Lots from the South Part of the World and More

Hello again. Time for another update and this time I have lots of cards to show and lots to talk about. Cards will be from Argentina, Uruguay, Adelie Land and England. England doesn't quite fit in with this group but that's how it goes sometimes.

First up is a card from Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, or as Dale wrote on this card, "the end of the world ". I know that in my last update, I referred to Punta Arenas as the southern most city in the world. Well Ushuaia also claims this title. I think it goes something like this , Punta Arenas is the southern most city on the South American continent, while Ushuaia is more south but on the south coast of Ilsa Grande de Tierra del Fuego. Puerto Williams is even more south , but due to its smaller population than Ushuaia, many refer to it as the southern most town. So I'm going to rank them as #3 Punta Arenas, # 2 Ushuaia and # 1 Puerto Williams. Hope I haven't offended anybody. Irregardless it's good to have received cards from them all and let them all claim what they want. So there. Dale's card shows a beautiful view of Ushuaia with the Martial mountain range in the north. It looks like a pretty nice place with spectacular scenery all around. We see 2 great stamps compliments of dale. The lighthouse stamp was issued in 2010 and is of a lighthouse in the Beagle Channel, off the coast of the Bay of Ushuaia. The stamp on the right is 1 of a set of 7 definitives issued in 2009.

Next card is also from Argentina and again is from Dale. Posted from Puerto Madryn, it is a card from the Egidio Feruglio Paleontology Museum in Trelew. The museum is one of the most important museums in the world for dinosaurs. It offers models of over 30 different types of dinosaurs. Dale used 2 copies of the 2005 definitive stamp showing the Perito Moreno Glacier , located on the south west of Santa Cruz Province , Argentina. This is a beautiful glacier and due to its size and accessibility , it has become a major drawing card for southern Patagonia.

Now another card from Dale. This one is from Montevideo, Uruguay. It shows us Pocitos Beach Waterfront. Located just 10 minutes from the centre of Montevideo, Playa Pocitos or Pocitos Beach is an upscale neighbourhood on the banks of the Rio de la Plata. The stamp, a triangular shape, was issued in 2008 and is 1 of a definitive set of 9 or so issued over a number of years.

The next 2 cards are from The French Southern and Antarctic Lands. This consists of:
1 - a group of islands in the Southern Indian Ocean
2 - Adelie Land, the french claim on the Antarctica Continent.
3 - Scattered islands in the Indian Ocean.

Both cards are postmarked Dumont D'urville T'Adelie T.A.A.F., meaning Adelie Land - the portion of the Antarctic coast between 136 degrees E and 142 degrees E. Its shore length is 350 km and it extends as a sector about 2600 km toward the South Pole. Just a little FYI- the movie March of the Penguins was filmed at Adelie Land. The first card has a sea bird, the Southern Fulmar, a petrel on the front. The second card has a view of Dumont d 'Urville ,the French Base on Antarctica. Permanently staffed since 1956, the base has a population of between 30 and 110, depending on time of year.
Both of these cards are compliments of Jean Pierre.
The stamps include a 2008 flag stamp, 1 of a set of 5 , and a minerals stamp from 2009, featuring pyrite.The bird stamps are also from 2009 and are part of a petrels souvenir sheet of 5.
I don't usually show the complete back of a card, but in the case of the card above, I made an exception so you could read the various stamps on the card.


The final card is from England and comes from a Postcrosser named Margaret. Her card shows us Bletchley park, which is also known as Station X. Located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England it was the site , during World War II, of the United Kingdom's Government Code and Cypher School. It was here that the famous German Enigma code was broken. Margaret used a 2010 , Machin definitive.

That ends this rather long update . This was started late Thursday evening , but never got finished. It is now Friday afternoon and the end is in sight. Thanks again to Dale, Jean Pierre and Margaret for the cards. Without the cards , well I don't need to go there. As always, leave a comment if you wish, I love to hear from you.

I'm off to the mailbox now, to see what new postcard goodies await.

Antarctica But Not Antarctica and Finnish Wishes

I'm back again , this time with a much smaller update. I have just 2 cards for this time. They come from Chile and Finland. First up is Chile.

