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10. September 2015 16:09
by Rene Pallesen
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Fathers Day

10. September 2015 16:09 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This Sunday it was fathers day.

It was celebrated with a game of Bowling with the kids in the morning and then family dinner in the evening (with yummi chocolate cake).

This photo is the only family photo I have with the entire Kims family (including little Mia).

7. September 2015 10:09
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Anything Goes - Sydney Opera House

7. September 2015 10:09 by Admin | 0 Comments

This weekend Kim and I joined a couple of friends at the opera house to see the show Anything Goes.

This is a great musical which I believe is based on a book and it was first shown on Broadway all the way back in 1934.

I love the old costumes from back...

27. August 2015 12:08
by Rene Pallesen
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Lucas Moment

27. August 2015 12:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Lucas doesn't like me taking photos of him.

Here I caught him having a moment after I picked him up at daycare.

21. August 2015 08:08
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Aiden Birthday

21. August 2015 08:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

I realised that I hadn't posted anything from Aidens birthday.

On the weekend we had a bowling birthday party with all the kids (and mum and dad) dressed up as super heroes.

We also had a family dinner where we celebrated both his, Kayla's and Adams (his cousins) birthdays.

21. August 2015 07:08
by Rene Pallesen
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Morning of Frost

21. August 2015 07:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Although we have had a beautiful winter with lots of sunny days and mild daytime temperatures, we have also had some cold mornings.

One morning the car had frost on it and it was only 5 degrees outside (most winter mornings it is 8-10 degrees with 18-22 degree daytime temps).

21. August 2015 07:08
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Aiden graduating to Turtle

21. August 2015 07:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Last weekend Aiden graduated in his swim class from being a Crab to being a turtle.

He's been in the swim class for a couple of years now and never graduated. He would swim fine with me, but would cry and be scared with the swim teacher.

After our trip to Thailand in June he gained a lot of confidence and was very happy to swim by himself, but the swim teacher was too careful so he was unable to show what a good swimmer he really is. So, last weekend I asked the swim teacher to let him swim with the result that she by the end of the lesson graduated him and moved him to the next class.

He was so proud (and so was his dad).

18. August 2015 16:08
by Rene Pallesen
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Steam train day

18. August 2015 16:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This Sunday we took the boys to Thirlmere trainworks. This is a large train museum with lots of old steam trains.

Here we learned that steam trains in NSW were running up until 1973 which means that we were born in the era of steam trains...makes me feel really old.

We went for a ride on one of the old steam trains (I think I was more excited than the kids).

As usual Aiden and Lucas were monkeying around being best mates. This is a bus on rails.

This is an instruction carriage used to teach how to operate the brakes on a steam train.

18. August 2015 16:08
by Rene Pallesen
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Coastal walk with the boys

18. August 2015 16:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

In the spirit of trying to keep the boys active Kim and I took them of a coastal walk from Coogee to Clovelly on a beautiful winters day.

The water in the little bays were calm and clear.

Half way we sat down and had a snack.

Kim braved it with the aerial yoga.

And the boys were being themselves...best mates.

They loved being outside and they managed to walk the whole way (bribed by ice cream) even though Lucas on the last stretch was asking to be picked up.

10. July 2015 09:07
by Rene Pallesen
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Phuket - Kims Birthday

10. July 2015 09:07 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

On the day we were flying out it was Kims birthday.

I had arranged a cake for her in the morning ordered through one of the local cafes a couple of days earlier.

The hotel provided a fairly average cream and jam pile that no one ate.

9. July 2015 15:07
by Rene Pallesen
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Phuket - Kims Birthday show

9. July 2015 15:07 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

To celebrate Kims birthday she organised for the family to go and see a show called Siam Niramit.

This show was about a 45 minutes drive from the hotel but transport was as usual included (as it is in pretty much all activities you organise).

Unfortunately Kims dad couldn't join us as he had been severely dehydrated from not drinking enough water and wearing too many clothes in the heat.

We were greeted at the show by actors in their beautiful costumes.

