The first land on Earth that welcomed in the new year was this secluded tropical beach on uninhabited Caroline Island – sorry, Millennium Island, the easternmost outpost of the Pacific island nation of Kiribati. Since Kiribati spans both sides of the 180° meridian, it has decided to push the international Date Line two time zones east to the eastern boundary of the country so that all of its residents operate on the same day. Millennium Island got its new name over a decade ago to commemorate it being the first land on Earth to experience the year 2000.

The first people to celebrate 2012 were the residents of Kiritmati¹ (Christmas Island), and the first people that saw sun rise on 1 January 2012 were the 1,200 residents of Kiritimati’s easternmost village, Banana. The first actual sunrise, however, occurred around this remote headland in East Antarctica (not that anyone saw it).

The country of Samoa used to be the last inhabited place on Earth to ring in the new year, but not any more. In an effort to coordinate itself better with regional powers New Zealand and Australia, on 31 December Samoa moved to the other side of the Date Line and jumped ahead a day, meaning the city of Apia was the first national capital to see the new year, an hour after Kiritmati.

Also making the move across the Date Line this year is the tiny New Zealander territory of Tokelau, an hour ahead of Samoa. Tokelau’s seat of government rotates between its three atolls, meaning that easternmost Fakaofo atoll was the first territorial capital to celebrate 2012.

With Samoa moving across the Date Line, the honour of being the last national capital to celebrate the new year is now shared by seven North American cities. Mexico City, Guatemala City, Belmopan (Belize), Tegucigalpa (Honduras), San Salvador (El Salvador), Managua (Nicaragua), and San Jose (Costa Rica) all celebrated 19 hours after Apia. We’ll show you Tegucigalpa as a cheap way to finally cross Honduras off our list of countries visited here at Google Sightseeing!

Six hours later, Alofi (Niue) and Pago Pago (American Samoa) were the last territorial capitals to say goodbye to 2011. Despite being just 50 km (30 mi) from the other half of Samoa, American Samoa is now 25 hours behind it!

Although part of the Tokelau archipelago to the northwest, Swains Island is governed by American Samoa. This open clearing is Taulaga, the only village on Swains and home of the last people on Earth who saw the sun come down on 2011.

As for the last places on Earth to leave 2011 behind, those were the remote, uninhabited United States outposts of Howland and Baker islands, some 26 hours after the people in Tokelau and eastern Kiribati did so. Considering they’re only visited every couple of years by researchers and Coast Guard vessels, it seems unlikely there was any sort of celebration taking place there at the time.

We hope 2012 is a good year for all of you, even if you don’t have as much left of it to enjoy as the American Samoans.²

Locations: Antarctica, North America, Polynesia, Samoa, U.S. Insular Areas, U.S. Minor Outlying Islands, Unincorporated territory of the U.S. / Categories: Islands, Weirdness

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While it may look as though 8 large trailers have plummeted nose-first from the sky, they were in fact carefully placed by Frank Bates, who happens to own a nearby RV dealership. Google’s 45-degree imagery gives us a great look at the installation from the air.

This blog post has good images and information about the trailers, and the official website has a bunch of links and a documentary video. The neighbours are less than impressed with this apparent advertising ploy, but Bates is insistent that it is a true piece of art¹ inspired by his visit to Cadillac Ranch in Texas

We visited Cadillac Ranch back in the early days of this site. The satellite imagery hasn’t improved, and while there is now a Street View, it’s sadly from the very early low-resolution systems.

We visited Carhenge – another well-known car sculpture – in our Monumental Wannabes post last year. If you have a few hundred thousand dollars to spare apparently it’s now for sale.

We switch modes of transport briefly for a visit to a monument in Santa Rosa, California, that at first glance appears to be a fuzzy obelisk.

Closer observation reveals that it’s actually constructed of bicycle frames – three hundred and forty of them (and one tricycle) according this Wired article. Created by Mark Grieve and Ilana Spector the sculpture is named Cyclisk and stands almost 20m tall.

Google’s newly-released Street View imagery of Belgium allows us to see another bicycle sculpture in the town of Brakel, which is on the route of the Tour of Flanders spring classic race.

