Progress on Self-pub book

Got the self-publishing book off to the editor this morning. Hooray!

Wallabies and writing

A mob of at least 7 wallabies (not counting the joeys still in pouch) are munching their way through the lush new grass near our house. We go out occasionally and shout "Eat weeds! Eat weeds!" but they don't seem to be paying attention.

Working on second draft of my book on self-publishing using OpenOffice.org Writer. Have done most of the content changes suggested by reviewers; now working on formatting. Still need to create a few more examples, with illustrations.

Home again!

Got home yesterday. It was a great trip, but any longer would have been too much. Now to tackle the accumulated snail mail & postponed to-do items, organise and post the photos, write the trip report...

I very much enjoy visiting new places, trying new foods and drinks, and so on, but eventually it's soooo good to be back with familiar things... like the tea with real milk that I mentioned before. Now on my second cup this morning.

I'm happy to report that the rum and pisco arrived safely in my checked luggage. Did I mention that shrink-wrapping luggage is popular in South America? Both for theft deterrence and for keeping luggage from being destroyed by baggage-handling equipment.

Auckland, changing planes

On LAN flight from Santiago, skipped full dinner service in favour of "express" service, then to sleep. Flight got into Auckland on time. Good thing my liquor purchases were in my checked luggage, as we had to go through security to change planes (even though we stayed in the "international connections" section of the airport and didn't have to deal with immigration or customs) and they were confiscating liquids as usual.

Now hanging out in Qantas Club waiting for flight to Brisbane. Ah, New Zealand! Back in a land of fresh milk (not that horrid longlife stuff) and proper British tea to put it in.

On way home to Australia

Managed to get a litre of Pisco to take home. Had to put it in my checked bag along with the Venezuelan rum. Hope the bottles arrive intact, or I will have very flavoursome dirty laundry.

Hanging out for a few hours in the LAN Business Class lounge in Santiago airport. Arrived on time from Lima. Had to go through Chilean immigration and customs, then take luggage and check in for next flight, the long one to Auckland. Fortunately I had plenty of time, and knew where to go in the airport.

Colca Canyon

Returned to Arequipa late yesterday after an awesome two-day trip to Colca Valley and Canyon, viewing Andean condors, deep terraced valleys, snow capped volcanos towering over everything. Returned through a 4,910 metre pass (over 16,000 feet). Probably no comparison to Tibet, but impressive nonetheless.

Now back in Lima, going home to Australia tomorrow.

EDIT: Photo album from this part of trip to Peru is here.

Arequipa

Arequipa today was warm and dry, with mostly clear skies though later hazy or perhaps smoggy. This city is situated in a huge desert, with a backdrop of active volcanos. Quite a spectacular view from the airplane. City tour, much walking. Noisy hotel with a so-so restaurant.

EDIT: Photo album from this part of trip to Peru is here.

Lima to Arequipa

At Lima hotel, I was a bit appalled at the prices in the restaurant until I realised they were in the local currency, not in US dollars as all the other hotels have used. Silly me. Three soles to the US$ made the prices more than reasonable.

Gotta keep an eye on the bar & restaurant staff in my hotels. Too often they charge me for a bottle of wine when I've had only a glass. I'm assuming honest mistakes, but still...

In this part of Lima (Miraflores), I saw at least 6 casinos in about 4 blocks.

Lima airport seems to have free wifi, hooray. Also, today is Independence Day. Little traffic, short checkin queue. Off to Arequipa today.

Lima

Back in Lima for 2 nights. Using iPod on hotel wifi. Lousy weather here too. Grumbles from local guide re uncooperative dry season weather. Now doing comparative Pisco Sour tasting aided by free welcome drink here. Hope I can get a bottle to take home with me.

Cusco and Machu Picchu

Cusco: stayed at the Monasterio Hotel. Very nice (also very expensive). Excellent food. Great location. Tour of city. Bus tour of Sacred Valley. Fascinating country.

Machu Picchu yesterday and today. Tour yesterday in rain. Everything vertical, much with steps higher than my knees consider comfortable. Despite that, it's totally AWESOME. A larger area than it looks in typical photos. Definitely a You Have To Be Here experience that photos do not do justice to.

Staying at Sanctuary Lodge, just outside entrance to Machu Picchu. Another very nice, very expensive hotel, with great food. Have discovered the Pisco Sour. YUM!

EDIT: Photo album from this part of Peru is here.

Leaving Venezuela

Leaving Venezuela now, after a most enjoyable but rather exhausting week. On to Peru. Will be writing much longer report when I get home next month.

