Assignment Page

Personal Bio 

Hello! My name is Jess and I am a travel addict and photography enthusiast. Put them both together and you get Postcard Travelling!

I grew up in sunny Perth, Western Australia and since finishing high school almost ten years ago, my philosophy has been to work so I can travel. Last year, deciding it was time to attempt some direction for the future, I returned to student life, studying Professional Writing and Publishing and Internet Studies. With any luck, one day I will be able to keep my adventures alive by freelancing on the go.

Thank you for stopping by!

Avatar and Avatar Annotation 

Photograph courtesy of Sarah Edgar

My avatar image is of me while on holiday in Budapest. I thought it was ideal to use an image featuring myself because the blog is about travel locations that I have personally visited. By using this photograph, it allows readers to feel like they know me by putting a face to a name, creating a personal connection and giving the site an identity rather than an anonymous author. While the image doesn’t ‘scream’ tourist, it still suggests a surrounding other than ‘home’ due to the contrast with the blue sky blog background. The text placed across the bottom identifies the blog name and gives a clue to what I am ‘selling’ if the image is seen by itself.

Narrating Personal Interest 

Postcard Travelling was born out of my love for photography and travel. I have visited many places over the years and I thought it would be a cool idea to have a way to share my experiences with other like-minded people. Not only do I visit tourist locations, I also like to find off-the-beaten track secrets, always eager to discover something exciting that puts me amongst beautiful landscapes and jaw-dropping architecture. I’ve seen the cobbled streets of Prague and stared up at the skyscrapers of New York, ridden horses through the canyons of Arizona and swum in the freezing lochs of Scotland. I enjoy both cliché and unique experiences that leave you speechless, warm the heart or produce the adrenalin that life is worthy of.

Myself horse-riding in Arizona.
Photograph courtesy of Fiona Willis

My passion for photography is one that runs in my family, right back to my great, great grandfather who was a photographic pioneer. The travel bug, however, was never a ‘given’ but I believe I was ‘bitten’ back when I was eleven. My parents took my sister and me on our first overseas holiday to Bali, which if you are from Western Australia like us, Bali is practically a rite of passage. This was back in 1998 so while it was still a major tourist destination for Aussies, it wasn’t quite in the same league as it is now. For a young girl from a relatively privileged lifestyle, Bali was quite the culture shock. I am grateful though that I have parents who didn’t just want to stay in Kuta to shop and lie by the hotel pool all day. They actually made an effort to show us as much of Bali as they could and I have no doubt that it was this first trip that instilled a sense of longing in me to discover new places.

I have a fondness for architecture and beautiful scenery so the majority of my photographs will not feature people. Plus, I’m quite sure you do not want to see happy snaps of my travel companions. My goal is to share attainable locations with you so you can experience them yourself. You may also notice that the majority of my photographs have been taken in Europe and America. I love the cold and so most of my trips have taken place in the northern hemisphere's winter. This is to coincide with the Australian summer so I can escape the heat and humidity that we are so famous for. 

I’d like to leave you with a quote that I think sums up the mindset of most tourists travellers… 

"Not all those who wander are lost" - J.R.R. Tolkien

Introducing Your Topic 

There is nothing more exciting than stepping out of your accommodation on the first day of your trip, knowing you have a whole city waiting for you to explore. Even thinking about it as I write this makes me want to book a trip!

Australians love to travel. From July 2012 to June 2013, we made 8.4 million trips overseas. And it’s not just us. International travelling, even in these turbulent economic times, still continues to grow. I think the opportunity to travel and experiences new environments is such an amazing privilege and I am quite aware that a lot of people do not have the ability to do so. Travelling broadens your mind and allows you to discover new cultures, different ways of life, realise new things about yourself and experience things you never thought possible. I hope my photographs inspire you to visit some of the locations and challenge yourself, whether it be travelling by yourself for the first time or climbing to the top of an Italian tower with a fear of heights urging you to go back! 

The view from Torre Grossa, San Gimignano, Italy
Sept, 2005

I promise this is the most text you will ever see on this blog. People generally don’t have the patience to read long posts, and neither do I. The idea behind Postcard Travelling is that you can see a place you like the look of and then do your own independent research, if it is of interest. Armed with the name of the attraction and the location, you’ll be fine. It is the kind of blog you can quickly look through and know that the locations are places that the everyday person can visit. I am not terribly adventurous but am willing to give something a go if it is of interest to me, so the locations are attainable for anyone open to leaving their own home.