We then proceeded into the venue where we had a large buffet style dinner. KC organised for the staff to come and sign birthday song for Kim.

After dinner there were some pre-show activities such as kick boxing, tug of war with elephants as well as an elephant parade. More actors were dressed in their costumes.

After this was the show. The staging and props were absolutely amazing. Everything was big, and very well made. They even had a small river flowing through the stage in which actors rowed their canoos and swam in. They also had a massive monsoon rainfall in one of the acts.

The various acts despicted important historical chapters of the Thai history and mythology.

The had fabled creatures and real elephants, water buffaloes as part of the acting. Actors went flying across the stage with more that 100 actors as part of the show.

Below are some of the photos I could find to 'borrow' as I didn't take any photos during the show itself (not allowed).

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27. February 2007 12:53
by Rene Pallesen
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Added photos from 2004

27. February 2007 12:53 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

I have now added photos from 2004. The highlights from this year was a trip to the United States and Canada as well as a family trip to Egypt. This was also the year that Australia entered the war in Iraq, so there are a couple of photos from the anti war demonstrations.

Click here to read about 2004

27. February 2007 10:25
by Rene Pallesen
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Added photos from Portugal 2006

27. February 2007 10:25 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

In Mid 2006 I was in Portugal for our International Partner Conference with the company.

It was a week of being busy setting up for the conference, socialising but also a lot of fun and partying.

Click here to see more photos from:Portugal/Slideshow

27. February 2007 08:14
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Added photos from The Blue Mountains 2006

27. February 2007 08:14 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

I quite regularly head up to the Blue Mountains to go Rock Climbing.

We normally camp overnight and then depending on the weather and temperature decide on the day what walls we are going climbing on. The photos in the gallery are a selection of some of the photos I've taken in 2006, but there will be more to come in 2007.

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of photos of me climbing as I tend to forget to pass my camera to someone else.

Most of the time I go with my friend Sarah, but she has now moved to Canberra so she doesn't come up there as often as she used to.

Click here to see more photos from: Climbing in the Blue Mountains/Slideshow

27. February 2007 07:47
by Rene Pallesen
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Added photos from Tokyo

27. February 2007 07:47 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

In September 2006 I went on a business trip to Tokyo along with a colleague of mine Tsukada-san.

Most of the trip was hard work and very long days, but I did manage to snap a couple of photos here and there.

We did get the deal in Tokyo, so the trip was worthwhile, and we are now installing our solution across all of Asia.

Click here to see more photos from: Tokyo/Slideshow

27. February 2007 02:36
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Added photos from Denmark 2006

27. February 2007 02:36 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

In early 2006 my Mum had a stroke while my parents were on holiday in Thailand.

A few months later in April when I was in Europe for work I used the opportunity to go and visit and check up on how my mum is doing.

She is now in a wheelchair and still getting used to finding new ways of doing things.

I didn't do much while I was there, because it was mainly a social visit to help my mum and dad.

Click here to see more photos from: Denmark/Slideshow

27. February 2007 02:17
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Added a photo album for various photos 2006

27. February 2007 02:17 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

I have a number of photos that don't really justify being in individual albums. I have now added all these photos from 2006 into one album.

Click here to see more photos from: Miscellaneous/Slideshow

27. February 2007 01:41
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Added photos from USA 2006

27. February 2007 01:41 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

In early 2006 I went a trip to Seattle for our annual kick-off event.

Some of us flew over there a few days early to go skiing in Wanatchee east of Seattle. If was a weekend of perfect skiing. It was my first time skiing so I took some lessons after which I was doing fine (blue slopes).

During the week we had lots of meetings and dinners. There were award nights as well as just social nights where we could meet up with the rest of the company.

The following all of us in International went down to Crystal Mountain at Mount Raineer to do some more skiing. It was a lot of fun and we all had a great time.

