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Best adventure travel experiences: The 21 most thrilling travel moments of 22
Muley Point, Utah, offers a view of America's other grand canyon. Credit: iStock
From beachside e-biking to treks in suburbia, adventure travel encapsulates much more than activities of the bungee propelling persuasion. Though, disclaimer alert; you can brace for plenty of heart-racing moments, too, in Traveller's list of the best adventure moments of 2022. With a blend of humbling natural encounters, adrenalin-pumping attractions and explorations by ski, wheel and foot, we hope our list inspires your own 2023 travels, no matter what type of adventurer you are.
THE PLACE
MULEY POINT, UTAH, US
THE TIME Tuesday, January 18, 2.30pm
THE MOMENT I'm searching for a look-out a local tells me is on "the edge of the world", but there's not a single sign. I follow his notes and find a gravel road. At the end of it the Wild West is laid out below me: a Grand Canyon we never heard about. There's a half-kilometre drop to a valley of rock spires and red desert. Butch Cassidy hid here after his robberies. All I think to do is open a beer and toast this place, with my legs near-dangling over the edge. See visitutah.com
THE PLACE
SANTA MONICA, LOS ANGELES, US
THE TIME Wednesday, February 16, 1.30pm
THE MOMENT Everyone knows LA's traffic sucks: it can take 30 minutes to travel a block. So I've booked an e-bike tour that'll take me 50 kilometres in five hours, seeing all the best bits of LA from two wheels. The sky's blue, the temperature's set for a high of 25 and I'm free-wheeling down Ocean Avenue at Santa Monica beside the beach knowing I won't need to find a car park all day. I may see this whole darn city in the time it takes to drive to LAX. See bikesandhikesla.com
THE PLACE
CORAL COAST, VITI LEVU, FIJI
THE TIME Thursday, March 10, 5.50pm
THE MOMENT A lightning storm lashes the coastline but the calm that follows has my surf guide urging me to go with him on the resort's tender to surf a reef half-a-kilometre offshore. The sun's setting as we leap into a bath water-warm ocean and paddle across a reef that's as colourful as the sunset. A wave breaks and a local kid about 10 years old rides an old discarded surfboard across its face, hooting and yelling as he goes. See surfingfiji.com
THE PLACE
ST ANTON, AUSTRIA
THE TIME Friday, March 25, 10am
THE MOMENT Two days ago was momentous, emotional: arriving at Sydney Airport's international terminal for the first time in two years, boarding a flight bound for another country after the lull of the pandemic. Today though is sheer joy: strapping on a snowboard and gliding down a mountainside in St Anton, Austria, enjoying the spectacular sight of the alps, the thrill of movement, and the absolute ecstasy of being back out in the world, doing what I love. See austria.info
THE PLACE
ISTANBUL, TURKEY
Credit: iStock
THE TIME Saturday, March 26, 11am
THE MOMENT I've done a lot of walking these past few days, from the narrow alleys of Galata to the broad walkways along the banks of the Bosphorus, passing magnificent mosques and grand mansions. As my guide and I stroll down the narrow streets of the residential neighbourhood of Balat – a place where houses are colourfully-painted, where grandmothers gossip while their grandchildren play in the streets, where cats sun themselves in front of old-fashioned coffee houses – I savour the feeling of swapping sightseeing for the rhythms of daily life. See istanbultourstudio.com
THE PLACE
MOUILLE POINT, SOUTH AFRICA
Credit: iStock
THE TIME Sunday, April 24, 11am
THE MOMENT Sky and sea merge in a gauzy horizon off Cape Town's Sea Point Promenade on this gusty, cheerful morning. Joggers and skateboarders whizz past me, fast as the wind; salt spray tangles my hair. I stop to gaze out over a seawall pounded immemorially by great waves rolling in from the Atlantic. A tugboat persists against the current; lumps of kelp flounder, tiny shipwrecks unmoored from the seabed. Far off, Bloubergstrand and Robben Island are wisps of smoke summoned, it seems, by this immense, capricious ocean. See capetown.travel
THE PLACE
PALENQUE, COLOMBIA
THE TIME Sunday, May 1, 11am
THE MOMENT A sparring session with head coach Pedro in the boxing gym in Palenque, a small town 60 kilometres south-east of the port city of Cartagena on Colombia's Caribbean coast. Famous for being the first free African town in the Americas (it was established by a group of runaway slaves in the early 1600s), it's also notable for producing Colombia's first boxing world champion, Antonio "Kid Pambele" Cervantes. On this entertaining tour I box, drum, lunch and learn. See impulsetravel.co
