Travel Briefs

On Cockatoo Island, the largest island in Sydney Harbour in Sydney, Australia, visitors can watch the city’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display, roughly 2½ miles away, while camping in style. 

In a chest-deep pool, visitors to Australia can pet, play with and feed a platypus at the zoo Healesville Sanctuary (Badger Creek Rd., Healesville, Victoria, 3777, Australia; phone +61 3 5957 2800, www.zoo.org.au/healesville).

The “Wade with a Platypus” activity, limited to two people per visit (children under 12 not permitted), must be booked in advance and takes place at 11:15 a.m. Mon., Wed. and Fri.-Sun. Including park entry fee, it costs AUD175 (near $132) per person. Healesville Sanctuary is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily, and entry costs AUD32.50 ($25).

After dining at the Little Zoo Café (Sukhothai Ave 99, Muangthongthani, Nonthaburi 11120, Thailand; phone +66 92 448 1116, www.littlezoocafe.com), guests can visit a few animals, including fennec foxes, meerkats and a raccoon. The animals, in a separate room, can be visited by only six people at one time. Guests must sanitize their hands and remove their shoes first. 

Purchase of food in the café is required of anyone wishing to visit the animals. Meal prices start at THB165 (near $5). The café is open daily, 10:30 a.m.-7p.m.

More than 40 feet off the ground and running over 426 feet through treetops, the Centenary Tree Canopy Walkway at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden (Rhodes Dr., Newlands, Cape Town, South Africa; phone +27 21 799 8783, www.sanbi.org/gardens/kirstenbosch) opened in 2014. Built of steel and wood, the uncovered walkway is in the shape of a gentle curve.

In Prague, Czechia (aka Czech Republic), the largest and longest-duration Christmas markets in 2016 will be held in the Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square, Nov. 26-Jan. 1. Visit www.prague.eu/en and, in the “Events” heading, click on “Food & Markets,” then on “Christmas market (8).”

With ShoreTrips (Milwaukee, WI; 888/355-0220, www.shoretrips.com), ships’ passengers or any travelers can book independent day tours and ground transfers at 420 river and ocean cruise ports in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia/Oceania and South and North America. 

All with English-speaking guides, tours offered are of all types, including driving, walking, cycling, historic, cultural, cooking, kayaking, fishing, whale-watching, etc.

Presenting stories of Christians who, over the past 200 years, have supported the Jewish people and the State of Israel, sometimes risking their lives in doing so, the Friends of Zion Museum (20 Yosef Rivlin St., Jerusalem, Israel; phone +972 2 532 9400, www.fozmuseum.com) opened in Jerusalem in September 2015.

In the fully accessible 4-story building, exhibits include videos, maps and panoramic 3-D images. Open 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m., Sun.-Thurs., 9:30-2 Fri. and 10-6 Sat. ILS44 (near $11) adult or ILS22 senior includes guided tour in English.

On the first Saturday of each November, many of Amsterdam’s museums take part in Museum Night, offering workshops, concerts, tours, performances and food and drink from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. 

Museum Night tickets cost €18.50 (near $20) and provide entry to more than 50 museums, transportation on special trams and boats and discounted entry to one of the after-parties at area clubs. Your ticket also entitles you to free entry to one of the museums on a different day, valid until the end of the year.

Guests can stay in the 18th-century, hexagonal-tower Wicklow Head Lighthouse, near the town of Wicklow in eastern Ireland. Housing a total of four people, it has two bedrooms, a bathroom, two common rooms and, on the top floor, a kitchen.  

The 6-story tower has not been a working lighthouse since it was struck by lightning in 1836. It was acquired by the Irish Landmark Trust in 1996 and restored and updated. The minimum, 3-night, stay starts at €614 (near $680). Visit www.irishlandmark.com/property/wicklow-head-lighthouse.

Breeze through Yorkshire, England, aboard a Boom Mustang motortrike (a 3-wheeled open-air vehicle that seats three, including the driver/guide) with Yorkshire Trike Tours (97 Town St., Horsforth, West Yorkshire, LS18 5BP, U.K.; phone +44 133 258 5055, www.yorkshiretriketours.co.uk).

Tours range from one to two hours (£50-£80 [near $66-$106] per person, sharing) up to a full day with four-plus hours on the road and stops for meals and sightseeing (£460-£490 for two people).