Click here to see more photos from: USA/Slideshow

27. February 2007 01:30
by Rene Pallesen
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Added photos from skiing in Thredbo 2006

27. February 2007 01:30 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Mid 2006 I went with Soeren and his family (visiting from Thailand) to Thredbo to do some skiing. We drove down there Friday night and returned Sunday night. Thredbo is located in the Australian Alps 5 hours drive south of Sydney.

Generally the skiing conditions are pretty good, but last year was pretty bad, but we did get some skiing done.

Click here to see more photos from:Skiing in Australia 2006/Slideshow

27. February 2007 01:05
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Added photos from Holland 2006

27. February 2007 01:05 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

In 2006 I went to Holland a couple of time for work. We have an office in Vianen 50 milometers outside Amsterdam.

I normally don't take a lot of photos when I go there, but if you click on the link below then you can see some of the ones I did take.

Click here to see more photos from:Holland/Slideshow

4. January 2007 12:27
by Rene Pallesen
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2008 has started

4. January 2007 12:27 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

The year 2007 as you can see was a busy year with lots of traveling and adventures.

It is now time to move onto 2008 and see what this year can bring.

You can follow my adventures in 2008 by clicking on this link.

Can I at the same time suggest that you bookmark this page and I can highly recommend using the new RSS feed features on this website.

Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal

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29. November 2021 17:12
by Rene Pallesen
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Struggling

29. November 2021 17:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

I was struggling a lot this year, through a combination of things ranging from self worth, lack of support, dealing with the boys, work and other things.

Mid-year during the lockdown it hit hard.

7. April 2021 22:04
by Rene Pallesen
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Camping Glenworth Valley

7. April 2021 22:04 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Over easter we went to Glenworth Valley for Camping. This location is about an hours drive north of Sydney in an easily accessible but beautiful little valley.

It is private propoerty, so you have to book beforehand and it does get very busy. We were very lucky that we were located down at the end of the property where it was more quiet.

In the evenings there were beautiful sunsets.

In the morning it was a bit more misty in the valley.

The owners also put on a great easter egg hunt for the children. There were hundreds of children with 20,000 chocolate eggs hidden in a field and there was an easter bunny riding a horse.

We also spend time playing some ball sports. I'd brought a baseball bat and ball. Because we were four families, we had plenty of people to form two teams. It got very competitive and the bat took a bit of battering, so I had to go a buy a more solid wooden bat.

In the evenings we had the normal campfire and baked dampers on sticks, marshmellows and baked potatoes in the fire.

There are also lots of walks witin easy driving distance, including some walks with beautiful waterfalls.

Also, people come to the valley for horse riding, so there are lots of horses in the surrounding paddocks.

And wildlife such as Kookaburras!

And going for a short stroll in the mornings was a beautiful experience with the mist and light changing.

Because of lots of rain, the whole area had been flooded just weeks earlier. Where we were camping would have been a meter under water, but because of the river running through the area the water had fortunately receeded.

21. March 2021 13:03
by Rene Pallesen
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Karate 3rd Kyu

21. March 2021 13:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

I reached a significant milestone in karate this week. I graded for my 3rd Kyu (Brown belt) and at the same Kim graded for her 5th Kyu (Blue belt).

On the occation I treated myself to a new dogi (karate uniform).

I was so nervous and tense - and screwed up a few places. There is now a lot of hard work ahead to get to the 2nd Kyu which is at least another half a year away.

Here are some photos from the grading. The ones from the dojo are a bit blurry because they weren't taken from my camera and I don't have the full resolution photos.

20. March 2021 14:03
by Rene Pallesen
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Karate bruises

20. March 2021 14:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Last year was a tough year with Karate.

First the lockdown meant that we had to go online for training, but even in the dojo I managed to get a lot of injuries.

Some of them visible and some of them not so visible...I have a whole stack of scans and x-rays as souvenirs from this year.

Some could have been avoided, but most are just part of the training.

I even earned an award for it...

The worst one was a kick to my chin. I dont have any photos of it, but I do have the indentation it made on my mouth guard I was wearing at the time. If it hadn't been for the mouthguard I am certain that I would have lost some teeth. This injury could have been avoided.

