Brow-beaten

With the wet season in Australia's far north approaching, now is the time to see the continent's wide-open spaces. No, not Nicole Kidman's forehead - cruelly described by rent-a-quote Sharon Osbourne as being like a “f***ing flat-screen TV”. With the launch of Baz Luhrmann's mega-budget “Walkabout” TV ads for the Australian Tourist Commission, and his mega-mega-budget film Australia opening on Boxing Day (starring Kidman), can hordes of gum-chewing, video-wielding coach parties be far behind?

The Debrief

Who says you have to build up expensive roaming charges abroad if you want to download maps and information to your mobile? A new service called mobiExplore (www.mobiexplore.com) lets you download guides from a computer to your phone (currently only Croatia, ten more to follow) before you leave. You can browse them like a PDF when abroad rather than having to connect to the net. The service is free - the company makes money through advertising.

Hotspot

Walkies! Dog-owners who leave their pets behind in a boarding kennel near Crosby Ravensworth in Cumbria when they go on holiday can enjoy a daily personal dog-blog from Fido to let them know the tail's a waggin', not a saggin'. Owner Ingrid Grayling (www.ingrid-grayling.com) says that the new diary service will let pet-lovers know where their pooch walked that day, what it ate and the games that it played. And if owners want paws for thought, any messages sent back will be read out to the dog. Who's a good boy, then?

Forest feast

The week-long New Forest Food Festival (www.newforestfoodfest.co.uk) starts today. There are family activity days, make-your-own Christmas pud sessions, hog roasts and a farmers' market. Depending on your political affiliation you may be glad or sad to hear that lunch at Chewton Glen with Ann Widdecombe has sold out.

SITE OF THE WEEK

www.livemocha.com

The best way to learn a language is to go abroad, but if you can't spare the time then have abroad come to you. This website combines foreign-language tuition with social networking, using internet telephone services so you can interact with native speakers via the web. Want to learn Japanese? Then Skype with your teacher in Tokyo. According to the site, it's currently free with plans to charge in future.

Will Hide

VELVET RULES

Almost 20 years after the Velvet Revolution to establish freedom from Soviet communist rule, Slovakia has a new five-star address, the Hotel Albrecht in Bratislava, offering 50in TVs, a luxury spa and a bar serving “Moscow Mule” cocktails.

OBEY OR ELSE

Guests staying at a former prison in Karosta, a Latvian port, can experience what it is like to sleep in bare cells with fake guards: “If prisoners do not obey, they are screamed at, insulted and punished with military exercises.”

KIDS' DREAM

England's first five-star treehouse has opened at Halse in Somerset. The treehouse, built around a lime tree, can sleep up to five and has underfloor heating and a fully fitted kitchen. See www.treehouseholidays.com.

CAPITAL COST

Average room rates in London last year were £128, more than double the cost of rooms in Newcastle and Sheffield, according to TRI Hospitality Consulting.

CRUNCH PUNCH?

The Devonshire Fell Hotel in Skipton, North Yorkshire, describes its £178 a night dinner, bed and breakfast rooms for two guests as “wallet-friendly” and “a chance to escape the credit crunch”.

MANDY BREAKS

A bookings boom is being reported by companies offering trips in super-yachts similar to the one owned by Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, which Lord Mandelson and George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, controversially visited. A week on a similar 75m-yacht costs about £670,000, according to specialists Peritas International, excluding a £200,000 food and tips charge.

BIG IN AMERICA

A huge visitor centre with art galleries, historial displays, restaurants and gift shops is due to open next to the Capitol in Washington DC on December 2. An underground tunnel will link it to the Library of Congress.

FREE MALI HOLIDAYS

The Travel Channel is looking for two male and two female participants to drive from Budapest to Bamako in Mali in a car rally to be filmed and broadcast. See www.youtube.com/group/b2b2008.

BE A NINJA

Visitors at Edo Wonderland in Nikko, Japan, can star in their own ten-minute film in which they turn into ninjas to fight the forces of evil in the form of “foxes that practice sorcery”.

SPOOKY

English Heritage has launched a free map on its website revealing the most haunted spots in the UK - which can be seen at www.english-heritage.org.uk/halloween.

Tom Chesshyre

Times recommends

• Bogus websites are conning hundreds out of their holidays
• The complete last minute holiday guide
• Croatia: the flashing blades of Korkcula