14. March 2010 08:17 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Week 25 14. March 2010 08:17 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetweek 25ShareIt 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.
13. March 2010 09:05 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Taste of Sydney 13. March 2010 09:05 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweettaste of sydneyShareToday 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.
10. March 2010 10:05 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments King Lear 10. March 2010 10:05 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetking learShareLast 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.
22. February 2010 02:04 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Swimming at Maroubra 22. February 2010 02:04 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetswimming at maroubraShareSunday I convinced Kim that we should go to the Beach. I wanted to try my underwater casing for my pocket camera in the waves to see if I could get some good photos. In 2000 I went to the World Press Photo exhibition and saw these great underwater photos from the surf and was inspired to see if I could re-create them.Kim insisted that we picked up a beach shelter on the way there so that she would have some shade. We found on in K-Mart and then went on our way to the beach.The first few minutes folding up the beach shelter was a disaster (It was one of those quick fold out ones where you just pull a string...junk!!) and eventually we just threw it all back in the bag deciding to return it on the way home (we'll get a pop-up one instead). Taking the photos turned out to be a lot trickier than expected. It was fairly windy and the visibility wasn't great. Also the pocket camera tries to auto focus prior to taking the photo which was difficult with everything moving around constantly so most of the time the camera didn't take the photo.It was also quite hard to aim the camera while being battered around by the waves.I did however manage to take these photos that turned out somewhat alright. I might try again one day when the conditions are better (and I've figured out how to lock the focus on the camera)
22. February 2010 01:12 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Uncle and Auntie in Sydney 22. February 2010 01:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetuncle and auntie in sydneyShareFor the past three weeks my uncle and auntie (Eli & Henning) has been travelling in New Zealand with a tour group. On the way home they did a 24 hour stopover with the group so do some quick sightseeing before continuing their journey.They had a tightly packed program arriving late in the afternoon, out for a late dinner and then spend then morning next day on a tour around the city before heading back to the airport.Kim and I managed to catch up with them in the evening for dinner at Nicks at King Street Wharf. Afterwards we went for a walk down to Circular Quay so that they could have a look at the Harbour bridge and the Opera House at night.By the time we got back to the hotel it was midnight and they had to check out of their hotel early next morning.We hope that they enjoyed the sightseeing the day after (it was a fairly warm day) and that they had a good journey back to Denmark. Apparently there is a lot of snow there currently so they were prepared for the fact that they would have to do a fair bit of digging to get to their car and into their house. It is not very often that we have visiting family from Denmark so it is always a pleasure to see them.
19. February 2010 05:00 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments More garden critters 19. February 2010 05:00 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetmore garden crittersShareThis weekend I was cutting down the bouganvillae in the garden. Whenever I cut down some of the vegetation in the garden it is always interesting what insects I discover in the process. Because of the variety of plants there is always something new to discover. I try not to use pesticides in the garden itself...better to just let nature find a balance.On this occation I discovered a large Garden spider and a Green Praying mantis (I have seen a Mantis before in the garden and they are great to have a pest control). Both are totally harmless. This is what a website had to say about this Common Garden Spider:"Now this is your classic common garden spider from Sydney. The Australian Museum page on garden orb weaving spiders tells me there is a second, almost identical species (edulis) but that that lives further inland. There must be hundreds of people each summer who can be seen jumping madly up and down in their gardens swiping at themselves just to be sure to get rid of this guy from their clothing after they've walked through a web. Although certainly large enough, this spider is reluctant to bite humans. "Last week I did however see a redback spider on the other side of the house. Needless to say that I killed it before I got a chance to take a photo (They are extremely venoumous and the closest relative to a Black Widow). To be honest it is the first time I've seen one in the wild for more that 10 years so fortunately they are very rare.
13. February 2010 07:35 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Open Air Cinema 13. February 2010 07:35 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetopen air cinemaShareThis saturday Kim had booked tickets for 'The wolf man' at the open air cinema.Every year in January and February Sydney hosts a number of events such as operas, concerts and cinemas.The open Air cinema is located at Ms Macquaries Chair in the botanical garden overlooking the city, the opera house and the bridge. It is a spectacular setting, especially when the weather is really nice as it was saturday (last year it was pouring down with rain). This years all the seats were sold out within 30 minutes, but Kim was quick to get a couple (smart cookie). Even though we got there two hours early most of the seats had already been taken. We did manage to find two seats that were really good eventually (we were worried that we'd have to sit on one of the first rows right in front of the screen.The movie was about warewolves and it was funny to listen to people reaction when large fruit bats from the botanical garden flew down in front of the set.
2. February 2010 03:08 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Hamilton Island 2010 2. February 2010 03:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweethamilton island 2010ShareThis weekend we went for an extended (4 nights) weekend to Hamilton Island with Kims Family. Hamilton Island is located 1500 kilometers north of Sydney (2.5 hours flight) in the Whitsundays group of islands near the great barrier reef. This time of the year it is rain season up there and the first three days it was raining a fair bit. This didn't stop us from spending time in the pool or at the beach though. In the evenings we would spend time in the cocktail bars, dining our or playing blackjack. On the first and the last morning morning we did some catemaran sailing. The wind was a bit patchy with periods with no wind and other with lots of wind.The last day however was beautiful and I gave Kim a very basic first course in sailing after which she took over the steering. Click here to see a video from the catemaran One of the other days there was too much wind for them to allow the catemarans going out. I managed to convince the people at the beach to let me take out one of the windsurfers. It was a pretty short session as I found that I am totally out of shape but as least Chong managed to have a bit of a go as well. Click here to see a video from the windsurfing We booked an afternoon of snorkeling up near Hayman island. It was a day with pretty rough seas and even though it was a pretty big boat it was really thrown around and a lot of people on the boat got sea sick (Dylan got a bit sick, but otherwise everyone else in the family was ok). After about an hour of sailing the captain said that the seas were too rough and that the water was too murky and dangerous to continue, so he cancelled the trip and returned to port. A bit of a disappointment, but at least we got a refund and a bit of a sailing trip out of it. I brought a waterproof pouch for my pocket camera which meant that I could take photos under the water and while sailing. This resulted in some pretty good photos in the pool. The kids (Kims nephews and niece) recently started swimming lessons. They are still a little uncomfortable with the water although this did improve while we were at Hamilton. Especially Ethan is not very comfortable as you can tell from this video: Video of Ethan swimming We also took some nice photos of some of the local wildlife and flora on the island and in the dining places.
2. February 2010 02:39 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Junior 2. February 2010 02:39 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetbabyShareWe (Kim that is) are now almost half way through the pregnancy. Last week we went to another ultrasound scan to check if everything is on track and to count the number of fingers and toes. Both baby and mum is fine so far. And how is daddy you ask? He is worried how he is going to handle being a dad...such a big responsibility and worried that he will be a lousy dad. We now also know the sex of the baby...and it is going to be a BOY and is still due in mid-June!!! He has already started kicking according to Kim, so he may be an active one. We were hoping for a girl because there is already more than enough boys in the family (Kayla started crying when she heard that is was a boy...she was hoping for someone to play with). Anyway we can now start looking a good names for a boy.I suggested to Kim that we would start an auction on eBay where the winner would get the naming rights...Kim said NOOOO!!! So there goes my retirement plans and all the millions! For anyone who is planning ahead and start buying stuff for the boy...check with Kim or myself first with regards to what we need (Sizes, Colours and brands). Rules for toys: 1) No dolls or pink fluffy stuff....it is a boy for christ sake!2) Climbing harness and shoes are perfect around year 43) A pair of skis at age 64) First Ice axe and crampons at age 105) Toys that required assembl Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal Blog Portfolio Packages Contact About Home 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 2010Share 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. 26. April 2010 10:05 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Wingello 26. April 2010 10:05 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetwingelloShare 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). 21. April 2010 08:59 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments My nephews Porche Carrera GT 21. April 2010 08:59 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetmy nephews porche carrera gtShare 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). 17. April 2010 10:30 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Flash balancing fun 17. April 2010 10:30 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetflash balancing exerciseShareKim 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. 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 Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal Blog Portfolio Packages Contact About Home 27. August 2009 10:07 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Going Solar 27. August 2009 10:07 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetgoing solarShareWhen we came back from our holiday our watertank had started leaking significantly. Actually it had started leaking slightly back in May where at the same time the government was introducing the stimulus package as part of their rescue plan for the financial crisis. Part of this package was an increased rebate on Solar hot water which provided a total $3400 government funding. Back then I got a couple of quotes, but never proceeded hoping that the tank would last a little longer.When we came back the leak had become a lot worse and could burst any time. It therefore had to be replaced very fast. It seemed that just replacing the existing electric tank would cost almost the same as installing Solar hot water and would be more expensive in electricity. Besides we have already installed extra insulation and energy efficient appliances so it only made sense to use Solar hot water as well.It took them 3 hours to pull down the old 160 litre tank and install a new 300 litre tank on the roof. So far we are happy with the system. We have more hot water than before, it is not nearly as hot as the old system, but plenty hot for what is needed (The old system had water which was close to 90 degrees Celcius and the new is appx 60 degrees).It has an electric booster installed for cloudy days, but once summer is here I should be able to turn that off completely. And an extra advantage is that it has cleared out some space on the side of the house. 27. August 2009 02:00 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Jump shots 27. August 2009 02:00 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetjump shotsShare While we were travelling in Denmark and Italy we did a large number of Jump shots. Here are some of the coolest ones we did. First in Denmark Then Italy 17. August 2009 10:30 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Switzerland - Going home 17. August 2009 10:30 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetswitserlandShareAfter Lake Como it was our last day and Italy and was time to go home. We had to return to Milan that evening to fly back to Sydney next morning. We decided to detour around the lake and possibly stop at some of the villages along the way. At the top end of the lake we came to a T intersection. I told kim that Switzerland was one hour if we turned left and Milan was 2 hours to the right. I asked her if she felt like a quick dash across the border before returning. Most of the borders to Switzerland (and Austria) are located on the top of the mountain passes since the Mountains was what defined the borders the old days. The road up to this mountain pass was very narrow and full of blind corners. Kim developed stomach cramps on a number of occations on the trip and we eventually came to the conclusion that it was the tension when driving on these roads. The scenery on the way up there was stunning. It was nice and cool climate and we were soon above the tree line and could see patches of snow on the mountains surrounding up. The style of houses changed from being traditional italian to be more swiss looking. Eventually we got to the border. Unfortunately the officer at the post didn't have a stamp to stamp Kims passport. We had lunch at the border and then returned toward Milan. We had dinner at the southern end of Lake Como and arrived at our airport hotel at 10pm. I had to return the car to the rental company at the Airport. Fortunately the hotel had an efficient shuttle bus service that made it easy to come back to the hotel. Unfortunately I forgot the cover for my phone in the car so I had to make the trip twice and was pretty knackered (and grumpy) when I eventually got back. At 6am next morning we were back at the airport returning to Sydney. 17. August 2009 10:29 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Lago di Como 17. August 2009 10:29 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetlago di comoShare After the Riviera we drove up to Lago di Como (Lake Como). This was the only place on the trip where we hadn't organised accomodation prior to us arriving. When we arrived we initially used the TomTom to find us a B&B, but it kept taking us up into the hills on all these narrow streets with blind corners. We therefore instead decided to drive up along the shore of the lake and just check out whatever hotels we came past. We ended up finding a place for a reasonable price in Argegno. It was right on the lake next to the passenger ferry and our room was facing the lake....perfect! For dinner we drove to Menaggio a bit further up the lake. Parking was impossible because there was another festival happening so I ended up doing another illegal parking (If you are in Italy you do like the Italians). Next morning we went down to the ferry and bought a day ticket for the central part of the ticket. This enabled us to take the ferry and hop on and off whenever we felt like it. This meant that we we easily could get to other places on the lake such as Bellagio and Varenna. It also meant that we were able to look at the expensive villas from the lakeside. On the way back in the afternoon we stopped at Tremezzo at one of the large villas that was open to the public. The villa was surrounded by a beautiful garden. In the evening we were tired (and I was finally developing some sort of a sun tan evident from the sandal stripes on my feet). 