Returning to car art, we move to Sydney, Australia, where a large rock appears to have played a key role in a terrible accident involving a red Ford Festiva.

This is actually a sculpture named Still Life With Stone and Car, by artist Jimmie Durham, and it was created through the relatively simple process of, um… dropping a large rock on a car.

Originally placed near the Opera House, the sculpture was later moved to its current location where a pair of signs help dissuade any unknowing passers-by from calling the police to report the accident.

Sadly, this kind of cruel vehicular torture isn’t isolated – in 2009 we visited two places where cars have been impaled in the name of art.

In Toronto this car appears to have been abandoned for so long that it has been reclaimed by nature.

Commonly known as The Garden Car, it is more officially called the Community Vehicular Reclamation Project. More details can be found in this blog post.

Perhaps the most bizarre vehicular artwork can be found in rural Vermont, in the form of a large concrete gorilla holding aloft a Volkswagen Beetle.

The story behind its creation can be found at Roadside America.

To wrap up, a few artworks about which I haven’t been able to find much information. First, another Airstream trailer which has been converted into a spaceship in a park in Sacramento, California.

In Albuquerque an old Chevrolet has been tiled for some reason, and mounted on top of an arch.

And finally, in Geldrop, the Netherlands, a tiny old Fiat 500 has been bronzed and topped with a statue of a girl – the work of artist Carla Rump.

If you know of any other vehicular art, please post it in the comments. I’d particularly be interested to know if anyone from Stockholm knows if this bus-made-of-cars is visible on satellite or Street View. I really wanted to include it in this post but couldn’t find a precise location for it.

Locations: Australia, Belgium, California, Florida, Netherlands, New Mexico, Ontario, Texas, Vermont / Categories: Other Vehicles, Street Views, Structures, Weirdness

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Rude messages

Not everything can make the cut obviously, but things like this painting of a naked woman on top of this building near Phoenix, AZ are certainly eye-catching. Thanks to GSS reader prmckinney for sending it in.

Henry sent us a friendly message in New Zealand that, well, gets directly to the point.

Or you could be like this guy near Austin, Texas who loves to express his satisfaction with American president Barack Obama! Make sure you notice the detail of the middle finger! Thanks to Chris S.

Lookalikes

At times just the strange artefacts of Google Maps itself are amusing! Take a look at this rather unfortunately shaped road near the Newcastle FC stadium sent to us by Chris. On the more natural side, Pamela sent us this lake in Alberta, Canada that looks, well, pretty much exactly like a rat.

Signposts for the sky

Rooftops can be an easy target for “on-the-fly” messaging. Marc sent us a link to a huge “Amazing Race” finish line painting on the final approach path to LAX. The wildly popular American reality show has used Los Angeles as the finish line before, but it does seem odd that they actually put a channel and time on it. Maybe it’s just a huge billboard instead?

Quetzal sent us the letter Z carved into the desert next to a highway in Coahuila, México, which is apparently the sign of a notorious Mexican Drug Cartel. On a lighter note, Dawn sent us a link to this extravagant field maze that takes the shape of a steam locomotive!

Mystery circles

Sometimes the most interesting things we see on the ground however are circles. You have the obvious crop circles around the world, but then there are perhaps stranger things out there. For example, any ideas what this little circle in the desert sent to us by Mastboy could be?

Or perhaps this circle off the coast of the United Kingdom? Maybe it could be a beacon of some kind? Thanks to scotty for the link!

In a more mysterious entry, a series of strange circular features have been sent to us from deep in the forests of Maharashtra in India. They’re remote, they’re large, and no one seems to really know where they came from!

The four circles appear to be man-made due to the perfect circular shape and similar size, but no obvious pattern or purpose can be seen. One of the most popular theories are the circles are some sort of ancient water reservoirs, but one could argue how much water needs to be collected in the middle of a monsoon-ridden country!

Some more imaginative people think that ancient aliens visited and made the circles, but they aren’t really a patch on traditional crop circles though.

Even the local villagers in Kumbhale aren’t sure where the circles came from, even though one of them is practically on their doorstep.

