This is Venice of America, in California. Originally intended to be a copy of its namesake, the rapid development of the the motor-vehicle industry sadly meant that in 1929, barely 24 years since its inception, most of the canals were filled in.

Jumping all the way to the other side of the globe now (you lucky Google Earth people!), this is Gold Coast City, Australia. With more than 200km of waterways this looks like a cool place to live. The canal system is pretty huge, and as it was built in the 1960s, cars have been well catered for. Every house is beside a canal and a road. Google appears to have had a bit of an issue trying to match the whole thing up though!

Thanks to Miku Araman and Sean.

This is the Port Germein jetty. It is an absolutely staggering 1646 metres long (or maybe 1680 metres, depending on who you talk to). You can really see why it needs to be so long though – it extends right out until the water is actually deep enough for a boat (more info)

Longer even than that is the Busselton jetty, which at 1841 metres is the longest wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere. That’s almost 2 kilometres long! The jetty is 140 years old and has an underwater observatory at the end, a train to take you there, and apparently some pretty awesome diving (official site).

I did some quick Googling of my own, but couldn’t turn up the world’s longest wooden jetty. Anyone able to point us in the right direction?

Thanks: Max Powar, AussieBob, Giles Pepper and me… again! Go me.

In French New Caledonia there’s a natural heart shaped swamp which featured on the cover of ‘Earth from Above‘, a collection of photographs by Yann Arthus Bertrand. The photo was titled ‘HEART IN VOH’.

In Taipei there’s a heart shaped pool, which also has a heart shaped island in the middle. Surely it must be man made though?

Finally, on the coast of Croatia, is this gorgeous heart shaped island, lined on every side with golden sands. Honeymoon location anyone?

Thanks: Rob B, Julien and pilotin.

Off the Gold Coast in Queensland Australia there looks to be a Giant Dead Lego Cowboy. No need to call the cops though, it’s just an inflatable waterplay feature.

Thanks: Ricardo Russon, Alex & woowoowoo

This is the famous Horizontal Falls in the Kimberley region of western Australia. Although called waterfalls, this natural phenomenon actually consists of immense tidal currents hurtling through narrow coastal gorges. When the tide turns, the water ‘falls’ back in the other direction. You can see here what they look like from one of the planes which conduct tours of the area. Incredible.

The Kimberley coast is one of the largest coastal wilderness areas in the world, and unusually (for such an empty area) seems to be very well covered by high-resolution imagery.

Thanks to woowoowoo for at least the 4 billionth time