The coastal drive from Dubrovnik back up to Trogir just north of Split is absolutely amazing. It follows the coastline closely all the way and it is both a fun drive and incredibly scenic. I found it better than the Great Ocean Road here in Australia.

One minute the road is really close to the water and you can see all these little bays with crystal clear water and sometimes with small beaches and people swimming. Next minute the road is up high and you get an incredible view of all the high mountains and islands off the coast. The whole route is dotted with small towns and beautiful little churches.



The road is really winding and does not have too much traffic on it, so it is a very pleasant and never boring. To complete the drive we also had to cross back into to Bosnia only to cross the border back into Croatia a few kilometers later.


Unfortunately both Kim and Aiden missed out on much of the scenery as they were sleeping most of the way.

Along the way we stopped in Markarska to get a bite to eat. It is an incredible little natural harbour with a steep backdrop to the mountains behind.





We stopped for the night in a small island town called Trogir. It is a charming little town with narrow passageways and very nice little restaurants. It is very popular with the rich in their 150 foot motor boats.







Kim had found a hotel right in the centre of the old town so we had to park outside the city and then walk in. We were only staying for one night, so it was easy for us to just pack one bag and leave the rest of our things in the boot of the car.

Arriving to the hotel we found that the Aircon and TV wasn't working...we complained to the reception desk and they came to have a look at it. It turned out to have been turned off at the fuse box. We turned on the Aircon and it was quite noisy but at least it was somewhat working.

Kim went to have a shower and suddenly I heard a very loud vacumm cleaner type sound and then Kim started screaming. I went out to the bathroom and there was water and soap everywhere...the walls, the doors (even the outside of the door) and the floor. The Jacuzzi in the bathroom had suddenly automatically turned itself on in the middle of her shower and the off switch wasn't working. The only way we could turn it off was on the fuse box...so now we knew why it was off when we arrived.

This turned out to be probably the worst of the hotels (Hotel Fontana) that we stayed in...it was really unbearable hot in the room, we couldn't open the window because we would be attacked my moscitoes, and if we wanted to turn on the noisy aircondition then the jacuzzi would automatically start every 10 minutes and disrupt our sleep. And the included breakfast was also not worth writing home about.

But besides from that Trogir was very nice. We spent a fair bit of time getting lost in the small alleys. Kim would ask if I had any idea where we were or where we were going...and I'd say "No, we are definitely lost" (Trogir is a very small island so you are never truly lost).

After the Peljesac Peninsular we thought we'd drive to Montenegro for dinner.

The border to Montenegro is about 30 kilometers from Dubrovnik and Herzeg Novi a coastal town is just on the other side of the border.

Crossing the border we saw a 2 kilometer long queue of cars trying to get back to Croatia. Every car was being stopped and checked for how many cigarettes they were bringing across. We though "Oh My...we have to get back through this is a couple of hours time". Fortunately by the time we returned the queue had cleared and we were processed really fast at the border.

It was a pleasant evening in the city and we had dinner along the seashore. People were really very friendly as well.





The food was very nice and especially the Tiramisu and chocolate pancakes were indulgent.







It was very hot so we used the opportunity to do some funny photos of Aiden.

While in Dubrovnik we went for a drive up along the Peljesac Peninsular.

It has some really nice litte beaches and the town of Ston has the most amazing fortres defence line running across the mountain tops. It is almost like the great wall of China. In total the town has 6km of defensive walls around it.




We also came across this beautiful little abandoned church.



We spent the afternoon at one of the beaches just dazing in the sun and letting Aiden play in the water.



Some of the bay have small picturesque islands and there are lots of oyster and mussel farms that have been in operation since roman times.

After Bosnia we headed back to Croatia (and we then quickly had to cross back through Bosnia on the way to get there because of the geography) to Dubrovnik.

Dubrovnik was founded in the 7th Century as a refugee camp after the fall of the roman empire. A Slavic invation forced the romans to seek further south and eventually barricaded themselves on a rocky outcrop at Dubrovnik buy using a natual channel and building big walls as a defence.


Dubrovnik as such prospered and became a powerful trading port in the adriatic sea. Now it is probably one of the largest tourist attactions on the the eastern side of the adriatic sea.








As usual Kim had done a great job finding accomidation in an apartment only 100 metres from one of the main gates to the city, so it was a easy stroll to the old town.


My first impression of Dubrovnik was something along the lines of 'Holy @#@$@%...there are so many stairs here" (tough job carrying Aiden up and down stairs with a pram).



Fortunately we found an easier way that did involve very little more walking, but no carrying...so all a happy family.



The main street through the middle of Dubrovnik is very nice and full of nice places to eat and shop. There are a lot of people everywhere and in general everything is really expensive compared to elsewhere is Croatia. Parking for example was equivalent to $48 per day for street parking...and again considering it is a big tourist destination people are not that helpful with advise and guidance.




There are also several churces that are very nice. Our favourite one (by far) was the St. Ignatius Church.








Inclucing some museums such as the national archives which used to be the Sponza palace.




This is the handrailing for the stairs






As well as some great little Franciscan and Dominican monesteries. These both had some great little courtyard garden with palm and orange trees.










As well as some cool water fountains (Aiden was very happy with these) and really likes a cool splash whenever he could get the chance.




In more modern times, Dubrovnik was under heavy shelling by Serbian and Montenegro forces during the Yugoslav war in 1991 although it had absolutely no strategic value whatsoever.

Click here to see a video of the shelling of Dubrovnik

Today It is hard see any scars of this conflict as most of the buildings have been repaired although there are some signs of the shelling.





And again I managed to sneak out for a couple of evening photos. Evening shots were really hard to take as they were usually around the time where we either had to have dinner or get Aiden ready for bed.

After Split we headed across the border into Bosnia to a town called Mostar. Some will remember Mostar from the terrible fighting that took place here during the war in Yugoslavia in 1992 and 1993. The town has this beautiful river running through it with this anciant bridge running across it. During the war this bridge was blown up by the Bosnian Croat forces but has now been re-built thanks to the United Nations and especially Spain. The original bridge was built during the ottoman empire during the 16th Century.





The Bridge looks even more stunning at night and especially with all the mosques in the surrounding area.











Mostar is only a few hours drive from the border up through this beautiful valley. Today a fair number of tourists go to Mostar to see the bridge, but most of them only stay for one night and then move on. We decided to stay for two nights because it was easier with Aiden. Again Kim had done a good job finding accomodation in at Old museum (more like a beautiful old house really)...the was also the only house that was left more or less intact after the war (only a few mortar shells through the top floor).







During the day we spent a few hours on the river going for a swim. The water was quite cool coming from the mountains and there was a lot of current so Kim and Aiden stayed at the edge, but I jumped in a few times and let the current take me a couple of meters before heading back to shore.





The locals jump off the bridge and into the river...and it is a fairly high jump from the bridge to the water (24 metres apparently). Every year there is a special festival where they do it, but now they mainly do it to entertain the tourists for a bit of money in return.







People were very friendly in Bosnia, of all the places we travelled through we probably found the croats the least approachable and helpful.


During the war the town was surrounded by Bosnian Croat forces and the population consisting mainly of muslims decided to defend themselves. The city was hammered to pieces by Croat artiliry fire and even today it is hard to find a house without scars from bulletholes and grenades.

It is worthwhile to have a look at the following video to see what happened here in 1993: Mostar in 1993







Mostar is surrounded by steaphills and it would have been almost impossible to find cover from snipers and artiliery from above.


Now almost 20 years later there are still many ruins right in the centre of east Mostar where we were staying and there are lots of house that are full of bulletholes and people are still living in these houses.In the houses that have not been repaired it is almost impossible to find a 30 by 30cm patch that does not have a bullet hole or grenade fragments in it. It would have been a hell on earth living or fighting here during these times.






Inside the city limites there are three cemeteries and they are all full of victims killed in 1993...all mixed with Muslim, Christian and Orthodox. It is a very sobering experience to see that every grave is marked with the exact same year and that almost every victim was born at about the same time as Kim and myself.





Today the population seems to be getting along regardless of background and religion.



The surrounding hills in the valley driving in from Croatia also have old castles and ruins on them. It is a very scenic drive and highly recommended.




We have a very nice time in Bosnia and we can highly recommend that people go there to visit.



People should not forget Mostar and especially not forget what happened here in 1992 and 1993.

We spent a day driving to a National Park along the Krka river.This park has the most amazing waterfalls and clear blue water to swim in.





Kim and I both agree that this park is much better and less overcrowded than Plitvice National Park. There are also fewer steps and better tracks whick made it more pram friendly.








The park is full of small waterfalls.



Back in time the water from the river was used to drive a watermill, which is still functioning to this day.



The lower falls you can swim in. We all went for a swim and the water was beautiful...Aiden didn't want to leave.