Here we go. This card, which shows us a Humpback Whale off the Antarctica coast comes from Punta Arenas , Chile. Punta Arenas is the southernmost city on Earth overlooking the Straits of Magellan. This is another card from my brother Dale and Punta Arenas was supposed to be his jumping off place for the Antarctic continent. Sadly, his flight to Antarctica was cancelled due to weather. I don't know for sure if he managed to get a flight another day, but I rather doubt it, as his schedule was quite tight. Dale used 1 of 6 stamps in a souvenir sheet commemorating 40 years of Chile's Antarctic Base. The sheet , issued in 2010, is an absolutely beautiful stamp sheet and one I would love to add to my collection. It has a number of stamps featuring aircraft , which I collect in a topical collection.

Now for the Finland card. It is a little late but not too late. It has a nice winter scene and wishes me A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year, in Finnish. It's still Winter , it's still the New Year, so the card seems right on. Thanks Hannele. Happy Postcrossing to you, too. Hannele used a 2008 stamp commemorating Kimi Raikkonen's F1 World Championship.It is the one stamp in a souvenir sheet.
Now I'm no expert on F1 racing , so it's just another stamp to me. However, I believe Ana might be just such an expert as she has blogged about it a few times. Or maybe she's just an expert on Kimi Raikkonen. Anyway, it's a fine stamp.

As I said , it' a small update , and it is. Hopefully , I'll be back here again tomorrow.

Salvador, Torun and Mount Robson

Hi there, I have kind of a short update this time. I'll be showing three postcards, two of which arrived Friday and the other one arrived today. They are from Brazil, Poland and Canada. So let's get right to it.

Card # 1-- This is another one sent by my brother Dale. He's been on the go since Nov 05, 2010. Actually he is due back to his home today, if I am not mistaken. This card is from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. It is dated Dec 17, 2010, so it's been in the mail over a month. The card shows a reproduction of a painting of the city of Salvador, the 3rd most populous city in Brazil. With over 2.6 million , the city is often referred to as the "city of happiness "and is quite renowned for its cuisine, music architecture and street carnivals. Dale used the same 4 stamps that he used on an earlier card from Rio, which you can see in my Jan 15th update.

Card # 2 -- This Official Postcrossing card comes from Torun, Poland. This ancient city is located in northern Poland and is the birthplace of the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. In 1997 the old part of the city was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The stamps include , on the left , 1 of 2 2009 Christmas stamps. The other is a 2001 , farms issue.

Card # 3 -- This one shows a spectacular view of Mt. Robson, and at 3,954 meters, it is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. The mountain guards the western entrance of Mount Robson Provincial Park. The park consists of 224,866 hectares . The park is located in east, central British Columbia, just west of the British Columbia/Alberta border and Jasper National Park. Approximately 4 hours north of Kamloops, BC on Highway 5; 3 1/2 hours east of Prince George, BC on Highway 16; and 5 hours west of Edmonton, Alberta on Highway 16. The closest communities to this park are Valemount, Tete Jaune Cache and McBride. John , from Edmonton, who has contributed here before sent this card along. He used a new 2011 Year of the Rabbit stamp.

That's all she wrote for this time. Thanks again to Dale, John and Susanna or Lusanna , I'm not quite sure which is correct.

Take care, see you back here again soon.

And The Winner Is ?

Hello again. I'm back with a few cards and the winner of the contest . Now without further ado, and as they say at the Academy Awards, " and the winner is " Johan of Johan Postcards. He was the first person who emailed with all 5 correct answers to my contest.
Here are his answers :1 The Building : The Cabot Tower.
2 Where : St.John's,Newfoundland and Labrador / Signal Hill National Historic Site.
3 When : 1897
4 why : To Commemorate Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee and the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's explorations of North America.
5 1901 : Reception point of the first transatlantic wireless signal by Guglielmo Marconi.
For his efforts he will soon receive the Cabot Tower postcard. Thanks to all entries.

Now for a few postcards. Cards today come from the Falkland Islands, Botswana, Canada, India and Romania.

The Falkland Islands- One doesn't see or receive many cards from this out of the way place down in the South Atlantic Ocean. Well here's one more. This one shows us a number of scenes outside the capital of Stanley. It is from my brother Dale, who visited Stanley on Boxing Day, Dec 26th, 2010. The card is postmarked Jan 05, 2011, and that seems to be a pretty good service from down there, today is only the 20th. Dale used a 2003 Airmail Postcard rate stamp showing penguins. And, yes a lot of Falkland stamps show penguins.

