Lee Abbamonte
Try to become the youngest person to travel to every country in the world
What’s Your Favorite?
By Lee | 
2 Comments » 
On a daily basis, when I meet new people and they find out about my extensive travel, I’m almost always asked, “What’s your favorite place?” That is perhaps the most difficult question to answer because I love so many places. The other thing is I have favorite places for certain things, ie beaches, food, activities, cities, scenery, etc. It seems as if people are looking for me to say some crazy exotic place that most people haven’t heard of. It’s true that I have some favorites that most people haven’t heard of especially Fernando de Noronha off the northeast coast of Brazil. However, as difficult as it is to pick one overall favorite that ecompasses everything, it seems to be the basics and all the comforts of home that keeps bringing me back to Australia.
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Australian Tourism Fizzling
By Lee | 4 Comments » 
I was reading an article about how tourism numbers have really dropped dramatically for Australia since the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Apparently, the novelty has kind of worn off so to speak plus the Aussie Dollar is nearly on par with the US Dollar now. So it is no longer a cheap place to go as it was when I was there five years ago. The article mentioned that they are set to release a new blockbuster/epic movie called “Australia” starring Aussies, Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, that they hope will stir up tourism as “Crocodile Dundee” did in the 1980’s. It’s such a shame that the Aussies have to resort to such tactics to boost tourism and their economy at this point.
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Living in Australia
By Lee | 2 Comments » 
I get a lot of emails from readers asking me questions and sometimes those emails inspire what I write the next day. It is difficult coming up with things to write about everyday when I am not travelling so I always do appreciate the emails. Last night I was asked where I would want to live in Australia by a reader who wants to move there but has never been there. For me, that’s an excellent question because I love Australia and have always said that if I didn’t live in the US, I would want to live there. Oz has everything you could want but a lot less people and a lot more laid back than the States. The reader asked me about where I would choose between Melbourne and Perth, I am also going to throw Sydney in the mix for this post but the answer is really any of them. They are all great places but if I had to choose, I would probably choose Sydney to live.
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2008 Australian Open
By Lee | 6 Comments » 
It’s that time of year again for my favorite major tennis tournament and the first of 2008, the Australian Open. There are a lot of great story lines coming into the grand slam of Asia and the Pacific. Can the great Roger Federer win his third straight Aussie Open and fourth in five years and inch one closer to Pete Sampras’ record of 14 grand slams? On the womens side, can Serena Williams defend her title that she so brilliantly won last year or will it be business as usual for Justine Henin? Or can a new face emerge on either side as a threat to these great champions?
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Sir Edmund Hillary
By Lee | 2 Comments » 
Sir Edmund Hillary was the last of a dying breed. He was a legend, a hero, a global symbol of a country and was actually the only living non royalty person that I can think of who was actually on his country’s money-the New Zealand $5 bill. Hillary was a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer. On May 29, 1953 at the age of 33, he and Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest. Hillary died today at the age of 88.
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Rotorua, New Zealand
By Lee | 3 Comments » 
Rotorua is a town on the southern shore of Lake Rotorua in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. Rotorua is well-known for geothermal activity. There are a number of geysers, notably the Pohutu geyser at Whakarewarewa, and hot mud pools located in the city, which owe their presence to the Rotorua caldera. Thermal activity is at the heart of much of Rotorua’s tourist appeal. Geysers and bubbling mud-pools, hot thermal springs and the Buried Village - so named after it was buried by the 1886 Mt. Tarawera eruption - are within easy reach of the city.
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Uluru
By Lee | 4 Comments » 
Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia. It lies 335 km southwest of the nearest “large” town, Alice Springs (Quite a place-interesting and totally backwards); 450 km by road. Uluru is one of Australia’s most recognizable natural icons. The world-renowned rock stands 348 m (1,142 ft) high with most of its bulk below the ground, and measures 9.4 km in circumference. Uluru is notable for appearing to change color as the different light strikes it at different times of the day and year, with sunset a particularly remarkable sight when it briefly glows red.
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Perth, Australia
By Lee | 4 Comments » 
Perth, Australia is the most isolated major city on Earth. It is located at the far western end of the country and is the capital of the Australian State of Western Australia. Most people who visit Australia fail to go to Perth because it is so out of the way, in fact Most Aussies have never been to Perth either. It is that far, pratically the equivalent of flying from New York to Los Angeles is going from Sydney to Perth. However, Perth has a lot to offer and is one of my favorite cities in Oz.
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New Zealand Naked Bus?
By Lee | 4 Comments » 
I spent a while in New Zealand a few years ago and my friend and I took the Kiwi Experience bus around the country but if they had this back them we may have taken the naked bus around the country simply because of the name. Although its apparently just a catchy name to attract tourists it actually is really, really cheap.
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The 12 Apostles
By Lee | 3 Comments » 
The Great Ocean Road (known as the Surfcoast Highway between Geelong and Torquay) which stretches along the South Eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Geelong and Warrnambool is one of the worlds great scenic coastline drives.
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