After Denmark we went to Croatia. Our first stop was Split arriving late at night into Split Airport, picking up the rental car and baby seat and then navigating our way to the apartment we had rented for a few days.

The apartment was very nice (Kim is good at finding accomodation) and they had provided a baby cot for Aiden to sleep in (all the places we stayed provided a cot for us), next to the best beach in town and it was about a kilometers walk from the central part of the city.



Split is famous because of the Diocletians Palace, which is an enormous and fairly well preserved palace in the middle of the city. The Palace was built for the retirement of the Roman emperor Diocletian at around 300AD. There are still a lot of well preserved buildings and cellars within the palace walls, but there is also a lot of more 'modern' houses, shops, restaurants etc.









Walking around and getting lost in the small alleys was really pleasant.


Just outside the Gold gate there is an enormous status, and it is said that if you touch the toe of the statue then it brings you luck and guarantees your return to Split (We did drive past Split a week later....maybe that counts).







In the evenings it was pleasant walking along the shore and take in the views of the city.







And all the locals were out stretching their legs too...



And we really enjoyed the fresh seafood.





Aiden loved the food and the decor of some of the restaurants.

On one of the other days we did a trip to Germany to a town called Rostock (former East Germany). This is a two hour ferry ride from where my dad lives.



Rostock is one of the old Hansestads and the inner city has a lot of old houses and beautiful water fountains.









It started raining so we decided to drive up to one of the other coastal towns called Warnemunde. This is a little very charming place with old houses, fishing boats and along the coast there are very nice groovy cafes.







In the later afternoon we took the ferry back to Denmark. Aff the Danish coastline they have constructed a massive windmill park with hundreds of windmills generating Electricity.

We went to HC Andersens house in Odense in Denmark. This is the house that he was living in and behind the house they have now build a museum and a park with a castle theatre for the kids.

We started out in the park as there was a play about to start in the theatre.



The play was a 15 minute recap of all the most famous stories and it was very well done and very funny (especially the Emperors new Clothing).



Both Aiden and Bedstefar really enjoyed the play together.





Afterwards we went to see the actual house HC andersen was living in.



HC Andersen is one of Kims favourite writers.


And we also visited the museum.

After visiting HC Andersens house we went to Egeskov Castle.

This is a castle that has now been converted into a museum and the surrounding area has been converted into very nice gardens, playgrounds, ponds etc.





The museum hosts old armory, paintings and the owners dad used to go big game hunting in Africa and a lot of the trophies are on display.







Inside the castle they have one of the most amazing doll houses. It is very detailed and some of the pieces have been donated by the royal families of europe.





In one of the adjacent building have now have a museum for old cars and motorcycles.





This was one of Kims favourites.



They also had a museum for old fire engines.





While I was busy with the fire engines my Dad and Kim did the tree-top walk nearby.



After this we took the ferry back home to complete the tour. By the end of the day we had driven across 9 different islands (Falster -> Masnedø -> Sjælland -> Sprogø -> Fyn -> Tåsinge -> Siø -> Langeland -> Lolland). A long day but well worth it.

During the last couple of days I have been doing my first series of newboarn photos with the little one (still no name).

So far he is behaving like a typical newborn...wants a feed every couple of hours and sleeps a lot. He is doing his best to keep Kim awake at night...I try to get a good nights sleep and then look after Aiden during the daytime and get him out of the house (swimming, shopping etc.) so that Kim can get some additional sleep without too make additional interruptions.

Anyway...back to the newborn photos. I wanted to take these cute high-key photos with the newborn wearing a hat. It turned out to be a lot harder than I had expected...both due to the little one not behaving as desired, but also because there were a few adjustments that had to be made underway. In the end we ended up doing three sitting where the last sitting was the most successful one.



I knew that I needed to raise the head from the body to get the right pose but I found out that it was a mistake using pillows as they were too soft. After this I tried towels and linen but they were still too soft. In the end I used a hard camera suitcase with a towel on top which turned out to be perfect.





Over the next weeks I will get to take some more photos, so stay tuned...

During the last 9 months since Kim became pregnant I've been doing this project with a monthly belly photo.

On the morning of the 12th September 2012 at 6.10am our little boy arrived to this world. He was keen to get out and as expected (pretty much) he arrived two weeks early.







Labour actually started more than 24 hours earlier and was just dragging on with Kim getting contractions every 30 minutes or so...not close enough to quite panic about, but still with the knowledge that it is close to going to the hospital. At the time the little one arrived Kim had been in labour for more that 24 hours so she eventually ended up with another c-section.







Fortunately there were no complications with the procedure, the only downside was that everyone else in the whole area decided to have babies on the same day, so the hospital natal section was completely full. This meant that for the first three nights Kim and the little one were put in the acute section of the hospital. Very noisy and hard to sleep, but the good thing was that there was a 1:1 carer ratio and they don't normally see little newborns there, so both Kim and the newborn got a lot of attention and assistance.


After 5 nights in the hospital Kim and the newborn (still without a name) came back from the hospital.

The little one actually looks a lot like his older brother...same mold I guess.

Last night I went with Kim and Aiden to Darling Harbour for dinner. We wanted to go somewhere where it was also nice to go for a walk.

We ended up just buying a kebab and sitting on the steps outside eating it while Aiden had fun imitating the sounds of the seagulls trying to get to our foor (in the beginning he was a bit scared of the birds).




I had brought my camera along and took a couple of panorama shots of the harbour...love it, love it, love it. I was able to crank up the ISO and take this handheld with no problems and because of the high resolution it is amazing what I can do with it back home in terms of stitching photos together etc. The end result is a 100 Megapixel image so very big.

Afterwards we had coffee and tiramisu at Guylians...coffee was nice but had better cake before.

We are now 8 months into expecting our new little baby boy and we expect him to arrive any time within the next two weeks.

We did some pregnancy photos the last couple of days to make sure we have some nice ones as a family.

This Sunday it was Fathers Day here in Australia. Aiden had painted me a very nice picture at Daycare as a fathers day present.




In the morning he took me out of for a buffet breakfast at the Crowne Plaza in Coogee...and afterwards we enjoyed a the very nice warm and sunny day at the beach where he got to play in the sand.

This morning Sacha asked me if I'd like to do a sunrise shoot with him at the Opera House. I'd wanted to try out the new camera for landscape so said yes.

This was the very first photo I took and after that the light went pretty bad.




A very nice morning, but I am not sure if I'm cut out for the early starts (had to get up at 4.30am), especially not now that we are going towards summer.

Kim and Aiden stayed at home sleeping and they were still sleeping when I returned at around 7am.

During the day at the Entrance we made a quick trip up to Norah Head light house to scope it out.

Later that evening I headed up there in the dark to take some star photos.

The conditions were perfect with the Milky way clearly visible and I good some great shots. Here is one pretty much straight out of the camera that requires just a little more processing.





As I walked from the gate to the lighthouse (about 700 metres in pitch darkness) with my torch all hell broke loose suddenly when I rounded a corner.

I heard people scrambling in all directions through the bushes falling over branches. I used my torch to have a look and saw these 6-7 kids running away...obviously they were sitting there smoking weed and got a freight.

Later in the evening they walked past me as I was taking photos and one of them said 'Man, you gave us a freight...we thought you were a cop'!

The Cherry Blossom season is about to start here in Sydney (does that mean spring is here) and the first flowers are out. Yesterday I brought my camera along when picking up Aiden from daycare and managed to take a couple of photo along the way.



I may try and take some more photos over the next week or so. Kim mentioned that she would like to hang one of the photos on the wall.

We are in the process of doing some large prints...I have already ordered the first one which is a glass print which should arrive next month.

Sunday we flew from Santiago to Cusco in Peru via Lima.

Lima is very dry...almost a desert whereas the flight into Cusco was spectacular surrounded by tall green mountains. The hotel came to pick us up from the airport and the hotel is very centrally located in the middle of the city. It is a spectacular place, the people are very different from elsewhere (indians) and you can buy craftmanship everywhere really cheap.



You can see the remains of the inca buildings everywhere. Cusco is located in 3500 meters altitude so we decided to take it easy on the first day to acclimatise (none of us have got any headaches so far)and then head up an see Macchu Picchu in a couple of days time. So on the first evening we decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner where we got the most important menu items out of the way...alpaca and cuy (Lama and Guinea Pig). The lama was really nice (like a tender beef) but the Guinea Pig was a bit tough (especially the skin) and there wasn't much meat on it (but tasty).