Another theory suggests that the circles are “strikingly” similar to meteorite impacts, but the rims of these circles do not appear to share the same crowning effect that occurs near other true craters – and there haven’t been any meteorite fragments found here (although this could perhaps be due to erosion from the monsoons we mentioned).

For some discussion on the circles, including ground level photos, check out this link. What do you think they are? Thanks to Sandesh for sending in this intriguing suggestion.

Locations: Alberta, Arizona, California, India, Mexico, Morocco, New Jersey, New Zealand, Texas, United Kingdom / Categories: Crop Circles, Large Type, Movie Locations, Stadiums and Sport, Weirdness

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No point in wasting time. Let’s get Spread Eagle and dive right in…

We hope this Naked Baker is at least wearing a hairnet.

Is there anyone in Southern California who’s up for a Nude Wash¹?

There are five different creeks in the southeastern United States that are Naked. Along Naked Creek in Virginia is Naked Creek Road, which happens to lie across the creek from Moose Bottom Road. What that symbolises, we have no idea.

Leave it to the Netherlands to take things to the next level. The city of Wageningen has an entire Nude street, replete with a Nude auto shop!

Our own Noel Ballantyne brings us this wonderful Muff from Country Donegal²:

Don’t worry, ladies; we’re keeping your interests in mind, too. In fact, we know a place in Sint Maarten specifically geared toward many of your tastes:

If all of this nakedness and nudity is a bit much for you to handle all at once, perhaps we should tone it down and focus on Ass Allround:

Not to get too lewd, but we did uncover a prominent Nipple Knob while compiling this entry. As well, we also caught a Wanker in broad daylight directly on Street View.

Thus concludes what is undoubtedly the most Sexey post ever on Google Sightseeing.

Locations: California, France, Germany, Idaho, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin / Categories: Buildings, Natural Landmarks, Street Views, Weirdness

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On King Street, the central thoroughfare through Newtown, it’s only appropriate that we find a mural dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr.. The black-and-red colours and the yellow sun represent the Indigenous Australian movement.

This building was painted with an image of the front page of the 10 July 1992 Sydney Morning Herald. It’s since been defaced by some graffiti, as you can see.

At the corner of Enmore Road and Bailey Street, this menagerie of jungle animals is on the rampage:

On the side of a dry cleaner lies this tribute to magic mushrooms, while the side of this old garage hosts grievances from local residents:

Call us crazy, but we believe this was painted by a gang:

Here’s a modernist cityscape with flowers and sheep:

Here we find Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, two peasant women and Mr. Spock. Your guess is as good as ours as to what the connection between them is.

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Some artists prefer poetry, even if it’s right above some bins next to the most passive-aggressive no-parking sign ever:

Plenty of businesses have gotten in on the act for themselves. For example, this yoga studio has decorated itself in a soothing aquatic theme.

This building on John Street incorporates trees, beaches, and oceans into its motif.

And what better image for an African restaurant to have on its wall than a map of Africa? Although with South Sudan’s recent independence, it may need a small touch-up…

That’s just a small glimpse of the vast number of artistic works to be found around Newtown. A Street View or a Google/Flickr image search can occupy you for hours. Get started by visiting the Newtown street art Wikipedia page, or for a deeper look, the Flickr account Newtown Graffiti.

Locations: Australia / Categories: Buildings, Large Type, Street Views, Weirdness

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Did they know Google were on their way?

This message on a Dublin beach, “CYNTHIA, WILL YOU MARRY ME?”, nearly passes our stringent rules for acceptance of aeroplane-visible marriage proposals, but did Cynthia accept?

Thanks to LancelotLink

We’re pretty sure this crop-maze in France depicts a couple of bananas riding bicycles, but we haven’t a clue why.

Thanks to Rod

In Argentina we find another strange design decision, where somebody has arranged a whole bunch of trees into a giant guitar. For some reason this seems more sensible than the cycling bananas, but only just.

Thanks to Mick

OK, a giant guitar we kind of get, but who on Earth would want a swimming pool shaped like a foot? Somebody in Japan apparently.

