Smart Traveller

High street surfwear store Fat Face is running a competition in which you could win a two week holiday to Zanzibar, which includes a visit to a turtle sanctuary. The competition is being run in conjunction with Baobab Expeditions and Virgin Atlantic.

The prize includes: return flights for two from the UK to Zanzibar with Virgin Atlantic, departing from the UK on Friday 2nd October 2009 and returning on Friday 9th October 2009; seven nights’ accommodation for two at the Zanzibar Serena Inn in Stone Town; a day-trip to a turtle sanctuary. You’ll also spend a day exploring the UNESCO World Heritage site of Stone Town.

You can enter the competition by completing the form on the Fat Face Community website. Entries must be received by Saturday 15th Agust 2009.

Image: Esculapio

In the next post in our series about driving along the A1A Historic and Scenic Byway as part of a Florida car hire holiday, we take a look at the first section of the A1A, which stretches from Ponte Vedra Beach to St. Augustine.

If you head south on the A1A from Ponte Vedra Beach in your hire car, it will take you about 40 minutes to reach St. Augustine. The route will take you via Palm Valley, South Ponte Vedra Beach and Vilano Beach, alongside the Guana Tolomato Matanzas Reserve. The reserve covers more than 55,000 acres of wetlands, stretching for about 30 miles to the north and 30 miles to the south of the city of St. Augustine. It’s a haven for wildlife and attracts a number of endangered species, such as manatees, right whales, peregrine falcons and bald eagles.

If you want to find out more about the Guana Tolomato Matanzas Reserve, you can visit the Environmental Education Center (505 Guana River Road, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida) before driving along the A1A. The centre has a number of different exhibits relating to the natural and cultural history of the reserve, as well as aquariums, an audio-visual theatre (in which you can see an introductory video) and a shop. There are also a number of hiking trails that begin from the centre. The centre is open between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. each day (except for State Holidays).

It’s also worth taking the time to stop off in Vilano Beach on your way to St. Auustine. Vilano Beach was a busy seaside resort in the 1920s but is now a more laid-back community.  You can stroll along the beach and take in the view of the Atlantic Ocean and the St. Augustine Lighthouse, or visit the Vilano Beach Fishing Pier and Surfside Park.

There are also many restaurants on and near this section of the A1A, including The Reef Restaurant (4100 Coastal Highway, St. Augustine), Cap’s on the Water (4325 Myrtle Street, St. Augustine), Benito’s Pizza (180 Vilano Road, Vilano Beach) and the Kingfish Grill (252 Yacht Club Drive, St. Augustine).

In the next post in this series, we’ll look at some of the things that you can see and do in St. Augustine if you stop off there during your Florida car hire holiday.

Sir Jonathon Porritt, the chief advisor to the government on environmental issues and sustainable development, has criticised Gordon Brown for not understanding climate change.

Sir Jonathon, who is due to retire from his post as advisor today, spoke out in an interview with The Independent. He particularly criticised the Prime Minister for backing controversial proposals for a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport, condeming the decision as “ludicrous”.

He told The Independent that the PM has “some incredibly fixed ideas about some of these things. He genuinely feels that a successful competitive economy of the future has to be growing its aviation business in order to make UK PLC  more productive, and so on. And you can put the evidence about minimal economic benefit of a third runway in front of him - it won’t go through the Brown brain”.

Sir Jonathon told the paper that the Prime Minister has started to see the importance of climate change over the past 18 months, but that “environment has never been Gordon Brown’s strong suit”.