Archive for the 'General' Category

New contact form for this blog

A new feature on this blog for my readers is a Contact Form.

This will now be a constant feature on the side bar under the Contents heading. It is for my readers who wish to contact me via email for whatever reason – rather than leaving a comment or question in the comments section.

The usual comments section will remain of course. And you can also subscribe to my RSS feeds for both posts and comments. This facility is also on the sidebar.

Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens

Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens

Celebrating this Travel Blog’s Milestone

A few days ago I missed a milestone in the life of this travel blog. I’ve now posted over 300 articles on this blog, most of them about places I’ve been and photographed. For new readers to this blog I invite you to dig deeply into the archives for a wealth of reading about places I’ve been, experiences I’ve had and photos of those places.

Link: Archives of Trevor’s Travels (Click here).

Of course, if you don’t want to troll through all of the archives, I’ve set up a quick way to access several themes in my writing. Click on the link to access these compilations of articles.

Links:

  • Parks and Gardens – here is a collection of articles about beautiful parks and gardens of South Australia. Each article includes beautiful photos of the parks and gardens we have visited over recent years.
  • National Parks – articles about visits to national parks in Australia, Nepal and Thailand, again with many photos.
  • Travels in Nepal – photos and descriptions of the many adventures I had in Nepal, including trekking near Mt Everest, a visit to Chitwan National Park and exploring fascinating Kathmandu.
  • Travels in Thailand – photos and descriptions of my visit to Thailand.
  • My photo gallery – hundreds of photos of places, birds, flowers, animals and much more.

Happy First Birthday!

This blog is officially one year old today.

Happy First Birthday to my travel blog.

It has been an interesting journey of discovery, frustration, elation and a very steep learning curve. This blog commenced while I was staying with my son and daughter-in-law in Sydney last year. We were having a short holiday there and Simon did all the technical stuff setting up my three blogs. He still does all the maintenance on our blogs.

Thanks Sim’.

What have I learned?

  1. Connecting: The writer’s life can be lonely at times – but on the positive side, I’ve made many contacts with people all over the world through their comments and links to this blog and my other sites. Thanks to all of you.
  2. Selecting: The blogging world is an interesting place to live in; there are many wonderful writers who are forward looking in their thinking and express that in their writing. There’s just not enough time in each day to read it all, so one has to be very selective.
  3. Focussing: The writer’s and blogger’s life needs to be very focussed on the task at hand. The internet can be a huge distraction and hours just fly off into the unknown leaving little time for the real work of actually writing.
  4. Absorbing: There are so many things one needs to learn how to do to make the writer’s life and one’s blogging ventures successful. At times I felt like a giant sponge soaking up all the information about this new venture. Putting it all into practice was a challenge. Sometimes, like the sponge, I felt so bloated; at other times all wrung out and dry.
  5. Rewarding: Being able to write over 900 blog posts for the last year has been very rewarding, giving me a great sense of achievement. Having a readership in the many thousands every month has its own rewards, especially when people connect via comments, some returning frequently. Receiving my first payment from my blogging was another reward and, though modest at this stage, it is a start.

So there you have it.

Happy First Birthday.

Reader’s Questions:

  • How long have you been blogging?
  • What have you learned from writing and blogging?

Travel books

We went to Adelaide yesterday to do some shopping. I didn’t take the camera so I have no photos to show. Probably if I had taken it the resulting photos would not have been of much interest to most of my readers anyway.

When we go shopping in Adelaide I try to squeeze in at least some time in a couple of favourite bookshops. I’m a sucker for spending time in bookshops and I have a few specialist areas in each shop where I tend to spend more time in than others.

One interesting area I often frequent is the travel section. So many places to go, so many interesting books about the journeys of others and so many maps. (I collect maps as a hobby.)

Yesterday I deliberately avoided the travel section. I have enough books and magazines to read already without adding to the several rather considerable piles awaiting my attention.

Besides that, when I look at travel books, atlasses and other maps I tend to get an uneasy feeling. Some people call it itchy feet. Others call it wanderlust. Catching the travel bug. Perhaps it is the call to adventure, of other places, of destinations not yet reached.

Perhaps it is time I went on a holiday somewhere.

No – I haven’t got time – I’m too busy reading the three books I bought in another section.

Australia Day

January 26th is celebrated throughout Australia as our National Day. It was on this day in 1788 that this new country was founded by the first European settlers to arrive here. I thought I’d share a few images of things that are quintessentially Australian as my way of celebrating Australia day, and sharing something of our country with others.

Western Grey Kangaroo

Western Grey Kangaroo

Australia is known for its wonderful wildlife. The kangaroo would have to be one of the most recognisable members of our fauna. The cuddly look of the Koala would also be recognised world wide.

Koala and Magpie

Koala and Magpie

Australia is also known for its amazing array of plants and wildflowers. Probably the most easily recognised tree would be the eucalypt (or gum) tree. There are hundreds of different species; I will show only one here. This scene, taken in the mid north farming area of South Australia, is typical of many parts of our land.

Balaklava Plains near Blyth South Australia

Balaklava Plains near Blyth South Australia

Of our stunning array of wildflowers, the banksia is easily recognised by many Australians. These magnificent plants give an amazing display when in full flower. The birds go crazy feeding on the nectar and seeds they produce. Photographers, artists and gardeners go equally crazy over them

Banksia flower

Banksia flower

Now we turn to the birds. With about 800 species Australia is a plentiful land for the bird lover. Our vast range of parrots and honeyeaters, blue wrens and emus, waterfowl, waders, bush birds and sea birds attract birders from the world over. I’ve just chosen several to feature here.

Mallee Ringneck Parrot

Mallee Ringneck Parrot

Australia has so many beautiful birds it is hard just to show only two. Many more are featured in my photo gallery here.

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

Sulphur Crested Cockatoo

Finally, one of Australia’s most recognisable landmarks, the Sydney Opera House.

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House