Thanks to Jamie

Crazy roads

This ridiculously bendy road in the mountains of Chile must surely be a contender for the most bends covering the shortest distance award. As the crow flies, obviously.

Thanks to Shaun

Meanwhile, we suspect these “speed bumps” would cause a little more slowdown than required on Interstate 91, Massachusetts. If you drove really fast at them however…

Thanks to Meredith

You’d never see this any other way

This chilling scene capture the remains of a wrecked boat on the shores of a remote Antarctic island.

Thanks to Brian

In the news

Last week Apple announced iCloud, a new “cloud”-based music and data service for all you squillions of iPad and iPhone users – and here’s the brand spanking new facility in North Carolina where all your data will be stored (once you’ve unquestioningly uploaded it all of course).

Elsewhere, the actions of some unruly New Zealand students made headlines around the world when they did what students have done since students were invented – they drew pictures of penises. Except these students did it on a much larger scale than your average students. Compensating for something boys?

Have you found something weird, amazing, beautiful or completely inexplicable on Google Maps or Google Earth? Send us your suggestions and we’ll publish the best ones next week!

Locations: Antarctica, Argentina, Chile, France, Ireland, Japan, Massachusetts, New Zealand, North Carolina / Categories: Abandoned, Large Type, Other Vehicles, Watercraft, Weirdness

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The stereotype associated with private islands is a tropical paradise in the middle of the ocean covered in palm trees and rimmed by white sand beaches. Perhaps nothing meets that stereotype more than the Polynesian atoll of Tetiaroa, which was purchased by Marlon Brando in the 1960s for US$270,000 while scouting locations for Mutiny on the Bounty.

Brando’s goal was to turn the atoll into an eco-luxury resort, but there are surprisingly few amenities or buildings (even the air strip is rather plain). Prior to Brando, the atoll was used as a copra plantation, and the planted rows of Coconut palms are still quite visible.

At the other end of the spectrum are the eleven Bahamian islands of Musha Cay owned by illusionist David Copperfield (who modestly renamed them the ‘Islands of Copperfield Bay’), which operates as one of the world’s most exclusive resorts with rooms starting at US$37,500 per night (minimum three night stay, telephone use not included!)

Next stop is Fiji and Mago Island was bought in 2005 by Mel Gibson. Gibson also inherited an entire village when he bought the island, which is home to the island’s caretakers. The island has been left untouched for the most part other than the scar left by an airstrip.

Perhaps the king of islomania¹ is Virgin gazillionaire Sir Richard Branson, who boasts three islands to his name: Necker and Mosquito in the British Virgin Islands (his own private resort and an ecotourism project, respectively), and Makepeace Island in Queensland, which is currently being turned into a private resort for Virgin employees.

Some celebrities eschew the tropics for a private piece of land in their own backyards, such as Celine Dion, whose mansion sits on Île Gagnon in the Rivière des Mille Îles at Laval, Quebec.

The island’s mansion and swimming pool are clearly seen here but Street View can only get as far as the estate gates (which one must assume were put in place as sound insulation by Lavallois tired of hearing that bloody Titanic song).

True to type, adventurer/TV presenter Bear Grylls went with something a little more rudimentary, purchasing the treeless Welsh island of St. Tudwal’s Island West, which is home to not much more than a simple lighthouse and a stone cottage. The island’s cliffs are probably well-suited to a man who climbed Everest at age 23.

Of course that’s just scratching the surface of celebrity-owned islands. Do you know of any other private islands of the rich and famous on Google Maps? Let us know about them in the comments!

Locations: Australia, Polynesia, Quebec, The Bahamas, Wales / Categories: Islands

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The Street View car has come fairly close to several fires over the years, and many remain to be seen – such as this sidewalk garbage fire in a Marseilles underpass which has filled the air with acrid black smoke, or this small roadside brush fire midway between Cardiff and Newport, Wales.

In Sao Paulo, this petrol station is nearly obscured completely by the smoke from a car fire.

The most inflammatory encounters for the Street View car, however, may be these large roadside fires in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa and Chiapas, Mexico.

