Journey Jottings

On Friday of last week I flew from Brisbane to Melbourne for the day to be presented, by the Victorian Minister for Small Business the Honourable Joe Helper MP, with a certificate honouring Journey Jottings being a finalist in the Australian Home Based Business Awards this year.

The Exhibition Centre is next to the Maritime Museum so after the presentation I came out into the evening air and walked down to the recently restored three-masted iron barque Polly Woodside.

The contrast of a tall ship’s rigging (built in 1885) is a beautiful and stark contrast against the modern Melbourne skyline ~

The old, seen below, reflected in the new Convention Centre.

Seeing Polly Woodside made me think of ‘our friend’ A.Whelen who sailed into Melbourne from London aboard the iron clipper Hesperides  in 1878 ~

At the end of last year I reproduced each day (on the exact day that they had occurred 131 years earlier) extracts from A.Whelan’s journal, written in 1878. For a summary of the trip I selected 10 journal entries, which can be read here, or for all 97 entries (he was at sea for 93 days) click here

I then walked across the pedestrian Seafarers Bridge to the Docklands.

Where the maritime theme continued…

…down this laneway to another ~

I was then treated to a beautiful sunset…

as I looked back across the Yarra River

and down to the city over Spencer Street Bridge

All photos taken by Linda Fairbairn

Journey Jottings was a finalist in the Australian Home Based Business Awards this year, so last Friday I flew from Brisbane down to Melbourne for the day to be presented with a certificate to honour the achievement by the Victorian Minister for Small Business the Honourable Joe Helper MP ~

(#Travel Tip: Check in a full 24 hours prior to the trip to select your optimum seat!)

I took the Skybus from the airport into the city

(#Travel Tip: Book and print out your ticket on line the night before to save queuing and risk missing the bus – Save time!

The bus takes you direct to Spencer Street Station in just 20 minutes.

I was amused as I walked down towards the Exhibition Centre, which is just over the bridge on the Yarra River to see what looked like  ’Loosing yourself in Melbourne’ was alive and well

I was also excited to see Melbourne’s Bike Share system in operation, and judging by the vacant docks is proving to be really popular . There are 50 stations situated approximately 500 meters apart across the city that let out a total of 600 bikes . For just $50 per year or $2.50 per day you can hire a bike at one station and return it to another station.

And a trip to Melbourne wouldn’t be a trip to Melbourne if I didn’t have a photo of a tram

Click here: for Melbourne ~ Part 2

All photos taken by Linda Fairbairn, on the trip

We had a call this morning from Purnululu National Park, up in the Kimberleys, in the north west of Western Australia ~

It’s currently the Dry Season there so beautiful clear blue skies and perfect temperatures for exploring the region.

They were calling to order more of our Kimberley Map Magnets, which are proving popular with the all the visitors enjoying the area -

The Kimberleys

Which made me hungry for some travel!

Couldn’t resist going on a virtual tour ~ Here are some photos of the Bungle Bungles ~ Purnululu National Park

Photo by Obliot

Photo by oneillci

Photo by yewenyi

Photo by yewenyi

Photo by philliecasablanca

Photo by philliecassablanca

Photo by tgraham

*sigh*

Who would think a humble fridge magnet could magic carpet me away on such a wonderful virtual trip

To give a quick background summary as to who is behind Journey Jottings I’ve added a ‘Who is Linda?’ tab to our Journey Jottings Facebook page ~

Click here to view a bigger version!

What do you think?

At the beginning of this year we introduced a line of Map Magnets to our range of Map Journals, Mail-It Maps and Scrapbook packs ~

Regions covered by our Map Magnets

We started off with 22 to test the water that covered the major cities such as Sydney

Sydney Map Magnet (on backing card)

Melbourne:

Melbourne Map Magnet

Perth and the south west of Western Australia:

Perth Map Magnet (on backing card)

and Brisbane covering from Fraser Island down to Byron Bay:

Brisbane Map Magnet (on backing card)

We have just added another 8,  so we now have a total of 30 regions across Australia covered

The latest cover some of the more remote regions such as Bourke and Cameron Corner:

Bourke Map Magnet (on backing card)

Coober Pedy up to Alice Springs:

Coober Pedy Map Magnet

and the Gulf of Carpentaria

The Gulf of Carpentaria Map Magnet

…with lurking crocodile

To see more, they’re on our website:

http://www.journeyjottings.com/magnets.html

Happy travels

I’m off to the Fair in Sydney, Darling Harbour for a few days ~

Its a great opportunity to meet up face to face with our retailers from across the country

We’ve got our new range of Map Magnets (22 different regions) to take this year and also our new Special Edition Map Journal that comes in a beautiful textured card (FSC Eco-label certified) travel wallet, which feels fabulous  and has a quirky Aussie look!

Its a lot of hard work setting up the stand, manning it for five days and then packing everything back up to head home but…

great fun

Yesterday, I went to see our printer in Brisbane to sign off the proof for a new travel wallet I’m producing for our Australia Map Journal ~

There’s always an air of trepidation signing off a proof ~ It sounds a bit melodramatic, but it can feel close to signing your life away!

One can’t help but have a fear that you just may have missed a spelling mistake and that once the printing machines start rolling you’ll have reams of paper piling up off the end of the press all displaying some glaring bloomer

It’s also a really exciting time!

The proof is produced on a high gloss photographic paper so the image is strong and crisp, but because one can’t write on glossy paper we produce our products on uncoated papers – Uncoated papers absorb more ink so the final result is visually more muted – The proof in our case is therefore no real indication as to what it will look like as it comes off the press, which can mean a few surprises

On the eco front, we use a 40% post consumer waste recycled paper, with the remainder coming from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) managed trees. Our printer uses soy based inks.

So… Here is a sneak peak of the new travel wallet front cover…

and the back…

I’ve selected a textured card with a lovely feel to it so… I can’t wait to see and touch the final product!

Fingers crossed it lives up to my expectations

Tuesday Tip 1:

Where it all began

Journey Jottings Map Journals came into being when I returned from a trip to the Northern Territory and felt my written journal just didn’t cut it when it came to showing and sharing with  family and friends where I’d been and what I’d been doing.

Personal tomes of the written word are wonderful for quiet reflective moments of solitary reminiscing, but what I needed was something more visually appealing, and something that would simply summarize my trip on a single sheet.

Since our first edition Map Journal (which we now fondly refer to as “market research”) I have taken it through a few metamorphoses over the years until now it’s in a 4th edition.

Since joining the social media realms of Twitter and Facebook I’ve had the fun of chatting to people holidaying and travelling around Australia (or wishing they were holidaying and travelling around Australia) and I’ve been asked for tips and tricks for getting the most benefit from their Map Journal.

As with anything new, or unfamiliar, its great to get a few pointers so I thought I’d apply some of  my Tuesday blog posts to a ‘Tuesday Tips’ session.

So… any questions for the inaugural post next week?

Add a comment here, or email me to ask!