South Australian Vacation Destination : Kangaroo National and Conservation Parks

National and conservation parks cover more than one third of the total area of land on Kangaroo Island and are ideal to explore on your next holiday.

These are havens for wildlife and a great place to get close to Australian nature. See sea lions lolling around Admirals Arch, koalas clinging to trees in Kelly Hill Conservation Park, waves crashing against the island’s shoreline, and rock formations that will take your breath away.

From very early in Kangaroo Island’s European settlement, national and conservation parks were declared across the Island in recognition of the importance of preserving the unique plant and wildlife species that exist here. Some of these species of plants and animals are either threatened or exist nowhere else in Australia.

When you think of world famous Kangaroo Island, chances are that you picture a secluded island of native forests, teeming with natural wildlife. That’s one way of describing Kangaroo Island – but it’s a description that hardly does it justice.

The first thing that strikes you when you arrive on Kangaroo Island is the scale of the place. Only 15 kilometres from the South Australian mainland, the island is seven times larger than Singapore, with a breathtaking diversity of natural environments for you to discover.

For nature lovers, Kangaroo Island is a feast for the senses. There are secluded beaches where you can relax in the sun, or do a spot of ocean fishing. There are pastures where sheep farmers, beekeepers, and winemakers produce the renowned local gourmet cuisine.

There are small towns with intimate restaurants and stores showcasing local artwork. And there are dense, ancient forests that are only a short drive from the island’s charming hamlets.

How do you take it all in?

Take a 4WD trip into the island’s bushland areas, and you’ll see koalas, echidnas, wallabies, all in their own natural habitat. Join a guided night-time tour to see the famous little penguins march out of the ocean to their homes along the coastline.

And venture to the remarkable western coastline of the island, where two of the Southern Hemisphere’s three species of seals have made their homes among a dramatic backdrop of tumultuous seas and rocky coastal outcrops.

Your hosts will be members of an eclectic local community of farmers, artists, ecologists, fishers, and adventurer lovers. Some were born on the island. Others visited and never wanted to go home again. But they’ve all got one thing in common – a love affair with this special place.

Talk to them, and you’ll realize that there’s no shortage of things to see and do on Kangaroo Island – and one visit might not be enough to take it all in.

Kangaroo Island Flora

Kangaroo Island’s plant catalogue lists 891 species, as well as approximately 250 that have been introduced from other parts of the world.

You’ll see wildflowers in every season, and September and October reveal spectacular flowering of much of the flora.

More than 400 of the plants are found in Flinders Chase National Park, making it the most representative area of original flora. Mallee scrub dominates much of the uncleared areas.

In the east, Kangaroo Island Narrow-Leaf Mallee is the main multi-trunked mallee, and it is from this tree that eucalyptus oil is extracted. The much taller single-trunk eucalypts such as Sugar Gum, Blue Gum, Cup Gum, Swamp Gum and River Red Gum generally grow along rivers and creek banks. Two stringybark species are found in the centre to the northwest of the Island.

The number and variety of wattles match the diversity of the eucalypts. Other small trees or large shrubs include the Drooping Sheoak, two Banksia species, Dryland Tea-tree, Broombush, Scarlet Bottlebrush, several Hakea and the slow-growing Tate’s Grass tree. Because of its isolation from the mainland, Kangaroo Island has 46 endemic species; these are plants that are native to, and restricted to, a particular geographical region.

Some of these, like the two Tetrathecas, are very beautiful; others, like the prickly Kangaroo Island Conestick, are more remarkable for their uniqueness than their beauty. One Hakea (Hakea aenigma), does not put on seed in the normal way, but reproduces itself by suckering.

Spring is the best time to see the Golden Wattle – Australia’s floral emblem. Many species of wattle provide a mass of vivid yellow from Penneshaw to Cape Borda and many places in between. Other flowering plants, which bring a splash of colour to the bush, include Scarlet Bottlebrush, orange and red Cockies Tongue, purple Fringe-lily, green and red Correa, Azure Daisy bush and many others. The different varieties of scented white bearded heaths, white and yellow graceful Riceflower, green-orange, lovely pink and red Grevilleas and Spyridiums enhance the beauty of the understorey.