I wonder if they’ve tried putting these fires out with the world’s largest fire hydrant? Then again, it probably wouldn’t help, seeing as how as it’s located over in Columbia, South Carolina. Besides, the Street View Car in general has bad luck with hydrants.

Fortunately, there are usually emergency workers on the case. Here in Wiesbaden, Germany, an upper-level house fire is being attended to by a number of fire trucks.

At Philadelphia International Airport, this burned-out husk of an airplane sits in a paved circle. The helpless victim of firefighter training, it joins its comrade at Florida’s MacDill Air Force Base.¹

This small brush fire on the North Island of New Zealand was likely set deliberately as part of the annual process of getting the land ready for the season’s planting, and this field fire in Bulgaria is also deliberate. This other brush fire in Botswana captured by the National Geographic African Megaflyover Project, however, appears to be far more dangerous.

Then there are full-on forest fires. In the wilderness of the Northwest Territories, this forest fire is caught in the heat of the moment, sending a giant plume of smoke into the air that can be seen over 20 miles (30 km) away.

Just as ominous is this massive fire in the far east of Russia, seen here blazing a path toward the Pacific Ocean.

What’s worse than an out-of-control wildfire? Try three, as captured here in Cameroon.

Finally, here’s the Street View car getting incredibly meta, as it takes a picture of someone taking a picture of a fire along the South African coast.

Locations: Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Florida, France, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Northwest Territories, Pennsylvania, Russia, South Africa, South Carolina, Wales / Categories: Aircraft, Natural Landmarks, Other Vehicles, Street Views

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Piilani Highway, Hawaii

Hawaii is of course well known for its volcanoes, and Google has done a great job covering the island chain’s roads and capturing some outstanding views. Here on the Piilani Highway on the island of Maui the road parallels the rugged coastline for miles and miles, all while gently riding the slopes of Maui’s ancient volcanoes. The road is ultimately very narrow, and it was closed for two years due to damage caused by the 2006 Hawaii earthquake.

D64, France

In the extreme southeastern corner of France, the D64 snakes through the Southern Alps and gives us some breathtaking views from high up in the mountains. The road is narrow, but that doesn’t stop cyclists and tourists from taking the journey as they are frequently recorded by Google’s cameras.

Going to the Sun Road, Montana

Winding its way up and down through Glacier National Park in Montana, Going to the Sun Road is a favourite among motorcycle riders in the United States. It’s been said that this road has the steepest, sharpest, and maybe even the most beautiful stretches of asphalt anywhere in America, and thanks to Street View, it’s easy to see why it’s so popular. Unfortunately for us, the camera car was using one of the original lower-resolution cameras when it made the journey.

Dalton Highway, Alaska

Alaska Route 11, also known as the Dalton Highway, stretches for 414 miles through some of the most deserted tundra in North America. The road itself was built as a supply road for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, but today it’s frequently travelled by truckers carrying supplies to and from remote northern Alaska. It’s been featured on numerous television shows like Ice Road Truckers and America’s Toughest Jobs due to its extremely dangerous position relative to the Arctic Ocean, and this road is also one of the most northern voyages made by the Google street view car anywhere in the world.¹

Hakusan Super Rindo Forest Road, Japan

Mt. Hakusan is one of three sacred Japanese mountains, and the Hakusan Super Rindo Forest Road is a sightseeing route through the adjacent alpine nature reserve of Hakusan National Park. What this means for us is we get some stunning scenery to check out as the Google car travelled almost the entire length of the road. There are vertical drop, stunning rock faces, and for most of the journey you can actually ride above the clouds!

Mount Cook Road, New Zealand

Leading motorists to the highest mountain in New Zealand, Mount Cook Road is a stunning reminder that New Zealand is home to some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. The route takes us along the western edge of Lake Pukaki, then up to the base of Mount Cook itself. The valley around the road was carved out by ancient glaciers, remnants of which can still be seen today.

