The magic of the Hokianga captured Rob Cox's heart. Photo / 123RF
The best travel stories from 2016.
January
"Hokianga is a real northern jewel. When you are on those [sand dune] slopes, your footprints make it look like you are the first people to land there. It's nice to have somewhere all to yourself."
- When Rob Cox took his boys dune surfing in the Winterless North, the magic of the Hokianga captured his heart.
February
"Not only could an unofficial scramble up the side of an ancient damage the very things [a tourist is] there to celebrate, but such oafish antics make local communities less likely to engage with visitors, less likely to share the coolest things about their culture and, regrettably, less likely to profit from the fastest-growing economic sector."
- Eighteen-year-old German Andrej Ciesielski got a stunning photo after scrambling up a 4500-year-old pyramid in Egypt. Winston Aldworth was not impressed.
March
"Our evenings were spent reading, recounting the day's best waves, and drinking Bintang on the deck. There were no thoughts of switching on the television and internet access was poor, so there was little choice but to unwind while listening to the mysterious sounds drifting from the jungle around us.
- Ben Chapman-Smith wrote about his Indonesian surfing trip in a group consisting of "five balding young dads of average surfing abilities".
April
"Best of all is having the time and encouragement to fully appreciate the glorious landscape. On a lunch stop atop a hill high above the cove, surrounded by those majestic mountains, I looked down on the famous lake [Wakatipu]. Bob's Cove might have the deepest blues, but beauty is spread evenly across this canvas."
- Along the shores of Lake Wakatipu, Shandelle Battersby, found space to meditate, contemplate . . . and drink wine.
May
"As far as first bushwalks go, it would be hard to top the Hollyford — though I did wonder aloud how I'd go on a self-catered tramp where I had to carry my bedding and food and possibly a tent on my back.
"If he'd heard me say that, Davey Gunn — a man who reportedly sewed upawound that ripped open his scrotum with a darning needle and fishing line — would have turned in his watery grave."
- Tramping on one of New Zealand's Great Walks, Shandelle Battersby picked up some memorable stories from her guides.
June
"The aquamarine waters of Aitutaki's lagoon lap the platinum white sand of palm-treed islets. Many reckon these are the world's most beautiful beaches. We're not arguing."
- While composing her guide to the best short-haul stops in the Pacific, the normally reserved Leila George was pretty impressed with The Cook Islands' famous lagoon location.
July
"If standing in a poo-filled paddock surrounded by a bunch of middle-aged Londoners having their annual MDMA weekend away from the kids as they try to recall their wild college days — back before before they became David Cameron-voting drones
working in the banking sector — is your idea of a top time, you'll love Glastonbury."
- When we ran a feature on the most over-rated things in the world, perennial Grinch Winston Aldworth couldn't resist taking a shot at the UK's biggest music festival.
August
"The number of items on display at the Met is brain-fryingly huge. To glance at each for a second would take more than a week. You need to prioritise. And don't save your favourites until last — this is not a time to eat your brussels sprouts first."
- Bronwyn Sell shared some priceless tips on how to get the most out of New York's Metropolitan Museum.
September
"The tales you end up telling the most are the ones where there was some kind of mishap. Often it's the kindness of strangers that helps you through. Like the time I smashed my bicycle into a motorbike while aimlessly searching for schoolbooks to deliver in rural Laos. The girl I almost injured helped me find the schoolbooks.
"While travelling with friends in Cambodia, we were enticed into visiting the postcard-perfect Koh Rong Island — except we were duped into visiting the wrong Koh Rong. Violently seasick on the way back to the mainland, I could only marvel at how Koh Rong had gone so wrong."
- Tim Roxborogh opened our series on travel mishaps with a cautionary tale of his own. He had many to choose from.
October
"The city of Berlin seems bent under the weight of memory. Made tired by the effort of remembering and forgetting. After any regime change there is a natural tension between the two.
One inclination is to try and keep harsh memories alive as a warning. In his latest novel, The Infatuations, Javier Marias describes an opposite tendency. Something that happened in Spain after Franco. An enforced social amnesia for the sake of reconciliation. To forget the dictatorship ever happened and endeavour not speak of it again.
"One thing Germans are not allowed to forget, something which may eventually overwhelm all otherrecollections of their 20th century, including the Stasi, is the totalitarian regime that came before."
- Phil Vine explored Berlin's dark past and its complicated relationship to the present.
November
"Where better to stick two fingers to Trump than Mexico, the place he finds so offensive that he plans to put it behind a wall. Whatever the great orange one might think, Mexico is an exciting destination for travellers, with incredible beaches, fascinating history, and amazing food. Best of all, it's unlikely to be somewhere Trump visits for a holiday."
- Stephanie Holmes took a look at the best places to hide out for those horrified by Donald Trump's US election victory
December
"The bar was stacked above the sand like a woodpile. It didn't have a door and it didn't have walls. It was open for dinner and belonged to the warm night air. There were tables and chairs on the wooden deck, and more on the sand. It was rough and ready and resolutely charming, with eight barstools propped up against the bar, and all manners of signs tacked up on the walls and hanging from the ceiling — one claimed, MAUI VISITOR AND INFORMATION CENTRE.
You could fall off a barstool, and roll down the sand to the lagoon. Above, the coconut trees dropped their cargo: THWUMP, laterraked intoapile with household rubbish and burned. There were crackling little bonfires all around the island, points of light in the dark."
- In a beachside bar in Rarotonga, Steve Braunias found a unique character.
Vail combines luxury with festive charm better than anywhere else.