Underrated Islands in Oz

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I have to commit it - if there is no pictures accompanying the words, I don't have the paitient to continue. So for the last post, I want to introduce an article talking about some "virgin" lands in Oz.



The writer gave us 7 destinations. And I am picking the key words from the writer to show you general idea.




The Tiwi Islands, NT - north Darwin, aboriginal, local arts, AFL wanna see more?

Montague Island, NSW - Narooma, eco-ventures, penguins wanna see more?

King Island, Tasmania - Bass Strait, lighthouses, lagoons, cheese wanna see more?

French Island, Victoria - Philip Island, tranquil, organic, bushwalk, IIama trekking wanna see more?

Southern Reef Islands, Queensland - Lady Elliot Island, low-key, wilderness, camping overnight wanna see more?  wanna see much more?

The Houtman-Abrolhos Islands, WA - Geraldton, no accommodation, wildlife wonderland wanna see more?

Christmas Island, Indian Ocean Territorie - Tampa, almighty furore, whale-shark diving, red crabs wanna see more?



Besides the informative contents, the layout of this article is ispiring. The picture at the top is amazing. I think nobody can reject a trip to an island like that.


There is a quote, backgrounded by greenish gray, selecting the most enchanting words from the writer, which can give a direct impression on readers what this article is about.


Under this quote, there is a section called "More about Beaches" which provides more information that readers may want to know. The words used are very persuasive, like "The top 1- beach houses in Victoria" etc.


Generally, this is a good article, and I was hooked by those islands.



Places I have to see before I die

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This is a slide show called "Places to see before you die". 10 pictures, 10 pieces of description. I was so intrigued into the title when I first saw it.

So before I opened the link, I was thinking those beautiful resorts on those famous beach, like Tahiti which is definitely THE place I have to go before I die. 

The first picture popping out was two gorillas, a mother and her child in her arms, in Uganda wild forest. To be hoest, this was my expectation at all!

However, the description was an amazing one - A challenging trek through thick African Jungle makes the awe-inspiring reward of finding oneself in the copany of a family of roaming gorillas all the more special. 

I kept clicking until I came to this stunning one - Angel Falls in Venezuela, a picture was posted at the top. The view was exactly the same as the dreamy fall in "Up", one of my favorite films. I didn't know there is a real one in this world. Maybe it's too early to say this, but my bucket list is added one more.

The 9th picture is Lhasa, one of the purest places I have been to. I flied there some years ago before the train could reach the place.

But I do suggest everybody who is planning to go there that you'd better take the train, because the view along the way must be the most breathtaking one in your entire life. Plus it is very comfortable to get used to the highland climate slowly. You don't want to pass out the moment you step outside the plane exit.

I think there is a limitation to this slide show. Since most of the destinations are not the hottest ones and readers may be unfamiliar with them, the poster should insert a map of the world which spots those destinations on it. It will give readers a clear clue where on earth these places are.



Trip Planning

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This semester is coming to its end, and I'm planning a trip to somewhere during the holiday with my friends. Somewhere? Of course, GOLD COAST! Every time I think about it, I can't stop myself cheering.

"Calm down," my friend says. Alright, before heading there, we'd better do some work first.

I googled the travel tips to gold coast and found these two websites. Different styles, but pretty much same information.

This is the first website I found called Gold Coast Australia Travel Tips.com. To me it looks like a private blog. So I think maybe I can find more interesting and personal tips in this site.

As you can see, the home page of this site includes a brief self-introduction of the blogger with some random pictures at the top. But the most attractive section is the "Top 10 Frequently Asked Questions". Every question is linkable to its answer.

Since I'm a little bit worried about the weather there in the late Oct, I click on the question no.4 - Best Time to Visit The Gold Coast Questions & Answers and here is the page I get:

To be honest, the page's layout is disappointing. I have a hard time to tell which part is the answer and which part is ads. And then I finally find the body, I get this:



Oh, why don't  the blogger just answer the question? I think the best way to do this, especially when the target readers are trip planners who want the information to be clear, quick, and direct, is giving the straight answer and leave all those additional information after it. Like this one:

Finally I get what I want from a travel tips website.



Why We Travel

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Why we travel? Is it you are on your honeymoon trip or invited by your friends to visit their new home? What a travel can leave you?

My answer to this question is THE PHOTO. Photo that I can't take if I've never been to that place, photo that I can't take if I am not in that mood, and photo that I can't take if I've never met those people.

Travel is wonderful. Sometimes, one photo and a few lines of comment from yourself can take you go back to that place again. That's what the original story tells - why we travel? One little picture can give you the answer. 

The background color is black, wonderful for pictures show, and there are no advertisements. Photo on the left, words on the right. Each picture is a window to tell a story and the story begins with why we travel explained on the right-side comments.

I like story No. 4 best. You can tell that the photo was taken from outside of the van's windshield while still moving. It's a very special and beautiful angle to picture a van running on the quiet country road with sun set and golden skyline in the background.