I have now gone out to buy a new and way cooler mouthguard (I created the design myself). It is thors hammer in the middle surrounded by the Fenrir wolf and Midgaards Serpent.

Even Kim got a few bruises.

13. March 2021 18:03
by Rene Pallesen
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My Burmese Dha swords

13. March 2021 18:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Back in the late 90's I visited Laos. In the northern corner of Laos I acquired two old swords from a local.

Through some forums I have tried to find out as much as I can about them and this is what I have been told:

The swords are of a Burmese style called Dha (Means sword in Burmese).
They are of museum worthy pieces
I should NOT EVER attempt to restore them. This would degrade their value significantly.
The flower script design on the swords are reserved for the rulers and officers of those days.
အဲဒီဓားတွေကငါတို့ရဲ့ဗမာဓားတွေပဲလာအိုဆိုတာအရင်ကဇင်းမယ်လို့ခေါ်တယ်အင်းဝခေတ်မှာမြန်မာတွေတက်သိမ်းခဲ့တဲ့နိုင်ငံပဲဓားကိုငှက်ကြီးတောင်ဓားလို့ခေါ်တယ်ဓားကဓားကောင်းပဲ အခုငါပြတဲ့ဓားဟာလည်းသမိုင်းဝင်ဓားပဲငှက်ကြီးတောင်ဓားပေါ့ (Translation: These swords are our Burmese swords. Laos was formerly called Zin Mae, a country that was conquered by the Burmese during the Inwa period. The sword is called the Sword of the Bird. The sword is a good sword.).
It's a Ngat kyee daung Dah the sword that was once used by Burmese warriors and Thai during the dark age of Konbaung (1765–1767).
This Burmese Empire was destroyed during the English colonized to the East and totally wiped out by the English cannons kind of like a scene from the last samurai movie in the end! They were like charging to the enemy where they were being shot at.
These are also antique pieces in a good state of preservation! Swords, even if they are in such good condition, belong in the museum. You have to take a look at the Malaysia Sword Museum! They are great specimen
One would have to analyze the material metal wood winding fibers would certainly be very interesting! You don't see such a bundle every day
The handle on the smaller sword is made from wound rattan fibres.
The larger sword is made from silver and wound silver threading (I believe it is the typical not so pure silver/tin that was used).

This means that it is likely that the swords are up towards 250 years old and that the long one belonged to someone of a high status.

The area they are from is a place that has been ravaged by war for several hundred years right from the wards beween Burma and Siam (Thailand), conquer by the English empire, the Second World War, the Chinese civil war through to the Laos Civil/Vietnam war.

It is highly likely that the swords have seen some action. Although a bit rusty, the swords are still very sharp. Given that the blade on the longer sword is narrower at the hilt it is likely that it has been sharpened several times through history. Again this probably means that it had a practical use/purpose and wasn't just for display.

22. January 2021 01:03
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Newcastle

22. January 2021 01:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Between Christmas and New year we made a trip to Newcastle with the family.

They had this beautiful little animal park that is maintained by the council and is free to visit.

Just outside Newcastle is fighterworld, which is an aircraft museum next to an active air strip.

Newcastle museum was also worth a visit on a rainy day.

One evening we went to the games arcade...no idea how Aiden managed to get a first place in racing.

21. January 2021 18:03
by Rene Pallesen
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Karate 2020

21. January 2021 18:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Karate during 2020 was challenging to say the least.

I was devastated when everything moved online. I love the partner work and couldn't see how this was going to work through video conferencing.

The boys and Kim were okay with the new format and I hung in there. I was so happy once we were able to get back in the dojo again.

Just before the lockdown I had purchased a punching bag, so at least we were able to do some outdoor contact punching.

During the lockdown there was a kata competition and other programs, and we did get a few prices.

...but dojo definitely rules...

We have managed to go to gradings...

And I have kept all the grading certificated we have gotton...

21. January 2021 14:03
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Tennis Award

21. January 2021 14:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Another encouragement award for Aiden. This time in Tennis...

