this is australia

I had a fantastic little library of picture books as a child. My mother had a real weakness for book illustrations, and I suppose books were more often chosen and bought on their aesthetic qualites than their literary merit.

I still have many of these beautiful books, much loved now, but the pictures just as vivid to me. One of my favourite sets was on a manx cat (without a tail) called Max who travelled the world, including Australia, looking for his tail.

As my boyfriend, and travelling companion, is named Max, inevitably this book, like its protagonist took the long journey from London and sits happily on our bookcase in Melbourne.

There has been a real resurgence of beautiful old and retro books over the last few years, in many different forms, with aesthetic often taking precedence over quality of story or indeed facts. This is very much the case with the now overwhelming popularity of the Miroslav Sasek, 'travel books'. Written between the late 50s and his death in 1980, these books have had renewed admiration with a new reissue every few months. Starting with the iconic New York, Paris, London and San Francisco in 2003-4, we are now seeing the more unusual Greece and Israel titles.

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The illustrations are the real star in the books. Readers forgive the frequent asterixes that indicate the many, many factual discrepancies that now exist, enchanted instead by the stunning images. How refreshing, in an age of information-hunger and a constant strive for scientific fact, that such wrong books can be more popular than ever.

For our first Valentines Day together, last year, my boyfriend and I booked a trip to Paris, a first visit for him. My gift to him of the iconic 'This is Paris' book, went down very well, even despite the 'mistakes'.

This year, amidst our fervent saving, I was stuck for a meaningful, yet suitably thrifty gift. You can imagine my elation to discover the reissue of.....

You guessed it:

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Predictably, the illlustrations and text are as lovely as ever. I'm not quite sure Max was as pleased to recieve it as I was to give it though. I was very very happy to find it after all.

The only problem now is that I've set up a tradition. Locations for our travels have become limited to those which Sasek has written books on.... Not a bad selection though. New York, San Francisco, Rome.... don't mind if I do!



happy camper

My boyfriend and I are in the midst of planning a few weeks travel down the East Coast of Australia for April and May. It has been torturous in many parts, making hard decisions based on time and budget constraints: what to, and not to see. I can see why the phenonenon of so-called 'grey nomads' has emerged in Australia (upon retirement, many Australian couples are selling up, buying a camper-van and taking a few years to tour the whole of this expansive island). There really is so much to see, and we will certainly be making many return trips!

Byron Bay does seem to have made the cut, so far (our itenary is proving highly dynamic!), and my lovely colleague, when brainstorming with me for inexpensive accomodation ideas, came up with this beauty:

Heaven: a bottle of San Pel in a white-washed Adirondack Chair

Now, caravans are decidedly and affirmedly NOT cool. Aren't they? These are clearly an exception to the age-old rule. For beach-side, casual accomodation, these caravans at Atlantic, Byron Bay are brilliant. Hoping that with the reduction in prices out of season at our time of visiting, I can proudly add these to our blossoming itenary!

With gorgeous vintage styling and polished aluminium interiors, these compact caravans still hold a double bed and private bathroom. So no showering over the kitchen sink then... phew!

Cool Beachside Caravans. What a great idea and so well executed here. Only begs the question - why don't we see this more!? I see a resurgence on the horizon....

 PS. I've got to also point out that Atlantic at Byron Bay also offers a whole range of different accomodation options, from simple and sufficient shared rooms to expansive ensuite studios. This is not really a travel blog, nor, crucially, a travel brochure, otherwise rest-assured I would have copied out their whole website here for you too to admire! The whole place just screams of the kind of calm, casual and lack of pretence that a true holiday is all about.

map geek

I love the map prints from Bold and Noble, especially this Australian one. One of the best gifts I ever recieved was the GB one, which I got last Christmas. I may be geekily biased, having a Geography degree, but I love that something can be both so striking, aesthetically, and educational! I particularly love this one as it draws attention to some of the more peculiar Australian place names such as Wagga Wagga, Wollongong, Merty Merty (to name but a few) that so childishly entertain me

Bold and Noble do a whole range of great, simple but ingenius prints. As well as Australia, maps are available of New Zealand, USA, Great Britain and London.Available, as shown here, in black and white as well as a gorgeous duck-egg blue. I want them all!

party plates

I am so excited for these plates that I ordered before Christmas, having seen them featured in The Age from Zuster, a store that all this time has been opposite my work! The set has been a sell-out success, and I'm not surprised. They are charming to both Australian Natives and visiting tourists like myself. Plus, with summer having finally arrived, these charming melamine plates at only $7 each (!) really are a winner.