New travel photography contest launched

Calling all shutterbugs. A new travel photography contest has been launched in the Northern Rivers region. Focusing on people and places the competition is being held as part of my efforts to raise money for the War Child Cambodia Cycle Challenge.

The theme, as stated, is People & Places. You can interpret this theme anyway you like. You need not have people in your photograph, but if you do they need to speak to the location and add depth to the image.

The competition is open to all residents in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales with three categories available for entries: Primary (up to 11 years), Secondary (12-17 years), and Open (18 years and over).

Entry cost is $5 per individual entry. You may enter as many times as you like, but each entry incurs the fee and must be made separately.

Photographs must be submitted in print form. Each photograph should be mounted on black mount board and must not exceed 30cm x 40cm in size (including mount board). No entries will be returned, so make sure you keep a copy of your photographs.

Prizes currently up for grabs include $350 worth of cash prizes offered by the Bangalow Chamber of Commerce, Lonely Planet guidebooks and year subscriptions to some of Australia's best travel magazines including Australian Traveller, Get Lost! and Vacations & Travel. More prizes to be announced soon.

Entries clearly marked with your Name, Age, Address and Telephone Number, should be sent to the attention of Kim Wildman, P.O. Box 611, Bangalow NSW 2479 (or leave at the Bangalow Post Office). Entries can also be dropped off at the A&I Hall between 2pm to 5pm on Wednesday 24 March.

The contest will then culminate in a fundraising exhibition/auction at the A&I Hall in Bangalow on Thursday 25 March where the winners will be announced. Just some of the fantastic auction items to be bid on include: $2000 worth of IT services offered by Magedata, two nights' accommodation at Mantra on Salt Beach at Kingscliff, a weekend for two at Urban Hotel Group in Spring Hill Brisbane and complimentary walking tour of Melbourne for four adults with Melbourne by Foot and much, much more. You can see the full list here.

You don't have to be a pro nor do you need to have travelled the world to enter this contest. You just have to have a keen eye and a great travelling spirit. So get snapping!

Cambodia Cycle Challenge: Sponsor roll call

It never fails to surprise me just how generous people can be. I've not long started fundraising for my War Child Cambodia Cycle Challenge and I’ve already been flooded with bighearted donations of money, gifts and prizes from friends, family, businesses (big and small) and people I don't even know!

As part of my fundraising efforts I will be holding two major fundraising events: a travel photography competition to be held where I live on the Far North Coast of New South Wales which will culminate in an exhibition and silent auction at the A&I Hall in Bangalow; and, a Charity Movie Night to be held in my hometown Toowoomba. Details for both events will be announced shortly. In the meantime, I thought I'd start a sponsor roll call to highlight the people and businesses that have been willing to dig deep and make my challenge a reality. They are:

TRAVEL COMPETION/EXHIBITION:
Prize donors:
Australian Traveller have kicked in with one year's subscription to the magazine.

Bangalow Chamber of Commerce has kindly donated $350 worth of cash prizes.

Get Lost! have also offered a one year subscription to their magazine.



Lonely Planet has kindly offered a few guidebooks as runner up prizes.

Vacations & Travel have donated two one year subscriptions to their quarterly magazine.



Auction/lucky door prize donators:
Rosemarie Toynbee, a consultant for Arbonne International, has offered $133 of Arbonne Body Care products.

Bangalow Chamber of Commerce has donated two 3-day passes to the Bangalow Music Festival and 6 tickets to Thursday night concerts in Bangalow.

Eight Hotels Australia has pitched in with 1 night's accommodation at one of their botique hotels located in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Brisbane, valued at $420 depending on the hotel.

Kym Kranen from H.I.P.S (M: 0424 223 754), has offered 5 personal training vouchers. Each voucher includes: 1 x 1/2hr consultation, 2 x 1/2hr one-on-one personal training sessions and 1 x 1hr success coaching session.


Magedata in the Northern Rivers region of NSW has kicked in with $2000 worth of IT services. This equates to two full days of business IT work or a basic CMS driven website with scope for one or two add-ons (shopping cart, blog etc).