Tuesday we bought a train ticket to Macchu Pichu (USD 96...so quite expensive and then on top comes bus up to the site $12 and the entrance to the site itself $40...so a good $150 USD per person) which is a 4 hour ride each way. Despite the expensive trip there it would be a shame to come all this way and not go there...and believe me...it is worth it. Just the train trip there is pretty spectacular between deep gorges and roaring rivers. The first hourin the train is spent climbing the hillside in Cusco...the train rides along for one kilometer and then stops, changes direction and then goes another kilometer before doing the same again...in total it takes the train 7-8 direction changes to make it to the top of the hill.
And the Macchu Pichusite itself is really spectacular in itself. We spent close to 6 hours exploring the area and had we known earlier that they closed access to one of the peaks at 1pm then we could easily have spend more time exploring.






Wednesday we checked out of the hotel in Cusco and booked ourselves a night bus to Copacabana in Bolivia. The remainder of the day we spent visiting other Inka sites around the area by local bus. Some of the sites especially the one closest to Cusco called Saqsaywaman is pretty spectachlar.



We had a really scary incident where we got attached by two really vicious dogs. The first dog went for me an I kicked ouut after it and just missed it, but it was just enough to surprise the dog and make it back off. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the second dog attack Kim and I saw her try and kick it as well whereafter it also back off (probably because the fist dog got scared). After that they kept their distance...a close encounter but walked away unhurt but with our hearts pounding. Click here to see more photos from Peru

The last couple of days Kim and I have been in Santiago de Chile. Kim arrived a day late due to mechanical problems with the aircraft from Sydney and I arrived 6 hours late with Chris (my colleague) at 3am in the morning. Chris and I got ripped off by the taxi due to us not having studied the local conversion rates...but after that we had no other problems.

The first day we spent sleeping and familiarizing ourselves with the area around Providencia and Bellavista. There are some gorgeous little bars and restaurants in these areas. Santiago is a very modern city. It is very clean and you don´t see the same problems as for instance in Buenos Aires with street kids. I can see why my cousin Ulla decided to live in this city for a while.
The Metro in Santiago is really good...there are trains every few minutes and they cost about $1 USD regardless of where you get off...a lot cheaper than catching taxis and a lot faster too.

Next day we went sightseeing around Santiago city centre. The highlight was Cerro Santa Lucia which is an old castle converted into a lovely park area used very much by couples out for a romantic afternoon.
As for food...it seems that most locals eat hotdogs and pizza for lunch so we had a hard time finding something reasonably healthy.

We spent a lot of the late afternoon and evening sorting out luggage storage. We are staying in a serviced apartment with no storage facilities so we had to go to the bus terminal on the other side of the city to store it. When we got back we received an email from the lady renting us the apartment saying that she´d store it for us. I feel a lot more happy about her storing it than in the terminal especially as my work laptop is in the bag.

Next morning it was again time to go to the Airport...this time to fly to Peru.

This week I am in Buenos Aires in Argentina for our annual International Partner Conference and sales Kickoff meeting.

I arrived Thursday night after a long flight with my colleagues and early Friday morning we started our meetings with new product introductions as well as briefing on what is going to take place the next week or so...and as the week progresses I will keep you up to date here.

Friday night we went to a restaurant called the winery and had finger food and tasted a range of different wines. Afterwards in the late evening I decided to go for a walk through the streets of Buenos Aires. It seems to be a very cultural city with some of the normal problems for a large city. There are a lot of people in the streets in the evening especially around the pedestrian areas.



It is interesting that all the tourist maps here display the Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands) as belonging to Argentina. I think the Argentinians really should move on and start accepting that the islands belong to the UK and that they cannot claim them just because they captured them for a few months back in 1982 or because they are closer to Argentina than to the UK.

Buenos Aires is not a place to go for a beach holiday. The water is brown and muddy...I though it was because of the recent rain, but looking at other photos it seems that is is always muddy.



On the first evening we had an opening party at the local Yacht club. Two girls were singing and providing some pleasant entertainment and the morning opening ceremony also provided entertainment.



On the official opening night we went to a restaurant displaying some extremely good tango dancing. It is some of the fastest and most impressive dancing that I've ever seen live.









And of cause I needed to have a try as well.



On the closing night we went to a local restaurant and one of the sponsors provided the entertainment in the form of some dancing girls.

Click here to see more photos from Argentina

This week I am in Mexico City assisting some of our partners.

I flew in Saturday evening and had Sunday to do a bit of sightseeing before meeting up with our partners in the evening. I took a tour to the big pyramids outside Mexico City (Pyramid of the Sun is the third largest pyramid in the world...apparently the largest is also here in Mexico). It was fantastic seeing the Pyramids and it is one of the few things that I've always wanted to see in Mexico...so now: been here done that.



The whole complex is huge it is 3-4 kilometers long so it takes a fair amount of work to walk from one end to the other...especially with all the stairs and sections.





We also saw the most holy cathedral in Mexico...a place where they keep a piece of cloth with an image of Virgin Mary that was left after someone carried flowers in the cloth. It is a beautiful piece of cloth...but I don't buy the flower story.




Monday to Friday was work days and the first couple of days were spent training with our partners and customers. Here in Mexico they don't start work until around 10am...but also don't finish until after 6-7pm and then followed by dinners etc. with the partners mean that some days go on until around midnight.

I find that Mexican food here is very different from the Mexican food that we get in Australia and elsewhere (but I already knew that). The food is still very unhealthy and full of meat and cheese...but much more tasty and much more variation. Our partners were very impressed on the first evening with them that I was able to eat whole chillies in the tacos...but when I explained to them that I was used to Asian food and to chop up fresh chillies into my day-to-day food then they understood.


In the big intersections in the city there are children dressed as clowns doing tricks to earn a few pesos. The other day I say three kids standing on each others shoulders which was very impressive...I also saw an older woman dressed as a clown walking around with a bucket with a dark cloth in it and throwing it at the cars...very freaky and I think she needs to change her tricks if she want to make any money. One of the more disturbing was a mother with a three year old kid who lay down on the street in the middle of the traffic while the kid was making somersaults on top.


On the last evening we went to Plaza Garibaldi. This is the place that all the great Mariachi bands came/come from. The whole square is filled with bands that you can hire to play music for you. When you drive to the square the Mariachis line the streets and run alongside the car trying to convince you that you should hire them to play some music for you.



We went into a restaurant where they besides the Mariachi also had other entertainment such as cockfighting and lasso dancing. Afterwards we went this cantina where a lot of bands were playing simultaneously at various table. All very Mexican and a great tradition. I wonder if the Mariachis will still exist in 20 years from now...but seeing the reaching of the mexicans they probably will. The food was excellent and I tried another couple of great traditions such as beer with lemon and chili in it as well as the mandatory Tequilas (El Tequila Loco).



The hospitality of our partners here has been excellent. They have taken me out every night and made sure that I tried everything Mexican.

Here's some videos:


Cockfightting
Indian Dancers
Lasso Dancing
Plaza Garibaldi
Mariachi


Click here to see more photos from Mexico

I haven't blogged much this year yet. Mainly because not a lot has happened this month (January traditionally is a quiet month) but also because it has been very hot and wet which is not a good combination for outdoor activities.

The next two months however are going to be really busy as I will be traveling in Latin and South America.

I am looking forward to the trips as it will take me to most of South America such as Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.

As I travel I'll start posting pictures and entries in this blog.

I was glad that I didn't have too much to drink on New Years Eve, because the day after turned out to be a busy one.

In the morning we had breakfast with Kims family at the cemetery where her mum is buried.

Right after this we went to the golf course at the coast and played 18 holes. It was a pretty hot day, but there was a nice breeze along the coast and the course is in such a spectacular location.

Click here to download video of Playing Golf #1
Click here to download video of the Golf Course #2


Most of the beaches in Queensland and New South Wales were closed due to dangerous surf conditions. There is a hurricane off the coast of Queensland creating some huge waves along all of Australia's east coast.

In the evening we had dinner with Kims family having steam boat and those rice paper things that you roll up (not sure what it is called)...and it was yummi.

They have this fermented fish that has been fermented over 3-4 years and it is really nice as a dipping sauce with a few chillies mixed in. Click here to see more photos from New Years Day

The year 2007 has now ended and it is time to start some new adventures in the new year.

2007 was full of traveling and other adventures and I expect 2008 to be much of the same.

Take some time to look at what is happening in 2008 as well as what happened in 2007.

Click on this link to see the events of 2007

Also please bookmark this page and also have a look at the RSS feed features of this page.

After Christmas Eve we went a couple of days to Jervis Bay. Jervis Bay is about 3-4 hours drive south of Sydney and is not part of New South Wales, but belongs to ACT (Australian Capital Territory, Canberra). Hyams beach at Jervis has got a reputation of having the whitest sand in the world.

The house we had rented was right on the beach so it was easy to go for a swim. Unfortunately the water was quite cold, so Kim and I instead opted for a trip to the local golf course.

