Last 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.

Yesterday 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.

I 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).

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

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

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



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



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



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



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





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

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

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





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

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






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





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

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




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






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

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

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


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


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

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


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



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


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


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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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



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










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







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







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

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


Below is photos of the animals we spotted:



















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

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




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







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



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


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
















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







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



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







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

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

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




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

My Dad wanted to see the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht race again this year.

Unlike the last time we were there in good time this year and found a great parking spot and a fairly good vantage point of the race without too many crowds.

While waiting for the race to start the James Craig was cruising back and forth outside the harbour.





Once the race started and the boats passed the heads it became very busy both on the water and it in air with all the boats and helicopters (at one point I counted 11 at the same time) and my Dad was busy clicking away.










This year turned out to be a new course record, so great conditions all the way to Hobart.

Christmas Day we celebrated with Kims family at her sisters house.

It was the usual crowd of our familys and everyone bringing dishes to share and as usual there was a lot of different foods to try.



It was great to have the whole family together (Aiden was again eating too much).







And even Santa made an appearance again this year...Thank you so much Santa!!!!!

This year we celebrated Christmas at home with my Dad and his partner with the traditional Christmas Duck and Ris-a-la-mande.





It was Lucas' first and Aiden's third Christmas...Aiden is now getting old enough to enjoy the experience...



...especially the food



After dinner we opened presents according to the Danish tradition and Aiden was very excited about the big box from Bedstefar...



...containing a big truck.



From Mummy and Daddy he received a Lightning Mcqueen car (radio controlled).





...and also a drawing pad.





Merry Christmas...

On one of the days we took my dad to Maroubra beach for breakfast.





It gave them a chance to check out what out local beach is like and also Aiden a chance to have a bit of a play in the sand.

At around Christmas time Kims dad asked me if I could take some more photos of him and the grandchildren.

Last year I took some of him using a blue background and he asked for something similar (although I am not a big fan of blue)

Every year I like to take a Christmas family photo.

This year having my dad around meant that I could get hime to assist us with taking the photo as I needed someone to stand on a ladder taking the photo while we as a family was lying plat on a bed.

Merry Christmas 2012 Everyone!!!!

Every year some of the houses in Matraville puts on a spectacular christmas light show.

Every night there are hundreds of visitors and it is worth seeing.

Here are some of the lights from this years show.

This holiday season my Dad and his partner is visiting us from Denmark.



It has been a while since he was here and in also a while since we were in Denmark, so Aiden had grown a fair bit since.

The first couple of weeks we bought then some trips to various places such as Hunter Valley and the Blue Mountains.

One the weekends we would treat then to various dinners Thai, Indian, Moroccan, Brazilian, Aussie, Chinese etc. as well as try to make time to take them to see some of the sights around Sydney.

The first weekend Aiden was sick so we had to cancel our trip up the Northern Beaches to Barrenjoey Lighthouse so we had to stay home and let them explore by themself. On the second weekend we managed to go there and bring Aiden along as well sitting in his little backback.



It was a warm day and the climb is fairly steep so especially my dads partner was pretty hot by the time we reached the top where the light house is.






The view was definitely worth it.



Walking back along the beach we decided to make a drink stop to clench the thirst.

First of all Merry Christmas everyone!!!


With a bit of arm twisting Kim finally agreed to let me do a series of 'sexy' Santa photos.




A lot of work had to go into these couple of photos in terms of getting the outfit, but the right colour wrapping paper, wrap all the boxes, set them up to it looks nice, getting all the lighting right and not least convince Kim to do the actual shoot.

Then I had to sort out the photos I needed and then do all the editing...I think the end result is pretty good and very much in the spirit of Christmas.

And did I mention that I am married to the most beautiful (and sexy) Santa there is???

Lucas is now three months young and the other day I did a series of monthly photos of Kim and him on our bed.

Because Kim and I was busy travelling we never really managed to hold a birthday party where friends were invited along.

So, in mid august we held a small party celebrating Kim's, Luke's and My birthday.



