My writing journey began with a challenge. First I started my blog, Travel with Joanne. Then I started travel writing.
The challenge was to discover and write about a different Sydney suburb each fortnight. My suburban exploration continued for over four years. I have walked and written about over 80 Sydney Suburbs, hoping to inspire others to get out and about in Sydney beyond their usual haunts.
While suburban exploration is no longer a priority, Travel with Joanne now reflects my experiences and travels in Sydney, around Australia and overseas.
My travel writing journey also started with a challenge. To have one story published. As you can see below, I have managed far more than that!
I have also published two children’s picture books (see below).
Freelance Writing
My stories have been published in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sunday Telegraph Escape, The New Zealand Herald, Great Walks Magazine, Reader’s Digest, Senior Traveller, Coast Magazine, Broadsheet, Traverse Magazine.
PDFs available for the following stories:
- Selector Magazine: Georgia on My Mind – November 2023
- Outback Magazine: Mosque of Memories – September 2023
- Reader’s Digest: Genius Eddie and AI (Jewish Museum exhibition) – July 2023
- Senior Traveller: Burrawa Bridge climb – May 2023
- Senior Traveller: Oyster Farm tour – May 2023
- Traverse Magazine June 2021: The Dunes are Alive (contact me for PDF)
- Senior Traveller March 2021: The Slow Food Earth Market (contact me for PDF)
Available links to published stories:
- The Guardian (January 2024) Time for Tea
- Sydney Expert (December 2023)Nature and wildlife tour in Sydney
- Sydney Expert (December 2023) Secret Bar Crawl Sydney
- Sydney Expert (October 2023) Tank Stream Hotel Review
- Sydney Expert (September 2023) Aussie Food and Culture Tour https://sydneyexpert.com/aussie-food-culture-tour/
- New Zealand Herald 18 July 2023 Food Tour of Georgia (the Country)
- Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend 3 June 2023 The Two of Us
- Sydney Expert (March 2023) Brooklyn NSW
- Australia Your Way (Feb 2023) Sydney to Broken Hill by train
- Sunday Telegraph Escape Chinatown Tour (January 2023)
- Sunday Telegraph Escape Hidden Harbour Beaches (January 2023)
- Coast Magazine Wollombi Spring Edition (September 2022)
- The Senior Traveller Pearl Farm Tour (August 2022)
- Sunday Telegraph Escape Ghost Tour (July 2022)
- Sunday Telegraph Escape Coffee and Kayak on Sydney Harbour (April 2022)
- Sunday Telegraph Escape Ramadan Food Tour (April 2022)
- Sunday Telegraph Escape Female Street Artists (March 2022)
- NZ Herald December 2021: Travel Inspiration for 2022 See Asia “From Here to There”
- Sydney Morning Herald: Scrabbled Miles August 2021
- Broadsheet Portland Silos February 2021
- Senior Traveller: Razor Gangs Tour Surry Hills November 2020
- Senior Traveller: Rookwood Cemetery Tour October 2020
- Senior Traveller: Dangar Island creativity September 2020
- Senior Traveller: Lake Baikal story July 2020
- Sydney Morning Herald: Deliveroo February 2020
Feedback on my stories:
“Hello again, Joanne. I’ve just come out of a meeting and have been told that Janet and Bobby were wildly popular with our readers at the weekend. It was the most popular story in the issue by a long way. So well done, you. Just wanted to pass that along . . .”
Sharon Sharon Bradley for Good Weekend Two of Us Story
“It was a pleasure to publish your work.” Sue Preston, previous editor of Senior Traveller.
“That is the best piece I have read on Kadoo Tours. The SMH, the Southern Courier and other bloggers have never done it such justice. So very detailed and accurate. We love it.” Grant Hyde, Kadoo Tours
“Hi Joanne, it was like walking the tour all over again. In fact, deja vu all over again – you captured the whole experience perfectly!…I love it …..Love your photography” Peter Hook, Hook Communications
“Thank you for a great story. Excellent review. Greatly appreciated your time, observations and indeed questions.” John Pastor, Go Local Tours
The Blog
Discovering Sydney one Suburb at a Time
Find links to over 90 suburbs discovered by Travel with Joanne at the foot of the homepage. Downloadable maps and notes enable you to follow my route.
Explore other cultures and cuisines right here in Sydney. Take a coastal walk or discover the inner city or suburbs bursting with heritage. Suburban Sydney has much to offer the curious.
Tours I’ve Enjoyed
As not everyone enjoys exploring independently, I write about short tours in Sydney that interest me. Usually, I pay my own way. If I’m a guest of the operator, I will always let you know and write accurately about my experience.
Follow this link to the tours I’ve written about.
Other Travels
I regularly write about my travels both within Australia and overseas. These posts include personal essays as well as useful information for those wishing to do similar trips.