17. August 2009 10:28 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Italian Riviera & Cinque Terre 17. August 2009 10:28 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetitalian rivieraShare After Pisa we headed to the Italian Riviera, also called the Flower Riviera. I asked Kim to find us a nice spot along the coast for lunch and she picked Lido di Camaiore. When I was a kid I went to the italian riviera quite a lot with my parents. My mum and dad met eachother here in a town called Diano Marina, both working for the same travel company as travel companies. We used to stay in caravan parks along the coast and I don't remember the place being very busy (but I may remember wrong). When we arrived to Camaiore we were met by beaches full of hotels (whom had each closed of an area of the beach for themselves), umbrellas and people boiling in the sun and tanning oil. After lunch I decided to drive along the coast to our hotel in Sestri Levante...this turned out to be a mistake. After 30 kilometers full endless beaches covered in umbrellas, of dodging pedestrians and cyclists, traffic lights and people parking to go for a swim I decided I'd had enough and headed for the motorway. This part of the riviera is really not very nice and I was looking forward to go somewhere with a bit more charm. Sestri Levante was the only place we could find accomodation. The hotel was up in the hills far away from the coast line, it was expensive and absolutely nothing special compared to all the other places we were staying during our trip. In the evening we drove to a town called Rapallo for dinner. The city had closed off the roads around the water because of a festival, so it was really nice to sit at the water eating seafood and watch people. After dinner we went for a walk along the water down to the area where the festival was taking place. We were sitting there for a while listening to the music and enjoying a perfect evening. When we came back to the car to drive home it turned out that we'd received a parking ticket (20 Euros). We were parking in a valid parking space and I thought we were outside the hours wheer we had to pay....but obviously not. I'd done lots of illigal parking elsewhere on the trip so didn't feel too bad about it. Next day it was time to explore Cinque Terre. This is a national park along the costline with 5 small villages accessible only from the ocean (There is a trainline now). We drove to the only one of the villages that can be accessed by car Monterosso and parking right next to the village area. From here we walked down to the water. It turned out that the trains weren't running between the villages so the only access was by boat or walk. We didn't have time to walk so bought a day ticket for the boat. While on the boat we did a bit of planning and decided to go to the furtherst village Riomaggiore first and from here walk to the next village Manarola. From here we would take the boat to Vernazza and then back to Monterosso. Cinque Terre is a beautiful part of the Italian riviera, and although there is a lot of tourists there it doesn't feel overcrowded such as many other places. When we vere having lunch along the beached the previous day I was dreading that Cinque Terre would be as crowded as that. In the evening we decided to drive to Portofino for dinner. We arrived there (along all these small narrow streets) around 7pm. Although Portofine if a nice place it doesn't beat the villages at Cinque Terre in beauty. The place is expensive in all respects and there isn't a lot of shops and restaurants, it is mainly fashion and expensive jewellery being sold there. Obviously catering for the Euripean rich who dock here in their expensive million dollar boats. We therefore decided to go back to the centre of Sestri Levante and have dinner here. 17. August 2009 10:27 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Pisa - A revisit three decades later 17. August 2009 10:27 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetpisaShare When I was a child I spend a lot of summers with my parents in Italy. They used to work in the Northern part of Italy as travel guides and as a result we generally headed that way during the summer time with our caravan or with a tent. When I was a baby my parent took me to Pisa (I have to trust them I an don't remember) and also up into the leaning tower. Kim and I was planning to drive from Tuscany to the Italien Riviera and I asked Kim if it was ok to make a short stop at Pisa for me to have a look at the tower some 3X years later. Our Tom-Tom navigated us by the backway into the city and within a short timefra we were at the tower. We had a look for a parking spot and literally found a spot less than 100 metres from the tower (so far pretty fortunate with the parking). It was really cool to have a look at the tower. They have started allowing people to enter the tower again, but when we got there they next timeslot was 6pm in the evening (8 hours later) so we instead took some photos and bought some T shirts for Kims family. Of cause we had to take the classic photos of trying to straighten the tower. And a couple of nice ones And then there was the silly ones And then some photos from the beautiful architecture of the tower and the church next to it. 17. August 2009 10:26 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Tuscany 17. August 2009 10:26 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweettuscanyShareWhile Kim and I was in San Gemignano in Tuscany we spent a day just driving around in the beautiful landscape. Even though we just missed the harvest it was still really beautiful. It is full of all these rolling hills, Vineyards, Sunflower fields and old Italian houses. Driving was fun and I could easily have spent longer time just driving around there exploring small villages etc. I would love to go back there during spring when all the flowers are out and the fields have been planted. 17. August 2009 10:25 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Siena and one expensive dinner 17. August 2009 10:25 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetsiena and one expensive dinnerShareOn the first day in Tuscany we decided to drive into Siena and have a look around.Our first impression was that parking was going to be a problem. There was some large tourist carparks on the outside of the city walls changing an exorbant amount of money per hour. We were planning to have dinner in the city and was planning to be there for most of the day and eventually we found a spot in a parking area that didn't have any meters. There was some italian scribling underneath the sign and we hoped that it didn't say "Reserved for residents and permit holders".Anyway, eventually we made it inside the city walls and was met by 8 storeys of escalators from the walls to the innner city (You wouldn't want those fat Americans loosing any weight while on holiday).We went around to some of the tourist attractions and there was unbeliveable queues everywhere. We started queuing up to get into the large tower at the main square and for 30 minuted the queue didn't move. Eventually we gave up and couldn't be bothered.Instead we decided to wander around the city looking at the old buildings and at shops which is really nice.Siena is known for the annual horse race in the center of the city. It was amazing to look at the area and suddenly realise why the horses often go flying into the barriers when they get around the corners of the race course. The details of the houses is incredible. Everything is decorated. A metal spike is not just a skike any longer, but a instead formed into a dragon, a snake or a swan.In the evening we were going for dinner at an italian restaurant called 'Cane e Gato' (Kat and Dog). It was recommended to Kim by one of her colleagues who had also warned us that it was a bit on the pricey side.At the place we were staying I found a book about Tuscany where it said that the degustation was 50 Euros (Appx $95 AUD). When we arrived we were given no menu's or any price list. The girl (Who turned out to be the daughter of the owner, who himself was in the kitchen with his wife) showed us our table.We were told what was the degustation menu consisted of and got started. The food was quite nice...all ingredients that were in season from the surrounding country side. The pastas were home made and everything was very delicious.At the end Kim and I was discussing what the damage was...a bit of a surprise when we were presented with a bill of 175 Euros ($320 AUD). This was a bit more than we expected.Fortunately we didn't have a parking ticket when we got back to the car (This would have been the icing on the cake).Another late night finishing dinner after midnight and then 45 minutes drive back to San Gimignano. 17. August 2009 10:21 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Manhatten of the Medievil - San Gemignano 17. August 2009 10:21 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetsan gemignanoShareAfter Verona we drove to Tuscany to a small medievil town called San Gimignano. It is a very small town where in the medievil days they were competing who could build the most 'high-rises'. This means that today the town is full of all these tall towers (There used to be a lot more back in those days).The town is full of tourists during the daytime and at night the town is again taken over by the locals including the werewolves from the surrounding area.We were staying inside the old city walls, so for the most part we were safe except for the odd werewolf. They also have the world champion in Gelato...normally I don't belive marketing gimmick like this, but I must admit that the gelato was very nice.At night time once the tourists were gone it was an amazing place. The towers are rising into the night sky and I had a lot of fun taking photos of the towers just using the ambient light. 17. August 2009 10:18 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Verona and the Opera - Italy 17. August 2009 10:18 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetverona and the operaShareWe arrived to Milan in Italy from Copenhagen in the evening. The first thing we did after landing was to pick up our rental car which was a small Fiat Panda (Never, ever rent a large car in Italy...some streets only accomodate snall cars) and then drive to our Hotel. The Tom-Tom nagigator software on my mobile phone turned out to be exceptionally useful on our trip to find our way around. The next morning we drove towards Verona and at lunchtime we had a look at our map and noticed that we'd drive right past Lago di Gardia (Lake Garda). I asked Kim to plan a diversion somewhere for a lakeside lunch. She chose Sirmione which is a long peninsula on the southern side of the lake. I used to stay at Lake Garda with my parents when I was a kid. The water is bright blue and it is a beautiful place. We then continued to Verona early afternoon and found our bed and breakfast which is about a kilometer from the city centre. The road up there was very narrow and anything wider than the Panda would not have been able to get through. As soon as we had gotten settled we walked down into the city centre. We had opera tickets for Aida in the old coloseum in Verona in the evening, but had to first pick up the tickets. The tickets were quite pricey so we had chosen to get ticket on the upper stairs with almost everyone else. It meant that it was a bit less confortable and that we would have to enter early to get a good seat. But it also meant that we were sitting up higher which is better for taking photos. The performance was amazing. There was approximately 500 actors on stage (and 4 horses) and ther used about a quarter of the coloseum as the stage. It was a beautiful and warm night with a brightly lit full moon. The performance finished around 1am at night and from there we walked to one of the squares of Verona and had some coffee (Places were still open). The next morning we did a bit more exploration around Verona. Kim wanted to see the romantic balcony of Romeo and Juliet (Or Donald and Daffy Duck as I called them as they are just as real as the imaginary Romeo and Juliet) Since we were there we also had to rub the right breast of the Juliet statue there for good luck. In Daffy's house they also has a lot of interesting art work. Verona is an interesting city. They have a whale bone suspended from one of the gates...apparently the legend says that it will fall down upon the first 'Just' man who passes under it (and kills him??). Unfortunately (or fortunately) it didn't fall on neither Kim or I. The city is full of old buildings with interesting architecture << Older posts Newer posts >> Newer posts12...666768697071727374...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 Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal Blog Portfolio Packages Contact About Home 28. December 2007 09:56 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Jervis Bay 28. December 2007 09:56 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetjervis bayShareAfter 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 25. December 2007 09:47 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Christmas Eve and Day 25. December 2007 09:47 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetchristmas eve and dayShareThe 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. 22. December 2007 12:28 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Climbing at Mt Keira - Wetting my pants 22. December 2007 12:28 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetclimbing at mt keira wetting my pantsShare 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. 6. December 2007 06:01 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Tokyo - Having a whale of a time 6. December 2007 06:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweettokyo having a whale of a timeShareThis week I am in Tokyo for work visiting a couple of partners and also giving them some training on some of our internal solutions that they would like to sell. I love visiting Tokyo...it is like Disney land and everything is just so slightly different. Like for instance the toilets have all the buttons on the side. Yesterday I saw one with a volume control and a "flush noise" button. I couldn't help pressing it...and yes the toilet did make very realistic sounding flushing sounds. I am unsure under what circumstances the sounds can be useful...another mystery that I may be able to solve one day.In the hotel I also tried all the other buttons and it is kind of cool with all the sprinkling water (heated to body temperature), but I still haven't found the button for the 'but' dryer. Click here to see video of Tokyo Square in Shibuya We visited one of our partners customer service centre and that was like watching a movie. They had big wall-to-wall screen showing that status of all the various sites, latest news tv, weather forecasts...or anything else that could be relevant to them running their operations. The walls were liquid crystal walls and by the flick of a button they could make the whole wall transparent and the next minute they would have the latest status projected onto the walls instead...unfortunately they wouldn't allow me to take a photo. Masaru and I also went to a whale restaurant in Shibuya...we tried Whale Sashimi, Whale Tempura, Whale Skin, Whale Bacon, Whale tongue, Whale Beef and Whale soup (I only ate it for Scientific Purposes). It was all very delicious and the Whale Sashimi (raw whale meat) was definitely my favourite. For lunch today I had a really nice baby clam soup...very unusual and very nice. In general food is really nice and there are some unusual places that specialise in their small niche markets...for instance the lunch place that specialises in 'Lemon Detox lunches'. Compared to the food in Sydney this is a magnitude better. The hotel I stay at is in Shibuya which is the area in Tokyo that is very famous with all the lights and screens...it is a very hip area where all the teenagers are wearing the latest fashion and have funny hair. My room is a lot bigger than the one I stayed in last time I was in Tokyo...in this one you can actually walk around the bed and it has got all the features you would normally expect from a western hotel room. And they serve a really nice bacon for breakfast...I bet it is Danish bacon. We also took the peak hour train in the morning...man those trains are fast and they are packed so tight that it is impossible to move let alone raise your arms. Being in Tokyo also means very long working hours. People here start working around 9am in the morning and seldom leave work until after 9pm. It is still the musical chairs with meeting rooms, the deadly silence in the offices, hot working environments etc. One evening we went out with our partners...which was a big introduction to japanese customs. We went out for a late dinner after work a big group of us and when they have dinner then a lot of drinks were served. This was a chinese restaurant so we were drinking some chinese type of wine that tasted like bitter Kahlua. After dinner we went to this drinking place which was really weird (and slightly uncomfortable but interesting). They pay an entry fee of around 3000 Yen ($30 AUD) and you then get to sit down with a girl that serves you drinks and who you can have conversation with (and conversation only).You cannot choose the girl and I guess this is the modern form of the Geisha...and a cheaper way of talking about your problems at work or with your wife than visiting a psychologist.I really like visiting Tokyo...but I don't think I could live there (too controlled). It is really interesting to visit especially in a working capacity as you see all the funny differences in lifestyle, work, objects and opinions. Most of the time it is a really good laugh...like when one of the guys asked if he could take a picture of me because he told his wife that he was working with a foreigner that looks like Tom Cruise (I told him that Tom is a full head shorter then I am).We had an earthquake while I was there. The whole building started swaying from side to side...I was looking at the Japanese guys are they were calm so I thought that there was no reason to panic. Apparently it happens all the time there. Click here to see more photos from TokyoHere is some more photos from the trip. 1. December 2007 01:23 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Hunter Valley December 1. December 2007 01:23 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweethunter valley decemberShare Before my trip to Tokyo and before Christmas we decided to go to the Hunter Valley to stock up on good wines (We buy them now cheap and drink them in 5-10 years time when they would be really expensive). Hunter Valley is about 2 hours drive North of Sydney and it had got about 200 Vinyards you can visit for wine tasting and then buy the wines straight from the cellar. We went there with a couple of Kims friends and Kim and I bought a couple of cases of wine together. Everything in the Valley was nice ang green due to a lot of rain in the area lately. Click here to see more photos from Hunter Valley 21. November 2007 01:50 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Kayaking at Woy Woy 21. November 2007 01:50 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetkayaking at voy voyShareWhen Kim left Epicor she got a gift certificate to go Kayaking at Woy Woy, so this weekend we headed up there together with Mike and his wife Helen.Both Kim and I have done some kayaking before but it was a new experience for Helen. We paddled up through some of the inland waters in Brisbane Waters near Woy Woy and afterwards we stopped at the fisherman's wharf for some really nice seafood. 