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[introducinlyric]

Alligator Creek (Queensland,Australia)

Alligator Creek lies some thirty kilometres south of Townsville, in Bowling Green Bay National Park, the largest national park between Bowen and Townsville. The creek, which gives its name to the village, is an integral feature of the 55,300ha park which conserves mangroves, saltpans, coastal wetlands, heath and tropical rainforest.

Alligator Creek is studded with waterfalls, cascades and deep pools, and a track which begins at the camping area follows the watercourse toward Mt Elliot, the dominant feature of the park.

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I noted in Wikipedia that the town of Kannus is "is unilingually Finnish." What exactly does that mean?

Spring Creek, Florida
Spring Creek is a small fishing community 13 miles south of Wakulla Springs. Spring Creek Restaurant is owned by the Leo Lovel family. The fried oyster sandwich is plump and delicious. Leo describes his "mullet catching, turkey shooting, offshore fishing, and law evading" activities. We're suitably intrigued and ask him to elaborate. He tells us it was nothing serious: "Just fishin' with an outlawed net, but I'm still in court for it." The exchange somehow raises more questions than it answers.

[introducinlyric]

Nowra (New South Wales,Australia)

Nowra on the NSW South Coast is the main commercial and administrative centre of Shoalhaven City, 160km south of Sydney. It was declared a government town in 1852, but didn’t really go ahead until the nearby town of Terara was devastated by floods in 1870.

The name Nowra comes from an Aboriginal word meaning camping place or black cockatoo. The reverse spelling of Nowra, of course, gave the 1978 winner of the Melbourne Cup, Arwon, its name.

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Sans Souci (New South Wales,Australia)

On historic Botany Bay, just a few kilometres south of Sydney airport, Ramsgate rolls down to the bay and Lady Robinson’s Beach, a multicultural gathering point, especially at the weekends.

There’s great fishing and sailing in the bay, and now that the bayfront shops and restaurants are going up-market, you’ll find a diversity of foods and ambient surroundings in which to dine as you gaze over the bay to the coastal shore line where Captain Cook made his historic landfall in 1780.

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Nelson Bay (New South Wales,Australia)

Port Stephens is unchallenged in its claim to the title of ‘Dolphin Capital of Australia’, and if there is a capital in the chain of resort towns which hug the shores of this unique aquatic playground then it is Nelson Bay. Certainly many of the cruise and charter craft specially adapted to dolphin-watching ply their trade out of Nelson Bay on the port’s south-eastern shore. The port is home to almost 150 bottlenose dolphins which take as much pleasure riding the bow waves of the craft with which they rendezvous daily as the passengers derive from watching them at play. Twice a year the Port also hosts pods of humpback whales as these leviathans of the sea make their migratory journey north to the warmer waters off Queensland to breed before making the return run back to Antarctica.

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Ancienne-Lorette,

Quebec, Canada

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Eridu, Florida

The community was named after Eridanus, the mythological name of the River Po

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Adelaide (South Australia)

South Australia's capital city, Adelaide, was designed by Colonel William Light, with its location decided in December 1836 and its streets and squares named in May 1837. The flat, square mile city centre is laid out in a grid pattern, intersected by wide streets and ringed by parklands, with the Torrens River running along the northern edge of the city. Adelaide is located midway between the Gulf St Vincent and the Mount Lofty Ranges, both of which are a short drive from the CBD. The average temperature range in the summer months is 14 to 29 degrees Celsius, in winter 7 to 16 degrees Celsius.

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Surrey

British Columbia, Canada

Population 394,976

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Yankalilla (South Australia)

Yankalilla nestles in the valley of the Bungala River, overlooked by the wooded hillsides of the southern Mt Lofty Ranges. It is just the spot if you are looking for a quiet, country haven far from the madding crowd

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Asbestos

Quebec, Canada

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Islamabad,

Pakistan

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Vaucluse (New South Wales,Australia)

The Sydney harbourside suburb of Vaucluse has long been considered the hallmark of taste and style in a city that fairly reeks of those fine attributes. In the flash Eastern Suburbs, just a few kilometres from the city centre, Vaucluse is a place of stunning harbour views which bulges with elegant and imposing, multi-million dollar homes set in gorgeous gardens.

