The explorer Captain Cook may have named it White Island, but the Maori call it Te Puia o Whakaari – The Dramatic Volcano.

Major tourist destination known for its bubbling mud-pools and hot thermal springs.

These two delightful animal-shaped buildings host a visitor center and wool shop.

Tubing through a cave lit with glowworms is a magical underground experience.

This museum/fur store is devoted to educating guests on how awful opossums can be.

Some of the clearest water anywhere in the world.

This deadly little sliver of beach has seen hundreds of whales beach themselves over the years.

Taihape's claim to fame is a fictional Kiwi farmer wearing gumboots.

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauo tamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronuku pokaiwhenuakitanatahu.

The "punniest place on Earth” has nearly as many bull-themed puns as it does people.

These phallic stone spires once served as Tolkien's Paths of the Dead.

The world's only complete colossal squid specimen is on display at the Te Papa Museum.

This water-locked cliff face is covered in hundreds of ancient pictographs.

A massive, fading granite poem is all that remains of one Whitman superfan's tribute to the famous writer.

The largest canoe collection in the world—and the most Canadian museum ever.

This sandstone gorge in New York State's Adirondack Mountains is home to waterfalls, flumes, and more.

These locks on North America’s oldest canal are named after a porcine rock formation.

This tiny little island has, as the name says, just enough room for its single house.

A castle built for love, and abandoned due to heartbreak.

Canada's subterranean Cold War museum has doubled as a movie set.

This inexpensive lodging house was once a prison notorious for its inhumane practices.

Louise Bourgeois' 30-foot-tall steel spider sculpture.

A sprawling Victorian farm that has been surrounded by a capital city is one of Canada's greatest treasures.