Melbourne by Foot has offered a complimentary walking tour of Melbourne for four adults valued at $100. Departing from Federation Square, Melbourne By Foot is the esstenital walking tour of Australia's cultural capital.

Mantra Group have pitched in with two night's accommodation at Mantra on Salt Beach in a one bedroom ocean suite including breakfast daily.

Urban Hotel Group have offered a weekend for two at Urban Spring Hill Hotel in Brisbane. The kind offer was made possible by Sweaty Betty PR.

YHA Australia have donated one year membership to YHA plus vouchers for 10 night's multi-share accommodation valid at any of the more than 100 YHA hostels around Australia.



MOVIE NIGHT
Raffle/lucky door prize donators:
Discount Drug Stores Highfields have offered a $30 foot & bath pamper pack.

Harvey Norman Toowoomba have pitched in with a $300 Jamie Oliver saucepan set and a $50 Omega digital kitchen scale.

Miscellaneous thank yous
I also owe a very big heart-felt thank you to the following people:

My sister Kerri Lange and her husband Craig for generously donating $100 to cause as well as supplying me with some great new cycling threads for the trip (also to Craig for training with me). To Daini and Stephen Ware for loaning me a bike to train on and to my sister-in-law Nadine Wildman for organising the prizes for the Toowoomba movie night.

And, well, to all my family and friends in general for supporting me in yet another wild adventure!

Wild Wednesday: Cambodia Challenge 2010

The New Year has barely begun and I already think I have come up with my wildest plan for the year yet. While doing some research on the web the other weekend I stumbled across a website seeking participants for a charity cycling tour of Cambodia to help raise funds for War Child Australia. Oddly enough, just the night before having a glass of wine with a friend, my friend turned to me and asked me where I would go and what would I choose to do for a holiday if it didn't involve work? I replied that I really wanted to do a cycling tour of either Vietnam or Cambodia, but timing/money made it an impossible dream for now.... What do they say? Be careful what you wish for!

As many of you may be aware, I was meant to travel to Cambodia in December 2007, but was sadly stood up by my travelling partner (an English doctor whom I'd met in Libya who'd asked me to meet him in Cambodia for our first 'date') three weeks before we were due to depart. Ever since that failed 'date', I'd been searching for a way that I could still do the trip. At the same time, if I did indeed get another opportunity to travel Cambodia, I wanted to go under completely different circumstances that weren't quite as self-serving. So here flashing on the screen before my eyes, War Child Australia was presenting me with the perfect answer, opportunity and challenge all in one. And I, of course, couldn't resist.

From 11-22 May this year I'll be taking part in the War Child Cambodia Challenge which is being organised by Inspired Travel, to help the charity provide education and support to Cambodian children who have been affected by war. It's a very long way from the green hinterland hills of Byron Bay and I will need to get very fit to cope with cycling up to 6-8 hours a day. However, having witnessed so much poverty and hardship in many of the countries I have visited while working as a travel writer, I see this challenge as an opportunity to not only do something worthwhile for an organisation for which I have great respect, but to also contribute to a local community in a country through which I am travelling in a positive way.

Together as a team we are hoping to raise over $50,000 from this event. I personally need to raise at least $6900 (half to go as a donation to the charity and half to cover my expenses). So I hope you will all support me in this challenge, even if it is just to wish me luck. Though obviously I need more than just best wishes (does anyone I have a bike I can borrow to train on??)! In the coming weeks I will post details about fund raising events I will be holding. In the meantime, if any of you have any great ideas for events or are able to support me with a tax-deductible donation or raffle/auction prize, please let me know – it would be very much appreciated and will bring me much closer to reaching my goal.

Picture: Monks walking at Angkor Wat (or Angkor Vat), a temple at Angkor, Cambodia. Obtained from FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Tales from the road: An introduction to travel writing

Aspiring travel writers take heed. I'm running a new introductory course, Tales from the Road: An Introduction to Travel Writing, in early February. To be held in Mullumbimby on the Far North Coast of New South Wales, the course takes a practical approach to travel writing, giving an overview of the market from writing for newspapers, magazines and on-line, to authoring guidebooks. Students will learn how to write a great article, how to dress up articles with photographs and how to approach an editor with the perfect pitch.

