From the eccentric to the spiritual to the dangerous, this latest edition of the award winning Perceptive Travel webzine provides armchair traveller with thought provoking travel stories.

Regular contributor Bruce Northam kicks off this edition of Perceptive Travel webzine with A Different State of Mine in Canada’s Yukon Territory, discovering his own inner grown-up in the place full of ‘bearded brew-sippers, sassy female bartenders sporting armpit hair, and at-home First Nations artists’.

In Setting Foot on Celtic Sod, Becky Garrison’s traveler’s pilgrimage to Glendolough takes an unexpected turn when the quiet and deserted ruins she heads off to visit appears, at first glance, to be nothing more than an overcrowded tourist trap.

In No Salad Days at the Buenos Aires Thieves Market, Camille Cusumano has to cross over a river of toxic garbage to experience the world’s largest illegal market.

Editor Tim Leffel covers this month’s world music reviews, looking at some albums from  Brazilian and Central Africa.

And another regular contributor Susan Griffith writes this month’s travel book reviews.

Plus, as usual, there is some free stuff to win. This month’s grab bag will be a pair of

travel chopsticks from Grand Trunk, a set of three Dry Organizer Sacs from Innate, and a Survival Medic kit from Adventure Medical.

Of course, you have to be in to win.

If you’re a subscriber to the monthly Perceptive Travel e-mail, then just follow the instructions in the latest newsletter.

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Hidden behind dense bush and forest, many a spectacular waterfall is missed by those traveling New Zealand’s highways and byways.

The Marakopa Falls, just 30 kilometers west of Waitomo Caves, is one such waterfall.  Like many of the waterfalls in New Zealand, the Marakopa Falls were formed by an earthquake fault that forces the river water to intially bound along small steps and then plunge down the forested cliff.

Access to the falls is easy. A lookout built at the top of the hill provides an overview of the falls.  But if you want to get up close and personal, a short walk through the forest will get you close enough to feel the spray across you face

The Bridal Veil Falls, located 21 kilometers south of the small surfing town of Raglan on the west coast of the North Island, is yet another spectacular waterfall that has been enthralling travellers for decades.

As far back as 1898, a Lands and Survey report was advising visitors not to miss these waterfalls.

There is a track that will lead you to a lookout that offers a view of the quietly meandering Pakoka stream as it disappears through a gap in the fern and transforms into a thundering casade plummeting over a steep cliff into a rocky basin. Having dropped 55 meters, the water than continues to meander along the stream.

For an even more dramatic view, hike another ten minutes down a fairly steep path to the waterfall basin. Here, the misty spray from water cascading over a moss-covered ridge evokes images of fine white lace, giving meaning to the name ‘Bridal Veil Falls.’

To discover more of New Zealand’s spectacular waterfalls, get a hold of a copy of Walks to Waterfalls: 100 New Zealand Waterfalls by Russell Kirkpatrick.

(Image credits: Marokopa Falls via flickr  xoque; Bridal Veil Falls via flickr Angela Bethell)

As someone who’s been standing on shaky ground for the past 12 plus months, there’s really only one major event that stands out for me in 2011 – the Christchurch earthquakes.

Having to deal with disaster in your own backyard makes you, naturally, a little myopic and you start to ignore what’s happening in the rest of the world.

And such a lot has been happening – tsunamis in Japan, government overthrow in Egypt, rioting in London, the Royal Wedding.

Using cartography and informative content, Mapsofworld,com has created an interactive map and video to help us Remember 2011.

The video, which provides a fleeting 60 second glimpse of the ‘good, the bad, and the ugly’ of 2011, is guaranteed to make you think it sure was one heck of a year.

Watch the video and then check out the interactive map, which not only highlights key dates and events but also provides matching photos and detailed text to really remember the year that was 2011.

And while you’re there, why not vote for what you think was 2011’s main event.

Not surprisingly, so far the top main event was Japan’s earthquake and tsunami. Interestingly, the second main event was the United States losing it’s AAA rating.

It’s an issue of superlatives this month with Perceptive Travel webzine featuring three entertaining travel stories from around the world.