29. October 2007 02:57 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Berowra, Narrabeen Slabs & Australian Wildlife 29. October 2007 02:57 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetberowra narrabeen slabs australian wildlifeShareOne of the things about living in Australia is that you are exposed to a lot of creepy crawly stuff. In the urban jungle you don't really notice, but once you come a bit closer to nature then you cannot avoid seeing some of the insects etc. This is especially true when we go climbing. The last couple of weeks Andy and I have been exposed to a couple more creeps than we usually see. The last couple of weeks Andy and I have been climbing in the Sydney area. Last weekend we went up to Berowra again and had a generally pleasant day had it not been for the brown snake. On the last climb of the day we decided to try this climb that none of us had done before, but because of the protection we decided to top rope it. In the guide book the description reads: Savage Cabbage 8m 19Up thin crack then tricky moves left to main crack. Follow this (take care with pro) to new lower off. Often dirty and sometimes inhabited by a (friendly) brown snake.This was warning enough and as a safety precaution we checked the holes at the bottom of the climb and didn't see anything suspicious. He started climbing and about 2 metres up he stuck his had into one of the pockets. He then decided to take a peek to see if there was anything in there and very quickly pulled his stand out shouting "Fu...a snake". Fortunately he hadn't been bitten or I would have had to call him a helicopter....again. Wikipedia says the following about the snake:Brown snakes are easily alarmed and may bite if approached closely, handled or threatened. The Eastern brown snake is the most toxic member of the genus and is the second most toxic land snake in the world. I don't think we'll be jumping onto that climb anytime soon. This weekend we decided instead to go to Narrabeen slaps as we hadn't been there for a while and it is easily accessible (15 minutes drive from home). It is a nice selection of semi difficult slabs along the Wakehurst parkway (almost rain forest). Generally when climbing in Sydney you see many webs from the funnel webs and I also saw at least one at Narrabeen. And, when we go to other climbing areas then there are always multiple holes in the rocks where you can see the funnel shaped webs. I happen to hate spiders and always fear that I will poke my fingers into a funnel web. I have only seen a live (I think) funnel web once and that was in Nowra on the bottom of a pond of water (people generally check their swimming pools for funnel webs before swimming as they can stay below the surface for ages), I saw a tiny scorpion on the floor of the cooking area in Nowra on the same trip. Wikipedia says:Although they are rather small, they should not be handled without taking substantial precautions, because their fangs have been known to penetrate fingernails and soft shoes, resulting in dangerous bites. Funnel-webs are probably one of the three most dangerous spiders in the world and are regarded by some to be the most dangerous. While Andy was belaying me he saw a redback spider crawl across the rope back and squashed it under his feet. He told me he had to stomp on it several times before it died. Wikipedia says:The redback spider is a potentially dangerous spider native to Australia. It resembles a Black widow spider. Redbacks, along with funnel-web spiders, are the most dangerous spiders in Australia. Most Australians dislike the redback spider, thanks in part to the frequency with which it is encountered in the environs of human habitations. Also, the crag is generally infested with mosquitoes, ticks and on this day we also had the pleasure of a big fat Tiger Leech which had had a feast on Andy's big toe so it started bleeding heavily as we left the crag (but the leech lived to see another day). We saw it earlier on Andy's sandals but flicked it off...only later did we discover that it had been sucking blood from him. 16. October 2007 10:21 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Brampton Island 2007 16. October 2007 10:21 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetbrampton island 2007ShareKim finished her job at Epicor this Monday and we therefore decided to go somewhere for an extended weekend before she starts any new adventures. Our first choice was to to go Samoa, but because of school holidays the hotels and flights were booked the days we wanted to go. Instead we settled on going to Brampton Island in the Whitsundays about 2000km North of Sydney. It was a long flight up there, first to Brisbane, then on to Mackay and from there continue with a small light aircraft to Brampton Island itself. Here is a photo of the island from the aircraft. Click here to see a video of Brampton Island from the aircraft. The island is beautiful and there is only one resort on the island accomodating a maximum of 200 guests. Because of all the flights to get there it means that it is a perfect couples destination as there were no kids making noise there (according to Kenneth kids families won't go unless it is a direct flight). The Island has got a number of really nice remote beaches that are empty and where one can get up to all sorts of mischief. There is also a small 6 hole par 3 golf course as well as archery range, spa and a couple of different pools etc. Our intention for the weekend wasn't really to be very active, but really to just relax and have a nice time together. On the first day we walked around the whole island (8km) and went for a swim along the way at a beach on the other side of the island that we had all to ourselves. We managed to get a bit of a sunburn both of us so the next day we stayed in the shade. On one of the other days we got a picnic pamper and found another beach where we could relax, swim and enjoy ourselves without anyone else around. The water was crystal clear and we could see fish and stingrays swimming around in it and although we had bought our snorkeling gear we never got around to using it.Here is a photo of Kim on the beach. And...click here to see a video of Kim in the water. Both of us had a very memorable time on the beaches.Most of the other guests were just spending their time in the resort itself and when it was too hot to go anywhere we also spent the time in the resort relaxing in the shade sipping cocktails. The only thing that was a bit disappointing was that the resort had all these nice catamarans and sailboards that were free to use, but because of lack of experience of the people working on the resort they wouldn't let anyone sail them if there was any wind whatsoever (really...what's the point!?!?). In the evening there was various forms of entertainment. Especially this one man band was really good, but most of the other entertainment was pretty average as the staff to be honest had little to no clue whatsoever. Click here to see more photos from Brampton Island 17. September 2007 10:17 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Fish Market & The Coast Colf Club 17. September 2007 10:17 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetfish market the coast colf clubShareThis Sunday we went to the fish market in Sydney with one of Kims colleagues from Singapore (who also happens to be Danish) and his Singaporean girlfriend for Lunch. The Seafood at the fish market is very fresh and nice. You can go to all these small seafood stalls and buy various seafood such as various types of Sashimi, Sushi, Lobster, Abalone, Scallops, Calamari and Balmain bugs. Kim and I shared a large seafood basket with different types of seafood as well as a small box of Sashimi. Afterwards we took Michael to The Coast Golf Club while Caroline went to do some retail therapy in Paddington. We only played 8 holes as we had to leave at 5pm to be at Kims sister at 6pm for her youngest sisters birthday.I took a really cool and funny video of Kim almost making par on one of the holes. Click here to download the video of Kim 10. September 2007 05:48 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Holland September 2007 10. September 2007 05:48 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetholland september 2007Share In early September I again went a week to Holland. The purpose of the trip this time was a combination of team building, create common processes and training. The company is working on getting everyone ECM (Electronic Content Management) certified. Since I just got back from Holland a couple of months ago I decided to just quickly fly in Sunday afternoon and then return Saturday morning. I really don't like flying through London Heathrow airport. They always loose my luggage there and every time it takes 1-3 days before it eventually arrives. My flight was delayed so as I expected I missed my flight to Amsterdam. I asked them to book me onto the next available flight where my luggage also would have a chance to make it.When the flight boarded I checked with the staff to make sure that my luggage had made it...it hadn't :-(As I had plenty of time I decided it would be better for me to de-board the flight and then try and catch the next flight hoping that my luggage then would make it...which I then confirmed it did when I boarded. Heathrow is the only airport in the world where I consistently have this problem. They need at least 3 hours between the flight to have a chance of transferring the luggage. Next time I'll check what options I have to fly through Frankfurt instead. Click here to see more photos from: Holland << Older posts Newer posts >> Newer posts12...737475767778798081...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 Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal Blog Portfolio Packages Contact About Home 28. July 2001 10:48 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Mandalay . . . 28. July 2001 10:48 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetmandalayShare When I initially arrived in Yangon / Rangoon, I wanted to fly up Bhamo - one of the bigger towns north of Burma. I also considered exploring Myitkyinã - a town further north of Bhamo. My Lonely Planet guide indicated that the only border crossing into China was to the east of Bhamo. My initial plans to Burma also included exploration of western China. However, I was disappointed by the military turning me back, despite the fact that my Lonely Planet guide said I could cross into China at Ruili. I decided instead to fly to Mandalay, not only because it was cheap to do so, but it saved me a 20-hour bus ride there from Yangon. I heard about a song for sailors. “To be a real sailor, the sailor would have to have been to Mandalay way upriver” I quite liked Mandalay. The photo below, is of Mandalay Hill. During World War II (20 March 1945), the British and the Japanese fought one another to gain control of the position on this hill. The photo to the left is taken from the hill itself facing east - as you can see, it has an aerial view of the whole city, and puts any oncoming enemies at a disadvantage. Control of Mandalay was important during the war, as the soldiers were able to set up artillery and attack anyone approaching the fortress. This hill was of big strategic importance. The building you see near the shrine is a monument to the British regiment who managed to take control of this hill from the Japanese. At the eastern part of the delta, a lot of logging takes place. There was a train line built that used to cart all the trees/wood for export to Thailand. The moat around the fortress is man-made. Although man-made, comes from the local river. The original fortress was burnt to the ground. The whole fortress covered an area of 2.5 x 2.5 km The design of Mandalay was quite colonial, and surprisingly, most of the streets were at 90º to one another. Overall, I found Mandalay the most expensive city to travel to in Burma. No matter what one does in Mandalay, be it explore Mandalay Hill or the city itself, the locals always had “special” foreigner prices. It really annoyed me. I tried to use local currency as much as possible. However, FEC (Foreign Exchange Currency) was more valuable and worth more to the locals. FEC is also used in China, and one tries to use local currency as much as possible. Any item you buy has 2 prices - and obviously it is cheaper to use local currency than to use FEC. I must admit, even Mandalay Hill was not that nice for the price I paid to explore it. It was also expensive just to go into the fortress. Surprisingly, I could not find maps of the area that was not more that 40 years old. 28. July 2001 10:47 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Burma Religion & Politics . . . 28. July 2001 10:47 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetpoliticsSharePolitics . . . There is a lot of politics going on in Burma that an outsider should not get involved in - Burma is one of those countries where political opinions are best kept to oneself. In Burma, use of the Internet and mobile phones is illegal. This is the government's way of controlling the information entering the country. Even access to equipment such as laptops is illegal - the country is so poor that many could not afford such a piece of equipment. I saw many young women queueing for their rations. They were standing so close together that I thought they were lesbians! *laugh* The girls stand close together so another person cannot jump the queue by pushing in. The girls here are very young, some have barely reached puberty and are doing some very hard work. There is a lot of critique by Amnesty International, of Burma's use of young girls to provide maintenance for the roads. 28. July 2001 10:47 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Medicine . . . 28. July 2001 10:47 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetmedicineShareMedicine . . .My girlfriend, Arumi, tells me one sees the wares of a 'Medicine Man' quite often throughout Asia. Whether they sit by the roadside, or whether they own a shop in a building, one will see very similar items being sold around Asia. The “pellets” you see here are in fact different types of roots such as ginger or some unknown vegetable, that have been sun or air dried. You will see the antlers of various animals such as deer or even rhino. There are also skulls from different animals - some of these animals may be endangered species, but somehow you will see them being sold in these markets. These skulls are definitely not being used as “trophies” around the house! The Burmese, like many Asians, believe in using very 'natural' remedies to cure common ailments. A Medicine Man may not necessarily be a “doctor” according to western standards - that means he may not have a university degree. However, a Medicine Man, may be what we know as “witch-doctors”. Some of the remedies they know are very natural and useful. Unfortunately, not all of these remedies work. Around Asia, you will see shops or Medicine Man selling items like tigers' paws and skulls, or ground ivory tusks. Many of these are sold as cures or enhancements for the sex life. In Burma, there is virtually no wildlife left. You will even find that even tobacco is sold naturally. Not in cigarette form, but in leaf form! The laws in Burma are not quite the same as they are here. Marijuana is also sold very freely. Lotus Fruit . . . Quite often in Asia, you may see lily pads floating on the water. In fairy-tales, you hear about frogs sitting on a lily pad. You will be amazed to associate that this fruit here, comes from the flowers/plant growing out of the water near the lily pads. The yellow seeds come from the flower itself. The seeds are used often in many Asian desserts, and said to promote better blood circulation. While, the root of the lotus plant is also a delicacy. It is white when cooked, and has a crunchy texture, similar to that of the water chestnut. Mainly used in savoury meals, although used as a dessert as well. Personally, I think it is too much hassle retrieving the fruit! *smile* Created: 31 Oct 2001 28. July 2001 10:46 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Schwedagon . . . 28. July 2001 10:46 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetschwedagonShare Schwedagon was a holy place with extremely large and beautiful temples. To get to Schwedagon, you had to travel up very long escalators. I took this photo because these escalators were the only escalators I had seen during my whole trip in Burma. As Schwedagon is a very religious place for the locals, I guess to travel up these escalators give the sense of travelling to a higher and holier place. The temples at Schwedagon were really impressive. I was told that collectively, these temples were built with 39 tonnes of pure gold. At the end of the day, the locals all contributed in cleaning the place. They clean all the tiles and are very organised. Here is the 'Big Stuba'. All that gold... Up close, the temples are a glorious sight. Especially at night! Can you see those lights at the base of the Big Stuba? Each is a 'mini temple', illuminating a Buddha. You can really see the magnificence of these temples! There are lots of rules or procedures about the way one prays to the Buddhas - very complicated to an outsider! I saw a couple of the buddhists pour water onto the statue of the Buddha. Depending on the day of the week a buddhist is born, the individual would pour the respective number of bowls for the day of the week. A buddhist believes that by doing this, it would bring them luck. At Schwedagon, I noticed there were hardly any tourists, mostly locals paying homage. Can you see how intricate the carvings are in the foreground? The monks rung this bell to announce prayer times. It brought luck to ring the bell. For example, if you were born on the 1st day of the week, you rung it once to bring good luck. If you were born on the 6th day of the week, you rung it 6 times etc. 28. July 2001 10:45 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Myanmar ( Burma ) 23 July ~ 5 Aug 2001 . . . 28. July 2001 10:45 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetmyanmar burma 23 july 5 aug 2001ShareBurma/Myanmar surprised me in many ways. I would have liked to see more of Burma than I did, but due to military restrictions, I only had access to certain parts of Burma and was not able to see any of the indigenous people along the border as I had initially planned.Burma is a very poor country. It was difficult to travel... travelling 100 kilometres could sometimes take up to 6 hours. One of the most beautiful places in Burma, I thought, was Bagan. I took many photos in Burma, and tried to order them in the following pages: I spent some days in Yangon, which had a heavy colonial influence. Schwedagon was another place full of temples, a place laden with pure gold. Whilst travelling, I could not help notice how influenced the people were by religion, and Burma's politics is one thing an outsider should not get involved in. I was fascinated by what the Burmese used for medicine. They also had some rather interesting local fruit. Mandalay also had an interesting colonial battle history. Whilst there, I watched the “Mandalay Marionettes”. With the restrictions up north, I did not get to see much. But you would not believe how the Burmese play volleyball! Finally, at Mt Popa, I went there to see a local monastry, and saw a lot of wild monkeys there. Yangon ( Rangoon ) . . .This is the city-centre of Rangoon. Rangoon is the capital city of Burma. It is actually a pretty big city if you compare it with other parts of Burma on a map. Most of the buildings are from the old colonial period when the British occupied Burma. Unfortunately they have not been very well-maintained. Can you see the green bits on the clocktower? If you are thinking it is vegetation growing on it, you are right! There is quite a bit growing on most of the buildings in the city.There were so many pigeons! I managed to catch a pictures of a pigeon flying mid-air - can you see the blurred grey thing near the tree in the middle of the photo? NextReturn to SE Asia menuReturn to TopCreated: 22 Sept 2001 28. July 2001 01:56 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Burma newspaper 28. July 2001 01:56 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetburma newspaperShare 15. June 2001 10:27 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments 3rd Place in Photo Competition! 