Feeding Time at the Zoo - Crocosaurus Cove Cage of Death

If the idea of climbing into an acrylic tube and being lowered into a pool of 16-foot saltwater alligators is your idea of fun, then you should by all means head on over to Crocosaurus Cove in Darwin Australia, where you can do exactly that. Soothingly dubbed "the cage of death," the tube is large enough to fit two people -- which is fortunate, because I'd need to hold someone's hand.

Cutest Tower Ever! - Fairview Goat Tower

Goats like to climb things, and the owners of Fairview Wine and Cheese Farm in South Paarl, New Zealand, wanted to make the goats they kept happy, so the solution was simple: build a goat tower. Sounds crazy, but it works. The more than 1,000 goats of Fairview blissfully trot up and down the spiral staircase every day, then produce milk that makes award-winning Camembert.

So the moral of the story is: If you build a goat tower, they will climb it. And make you delicious artisanal cheeses.

Gnome Man's Land - Gnomesville

Love gnomes? What am I saying – who doesn’t? As far as creepy-yet-cute lawn ornaments go, gnomes definitely take the prize. They’re even cuter and creepier when they congregate in their own little village, the way they do in Gnomesville, Wellington Mill, Australia. Here you can view more than 3,000 gnomes that have been dropped off in the bush by visitors from around the world. Just don’t take a gnome with you – it’ll bring you bad luck until it’s returned to its home. Plus, kidnapping gnomes is kind of a jerk thing to do.

   

No one knows exactly how Gnomesville started, although there plenty are legends and folklore surrounding its origins (as there should be). Some say that the first gnome was placed there to protest a road that was being built in the area, while others think that it magically appeared all by itself. My money’s on the latter explanation. Considering the subject matter, it just makes more sense.  

Buggy Nights - Waitomo Glow Worm Cave

Credit: paraskhnio.gr

I don't know about you, but I prefer my bugs cute and glow-in-the-dark. Not a fan of earthworms, for example, but glow worms I love. Which is why I'm remortgaging my house to pay for coach tickets on a 24-hour flight for the whole family to Waikato, New Zealand, where thousands of an indigenous species of glow worm hang out on the ceiling of Waitomo cave, doing their glowing thing.

Full disclosure, though: Glow worms aren't really worms at all, but a type of fly larvae. And it turns out that the luminescence comes from their excretory organs. You can see why the New Zealand tourism board went with "glow worms" instead. Still, the revolting truth won't be deterring me from viewing this natural wonder, and if you consider yourself an animal lover, you'd be wise to do the same.

Roll With It - Zorbing

Credit: Holleyweb.com

Maybe you like the idea of rolling down a hill in a carefree manner, but you're fussy about grass stains. Or you've always wondered what it's like to be a hamster. Or you're just plain crazy. Whatever the reason, there exists an activity in Rotorua, New Zealand, called Zorbing, in which people pay good money to roll down a grassy hill in a giant plastic ball.

Of course you can customize your hill-rolling adventure. Do you want to be strapped in or bouncing free? Would you like some water added into your ball so that you get splashed in the face while you're rolling? Perhaps you would like to tack on the adventure package, in which your ball switchbacks down the hill and does a vertical drop off the edge in the end. Whatever the case, remember to wear clothing that won't come loose and accidentally reveal anything. Because you'll want to be able to crawl out of your giant plastic ball with your dignity intact.

Seeing Pink - Lake Hillier

You know that fantasy that everyone has about diving into a pool of strawberry milk and just swimming and sipping, swimming and sipping ... no? Just me? OK, well lucky for me, there exists a lake on Middle Island, Western Australia, that resembles a pool of strawberry milk. Except that it's not strawberry milk at all, it's a body of super-pink salt water that probably wouldn't be very smart to drink (emphasis on "probably"). No one really knows why the lake is this color, but scientists think that it's the work of microalgae that live within the lake's salt crusts. MICROALGAE. Just when you thought algae couldn't get cuter.

Whatever the case, visitors aren't allowed to swim or boat in Lake Hillier. Which is probably a good thing, because otherwise I'd be forced to get over my intense fear of dingoes and book a trip to Oz immediately.