Political World Map

Brand: Ravensburger
Pieces: 1000
Size: 70cm x 50cm
Product Code: 156528

Like a lot of people around the world, I have recently begun to stay at home during this corona-virus crisis. While our Government is still allowing my workplace to remain open (despite the fact that it really is not an essential business), I have decided it will be safer to stay home and avoid working in a shopping centre. With so many other stores closing, I hope that my boss will soon follow and allow my colleagues to also stay home. 

As for my other job, I think I will still continue to work there as long as they are able to remain open. They are technically an essential business (because they cater to the agricultural and dairy industries) and there are only five of us (including me) in a huge warehouse-type space. We're way more than the required distance apart and there's plenty of room! I also need the money, with one stream of income cut, so we'll see how that goes! 

In the meantime, I have dug out a really old puzzle that I remember purchasing while at university (over 10 years ago!) The population figures may no longer be correct along the bottom, but it was still a fun exercise to try and remember my geography while putting the puzzle together.

Hopefully we'll all get through this very soon. 

Stay home and stay safe.

World Map

Brand: Hinkler Puzzlebilities
Pieces: 500
Size: 91.4cm x 60.9cm
Product Code:  HB22-FEB16-08

With all the turmoil going on around the world at the moment, I thought I might put up a puzzle of the world map today, just to remind people that no matter what's happening thousands of kilometres away, we're all still living on the same planet. 

The last few weeks have seen so many unfortunate events- there have been natural disasters like the devastating earthquakes in Mexico, Hurricane Irma in Texas, and the imminent eruption of a volcano in Bali. There were also a few earthquakes in New Zealand but I don't think there were any casualties this time round. 

There has also been a lot of political unrest around the world, with the murder of hundreds of Muslims in Burma (which has sadly been under-reported in the media) and, of course, the tensions between North Korea and the rest of the world. In Australia, the government has posted out a ballot, asking people to vote on whether same-sex marriage should be legalised- there are staunch supporters for both sides, but hopefully commonsense will prevail, discrimination (in this case at least) will be stamped out and everyone will have the opportunity to marry the person that they love, regardless of their gender. 

Now, I've gotten through my little rant so I can talk about the above puzzle! 

The pieces in this puzzle were quite large (although that is mentioned on the box) and made from a thin, relatively low-quality cardboard. If you have a good grasp of geography, then the bright design will be simple to complete.

This would make a good educational resource for someone learning about world maps, as it provides an adequate amount of basic information. 

Australia

Brand: Hinkler Puzzlebilities
Pieces: 500
Size: 73.6cm x 58.4cm
Product Code:  HB22-FEB16-08

On Thursday (January 26) it was Australia Day- our national celebration day. It's a public holiday usually dedicated to barbecued sausages, lots of drinking, listening to Triple J's Hottest 100, and celebrating what makes Australia great.

In recent years, however, there has been growing controversy over the suitability of the day, particularly for some Indigenous Australians. They, and many others who agree with them, have renamed the day Invasion Day, and are striving to change the date so that they too can celebrate their home country without thinking about the genocide that was involved in Australia's 'discovery'. A date suggestion has been May 8 ('Maaaattttttee') as 'mate' is a well-known Aussie colloquialism. 

Personally, I'm not fussed if they change the date or not, as long as we still have the chance to celebrate this amazing country. Of course, it would be better if more people felt comfortable with the date, but, as usual, there will always be someone who wants to complain...

Okay, enough social commentary...

If you haven't already figured it out from what I have written, there is a reason I have posted up this puzzle- Australia Day! 

This puzzle actually took longer for me to do than I expected. The pieces are huge, yet some of them feature very small text (town names, rivers, etc), in order to fit it all on. If the pieces had been any smaller, the puzzle would have been impossible to do! I also realised through doing this puzzle that my knowledge of Australian geography is not as great as I thought it was. I had to Google search a few town names just to work out which state they were in! That said, this would make a great educational tool for people wanting to learn about Australian geography. The map features topographical information as well as a handy key. It also covers a little bit of neighbouring countries Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The quality of the pieces isn't terribly great- thin cardboard- but that's to be expected from a relatively low-budget puzzle. 

This is a good, cheap puzzle that has strong educational values. 

A handy key at the bottom of the map provides plenty of information

The puzzle pieces are quite large

Around The World

Brand: Ravensburger
Pieces: 3000
Size: 121cm x 80cm
Product Code:  170593

Over the years I have worked on a variety of puzzles, from 50 or so pieces to the one I'm currently working on (which has 5000 pieces and is taking me forever to complete!)

While I know that there are puzzles that are even larger than this- Ravensburger's Keith Haring Double Retrospect and New York City Window, and Educa's Wildlife, just to name a few- that contain over 32,000 pieces each, I am in no way inclined to start beginning one. For starters, I just don't have the time, and what about the space that would be needed to work on such puzzles!

For now, I'm just content to work on smaller puzzles, and might consider the challenge of completing a larger one some day in the future.

In the meantime, the largest puzzle I have completed (to date) is pictured above, from Ravensburger.

With 3000 pieces, this puzzle was quite large when it was finished. The colours were vibrant and the layout of the design made it easy to sort each city into sections, although there were some similar colours in each area. If you want to tackle a larger puzzle, it's probably best to pick one like this, where there are many focal points to work from, rather than one large block of colour.

This puzzle was challenge enough for me (size-wise) and is the perfect picture memento for the avid traveller.