15. June 2001 10:27 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetcompetition photo 2001Share I took part in a photo competition in November 2001, using one of the photos I had taken during my trip to Mt Cook in January 2001. This photo was of Kevin, the alpine guide from my group in the technical climbing course. The following photo and comments appeared on the Planet Fear website, in the Front Line Photography Competition - not long after I was notified that I was one of 20 winners, and I was even more surprised to find out that I had come third! The comments above the photo were my comments that I had emailed to them when I sent the photo. The comments below the photo were (one of the judges) comments about my photo. 3. Rene Pallesen The attached photo was taken in New Zealand on the main range near Mount Cook. The valleys to the west are filled with clouds formed by the moisture from the forests underneath. The snowcovered mountains in the north are visible through the clouds. The photo was taking using a Nikon FM10 using a Fuji Sensia 100 film. Literally bathed in atmosphere. It would be easy to muff this high key exposure but Rene is spot on. The vertical format adds to a shot capturing all the euphoria of life on the tops. Reminds me of the legendary Mountain mag front covers. ~ Comment by Ian Parnell, Planet Fear Feel free to see my photo on their website. Also, you could go to the Planet Fear website to view the other winning photos. 15. January 2001 11:14 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Mt Cook 15. January 2001 11:14 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetmt cookShareCreated: 18 Aug 2001 Last Updated: 16 Sept 2001 15. January 2001 10:59 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Mt Cook ( 15 ~ 28 January 2001 ) 15. January 2001 10:59 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetmt cook 15 28 january 2001ShareMt Cook ( 15 ~ 28 January 2001 )I decided to do a Technical Ice-Climbing course with Alpine Guides in New Zealand. I spent 10 days at Mt Cook doing a very challenging course, but I learnt a lot. I learnt all the techniques required to do ice-climbing safely. I also learnt the necessities of surviving in the icy mountains. Prior to the trip, a lot of preparation was required. Everyday, I went jogging to build up my fitness, so by the time I left for New Zealand, I could run 3km on the sand without getting puffed. I also had to buy some of the equipment. I had to buy cramp-ons (looks like spiked metal soles) to attach to my boots; ice-axe and ice-hammer; a new Gore-tex jacket (I needed a new one anyway) and some other clothing and equipment. The photo on the right became a 3rd-place winner in a photo competition.Our group consisted of 4 other doing the course. There were no prerequisites, other than a love for the mountains and a very high fitness level. Not all of us who do this course go on to climb the great mountains. We also discovered it takes guts and courage to stand on top of the world and feel confident. One cannot be an ice-climber if there is a fear of heights or if unsteady on the feet. All of us in the group had come from different backgrounds. Søren was an experienced climber, who had aspirations of going to the Himalayas. Alan was a rock-climber who wanted to try the challenge of ice-climbing. Rob too loved the mountains and wanted the experience and challenge of being on the icey slopes of New Zealand. I had had quite a lot of climbing and mountaineering experience, but this was my first time ice-climbing. The person holding the camera is Søren. I met him in NZ, whilst waiting for the bus for Mt Cook. To my surprise, he was a Dane living here in Sydney. He was a professional photographer (hence you see him holding the Nikon). He and I had similiar experience so our speed through the course was pretty much the same. I actually ended up cracking a rib whilst on the course. I did this during a 'self-arrest' technique, where we actually throw ourselves down a steep slope and try to use our ice-axe to stop ourselves from falling any further. This technique is used in case you fall down a crevass and have nothing to hold onto. Rob was the other person doing the course. He once dropped his ice-axe and one of us had to abseil down to collect it, as an ice-axe is a piece of equipment that is vital and you only carry one of these each. We worked in pairs, but had to swap partners as our guide took turns working with each of us. Ice-climbing is nothing like rock-climbing. You cannot use your fingers (well, they will freeze if you take your gloves off), so you really on equipment like ice-axe and ice-picks to anchor yourself into the ice. These pieces of equipment are really important, especially if you are sleeping on a ledge or stopping for a rest. Other than someone belaying you, using ice-picks to secure yourself into the ice is the backup should your belay fail. We each took turns at ice-climbing! Alan is the one in the blue jacket, Søren is the one in the red. I guess Søren has more photos of me climbing, whereas I can't take photos of myself! In the following section, you will see a series of photos of Mt Cook. If you want to have a look at the black & white version of this (quite artistic), click here. 17. September 2000 10:58 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Olympic Day Out ( 17th Sept 2000 ) 17. September 2000 10:58 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetolympic day out 17th sept 2000ShareLast September, Sydney held the Olympic Games. I saw a lot of the events on TV but was disappointed with the coverage of other countries' involvement. However, I did manage to be at Olympic Park during the Games and also see the first handball match - Denmark vs Norway. I managed to get tickets for the game and had a very nice day with my girlfriend and the Lenehans. I also managed to get some pretty spectacular photos of the Olympic torch. Here is Stadium Australia, where the Olympic torch is held. Most of the major track & field events, as well as athletics were held here. It is a pretty spectacular building - and HUGE. During the Olympics, you could not go into just any of the buildings at Olympic Park. You had to have a ticket for an event before you could enter the building. As you can see me, I am wearing my T-shirt supporting Danmark! This is one of the few days that I can wear the T-shirt. It was a very sunny and warm day and the place was full of people. During the Olympics, you could only get access to the whole of the Olympic Park if you had a ticket. They had quite tight security, and had to go through a detector on the perimeter of the grounds after you got off the train/bus. The handball game started at about 2pm and we managed to wander round for quite a bit before going into the arena wear the handball was. The food as amazingly expensive! Normally a fruit salad would only cost about AUD$3, cost up to AUD$8 that day!. Bottles of water was double the price. They really made it a money-making event for tourists! The funny thing too, we noticed that as you entered Olympic Park, all of the signs were in French and English, and all the announcements were given in French first, then English. It was most peculiar! As we got closer to where the handball games were being held, we saw a lot of Danes and Norwegians dressed in country colours! Danes in red and white and Norwegians... well, there was a guy there who had lots of cow bells around his neck and attached to his clothes. He was wearing a traditional metal helmet and dressed in old-fashioned gear. It was amazing to feel all the atmosphere - just to be there. We were all in the true Danish spirit! Even my girlfriend was dressed in a white T-shirt and red pants! We painted flags on our faces with some face paint. We were definitely there to support the Danish team! Even Lance could not help get caught in the moment with us! *smile* A break in the handball game - Danmark vs Norway! Danmark in red & white, Norway in blue & white. We had pretty good seats - it was a matter of whoever got there first, had the best seats, although we had to enter through certain doors. All the journalists and officials sat on the left. We even heard that the crown prince of Danmark was there for the game, even though we could not spot him. There were flags everywhere, Danish and Norwegian waving about. Everytime Norway scored, you could hear countless numbers of cow-bells being rung! A few times, some of the people tried to start a Mexican wave, but that did not work out. It was a very fast and furious game. It was the only handball game that the Danish lost in the whole Olympic Games, and they eventually came first in the finals! Just after entering Olympic Park, we managed to get a group photo! As you can see the place is very crowded but very festive - you just had to be there! A most glorious sunset! After the handball match, we wandered around for a bit longer. The day had been quite warm, so the night was a beautiful clear night. After the Lenehans left, Arumi and I had a look at a small Aboriginal art exhibition located at the Park. We sat on one of the few grassy patches, to watch the flickering of the lights and just enjoy the day. We eventually went home, but Olympic Park was still swarming with people, who were there to watch events that went on later into the night. Although we did not get the chance to see any other events during the Olympics, it was definitely worth the day we spent there. We would have loved to see the final game when Danmark won, but as usual, we were not very organised... Below, I have included photos taken on the night of the Closing Ceremony. These were taken from Graham's apartment on a hill at McMahons Point. We had a spectacular view of the fireworks that went off after the Closing Ceremony. It was really windy on the balcony, but I managed to get some photos of the Olympic rings that were placed on Sydney Harbour Bridge. Beautiful, isn't it? << Older posts Newer posts >> Newer posts12...84858687888990919293Older 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 Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal Blog Portfolio Packages Contact About Home 2. April 2016 22:04 by Admin 0 Comments Eastertrip Oberon 2. April 2016 22:04 by Admin | 0 Comments TweetThis Easter we rented a small cabin out at Oberon. It was a beautiful little place on top of a hill ShareThis Easter we rented a small cabin out at Oberon. It was a beautiful little place on top of a hill with a beautiful view.The place was full of cattle, kangaroos and wombat holes (with wombats in them).Along the way we stopped at Wentworth Falls.We also went to Jenolan Caves one day.And afterwards Kanangra walls (Lucas never made the 200m walk there...too tired from all the walking. Pity, because it was the perfect spot and light for a family photo).Next day we tried going to the glow worm tunnel, but the easter crowds made us turn back once we approached the car park. So instead we went up to Blackheath to have a nice lunch and enjoy some of the lookouts.Later I tried another family photo at the cabin...very windy.Overall a nice trip and the boys had a lot of fun. 2. April 2016 21:04 by Admin 0 Comments Eastershow 2016 2. April 2016 21:04 by Admin | 0 Comments TweetAgain this year we went to the Easter Show the entertainment quarter. As usual it was great fun for ShareAgain this year we went to the Easter Show the entertainment quarter. As usual it was great fun for the kids.Especially Lucas had a blast now that he is old enough to participate. 2. April 2016 19:04 by Admin 0 Comments Australia Day - Citizenship 2. April 2016 19:04 by Admin | 0 Comments TweetAustralia day was a very special day this year. I have been living in Australia for over 17 years anShareAustralia day was a very special day this year. I have been living in Australia for over 17 years and have been waiting for the moment Denmark would accept dual citizenship.Although I have been been calling Australia my home for a long time I am also a Dane and didn't want to give this up.I actually thought that it would never happen, but finally in late 2015 the law was finally changed and I lodged my Australian application immediately. On Australian day I took the pledge and can officially call myself an Australian now.Kim and the boys, KA and Aaron as well a few friends attended the ceremony. I felt very proud and was very honoured.And I was pampered with Australia day gifts. 7. January 2016 18:01 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Hunter Valley Christmas 2015 7. January 2016 18:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetBetween Christmas and New year we went to the Hunter Valley with Sasha and his family.We stayed overShareBetween Christmas and New year we went to the Hunter Valley with Sasha and his family.We stayed overnight in a cabin in Lovedale.During the day we tasted wines at the various wineries (found some good ones).The kids also loved playing at the cabin in the evenings. 7. January 2016 18:01 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Christmas 2015 7. January 2016 18:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetThis year we decided not to celebrate on the eve of the 24 and just stick with the 25th at KC's placShareThis year we decided not to celebrate on the eve of the 24 and just stick with the 25th at KC's place (too much cooking otherwise). I was responsible for the Christmas ham (with limited success).It was a relaxing day and the kids were very exited about their presents. 16. December 2015 13:12 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Silliness 16. December 2015 13:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetSometimes when I am setting up for a photo especially Aiden likes to jump in a get silly.It is a gooShareSometimes when I am setting up for a photo especially Aiden likes to jump in a get silly.It is a good way to test the lighting and sometimes I managed to get a 'keeper' such as this one from a few weeks back. 16. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Christmas family photo 2015 16. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetIt is almost Christmas and I've just completed our annual family Christmas photo and this is the finShareIt is almost Christmas and I've just completed our annual family Christmas photo and this is the final version.It was an interesting process getting to this photo this year. Last year we did a photo in the kitchen of us baking a cake, but this years photo has so many more elements to it.The idea came from a combination of Kim and my ideas. Kim wanted to do a photo of the boys through a crystal ball. I actually bought the crystal ball right after Christmas last year with this year in mind.We did a test in front of the tree in early December which was reasonably okay, but Kim didn't like the feel to it. She wanted more snow (pretty ambitious on a summers day here in Sydney Australia).My idea for our family photo was based on me wanting to do a story of us as a family out in a snow storm 'Looking for Santa'. I had purchased a bag of artificial snow and a Christmas cape a few months back and we had some lanterns downstairs so I pretty much had all the components in place for the shoot.I knew I had to do it as a composite with the boys as there was no way that I would be able to get the photo with all four of us at once. We did the photo over a couple of days, on the first evening (after the kids had gone to bed) I took the one of Kim and myself holding the lantern. Once I had this photo I could show it to Aiden and Lucas so that they knew what we needed them to do (Lucas just had to copy Aiden).I had Gaffa taped markers on the floor so everyone would know where they were supposed to stand. Inside the lantern I had hidden a speedlight gelled with CTO to make it look light the lantern was lit. We are actually lit by a large Einstein strobe also with CTO, grid and barn doors to control the spill of the light. At the back left and right were another two speedlights providing a bit of rim light to emulate moon light.Because of the first 'failed' attempt of the crystal ball I got the idea to extend my 'Looking for Santa' photo into Santa's shed where he would have a crystal ball where he could look at us looking for him.This would require three components - The crystal ball, the lights from the Christmas tree to create atmosphere and then Santa himself. I created Santa by hanging a hat on a chair which was easy to light and then I had another light which I used to balance the ambient with the lights from the tree.The final photo all combined looks like the following, but in the end we decided to just use the tighter crop in the first and final photo. 1. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments 7th Anniversary 1. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetThis month Kim and I had our anniversary.I cant believe we have been married for 7 years...still lovShareThis month Kim and I had our anniversary.I cant believe we have been married for 7 years...still love her to bits. 1. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Aiden Graduation and Christmas Concert 1. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetIt was time again for the annual Christmas concert with Aiden and Lucas' daycare.Aiden is starting 'ShareIt was time again for the annual Christmas concert with Aiden and Lucas' daycare.Aiden is starting 'big' school after Christmas, so this was also his graduation.Kim and Aiden had both practiced some dancing and songs for the concert and were both dressed up, Aiden as a doctor and Lucas as a pumpkin.Although Aiden was very excited leading up to the concert and was telling everyone how he was going to sing and dance, he absolutely broke down once we got there overwhelmed by all the people and the noise.It was heartbreaking to see him like that on an evening where he should be enjoying himself. He was crying and didn't want to get on the stage. Eventually we managed to get him up and he did try and participate.Lucas on the other hand had a great time, unfortunately I didn't get a lot of photos of that because I had to try and comfort Aiden.After the show Santa turned up wit presents for the kids and he was a lot happier again.After that the graduates had their photos taken and had cake. 29. November 2015 22:11 by Admin 0 Comments Ballet - Sleeping Beauty 29. November 2015 22:11 by Admin | 0 Comments TweetSaturday Kim and I went to the Sydney Opera house to watch the Sleeping Beauty performed by the AustShareSaturday Kim and I went to the Sydney Opera house to watch the Sleeping Beauty performed by the Australian Ballet.It was one of the better ballets we have seen. The story was great and the dancing (lots of it) was of a really high quality.The even managed to weave in some of the Red riding hood story, Puss in boots, Cinderella and other stories.It was beautiful to watch. << Older posts Newer posts >> Newer posts12...181920212223242526...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
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 2010Share 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.