Here’s a link to my travels within Australia and here’s the link to my overseas travels.
The Children’s Picture Books
My two self-published children’s picture books tell a story about places very dear to my heart, Dangar Island and the Hawkesbury River. “Dangar Island: Birds, Barrows a Ferry and Me” and “The Riverboat Postman” are suitable for children from about age 3 to early readers.
Dangar Island: Birds Barrows a Ferry and Me
“Dangar Island: birds, barrows, a ferry and me” is a simple story told in rhyme about the enviable life of children who live on Dangar Island. Available here
The Riverboat Postman
“The Riverboat Postman“, also in rhyme, tells the story of the ride that two children take on The Riverboat Postman, delivering mail along the Hawkesbury River. Available here
Comments
Great idea and great site Jo. I used to spend some time walking around Sydney city each lunch time trying to find something I had never seen before. It’s amazing what you can find in your own backyard. Finding all the gargoyles in old buildings in town is fun too!
Thanks Stu. Apart from looking for interesting graffiti I’ll now start looking for gargoyles.
Hi Joanne
A great idea. Ivor and I used to do that every Saturday and went to such interesting suburbs. It certainly made us appreciate our own city more.
I’d love to hear about your walks – we are always interested in new ideas
Thanks so much for your kind words. I am having fun exploring and then sharing.
Hi Joanne
Your site is beautiful! There really are amazing places in our city and I love how you represented the places I’ve looked at. Good luck.
Thanks Mitch.
hi Joanne Just discovered your blog! It is great and a terrific idea to explore Sydney is this way. Am particularly interested as I live in Randwick and am a member of a women’s group in the Eastern suburbs. Have taken it upon myself to take the girls ( usually about a dozen) on walks around Sydney. I have mainly done ferry trips then a walk and then lunch. All around Sydney harbour. So I might take the girls on some of your walks, and may start with the Bronte walk. You have done a lot of preliminary work! So if I do it I’ll let you know how it went. Think the girls will enjoy it, I certainly will! Look forward to hearing more of your walks Cheers Patricia
Hi Patricia. Lovely to hear from you. Do let me know how the walk(s) go. There is so much to do near where you are and getting on a bus to get there is easy – although not as pretty as a ferry ride. Have fun. Joanne
I relocated to Sydney last year and have been looking for a blog introducing the various suburbs of Sydney through the eyes of a local. What a joy to chance upon your blog! Thoroughly enjoyed your posts and look forward to more of them.
Thank you Judy. I am glad you enjoy them. I certainly enjoy getting out and about and making new discoveries. I feel I know Sydney so much better now that I have explored so much of it on foot.
Love the niche! We all are so focused on discovering exotic new places that we forget to look at our own backyard. It inspires me to do a similar session on my blog about Melbourne.
Thanks Kal for dropping by. I agree – there is so much in our own backyard that we just pass by.
Dear Joanne,
My wife and I have recently moved to Haberfield and found your blog to be informative and delightful.
We are looking forward to exploring other parts of Sydney thanks to your amazing writings and trails.
Hello Derek, how lucky are you to live in Haberfield. I’m pleased the blog is informative and hope you enjoy discovering this great city we live in.
Dear Joanne, thank you for featuring Blacktown Arts and Ethiopian restaurants in Blacktown. We have an event coming up called Teret Teret, as part of our Magnify Festival – involving storytelling by a local Ethiopian Elder, in one of our Ethiopian Restaurants, scheduled for Friday 16 August, Saturday 17 August at 6.30pm. We would like to invite you to this event and are wondering if you would be able to write about it, if that is what you also do.
It was only a pleasure to write about what I discovered in Blacktown. I had a lovely day there. Teret Teret sounds fascinating and right up my street. I’ll give you a call.
Dear Joanne, adventurous explorers living in Sydney right now, will do well to see the amazing opportunities which you offer.
I am new to Sydney. The lockdown finds me locked down in a tiny flat.
Yesterday I took my car to the NRMA for a check up. Social distancing means that I couldn’t sit and wait somewhere while my car was being checked. So I took the opportunity to walk around Marrickville for 4 hours. Joanne described the street art and pavement mosaics and the historical aspects of the area. I felt that I was having an amazing adventure. Thank you so much. I will follow and share your work. For the foreseeable future adventurous travellers and people with wanderlust will find great inspiration from you. Please keep it up. You are providing a ray of sunshine for people who feel stuck in isolation
Thanks for your lovely comments. I’m sorry about your car, Helen, but so pleased that you got to explore Marrickville. The inner west is full of interesting places to explore.
so glad i found your beautiful blog- gives me incentive to keep walking and exploring the best city in the world
I’m so pleased you like it, Elizabeth. Happy walking and discovering.