Laura Gough ponders happiness in Bhutan while trekking the ancient Druk Path through alpine wilderness and discovers a country that takes nice to a whole new level.

(flickr photo by domenicomarchi)

On the other side of the world, in Brazil, Bruce Northam wanders away from the beach resorts into Rio’s maze of favelas to discover  an unexpected world record holder in Rio.

And further south, Shelley Seale heads for the world’s highest and driest place on earth and discovers life in the past tense in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

Laurence Mitchell”s world music reviews covers everything from a Yiddish witch drama, a funky Belgian outfit, and music from the historic crossroads of Europe and Asia.

Sarah Griffith’s travel book reviews covers reluctant backpacking in Central America and historic travel in Paris.

And given it’s the festive season, Perceptive Travel has two prizes to giveaway this month.

Guerrilla Packs is kicking in two bags to go out to two lucky travelers: a large Voltij backpack for long journeys or an Airporter backpack (pictured) that’s small enough to be a carry-on for U.S. flights.

To win, you’ll have to watch your inbox for our newsletter or follow us on Facebook. If you’re not on our monthly e-mail newsletter list, click here to sign up .

And don’t forget about the annual Passports with Purpose fundraising drive now on. It’s a great way to do some real good in the world and actually get far more than your donation back in prize value, thanks to some great sponsors.

Check out this recent perceptive travel blog post to learn more about Passports with Purpose – how it works and this year’s goals. This year, we have joined with Hyatt Hotels, who sponsored the prize of  a two-night stay at the lovely Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa in Bastrop (near Austin.)

That’s just one of the many great prizes that travel bloggers from around the world have organized. You can  see the full run of prizes (many of them in international locations) on the donate page . And it all starts with just $10 from you…

So far the response has been tremendous – $5,000 raised in the first few hours after it’s launch.

But don’t wait to donate  - it all ends in two weeks!

European castles usually follow a single architectural style and have a long, bloodied history.

Hearst Castle in California, on the other hand, is short on blood and history but makes up with it with outlandish and multiple design styles.

Set amidst 137 acres of floral gardens, cobblestoned paths, and sculpture rich terraces, the Hispano-Moresque style main house overlooks three Italian renaissance style guesthouses and a Greco-Roman style swimming pool.

Built as a summer retreat for William Randolph Hearst, the multi-millionaire publishing tycoon and movie producer, it is one of the most opulent and extravagant estates in the world.

Materials old and new were used to construct the buildings. Steel, iron, and cement provided a base for antique architectural elements acquired from European stately homes, monasteries, and churches.

The exterior of Casa Grande, the 130 room main house, features twin towers emblazed with 12^th century Spanish motifs, Moorish blue and gold tiles, and a 36-bell carillon from Belgium.

Inside, Spanish Baroque doorways blend with French Romanesque fireplaces and hand carved Spanish and Italian wooden ceiling panels. It’s a stately atmosphere that’s further enhanced (or perhaps, more accurately, overwhelmed) by gothic furniture, Persian carpets, Italian and Spanish icon religious paintings, Greek vases, and medieval tapestries.

By 1927, Hearst Castle had become the social and architectural focus of Southern California.  Society gossip columnist Heidi Hopper described a visit there like being in ‘never never land’.

The weekend guest list  – Winston Churchill, Gloria Swanson, Clark Gable, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Charles Lindbergh, Charlie Chaplin – read like a who’s who of the early twentieth century.

By day, the guests did pretty much as they liked, lounging by the pool, playing tennis, or riding out in search of the exotic zoo animals imported to the ranch by William Hearst.

But at night, one had to adhere to a set routine. Believing that it was dangerous for his high spirited and temperamental guests to wander at will during the dark hours, Hearst insisted that they all gathered in the Assembly room for drinks, the Refectory for dinner, and then the Theater for a screening of home movies.

Today, anyone can visit Hearst Castle. But they too must adhere to a set routine. No one is allowed to wander at will. Instead, they must take a tour if they want to get a glimpse into Hearst’s extraordinary castle.

(Disclosure: the writer was hosted by san luis obispo county visitors & conference bureau on her visit to Hearst Castle, staying at the FogCatcher Inn)