I love this pic of the Sydney skyline. Though TravelPoster jolyonc was a bit disappointed in the city, they’ve got tons of great shots from their Round the World & Back Again!… itinerary. My other favorites are the breathtaking landscapes of Te Anau, New Zealand. Check ‘em out!

Hey Californians, check out this deal announced by Air New Zealand. A roundtrip ticket from San Francisco or Los Angeles to Auckland for $705? Not bad, even if it is winter over there! Book by June 5 and fly out any day of the week between June 1 and June 27. Curious about what to do there in June? Read up on New Zealand’s travel info website.

California to New Zealand on Air New Zealand

You’ve been known to jump out of planes, scale cliffs and brave rapids. Some might call you an adrenaline junkie. You wish your middle name was danger. Expedia’s got the deals for you. Click the link below for 10 daredevil adventures from swimming with sharks in Nassau to skydiving in Vegas. Not for the faint of heart.

10 Daredevil Adventures

Pretty good story from last weekend’s Washington Post about tipping in the U.S. and abroad called Tipping and Travel: It’s No Easy Equation. Sadly, the chart the paper mentions in the story is not available online, but the point of the story is one that will hit home with frequent international travelers: tipping customs vary widely from place to place, and knowing them makes you a kinder traveler when in foreign lands.

The WaPo chart isn’t available online, but the BBC has a good rundown of international tipping customs called International Tipping Ettiquette.

TravelPosting team rakeshandmichelle (Rakesh and Michelle) recently hiked New Zealand’s famous Milford Track. I thought this photo sort of captured the surreal mountain scenery. There are many more cool pics in the blog post Hiking the Milford Track. Here’s an excerpt:

The track begins with an hourlong cruise across Lake Te Anau, the second largest lake in New Zealand. The lake narrows and passes between big peaks on either side, finally terminating at the start of the trail. There were 38 of us ‘independent trampers’ and a group of 46 ‘guided walkers’ on a luxury trip (that supposedly cost US$1000-1500 depending on the accommodation!). We stayed in Dept of Conservation huts while the guided walkers stayed in fancier huts with showers and private rooms. Unfortunately, the guy we shall call The Farter was in our hut. So was Purple Shirt Guy, who wore the same clothes and touched no soap for 4 days.

Sounds really cool. Uh, except for the farting dude. Read more about the trip in Rakesh and Michelle’s travel blog.

As TravelPoster teenandluke points out in a blog entry about Christchurch, New Zealand entitled The Place to Pack and Save, it’s especially easy to get sunburned in Kiwi country. A weekend in Akaroa (pictured here) was memorable mainly because of the searing pain it delt teenandluke’s skin.

While sunscreen is important (sorry, mom moment) anytime you’re outside, it is especially so in New Zealand. From the New Zealand Tourism’s Health and Safety guidelines:

New Zealand’s clear, unpolluted atmosphere and relatively low latitudes produce sunlight stronger than much of Europe or North America, so be prepared to wear hats and sun block if you plan to be out in the sun for more than 15-20 minutes.

And also, there’s that little Ozone layer issue affecting Antarctica that does kind of make sun exposure a little scarier down there.

It’s even easier to get burned during summer months (like right now) and at high altitudes (like on glaciers and mountains).

Wow. I get the heebie jeebies just looking at this pic of the Auckland Sky Tower’s glass floor. The photo comes courtesy of TravelPoster Amber_Hughes, who’s traveling around New Zealand at the moment and leaving some pretty cool pictures in her journal posts.

The tower rises 328 metres into the air. And you can even jump off it.