Dates: 13 & 20 February
Time: 9am – 12.30pm
Cost: $63 Full Fee; $57 Concession

If you happen to be in the Byron Bay area around this time, I would love for you to come along!

Picture: Me assumning the pose in White Sands National Monument, New Mexico, USA.

Where do travel writers pay to stay?

Have you ever wondered where travel writers choose to stay when they're footing the hotel bill? Well, this was the question recently pondered by David Wickers and Mark Hodson at 101 Holidays. In a Twitter first, they asked a number of well-known, tweeting travel journalists and editors, including myself, to each recommend their favourite hotel, B&B or guest house. The rules were simple: the recommended place could be anywhere in the world, but it had to cost less than £150 ($250) a night for two people, and, of course, had to be described in no more than 140 characters.

My recommendation? "Tunza Lodge in Mwanza, Tanzania: Between the beach, the bar & the sunsets over Lake Victoria, this is one lusciously laidback lodge." Doubles cost $US45 - 60.

You can read the full list here

Picture? One of the many mesmerising sunsets over Lake Victoria as viewed from Tunza Lodge, Tanzania.

More wicked websites for wild, wandering women

Thank you so much for the positive feedback for my last blog post, Wicked websites for wild, wandering women. In less than an hour after uploading the post I had more than 150 hits not to mention dozens of emails from women all around globe. It seems we sisters are very keen to do it for ourselves!

Amid all the thank yous and twitter retweets, I was also passed on two more recommendations for honours as a wicked website for wild, wandering women. They are:

HERmail.net Recommended by Evelyn Hannon, editor of Journey Woman, this is a free international directory of women who are willing to mentor other women travelling to their part of the world. As Evelyn writes: "It's my personal gift to women, everywhere and it has connected 1000's of women to date."

WAVE Journey An acronym for Women's Adventures, Vacations & Experiences, WJ is an online resource for women travellers around the world co-founded by Vivienne Chapleo and Jill Hoelting of Canada and United States. The travelling duo also run a travel blog, WAVE Journey Women where they'd highlight places they rather be.

If you know of any other worthy wicked websites for wild, wandering women, please let me know and I'll add them to my list.

Wicked websites for wild, wandering women

It's Wild Wednesday and I can't think of any better way to celebrate than to nominate my favourite websites for wild, wandering women. All started, owned and operated by women, the following eight inspirational sites are the ones I seek out when planning my travels:

Go Galavanting Founded by Katy Quissell and Kim Mance, this online travel magazine and community is for gutsy women who believe there is more to travel than staying in expensive five star resorts and finding the world's perfect facial. Think: experiencing new cultures and going on life changing adventures, but all done with style of course!

Journey Woman Award-winning writer, editor and travelling grandma, Evelyn Hannon, has proved that age and gender are not barriers to travel, creating one of the most respected websites designed especially for women along the way.

Thelma & Louise Club Started by gal pals Christine Davies and Grace Frankel, this exclusive female-only network allows members to meet like-minded women and find travel buddies for their next adventure.

UGoGurl Travel writer and self-confessed media maven, Elaine Lee, offers great advice for African American travellers as well as extensive reports and articles.

Wanderlust & Lipstick Founded by Beth Whitlam – a 22 year wild wandering veteran whose career highlights include having a grenade pulled on her in Cambodia – this is a website for women who are passionate about travelling offering tips and hints from experienced Wanderlusters who, like Beth, have seen it all.

Women on the Road Created by Leyla Giray, Women on the Road is a fantastic website aimed at women who love to travel. Along with practical information on planning, safety and money, the website features interviews with inspirational women travellers who share their experiences and philosophies on travel.

Women Travel Tips Started by National Geographic author and editor Marybeth Bond, this website is an excellent resource for women travellers with practical tips and hints for business, adventure, family and solo travel.

Women Travel the World This website is dedicated to connecting women travellers through female-friendly tour and accommodation listings. There’s also a range of articles covering topics from adventure tourism to food and wine shopping.