In the morning we went fishing and although we did catch a few fish they were all too small to keep. The most annoying was that we kept catching stingrays.





Click here to download video of fishing at Jervis Bay #1
Click here to download video of fishing at Jervis Bay #2


I know that the area has got a lot of Port Jackson sharks and on the beaches we found a lot of shark eggs.

In the evenings we played Mah Jong and 21. I decided to stay out of the Mah Jong game until I've got a better grasp of how it is played (some of the numbers on the bricks are in Chinese and it therefore took too long time to compute and I felt it was a disadvantage). I had a lucky night in 21 and won $20.
Click here to see more photos from Jervis Bay

The Australians celebrate Christmas on the 25th December where we in Denmark celebrate it on the 24th in the evening. I still like to celebrate on the 24th and it is the day of the year where I most miss family (and the only day of the year where I miss the cold in Denmark).


Most of my friends were either out of town or have kids and therefore not very mobile on this evening so this year I decided that it should just be Kim and myself.

I cooked the traditional Christmas dinner with duck and ris-a-la-mande and we had a very nice evening.

In the morning next day we went over to Kims family for lunch and there was a lot of people and kids there. Again this year I took on the duty of being Santa's local ambassador and hand out presents to the children...all good fun.

Last weekend Andy, May and myself went climbing at Mt keira near woolongong south of Sydney.

May had never really done any outdoor climbing before and Keira is a good place to go and try your first lead climb.

The weather forecast didn't look promising but we decided to go there anyway as in our experience the forecasts are never very accurate here. Besides it said that there was a chance of one or two showers in the afternoon.

As soon as we arrived to the cliffs in the morning we started feeling the first few drops. The rocks were still dry so we decided to put up an easy route anyway.



Once we finished it was raining more steadily and the rocks started getting slippery. There was a climb in the corner that was still dry so we decided to quickly also do this. And afterwards we put up a top rope on a climb that also still was dry.

Before we got onto it it was raining heavily and there was a storm with lots of lightening approaching.

>

Click here to download video

After a couple of not very motivated (and wet) attempts on the climb I volunteered to clean up the climb. As I approached the top the water was coming down like from a waterfall and by the time I had cleaned up the anchors I was drenched (and yes...my pants were very wet).

Climbing wise a really disappointing day...but we still had fun.

This weekend we went up to Barrenjoey...a beautiful day. It was 31 degrees in Sydney but this time of the year the rocks here are mostly in the shade all day and there was a nice sea breeze running through the area.

We started with a couple of nice warm-ups and then moved onto one of my test pieces "Pillar of Mordor (19)". It is thin and sustained and really not very well protected so I have always back off leading it. Both Phil and I did lead it although not completely clean.

After this we did "Mescalito (19)" which is one of my favourite climbs there. Phil placed a cam in one of the breaks and it fell out and dropped down to the next bolt...fortunately he carried another cam to put in the break and eventually got up to the next bolt and through the climb.

The day was almost over and I had to go to the airport but Phil had his eyes on this climb "...Cab Sav (19)". The bottom bit of the climb is all protected by cams and the top bit is really thin and pumpy. Phil got up past the natural gear and clipped the first bolt. He then moved on and was struggling when clipping the second bolt but eventually got it. He then moved to the thirt and last bolt on the climb and as he moved up his foot caught the quickdraw and without him noticing the boltplate came off the bolt (He had clipped the botlplate upside down). He kept climbing up and got up to the third bolt, but because the previous bolt had fallen off it would have been a ground fall if he had fallen off. Phil was really struggling clipping it but we were so relieved on the ground once he did.

That was a really close one and it is the second time I've seen someone clip those types of plates wrong...bloody dangerous.

We have bought a house now. We have signed the contract from our part and paid the deposit and our solicitor has received the signed contract from the Vendor. The property has now finally been pulled off the market by the real estate agent (that idiot) and we are looking at moving into the new place in mid/late October (before 24th October). Now we just need to go through all the mortgage application documents which if anything like last time I applied for a home load will be a lot of bureaucracy filling out triplicates, getting copies certified by rocket scientists (whom you have known for at least 40 years and who have worked in the industry since the Apollo program).




This will be perfect as it means that Kim and I will have something to live in after the wedding (The current apartment is not really suitable and I would like Kim to feel like it is her home as well).The place is in Botany in the Eastern Suburbs and it is very close to Kim's family (about a 200 meter walk to one of her sisters and 5 minutes drive from her dad). And more importantly it is reasonably close to the city (10km) and away from the flight path of the airport.


We don't have much furniture so the place will be a bit empty in the beginning until we get the essentials. Kims sister has already donated us a dining table but we need to get items such as a bed and a washing machine immediately and then also items such as a sofa, entertainment unit etc.


It is a terrace house and has got the potential to do some really nice things to it. It is spacious on the inside and has got a small backyard that doesn't require too much maintenance. There is a bit of painting and maintenance that needs to be done immediately to the outdoor areas but nothing that cannot be managed. I am also sure that Kim would like have some painting done internally. My dad will arrive just after we have moved in so I am sure he won't get bored while here.




This Torrens title oversized terrace offers an ease of living combined with great design features spread over three very generous levels. Be immediately impressed by the flawless presentation and the impeccable renovation of this striking tri-level terrace. Enjoying an elevated position.
A handy convenient setting with ample street parking. Generous living with separate formal and casual areas. Tranquil north facing backyard and outdoor entertaining. Modern kitchen with breakfast bar stainless steel appliances. Upstairs bedrooms with built-ins, two with private balconies. Well appointed for care free modern living. Intelligently designed to maximise space and light. Dressed in fresh contemporary tones and polished floors
Automatic garage for two cars with internal access. Easy walk to local parks, schools, shops and transport


If you read the score further down in this blog, then you will know that the score now is 4 out of 5...just the wedding to complete to get 5 big events done within the same 6 months timeframe.

This weekend we went climbing up at Berowra (northern part of Sydney). It has been raining a lot and been very cold lately, but this day was sunny and very pleasant so no need for the down jacket and the gloved that I had brought with me.

Andy had just bought a new HD video camera and was keen to try it out and he got some really good footage og me climbing as well as Phil falling. Click here to see video


I actually had a really bad day climbing. I think work is stressing me out at the moment and one one of the first few climbs I freaked out when I got to a section with only slopers as hand holds (if you see the video then it was at the section where Phil shouts "YES!"). I was pretty upset when it happened and I was unable to get back into the right headspace.

The rest of the afternoon I was doing top ropes but had blown my strength and self esteem.

Last week I was in Brisbane for some SharePoint training for the company. It was four days of intensive training but it was worth it and it was nice going up north where it is a bit warmer than here in Sydney at the moment.

I flew up there Tuesday morning leaving home at 5am to catch a 6am flight. It was the morning after my Birthday so Kim and I decided to just have a quiet evening and then celebrate some other time (Kim is going to take me to a nice restaurant).



I found a couple of good restaurants in Brisbane and one night I had Moreton Bay Bugs (Look like a giant cockroach). I also went for a walk to Kangaroo Point which is a big climbing area along the river in Brisbane. It is all lit up and actually looks like good climbing. I was surprised to find people climbing at night and also surprised to find that almost everyone was toproping rather than lead climbing (Everything is nicely bolted so there really is no excuse).

This year we again went skiing on the weekend closest to my birthday. We tried to get the same house as we did last year, but unfortunately it was already booked so we had to settle for an apartment. This did mean that we only had two bedrooms instead of three so it was only Soeren and Nui (and Freja) and Kim and I staying there. Kims ex-colleague Mark had to settle with staying at a caravan park.

The first day Soeren and I drove up to Perisher in my new car (first long trip in it) while the girls did their own thing. When we got back late afternoon after a whole day of skiing they had organised all the ingredients for a nice BBQ and marinated all the meat…yummy. Mark came over for dinner with Daniel and we had a nice evening with a couple of bottles of wine.

Next morning we got a late start (it took the other guys a bit of time to get ready) and we went to hire some additional gear for the girls to go skiing as well. This time we went to Thredbo which is much better in terms of variation of the runs and also the length. The longest run there is 3.7 kilometers. The girls took an instructor class (I think it is better if Kim gets an instructor by herself next time as she will get more attention).



It was a fairly short skiing day as we finished at three and then went on our way to the 5+ hour drive back to Sydney. Next year I think I'll take a lesson as well...I am getting pretty good at it now, but just need a few pointers to get even better especially at black runs and moguls.

About two months ago a crashed and wrote off my old car...pretty silly but what can you do. Fortunately it was old and was already starting to cause problems and cost me a lot in repairs. Kim had already hinting that maybe it was time to get a new car and that the car was trying to tell me something.
The car was 11 years, the engine was leaking every fluid imaginable and the gearbox was slipping and there was rust developing so the timing to get a new car was pretty good.

