This weekend, the tiny town of Hokitika, New Zealand, population 4,500, will be flooded by 17,000 foodies, who are flying, driving and bussing in from all over sample the oddest delicacies they can get their mitts on.

Stowaway squirrels, Chinese environmentalism, and toxic LA.

A few months back, I blogged about Tribewanted.com’s Fijian island experiment. James Vlahos went along with the “first footers” who kicked off development on the island, and lived to tell the tale in National Geographic Adventure.

Abha Malpani of the Written Road spilled the beans today about a new online travel community that’s just emerged from private beta. Matador Travel is going for one-stop shopping for all your Web 2.0 travel-site needs.

Not content to simply smash records, scale imposing peaks, and cross the earth’s most forbidding terrain, a new breed of adventurer has emerged that’s determined to do it all without any mechanical help.