Reason it rates: There is such a thing as "free lunch" at the famed online shoe retailer, and though Amazon has taken them over, the corporate culture remains pleasantly offbeat.

But the Malthusians might retort that man's famed ingenuity has not stopped prices from rising in real terms over an extended period.

Purple tints land and sky as night falls over lavender fields at Tasmania's famed Bridestowe Estate.