Travel: Australia-New Zealand

A tourist stands on a path leading toward the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, on March 22, 2007. Like other Aussie cities, Sydney is walker-friendly, with many shops and closed-street malls.

The Princess Theatre in downtown Melbourne stands out as an example of the Victorian architecture the British settlers brought with them to Australia. Australia's second-largest city is well-served by trolley lines and is ringed by dozens of attractions from Fitzroy Gardens to cricket and football stadiums.

Associated Press writer Glenn Adams takes a leap of 47 meters, 154 feet, from The Ledge bungee platform, on a mountain 400 feet above the city of Queenstown, New Zealand's adventure capital. The gondola ride up the mountain -- and bungee jump -- both afford breathtaking views of Lake Wakatipu.

Russell Smith and Dena Miller, of Atlanta, exchange wedding vows in front of the Sydney Opera House, with the Sydney Harbor Bridge in the background on Feb. 16, 2007. The American couple arranged their outdoor wedding in this world-famous spot online and traveled with a Globus tour through Australia and New Zealand.

Surfers get ready to take on the waves at Manly Beach, near Sydney, Australia.

Beachgoers and surfers relax on Bondi Beach, Sydney's most famous, where the tradition of lifesaving clubs is proudly preserved and the sport of surfing is passed down from generation to generation.

Tourist get a close look of a rock along the coast south of Christchurch, New Zealand, where centuries of crashing waves gouged this cavern out of rocky outcrop that has become a local landmark.

A punter guides visitors along the Avon River, which winds through the Botanic Gardens in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Beachgoers and surfers walk on Bondi Beach, Sydney's most famous, where the tradition of lifesaving clubs is proudly preserved and the sport of surfing is passed down from generation to generation.

People sunbake and swim at Perth's popular Cottesloe beach on Oct. 15, 2006.

People watch as huge waves crash on Dee Why point April 9, 2006, in Sydney, Australia.

Local Paraglider Derek Watts soars above Maori Bay on Muriwai Beach on May 7, 2007, on the West Coast of Auckland, New Zealand.

CBS

The Commonwealth of Australia is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the mainland of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania and a number of other islands in the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans. The neighboring countries are Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the north, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to the northeast, and New Zealand to the southeast.