From the swivellin' chair...

Last month we challenged you to nominate your best travel photos on the theme of "water". The results are in and the winner is this beautiful shot taken in Canada by paperix72.

Paperix72 will receive a $50 Amazon voucher from Travellerspoint, a copy of One People: Many Journeys from Lonely Planet and an upgraded photo bandwidth allowance of 200MB/month.

The runner-up was a shot of two canal boats in Venice, Italy, taken by sweneyb

Sweneyb will receive an upgraded monthly bandwidth allowance of 200MB and a mini version of One People: Many Journeys from Lonely Planet.

Other serious contenders for the top spots were the following.

Upturned Iceberg (by dinah1). Taken in Antarctica

Moeraki boulders sunrise (by Breezy13). Taken in New Zealand

First Morning sunrise Abel Tasman (also by Breezy13). Taken in New Zealand

Venice (by kiwilara). Taken in Italy

Tranquility (by Mavr8k). Taken in Scotland

Autumn Leaves (also by Mavr8k). Taken in Canada

Silence (by marlis). Taken in Antarctica

A Bird Shower (by shoggix).

In the heart of the Iceberg.. (by miromar). Taken in Antarctica

Bathing in the Great Mother (by Daver141).

Saint Louis (by LuisDafos).

Thanks to everyone who entered their shots into this competition. The rest of the shortlisted entries can be seen here

Our new competition, on the theme of transport, is now open for entries as well. Why not give it a go? Transport Photo Competition

Chinese (simplified) is the latest addition in a growing number of languages available for your blogs. Thanks to Li for getting this one working!

You can set the language for your blog in the settings part of your travel blog management area. These instructions should help if you are unsure.

Don't have a travel blog yet?

Please contact us or send Sam a PM if you want to help us translate to other languages than the ones currently available. We're offering increased photo upload limits in return. You can get a whopping 200 MB a month.... that should tie over even the most fanatic photo uploader.

Recently, the Australian government has been running some insipid (taxpayer funded.. grr..) ads promoting their "action" on climate change (which includes being one of 2 countries NOT to ratify the Kyoto accord .. ahem).

This ad aired during the AFL grand final this past weekend, which is the largest TV event of the year in Australia. It was funded by a people movement called Getup!

It's amazing (and very refreshing) to me to see the public really driving this issue much, much more than politicians. They just seem to constantly be catching up with the general population's opinions on the matter.

Have a look.. even if you haven't seen the original, it's pretty funny

Travellerspoint Photo Moderator Marlis Seelos just returned from a trip to Cuba and has started uploading some of her excellent photography. Cuba seems to generate some of the most interesting photos I come across while featuring photos; old cars, weathered faces and buildings and an abundance of colour are the usual recipe. Looking back over the previously featured photos from Cuba, I decided to pick my 10 absolute favourites.

"Revolucion" by Corrado

"Bici taxi" by marlis

"The women at the door" by marlis

"Murals in Havana" by jza80

"Smoking" by corrado

"Habana centro" by fruitybean

"Balcony discussion in Havana" by snowgirl

"Neptuno Dudes" by Cuba-Junky

"Lada Stretch Limo" by Marlis

"Coco Taxi" by DinaRosado

If those don't inspire you to add Cuba to your must-visit list, I'm not sure what will
More in the featured Cuba photos gallery.

A great theme of travel photography is the capturing of weird and wacky signs. We've had some classic examples uploaded to Travellerspoint over the years and so I decided to compile 20 of my favourites, in no particular order.

Rain not permitted

Taken by Gelli in Xi'an, China

Please go south for 80 miles. Just on your left.

Taken by Gelli in Beijing, China

Wank

Taken by Nikio in Germany

Crocodile Warning

Taken by PhiloSofie in South Africa

The child forbids playing here, take care dangerously

Taken by dakiar in Ya'an, China

Do not feed or play with the alligators

Taken by markxrose in Florida, USA

Do not gossip. Let him drive.

Taken by daveh in India

Chinese Paper Cut

Taken by towangle in China

Dyslexic Tiefs, Beware of God

Taken by stevedana in the Bahamas

Tourists! Don't Follow Your Guides!

Taken by wilmar in Budapest, Hungary

Where to Park?

Taken by erodrigo in Mongolia

NOTICE. Thank you for noticing this notice

Taken by roblist in Australia

CLOSE 25:00

Taken by Gelli in Japan

Information Centre

Taken by myself in Canada

Stairs for Up

Taken by Gelli in Hakodate, Japan

Beware! of shaven head child pickpocket

Taken by Gelli in Thailand

No Snails

Taken by Gelli in Beograd, Serbia

No Machine Guns

Taken by Gelli in Skopje, Macedonia

Toilet instructions

Taken by tommydavis in Guatemala

Dangerous not to swim

Taken by tommydavis, Mexico

Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did! Many more great travel photos can be found in our Travel Photography galleries, now with well over 100,000 images.

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