26. April 2010 10:05 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Wingello 26. April 2010 10:05 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetwingelloShare 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).
21. April 2010 08:59 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments My nephews Porche Carrera GT 21. April 2010 08:59 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetmy nephews porche carrera gtShare 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).
17. April 2010 10:30 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Flash balancing fun 17. April 2010 10:30 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetflash balancing exerciseShareKim 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.
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!
27. August 2009 10:07 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Going Solar 27. August 2009 10:07 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetgoing solarShareWhen we came back from our holiday our watertank had started leaking significantly. Actually it had started leaking slightly back in May where at the same time the government was introducing the stimulus package as part of their rescue plan for the financial crisis. Part of this package was an increased rebate on Solar hot water which provided a total $3400 government funding. Back then I got a couple of quotes, but never proceeded hoping that the tank would last a little longer.When we came back the leak had become a lot worse and could burst any time. It therefore had to be replaced very fast. It seemed that just replacing the existing electric tank would cost almost the same as installing Solar hot water and would be more expensive in electricity. Besides we have already installed extra insulation and energy efficient appliances so it only made sense to use Solar hot water as well.It took them 3 hours to pull down the old 160 litre tank and install a new 300 litre tank on the roof. So far we are happy with the system. We have more hot water than before, it is not nearly as hot as the old system, but plenty hot for what is needed (The old system had water which was close to 90 degrees Celcius and the new is appx 60 degrees).It has an electric booster installed for cloudy days, but once summer is here I should be able to turn that off completely. And an extra advantage is that it has cleared out some space on the side of the house.
27. August 2009 02:00 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Jump shots 27. August 2009 02:00 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetjump shotsShare While we were travelling in Denmark and Italy we did a large number of Jump shots. Here are some of the coolest ones we did. First in Denmark Then Italy
17. August 2009 10:30 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Switzerland - Going home 17. August 2009 10:30 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetswitserlandShareAfter Lake Como it was our last day and Italy and was time to go home. We had to return to Milan that evening to fly back to Sydney next morning. We decided to detour around the lake and possibly stop at some of the villages along the way. At the top end of the lake we came to a T intersection. I told kim that Switzerland was one hour if we turned left and Milan was 2 hours to the right. I asked her if she felt like a quick dash across the border before returning. Most of the borders to Switzerland (and Austria) are located on the top of the mountain passes since the Mountains was what defined the borders the old days. The road up to this mountain pass was very narrow and full of blind corners. Kim developed stomach cramps on a number of occations on the trip and we eventually came to the conclusion that it was the tension when driving on these roads. The scenery on the way up there was stunning. It was nice and cool climate and we were soon above the tree line and could see patches of snow on the mountains surrounding up. The style of houses changed from being traditional italian to be more swiss looking. Eventually we got to the border. Unfortunately the officer at the post didn't have a stamp to stamp Kims passport. We had lunch at the border and then returned toward Milan. We had dinner at the southern end of Lake Como and arrived at our airport hotel at 10pm. I had to return the car to the rental company at the Airport. Fortunately the hotel had an efficient shuttle bus service that made it easy to come back to the hotel. Unfortunately I forgot the cover for my phone in the car so I had to make the trip twice and was pretty knackered (and grumpy) when I eventually got back. At 6am next morning we were back at the airport returning to Sydney.
17. August 2009 10:29 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Lago di Como 17. August 2009 10:29 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetlago di comoShare After the Riviera we drove up to Lago di Como (Lake Como). This was the only place on the trip where we hadn't organised accomodation prior to us arriving. When we arrived we initially used the TomTom to find us a B&B, but it kept taking us up into the hills on all these narrow streets with blind corners. We therefore instead decided to drive up along the shore of the lake and just check out whatever hotels we came past. We ended up finding a place for a reasonable price in Argegno. It was right on the lake next to the passenger ferry and our room was facing the lake....perfect! For dinner we drove to Menaggio a bit further up the lake. Parking was impossible because there was another festival happening so I ended up doing another illegal parking (If you are in Italy you do like the Italians). Next morning we went down to the ferry and bought a day ticket for the central part of the ticket. This enabled us to take the ferry and hop on and off whenever we felt like it. This meant that we we easily could get to other places on the lake such as Bellagio and Varenna. It also meant that we were able to look at the expensive villas from the lakeside. On the way back in the afternoon we stopped at Tremezzo at one of the large villas that was open to the public. The villa was surrounded by a beautiful garden. In the evening we were tired (and I was finally developing some sort of a sun tan evident from the sandal stripes on my feet).
17. August 2009 10:28 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Italian Riviera & Cinque Terre 17. August 2009 10:28 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetitalian rivieraShare After Pisa we headed to the Italian Riviera, also called the Flower Riviera. I asked Kim to find us a nice spot along the coast for lunch and she picked Lido di Camaiore. When I was a kid I went to the italian riviera quite a lot with my parents. My mum and dad met eachother here in a town called Diano Marina, both working for the same travel company as travel companies. We used to stay in caravan parks along the coast and I don't remember the place being very busy (but I may remember wrong). When we arrived to Camaiore we were met by beaches full of hotels (whom had each closed of an area of the beach for themselves), umbrellas and people boiling in the sun and tanning oil. After lunch I decided to drive along the coast to our hotel in Sestri Levante...this turned out to be a mistake. After 30 kilometers full endless beaches covered in umbrellas, of dodging pedestrians and cyclists, traffic lights and people parking to go for a swim I decided I'd had enough and headed for the motorway. This part of the riviera is really not very nice and I was looking forward to go somewhere with a bit more charm. Sestri Levante was the only place we could find accomodation. The hotel was up in the hills far away from the coast line, it was expensive and absolutely nothing special compared to all the other places we were staying during our trip. In the evening we drove to a town called Rapallo for dinner. The city had closed off the roads around the water because of a festival, so it was really nice to sit at the water eating seafood and watch people. After dinner we went for a walk along the water down to the area where the festival was taking place. We were sitting there for a while listening to the music and enjoying a perfect evening. When we came back to the car to drive home it turned out that we'd received a parking ticket (20 Euros). We were parking in a valid parking space and I thought we were outside the hours wheer we had to pay....but obviously not. I'd done lots of illigal parking elsewhere on the trip so didn't feel too bad about it. Next day it was time to explore Cinque Terre. This is a national park along the costline with 5 small villages accessible only from the ocean (There is a trainline now). We drove to the only one of the villages that can be accessed by car Monterosso and parking right next to the village area. From here we walked down to the water. It turned out that the trains weren't running between the villages so the only access was by boat or walk. We didn't have time to walk so bought a day ticket for the boat. While on the boat we did a bit of planning and decided to go to the furtherst village Riomaggiore first and from here walk to the next village Manarola. From here we would take the boat to Vernazza and then back to Monterosso. Cinque Terre is a beautiful part of the Italian riviera, and although there is a lot of tourists there it doesn't feel overcrowded such as many other places. When we vere having lunch along the beached the previous day I was dreading that Cinque Terre would be as crowded as that. In the evening we decided to drive to Portofino for dinner. We arrived there (along all these small narrow streets) around 7pm. Although Portofine if a nice place it doesn't beat the villages at Cinque Terre in beauty. The place is expensive in all respects and there isn't a lot of shops and restaurants, it is mainly fashion and expensive jewellery being sold there. Obviously catering for the Euripean rich who dock here in their expensive million dollar boats. We therefore decided to go back to the centre of Sestri Levante and have dinner here.
17. August 2009 10:27 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Pisa - A revisit three decades later 17. August 2009 10:27 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetpisaShare When I was a child I spend a lot of summers with my parents in Italy. They used to work in the Northern part of Italy as travel guides and as a result we generally headed that way during the summer time with our caravan or with a tent. When I was a baby my parent took me to Pisa (I have to trust them I an don't remember) and also up into the leaning tower. Kim and I was planning to drive from Tuscany to the Italien Riviera and I asked Kim if it was ok to make a short stop at Pisa for me to have a look at the tower some 3X years later. Our Tom-Tom navigated us by the backway into the city and within a short timefra we were at the tower. We had a look for a parking spot and literally found a spot less than 100 metres from the tower (so far pretty fortunate with the parking). It was really cool to have a look at the tower. They have started allowing people to enter the tower again, but when we got there they next timeslot was 6pm in the evening (8 hours later) so we instead took some photos and bought some T shirts for Kims family. Of cause we had to take the classic photos of trying to straighten the tower. And a couple of nice ones And then there was the silly ones And then some photos from the beautiful architecture of the tower and the church next to it.
17. August 2009 10:26 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Tuscany 17. August 2009 10:26 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweettuscanyShareWhile Kim and I was in San Gemignano in Tuscany we spent a day just driving around in the beautiful landscape. Even though we just missed the harvest it was still really beautiful. It is full of all these rolling hills, Vineyards, Sunflower fields and old Italian houses. Driving was fun and I could easily have spent longer time just driving around there exploring small villages etc. I would love to go back there during spring when all the flowers are out and the fields have been planted.