You have the ability to create your own travel experiences, to really become immersed in a culture and experience the most of what a country has to offer whether it for 24 hours, a week or six months. Go forth and be inspired! 


Creating Generative Value

A recent study by The Economist Intelligence Unit that rates the liveability of cities around the world has announced Perth, my hometown, as the 9th most liveable city. The annual study, which bases its results on stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure “assesses which locations around the world provide the best or the worst living conditions”. For the third consecutive year, Melbourne, on the east coast of Australia, has topped the list.

The Top 10 Cities In The World When It Comes To Living Conditions
1. Melbourne, Australia
2. Vienna, Austria
3. Vancouver, Canada
4. Toronto, Canada
5. Calgary, Canada
5. Adelaide, Australia
7. Sydney, Australia
8. Helsinki, Finland
9. Perth, Australia
10. Auckland, New Zealand
Source: Perth Now

I thought it might be a nice idea to share some of my favourite things to do in Perth. While we may not attract the same kind of tourist numbers as Melbourne and Sydney, Perth has plenty to offer, whether you are a long term resident like me, or just stopping by for a visit. Perhaps I’ll follow this post with some more ‘touristy’ options but for now, here are a few of my favourite Perth time wasters…

Cottesloe Beach

White sand, clear water, and fish and chips while watching the sunset; Cottesloe Beach is one of Perth's most popular destinations year-round, and for good reason, whether you like swimming or not. Even in winter, the beach is a fantastic place to watch the waves crashing in, made even better if you have a hot drink and a blanket to snuggle into. 

Sunset at Cottesloe Beach

Fremantle

Spend a lazy Sunday afternoon perusing the shops and markets in the port city Fremantle before heading to iconic brewery Little Creatures for the Sunday session. 

Beaufort Street

Literally just outside the Perth CBD is the suburb of Mount Lawley and its main street, Beaufort. Lined with coffee shops, small bars, boutique clothing stores, unique gift shops, pubs and restaurants, Beaufort St. is possibly the easiest place in Perth to while away your day. And if you’re lucky, you might get a chance to see some live entertainment at the iconic Astor Theatre too.

Music Festivals

Over the last ten years, music festivals have grown to an exciting degree. From what was once just the Big Day Out, we now have Southbound, Soundwave, Groovin’ the Moo, West Coast Blues ‘n’ Roots, St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, Future Music and Stereosonic, enticing local and international big names to festivals and also concerts year-round.

Big Day Out 2013

Entering the Conversation

I posted a comment to a blog post by the Young Adventuress titled Come With Me to Tuscany. You can view the comment below or use the direct link.

Liz, what a beautiful video-memory of your time in Tuscany!

Tuscany was also a place that I had high expectations of, like you, mostly built up from my countless viewings of Under the Tuscan Sun. When I was eighteen, my mum took me there as a graduation present and although it was only a short trip, everything about it was spectacular. We too visited Cortona and I feel in love with the town, the stone walls and the amazing surrounding views. We went in search of Bramasole with only a general idea of which direction to go and even though it took over an hour walking the steep countryside, with a little help from the locals, we eventually found it. Tuscany really is beautiful and it just takes your breath away.  I’m so glad it lived up to your expectations and your video brought back so many memories for me. It had been my first trip to Europe and I hope to visit Italy again next year with fresh eyes. Having travelled on and off for the past 8 years, I look forward to seeing it again from a new perspective.

*Update: I received a reply from Liz four days later saying:

I missed Bramasole! I am determined to meet Frances Mayes in person one day :)

Personally I was impressed that she replied to me because she receives so many comments on her posts (currently there are 48 comments, all of which she has replied to). 


Consolidating your Presence

This week’s task was a little difficult for me as there wasn’t anything I wanted to add/change. In the initial stages of setting up the blog, I created links to the most relevant social media platforms for a photography blog, including Instagram, Flickr, Pinterest and Facebook. I chose not to integrate the feed into the blog page as the content shared on each platform is identical. The point of this is to allow readers to follow the page on their preferred platform and they can do this by clicking on the social media icon and it will take them directly to the corresponding platform. My initial set-up also included a blogroll with a selection of other travel bloggers and in the week prior to this task, I added some new blogs to the list. The blogroll descends showing the ten most recent posts. I am satisfied with the tags I have used in each post because they succinctly categorise the content of each and these are the same tags I use on the additional social media platforms. The only change I have made this week is to the technical aspect of the blog by enabling trackbacks, or 'backlinks' in Blogger, which allows me to keep track of anyone who links to my posts from their blog.