More Time to Spend Exploring Trivia Quiz

Answer: Easter Island

Easter Island is the southernmost of the Polynesian islands, and is a territory of Chile situated around 2,300 miles west of Chile. Its name was coined by the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen who first found the island on Easter Sunday in 1722, although he was really looking for the hypothetical continent called Terra Australis (something close to what we now know as Oceania). In case you're wondering, he never found it.

The closest inhabited island (or inhabited anything, really) to Easter Island is Pitcairn Island which is 2075 km to its west, which is an obvious indicator as to why Easter Island is considered one of the most remotely inhabited islands in the world! It is also not an extremely well-populated island, having only around 5806 inhabitants in 2012.

The island and its natives are also known as Rapa Nui or the Rapa Nui people. It was these natives who crafted the giant stone figures known as moai and each moai is believed to represent fallen ancestors. Most of the moai are made of tuff, a form of consolidated volcanic ash, and the source of this tuff was the nearby extinct Rano Raraku island. There were over 800 moai statues crafted and, considering each was crafted mostly only using stone chisels formed from nearby basalt, this feat was highly impressive. Many of these moai are lined up together and onerously gaze out over the plains or the sea... forever looking out until the elements weather them away.

Answer: Australia

Australia has a massive 8,222 islands surrounding its coastline and inside its maritime borders, so there's certainly no shortage of choice for island hounds. Australia itself is considered to be an island continent; its size makes it a continent, as does it being situated on its own tectonic plate, but it is surrounded by water and does not connect to any other landmass so fits the island definition as well. Islands upon islands indeed.

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world and is situated along the southern coast of the state of Queensland. It is a World Heritage Site and has many interesting features. The simple fact the sand doesn't just wash away is one - it has deposited and accumulated on a volcanic bedrock for over 700,000 years. It also has over 100 freshwater lakes, which are oddly pollutant-free, tourists aside, and it houses many species of plant and is the only world location where rainforest grows in sand. Dingos also live on this island, although their population has been steadily decreasing over time.

Rottnest Island is 18km from the Western Australian coast, and is a small island with only 480 inhabitants according to a 2001 census. It is well-known for its quokka population and it is also popular for boating, swimming and diving. Quokkas are small nocturnal marsupials, and they used to live all over Australia. Unfortunately, introduced predators such as the dingo greatly reduced their population on the mainland, so they are protected on Rottnest Island where the cute critters are taken care of.

Finally, Phillip Island is 140km southeast of Melbourne in Victoria. The penguin parade really features real penguins and is not just a cutely named parade for a festival or some such. The little penguins (yep, that's their real name!) come ashore on Phillip Island and they are the smallest penguin species in the world. If the penguins don't float your boat, then there is also a Grand Prix circuit on the island to visit in addition to favourable surf conditions and a wildlife park with wallabies and kangaroos.

Answer: Guatemala

Tikal is situated in northern Guatemala. There were no sources of water near Tikal, so the Mayans had to collect rainwater which was stored in reservoirs. It is a large ruin of ancient times, and since it is claimed to be one of the largest excavated sites in the Americas, is surely of interest to any historians who don't mind getting some exercise. Temples, burial tombs, stelae (carved stone shafts), ceremonial ballgame courts, altars and burial grounds are all existing remnants of the relatively advanced culture of the Mayans at the time.

Around the 10th century AD, Tikal was abandoned by the Mayans and the reason why is somewhat of a mystery. Theories include that the city was overpopulated and that there was rebellion from the lower classes, but there is no certified answer. This gives Tikal an air of mystery, and what explorer doesn't enjoy a little intrigue?

Answer: Israel

Tiberias is housed in the home of the 'Wailing Wall', Israel. As its naming heritage might suggest, Tiberias has endured the scourges of time since 20 AD, as has its relaxing hot springs, which remain constant despite the ephemeral nature of humankind. Within the ancient religion of Judaism, Tiberias has been considered to be one of the four Holy Cities.

