Get Lost

Ever wanted to own your own train?

Toot Toot! All aboard the G-Train!

No, we’re not talking about the famous footballer, get lost is referring to Frenchman Thierry Gaugain’s extraordinary concept, which is being called the ‘Palace on Wheels’ – a kind of modern take on the world famous Orient Express.

Gaugain is a super-yacht designer, and he is now bringing that level of luxury to tracks. The train will feature sleeping space for 18 guests, a party carriage, and several carriages with all-glass exteriors (we hope they don’t go through any rough neighbourhoods).

The thing that is amazing about the G-Train is that it is being sold as a private train – imagine owning your own train!

Gaugain is looking for buyers – so if you’ve got a cool AU $486 million to spare, get in touch.

Devil’s Corner Race around Tasmania

Tasmanian winery Devil’s Corner are hosting an epic race around the Apple Isle this winter.

The race to find ‘The Lost Shipment’ will see three teams of adventurers travel to each corner of the state in an ‘Amazing Race’ style event, split into four legs:

HUON VALLEY

Starting in the south at Huon Valley, racers will sail along the Huon River before swapping the water for the treetops, journeying across the Tahune Forest Airwalk – a cantilevered bridge suspended 40 metres above the Huon River. From there they’ll head sub-zero, to discover the mysterious labyrinth of Hasting Caves and swim in epic underground thermal pools.

SMITHTON

At Smithton (via Cradle Mountain) in the state’s northwest, there’s the chance to ‘Dine with the Devil’ at Devils @ Cradle – a unique sanctuary and conservation facility for the threatened Tasmanian Devil. After this, a full-day, four-wheel drive adventure taking racers to the remote ‘Edge of The World’ region and Tarkine National Park, home to the second largest expanse of cool temperate rainforest in the world.

BRIDPORT

Travelling east to Bridport, there’s the chance to take the plunge at Australia’s only wood-fired Floating Sauna. Here, there’s a traditional Finnish wood-fired sauna, which contrasts with the slightly more intimidating cold plunge directly off a pontoon into the fresh waters of Lake Derby. Not a bad place to make a pit stop in order to ‘recharge’ ahead of the final leg.

EAST COAST

Devil’s Corner Tassie’s east coast is an exceptional slice of paradise, that has thus far (somehow) escaped mass tourism. Awaiting racers is an unspoilt stretch of gorgeous beaches, delicious seafood and exceptional wineries, including Devil’s Corner, the finish line to the race, and where vineyards meet the sea.

To find out how to win your place in the race, visit www.thelostshipment.com.au.

Ancient Okinawa

As well as being one of the world’s most underrated dive spots, and home to awesome wilderness retreats and delicious food, there’s also plenty of history in Okinawa Prefecture.

For almost 500-years, Okinawa and its surrounding islands were part of the Ryukyu Kingdom. This Kingdom once ruled from south of Kyushu in southern Japan, all the way down until (but not including) Taiwan.

Zakimi-jo Castle. It is estimated that there were once as many as 5000 castles total in Japan.

The historic era saw the Ryukyuans become prosperous, a key cog in the maritime trading route of Asia, traders, with evidence in 2022 to be found in the series of pretty epic castles that you can actually go and visit.

get lost have found the three best gusukus on Okinawa Island for you to step back in time in.

Katsuren-jo Castle site

The Pacific Ocean sandwiches Katsuren-jo Castle on two sides, which would have created a formidable lookout in the 13^th to 14^th century when it was built. Nowadays, it has lost its defensive purpose but retains its domineering beauty. In 2016, both Ottoman and Roman Empire currency was dug up at Kasturen, a nod to Okinawa’s status as a major maritime player.

Visit Katsuren

Katsuren is near Uruma, on Okinawa Island’s east coast.

Nakijin-jo Castle site

Nakijin Castle was seemingly built in the 13^th century with tourism in mind. You can actually walk along the top section of the castle and you’ll get some pretting incredible views of the forest and surrounding ocean, and Japan’s famous cherry blossoms bloom around the castle in January and February. Nakijin changed hands a few times in history and was actually burnt to the ground in 1609. It’s size is seriously impressive for the era in which it was constructed.

Visit Nakijin

Nakijin-jo Castle has pretty impressive views whichever way you look.