Botswana- This card came as somewhat of a surprise. Bruce who lives in South Africa had emailed that he was travelling to Zimbabwe and Zambia and that I should expect cards . He didn't mention Botswana, hence my surprise on finding it in the mailbox. The card shows a number of babies ( animals ) from Botswana. From left, clockwise : Hippo calf; Elephant calf; Giraffe calf; Chacma baboon baby and a Lion cub. According to the postmark the card was posted at the Maun Airport ( MUB) . The town of Maun is in northern Botswana and is the main touristic gateway to the Okavango Delta and the Moremi Game Reserve. Bruce used 2 copies of a 2007 stamp issued for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Canada- This card comes to me from my Lovely Teena. She likes to drop me a card every now and then. This one has the World's Largest Dinosaur on the front. T-Rex is located in the town of Drumheller, Alberta. Visitors can walk into and up to a viewing platform in its mouth. Let me tell you, it is a long way up and I speak from experience. Teena used a wonderful new souvenir sheet of 4 stamps and had it postmarked on the stamp's First Day of Issue, Jan 17, 2011. These new definitives feature the Arctic Hare ( Permanent Domestic Rate ), a Red Fox (Oversize Mail Rate), Baby Geese ( Transborder U.S.A Rate ), and a Polar Bear Cub ( International Rate ). So my postcard friends, don't be surprised to find this cheeky Poplar bear on a postcard from Canada sometime.

India- Now a card from a guy in Bangalore, India who has found this blog to be interesting enough to follow. His card shows a statue of Thirthankara, in Halebid, Karnataka, India. I tried to contact the card's sender, but couldn't make out the writing on the card. If you read this and want , please contact me at gemsworldpostcards@shaw.ca with your name and address. The stamps include a 2005 stamp issued for International Year of Physics and a C.V. Raman definitive.

Romania- The final card shows the mayor's former office building in the city of Brasov, Romania. Located in the central part of the country, 166 km north of Bucharest, the city has a population of about 285,000. Alin used 2 stamps, including a 2007 definitive (on the left ) and a 2009 European Police Conference stamp from a set of 2. A nice set with nice tabs .

That's the update for this time. Thanks to Dale, Bruce, My Lovely Teena, Alin and the gentleman from India, I believe his name is Akhil.
Take care and see you back here soon.

Three Cards and a Souvenir Sheet

I have just three cards to have a look at today. I also have a souvenir sheet to show.
My cards today come from Korea, Germany and Belarus and all three are from Postcrossers.

The face of the card from Korea, is a reproduction of a stamp issued in 2008, commemorating The King Sejong Station. This research station is located on the Barton Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctic and is operated by the Korea Antarctic Research Program. It was established in 1988. The stamp celebrated the station's 20 years. The actual stamps on the card include a souvenir sheet with a single stamp , issued in 2001 , celebrating comics. It is the 7th cartoon issue in a series. The other stamp is 1 of a set of 4 from 2003 showing us Korean food.

Heidelberg is featured on the card from Germany. This city of about 150,000 is located in the south-west of the country. Kerstin used a flower definitive along with a new 2011 stamp featuring Alpine Skiing.

Final card for today comes from Belarus. It shows us a sculpture dedicated to heroes who perished during World War II. Olga used 2 animal definitives from 2008.

That is the cards for today. Before I go, I just want to show the beautiful souvenir sheet I received from Michael. It will be a great addition to my aircraft topical stamp collection. I won this sheet for just answering a couple of questions . Be sure to visit him often and maybe you'll be the next winner of something . Thanks Michael.

Now for those of you still reading, I am going to try a little contest, or give a way , myself. You will notice that I didn't mention this in the title, as I wanted to see if anyone reads to the bottom.

This postcard is the contest. ( Open To Non-Canadians Only ) It would be too easy for Canadians.

The first correct answer to the following 5 questions , wins the postcard.

1 Name the building
2 Where is it located ?
3 When was it built ?
4 Why was it built ?
5 What took place there in 1901 ?

Email entries to gemsworldpostcards@shaw.ca


Winner has the following choice:
If you wish it stamped and mailed-- O.K.
If you wish it Mint in a cover -- O.K. too
And I will definately use nice stamps.