Caracas, Venezuela

Went to a shopping mall on a hillside near where I'm staying in El Hatillo. Could see Caracas sprawling on the hills below. I was impressed by the mountains. Then the clouds cleared and the REAL mountains appeared above the ones I was admiring. Whoa!! Impressive. And even those probably are dwarfed by the high Andes. Of course, I did not have my camera with me.

EDIT: Photo album from Venezuela is here.

Caracas, Venezuela

Arrived in Venezuela last Friday. Weekend at beach and driving back to Caracas through mountains Monday. Fascinating country, wish I had time to see more of it. Host family large, loud, enthusiastic, delightful. Way too much to write about now.

Finally got to see a thorough demo of a Wii Fit. In Spanish. Some of it looks quite useful for me, but I think the cutesy graphics would soon annoy me. But at least now I have a much better idea of what so many people are talking about.

On way from Santiago to Caracas

Arrived yesterday in Santiago. Flight from Auckland was almost empty in Buz class and far from full in economy. Beautiful views of snow-capped Andes as we flew up a valley between them and the lower, older coastal range.

No delays at immigration and customs. Struggled through a crowd of taxi touts, saw my name on a sign, and was taken to my hotel by an informative guide. Too tired to walk around sightseeing, and too late to take a tour. Want to return to Chile for a proper visit, instead of just passing through. Nice dinner in hotel.

Santiago airport, LAN VIP lounge, waiting for flight to Caracas. Spanish keyboard is confusing.

On route to South America

Auckland. Qantas Club. iPod Touch not too bad for reading, not so good for typing, so I'm using their computers. Did I mention that I left all the laptops at home, and only brough the iPod Touch for personal use when I can't find a computer to use?

Wifi in Brisbane hotel was flakey, but free. Early flight from Brisbane. Waiting for LAN flight to Santiago.

Speculative fiction prize so far: biz class lunch menu. Caterers delivered different items to aircraft. Better that than the flight schedule being fiction. That may come later in the trip.

Off to South America tomorrow

Tomorrow I set off for South America, sightseeing and attending the wedding of two good friends. I fly to Brisbane tomorrow, then on Thursday from Brisbane to Auckland to Santiago de Chile. After one night there, I go on to Caracas (Venezuela) for 10 days, during which I'll visit various nearby places. Then to Peru for 11 days, visting Lima, Cuzco, Sacred Valley, Macchu Piccu, Arequipa, and Colca Canyon. Then the killer flight home: Lima to Santiago to Auckland to Brisbane to Townsville. Would love to have extended the trip a bit and visit some Chilean vineyards, but I suspect that I'll be exhausted by that point.

I'm going to try to post some blog entries by email as I go, but based on past experience I probably won't get around to it.

Cool Ubuntu shirt

I love chocolate and Ubuntu, so I couldn't resist buying this shirt.

Carlyle Gardens from the air

The flight path of incoming planes from the south goes just east of us, with the planes low enough for passengers on the left side to get an excellent view of Carlyle Gardens. Coming in from Sydney on Monday around noon, we didn't have the best seat for photography (our row didn't have a window), but Eric managed to get some shots. Here's one. Carlyle Gardens is the large rectangular area surrounded by a tree-lined fence, plus the large cleared area with a cluster of houses just above it in the photo. I've circled our house. To the right you can just see the bridge linking the "far side" with the older section of the community.

"Self-publishing using OOo3" now online

You can now read and comment on the complete first draft of "Self-publishing using OOo 3 Writer" online. The book starts here. Comments are moderated (to eliminate spam). I will be travelling during the next week, with limited internet access (perhaps only once a day), so do not be alarmed if your comments do not appear quickly. If you prefer not to comment in public, please feel free to send me an email instead. You can still request a PDF version of this draft.

Draft PDF of Self-Publishing using OOo available for review

A complete first draft of my book Self-Publishing using OpenOffice.org 3 Writer is now available in PDF (3.5MB). If you want a review copy, please contact me directly and ask for one. I hope to get the website copy of the book updated and ready for online comments within the next few days. You can help by telling me about anything that

• doesn't make sense
• is out of logical order
• is covered in not enough detail
• is covered in too much detail for the audience of the book
• needs more or better illustrations
• is missing from the book but you think should be covered
• is covered in two places but should be combined into one place
• or anything else that you think would make the book more useful for the audience

At this point, please confine your comments to the content, not the inconsistencies of formatting or screen captures or bad page breaks or similar, most of which I am well aware of but unwilling to spend time fixing until I'm confident that I won't be rewriting or deleting whole sections.