There are also more than 60 different species of orchid found on the Island with all but one of these being terrestrial (having small bulbs under the ground) and ranging in height from 1-100 centimetres.

Find more information vacation destination at : www.southaustralia.com

Etihad Airways and Asiana Airlines Sign Codeshare Agreement

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has signed a codeshare deal with South Korea’s Asiana Airlines. The new agreement will see flights between Abu Dhabi, Seoul and various other travel destinations operating under the Etihad (EY) and Asiana (OZ) codes.

Chief executive officer of Etihad Airways, James Hogan, commented on the codeshare pact coming less than two months before their airline starts service to Seoul: “South Korea is a very important market for the UAE, and we’re confident that this relationship will increase the flow of traffic between the two countries,” he said in a statement here.

The codeshare fares will start sometime next month. Etihad’s first Seoul flight is scheduled to depart from Incheon Airport on December 10. The airlines will also feature a reciprocal rewards program.

United Airlines and Continental Airlines to Create Largest US Carrier

A merger between UAL Corp.’s United Airlines and Continental Airlines Inc. would create the largest U.S. carrier on routes across the Atlantic and Pacific where business fliers pay some of the industry’s highest fares.

The companies together would pass Delta Air Lines Inc. for the top spot in the U.S. industry across the Atlantic, with 40 percent of the passenger traffic, and grab 53 percent of traffic across the Pacific, where United already leads, based on data compiled by Bloomberg.

UAL and Continental are holding talks on a tie-up, a person with direct knowledge of the meetings said yesterday. Broader networks help funnel in more travelers and attract corporate customers who fly between airports such as San Francisco and Tokyo’s Narita, or Newark, New Jersey, and London’s Heathrow.
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Airlines at RIC To Increase Flights to New York, Chicago

Airlines are increasing Richmond International Airport service to some of regional travelers’ most popular destinations.

American Airlines will add two daily trips to Chicago O’Hare International Airport starting April 6, bringing its daily weekday count to five, said RIC’s Troy Bell.

United Airlines also serves that route, he noted, so that the two air-carrier groups combined will offer 11 daily roundtrips between Richmond and Chicago. The American flights will use 50-seat regional jets for the nonstop service.

“The fact that we have meaningful competition to one of our largest markets is significant,” Bell said. “United and American, two major carriers, are competing for the business of Richmond regional travelers.”
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United States Airports See Fewer Travelers Taking Flights This Holiday Season

It now seems that air travel over the holiday season will fall by 2.5 percent when compared to last year. The Air Transport Association of America said that it expects 41 million passengers to fly on United States airlines over a 21 day period from December 17th to January 6th. The busiest travel days are expected to be Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday after Christmas on December 26th through the 28th.
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Decline In Global Air Travel ‘Begins To Slow’

There are signs that the fall in the number of global air passengers is beginning to stabilise.

Figures released by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) indicate that the economic situation which has crippled the airline industry could be easing.
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apan temporarily detains American Airlines passengers over flu scare

Japanese health officials detained more than three dozen American Airlines Inc. passengers and two flight attendants Monday while officials tested a passenger for the H1N1 virus.
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China Southern 2008 Traffic Growth Slows Sharply

China Southern Airlines’ passenger volume growth in 2008 slowed to single digits for the first time in five years as a slowing economy curbed demand.
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Malaysia Airlines Fuel Surcharges for Domestic Airlines Flight

Flag carrier Malaysia Airlines said Tuesday it will scrap fuel surcharges for domestic flights as part of efforts to boost air travel amid an economic slowdown. Read more

Qatar Airways Reported Flight and Passenger Traffic

Qatar Airways carried more than 12 million passengers last year, a gain of 35 per cent, and says it hopes to achieve similar growth this year, even as economic turmoil dampens demand for international air travel. Read more