Gorillas On The Go!

This is a great way to share your blog posts, from one place to another.

No Tall Poppies

When I was away in the US, I included San Diego in my tour because I specifically wanted to go to their Zoo and it certainly is memorable. Covering 100 acres, it has a long sky lift and at least two very long moving walkways to help visitors get around it.  Gorillas, pandas and polar bears make it a real destination.  To my surprise, when making comparisons on size, the Perth Zoo is 41 acres – much larger than I had thought.  Encased between four streets in South Perth and only a couple of minutes walk from the Mends Street Ferry, it is a model of innovation, tradition, family values and scientific advances.

One of the highlights of my visit to the San Diego Zoo was to watch a family group of Western Lowland Gorillas. In Australia, Melbourne has become world famous for their success in breeding these gorillas. Three…

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Stories My Nana Tells is going mobile – to go to the USA

Update: We are mobile!

I think we have everything under control – for my launch into the USA next week.

This is what we have done: )

• Skype for phone calls/video set up on the Notebook,
• New email addresses at GMail, (one personal and one for general emails)
• Special email address for Stories My Nana Tells comes to Notebook outlook.
• Logged email addresses for uploading photos to both Facebook accounts, we use Twitpic for Twitter.
• Have secure webmail to access emails sent to the website
• New passwords and email addresses set up for LinkedIn and Ning.
• Facebook and Twitter are fine (with new passwords)

• Notebook is set up with cordless mouse and WiFi connection
• New card reader installed and used for uploading photos from camera to notebook, to web and blogs.
• Bought a new 16g memory card for the camera
• Have spare camera battery;
• Bought three x 4g flashdrives and an external 500g passport harddrive.
• Have bought a Sany0 Bloggie for taking videos – need a bit of practice on that one!
• Have a converter for US power

What have I forgotten? Please let me know!

This is part of the great adventure of Nana’s Walkabout.  Finding new ways to stay in touch, keep up to date and accept the inevitable glitches and surprises that will come out of taking on the challenge.  Who knows what exciting new stories we will have to share in Nana’s Blog!

Oh, and by the way, just so that you don’t think I am getting away without any problems, one of the two hard drives in the server failed yesterday.  My IT guys will have to sort that out while I am not here. That’s down to my Dad, Warren, the electrician installing the new solar power and the IT guys to work out between them.

Preparing to be away for six weeks without my fabulous iPhone.

The idea of setting off on a six week trip around the USA and Canada (without my fabulous iPhone) was initially a terrifying thought.  For the past fifteen months or so, my iPhone was my lifesaver: while I had a frozen shoulder and could only type with one finger at a time, I could tweet – even if I couldn’t use a keyboard.  Laid up, unable to walk for several weeks at a time, first with the shoulder and then a hernia, my iPhone saved my sanity.

Humpback Whale in Broome

My beautiful HP notebook was bought as a blogging “option” when I went to Kununurra and Broome – on a whim to see the NT and go whale watching – and until now I really had not put my mind into neutral and started free wheeling into truly “mobile” communications.  I seem to remember wasting about $50.00 in Kununurra on pre-paid internet access that was never used because I did not feel very secure when I was not “tied” to some outlet or plug in the wall.

Once I was back on my feet and really started hitting the keyboard on the PC for Stories My Nana Tells around late September 2010, a horrible ADSL problem surfaced with the physical line and suffice to say it took six months to be fixed and that, in itself was extremely stressful because I had to resort to the TIO to get the problem taken seriously. My access to the net to work online was almost none and had it not been for my iPhone – I would certainly have been out of business!

Now, I am happy to say we have excellent ADSL access and I work Wi-Fi from the notebook in my lounge room most days. With a couple of POP boxes on the notebook, good access to webmail and a dongle – I am one happy camper.  Well, have been.

With the iPhone, notebook, a cordless mouse and the dongle, I have been highly mobile in the past few weeks and didn’t even have to panic when the power pack in the PC died last Sunday. The US and Canada have free WiFi all over the place, so I don’t expect being able to get on line a problem.  Buying an inexpensive pre-paid SIM card here and there will probably all I need to top up my internet access.  Great for all my web work and browsing.

But – six weeks of travelling without my iPhone looms large. Touring the US and Canada on Nana’s WalkaboutYes, for those who want to know,

• it is tethered to Telstra,
• I don’t know how to “jailbreak” and
• because the roaming charges are horrendous from the US.

The best advice I have been given so far is to pick up a cheap pre-paid phone while I am there and recycle it when I leave.  So the lovely man in the Telstra shop told me.

I have successfully set up couple of new mailboxes at Google GMail so that I can stay in touch with all my LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Meetups and other contacts and groups while I am overseas for six weeks and after I come home.  I appears that I may be able to access cheap phone calls from Google while in the US and in any event the next step is to install Skype on the notebook, get a nice little mike and use the webcam that sits in front of me all the time I am online with the notebook.  Just means making sure I have got my lipstick on, when I log in!

Having to adopt new technology sometimes pushes your buttons. It can be scary, because it is unknown and moves you right out of your comfort zone. If you never stretch yourself, you never grow.

So, this is part of the great adventure of Nana’s Walkabout.  Finding new ways to stay in touch, keep up to date and accept the inevitable glitches and surprises that will come out of taking on the challenge.  Who knows what exciting new stories we will have to share in Nana’s Blog!

