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36
bay of fires »
EASTERN TASMANIA,
AUSTRALIA
The Bay of Fires is a jewel among
Tasmania’s many pristine landscapes.
Even in high season, there are plenty
of opportunities to explore its dunes
and rocky headlands at sunset or to
camp right on its dazzling white-sand
beaches, waking to swim in clear blue
waters or walk among the foreshore’s
iconic rust-red, lichen-covered rocks as
the sun bathes them in morning light.
Orange lichen covers much of the
granite foreshore in the Bay of Fires.
37
loch katrine
STIRLING,
SCOTLAND
The romantic landscapes of Loch
Katrine, a freshwater lake north of
Glasgow, inspired Sir Walter Scott’s
poem
The Lady of the Lake
and Gio-
achino Rossini’s opera
La donna del
lago
. Today, they beguile visitors who
come to hike, cycle, and fish or to take
boat trips aboard the
Sir Walter Scott,
a historic steamship.
Romantic Loch Katrine and the south-
erly slopes of the Scottish Highlands
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35
the amazon
river
SOUTH AMERICA
Where to start with the beauty of the
Amazon? With its grandeur, its 4,000-
mile (6,500 km) length, and the
immensity of its rain forest, or with
the more intimate beauty found in the
variety of its flora and fauna? Or per-
haps with the infinite secret beauties
of its smallest, unknowable reaches
that no human eye will ever savor?
Victoria amazonica,
an Amazon native,
is the world’s largest water lily.