Emergency Services (13.07.2010)

Emergency numbers all my life have always been '999', and on American shows, it was '911'. I always think that emergency numbers always will begin with a '9', lol, but in Australia, it's '000'. I remember a safety talk the police gave in the University when I first started classes, they mentioned that due to a large number of people dialing '911' in emergencies, or people who are not educated of Australia's emergency numbers, calls to 911 in Australia will be rerouted to '000' anyway. Have no idea if this is 100% true, haha.

More coming soon :)

Adopted and Adored (29.06.2010)

How much is that doggie in the window?

The one with the waggly tail~

For some reason that song always pops into my head whenever I see dogs, and I always forget the following lines, too. Seeing this stamp issue reminds me of the strays that my siblings and I used to bring home to a wary mum and dad begging them to let us keep them cos we wanted pets really badly but dad thought we'd be better off without the germs they might carry, haha!

Good old memories =)

Meet Piper, Jessie, Buckley, Daisy and Tigger.

No idea why the Bureau postmarked into Daisy's head lol

I think this breed of puppy somewhat looks extra sad, lol

Great Australian Railway Journeys (07.05.2010) - II

Oh the beautiful landscapes of Australia... 

Makes you wish you were a  bird so you could fly over these breathtaking views and take them all in...

Indian Pacific:

The Ghan

Australian World Heritage Sites (25.05.2010)

Creating maxicards of places/locations proved to be a lot more challenging as one cannot use the generic FDI postmark to realise these maxicards -- the location on the FDI postmark may not be in concordance with the featured location on the stamp.

This issue features four of Australia's world heritage sites, all in different states. After much searching and consideration, I've realised these maxicards using postmarks from their respective states, as well as the closest possible suburb to the featured sites.

Thanks to the Philatelic Bureau, the postmarks turned out perfect!! ♥ 

Tasmanian Wilderness - realised using a Kingston, Tasmania postmark.

Purnululu National Park, Western Australia - with a Perth, W.A. postmark

Gondwana Rainforests, New South Wales/Queensland 

This stamp features the Barrington Tops which is in NSW - with a Kurri Kurri, NSW postmark. 

Kakadu National Park: South Alligator River - with a Kakadu National Park, NT postmark

Kakadu National Park: South Alligator River - with a Kakadu National Park, NT postmark

Spotted!!

Well this came as a big surprise, seeing that I barely promoted this blog in any maximaphily enthusiasts websites whatsoever, besides linking Mum and my uncle and a few other maxicard ethusiasts... well, I guess one click leads to another and someone stumbled onto my humble webpage *beam*

So here's an interesting Portugese website - Central Theme of Campinas, informing its readers of anything philatelic, from exhibitions announcements to workshops and stamp collecting tips. Well, it's all in Portugese, but if you're really interested, Google translate could help you understand the website in your mother tongue. =)

Click to check out my page as Homepage of the Week.
(11-17th July)

*proud*

Connect with Wildlife: Year of the Tiger 2010

A shout out to everyone to see the world through the animals' eyes -- connect with them and help make their life better. 

A Second Try: 2009 Australian Legends: Nicole Kidman

Well, this was my very first attempt at maximaphilly, and there was this dissatisfaction that I didn't get things done right -- so I was pretty determined to make this Nicole Kidman maxicard better :P

I've managed to get a Sydney International Airport postmark, commemorating her birthday - 20th June - and also the fact that her parents live in Sydney, and that she attended high school in North Sydney. The fact that she travels between Australia and USA adds some meaning behind the 'international airport' postmark, too.

What'd you think? Better? :P

*click here for the first attempt*

Shanghai World Expo 2010 (18.05.2010)

This issue of stamps are released in conjunction with the Shanghai World Expo with the theme "Better City, Better Life". The building in the stamp on the left is the Australian Pavilion, and the right depicts the Australian Kookaburra bird "Pengpeng", also known as the laughing bird. Haven't seen a real one, but I'm sure it 'laughs' hence the nickname xD

2010 Olympic Winter Gold Medallist

These stamps feature Torah Bright and Lydia Lassila, Australian Gold Medalists in the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver this year. Torah's the champion in snowboarding and Lydia in freestyle skiing. Am slightly disappointed that the postmark isn't that good.

Lydia

Torah

Meantime, there's 1 extra maxicard in each of these: Come to the Show, Great Australian Railway Journeys and Colonial Heritage.

Colonial Heritage: Empire 07.05.2010

This $5 stamp portrays the face of Queen Victoria, painted by Alfred Chalon, hence the "Chalon Head" (CH) and is popularly used in the history of philately. This also probably the most expensive maxicard I've ever realised. Haha!