Kim and Luke has got birthday on the same day and I was out travelling at that time, and on my birthday we went skiing in the Snowy Mountains.

It was a fun evening at a nice Thai restaurant in North Sydney. Click here to see more pictures from: Birthday party

This week I went to The Gold Coast (Surfers Paradise) to work on our stand at TechEd. This is our biggest marketing push of the year and gives us a chance to talk to more than 2000 people over the 4 days of the conference.

To attract people to our stand we had hired to girls to hand out brochures regarding our price draw. This turned out to be really effective. They managed to hand out 1500 brochures in just one hour so we had to get more printed for the second day. And a lot of people came to visit our stand to see what we were all about.



It is pretty hard work. Most days start at around eight in the morning and generally didn't finish until around nine at night..and during this time there is a constant flow of people through the stand and constantly people to talk to.



On the last evening Microsoft hosted the TechEd party at MovieWorld...free rides, free drinks and lots of actors dressed up at star wars and star trek characters. None of my colleagues wanted to go, so I went by myself and did some of the rides and alng the way I bumped into various people I knew at the conference.



And it was a pretty good fun evening and I took a lot of cool photos, so I recommend you see the rest of the photos in the gallery...just click on one of the photos or on the link provided below.




But tell you what...it is really nice being back in Sydney where Kim is.

Click here to see more photos from: The Gold Coast

Sunday Kim, Luke, Sasha and I went to The Coast to play golf. It is a beautiful course located along the cliffline of Little bay.

I had just received my new golf clubs (Cobra S9's) and that needed some adjustment so I didn't play particular well, but I had a good day out nevertheless.



A lot of the shots on the course are over the water which can be a bit intimidating if you play the course for the first time...but once you have played it a few times then it is not so bad.



The day before I was climbing with Andy at Berowra. It is normally difficult to get him outside climbing, but since he went climbing at Krabi in Thailand during his holiday he's been hooked. Berowra is one of the local Sydney Crags located about 30 minutes drive north of the city centre. It is not a tall cliff line, but a lot of the climbs are very crimpy and there is a lot of variation in the climbs.

This weekend it was my birthday and it also happened to be the ski peak season here in Australia.


(click here for more photos)

A group of us rented a house in Cooma not too far away from the ski fields and apart from a few mechanical problems with my car we had a blast of a time. On the Saturday we went to Perisher. The snow was perfect and a lot of the runs hadn't been groomed so it was still deep powder snow that we were skiing in.

Kim, Luke and Karen took lessons in the morning and later in the afternoon I went for a couple of runs with Luke (Soeren didn't make it to the ski area that day). In the evening we were watching a video (I fell asleep 15 minutes into it), and we had birthday cake and wine/beer.

The day after all of us went to Thredbo (which in my opinion is much better) and I was skiing with Soeren all day. The girls were having fun skiing down in the beginners area and Luke was skiing by himself higher on the mountain.

We left Thredbo at around 3.30pm and arrived back home in Sydney at around 10.15pm....a long drive.

I took a couple of videos of Soeren and myself skiing:
 Video of Rene Skiing #1
Video of Rene Skiing #2
Video of Soeren Skiing #1
Video of Soeren Skiing #2


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

Ok, it is not just in Holland that they steal with arms a legs. I am not proud to admit that the same seems to happen in Denmark (my birth country)...but more about that later.

After Holland I flew a quick trip to Denmark. On the way there in Heathrow Airport I met up with Kim who had spend a couple of days in London with a couple of friends. I was really looking forward to introducing her to my parents.

My flight arrived a bit late in London so we arrived to Copenhagen without my luggage which turned up the following day.


All the time while in Denmark it was pouring with rain, but we did have one good day in Copenhagen where Kim got to see the sights Fredriksborg Slot, The Marble church, Amalienborg, City Square and City Hall, Stroeget, The little Mermaid, Runde Taarn, Tivoli and Gefion Springvandet. We had lunch at Kultorvet and here Kim got her handbag stolen by a very professional bag snatcher (Latin American or Eastern European looking, dark short hair, wears a dark green suit and will sit down at the table next to you and talk on his mobile. When he leaves he will take your bag).