THE PLACE
SIERRA NEVADA DE SANTA MARTA MOUNTAINS, COLOMBIA
Credit: iStock
THE TIME Monday, May 9, 1pm
THE MOMENT Having lunch with my guide, Cristian, and a group of barefoot Kogi children all dressed in simple white tunics next to a river by the remote Kogi settlement of Tungaka. The Kogi are one of four indigenous tribes descended from the original Tairona pre-Columbian civilisation that thrived in northern Colombia before the Spanish arrived. Today, they live simple, subsistence lives with a deeply spiritual respect for nature. It's a humbling, enlightening and moving encounter. See impulsetravel.co
THE PLACE
BIMINI, THE BAHAMAS
Credit: iStock
THE TIME Tuesday, May 17, 11am
THE MOMENT I've just come eye to eye with a shiver of Caribbean reef sharks (thankfully harmless) while snorkelling around the remnants of the SS Sapona, a cargo steamer that ran aground in 1926 in the aquamarine waters near Bimini in The Bahamas. The wreck is a magnet for sharks, turtles and a colourful explosion of tropical fish who nibble away at the coral growing on the ship's rusted remains. It's by far my favourite excursion during a five-night "Dominican Daze" cruise onboard Virgin Voyages' Scarlet Lady. See virginvoyages.com
THE PLACE
EPCOT, ORLANDO, US
THE TIME Sunday, June 5, 8pm
THE MOMENT I'm unsure what I scream as I'm catapulted backwards on "Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind" but it's probably not printable. EPCOT's first indoor rollercoaster is a blast, a space-themed "Omnicoaster" where each carriage spins while hurtling along an undulating 1.7-kilometre track. Throw in a funky '80s soundtrack plus an entertaining backstory with cameos by Chris Pratt and Glenn Close and you've got Disney's most exciting new coaster since Space Mountain. See disneyworld.disney.go.com
THE PLACE
BEACHY HEAD, ENGLAND
Credit: iStock
THE TIME Wednesday, July 6, 3pm
THE MOMENT It's a thigh-burning, breath-sapping ascent but eventually I reach the 162-metre summit of Beachy Head, England's highest chalk sea cliff, where I'm treated to captivating panoramic views of the English Channel and the undulating downlands of England's south coast. It's a figurative and literal high point of walking the newest section of the England Coast Path, a 53-kilometre tranche between Shoreham-by-sea and Eastbourne. When it's complete, the 4500-kilometre hiking trail around England's coastline will be the world's longest coastal path. See nationaltrail.co.uk
THE PLACE
REYKJANES PENINSULA, ICELAND
THE TIME Friday, July 8, 11am
THE MOMENT I'm walking atop a great big burnt pavlova, or so it seems when lava cools in freezing air and becomes black and crispy like meringue. Geldingadalur on Fagradalsfjall Mountain in Iceland erupted last year. For six months it spewed blistery orange lava into the surrounding valleys, filling them up. This newly blackened landscape is perfect for yoga. We lay out our mats as wisps of steam escape from hidden heat pockets deep within the crust below us. We are warriors and goddesses, striking lava-top poses in the land of fire and ice. See gadventures.com; visiticeland.com
THE PLACE
CORNWALL, UK
THE TIME Thursday, July 21, 1pm
THE MOMENT It's the middle of a heat wave in Cornwall in the UK's south - a sublime 28 degrees. I'm walking along the South West Coast Path, England's longest marked trail stretching 1015 kilometres. At Porthgwarra Cove, in Penzance, hidden caves and secret rock tunnels remind me that this coast was once home to real-life pilfering, plundering pirates. I strip off and stroll down the cobbled ramp to the ocean, slipping past little wooden dinghies to immerse in the cool depths. See staubynestatescottages.co.uk; southwestcoastpath.org.uk; visitbritain.com
THE PLACE
FRANZ JOSEF GLACIER, NEW ZEALAND
THE TIME Friday, July 22, 9am
THE MOMENT I expected our morning hike to take us over Franz Josef Glacier, not through it. I'm standing in a tunnel made of glacial ice, with sunlight pouring in from a narrow shaft above making the walls glow a luminous blue. As I follow my mountaineering guide further in, the ice walls close to just a few centimetres from my shoulders. We shimmy our way up a skinny axe-hewn staircase and emerge blinking into daylight to see the Southern Alps looming over us. Against the mountain, I can make out the tiny red helicopter speeding towards us to take us home. See franzjosefglacier.com
THE PLACE
EDINBURGH, UK
THE TIME Wednesday, August 10, 11am