31. December 2020 14:03
by Rene Pallesen
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Covid

31. December 2020 14:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

2020 was definitely a bit different because of Covid.

Australia managed to get through with very few outbreaks because of very early and sever lockdowns.

This let people to panic buy. We spent the time to chill out and solve lots of puzzles in the evenings, do lots of exercise in the parks (which was still allowed), Karate online and work moving fully to conference calls.

31. December 2020 13:03
by Rene Pallesen
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Challenging year

31. December 2020 13:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

The last couple of years has been super challenging for Aiden all around.

He is struggling all around and this photo tells it all.

For myself I have been struggling equally, and had it not been for the release of karate I don't know where things would have been at. I often wish I had my own bucket to hide under. I don't think this year will be any easier unfortunately...

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23. August 2023 20:08
by Rene Pallesen
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New Zealand 2023 - Driving and Various

23. August 2023 20:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

The trip in New Zealand first landed us in Christchurch where we picked up our rental car and stayed the first night.

Next day we drove through Arthurs Pass to Franz Josef (a long drive) where we stayed for three nights. This was mainly so that we had a spare day in case the weather closed in and we couldn't fly to the glacier.

From there we drove to Queenstown via Wanaka and the Crowns Range (another long drive). We were lucky that this was open and that snow chains weren't required.

Here we stayed for 5 nights whereafter we went to Twizel near Mount Cook for two night.

Lastly we drive back to Christchurch to fly out.

Queenstown is a scenic place, but lost of other scenic places along the way.

23. August 2023 19:08
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New Zealand 2023 - Lake Pukaki chapel

23. August 2023 19:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

At Lake Pukaki there is this little beautiful chapel at the lake.

Again this is a really photographed location and much more busy than I remember it.

23. August 2023 19:08
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New Zealand 2023 - Skiing

23. August 2023 19:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

At Queenstown we did 4 days of skiing at the Remarkables.

The boys did two days of lessons and were with me the other two days. Some friends of our joined us in Queenstown, so for the other days I had Tod to go with, who is a very decent snowboarder.

Aiden and Lucas are both becoming good skiers, but especially Lucas is getting really good to the point where I can bring him onto black runs.

Although Kim is still very much a beginner she still did two days of skiing sticking to the beginner slope where there is a 'magic carpet' lift. I did see some improvement to last year, but she is still too scared to go on the proper lifts.

I bought my own ski boots last year and brought them along (my feet are not compatible with rental ski boots).

23. August 2023 19:08
by Rene Pallesen
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New Zealand 2023 - West coast

23. August 2023 19:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

The west coast of New Zealand is really beautiful.

It is not very populated and there are not a lot of tourists either as it is hard to get to.

We did a lot of walks in the area both around beautiful lakes and also at the beach outside Fox Glacier and Franz Josef villages.

23. August 2023 19:08
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New Zealand 2023 - Lake Wanaka and the famous most photographed tree.

23. August 2023 19:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Driving back towards Queenstown we had to go through Wanaka. Boy, has it changed! It used to be a small place with maybe fifty houses, but now it is a proper town with lots of cars and traffic.

It is very scenic approaching Lake Wanaka, and the lake itself has this tree growing in the water that photographers from all around the world come here to take photos of.

23. August 2023 19:08
by Rene Pallesen
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New Zealand 2023 - Lindis Pass

23. August 2023 19:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

A place that I have always found really magical is driving through the Lindis Pass.

Kim doesn't think much of it, but since I visited it the first time, I've alwas found the rolling hills and the colours absolutely stunning.

23. August 2023 19:08
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New Zealand 2023 - Glacier Tour

23. August 2023 19:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Kims highlight on the trip was to go up on a real glacier.

She had booked a helicopter tour that would take up up on a section of the glacier between the two major ice falls.

This is a section of the glacier that Andy and I dreaded having to walk through 20 years ago when we were climbing higher up on the glacier. Mind you, back then there was probably another 100 metres of ice on top of where we landed on this day.