17. August 2009 10:25 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Siena and one expensive dinner 17. August 2009 10:25 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetsiena and one expensive dinnerShareOn the first day in Tuscany we decided to drive into Siena and have a look around.Our first impression was that parking was going to be a problem. There was some large tourist carparks on the outside of the city walls changing an exorbant amount of money per hour. We were planning to have dinner in the city and was planning to be there for most of the day and eventually we found a spot in a parking area that didn't have any meters. There was some italian scribling underneath the sign and we hoped that it didn't say "Reserved for residents and permit holders".Anyway, eventually we made it inside the city walls and was met by 8 storeys of escalators from the walls to the innner city (You wouldn't want those fat Americans loosing any weight while on holiday).We went around to some of the tourist attractions and there was unbeliveable queues everywhere. We started queuing up to get into the large tower at the main square and for 30 minuted the queue didn't move. Eventually we gave up and couldn't be bothered.Instead we decided to wander around the city looking at the old buildings and at shops which is really nice.Siena is known for the annual horse race in the center of the city. It was amazing to look at the area and suddenly realise why the horses often go flying into the barriers when they get around the corners of the race course. The details of the houses is incredible. Everything is decorated. A metal spike is not just a skike any longer, but a instead formed into a dragon, a snake or a swan.In the evening we were going for dinner at an italian restaurant called 'Cane e Gato' (Kat and Dog). It was recommended to Kim by one of her colleagues who had also warned us that it was a bit on the pricey side.At the place we were staying I found a book about Tuscany where it said that the degustation was 50 Euros (Appx $95 AUD). When we arrived we were given no menu's or any price list. The girl (Who turned out to be the daughter of the owner, who himself was in the kitchen with his wife) showed us our table.We were told what was the degustation menu consisted of and got started. The food was quite nice...all ingredients that were in season from the surrounding country side. The pastas were home made and everything was very delicious.At the end Kim and I was discussing what the damage was...a bit of a surprise when we were presented with a bill of 175 Euros ($320 AUD). This was a bit more than we expected.Fortunately we didn't have a parking ticket when we got back to the car (This would have been the icing on the cake).Another late night finishing dinner after midnight and then 45 minutes drive back to San Gimignano.
17. August 2009 10:21 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Manhatten of the Medievil - San Gemignano 17. August 2009 10:21 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetsan gemignanoShareAfter Verona we drove to Tuscany to a small medievil town called San Gimignano. It is a very small town where in the medievil days they were competing who could build the most 'high-rises'. This means that today the town is full of all these tall towers (There used to be a lot more back in those days).The town is full of tourists during the daytime and at night the town is again taken over by the locals including the werewolves from the surrounding area.We were staying inside the old city walls, so for the most part we were safe except for the odd werewolf. They also have the world champion in Gelato...normally I don't belive marketing gimmick like this, but I must admit that the gelato was very nice.At night time once the tourists were gone it was an amazing place. The towers are rising into the night sky and I had a lot of fun taking photos of the towers just using the ambient light.
17. August 2009 10:18 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Verona and the Opera - Italy 17. August 2009 10:18 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetverona and the operaShareWe arrived to Milan in Italy from Copenhagen in the evening. The first thing we did after landing was to pick up our rental car which was a small Fiat Panda (Never, ever rent a large car in Italy...some streets only accomodate snall cars) and then drive to our Hotel. The Tom-Tom nagigator software on my mobile phone turned out to be exceptionally useful on our trip to find our way around. The next morning we drove towards Verona and at lunchtime we had a look at our map and noticed that we'd drive right past Lago di Gardia (Lake Garda). I asked Kim to plan a diversion somewhere for a lakeside lunch. She chose Sirmione which is a long peninsula on the southern side of the lake. I used to stay at Lake Garda with my parents when I was a kid. The water is bright blue and it is a beautiful place. We then continued to Verona early afternoon and found our bed and breakfast which is about a kilometer from the city centre. The road up there was very narrow and anything wider than the Panda would not have been able to get through. As soon as we had gotten settled we walked down into the city centre. We had opera tickets for Aida in the old coloseum in Verona in the evening, but had to first pick up the tickets. The tickets were quite pricey so we had chosen to get ticket on the upper stairs with almost everyone else. It meant that it was a bit less confortable and that we would have to enter early to get a good seat. But it also meant that we were sitting up higher which is better for taking photos. The performance was amazing. There was approximately 500 actors on stage (and 4 horses) and ther used about a quarter of the coloseum as the stage. It was a beautiful and warm night with a brightly lit full moon. The performance finished around 1am at night and from there we walked to one of the squares of Verona and had some coffee (Places were still open). The next morning we did a bit more exploration around Verona. Kim wanted to see the romantic balcony of Romeo and Juliet (Or Donald and Daffy Duck as I called them as they are just as real as the imaginary Romeo and Juliet) Since we were there we also had to rub the right breast of the Juliet statue there for good luck. In Daffy's house they also has a lot of interesting art work. Verona is an interesting city. They have a whale bone suspended from one of the gates...apparently the legend says that it will fall down upon the first 'Just' man who passes under it (and kills him??). Unfortunately (or fortunately) it didn't fall on neither Kim or I. The city is full of old buildings with interesting architecture
28. December 2007 09:56 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Jervis Bay 28. December 2007 09:56 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetjervis bayShareAfter 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
25. December 2007 09:47 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Christmas Eve and Day 25. December 2007 09:47 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetchristmas eve and dayShareThe 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.
22. December 2007 12:28 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Climbing at Mt Keira - Wetting my pants 22. December 2007 12:28 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetclimbing at mt keira wetting my pantsShare 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.
6. December 2007 06:01 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Tokyo - Having a whale of a time 6. December 2007 06:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweettokyo having a whale of a timeShareThis week I am in Tokyo for work visiting a couple of partners and also giving them some training on some of our internal solutions that they would like to sell. I love visiting Tokyo...it is like Disney land and everything is just so slightly different. Like for instance the toilets have all the buttons on the side. Yesterday I saw one with a volume control and a "flush noise" button. I couldn't help pressing it...and yes the toilet did make very realistic sounding flushing sounds. I am unsure under what circumstances the sounds can be useful...another mystery that I may be able to solve one day.In the hotel I also tried all the other buttons and it is kind of cool with all the sprinkling water (heated to body temperature), but I still haven't found the button for the 'but' dryer. Click here to see video of Tokyo Square in Shibuya We visited one of our partners customer service centre and that was like watching a movie. They had big wall-to-wall screen showing that status of all the various sites, latest news tv, weather forecasts...or anything else that could be relevant to them running their operations. The walls were liquid crystal walls and by the flick of a button they could make the whole wall transparent and the next minute they would have the latest status projected onto the walls instead...unfortunately they wouldn't allow me to take a photo. Masaru and I also went to a whale restaurant in Shibuya...we tried Whale Sashimi, Whale Tempura, Whale Skin, Whale Bacon, Whale tongue, Whale Beef and Whale soup (I only ate it for Scientific Purposes). It was all very delicious and the Whale Sashimi (raw whale meat) was definitely my favourite. For lunch today I had a really nice baby clam soup...very unusual and very nice. In general food is really nice and there are some unusual places that specialise in their small niche markets...for instance the lunch place that specialises in 'Lemon Detox lunches'. Compared to the food in Sydney this is a magnitude better. The hotel I stay at is in Shibuya which is the area in Tokyo that is very famous with all the lights and screens...it is a very hip area where all the teenagers are wearing the latest fashion and have funny hair. My room is a lot bigger than the one I stayed in last time I was in Tokyo...in this one you can actually walk around the bed and it has got all the features you would normally expect from a western hotel room. And they serve a really nice bacon for breakfast...I bet it is Danish bacon. We also took the peak hour train in the morning...man those trains are fast and they are packed so tight that it is impossible to move let alone raise your arms. Being in Tokyo also means very long working hours. People here start working around 9am in the morning and seldom leave work until after 9pm. It is still the musical chairs with meeting rooms, the deadly silence in the offices, hot working environments etc. One evening we went out with our partners...which was a big introduction to japanese customs. We went out for a late dinner after work a big group of us and when they have dinner then a lot of drinks were served. This was a chinese restaurant so we were drinking some chinese type of wine that tasted like bitter Kahlua. After dinner we went to this drinking place which was really weird (and slightly uncomfortable but interesting). They pay an entry fee of around 3000 Yen ($30 AUD) and you then get to sit down with a girl that serves you drinks and who you can have conversation with (and conversation only).You cannot choose the girl and I guess this is the modern form of the Geisha...and a cheaper way of talking about your problems at work or with your wife than visiting a psychologist.I really like visiting Tokyo...but I don't think I could live there (too controlled). It is really interesting to visit especially in a working capacity as you see all the funny differences in lifestyle, work, objects and opinions. Most of the time it is a really good laugh...like when one of the guys asked if he could take a picture of me because he told his wife that he was working with a foreigner that looks like Tom Cruise (I told him that Tom is a full head shorter then I am).We had an earthquake while I was there. The whole building started swaying from side to side...I was looking at the Japanese guys are they were calm so I thought that there was no reason to panic. Apparently it happens all the time there. Click here to see more photos from TokyoHere is some more photos from the trip.
1. December 2007 01:23 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Hunter Valley December 1. December 2007 01:23 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweethunter valley decemberShare Before my trip to Tokyo and before Christmas we decided to go to the Hunter Valley to stock up on good wines (We buy them now cheap and drink them in 5-10 years time when they would be really expensive). Hunter Valley is about 2 hours drive North of Sydney and it had got about 200 Vinyards you can visit for wine tasting and then buy the wines straight from the cellar. We went there with a couple of Kims friends and Kim and I bought a couple of cases of wine together. Everything in the Valley was nice ang green due to a lot of rain in the area lately. Click here to see more photos from Hunter Valley
21. November 2007 01:50 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Kayaking at Woy Woy 21. November 2007 01:50 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetkayaking at voy voyShareWhen Kim left Epicor she got a gift certificate to go Kayaking at Woy Woy, so this weekend we headed up there together with Mike and his wife Helen.Both Kim and I have done some kayaking before but it was a new experience for Helen. We paddled up through some of the inland waters in Brisbane Waters near Woy Woy and afterwards we stopped at the fisherman's wharf for some really nice seafood.
29. October 2007 02:57 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Berowra, Narrabeen Slabs & Australian Wildlife 29. October 2007 02:57 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetberowra narrabeen slabs australian wildlifeShareOne of the things about living in Australia is that you are exposed to a lot of creepy crawly stuff. In the urban jungle you don't really notice, but once you come a bit closer to nature then you cannot avoid seeing some of the insects etc. This is especially true when we go climbing. The last couple of weeks Andy and I have been exposed to a couple more creeps than we usually see. The last couple of weeks Andy and I have been climbing in the Sydney area. Last weekend we went up to Berowra again and had a generally pleasant day had it not been for the brown snake. On the last climb of the day we decided to try this climb that none of us had done before, but because of the protection we decided to top rope it. In the guide book the description reads: Savage Cabbage 8m 19Up thin crack then tricky moves left to main crack. Follow this (take care with pro) to new lower off. Often dirty and sometimes inhabited by a (friendly) brown snake.This was warning enough and as a safety precaution we checked the holes at the bottom of the climb and didn't see anything suspicious. He started climbing and about 2 metres up he stuck his had into one of the pockets. He then decided to take a peek to see if there was anything in there and very quickly pulled his stand out shouting "Fu...a snake". Fortunately he hadn't been bitten or I would have had to call him a helicopter....again. Wikipedia says the following about the snake:Brown snakes are easily alarmed and may bite if approached closely, handled or threatened. The Eastern brown snake is the most toxic member of the genus and is the second most toxic land snake in the world. I don't think we'll be jumping onto that climb anytime soon. This weekend we decided instead to go to Narrabeen slaps as we hadn't been there for a while and it is easily accessible (15 minutes drive from home). It is a nice selection of semi difficult slabs along the Wakehurst parkway (almost rain forest). Generally when climbing in Sydney you see many webs from the funnel webs and I also saw at least one at Narrabeen. And, when we go to other climbing areas then there are always multiple holes in the rocks where you can see the funnel shaped webs. I happen to hate spiders and always fear that I will poke my fingers into a funnel web. I have only seen a live (I think) funnel web once and that was in Nowra on the bottom of a pond of water (people generally check their swimming pools for funnel webs before swimming as they can stay below the surface for ages), I saw a tiny scorpion on the floor of the cooking area in Nowra on the same trip. Wikipedia says:Although they are rather small, they should not be handled without taking substantial precautions, because their fangs have been known to penetrate fingernails and soft shoes, resulting in dangerous bites. Funnel-webs are probably one of the three most dangerous spiders in the world and are regarded by some to be the most dangerous. While Andy was belaying me he saw a redback spider crawl across the rope back and squashed it under his feet. He told me he had to stomp on it several times before it died. Wikipedia says:The redback spider is a potentially dangerous spider native to Australia. It resembles a Black widow spider. Redbacks, along with funnel-web spiders, are the most dangerous spiders in Australia. Most Australians dislike the redback spider, thanks in part to the frequency with which it is encountered in the environs of human habitations. Also, the crag is generally infested with mosquitoes, ticks and on this day we also had the pleasure of a big fat Tiger Leech which had had a feast on Andy's big toe so it started bleeding heavily as we left the crag (but the leech lived to see another day). We saw it earlier on Andy's sandals but flicked it off...only later did we discover that it had been sucking blood from him.