The typical climate of Tiberias tends to be warm to hot and somewhat arid, and Tiberias has also stood the test of many earthquakes across the years: two being in the 20th century.

Some of the views across the Sea of Galilee are breathtaking - it is like a giant swimming pool, and Tiberias is, perhaps, one place from which you could 'dive in', figuratively speaking, from.

Answer: Belize

The Great Blue Hole is on Belize's coast and is so named because of its dark blue colour which contrasts the nearby lighter blue sea. It was formed when sea levels were lower due to glaciation and when the caves were not submerged. During this time chemical weathering would take place where water (from rain) would react with the limestone. Over time, stalactites formed and these still protrude from the cave walls. Several species of shark have been spotted in the Great Blue Hole and reportedly tend to mostly ignore divers there, much to the divers' relief.

The Yucatan Peninsula is in Mexico, and juts out to the east. Belize is situated right beneath the Yucatan Peninsula and has a national language of English which is atypical of the region as Spanish is the national language of most Central American countries. Belize is also home to a couple of hundred cays, which are small sandy islands formed on coral reefs. The Ambergris Caye is probably the most well-known of these and is also an idyllic tourist location, so could be an alternative place to visit for non-divers.

Answer: Tenerife

Tenerife may enjoy festivals, wide sandy beaches and proximity to the deep blue sea. However, it was originally created by shield volcanoes, as were the other Canary Islands. The Las Canadas caldera atop Mount Teide serves to provide a stark contrast to the lustre of the beaches and a reminder of how the island came into existence to begin with. Mount Teide itself remains dormant, last erupting in 1909... but may erupt once again in the future.

The Las Canadas caldera itself was made from the collapse of the Las Canadas volcano, and is several kilometers wide and is quite barren.

It lies around 2,000m above sea level, is protected in the Parque Nacional del Teide, and can be visited by tourists.

Answer: Japan

Mount Kita-dake towers 3,193 meters above ground, and is somewhat overshadowed both figuratively and literally by Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan. 'Mount Kita' would translate as the 'Northern Mountain' directly, as it is a part of the Aikashi Mountains and is the northernmost of the three tallest mountains within that range.

In addition to its emerald-like greenery, Mount Kita-dake is home to alpine plants; the plant species Callianthemum hondoense, a dainty, small flower with white petals, is endemic to this overgrown and untouched paradise.

Answer: Croatia

The Plitvice Lakes National Park is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites and has a very unusual arrangement of sixteen surface lakes which are connected with, and separated from each other by travertine dams. Travertine is a form of limestone that clings to rock and moss and is deposited by algae and bacteria, and these dams are slowly growing over time, at the rate of about a centimetre a year.

There are also over 1,200 different types of plant, and several of these are endemic to the region, meaning that they are unique to that area.

In addition to the plants there are also many types of animal present in the park, so wildlife enthusiasts will have a field trip here.

Answer: Philippines

Located on the Palawan island of the Philippines, the Puerto-Princesa River winds and cuts through a cave before depositing itself in the South China Sea. The initial parts of this cave are large enough that small boats can be paddled inside and one can really get an inside perspective on its rock formations and speleothems.

In 2011 the Puerto-Princesa River was nominated for the New7Wonders of Nature campaign, and it won by public vote alongside the Amazon Rainforest and River, Jeju Island, Halong Bay, Iguazu Falls, Komodo Island and Table Mountain, all of which are fascinating in their own right. With eight types of forest and over 160 species of bird, the surrounding national park is also well worth a visit, but the river cave is the jewel in its crown.

Answer: Vietnam

The rushing and roaring Ban Gioc falls are found near Vietnam's border with China, and is considered to be the fourth-largest fall along a national border. The waters drop from over seventy meters into the Guichun River, spewing out over a three-tiered cliff that gives the appearance of giant stairs.

The falls flow over stratified dolomite; a soft rock which, over time, enables the waterfall to change its form. Despite this, we can still enjoy the tranquility of the falls for a long time to come.

It is also said the area in general is rather peaceful and idyllic.