About
gonewalkabout.info was originally created as a photo album for the million and one photos I took during a year long trip round Australia. Originally it was just a bog standard gallery with nothing else – but it meant those at home could see what I was up to.
After getting back I needed to try and remember a lot of the web stuff I used to know. It’s amazing what you can forget. So I changed the gallery into something more substantial and the site as it is today was born. I’ve added a blog front-end to the site as I intend to go traveling again and this time want to have some kind of diary of what I’m doing.
For some reason on the Australia trip I never did this, despite seeing loads of other travelers with their notebooks for diaries. Since getting back its my biggest regret as although I have photos, copies of a few ‘travel emails’ home and an organiser so I know where I was there’s a lot of day to day stuff that’s now lost in the adventure.
So next time i’m going to keep a record on here, which will not only give me a nice record of what I did, it can keep those who want to know updated and hopefully those of you visiting from the search engines may find something useful.
So in between that trip and the next (Starting October 2006) and while I have something of an amateur interest in photography this site is serving as something as a photoblog. While the professional photographers out there will no doubt hate this and despise the number of these so called photoblogs appearing on the net I just think tough – it’s my photo album, and while not technically great it’s a useful way to keep my efforts and give those I know access to them and the net as a whole. The whole concept of which is to share information after all.
The plan for the next adventure is a 2 year trip to New Zealand starting in October 2006, with a 6 month stop in Australia. Love the place too much to not go back and want to spend Christmas and New Year in Sydney again. Hopefully a bit of time in Fiji too. That is unless some generous Australian would like to sponsor me to go to uni over there for a couple of years, so that I can complete a Master of Information Technology (non-IT graduates) and emigrate (I’ll come work for you after 
). Offers of marriage from Aussie residents also accepted
So take a look around, enjoy the photos and if you like get in touch.
Owen
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Wow, is all I can say about your site. I stumbled upon it two months when you had the Connection Theme, but this theme is just awesome! Did you do it yourself or is it available to download somewhere. I can’t say I have seen it anywhere but on your site.
Are you using Gallery 2.x?
cheers Mike.
I wish it was my design, but I suck at that kind of thing – thankfully others don’t.
Its the Vslider theme which was designed for wordpress working with gallery2. I’ve changed a few things with the layout, especially with the gallery album/photo pages but its still using the same basic concept. Can’t recommed it enough
Did you ever get that G2 ffmpeg problem sorted you were having?
Looking at your site because my daughter Kathleen sent it to me. I guess she met you recentlly in Australia. Looking for some photos……..how do I find them?
Mrs. L
Hi,
I didn’t meet a Kathleen in Australia (Most the photos in the gallery from there are from 2003/2004), so i’m sorry to say you won’t find any photos of her here. Maybe she just wanted to show you where she’s been?
Owen
Wow! Very impressive site – your layout, including the google maps, wpg2 integration etc is EXACTLY what I’ve been looking to do since about January. Right down to the rotating image. I’ve got the Googlemaps plugin for Gallery2 and Wordpress, I’ve got the WPG2 integration (lots of tweaks to make it work needed) and the posting maps plugins. Basically, all the “under the hood” stuff you have on your site. Just not working as well though! You should consider making your theme a download – I’d buy it!
Anyway, once again, thanks so much for showing what can be done.
Great site, congratulations
I´m very much into amateur photography as well, and you have taken very well done and nice pictures, congratulations again
Simon =)
Very nice site!! Nice template and really nicely integrated with the googlemap. It’s excatly what I want for my site
. Everything are put together so well!! Thank you for sharing such a great site.
Your website is exactly what I had in mind for my personal blog.
Great theme and custom job. I have some questions for you:
1- How did you integrate the Random Image Highlights on your front page?
2- Where do you have your gallery installed? I noticed when I click on gallery it goes to /gallery/ instead of going to /wp-gallery2.php – which is the typical for WPG2.?
Thanks man,
Nima
Just wanted to say I find your site very impressive – both in technical structure and interesting content. I had a similar experience as yours in a study abroad trip to Shanghai, China, and I also feel like I wish I could go back to re-capture some of the things I missed because I just didn’t write it down.
Keep up the good work, and I hope I can be in a position like yours one day.
Gonewalkabout.info – The Site I Wish My Site Was…
It is truly amazing how quickly time can slip by when you toil away in quiet desperation. What is even more amazing is when you find something that brings you to a sharp realization of that passage of time, and the sting of a goal unmet. After lookin…
[...] Like most travel blogs created to update family while trekking in far away countries this Gonewalkabout site started much the same. In Owen’s case he started off posting photos, but little captions or descriptions to help others (not to mention himself) pinpoint where he was exactly. That was the past though and as Owen sets out on a new two-year journey through Australia, New Zealand and hopefully a stop in Fiji he promises to do a much better job not just capturing pictures of these places, but providing some detail. In any case if you’re curious about Australia and New Zealand or even Portugal which is also featured in the photo gallery, head over to this site. He’s certainly got enough photos up to keep one busy until the blogging fully kicks in though there are a few recent entries. These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]