Zakimi-jo Castle site

Zakimi Castle’s walls were built so strongly in 1420 that you can still walk along them today. It’s pretty special to be able to admire the handiwork of masons, whose work has withstood several hundred years of civil war. There’s also a vreally interesting, informative museum on site, the perfect place to learn more about the gusuku and Okinawa’s rich culture and history.

Visit Zakimi

Japan’s best kept underwater secret

Japan is home to some of the world’s best diving and snorkelling – if you know where to find it.

On land, everyone knows about this country’s delicious street food, powder snow, cultures that date back thousands of years and extraordinary outdoor experiences, but there is also plenty to be found underwater as well.

The Kerama Islands are one big national park, comprising of 36 islands, populated by just under a couple of thousand people. We don’t know what the true population of colourful fish swimming in schools and dancing in and out of reefs, dodging seaweed and hiding behind colourful coral, but go underwater for even just a few minutes and your perception of Japan will change forever. There are about 250 species of fish in the islands, humpback whales, manta rays as well as one other major drawcard: sea turtles.

From May through to September/October is the best time to see sea turtles in the Kerama Islands.

These big, friendly beasts live to up to 70-80 years in this part of the world. As you’re swimming in Kerama’s exceptionally blue waters, it’s mind blowing to think that the gentle green beasts in front of you were probably around in 1972, when the Okinawa prefecture was returned to the Japanese from the U.S., who had ruled the area for almost three decades. Or when Japan emerged as an economic superpower in the 1960s, or when they hosted the Olympic games in 1964 and 2021, or throughout any of this country’s major historic events over the last half-century and a bit.

And as they swim serenely in thrillingly clear turquoise waters in front of you – oblivious to any of those happenings – you’ll think that they’ve probably had the right idea all along.

get lost’s top four Kerama Islands diving spots:

Zamami Island

An array of beginner to advanced diving spots, drift diving and cave diving, with schools of migratory fish, gorgeous coral and more. Epic.
Ijyakajya

If you want to see sea turtles, this spot on Aka Island is where to come, between the months of May and October. Also plenty of manta rays, who gather to be cleaned by the other sea life there.
Tokashiki Island

The caves located beneath Aharen Lighthouse create an epic light display.
Onna Village

Onna Village has the nickname ‘Coral Village’ for a reason. Check it out below:

WIN: The ultimate job with GoPro and Adrenaline

Looking for work? How does getting paid to travel, skydive, climb and capture content for the world’s premier adventure content specialists sound?

Even if you’re not in the market for a new job, we think this one is probably cooler than the one you’ve got.

Adrenaline and GoPro are on the hunt for an adventure-seeking content creator to become an official Adrenaline creator in 2022. This means swapping the office for cliffs, the ocean, the dunes and the sky. Sounds cool, right?

The role sees one grand prize winner receive a $100,000 contract to participate in and shoot 12 adventures across four campaigns for the adventure marketplace over a year-long period.

This means travelling around the world and filming epic adventures and experiences. It’s being billed as ‘The Best Job in the World’ but it actually is, the best job in the world.

Photography and adventure enthusiasts can enter from today by uploading a photo or video of their adventurous activity to the GoPro awards website.

The competition is live until March 31st, 2022 – head to the Adrenaline website to enter, or the GoPro website to enter your content.

Turn the lights off in an Icelandic volcano

Some countries have a couple of beautiful natural attractions and then you have Iceland, which seems to have one around every corner. The best thing is that the extraordinary Nordic country last week threw open its doors to travellers, meaning we can all take in these unbelievable experiences once again.

Iceland experiences frequent volcanic activity, due to its location both on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. One of these is Thrihnukagigur, which last erupted around 4,000 years ago. Phewph! Wipe the sweat from your brow – that was a close one.

The underground volcano was only discovered in 1974, and has only more recently been open for travellers to walk/scale down its depths.

Harnessed in though you are, travelling 120 metres down a colourful magma chamber is as much epic as it is disconcerting. It is not the height or the crazily coloured rock formations that are lit up from a man-made lighting system that is most striking, but the sheer depth of the cavern that exists on the inside – big enough easily fit the Statue of Liberty inside. If you’ve ever felt slightly insignificant when looking at the size of the Indian Ocean, Thrihnukagigur will give you the same feeling.

Perhaps most unnerving is when guides turn the lights – all of them – off, to leave you a hundred or so metres deep inside a volcano without any shred of light.