The traveller said: "We spent our time camping and traveling and meeting people from all over the world like we did in our 20s. Keep in mind we are both in our 40s now."

"Travel is freedom, and the smallest things become an adventure. It's a departure from the everyday that reminds you that there is a huge world out there worth exploring."

I took that photo at the beginning. I was on my graduation trip with my best friends. I have forgotten where we lived, what we ate or who we met.

But I can always remember what we felt when we were sitting besides the sea in the midnight with sea breeze touching our shoulders and the sound of waves singing for us. That photo just illustrates all I can remember for this trip.

Virgin Blue in two reports

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Flights of Virgin Blue were delayed or cancelled on Sunday due to their crashed down online booking system. I find two news reports about this issue from The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) and ABC News, both published on 27 Sep on their websites. Let's have a look at how the reporters approach the news in different ways.

SMH report's title is ' Virgin Blue back online, but more delays expected'. A video clip from FairFax Media was put in the beginning and then a link to Virgin Blue official website and its hotline. This gave readers a quick access to updated information from the airline.

The whole report used the inverted pyramid type to send message. It gave the most important news at the beginning about how many flights were cancelled, how long the delay would continue, and how many passengers were affected.

The reporter cited an official statement from the airline to claim the current situation. Also, the reporter interviewed 6 person, including a spokeswoman from the airline, 3 involved passengers, a manager working in a bar in airport, and a manager from travel agency, all giving their personal experience about this issue.

Report from ABC was called Virgin ill-prepared for system crash, experts say. A picture shows on the right side in the beginning, followed with a video clip link, an audio link, a map, 3 related stories and a link to Virgin Blue website.

The report introduced the core message of this piece in black font that Virgin Blue should have had a better back-up system to deal with a technical glitch that forced thousands of passengers to be stranded. That's a deeper angle than the SMH report.

For the interviewees, this report had 4, including Virgin Blue operations manager, Cirkey's aviation writer, Australian Computer Society spokesman and Air Transport senior editor. The reporter chose experts, rather than involved passengers, to give their opinions about how this issue happened, who should pay the lost, and what is the best way to avoid this kind of issue in the future.

The report provided that Virgin Blue booking system was supported by Navitaire. However, it lacked the announcement from this company which would be very important to complete this story focusing on the computer problem.

As we can see, these two reports both did a good job to send message and inform readers. They focus on different angle; thus different interviewees and writing structure are introduced.

Missing Paris

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Paris is such a city full of romance and memory. I've never been to Paris, but after all the hearing about her, happy or sad, she is still the dreamy one of my travel destinations.

The original story is about coming back to Paris but finding lost in the city. I love how the author portrays the feeling: like having a drink with an ex-lover, we don't belong to one another anymore.

The picture in the front is not a typical one showed the Eiffel Tower or a view from the Tower, but an upward shot of cloudy sky through the space between buildings in a reminiscent color. It's not a travel story, but more precisely, an emotional piece.

The simple introduction sentences before the story stand as a piece of editorial, but in a more sensitive tone. That is a good sale point to readers. And at the end of story, there is brief introduction to this author and his or her works. I think if it has links to this author's other pieces of work, the whole page can be more functional and informative.

The comments section is so clean in format that the readers can look through what other people comment on this story and issue. Also, I like the whole page's simplicity because, unlike many websites with tons of pop-in travel agencies ads, this website focuses on the stories. 

On the right side of this page, a place where usually shows a lot of ads, first it has travel blogs links, a small piece of ad, the latest post on this website, and then different tags and destinations to help reader navigate the places they want to go.

I do recommend this travel website called WORLD HUM to you! Check it out: http://www.worldhum.com/

WOW~~it's NY!

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This story talks about how to live and work in New York as a foreigner. More specifically, the writer shares her own experience of staying in the Big Apple for one year.


About The Layout


Firstly, this story has two pictures, a bigger one of the Statue of Liberty on the top and a smaller one of Time Square down below, both with simple captions summarising key points.


Then, we can see bold font questions are put in the beginning, which can attract readers' eyeballs as well as raise their general consensus to ask the same questions and acquire the answers as the story unfold.


There is a list of Related Coverage on the left side of the text, which gives more information about other's opinions on immigration which provides access to learn more about the related issues.


Your Say is the section to interact with readers. But they are put in the wrong place. One of Your Says shows in the middle of the article, blocking the reading proceeding and the other one is laid on the button, giving some non-hyperlinkable Top websites to visit.


About The Content


Starting with four engaging questions as I mentioned above, the story is divided into four parts through which her first-hand experience is alternated with information of required type of visa to work in America, the J-1 visa.


As an informative story, it lacks of either the application details of J-1 visa or any helpful links to this specific issue, only stating that this visa allows unlimited working hour and it is simple but pricey to apply.


However, this story does raise my own feelings about being an international student alone in Australia, just like the Aussie writer tackling in America on her own. I can learn some suggestion in terms of how to seize opportunities when being unintentionally excluded.