Good luck to all.

SA Express and SAA 75 Years

Here we go again to end the weekend as promised. This update is all about SA Express and South African Airways ( SAA ). It's all compliments of Bruce , who happened upon this blog and decided to contribute. And, he did so in a big way. Bruce contacted me and said he had a set of 6 special postcards and asked if I would like them. Of course , you know my answer. He received these postcards back on April 24, 1995. The set of 6 were given to all passengers flying on SA Express on that date. He has kept them all these years but has passed them all on to me now. The set of cards are called The Cape Connection and commemorates the 1st anniversary of South African Express Airways on 24 April 1995.

Card # 1 - "Mother City" A brand new de Havilland Dash 8 Series 300 aircraft over the sea with the cape capital in the background. SA Express operates these sate-of-the-art aircraft in a strategic alliance with South African Airways, providing passengers from regional centres with timely connections with onward flights at Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban as well as other major airports. Bruce used 2 stamps on this card. The fish stamp was issued in 2000 and is 1 of a set of 4 fish definitives. The other stamp, a Domestic Medium rate stamp, issued in 2007 shows a cheetah from a set of 2 definitives.

Card # 2 - "Sunny Skies " A sleek new de Havilland Dash 8 Series 300 aircraft cruises effortlessly above Cape Town. These ultra modern commercial aircraft are fully pressurized and designed to seat 50 passengers in wide body luxury while setting new standards in fuel efficiency, speed, and comfort. On this card we see a bird definitive from 2001. It is 1 of a set of 5 and this one is the whitefronted bee-eater.

Card # 3 - "Sundowner " An SA Express Dash * Series 300 aircraft coming in to land at Cape Town's international airport. These economical, modern aircraft, built by de Havilland of Canada, are used by SA Express to provide a frequent, cost-effective air service between Southern African towns and the major cities. Two more of the bird definitives from 2001 are seen on this card.

Card # 4 - "Golden Seas "A new SA Express Dash 8 Series 300 aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Town. Built by de havilland of Canada, these aircraft are powered by two Pratt and Whitney PW123 turboprop engines. The large diameter, slow turning propellers provide high thrust and low noise levels. Again, we have two more of the 2001 issued bird definitives.

Card # 5 - "Homeward Bound "An SA Express Dash 8 Series 300 aircraft leaves Cape Town airport for a regional destination. These pressurized , twin turboprop, high wing aircraft fly at a good speed- 286 kts/529 kmh. On this card we see a neat round stamp from a set of 10 issued in 2009. The set was called "All you need is love " and they came in a sheet shaped like a heart.

Card # 6 - "To the Point "This last card in the set shows a new SA Express Dash 8 aircraft off the Cape of Good Hope. The Dash 8 Series 300 is the most successful turboprop of its type. A nice stamp from a 2009 set of 5 appears on this card. The set consists of Sea and Coastal Birds.

That ends the set of 6 special postcards. It doesn't , however, end Bruce's contribution. In addition to the postcards, he also sent an envelope containing a souvenir sheet of 6 commemorating South African Airways 75 th Anniversary. It was issued on January 31, 2009. The sheet shows the tail logos of SAA aircraft over the 75 years. I use an aircraft tail logo as my avatar in Postcrossing. You can see it here. So it was great to receive this sheet from Bruce. The SAA tails and logos are as follows:
Top Left- SAA Junkers 1934-1940
Middle - SAA Douglas DC-4 1946-1967
Right- SAA Boeing 707 1980-1982

Bottom Left - SAA B747 1971-2008
Middle - SAA Airbus A300 1976-2001
Right - SAA B747 1971-2008

That about does it today for SA Express and South African Airways. Only thing left , is to offer my thanks to Bruce for all this. Thank you, Bruce.

I hope I didn't loose any readers with all this aviation, and airline related stuff today. As many of you know, I am a former airline employee and have a aircraft on postcard collection and also an airlines on stamps topical collection, so all this was just up my alley.

Now I am totally caught up with my postcards, so we'll have to see what presents itself in the coming week. If cards are few, I have a couple of ideas to keep interest up.

Take care, thanks for reading and I welcome your comments as always.