We also spent a couple of days at my grandmothers place where we we had a look at Koldinghus and Trapholt. Kim got to meet most of the family in Jutland (The family on my Dads side).



My cousin had a child recently and the christening was taking place while we were visiting, so it gave us an excuse to visit my grandmother.



On the way back from Jutland we visited my Uncle and Auntie Eli and Henning on their farm and also had a look at their windmill.

One day we went also sailing up through Guldborgsund with my dad and we also went a quick trip to Germany one afternoon with the ferry.



It was good to see my parents again, but I also realise that apart from them there is not much left for me in Denmark and I would never be able to live the same lifestyle in Denmark as I do in Sydney Australia.






I took a number of videos while in Denmark and also a lot of photos. I can recommend that you click on the following links to see more from Denmark.

Video of my Uncles Windmill #1
Video of my Uncles Windmill #2
Video of my Uncles Windmill #3
Video of Kim and my dad picking strawberries
Video of sailing with my dad #1
Video of sailing with my dad #2
Video of sailing with my dad #3
Click here to see more photos from:Denmark/ Slideshow

After my stay in Athens Greece I am now in Vianen in Holland where our European office is. The purpose with my stay here is to do a bit or coordination and do some planning.

Vianen is about 45 minutes drive south of Amsterdam not too far from Utrect. I am staying at the only hotel in Vianen which is located 3-4 kilometers from the office, but fortunately I have been able to borrow one of the company cars.

Vianen really is in the middle of no-where. It is a sleepy little town with no major attractions.

The hotel here is really weird. None of the floors meet and the numbering system of the rooms is all over the place. It is generally faster to get from one room in the hotel to another by always taking the lift to the ground floor, exit the hotel, enter it elsewhere and then take the lift up again...at least the ground floor is always on the same level.

The room itself is nice enough. When I wake up in the morning i wake up looking at a cow paddock with a couple of horses wandering around...did I say that this is out in the sticks?



People in holland steal with their arms and legs. Yesterday I asked to get an ironing board and an iron brought to my room.They told me that they could not do that (could be because of the mile long walk from the reception but I don't think so, because the room also don't have an alarm clock and the tv is bolted to the table) and they told me that they now had a special ironing room. The iron and ironing board was bolted with a big chain to the wall.

The only positive thing about the hotel is that the breakfast is pretty nice (dinner isn't) and the internet is reasonably priced at 25 Euros for a week.

Its is nice to catch up with colleagues although the schedule is pretty busy here. I interviewed a couple of people for the office here and we are going to give an offer to one of the guys.

Also a couple of the restaurants in Vianen itself are fairly decent and the fact that I could borrow a car meant that I could get around a bit.

Here in mid June I am in Greece assisting one of our partners on a project involving our software.

I arrived Sunday evening and started working Monday morning with the partner. One of my colleagues Karsten is also here and last night we went to this fantastic restaurant called moorings.




It is the most fantastic setting right next to the sea, and the food was fantastic. My starter was goats cheese wrapped in prosciutto ham baked in the oven and then served on a bed of wild mushrooms. For mains I had Grober (a fish) and it was really nice. The servings were massive so no chance of leaving hungry. It was a pity that Kim wasn't there joining me...she would have loved the place. The whole dinner including a bottle of wine, pre-dinner drinks for two people amounted to approximately 135 Euros which is really cheap considering the food and the setting.

During the week Karsten and I have been pretty busy assisting the partner on the project. Later in the week they requested to get some more of my time to assist them. Since Athens is a nice place to be (more interesting than Vianen anyway) I as happy to stay. This means that my stay will ten days in total before continuing to Holland.

During the weekend I had time to do some windows shopping along Ermou street and in the Athens Flea markets as well as visit the Unknown soldiers grave.




After that I continued up to see the Acropolis.