16. October 2007 10:21 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Brampton Island 2007 16. October 2007 10:21 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetbrampton island 2007ShareKim finished her job at Epicor this Monday and we therefore decided to go somewhere for an extended weekend before she starts any new adventures. Our first choice was to to go Samoa, but because of school holidays the hotels and flights were booked the days we wanted to go. Instead we settled on going to Brampton Island in the Whitsundays about 2000km North of Sydney. It was a long flight up there, first to Brisbane, then on to Mackay and from there continue with a small light aircraft to Brampton Island itself. Here is a photo of the island from the aircraft. Click here to see a video of Brampton Island from the aircraft. The island is beautiful and there is only one resort on the island accomodating a maximum of 200 guests. Because of all the flights to get there it means that it is a perfect couples destination as there were no kids making noise there (according to Kenneth kids families won't go unless it is a direct flight). The Island has got a number of really nice remote beaches that are empty and where one can get up to all sorts of mischief. There is also a small 6 hole par 3 golf course as well as archery range, spa and a couple of different pools etc. Our intention for the weekend wasn't really to be very active, but really to just relax and have a nice time together. On the first day we walked around the whole island (8km) and went for a swim along the way at a beach on the other side of the island that we had all to ourselves. We managed to get a bit of a sunburn both of us so the next day we stayed in the shade. On one of the other days we got a picnic pamper and found another beach where we could relax, swim and enjoy ourselves without anyone else around. The water was crystal clear and we could see fish and stingrays swimming around in it and although we had bought our snorkeling gear we never got around to using it.Here is a photo of Kim on the beach. And...click here to see a video of Kim in the water. Both of us had a very memorable time on the beaches.Most of the other guests were just spending their time in the resort itself and when it was too hot to go anywhere we also spent the time in the resort relaxing in the shade sipping cocktails. The only thing that was a bit disappointing was that the resort had all these nice catamarans and sailboards that were free to use, but because of lack of experience of the people working on the resort they wouldn't let anyone sail them if there was any wind whatsoever (really...what's the point!?!?). In the evening there was various forms of entertainment. Especially this one man band was really good, but most of the other entertainment was pretty average as the staff to be honest had little to no clue whatsoever. Click here to see more photos from Brampton Island
17. September 2007 10:17 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Fish Market & The Coast Colf Club 17. September 2007 10:17 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetfish market the coast colf clubShareThis Sunday we went to the fish market in Sydney with one of Kims colleagues from Singapore (who also happens to be Danish) and his Singaporean girlfriend for Lunch. The Seafood at the fish market is very fresh and nice. You can go to all these small seafood stalls and buy various seafood such as various types of Sashimi, Sushi, Lobster, Abalone, Scallops, Calamari and Balmain bugs. Kim and I shared a large seafood basket with different types of seafood as well as a small box of Sashimi. Afterwards we took Michael to The Coast Golf Club while Caroline went to do some retail therapy in Paddington. We only played 8 holes as we had to leave at 5pm to be at Kims sister at 6pm for her youngest sisters birthday.I took a really cool and funny video of Kim almost making par on one of the holes. Click here to download the video of Kim
10. September 2007 05:48 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Holland September 2007 10. September 2007 05:48 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetholland september 2007Share In early September I again went a week to Holland. The purpose of the trip this time was a combination of team building, create common processes and training. The company is working on getting everyone ECM (Electronic Content Management) certified. Since I just got back from Holland a couple of months ago I decided to just quickly fly in Sunday afternoon and then return Saturday morning. I really don't like flying through London Heathrow airport. They always loose my luggage there and every time it takes 1-3 days before it eventually arrives. My flight was delayed so as I expected I missed my flight to Amsterdam. I asked them to book me onto the next available flight where my luggage also would have a chance to make it.When the flight boarded I checked with the staff to make sure that my luggage had made it...it hadn't :-(As I had plenty of time I decided it would be better for me to de-board the flight and then try and catch the next flight hoping that my luggage then would make it...which I then confirmed it did when I boarded. Heathrow is the only airport in the world where I consistently have this problem. They need at least 3 hours between the flight to have a chance of transferring the luggage. Next time I'll check what options I have to fly through Frankfurt instead. Click here to see more photos from: Holland
28. July 2001 10:48 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Mandalay . . . 28. July 2001 10:48 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetmandalayShare When I initially arrived in Yangon / Rangoon, I wanted to fly up Bhamo - one of the bigger towns north of Burma. I also considered exploring Myitkyinã - a town further north of Bhamo. My Lonely Planet guide indicated that the only border crossing into China was to the east of Bhamo. My initial plans to Burma also included exploration of western China. However, I was disappointed by the military turning me back, despite the fact that my Lonely Planet guide said I could cross into China at Ruili. I decided instead to fly to Mandalay, not only because it was cheap to do so, but it saved me a 20-hour bus ride there from Yangon. I heard about a song for sailors. “To be a real sailor, the sailor would have to have been to Mandalay way upriver” I quite liked Mandalay. The photo below, is of Mandalay Hill. During World War II (20 March 1945), the British and the Japanese fought one another to gain control of the position on this hill. The photo to the left is taken from the hill itself facing east - as you can see, it has an aerial view of the whole city, and puts any oncoming enemies at a disadvantage. Control of Mandalay was important during the war, as the soldiers were able to set up artillery and attack anyone approaching the fortress. This hill was of big strategic importance. The building you see near the shrine is a monument to the British regiment who managed to take control of this hill from the Japanese. At the eastern part of the delta, a lot of logging takes place. There was a train line built that used to cart all the trees/wood for export to Thailand. The moat around the fortress is man-made. Although man-made, comes from the local river. The original fortress was burnt to the ground. The whole fortress covered an area of 2.5 x 2.5 km The design of Mandalay was quite colonial, and surprisingly, most of the streets were at 90º to one another. Overall, I found Mandalay the most expensive city to travel to in Burma. No matter what one does in Mandalay, be it explore Mandalay Hill or the city itself, the locals always had “special” foreigner prices. It really annoyed me. I tried to use local currency as much as possible. However, FEC (Foreign Exchange Currency) was more valuable and worth more to the locals. FEC is also used in China, and one tries to use local currency as much as possible. Any item you buy has 2 prices - and obviously it is cheaper to use local currency than to use FEC. I must admit, even Mandalay Hill was not that nice for the price I paid to explore it. It was also expensive just to go into the fortress. Surprisingly, I could not find maps of the area that was not more that 40 years old.
28. July 2001 10:47 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Burma Religion & Politics . . . 28. July 2001 10:47 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetpoliticsSharePolitics . . . There is a lot of politics going on in Burma that an outsider should not get involved in - Burma is one of those countries where political opinions are best kept to oneself. In Burma, use of the Internet and mobile phones is illegal. This is the government's way of controlling the information entering the country. Even access to equipment such as laptops is illegal - the country is so poor that many could not afford such a piece of equipment. I saw many young women queueing for their rations. They were standing so close together that I thought they were lesbians! *laugh* The girls stand close together so another person cannot jump the queue by pushing in. The girls here are very young, some have barely reached puberty and are doing some very hard work. There is a lot of critique by Amnesty International, of Burma's use of young girls to provide maintenance for the roads.
28. July 2001 10:47 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Medicine . . . 28. July 2001 10:47 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetmedicineShareMedicine . . .My girlfriend, Arumi, tells me one sees the wares of a 'Medicine Man' quite often throughout Asia. Whether they sit by the roadside, or whether they own a shop in a building, one will see very similar items being sold around Asia. The “pellets” you see here are in fact different types of roots such as ginger or some unknown vegetable, that have been sun or air dried. You will see the antlers of various animals such as deer or even rhino. There are also skulls from different animals - some of these animals may be endangered species, but somehow you will see them being sold in these markets. These skulls are definitely not being used as “trophies” around the house! The Burmese, like many Asians, believe in using very 'natural' remedies to cure common ailments. A Medicine Man may not necessarily be a “doctor” according to western standards - that means he may not have a university degree. However, a Medicine Man, may be what we know as “witch-doctors”. Some of the remedies they know are very natural and useful. Unfortunately, not all of these remedies work. Around Asia, you will see shops or Medicine Man selling items like tigers' paws and skulls, or ground ivory tusks. Many of these are sold as cures or enhancements for the sex life. In Burma, there is virtually no wildlife left. You will even find that even tobacco is sold naturally. Not in cigarette form, but in leaf form! The laws in Burma are not quite the same as they are here. Marijuana is also sold very freely. Lotus Fruit . . . Quite often in Asia, you may see lily pads floating on the water. In fairy-tales, you hear about frogs sitting on a lily pad. You will be amazed to associate that this fruit here, comes from the flowers/plant growing out of the water near the lily pads. The yellow seeds come from the flower itself. The seeds are used often in many Asian desserts, and said to promote better blood circulation. While, the root of the lotus plant is also a delicacy. It is white when cooked, and has a crunchy texture, similar to that of the water chestnut. Mainly used in savoury meals, although used as a dessert as well. Personally, I think it is too much hassle retrieving the fruit! *smile* Created: 31 Oct 2001
28. July 2001 10:46 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Schwedagon . . . 28. July 2001 10:46 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetschwedagonShare Schwedagon was a holy place with extremely large and beautiful temples. To get to Schwedagon, you had to travel up very long escalators. I took this photo because these escalators were the only escalators I had seen during my whole trip in Burma. As Schwedagon is a very religious place for the locals, I guess to travel up these escalators give the sense of travelling to a higher and holier place. The temples at Schwedagon were really impressive. I was told that collectively, these temples were built with 39 tonnes of pure gold. At the end of the day, the locals all contributed in cleaning the place. They clean all the tiles and are very organised. Here is the 'Big Stuba'. All that gold... Up close, the temples are a glorious sight. Especially at night! Can you see those lights at the base of the Big Stuba? Each is a 'mini temple', illuminating a Buddha. You can really see the magnificence of these temples! There are lots of rules or procedures about the way one prays to the Buddhas - very complicated to an outsider! I saw a couple of the buddhists pour water onto the statue of the Buddha. Depending on the day of the week a buddhist is born, the individual would pour the respective number of bowls for the day of the week. A buddhist believes that by doing this, it would bring them luck. At Schwedagon, I noticed there were hardly any tourists, mostly locals paying homage. Can you see how intricate the carvings are in the foreground? The monks rung this bell to announce prayer times. It brought luck to ring the bell. For example, if you were born on the 1st day of the week, you rung it once to bring good luck. If you were born on the 6th day of the week, you rung it 6 times etc.
28. July 2001 10:45 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Myanmar ( Burma ) 23 July ~ 5 Aug 2001 . . . 28. July 2001 10:45 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetmyanmar burma 23 july 5 aug 2001ShareBurma/Myanmar surprised me in many ways. I would have liked to see more of Burma than I did, but due to military restrictions, I only had access to certain parts of Burma and was not able to see any of the indigenous people along the border as I had initially planned.Burma is a very poor country. It was difficult to travel... travelling 100 kilometres could sometimes take up to 6 hours. One of the most beautiful places in Burma, I thought, was Bagan. I took many photos in Burma, and tried to order them in the following pages: I spent some days in Yangon, which had a heavy colonial influence. Schwedagon was another place full of temples, a place laden with pure gold. Whilst travelling, I could not help notice how influenced the people were by religion, and Burma's politics is one thing an outsider should not get involved in. I was fascinated by what the Burmese used for medicine. They also had some rather interesting local fruit. Mandalay also had an interesting colonial battle history. Whilst there, I watched the “Mandalay Marionettes”. With the restrictions up north, I did not get to see much. But you would not believe how the Burmese play volleyball! Finally, at Mt Popa, I went there to see a local monastry, and saw a lot of wild monkeys there. Yangon ( Rangoon ) . . .This is the city-centre of Rangoon. Rangoon is the capital city of Burma. It is actually a pretty big city if you compare it with other parts of Burma on a map. Most of the buildings are from the old colonial period when the British occupied Burma. Unfortunately they have not been very well-maintained. Can you see the green bits on the clocktower? If you are thinking it is vegetation growing on it, you are right! There is quite a bit growing on most of the buildings in the city.There were so many pigeons! I managed to catch a pictures of a pigeon flying mid-air - can you see the blurred grey thing near the tree in the middle of the photo? NextReturn to SE Asia menuReturn to TopCreated: 22 Sept 2001
28. July 2001 01:56 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Burma newspaper 28. July 2001 01:56 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetburma newspaperShare
15. June 2001 10:27 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments 3rd Place in Photo Competition! 15. June 2001 10:27 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetcompetition photo 2001Share I took part in a photo competition in November 2001, using one of the photos I had taken during my trip to Mt Cook in January 2001. This photo was of Kevin, the alpine guide from my group in the technical climbing course. The following photo and comments appeared on the Planet Fear website, in the Front Line Photography Competition - not long after I was notified that I was one of 20 winners, and I was even more surprised to find out that I had come third! The comments above the photo were my comments that I had emailed to them when I sent the photo. The comments below the photo were (one of the judges) comments about my photo. 3. Rene Pallesen The attached photo was taken in New Zealand on the main range near Mount Cook. The valleys to the west are filled with clouds formed by the moisture from the forests underneath. The snowcovered mountains in the north are visible through the clouds. The photo was taking using a Nikon FM10 using a Fuji Sensia 100 film. Literally bathed in atmosphere. It would be easy to muff this high key exposure but Rene is spot on. The vertical format adds to a shot capturing all the euphoria of life on the tops. Reminds me of the legendary Mountain mag front covers. ~ Comment by Ian Parnell, Planet Fear Feel free to see my photo on their website. Also, you could go to the Planet Fear website to view the other winning photos.