The insurance paid me a good price for the old car...a lot more than I would have received if I had used it as a tradein to buy a new one.

After chasing around the city for a second hand car...amongst which there were some pretty dodgy deals the choice came down to either buy an 6 months old ex-rental or a new one. There was a $4000 difference and by the end of the day the decision came down to us needing that money once we buy a property so I decided to get the ex-rental. It is a nice blueish gray (Aztec Blue) Toyota Corolla. It will have its first test run this weekend when we go down to the snow in it.




Kim and I could probably have gotten by with just one car, but hers is too small to fit golf gear, ski & climbing gear etc. into and the new car is harder for her to drive because of the size...so for now we'll have two cars.


The score so far is:

Kim new job: Done
Rene new job: Done
New car: Done
Wedding: Pending
House: Pending


3 out of 5 aint bad

Some years back my mum had a stroke while my parents were traveling in Thailand. This left totally paralysed in the left side of her body and she has been bound to a wheelchair ever since.

The stroke was most likely caused by heavy smoking and drinking and in general an unhealthy lifestyle.

This all happened a few years after my parents retired and were planning to spend most of the winters traveling in warmer countries. They have always been traveling a lot and never liked the winters in Denmark.
The realisation after the stroke for my parents was that suddenly those dreams were burst and that my mum would need constant care. My dad negotiated with the council that they would look after her one week a month which left my dad with some time to realise some of his dreams and at leaft do some traveling and at the same time provide some relief from looking after mum. It has been a hard blow to my mum and it is still very hard for her to accept that she will be bound to a wheelchair and dependent on other people for simple tasks such as going to the toilet, washing and getting dressed.


My mum some time ago discovered that some of the traveling my dad had done hadn't taken place alone but with an old female school friend (How intimate they were/are I don't know and don't care) but obviously my mum got very hurt and set the ultimatum that either he stops seeing her or she moves out. My dad said that he didn't want to stop seeing her and that he would still keep looking after my mum except for that one week every month.


It has now come to the point where my mum has found an apartment in a care facility and it going to move there this month. I am sure that it hurts a lot for her to move out.

Another blow has been that I am getting married in a few months time and that it is not possible for her to attend my wedding but that my dad is. It will be really hard for her on the day itself and I wish there was something I could do to make it easier for her or somehow allow her to attend.


So how do I feel about this? I am disappointed, angry and understanding at the same time. I am angry at my mum because she insisted smoking and drinking the way she did and tat this caused a stroke.

I am angry at my dad that he's found someone else and that is causing my mum to move out...she is the one totally loosing out. I am disappointed that their marriage and thereby also my family is breaking up.

I also understand why my dad has been longing for some company on different level and at the same time I also understand why my mum is so hurt about it. I am hurt because I know that my mum needs some support but that I am so far away but at the same time my life is here and I am about to get married here.I just hope that she understands that my happiness is dependent on me staying here. Especially since the stupid danish immigration laws will prevent me from moving back to Denmark with my future wife.


I am also hurt because my parents during the last decade has been through so much hardship first with my brother, then with the stroke and now with all this.


This is certainly a year of change...

A new climbing area in Sydney suddenly popped up on our radar. A new area up in the Mt Ku-Ring Gai national park near Berowra. And and May went there while I was in Hunter Valley and they said it was really hard to get to.



I wanted to experience it myself and convinced Andy that we should go there again. Yes, it is a long walk in (40 minutes) and yes it is hard to find the way but it helped that he'd been there before and it also helps that the track has seen a bit of traffic and marked with cairns.

The first few climbs the rock was a bit cold so the fingers went a bit numb which adds 2-4 grades to a climb. Later when the rock heated up a bit it was really good climbing. The area is new so rock still breaks here and there so it is important to be careful and safe but it is not as bad as Otherland and Stables where the rock crumbles.

During one of the last few climbs we heard some noises in the bushes but couldn't see what it was. Once we finished the climb Andy had a closer look and spotted an Echidna (A large porcupine). I grabbed my camera and went over there and it turned out that there was three Echidnas there trying to hide under a branch.



There are some other cliffs in the area that are being developed so I am sure that we will be spending a fair amount of time there in the future.

Late June is Kims birthday. We went out for her birthday with a lot of her friends to a restaurant called the Mantra. It was a fun evening with entertainment in the restaurant in the form of belly dancing. Kim also had a go at the sword dance. I thought the belly dancer was pretty good, but Kim having done belly dancing herself said that she'd seen better.



My present to Kim was a trip to the Hunter Valley. I had hired a nice romantic place up there with a Spa, served breakfast on the balcony with a view from the mountains of the whole Hunter Valley. My aim for the weekend was to really spoil her and she loved it. Saturday morning we met up with a couple of Kims friends Linda & Warren do go through the wine districts. As usual we found some really nice surprises and also got confirmed that some of our choices in wine from earlier trips are excellent choices (I can recommend the Silvereye from Misteltoe and the Shiraz from Petersons).



In the evening I took Kim to this really nice restaurant called Mojo's. It is not cheap ($60 for two courses) but the scallops Kim had for entrees were without a doubt the best I've ever had before. They were fresh and just marinated and cooked slightly and still raw inside and really tasty. I had Quail for my entree and for the mains I had a beef ribeye fillet and Kim had the Lamb chops. After two courses we were absolutely stuffed. I saw some of the food other people were eating and it all looked very delicious. After dinner we went back for a nice warm spa bath as it was freezing outside all weekend.



Sunday morning we went to another couple of Vineyards and then drove back to Sydney...a very relaxing and enjoyable weekend.

After 4 years I decided it was time to change to a new job in a different company. There was several reasons why it was time for a change and it was hard to let go as I have loved working with the company and there are a lot of aspects of the job that I will really miss.

The new job I have accepted is with a large consulting firm here in Sydney. They are about 800 people in the branch itself and they are part of one of the large telecommunications and mobile phone networks here in Australia and Asia which has got tens of thousands of employees. So hopefully in the long term some better career opportunities as well as more money in the short term.


I have now been in the job for about three weeks and is still trying to decide whether I like it or not there. I am more used to a consultative selling process where you talk to clients and really try and understand their business and then become their trusted advisor in making decisions and guiding them how to improve their business.

I was expecting this new consulting company to follow similar approaches as this in my opinion is the best way to secure business. It seems however that this company is following a more opportunistic approach where they respond to tenders and requests from customers. This means that it is in a very competitive area where other business also are responding to the same type of requests from the same customer. It also means that a large part of my function so has has been in preparation for customer demonstrations and writing proposals. I would rather engage with the clients more and understand their business before we jump to demos and proposals.

Another thing is that there was no induction process a such. They have an overwhelming amount of processes in place and there is no one who can really explain what applied and when it applies.


Anyway so far I am not very impressed...but it is really still too early days to tell.

Friday night Kim and I went to the Opera to watch "The barber of Seville". We had left Aiden with his grandad for the night hoping that either of them would be able to get some sleep (Aiden is a little chatterbox once he gets started).



The play is not one of the usual tragic Operas but more of a playful one with a more happy ending. During the play there is a lot of different things happening on different parts of the stage. Most of the play is taking place in a house and there are different things happening in different rooms of the house.

It was a good play but I think Kim and I agree that we prefer the more tragic operas although I think I have now seen all the major Operas.

Aiden is now nine months young. He is finally able to start sitting by himself without falling over (...too often). Another milestone reached and another opportunity to take some more photos of him.








He is still a happy and hungry little boy. He is such as daddy's boy and loves being carried around on my shoulder. Sometimes he cries when he sees me after I return from work in the afternoon because he is happy to see me.

We are hoping that he will be able to crawl around soon now that he is sitting...but could take a while.

There are several legends about how the animals were chosen for the Chinese zodiac. This is one of them. The Jade Emperor is the name of the Emperor of Heaven.

Long ago, in China, the Jade Emperor decided there should be a way of measuring time. On his birthday he told the animals that there was to be a swimming race. The first twelve animals across the fast flowing river would be the winners and they would each have a year of the zodiac named after them.

All the animals lined up along the river bank. The rat and the cat, who were good friends, were worried because they were poor swimmers. Being clever they asked the strong ox if he would carry them across the river.

'Of course' said the kind ox. 'Just climb on my back and I will take you across.'

The rat and the cat quickly jumped up and were very excited when the ox soon took the lead in the race. They had almost reached the other bank when the rat pushed the cat into the river leaving him to struggle in the water. Then just before the ox was about to win the race the rat leapt on his head and on to the bank to finish first.

'Well done,' said the Jade Emperor to the proud rat. 'The first year of the zodiac will be named after you.'

The poor ox had been tricked into second place and the second year of the zodiac was named after him. Shortly after the exhausted tiger clawed his way to the river bank to claim third place. Swimming across the river had been an enormous struggle for him against the strong currents. The Emperor was so delighted with his efforts that he named the third year after him.