*Editor’s note: Although get lost have been to this site, we are still none the wiser on how to pronounce Thrihnukagigur. Best to consult an Icelander here.

Summer Skiing in Norway

Skiing in the middle of summer? No problem, if you’re in Norway.

And while most think of snow and northern lights when it comes to Norway, its a great place to be at anytime of the year, not least the warmer months. The Nordic country recently announced it was re-opening its borders to the rest of the world too, just in time for the European summer.

Stryn is a municipality in central-west Norway, blessed with majestic mountains and typically dramatic Norwegian fjords. Take the unbelievably epic Loen Skylift up to the top of Mt. Hoven, a five minute trip which is surely the best way to spend five minutes outside of a bed or a disco.

From there, fly down the slopes to your hearts content – with the sun not setting until around 11.30pm, there’s plenty of time to make the most of the 12km of lightly-dusted groomers.

Sandboarding Mũi Né’s Epic Dunes

Vietnam will open its borders to the rest of the world from mid-March, in a move that the rest of the world is extremely excited about.

A hotpot of festivals, beaches, culture, beauty and food, not to mention interesting people, Vietnam is one of the must-go places for any traveller.

And while Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Nha Trang and the like are epic places, get lost is steering you away from the well-trodden path to another beach town on the southeast coast.

Mũi Né is a haven for travellers for fishing, kitesurfing, beachside chilling and its massive sand dunes.

Rent a board and go flying down the sand. The red dunes in town aren’t bad, but the white dunes slightly further out are the best.

When you’re done, grab a cold Saigon Red on the water’s edge in town – we doubt there’s anywhere else you’d rather be.

Discover Grenada’s underwater sculpture park

A circle of children hold hands in eerie stillness while nearby, a man sitting at a desk taps blankly at his typewriter.

This surreal world lies beneath the calm waters of Grenada’s Molinere Bay where are number of life-size figures made mainly from concrete sit at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea, nibbled by tropical fish.

Hurricane Ivan swept through the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada in 2004 tearing up trees, houses – in fact, anything that stood in its path. The destruction occurred underwater too. The coral surrounding the island that had made it so appealing to snorkellers and divers was also severely damaged.

Killing two birds with one stone, sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor installed a series of underwater sculptures which also act as artificial reeds on which marine life can develop. They have attracted tourists armed with snorkels and diving gear, easing pressure on other reefs in the area, and have also drawn a wide range of marine life back to these waters.

The sculpture park continues to grow, with artists continuing to add their own work to the surreal space.

Is Ireland is the new love capital?

Love is all around in the Emerald Isle.

From movies and literature to the music and myths, it’s not particularly difficult to find. But if you need a bit of extra help, on the eve of Valentines Day weekend, we’ve come up with five reasons why Ireland is arguably the new love capital of the world (most of these double as pretty good date ideas).

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The Kissing Gate

Local myth and legend suggests that couples who canoodle over the Kissing Gate at Tannaghmore Gardens in Armagh, Northern Ireland, will marry within the year, so take your other half along if you have marriage on your mind. If you are that significant other, maybe avoid this place.

Moher than just friends

We’re not sure where the most proposals take place in Ireland. But if we had to hazard a guess, the Cliffs of Moher would be right up there. One of the most extraordinary landscapes on earth, the Cliffs never fail to take the breath away.

Wild Atlantic Love

Sally Rooney’s smash-hit novel Normal People was adapted to a Netflix TV series in 2020, and main characters Connell and Marianne (played by Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jone) were always destined to become heartthrobs. But what really stole the show was Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, dramatic and gorgeous landscapes stealing the couple’s thunder, as well as the hearts of viewers the world over.

Pay homage to the man himself in Dublin

O.K, this would be a pretty weird date, we admit. But the Shrine of St. Valentine, Mr. Love himself, is based in Carmelite Church on Whitefriar Street in Dublin, and everyone from young lovers to the Pope have been known to pay homage on the 14^th of February each year.

Get off Tinder, and get to the pub

If you haven’t found the one yet, it might just be that you haven’t been to a pub in Ireland. If you’re doing it right, a session will start with a pint next to a warm fire, and a few tall stories.

Soon there’ll be music playing and before long you’ll be dancing a proper jig with someone possessing a ridiculously spelt name like Caihome or Padraig or Aoife…and the rest is history.

WHICH LETTER DOES YOUR DESTINATION START WITH?

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