on the project.

Jobs talked about his masterpiece to his biographer, Walter Isaacson, before his demise. According to Isaacson, the overall look of the yacht is similar to that of any Apple store. From the teak decks that were devoid of any unnecessary accoutrements all the way to the ceiling high windows, everything screamed minimalist which was exactly what Jobs wanted. Unlike other yachts where there are many unnecessary embellishments added, the Venus is just plain, simple but has all the conveniences you can think of.

Steve Jobs commissioned the yacht six years before his death. During the course of those years, he was obsessed to finishing it yet knowing that he might not live long enough to see it sail. This didn’t defeat him but given him the courage to push through with his final masterpiece.

The Dutch company Feadship was the one responsible in building this state-of-the-art yacht. After it was completed, the family of the late Steve Jobs bestowed the people responsible for its completion with customized iPod Shuffle together with a card showing their appreciation for their hardwork and craftsmanship.

The family will be present during the unveiling of Venus at the Feadship Company in Netherlands. No one knows when the yacht will begin its maiden voyage but it will indeed be something to look forward to.

Getting away for a vacation is a pleasant dream and if you are thinking of putting this dream into a reality why not consider going on a summer vacation in Budva, Montenegro? Budva is the perfect getaway if you want to be close to the sea. The beaches here are ideal for walking with your loved ones and the waters are quite impressive too. You can spend hours on end soaking up the sun or enjoying the waters while you are on a vacation.

The beach isn’t the only reason why you should consider going to Budva for a summer vacation. There are also other sites that are worthy traveling to such as the Tara Canyon. The Tara Canyon is a picturesque location and you can even go rafting if you want to better experience its beauty. If you don’t want to go into the waters in Tara Canyon, you can always view the scenery on the Tara Bridge. From here, you will get to see a perfect view of the wonders of Tara Canyon below and its clear blue water that you can drink from when you decide to try rafting.

Another worthwhile place to visit while you are on a summer vacation in Budva is the Altstadt. This is a perfect place to walk around especially when there are plenty of places to stop over and taste local cuisine. Alstadt is steeped in history and one that will certainly make an impression on you as you wander around its streets.

If you want to get a great view of the city of Budva, pay the entrance fee at the Citadel Budva and you will be rewarded with some spectacular sights. You can get to take a look at the inside of a house and even pick fruits hanging from trees as you walk around. There are also quite a collection of antiques here that every tourist will surely appreciate and the naff boats are often a great hit with kids. You can always satiate your hunger inside a café in the Citadel.

Ploce Beach is yet another example of a great place to hang out while in Budva where you can lie down on concreted beach while enjoying the sun. This is hardly uncomfortable as other tourists will attest to and you can even jump to the sea from the rocks for a bit of adrenaline rush.

For the past seven years, billionaires have been purchasing real estate property from all over the world which increased the value of said properties and their surrounding areas significantly. According to a global real estate firm, Savills, the billionaire markets are growing at a rapid pace compared to their mainstream counterparts. So far, the highest increase in the billionaire market is found in China and other countries in Asia.

Which are the most expensive billionaire cities in the world? Here are the top 10 that are included in this list based on Savill’s yearly World Cities Review.

• Hong Kong – This city tops the list of Savill with real estate property amounting to an average of $10,800 per square foot.
• Tokyo – Savill determined that the price of per square foot in Tokyo amounts to $7,600.
• London – The average price per square foot in London is pegged at $5,900 but there was a property found in Kensington Garden that was sold at $12,850 per square foot.
• Paris – Statistics show that luxury estates in this city are sold at $4,384 per square foot.
• Moscow – Those that are included in the billionaire market is sold at $4,233 per square foot.
• New York – It appears that New York has dropped a few notches from the list. Nevertheless, luxury estates here are pegged at $4,083 per square foot.
• Shanghai – You can get a real estate property in this booming city at $2,117.
• Singapore – Another rising star in the list of billionaire market around the world, Singapore’s luxury properties are sold at $1,814 per square foot.
• Mumbai – Buying a property here costs about $968 per square foot.
• Sydney – Dubbed as a rising city where real estate value is on the rise, luxury estates here are sold at $877 per square foot. But this price may change soon enough as more billionaires are eyeing this city for its real estate value.

Compared to the rest of the old world cities like the United States, France, and Japan, it appears that London is still growing in terms of real estate sale. However, the increase in real estate purchase by billionaires are slowing down as government bodies are putting up tax measures to help reduce the rising cost of these properties. Most of the markets that billionaires opt for these days are those found in the urban areas where they can also do business compared to previous preference for the countryside.