Next to arrive was the rabbit, who hadn't swum across at all. He hopped across on some stepping stones and then found a floating log which carried him to the shore.

'I shall be very happy to call the fourth year after you,' the surprised Jade Emperor explained.

Just then a kind dragon swooped down to take fifth place.

'Why didn’t you win the race, as you can fly as well as swim?' the Jade Emperor asked.

'I was held up because some people and animals needed water to drink. I needed to make some rain,' the dragon explained. 'Then when I was nearly here I saw a poor little rabbit on a log in the water and I blew a puff of wind so that the log would float to the river bank.'

'Well that was very kind of you and now you are here you will have the fifth year of the zodiac named after you.' The next thing the Jade Emperor heard was the sound of the horse’s hooves. Just as he was thinking the horse would be the next animal to arrive, a sneaky snake wriggled out from around one of the horse’s hooves. The horse was so surprised that he jumped backwards giving the snake a chance to take the sixth place in the race. The poor horse had to be satisfied with seventh place.

Not long afterwards a raft arrived carrying the goat, the monkey and the rooster. They explained to the Emperor how they had shared the raft that the rooster had found. The goat and monkey had cleared weeds and pushed the raft to the shore. The Emperor was very pleased that the animals had worked together. He said the goat would be the eighth zodiac animal, the monkey the ninth and the rooster the tenth.

The next animal to finish was the dog.

'Why are you so late when you are one of the best swimmers?' asked the Jade Emperor.

'The water in the river was so clean that I had to have a bath on the way,' explained the dog.

His reward was to have the eleventh year named after him. Now there was one place left in the zodiac and the Emperor wondered when the last winner would come. He had nearly given up when he heard a grunt from the boar.

'You took a long time to cross the river,' said the Emperor to the boar.

'I was hungry and stopped to eat,' explained the boar. 'After the meal I felt so tired that I fell asleep.'

'You have still done well,' said the Jade Emperor. 'The last year of the zodiac will be named after you.'

As for the cat who had been pushed into the water by the rat, he finally crawled out of the water but was too late to have a year named after him. He felt very cross with the rat and since then cats have never been friends with rats.

From that day to this the Chinese Zodiac has followed this cycle of years named after these twelve animals.

The other day Kim and I went for a walk down to the local park with Aiden.

It was a good opportunity for us to give him a ride on one of the swings as they have some bucket seats that makes it impossible for him to fall out (he is still not able to quite sit by himself yet).

He absolutely loved the experience and wasn't scared at all (we will make a real boy out of him in no time).






He is now seven and a half months and is learning how to control his parents and he is starting to know what he wants and don't want...ie doesn't want to sleep if he is in a playful mood.

Over the weekend I had a play with creating a more interesting profile photo for my Facebook profile. The idea was to use photoshop to create something a bit out of the ordinary (and a bit spooky).

Anyway here it is...and you can either love it or hate it!




For those interested in the details...it is 3 composite photos (Face, left eye and mouth). I could have done it with two composites, but I wasn't happy with the mouth. It was originally shot on a red background but I desaturated the background and darkened it a bit because I though this looks better. It has also been ultra sharpened to add some effect.

This Tuesday Kim and I went to the Opera to see Madame butterfly with one on Kims friends. I have already seen Madame butterfly some years ago so this was a bit of a repeat for me.

It was the same stage setup as last time, most of the cast were the same as well, but despite that it was an really good experience. It is a good story despite the tragic ending...and yes the american sailor is both a dog and a coward.



Kim was sitting next to me crying for much of the performance...so sad!!!

When we arrived to New Caledonia we started to find a good place/party to celebrate New Years eve.

As far as we could tell it sounded like the hotel we were staying at was the place to be, but when we tried to book we were told that it was fully booked and that we were number twenty-six on the waiting list. Fortunately we received confirmation a couple of days later that we now had a confirmed booking at the party.

On new years eve we were greeted by musicians playing local music and girls putting a Lei around our necks. Kim and I was going to bring Aiden along to the party (fortunately there was other kids there as well).








Aiden wasn't sure what to think of the Lei...I think he would prefer not to have one as it tickled.



There was about 3-400 guests at the party and the food was absolutely fantastic. It was a buffet of 25-30 dishes of mainly seafood ranging from fresh oysters (still moving in their shell), lobster salads, sushi to fresh Sashimi cut straight from a massive tuna.

This was followed by entertainment from dancers and musicians.








After the entertainment the dance floor was open and pretty much everyone (including Kim and I) was dancing. Aiden got his first dance with mummy (all the other guest were laughing).


At midnight everyone celebrated the new year with a toast.

After midnight we headed up to our hotel room to see if there was any fireworks (there was a little so Aiden got to experience his first fireworks).

One day we went to the cultural centre in Noumea. This is a short drive on the outskirts of the city (Noumea the capital isn't much more than a little suburb consisting of only 76,000 people).



I have seen photos of this place and I also vaguely remember seeing it in a movie or two without ever realising where it is. The architecture of the Cultural centre is absolutely stunning. It cost France more that 50 million Euros to build the centre and it has got a unique local style that fits in very well with the surroundings.



The centre is surrounded by some gardens huts, and as you walk around there is various art work and totem poles symbolising various aspects of the Kanak culture.







There is also the story of the creation...amazing how similar it is to Darwinism. Maybe Darwin heard these stories on some of his travels and based his story "Origin of the Species" on some of these.




One thing that is a real pity is the usage of the cultural centre. We happened to walk in through the back entrance and discovered that half the building (which is actually quite large) s totally empty. The other half is displaying modern indigenous art where most of the artwork is from the Torres Strait, Vanuatu or Fiji. There is hardly any display of any local artwork and your certainly don't get an insight into the local Kanak culture as intended. The result is that it is not getting a lot of visitors.

What Kim and I was expecting was a display of what the local life was before the colonisation through to how the colonisation changed the way of living. They could have a display of local clothing, tools and weapons before colonisation and tell show how people lived of the land. They could also have 'actors' telling the local dream stories.

The modern display old be showing how the french settlers and the local Kanks are trying to mend their historical legacy and leave peacefully together.

One of the days we walked to the Aquarium in Noumea (just down the street from the hotel). We didn't expect too much, but we were very pleasantly surprised.



Although the aquarium isn't all that big it is extremely well set up with a very interesting display of everything from mangrove plants and fish (including the missing link ones with legs that made Darwin conclude that life must have started in the oceans) to huge displays with corals, sharks and barracudas.









It was Aiden's first time in an aquarium and we could tell that he had a good time (even though it was extelemy hot in there) looking at all those colourful objects (U.F.O's) swimming around.







Here some more photos from the visit...enjoy:

The water was really nice and warm in New Caledonia, my guess is that it would have been close to 30 degrees close to the shore and in protected bays and probably around 27 elsewhere.

Although we were staying at the beach we decided to have a look around the island to see what other beaches were in the area.

In the first day we drove to Kuendu Bay which is about ten minutes from the city centre and is a really nice little protected bay mainly used by locals. The water here was really calm so this was a good opportunity to give Aiden his first swimming lesson.








As you can tell he wasn't completely at ease initially, but after a couple of minutes he started enjoying it.


Aiden also really enjoyed lying on the beach in the shade of a tree and talk to mummy.



On one of the following days we drove up the north coast to a place called Poe Beach and by this time he was a lot more into it (maybe because he was wearing pants this time).





Just after we left this beach we found an ever more beautiful stretch just a couple of minutes away, but less protected by the reef.



This area was absolutely stunning with the pine trees that are so unique to New Caledonia.





On another day we took the boat to one of the islands of the coast (Ilot Maitre) and spend the whole day there.




I wasn't feeling 100% this day. Before we went away the whole of Kims family came down with a 24 hour bug...I think I got the same bug and ended up sleeping most of the afternoon under a tree in the shade (fortunately I was ok again next day).




I also got a chance to take some more beach photos of the family, here one of Aiden and Mummy.



And I spent a couple of minutes taking some sexy model photos of Kim on the beach down from our hotel. I wish we'd had more time to do some more photos, but it was hard to get her to do it in the first place (and once we did it I was hurrying up so much that a lot of them got fumbled up unfortunately).





...and of cause when we didn't go to the beach there was also the massive pool at the hotel.

Today we went to High Tea in Audley in the Royal National Park 30 minutes drive from where we live. Kim had bought a 2 for 1 deal and decided to try it.





Verdict was that is wasn't anything special and even with the special deal it was a bit over priced.

Afterwards we decided to go rowing up through the creek.



Aiden was very keen to get to play with the water which was difficult in the rowing boat (next time we will get a Canoe).

