12. November 2012 07:31 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Kim and Lucas 2 Months 12. November 2012 07:31 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetkim and lucas 2 monthsShareThe other night Kim was sitting on the sofa with Lucas. They turned towards me and I took the following photos just using the built-in flash of my new camera.
12. November 2012 01:01 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Lucas 2 Month Photos 12. November 2012 01:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetlucas 2 month photosShareIt has now been two months since Lucas was born and the other night we did another session taking some two month photos...this time of myself and Lucas. He has now grown a lot bigger and is a lot more alert to his surroundings. He is still not a very good sleeper although I think (Kim doesn't) he is improving a bit now. Kim is pretty worn out having to wake up at night to feed him and I can't help much as I have work to look after as well as Aiden.
11. November 2012 05:37 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Taronga Zoo Family day 2012 11. November 2012 05:37 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweettaronga zoo family day 2012ShareThis year my work had organised a family day at Taronga zoo. Since Chong works for the same company we managed to have most of the family covered with tickets and food. It was great to show the kids some of the animals such as the big gorillas. Snow leopards. Mountain goats... Lions... And dinosaurs... They also put on a seal show for us and it was fun to watch them performing stunts. Aiden was absolutely mesmerised... By the end of the day everyone was knackered... Click here to see slideshow with more photos
20. October 2012 11:21 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Setup Shot - Funny face 20. October 2012 11:21 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetsetup shot funny faceShareWhen I setup for my photos I normally have to take a range of setup shots to check if the light is the way that I want it. Sometime I managed to volunteer Kim to help me set up and on the rate occasion she pulls a funny face.
13. October 2012 12:50 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Lucas 1 Month Photos 13. October 2012 12:50 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetlucas 1 month photosShareThis is a series of photos I've taken of Lucas being 1 month old. It is a lot harder taking baby photos this time around for a number of reasons such as it being harder to find the time with both Lucas and the newborn around as well as Lucas not being a very good sleeper. This means that whenever he does sleep it is time for especially mummy to have a rest rather than run around taking photos. Aiden is extremely fond of his little baby brother and every morning he wants to see the baby and give him a little kiss. Whenever Lucas cries, Aiden will say 'Dont cry Lucas'. I am sure that as he grows older they will be best mates. Hopefully as he grows older Lucas will be a bit easier we will be able to take more photos than we have been.
13. October 2012 08:24 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Lucas 1 Month celebration 13. October 2012 08:24 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetlucas 1 month celebrationShareLucas is now one month old and we had a little celebration for family and friends with bbq, food and cake.It was a fine day with lots of kids around (so AIden was busy playing all day).
11. October 2012 04:37 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Work Photo Competition 11. October 2012 04:37 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetwork photo competitionShareSome weeks ago there was a work photo competition where the theme was 'World Connected'. I didn't have much time due to the kids, but I did manage to put together this photo below for the competition with the title 'bringing closer those who matter!'.It wasn't picked as a finalist, but still fun nevertheless.
8. October 2012 07:20 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Baby name - Lucas 8. October 2012 07:20 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetbaby name lucasShare Ok, Kim has finally decided on a name for the newborn out of the 2-3 names left on the shortlist. It is: 'Lucas Lee Pallesen'
8. October 2012 01:41 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Samanthas B'day and Thomas Train Day 8. October 2012 01:41 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetsamanthas b day and thomas train dayShareThis weekend it was Samantha's (Sacha and Mavis' daughter) birthday and to celebrate we did another day with the Thomas Trains.The kids love the trains and it is really good value for an afternoon out.Even Kim had a few rides on the trains as she wasn't able to ride last time because she was pregnant.It was a cool and drizly day...hence the warm clothes.On one of the last rides Thomas de-railed so it took the staff a fair while to get him back on the track (the engines are pretty heavy).
2. October 2012 07:37 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Baby's hand 2. October 2012 07:37 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetbaby s handShareThe other night I took this photo of the baby's hand grabbing my finger.We are now approaching week 3...still no closer to having a name for him.
22. April 2012 07:40 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Symbio Wildlife Park 22. April 2012 07:40 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetsymbio wildlife parkShareToday we went to the Symbio Wildlife park together with some of our friends. They don't have a lot of animals in the park, but the ones they have a pretty cool and it is a good spot to get some nice animal photos (It was especially nice to see that they had polished the glass surrounding some animals). It was also really cool to have Aiden and Sammi feed some of the more friendly animals.
22. April 2012 05:44 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Luke and Alexsandra's wedding 22. April 2012 05:44 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetluke and alexandra s weddingShareToday Luke and Alexsandra was married. She is from Serbia so the wedding itself was a beautiful traditional Serbian Orthodox wedding in a small church in Alexandria. The church was very darkly lit and I was shooting using natural light trying to be as discreet as possible using my old Nikon D50 camera (still waiting for the new D800) but by some miracle I was able to capture the above photos (by setting it to my max 1600 ISO and underexpose 2 stops and then push and noise reduce in post...would have loved to have one more stop). Luke has some Scotish ancestry so ourside the church there was a guy playing the bag pipe. Afterwards the reception was in Drumoyne with about 250 guests invited. Lots of very loud Serbian music and traditional Serbian line dancing (Not sure what the correct name is).