Transfăgărăşan Highway, Romania

The Transfăgărăşan in Romania has got to be one of the most breathtaking roads anywhere. Packed with hundreds of turns and thousands of metres of elevations, it’s no wonder that the hosts of “Top Gear” named this road “The Greatest Driving Road in the World”. Thanks to this stretch of tarmac, the journey between Transylvania and Wallachia has become the stuff of legend. The landscape is surreal, and the road itself is intense. Well done Romania!

What’s your favourite Street View journey?

Locations: Alaska, France, Hawaii, Japan, Montana, New Zealand, Romania / Categories: Street Views

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Most comprehensive sightseeing tour

We like to pretend a Google Sightseeing tour provides you with all you need to fully experience somewhere. To properly immerse yourself in this tour however, you really needed to read it whilst imbibing large quantities of single malt Scotch whisky.

Distilleries of Islay

Most utterly bizarre Street View sighting

Nearly a year later, and we still have absolutely no clue what to make of this. Just completely and utterly bizarre.

Crazy SCUBA Guys Chase Street View

Tongue-in-cheek article unintentionally causing most offence

If only we’d known that people could get so touchy about a little detail like which is the world’s highest mountain!

Mount Everest no longer world’s highest mountain

Most architecturally interesting article

Despite some disagreement in the comments about exactly what kind of architecture Gaudi created, nobody denied his work’s artistic merit.

Gaudi’s Barcelona

Greatest unsolved conspiracy

How did he know where the Street View cameras would be? Why did Google censor him? How fast can he drive the Top Gear test track in a Lego car? All these questions were asked and almost none were answered.

Stig, Stig, wherefore art thou Stig?

Most epic journey

Such an epic journey in fact, that even the thought of it exhausts us. Fortunately, Ian took us on a step-by-step guide of the whole thing on Google Street View.

The Pennine Way

Most disgusting thing ever

Many readers had apparently never heard of people leaving behind thousands and thousands of bits of old, chewed, synthetic rubber stuck to a wall in the name of “art”. Apparently those people were also blissfully happy in their ignorance.

The Gum Wall

Best previously poorly-visited sight revisited properly

The Hollywood Sign was one of the very first posts on Google Sightseeing, all the way back in April 2005. We didn’t say that much back then, so it was about time Kevin did a proper investigation into the story of this most iconic of landmarks.

The Hollywood Sign

Best Street View tour inside a volcano

Wouldn’t it be great if we’d had more than one tour on Street View inside a volcano? Well unfortunately we didn’t, but if we had, this from our fifth annual Volcano Week would definitely have won.

Diamond Head

World’s smallest “x” award

A geographically unquestionable article from Basement Geographer Kyle, which pinpointed the world’s tiniest republic. (Before you ask, the Vatican doesn’t count as it’s a city-state and therefore its own capital).

Nauru: the world’s smallest republic

Best tour of places you’ll never be allowed to go

A fascinating look inside some of the most top secret fake villages in the world! Yes, there are quite a few as it happens, but this is as close as you’re ever likely to get.

Fake villages

Best tour of somewhere that isn’t there anymore

OK, so there’s some ruins there, but there isn’t all that much to see really – however Noel did a great job of bringing these ancient relics to life.

The Ruins of the Aran Islands

People we’d least like to live next to

Of course we applaud their undiminishing dedication to their own personal causes, but honestly, would you want to live next door?

‘Creative’ Neighbours

Most terrifying top 3

Working in the aerospace industry, Chris knows his airports, and for this post he managed to find three runways which would clearly be absolutely terrifying to land on!

Top 3 Scariest Airports in the Caribbean

Best local’s guide

What guest geographer Tom doesn’t know about Washington D.C. probably isn’t to do with Geography. What he does know however, is everything odd about it that is.

Oddities in Washington, DC

Most unbelievable story

Just as in 2009, our April Fools post was the most viewed article of the entire year. Which probably tells us we shouldn’t bother trying to write factual articles, but we’ve decided to ignore the evidence and continue bringing you real sightseeing for 2011.

Secret feature lets users unblur Street View photos

Most of the time.

Locations: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia / Oceania, Europe, North America, South America / Categories: Aircraft, Buildings, Monuments, Natural Landmarks, Street Views, Structures, Volcanoes, Weirdness

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