Afterwards we let him play a bit on land before heading back.

The island itself is a beautiful place. I took a lot of photos of the lagoon and the beauty of Bora Bora....so many that it would be too many to have in the previous Bora Bora post.

With the risk of creating a post full of Blue photos...I had to separate them out to prevent the other posts from getting too big.

Here they are...I will let them speak for themselves...

One of the days at Bora Bora we went with a boat around the lagoon to go snorkeling and have lunch on one of the Motu's (Islands). Along the way we went snorkeling in spots where we also could see sharks and stingrays.



Our first spot was a snorkeling spot with lots of coral and different fish.

I Even saw a big fat murray eel.



Kim also had a bit of a snorkel in the clear blue water even though the water was deep and there was a slight current.





Aiden was facinated by the fish and wanted to join mummy in the water to say hello to the fish'ies...



After this we went to a more shallow spot on the reef with lots of reef sharks.



Yes, that is me in the water with 12 sharks circling around me (and no safety net in place).These sharks would come swimming towards me and then turn around within a meters reach.

Click here to see a video I uploaded to Facebook with the Sharks getting close














After lunch we stopped to feed the Stingrays in the lagoon.



They are fairly harmless and I was feeding them dead fish. While doing so I was bitten by one of them that mistook the camera I was holding in my other hand as a fish.

Bora Bora is a beautiful island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Kim and I had promised eachother that we one day we will go there.

It is about an hours flight from Tahiti and along the way you pass a number of other Polynesian islands and atolls. When we landed we were met by the stunning blue lagoon and the very characteristic mountain which is an old extinct volcano.







Aiden especially was mesmerised by the view going on the boat from the airport to our hotel.








On arrival we were met by traditional Tahitian music and someone blowing a seashell.



And Aiden immidiately got into the mocktails.





Our hotel was on the main island itself and we had a small hut facing the lagoon and had a beautiful view every morning waking up.




Every morning we had breakfast overlooking the lagoon where Aiden would stuff his face with fruits, bread and youghurt.




We spent a lot of time at the small beach close to the hotel just swimming in the clear water of the lagoon.









The locals were out on the lagoon showing off their skills.






Aiden loved the calm clear water and the beach...it was a pleasant 27-28 degrees. Every time he saw water he would point at it and shout BoBo (Water)...and insist on going swimming.








One evening I did a couple of sunset portraits.






Aiden again insisted on going in the water.




I also went for a swim after we finished the photos, which was absolutely magical as the light was surreal and the water was absolutely calm.




Across the lagoon from the hotel we had a little island (Motu) with beautiful place to go snorkeling. First I went in the water and notices a small reef shark circling around the corals...being kinda shy. I mentioned it to Kim and as soon as she also spotted it later in the day she rushed out of the water (A couple of days later she had a similar experience with a large stingray at the beach).




It was hard to leave all this beauty behind

I took a lot of photos of flowers...enough to warrant a separate blog entry..

If you are not a flower person then just scroll down the page past these...lots of other good stuff there.


Anyhow...I will let them speak for themselves...

This Easter we decided to go to Tahiti and Bora Bora in French Polynesia in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

We were supposed to have been going to Japan, but we decided that we instead wanted a more relaxing holiday and changed it to an Island holiday enjoying the sun, sand, water and sunsets.



Tahiti is the main island of French Polynesia and is not larger than it is possible to drive around the entire island in a couple of hours (appx 120 km).



On one of the days we rented a car and did just that. We could have joined a day tour, but I am not very keen on the 5min photo stop kind of tours and much prefer to be able to travel independently and take time to see what we would like to see.

It is reasonably easy to find your way around the island. There really is just one road and the entire road is marked by kilometer markers and we had the distances for most of the sights we wanted to see. We didn;t go too much into the interior because of time restraints and some of these roads are only accessible by 4WD.


First we stopped at one of the old Tahitian temples which was interesting





After that we headed to some large caves full of freshwater (would have been convenient in the old days)...very damp and very dark.



After this we tried to find the road up to a lake and supposedly large waterfall. Some of the locals were very helpful with assisting us with directions but unfortunately the road was closed.

Fortunately we did find the nearby gardens which Kim wanted to visit (I will do a separate flower blog posting).



We did find some waterfallson the island (and saw several from a long distance away high on the mountains).





After this we headed to Point Venus where Captain Cook in 1769 supposedly saw the passing of Venus ...now this houses the only lighthouse in French Polynesia.

The next passing will be 6th June this year...243 years after the previos passing (can be seen as a shadow against the sun).




We decided to skip the museums as we would rather experience the outsde rather than objects behind glass.

The other days we spent around the hotel and the marina, just relaxing, swimming and dining. Aiden loved spending most of the time in the pool at the hotel.

Yesterday I did another photo project. I wanted to do something different with composition.

I had this idea of a guy being attacked by hand-spiders (I hate spiders) and thought that the garage would be a good location for it. I had an old T-shirt and some tomato paste to add some drama.




It turned out to be a lot harder than expected as it was almost impossible to get the right composition, focus etc. when I both had to appear in the photo as well as take it (my head was cropped off on the first series which meant that I had to reposition the camera and then either re-shoot the series or try and stitch them up in post production...I chose the latter because of time constraints).

I could definitely have done a better job if I didn't have to be two places at once, but I don't think it is a total disaster.

It is the 29th February and the last day of the bet I had with Kim....and believe it or not, but Aiden started walking by himself today.



We are very proud of him and I am double proud of him as he delivered the goods just in the nick of time...one day later and I would have been cleaning the house (lucky that this year is a leap year)!

Aiden is now able to stand up by himself.

He is now 20 months and should have been walking ages ago, so he is a bit behind on that front. Hopefully I can get him to take one step before the end of next week...I have a bet with Kim going whether he will walk before the end of February.

Today we went to Centennial Park to take some family photos. I had been complaining that I didn't have enough (good) photos of myself and Aiden so Kim offered to take some.

We found a nice spot in the park and managed to take a couple of shots before my camera ran out of battery...and unfortunately I had forgotten my spare at home.



Kim just came back from a business trip to Singapore a couple of days ago and it is really nice to have her back. I missed her but I am not sure Aiden missed her as much as he is such a daddys boy. When she was back he just turned away and would rather stay with me.

Also the little tiger is now 20 months and he is still not walking...what is going on?

This long Anzac weekend we drove up to Hunter Valley with a couple of friends.

Meeting up there we planned what wineries we were going to. Sasha had a couple in mind which was perfect as they were some Kim and I had never been been to before.

The first place we stopped was Petersons...Joanne wanted to pick up some pink bubbly stuff (pink champagne). They have some wines there without preservatives which are really nice.



On the way from one of the other places we drove past a new place called Noonji...sounded japanese and it was a new one, so we had to have a look at what they were doing.



They had just opened up for tasting recently and as soon as we walked through the door we could tell that this husband and wife were doing things differently. We were welcomed and were told that this was table tasting, so we all sat down at the table.



This was really good since it enabled us to taste five different vintages simultaneously (In other places you taste one vintage at a time). The prices were reasonable and they had a pretty good discount if you bought a case, so Kim and I ended up buying two cases of wine from here.



After this we did some more sightseeing and tasting before we drove back to sydney.





On the way back we stopped at a petrol station and someone has this cool car parked there.

On Anzac day I went climbing with Andy and Dan at a new place called Wingello that we'd never been to before.

Wingello is about two hours south of sydney towards Canberra. It is mostly sports climbing on ring bolts. This means that instead of placing protection you can clip pre-placed bolts.





My finger is still injured so I am in reality unable to climb (pst...I did clean a climb on top rope but dont tell anyone).

This meant that I spent most of the day belaying the others and taking some photos. On one of the easier scrambles I got to the top so that I could take some photos from the top. It is the first time I have tried to really try and take photos from the top and it was difficult. A lot of the photos were slightly blurred because it was hard to keep the lens steady in the available light when zooming in). Here are some of the photos from this climb that did turn out alright.






Also being up high means that I could provide Dan with some instructions cleaning the anchor system. For his first try it wasn't pretty and he got the ropes in a big tangle.





Eventually we got it sorted so that he could get down safely....but more practice is needed.

After this we went further along the wall to so some easy/moderate climbs (16/17s). One one of the climbs Andy stuck his hand into a hole with a snake skin in it...this is his second snake incident. After this he refused to even get close to the hole (fair enough). He is now on the leader board 2:1...my incident was a brown snake crawling across my feet while belaying him years ago.




Dan managed to also lead this climb which he was absolutely stoked about.






We finished the climb just before the sun set and we managed to get out before just in time. The climb out was interesting at the easiest route is through this narrow and steep gully with fixed ropes and ladders (The fact that Dan was carrying his makeup bag and a 5 litre bottle of water didn't make it easier).