Generally speaking, this story provides some useful information about living and working in America, especially in New York. It is more like an experience-telling type feature story although it is put under Travel category.

This Time for South America

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Tell me your very first thinking about this picture.


Yes, it's an interesting and creative painting. It must be a picture accompnied to a story talking about South Africa.


Hold it! It's not South Africa. It's South America! That was what happened when I saw this online story first. I mistook the South America for South Africa because South Africa is such a popular tourism destination in the world all the time and travelling suggestion pieces are all over the Internet. Besides, the shape of these continents do look alike.


When I realised that this story was about South America, my appetite was stimulated strongly because, like the author says about it, this place wasn't exactly on most travelers' must-see list. Me neither! But the picture is definitely the first sale point in this page.


I immediately continue to read the story.


The author gives four main suggestion in how to stretch your dollars in South America. Actually, I think the first two (Don't follow the crowd and Go with a group)are not that creative for people like me who already have some experience on how to make a travelling cost under budget. These are just very basic knowledge about travelling.


However, the third one (Rent an apartment) and the forth one (A free or cheap stopover) are good advices. The author provides economical strategies to save money on the biggest expenditure during a trip - accomondation as well as how to visit more places around by booking a round-trip tickets.


Through the whole story the author mentions clearly about many travel agencies, which, on one hand, provides the readers explicit names and websites to search for when they are planning a trip, but on the other hand leaves me a feeling that this is an advertisement article for those agencies and websites. So I think bloggers should be careful on this kind of introduction of agencies because it has both advantages and disadvantages.


I like the ending of this story which describes a delimma situation I happened to encounter a couple of times just like it says - they have a bunch of great vintage furniture shops, and it was ridiculously cheap. But there are probably easier thins you can buy than sending furniture home. Those stuffs which you can't bring home are always the unforgettable bittersweat memory about that trip in your heart.

Taste of Beijing

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When I was searching the original article for my 3rd blog post the other day, I incidentally opened this blog called design*sponge which has beautiful and unique background setting in a special designed pattern. It gave me a feeling that I could find something interesting here. That’s true.




I chose one of the posts talking about travel guide in Beijing where I spent a whole year exploring.



A close-up of those gorgeous golden eaves of ancient Chinese style house attracted me first. The blogger introduced his/herself and the reason why to write this post in the beginning.
The main part of the article is divided into 8 sections which are laid in a not-so-clear order. Readers might get lost when go through the words.



In Nan Luo Gu Xiang, North Beijing section, to my opinion, the blogger missed one MUST-SEE spot. It is a traditional soft cheese store named Wen Yu along the tourist lane. When I first went to Nan Luo Gu Xiang, I was wondering whether it was worthy waiting under the burning. But the answer was YES after I had a taste of that chilling, sweet and smooth diary product. Mango flavour is the best!



The blogger moved to Houhai Area, North Beijing section by saying that “At the end of Nan Luo Gu Xiang is Houhai (literally translated as ‘back lake’) where you will find plenty of Beijingers chilling out”. That’s true, and my suggestion is that go to Houhai Lake during the nightfall. You will have this stunning view of rippling lake wave, neon lights, and skyline painted by the fading sunshine. I think that’s something the blogger didn’t mention in this section: his/her own feelings of the view.



Basically, in this post the blogger’s tone was compelling. He/she used round bracket to make a point and give the readers a feeling that the blogger was talking to them right now. For example, “you know who you are” “don’t ask me how I know”. And the blogger highlighted the key words, making the readers easy to navigate what they are interested in. Moreover, I think the page should include more photos to attact eyes.

Danger Fun

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Have you ever tried the bungee jumping or circumnavigation in a little boat? That’s what the crazy people do. But what if you really want to have a taste of danger, I mean, real danger like death? Then jump on a scooter in Vietnam!


This story tells the blogger’s real experiences sitting on a motorbike, squeezing through the narrow path and competing with thousands of other scooters and even livestock. Besides, it was about to rain!


In the beginning, the writer sets up this horrified weather background, making people walk in this scene with him on the road in Vietnam. People cannot stop wondering what’s goanna happen next.


The blogger said: “After all, the ebb and flow of adrenalin through the bloodstream that normally comes with constant near-death experiences on Vietnamese roads had long since flatlined for me at somewhere near panic.” Panic!


Yes, the joys of doing dangerous things are irresistible. Just like the blogger says that putting yourself in danger is a thrill- surviving the experience, even more so.


“What better time to experience danger than when you’re travelling? That’s the time you want to do something different, something you might not get the chance to do at home…”


That must raise readers’ memory of their own trip to some place totally strange to them, and something really unforgettable happened there. Have you ever had this thought that why not? Why not giving yourself a chance to do something which is never done by you before? At this time, look on the right side of the page, there’s this section called “Find the Perfect Holiday” which will lead you to the destination. Target a place and start your challenging trip.

Here are more pictures of scooters in Vietnam road. Imagining you are on one of them and have a danger fun!