It is also the location of one of Australia’s best-known and most revered colonial buildings, Vaucluse House. The home that William Charles Wentworth bought for 1500 pounds back in 1827 was described then as a ‘genteel dwelling house of eight rooms’ plus outbuildings

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Ellenbrook (Western Australia)

Drink in the beauty of the country side and the vineyards at the new town of Ellenbrook, 35 minutes from Perth in the Swan Valley.

The Swan Valley is one of the premier wine growing regions of Western Australia with vineyards along the scenic Swan River. It's perfect for sampling the local produce, walking, picnics and looking for wildflowers. To the east lie the Darling Ranges with Hills Forest area, home to unique Australian jarrah forests scenic lakes, weirs small townships.

In the area


Swan Valley wineries - take a drive for tastings and cellar door sales around the Swan Valley 30 premier wineries
Caversham Wildlife Park - Whiteman's Park, with a purpose built park for feeding kangaroos, wallabies and wombats. Take a tram and train ride.
Maze 'n' Koalas - Bullsbrook, with a green maze, mini-golf and animals.
Supa Golf - Henley Brook, for golf, gourmet delights and cafes

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Indooroopilly (Queensland, Australia)

Indooroopilly is liberally sprinkled with old mansions, and none better reflects the grandeur of the suburb’s salad days than Ross Roy.

This huge home was built in 1897 for the Collings family who originally named it Indoocombe. It was renamed Ross Roy by Ross Munro, who bought the home from the Collings. The building is now part of St Peters Lutheran College.

To capture the essence of Indooroopilly of those times, let’s quote from an anonymous tribute written about 1890:

The district comprises a series of sharp ridges and gentle slopes, giving continual glimpses of the river, and the purple shrouded hills to the south and west, which have a wondrous charm. The switchback, tree lined streets are bordered with handsome residences and still more handsome gardens which, even in the hollows, give distinction to the district.

The suburb is graced by a number of relaxing parks, including Sir John Chandler Park. This park embraces Thomas Park, which was named for Henry Thomas, who planted and so lovingly tended the adjoining Bougainvillea Gardens for many years. Children's playground equipment has been scattered among groves of striking jacaranda and poinciana.

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Scaddan (Western Australia)

In flat, mallee scrub country about 60km due north of Esperance in the deep south of WA, Scaddan is a little town that appears on few maps or postcode directories.

But, it really does exist... just ask the those hardy souls raising wheat, sheep and cattle and growing barley and other crops around the town.

A short drive south (in bush terms) takes you to the picturesque coastal town of Esperance, 725km south-east of Perth, a place of rugged beauty and stunning beaches which lies on a gorgeous bay dotted with the islands of the Recherche Archipelago.

Scaddan has achieved some small degree of fame scientifically in the form of a rare – perhaps even extinct – snake called Bush's hooded snake. First collected in 1986 and described to science in 1988, only five specimens have been found in a small remnant of bushland near Scaddan.

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(Hi Markus )



Yarloop (Western Australia)

Just off the South Western Highway, about 100 kilometres south of Perth, Yarloop is at the heart of some of Australia’s best agricultural country. On the fertile coastal plain bordered by the Darling Range to the east and the Indian Ocean to the west, it is especially favoured by dairy farmers and citrus growers.

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Ponce Inlet, Florida

That's Ponce de Leon, Spanish explorer. It's not a secret entrance to an effeminate man!

Ponce Inlet is near Daytona Beach Shores region, a barrier island on the Atlantic Ocean. Just 5.5 miles long and a few hundred yards wide, the area features pristine beaches, nature reserves, golf courses and ocean and river front dining.

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Temiskaming Shores

Timiskaming District, Ontario , Canada

Population 10,732

The City of Temiskaming Shores is the newly restructured area comprising the three former municipalities of New Liskeard; Haileybury; and Dymond Township.

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Albuquerque,

New Mexico, USA

With a metropolitan population of 835120 as of July 1, 2007, Albuquerque is the 60th-largest United States metropolitan area.

Albuquerque was a farming community and strategically located military outpost along the Camino Real. The town of Alburquerque was built in the traditional Spanish village pattern: a central plaza surrounded by government buildings, homes, and a church. This central plaza area has been preserved and is open to the public as a museum, cultural area, and center of commerce. It is referred to as "Old Town Albuquerque" or simply "Old Town." "Old Town" was sometimes referred to as "La Placita" ("little plaza" in Spanish).