Today I borrowed a couple of Toy cars from my nephew Ethan. I had to promise that I'd bring them back tomorrow.

I wanted to have a play with using a single bare flash right above the car as a softbox. Because the flash is hanging right above the car just outside view) it has been dialed all the way back to 1/128th power (shooting at f/32, iso 200 @ 1/250) or I'd use detail. On the side just outside view I put a piece of white paper to reflect a little light onto the side of the car. The reflective surface is a glass chopping board from the kitchen.


After a while I started also using a flash on the background using different gels. I found that orange and blue gels were the nicest. The Blue as a good contrast to the yello car. With the orange gel I could create a sunset type light by letting the light fall off quickly on the wall. The background if a white wall (except for the textured background which is a black backdrop).


None of the photos below have had any photoshopping done to them (otherwise I would have removed those scratches on the windshield).

Kim was kind enough to let me take some photos of her. I have been studying some flash photography videos and articles and wanted to have a play with multiple flashes around dusk. The trick is to balance the ambient light with the light filled from the flash...especially tricky as the light constantly changes during the last 30 minutes of the day.


So far I only have two wireless flash triggers to was was somewhat limited (ideally I would like to have three triggers).



It was really good to be able to do some experimenting. For these photos I used one flash 45 degrees to the back and another 45 degrees in front. On the back I am using a CTO gel. In the beginning I was using one on the front one as well, but when I got home to look at the photos I could see that it was too warm (Lesson learnt that I should use the warm gels on the back). On the photos here there is no gel on the front flash only on the back.


I would have liked to stay just a bit longer to play, but kim was getting a bit cold.


With a more time I would have been able to enhance some of the zoom effects as seen in this photo:



Definitely a trick I'll be using in the future...makes for some cool effects. At lot of the photos are actually quite nice, but the two above are my preferred ones.

It is now week 31, so only 9-10 weeks until baby is due to arrive.

Kim is getting a fair bit bigger and the baby is now very active. So far things looks good although Kim is worried that the boy will be a shortie like mummy.

I read this article about how to take water photos in an easy way. The photos is taken using a bare flash firing onto a white background at 1/8th power. The blue colour is because I (on purpose) changed the white balance of the camera to Tungsten.

I only had a shallow painting tray at my disposal. This paint residue in the bottom of the tray creates the pattern in the photo. I also couldn't get a nice formed drop pattern forming due to the drops hitting the bottom of the shallow tray unevenly.

Lessons for next time: Use a deeper tray. Make it black so that no other colours penetrate and make dure the water can reach the edge of the tray. Next time I try I will use one of the large scanpans we have...I think it will be better suited.

During the Easter Break Kim and I made a trip to Tasmania. This was to be our last holiday together before the baby arrives.

Tasmania is an island south of Australia about 1.5 times larger than Denmark. The east coast is lightly populated and the west coast is mainly national parks and forests.

We had rented a car to make it easier for us to get around and the first place we headed to was Cradle Mountains national park. This is probably one of the most iconic places in Tasmania and every Australian has seen the pictures of the mountain itself.



The drive there was full of contrast. There has always been of criticism of the lumber industries in Tasmania and when you see the methods they use to cut down trees then it is easy to see why. They don't do selective cutting, they instead pretty much bulldoze whole areas which then take many decades to recover.



One of the days there we did a number of walks within the park and around the lakes. Kim is 7 months pregnant and did really well although walking a bit slower than normal.










We also did some walks to some of the lookouts and waterfalls in the park.







I did have some time to experiment with some photos along the way.







I really wanted to see some of the wildlife in the park, but unfortunately most of the animals are nocturnal (only out at night). The park had a bus going through the park at night time costing $50 for the two of us. We spoke to the driver and he said that we would not be able to leave the bus at any time. I really wanted to be able to get off the bus at take some wildlife photos so we instead decided to drive our rental car through the park late at night. We wouldn't have the luxury of the nighttime lights and the local knowledge of where to spot certain animals but we thought that the bus would be staying on the same road as we did anyhow.

It turned out to be a really good idea. We managed to spot lots of Possums, Wallaby's (a small Kangaroo) and Wombats. We even spotted Quolls and a Tasmanian Devil. May has later told me that the frog in the photo is a 'Southern Brown Tree Frog' and that she keeps one of them as a pet.


Below is photos of the animals we spotted:



















(The closeup photos of the Tasmanian devil and the Quoll I've borrowed, but the rest are my own photos.)

After this we drove to Freycinet national park on the east coast. Along the way we stopped at a few scenic spots and wineries. One of the places we stopped was a place called Devils Gullet. It would have been really spectacular had it not been for the dense fog.




It was a fairly long drive getting there and I was pretty buggered by the time we arrived to the B&B after driving most of the day with just a few stops on the way to rest and take photos.







The sun started to set and I rushed Kim down to the beach in from of the place we were staying to take some portraits using some creative lighting. She wasn't too keen as the wind was a bit cold and we missed the actual sunset by just a couple of minutes. I did however manage to take a couple of photos of her.



In the evening we went to a very nice restaurant called 'The edge' very close to the B&B. This turned out to the be highlight in terms of meals during the trip. It was very nice. On the way to the restaurant we spotted a Tasmanian owl and afterwards we did a drive through the national park spotting more Quolls, Possums and Wallabies.


The next day we decided to do a number of other walks. The first one of the day included climbing up to the top of this saddle between two mountain tops to get a magnificent view of Wineglass Bay. The climb itself was spectacular in itself as the mountains are formed by this pink coloured granite (I was looking for climbing routes, but most of the granite looked completely barren of any holds...some lunatic would probably come and prove otherwise).
















Along the trail we we spotted a baby Black snake, a couple of Lizards and birds.







We also made a drive up to 'Friendly Beach' where we took a lot of photos. This beach was mostly deserted apart from a couple of walkers and surfers.



At sunset we drove to Honeymoon bay to get some scenic shots using the colour of the setting sun against the pink granite as well as some normal sunset photos.







In the evening we had a clear sky with lots of stars. Because of the light population of Tasmania there is not a lot of city lights to disturb the stars gazing. It has been years ago since I was able to lie down and just look at the stars to see if I could spot any satellites moving across the sky (this evening I spotted 2).

I used the opportunity to after dinner drive back to Honeymoon bay to do some star trail photography. I left Kim in the car as she didn't want to make the walk down to the beach in the dark without a torch.

I did take two photos down there using a 30 minute exposure (the maximum my camera allows & @f4.0). They turned out reasonable okay considering what camera they are taken with (Nikon D50).




Next day it was back to Sydney. We left Freycinet at 8.30am in the morning and I was stressing that we wouldn't make it back to the airport in time...but we did!

It is now week 25 and almost the third trimester. Kim is certainly getting a lot bigger these days but is still very active with swimming, yoga and walking (According to Kim baby is very active too). Both baby and mum are so far doing fine.





They say that most of the growth is in the third trimester...she could be huge!


We have finished painting the baby room and we have bought the most essential furniture such as a cot, a chest of drawers, car seats etc. It is now up to Kim to decorate the room so that it looks nice.

Today Kim and I met up with Sasha and his wife to go to 'Taste of Sydney'. This is an annual event where the premier restaurants of sydney and food and wine producers showcase their food and wine.

This year it was held in Centennial park which is the largest park in sydney which is pretty convenient for us.

At the event they had what the call 'Chef's table'. This is where you can sit down with the chefs of some of the premier restaurants and they will tell you about their restaurants, their food and you can ask them questions. In the mean time they were serving us seafood, wine and cheese (I discovered a new cheese that I in particular really liked).





They also had showcases where some of the chefs from some of sydney best restaurants show you how to cook different dishes. We went to one session where we saw Matt Moran from Aria prepare a lovely cured trout. This was cured like Gravad laks using salt, sugar, coreander and fennel and then cured a secod time using dijon mustard and dill.




The different restaurants were also having some of their food for sale. Some of it was quite nice (I had a nice yellowfin tuna), but I don't think it was a proper representation of their food. It is difficult to prepare and cook in large quantities without access to proper kitchen facilities, so most of the food was more fancy fast food.

Last weekend Kim and I went to see King Lear at the Sydney Opera House. Kim had managed to get cheap preview tickets on the third row from the stage which is pretty unheard of.



The play wasn't anything fancy in terms of stage production, costumes or anything (Actually some of the actors were wearing fairly modern denim jeans).

On the side of the stage they had positioned a drumkit and a girl was banging away all throughout the first half of the performance. I found this very distracting and annoying since I was already trying hard to concentrate on understanding the old Shakespearean English.

During the second half they moved the drumkit off the stage, so I must say that I actually started to enjoy the play a lot more.

Given that we got pretty cheap tickets I found the evening pretty good value, but I don't think I'd pay full price for this one.