Swimming With My Dad

My Dad featured as the first character in Stories My Nana Tells – being introduced to our readers as a father and grandfather.  Characters at Stories My Nana Tells

Nono (real name William) is 92 – will soon be 93 – and the skin on his legs, in particular, has become fragile over the years. A bump or a knock and the skin tears very easily.  So, now I take him swimming in the ocean once a week to help toughen up the skin, to enjoy his company and to have a swim myself.

Today was the fourth Saturday in a row that we have been down to the Indian Ocean in Perth and we are both loving it.  The change in his skin is remarkable, too.

We have put up a little quiz on Facebook: Tell Us About Swimming With Your Dad Come and have some fun with us!

Social Media, Spaghetti and Nana’s Walkabout

Planning for my round the world trip (dubbed Nana’s Walkabout by a friend on Twitter) is lots of fun.  It is rapidly become apparent that sorting out my Social Media connections will be just as important as getting my airline connections right.

Is it better to duplicate posts – and delete one or two – or find out later that your important update has slipped between the cracks?

Facebook Conversations About Fireworks

There were a number of conversations being held on Facebook today and yesterday, about whether any fireworks events planned for Australia Day should be cancelled and the money donated to the various flood relief appeals.

Some Facebook pages were quickly set up to engage the discussion and the overwhelming view was that it was too late to cancel and in the light of the flood tragedies on the East Coast and the terrible fires south of Perth, the fireworks shows should go ahead. Mostly for reasons of community support and social well being.

Conversations wandered off topic some times, there was lively

Have You Registered Your Child’s Name As A Domain Yet?

Have You Registered Your Child’s Name As A Domain Yet?

My name is Lesley Dewar and I own my own name online: lesleydewar.com. I have also given each of my two sons and their wives their own names as domain names.

For business, I already have No Tall Poppies , which is a social network site and Networking To A Plan which is home to my new book.

Soon, I will have a website at lesleydewar.com which will be like the sun in my Internet universe. Everything else I do online will be connected to that central site.

Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Stories My Nana Tells, Networking To A Plan, Zebulations (my public speaking/workshops website), wordpress blogs (No Tall Poppies), TwitterMoms page -everything I do on line will be linked.

Why would I do this? Because then I can outGoogle Google! To find me, you don’t have to know the name of my blog, my business or my Twitter name. You only have to find my home page.

With some good key words on my own name.com, it’s a great way to have control over a wealth of information about me and my businesses collated in one spot.

So, think about how valuable your name is to you – as your brand – and make sure you take steps to own your brand. YOUR NAME! It could be the greatest gift you ever give your children: their own domain name.

Get Lesley Dewar’s new eBook Networking To A Plan as a gift. Nothing to buy! Nothing to join! Simply click on the book cover

Networking To A Plan

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Update From Broome

Hi from Broome and the great North West

This is just a quick update on my travels around the North West of WA. I arrived in Broome this morning about 6:30 am after an overnight (13 hour) bus trip from Kununurra. The main highway up here is a national disgrace, given that it is the main route from Perth to Darwin. Even in a big Greyhound Bus it was rough and bumpy. In the 4WD,when I went out to the Bungle Bungles last Wednesday, it was a nightmare – and that was before we got off the “highway” and on to the ungraded, unsealed roads into the National Park!

The trip into the Bungle Bungles by 4WD took about 8 hours each way – and half of that on roads that left you feeling like you had spent the time in an old Hoover Twin Tub washing machine – but not feeling as clean! No water for washing from the time we left Kununurra until we got back.

A strong pain killer every 6-8 hours turned out to be my survival routine – but I still had a great time. Up at 4:45am – learned to pitch and pack my own tent; slept under the stars until it got a bit chilly outside and had a self-inflating mattress that blew up to at least half an inch thick. I joined a tour that came from Broome and was going to Darwin – and I have to confess it was a good thing that my own five day 4WD safari was cancelled at the last minute and I booked the two day one in Kununurra. I would never have lasted five days on the track! Believe me!

My Kununurra Adventure

This is my first trip to Kununurra, in the North West of the Kimberleys in Western Australia, The adventure started as all adventures should – with a lot of hiccups. The five day 4WD safari from Kununurra to Broome was cancelled the day before I left Perth so, the challenge was to get 1000 kms from Kununurra to Broome to fly home.

Next challenge: to find an extra five nights accommodation in Kununurra, find something exciting to do and enjoy both ends of the adventure.

Next challenge: set up remote broadband with new computer so that I had contact with the outside world.

Next challenge: buy a new camera to replace the one that died on the plane on the way up to Kununurra.

So far, everything is working out fine. Tomorrow (Tuesday) I am flying over the Bungle Bungles – flight brought forward from

Nana’s Off To The Bungle Bungles

On Sunday, I am flying up to Kununurra for a few days and will be taking a trip over the Bungle Bungles.  Couldn’t organize a helicopter but a small aeroplane will do just as well.  A few years ago, I flew up the Grand Canyon in a small plane from the northern end and got some spectacular pictures – which I will scan and upload later.  This is a shot from my last trip in a helicopter up the Grand Canyon, in 2007.