16. April 2012 07:40 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Easter show and EQ 16. April 2012 07:40 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweeteaster show and eqShareSynday we took Dylan to the Easter show at Fox Studios. We had bought him a 5 hour pass as a reward for an assignment we gave him.Dylan tried a number of rides, but I think his favourite was a dodge'm'cars.While Dylan was queueing up we had a look around at the other entertainment.
15. April 2012 07:39 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments High Tea in Royal National Park 15. April 2012 07:39 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweethigh tea in royal national parkShareToday 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.
8. April 2012 06:18 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Bora Bora Island Scenery 8. April 2012 06:18 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetbora bora island sceneryShareThe 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...
6. April 2012 06:19 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Snorkeling with Sharks and Stingrays 6. April 2012 06:19 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetsnorkeling with sharks and stingraysShareOne 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.
5. April 2012 06:10 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Bora Bora 5. April 2012 06:10 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetbora boraShare 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
4. April 2012 04:09 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Flowers of French Polynesia 4. April 2012 04:09 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetflowers of french polynesiaShareI 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...
3. April 2012 07:08 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Tahiti 3. April 2012 07:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweettahitiShareThis 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.
29. February 2012 09:31 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Project Setting 29. February 2012 09:31 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetproject settingShareYesterday 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.
13. May 2010 10:54 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Coppelia 13. May 2010 10:54 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetcoppeliaShareLast night we went to the Sydney Opera House to see the ballet Coppelia with The Australian Ballet.It may be the last time for a while that Kim and I get the chance to go and see a performance together for a while.It was a great show and I can highly recommend it...the story is nicer and easier to follow than The Nutcracker. Coppelia herself doesn't dance much (she is a doll), the story line if mainly centered around the other characters in the story...no one dies (come on...it is not an opera). It is just a nice love story where the right people get eachother in the end.
3. May 2010 09:52 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Chris & Yvonne's wedding 3. May 2010 09:52 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetchris yvonne s weddingShareYesterday we went to Chris and Yvonnes wedding. The wedding itself was a traditional catholic wedding held in one of the churches in North Sydney. Kim was having a bit of a cold so to save herself (and the baby) we decided that I'd go to the wedding ceremony alone representing both of us. Chris asked me if I'd video the ceremony using his new camera...I hope it turned out alright as I'm not all that familiar with taking video. I did manage to take a couple of photos (using my spare hand) during the ceremony. Later in the evening the reception was held at Wolfies at Circular Quay at the Rocks in Sydney. After resting in the morning Kim was fortunately able to join me at the reception. It was a really nice evening and we got a change to meet some of their friends who'd flown in from the US. During the evening the photographers did a slideshow with some of the highlights from the wedding. Needless to say that I was pretty hung over the next morning. I didn't take a lot of photos, but above you see a couple of the ones I did take.
27. April 2010 11:17 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Car Fun - Take 2 27. April 2010 11:17 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetcar fun take 2ShareI borrowed some more toy cars from my nephews (A bit more willing this time). This time I wanted to do the shoot entirely using light painting. All the following photos are created using a single LED torch with CTO and blue flash gels in front of it. No photoshopping has been done to any of the photos.They have all been shot at 15 seconds @ f22. The base is a glass chopping board (the writing on the board shines through in a couple of places).
27. April 2010 07:32 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Hunter Valley 2010 27. April 2010 07:32 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweethunter valley 2010 Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal Blog Portfolio Packages Contact About Home 28. March 2019 13:03 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Kanasawa Parks - Japan 28. March 2019 13:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetShare 27. March 2019 14:03 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Nikko - Japan 27. March 2019 14:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetShare 27. March 2019 14:03 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Tokyo Parks - Japan 27. March 2019 14:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetShare 27. March 2019 14:03 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Kanasawa Samurai District - Japan 27. March 2019 14:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweet 17. April 2010 10:23 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Week 31, not long to go 17. April 2010 10:23 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetweek 31 not long to goShareIt 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. 11. April 2010 09:44 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Water fun 11. April 2010 09:44 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetwater funShare 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. 6. April 2010 12:19 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Tasmania - Easter 2010 6. April 2010 12:19 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweettasmania easter 2010ShareDuring 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! << Older posts Newer posts >> Newer posts12...626364656667686970...9293Older posts SearchInclude comments in search Newsletter Get notified when a new post is published. Enter your e-mail Please enter an e-mail address Please enter a valid e-mail Thank you
28. March 2019 13:03 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Kanasawa Parks - Japan 28. March 2019 13:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetShare
27. March 2019 14:03 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Nikko - Japan 27. March 2019 14:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetShare
27. March 2019 14:03 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Tokyo Parks - Japan 27. March 2019 14:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetShare
27. March 2019 14:03 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Kanasawa Samurai District - Japan 27. March 2019 14:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweet
17. April 2010 10:23 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Week 31, not long to go 17. April 2010 10:23 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetweek 31 not long to goShareIt 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.
11. April 2010 09:44 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Water fun 11. April 2010 09:44 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetwater funShare 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.
6. April 2010 12:19 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Tasmania - Easter 2010 6. April 2010 12:19 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweettasmania easter 2010ShareDuring 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!