15. January 2001 11:14 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Mt Cook 15. January 2001 11:14 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetmt cookShareCreated: 18 Aug 2001 Last Updated: 16 Sept 2001
15. January 2001 10:59 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Mt Cook ( 15 ~ 28 January 2001 ) 15. January 2001 10:59 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetmt cook 15 28 january 2001ShareMt Cook ( 15 ~ 28 January 2001 )I decided to do a Technical Ice-Climbing course with Alpine Guides in New Zealand. I spent 10 days at Mt Cook doing a very challenging course, but I learnt a lot. I learnt all the techniques required to do ice-climbing safely. I also learnt the necessities of surviving in the icy mountains. Prior to the trip, a lot of preparation was required. Everyday, I went jogging to build up my fitness, so by the time I left for New Zealand, I could run 3km on the sand without getting puffed. I also had to buy some of the equipment. I had to buy cramp-ons (looks like spiked metal soles) to attach to my boots; ice-axe and ice-hammer; a new Gore-tex jacket (I needed a new one anyway) and some other clothing and equipment. The photo on the right became a 3rd-place winner in a photo competition.Our group consisted of 4 other doing the course. There were no prerequisites, other than a love for the mountains and a very high fitness level. Not all of us who do this course go on to climb the great mountains. We also discovered it takes guts and courage to stand on top of the world and feel confident. One cannot be an ice-climber if there is a fear of heights or if unsteady on the feet. All of us in the group had come from different backgrounds. Søren was an experienced climber, who had aspirations of going to the Himalayas. Alan was a rock-climber who wanted to try the challenge of ice-climbing. Rob too loved the mountains and wanted the experience and challenge of being on the icey slopes of New Zealand. I had had quite a lot of climbing and mountaineering experience, but this was my first time ice-climbing. The person holding the camera is Søren. I met him in NZ, whilst waiting for the bus for Mt Cook. To my surprise, he was a Dane living here in Sydney. He was a professional photographer (hence you see him holding the Nikon). He and I had similiar experience so our speed through the course was pretty much the same. I actually ended up cracking a rib whilst on the course. I did this during a 'self-arrest' technique, where we actually throw ourselves down a steep slope and try to use our ice-axe to stop ourselves from falling any further. This technique is used in case you fall down a crevass and have nothing to hold onto. Rob was the other person doing the course. He once dropped his ice-axe and one of us had to abseil down to collect it, as an ice-axe is a piece of equipment that is vital and you only carry one of these each. We worked in pairs, but had to swap partners as our guide took turns working with each of us. Ice-climbing is nothing like rock-climbing. You cannot use your fingers (well, they will freeze if you take your gloves off), so you really on equipment like ice-axe and ice-picks to anchor yourself into the ice. These pieces of equipment are really important, especially if you are sleeping on a ledge or stopping for a rest. Other than someone belaying you, using ice-picks to secure yourself into the ice is the backup should your belay fail. We each took turns at ice-climbing! Alan is the one in the blue jacket, Søren is the one in the red. I guess Søren has more photos of me climbing, whereas I can't take photos of myself! In the following section, you will see a series of photos of Mt Cook. If you want to have a look at the black & white version of this (quite artistic), click here.
17. September 2000 10:58 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Olympic Day Out ( 17th Sept 2000 ) 17. September 2000 10:58 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments Tweetolympic day out 17th sept 2000ShareLast September, Sydney held the Olympic Games. I saw a lot of the events on TV but was disappointed with the coverage of other countries' involvement. However, I did manage to be at Olympic Park during the Games and also see the first handball match - Denmark vs Norway. I managed to get tickets for the game and had a very nice day with my girlfriend and the Lenehans. I also managed to get some pretty spectacular photos of the Olympic torch. Here is Stadium Australia, where the Olympic torch is held. Most of the major track & field events, as well as athletics were held here. It is a pretty spectacular building - and HUGE. During the Olympics, you could not go into just any of the buildings at Olympic Park. You had to have a ticket for an event before you could enter the building. As you can see me, I am wearing my T-shirt supporting Danmark! This is one of the few days that I can wear the T-shirt. It was a very sunny and warm day and the place was full of people. During the Olympics, you could only get access to the whole of the Olympic Park if you had a ticket. They had quite tight security, and had to go through a detector on the perimeter of the grounds after you got off the train/bus. The handball game started at about 2pm and we managed to wander round for quite a bit before going into the arena wear the handball was. The food as amazingly expensive! Normally a fruit salad would only cost about AUD$3, cost up to AUD$8 that day!. Bottles of water was double the price. They really made it a money-making event for tourists! The funny thing too, we noticed that as you entered Olympic Park, all of the signs were in French and English, and all the announcements were given in French first, then English. It was most peculiar! As we got closer to where the handball games were being held, we saw a lot of Danes and Norwegians dressed in country colours! Danes in red and white and Norwegians... well, there was a guy there who had lots of cow bells around his neck and attached to his clothes. He was wearing a traditional metal helmet and dressed in old-fashioned gear. It was amazing to feel all the atmosphere - just to be there. We were all in the true Danish spirit! Even my girlfriend was dressed in a white T-shirt and red pants! We painted flags on our faces with some face paint. We were definitely there to support the Danish team! Even Lance could not help get caught in the moment with us! *smile* A break in the handball game - Danmark vs Norway! Danmark in red & white, Norway in blue & white. We had pretty good seats - it was a matter of whoever got there first, had the best seats, although we had to enter through certain doors. All the journalists and officials sat on the left. We even heard that the crown prince of Danmark was there for the game, even though we could not spot him. There were flags everywhere, Danish and Norwegian waving about. Everytime Norway scored, you could hear countless numbers of cow-bells being rung! A few times, some of the people tried to start a Mexican wave, but that did not work out. It was a very fast and furious game. It was the only handball game that the Danish lost in the whole Olympic Games, and they eventually came first in the finals! Just after entering Olympic Park, we managed to get a group photo! As you can see the place is very crowded but very festive - you just had to be there! A most glorious sunset! After the handball match, we wandered around for a bit longer. The day had been quite warm, so the night was a beautiful clear night. After the Lenehans left, Arumi and I had a look at a small Aboriginal art exhibition located at the Park. We sat on one of the few grassy patches, to watch the flickering of the lights and just enjoy the day. We eventually went home, but Olympic Park was still swarming with people, who were there to watch events that went on later into the night. Although we did not get the chance to see any other events during the Olympics, it was definitely worth the day we spent there. We would have loved to see the final game when Danmark won, but as usual, we were not very organised... Below, I have included photos taken on the night of the Closing Ceremony. These were taken from Graham's apartment on a hill at McMahons Point. We had a spectacular view of the fireworks that went off after the Closing Ceremony. It was really windy on the balcony, but I managed to get some photos of the Olympic rings that were placed on Sydney Harbour Bridge. Beautiful, isn't it?
2. April 2016 22:04 by Admin 0 Comments Eastertrip Oberon 2. April 2016 22:04 by Admin | 0 Comments TweetThis Easter we rented a small cabin out at Oberon. It was a beautiful little place on top of a hill ShareThis Easter we rented a small cabin out at Oberon. It was a beautiful little place on top of a hill with a beautiful view.The place was full of cattle, kangaroos and wombat holes (with wombats in them).Along the way we stopped at Wentworth Falls.We also went to Jenolan Caves one day.And afterwards Kanangra walls (Lucas never made the 200m walk there...too tired from all the walking. Pity, because it was the perfect spot and light for a family photo).Next day we tried going to the glow worm tunnel, but the easter crowds made us turn back once we approached the car park. So instead we went up to Blackheath to have a nice lunch and enjoy some of the lookouts.Later I tried another family photo at the cabin...very windy.Overall a nice trip and the boys had a lot of fun.
2. April 2016 21:04 by Admin 0 Comments Eastershow 2016 2. April 2016 21:04 by Admin | 0 Comments TweetAgain this year we went to the Easter Show the entertainment quarter. As usual it was great fun for ShareAgain this year we went to the Easter Show the entertainment quarter. As usual it was great fun for the kids.Especially Lucas had a blast now that he is old enough to participate.
2. April 2016 19:04 by Admin 0 Comments Australia Day - Citizenship 2. April 2016 19:04 by Admin | 0 Comments TweetAustralia day was a very special day this year. I have been living in Australia for over 17 years anShareAustralia day was a very special day this year. I have been living in Australia for over 17 years and have been waiting for the moment Denmark would accept dual citizenship.Although I have been been calling Australia my home for a long time I am also a Dane and didn't want to give this up.I actually thought that it would never happen, but finally in late 2015 the law was finally changed and I lodged my Australian application immediately. On Australian day I took the pledge and can officially call myself an Australian now.Kim and the boys, KA and Aaron as well a few friends attended the ceremony. I felt very proud and was very honoured.And I was pampered with Australia day gifts.
7. January 2016 18:01 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Hunter Valley Christmas 2015 7. January 2016 18:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetBetween Christmas and New year we went to the Hunter Valley with Sasha and his family.We stayed overShareBetween Christmas and New year we went to the Hunter Valley with Sasha and his family.We stayed overnight in a cabin in Lovedale.During the day we tasted wines at the various wineries (found some good ones).The kids also loved playing at the cabin in the evenings.
7. January 2016 18:01 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Christmas 2015 7. January 2016 18:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetThis year we decided not to celebrate on the eve of the 24 and just stick with the 25th at KC's placShareThis year we decided not to celebrate on the eve of the 24 and just stick with the 25th at KC's place (too much cooking otherwise). I was responsible for the Christmas ham (with limited success).It was a relaxing day and the kids were very exited about their presents.
16. December 2015 13:12 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Silliness 16. December 2015 13:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetSometimes when I am setting up for a photo especially Aiden likes to jump in a get silly.It is a gooShareSometimes when I am setting up for a photo especially Aiden likes to jump in a get silly.It is a good way to test the lighting and sometimes I managed to get a 'keeper' such as this one from a few weeks back.
16. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Christmas family photo 2015 16. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetIt is almost Christmas and I've just completed our annual family Christmas photo and this is the finShareIt is almost Christmas and I've just completed our annual family Christmas photo and this is the final version.It was an interesting process getting to this photo this year. Last year we did a photo in the kitchen of us baking a cake, but this years photo has so many more elements to it.The idea came from a combination of Kim and my ideas. Kim wanted to do a photo of the boys through a crystal ball. I actually bought the crystal ball right after Christmas last year with this year in mind.We did a test in front of the tree in early December which was reasonably okay, but Kim didn't like the feel to it. She wanted more snow (pretty ambitious on a summers day here in Sydney Australia).My idea for our family photo was based on me wanting to do a story of us as a family out in a snow storm 'Looking for Santa'. I had purchased a bag of artificial snow and a Christmas cape a few months back and we had some lanterns downstairs so I pretty much had all the components in place for the shoot.I knew I had to do it as a composite with the boys as there was no way that I would be able to get the photo with all four of us at once. We did the photo over a couple of days, on the first evening (after the kids had gone to bed) I took the one of Kim and myself holding the lantern. Once I had this photo I could show it to Aiden and Lucas so that they knew what we needed them to do (Lucas just had to copy Aiden).I had Gaffa taped markers on the floor so everyone would know where they were supposed to stand. Inside the lantern I had hidden a speedlight gelled with CTO to make it look light the lantern was lit. We are actually lit by a large Einstein strobe also with CTO, grid and barn doors to control the spill of the light. At the back left and right were another two speedlights providing a bit of rim light to emulate moon light.Because of the first 'failed' attempt of the crystal ball I got the idea to extend my 'Looking for Santa' photo into Santa's shed where he would have a crystal ball where he could look at us looking for him.This would require three components - The crystal ball, the lights from the Christmas tree to create atmosphere and then Santa himself. I created Santa by hanging a hat on a chair which was easy to light and then I had another light which I used to balance the ambient with the lights from the tree.The final photo all combined looks like the following, but in the end we decided to just use the tighter crop in the first and final photo.
1. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments 7th Anniversary 1. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetThis month Kim and I had our anniversary.I cant believe we have been married for 7 years...still lovShareThis month Kim and I had our anniversary.I cant believe we have been married for 7 years...still love her to bits.
1. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen 0 Comments Aiden Graduation and Christmas Concert 1. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments TweetIt was time again for the annual Christmas concert with Aiden and Lucas' daycare.Aiden is starting 'ShareIt was time again for the annual Christmas concert with Aiden and Lucas' daycare.Aiden is starting 'big' school after Christmas, so this was also his graduation.Kim and Aiden had both practiced some dancing and songs for the concert and were both dressed up, Aiden as a doctor and Lucas as a pumpkin.Although Aiden was very excited leading up to the concert and was telling everyone how he was going to sing and dance, he absolutely broke down once we got there overwhelmed by all the people and the noise.It was heartbreaking to see him like that on an evening where he should be enjoying himself. He was crying and didn't want to get on the stage. Eventually we managed to get him up and he did try and participate.Lucas on the other hand had a great time, unfortunately I didn't get a lot of photos of that because I had to try and comfort Aiden.After the show Santa turned up wit presents for the kids and he was a lot happier again.After that the graduates had their photos taken and had cake.
29. November 2015 22:11 by Admin 0 Comments Ballet - Sleeping Beauty 29. November 2015 22:11 by Admin | 0 Comments TweetSaturday Kim and I went to the Sydney Opera house to watch the Sleeping Beauty performed by the AustShareSaturday Kim and I went to the Sydney Opera house to watch the Sleeping Beauty performed by the Australian Ballet.It was one of the better ballets we have seen. The story was great and the dancing (lots of it) was of a really high quality.The even managed to weave in some of the Red riding hood story, Puss in boots, Cinderella and other stories.It was beautiful to watch.