I heard a couple of weeks ago that I was a finalist in the TripBase Graphical Impressive Blog Award. This award is done completely in-house and is not based on nominations or rounding up votes so I'm extremely pleased given the huge number of travel blogs out there.

The sector description follows:

"This is the award for the best looking/most accessible travel blogs. The award is handed out to the sector's stars; those who lead the way in terms of graphics, layout, accessibility and design. It takes a creative touch to stand out from the crowd and only the leading inspirational travel bloggers will survive the rigorous selection process.

Our panel of travel industry experts have scoured the internet to search for the biggest and the best technically impressive travel blogs. The initial long list is then discussed and whittled down to the shortlist of award winners. We believe that each of our chosen bloggers is at the head of their field. The winners deserve the public recognition for their hard work and are worthy recipients of this prestigious accolade.

Travelling is aspirational, it is creative, and it is about adventure and learning new things. Bloggers in this category will have the rare ability to convey this to followers through page design, images and layout. A travel blog is also a forum for advice and tips on destinations, accommodation, modes of transport and things to see and do. Therefore we also look for a blog that can facilitate easy access by those looking for help or information."

Congratulations to the other winners, especially the top three place-getters in this category who are the impressive Gridskipper blog, WorldHum and the National Geographic blog.

I recently introduced a new banner to this blog and asked whether readers knew what the thirteen merged photos of some of the world's travel wonders were. Here is the list from left to right:

1. Sydney Opera House, Australia
2. Louvre, Paris, France
3. Stern of the Vasa, Stockholm, Sweden
4. Sistine Chapel, Rome, Italy
5. Sphinx, Cairo, Egypt
6. Half-timbered houses, Black Forest, Germany
7. Machu Picchu, Peru
8. Easter Island
9. Small village on the Congo River
10. Moraine Lake, Canada
11. Taj Mahal, Agra, India
12. Grand Canyon, USA
13. Chinstrap Penguin, Antarctica

After a year or so, I have decided to update the banner and slightly alter the colour scheme of this travel blog. I'd love to get opinions on the new banner. Do you prefer it over the old banner of Sydney harbour?

While I love the view over my home city of Sydney, I wanted the banner to more greatly reflect the idea and spirit of the travel wonders of the world and the wide variety of stunning travel experiences and sights accessible across our planet. This banner includes photo snippets of thirteen different wonderous countries from my travels including wonders both natural and man-made, from across the ages and covering all seven continents. While stretching the bounds of my scant skills in Photoshop, I managed to include sights which are artistic, cultural, curious, iconic, extraordinary and awe-inspiring - some maybe more familiar than others.

I hope that this site continues to encourage people to explore and seek out their own personal travel wonders - to travel with respect and to travel with an inquiring mind to discover and understand better the wonderful peoples, culture, history and natural beauty which knit together to form the wonderful planet which we inhabit.

While several are reasonably obvious, can anyone work out what the thirteen travel wonders are? A list will follow in a few days.