Friday’s Recommend Reads: August 26th

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Avast! I hope this entry finds your Friday every bit as wonderfully lazy as mine is. I managed to score the day off work, so I’m celebrating some recent successes with a lazy day.

Successes? Why yes! Aussie on the Road has had a bumper week! You might notice we’ve picked up a sponsor in our sidebar. Go on and click it. I promise it won’t bite.

In addition to that, the very cool people over at Rocks Ghost Tours liked my recent review of their tour so much that they’ve invited me to be their guest when I tackle their Dark South Tour sometime next month. Exciting times!

Now with 75% less beard!

What else has happened this week? I’ve paid for the first leg of my trip to Moreton Island later this year, I’ve earned a nice little bonus at work on account of some slick selling skills, and I’ve decided to shake things up on my face and remove some of my beard. Photos to come!

But enough about me. I know you’re here for your weekly dose of recommended reads. So here they are – six (count them) of the best from the week ending August 26th!

The Reads

Sounds of the Seawall by Byron & His Backpacks

My good friend Byron is having a huge week. Not only has he had the exciting news that he’ll be heading to Japan in the not too distant future to continue his ESL teaching adventures, but he’s also got his first feature here on Aussie on the Road. No points for guessing which one he’s more excited about.

This week Byron takes us on a tour of one of Vancouver’s lesser known landmarks and paints a very intriguing picture. As a lover of all things maritime, I daresay I’ll be making a visit to the Vancouver Seawall and its surrounds should my travels ever take me to the Great White North.

Byron refuses to join the Twitterverse though, so you’ll have to subscribe to his blog to get your daily dose!

Sunset & Waterfall in Milford Sound, New Zealand by Everything, Everywhere

This one’s not so much an entry as just an absolutely breath-taking shot of one of my favorite places in the world. I was lucky enough to cruise Milford Sound last December and its left an indelible impression on me.

The photos featured on Everything, Everywhere are always beautiful and this one is no different. Go ahead and treat yourself to an eyegasm.

Why, yes Mr. Border Guard…I do believe I would like a beer and some contraband cigarettes please by Man on the Lam

For the second week running the Man on the Lam makes an appearance in my recommended reads. Fresh of his adventures with lady boys and existential dilemmas, Raymond regales us with the tale of his mad dash to get across the border and into Cambodia before his visa expired. Accompanied by his verbose side-kick, the mysterious ‘Korea’, can our hero make it before he has to pay a measly fine?

Tune in to find out!

If Nothing Else, Take These 3 Photographs on Your Travels by Idelish

Jeremy and Shirlene’s wonderful blog has just come onto my radar this week and I’m so glad that it did. Packed full of stunning photos and fantastic travel tips, it was hard to choose just one of their entries to feature this week.

I eventually went with their entry featuring tips to improve your travel photography. As somebody who is always looking to improve his own photos, it was good to see a few ideas that might help me capture a few more memorable shots on the road.

How to Teach Around the World by yTravel Blog

After missing the Recommended Reads for the first time last week, Caz and Craig over at yTravel Blog burst back onto the charts this week with an informative article for any budding ESL Teachers out there.

While I like to consider myself pretty knowledgable when it comes to teaching in South Korea – Craig and Caz’s entry covers things from a more broad sense and will prove useful to anybody looking to shake things up and go abroad to spread the English language about.

And in non-blog related news, Craig and Caz could very well be welcoming the latest addition to their family today! All the best to the Makepeace family 🙂

Travel Advice from Traveling Couples by Nomadic Matt

Matt’s brought together a few of the best couple travelers going around and got them to share a bit of their knowledge when it comes to travel and traveling with somebody else. I was lucky enough to do a bit of couple travel last year during my tour of New Zealand and had a hell of a time, so it’s good to see a blog focusing on the very different experiences you’ll have when traveling with a significant other.

What’s Going On?

This picture's presence here will make sense if you read on...

I’m very excited about the next few days and months.

Tonight I’ll be meeting up with Claire and Gay from Lakwatsera de Primera and Pinay Travel Junkie for some dinner in Chinatown and then a little karaoke. Not a bad way to spend a Friday night, eh?

I’m working this weekend to save extra money for my October trip, but I’m thinking Monday might see me spend my afternoon down on the beach before hitting up the August Travel Massive Meeting. I’ll finally get to meet a few of my favorite bloggers, Alicia from World Nomads and Jessalyn from Diary of a Wandering Student.

September 16th will see me taking part in the World Nomads’ Great Nomad Chase – a kind of Amazing Race style scavenger hunt right here in Sydney. It’ll be a great chance to get in a little exercise, see more of this beautiful city, and meet some fellow vagabonds. Should be a blast.

And that October trip? Oh, I’ve got a huge one planned.

I’ll be in Brisbane on October 23rd for the Brisbane Zombie Walk – the largest of its kind in the world.

After shambling through the streets of Brisbane in my finest zombie attire, it’s off to Tangalooma Resort on Moreton Island for a week of drinking, scuba diving, and hitting on pretty girls with my friends Murray and Ben.

As if that wasn’t enough, I’ll then spend Halloween dressed in my best Rocky Horror outfit as part of Movie World’s Fright Nights.

Can’t wait!

In Case You Missed Them…

Entries this week included:

Don’t See Your Entry Above?

If you’d like to see your link (or just a link you really liked) here next week don’t hesitate to leave a comment here, hit me up on Facebook, or send me a Tweet. I’ll feature the post on Facebook as well as Tweeting it to the Twitterverse and Stumbling it to the Stumbleverse. That’s free publicity!

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