New Zealand's Southern Alps are the peak of solace

Whether it's the loping blue hills of Appalachia rising from a morning mist or the majesty of Alaska's Mt. McKinley piercing the clouds,...

Fiji's small Castaway Island makes a magical anniversary

The morning sun shimmers on the swirling strands of the 8-foot cast net as a bare-chested young man, standing knee-deep in the shallows at...

Australia: In Byron Bay, beach meets boho

BYRON BAY, AUSTRALIA — My face flushed cherry red and my sweat-soaked sundress clung to my body. I stood, elated, on a wooden platform...

Australia: Ellen DeGeneres visits the land Down Under

Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi, landed Friday in Sydney, Australia, where segments for the "Ellen" show will...

Romance goes with the flow: Tubs with a view

There's nothing lovelier than getting into a bath and staying there as long as you like. And when that tub has a soul-soaring view, well,...

Taking her daughters to remote Australia to sleep on the ground

NORTHERN TERRITORY, Australia — It was a terrible thing to admit to myself, but my teenage daughters are a bit spoiled. My own youth...

Swept away by Down Under's West coast

This is for those who don't mind traveling to Earth's edge to get somewhere extraordinary.

Unpredictable, serendipitous Tasmania

Only toward dawn did the sea begin to calm. I rose from my berth and glanced out the window. The setting moon cast a broad light on the...

On the hunt for truffles in Western Australia

Truffle-sniffing dogs, 'punters' and towering karri forests: Welcome to South Western Australia, an Eden in the rough for food and wine...

Wild journey into the Kelabit Highlands of Borneo

"At one time or another, I imagine that we have all dreamed about how wonderful it would be to live in a Shangri-La where the climate is...

Finding Paradise on Rangiroa, the slow-paced South Pacific atoll

Twice a day the tide changes here on this South Seas atoll, and when it does, 8- to 12-foot-tall waves churn through Tiputa Pass, creating a...

Island paradise at your fingertips

Times Staff Writer Rosemary McClure has a thing for islands and has hopped to dozens all over the world. Here are a few of her recent...

Bora-Bora: Dreams are made in French Polynesia

Bora-Bora, French Polynesia

Riding the Ghan train through Australia's Red Center

The fabled Ghan, one of the world's great rail trips, threads its way through the Outback, where the wild things star.

Some Down Under fun at Noosa Heads

Just a few hundred yards into our family's short hike from an oceanfront hotel to the beach at Tea Tree Bay, our 5-year-old son stopped dead...

Hiker opts for comfort on New Zealand wilderness trek

REPORTING FROM NEW ZEALAND