THE MOMENT So I knew Scotland's capital was beautiful but I didn't realise quite how lovely it was until my guided 35-kilometre Edinburgh cycling loop. Fleeing the festival-filled city centre, we pedal beside primped-up parks, floral gardens, rivers and canals, along old railway lines, through a graffiti-doused tunnel and out to the part-gritty, part-gentrified port of Leith, before pulling in at the quaint resort of Portobello, whose sandy beaches, caressed by calm blue waters, look almost Mediterranean in this heatwave. See visitscotland.com
THE PLACE
PARO, BHUTAN
Credit: iStock
THE TIME Thursday, September 29, 2pm
THE MOMENT A thought has been running through my head today: this must be one of the world's truly great experiences. As a day trip, as a package, this is up there with the best. The experience is the walk up to Paro Taktsang, the Buddhist temple complex otherwise known as the Tiger's Nest, a group of buildings set impossibly high on a cliff above Paro in Bhutan. The 6.4 kilometre trek to get up here is stunningly beautiful, and the complex I'm now staring at is truly awesome. See gadventures.com
THE PLACE
VANCOUVER ISLAND, CANADA
THE TIME Tuesday, August 30, 10.30am
THE MOMENT A half-hour into the hike, I've already decided I'll never hike again. Not because the going is hard – far from it. It's just that everything I've already seen is so spectacular, I think I'll never enjoy another hike quite this scenic. Striding through the old-growth forest, wading ankle-deep through a salmon-filled river, marvelling at claw marks made by a black bear scaling a tree – this hike at Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge, at the end of a remote sound on Vancouver Island's isolated west coast, is truly remarkable. See clayoquotwildernesslodge.com
THE PLACE
MOUNT BULLER, VIC
THE TIME Wednesday, 9am, September 7
THE MOMENT We wake up for a ski, there are 110 kilometre-an-hour winds, all the lifts are shut and we are all still grinning from ear to ear. Why? Because it is the first time we have seen snow since the pandemic began and nothing - not even this - is going to ruin it for us. My eldest walks up the road carrying his skis and skis down the Bourke Street run a couple of times; youngest and I build a snowman and then we take a dip in the Chalet Hotel pool in our long johns. In the evening we fight the elements up to the new Moosehead blues bar to join staff for a drink. See mtbuller.com.au
THE PLACE
SOLU KHUMBU, NEPAL
THE TIME Tuesday, October 4, 2pm
THE MOMENT We hiked for hours to get here. Up through forest filled with rhododendrons, waterfalls and wild raspberries, finally arriving at Chiwong monastery. We were greeted by 57 monks, most of them young "monklets", who received us with pressed palm namastes and giggles. They showed us their temple, and now we're all celebrating a local German man's birthday, with birthday cake and balloons and sparklers. Is there anything cuter than a five-year-old monk in a party hat eating cake? Absolutely not. See beyulexperiences.com
THE PLACE
KHUMBU, NEPAL
THE TIME Friday, October 7, 7am
THE MOMENT I've woken up inside a cloud, inside a Mongolian ger tent, in the Nepalese Himalayas. Yesterday afternoon we hiked through the "Magic Forest'" to get here, filled with 200-year-old trees and wild mushrooms and moody mosses, whistling out for bears and arriving at the ridge-top camp just before nightfall. Later, there's red wine and Sherpa soup and mountain stories told fireside by our Sherpa guides. Now, walking outside for breakfast, the sky clears and the snow-capped Himalayan peaks finally pierce the clouds. See beyulexperiences.com
THE PLACE
AMED, BALI
THE TIME Saturday, October 22, 5pm
THE MOMENT I'm parked right on the edge of the Bali Sea at a "secret" campsite in Bali's north-west Amed region. Jared from Bali Campers tipped me off about this coveted place and a handful of other scenic spots to camp around the island. My two-person camper is souped up with fairy lights, solar operated fridge and shower, plenty of storage hacks and a comfortable mattress. From a busy nearby temple, gamelan music sings out from loudspeakers. Looking across the water towards Lombok, Balinese men in conical hats fish from little wooden reef boats. See balicampers.com; indonesia.travel
Contributors: Paul Chai, Anthony Dennis, Michael Gebicki, Ben Groundwater, Belinda Jackson, Brian Johnston, Ute Junker, Nina Karnikowski, Rob McFarland, Steve Mckenna, Julie Miller, Catherine Marshall, Justin Meneguzzi, Craig Tansley and Penny Watson
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