I was in Greece and Athens about 15 years ago and managed to see a lot of things, but it was nice with a bit of a refresher. One of the things I particularly remember from Acropolis is the Porch of the Maidens.



One evening around sunset on the weekend I walked up this hill close to the hotel that has a small chapel on top. There were also a couple of restaurants up there so I decided to sit down and have dinner. The evening view from the hill was fantastic with a view of Acropolis lit up as well as all of the lights of Athens all the way to Pireus.



Click here to see more photos from: Athens / Slideshow

Sunday afternoon Kim, Luke and I went playing golf at Wakehurst Golf Glub near Manly.

It was the first time on this course and it was in perfect condition and a very scenic course.

Luke joined us and managed to loose a fair amount of balls until he figured out that he should keep his head down to be able to hit the ball. After this he was able to play a fairly decent game...which was excellent, because I had been giving him a bit of a hard time until then (especially after being 30 minutes late for the game).




I think I managed to play the first none holes 7-8 strokes over par.

After the first nine holes Kim and I continued on our own and managed to play an additional 6-7 holes before it got to dark to play (and Kim was starving).

I recorded a couple of videos of us playing. Click on the links below to download them:
Me playing golf (first movie)
Me playing golf (second movie)
Kim Playing golf
Luke playing golf

Since 1998 we have had a drought in Australia. The water supply in Sydney has been declining ever since and early may 2007 the supply was down to around 30% with only about 8 months supply left.

On the 17th of May it started raining in most parts of NSW and in many areas the drought now seems to be either over or at least less serious. Here is a radar photo from that day:


Our water supplies in Sydney are now up to 57% and still rising. It would be fantastic if we could reach 100%, but we would need a fair bit of rain still.

It also means that there is snow falling in the Snowy Mountains, so the skiing season has already kicked in with plenty of natural snow.

A couple of months ago I took Kim out on this really romantic dinner. She was really impressed with my ability to choose the best places in town. I am writing this post so that all you other blokes (or Sheila's) out there can do the same for your loved ones.

The place I took her to is this really romantic waterfront restaurant placed on some of the most expensive realestate in Sydney. The cousine is traditional Australian but this place is famous throughout the world and regularly appear in magasines.
The food is very reasonably priced and it is almost always possible to get a seat right next to the water. In the evening the waterfront seating is dimly lit and has got enough privacy for some kisses and some cuddles.

A lot of famous people have visited the restaurant and they have got photos of some of the people such as Richard Branson (Virgin), John Travolta (Actor,Grease) and many more. The restaurant has got a rich history and has been in this area for many decades now.

The service is quick and polite. The restaurant is BYO so I can recommend bringing a good Australian wine or even a couple of chilled beers on a warm summer night. The restaurant doesn't even charge corkage like other prime restaurants do.

On valentines day this restaurant still does a-la-carte at their normal prices where other restaurants either have set menus or inflate their prices.

Being on a tight budget is no excuse not to go to this place. They have got food that will fit in any budget and I find it hard to believe that you will leave the place hungry. After dinner go for a romantic stroll along the water and you will have won the heart of your loved one (I did).

Click here to see where the restaurant is

On the last day in Denmark our flight wasn't leaving from Copenhagen to Milan until early evening, we therefore decided to head into the capital a bit earlier in the day and spend a couple of hours sightseeing with my parents.

We went to a place called Rosenborg (Rose Castle) which is where the Danish royals keep their crown jewels.



It is also the place where they train the soldiers that protect the royals.



Some of the jewels are absolutely stunning. There is lots of ivory, old weapons, saddles, gold etc. everything coverved with diamonds, perls, emeralds, rubys and other jewels.















My mum and dad was waiting outside (half asleep) while we were inside looking at all the awsomeness.

While we were in Denmark we went to the local zoo called Knuthenborg. It was created by the owner of one of the big farms who had a vision to create one of Europes larges open air zoos. What is so special about this particular zoo is that you drive around amongst the animals and in certain areas are allowed to leave the car and interact with the animals.

The first place we went was the monkey area. Here we were able to walk around some of the Lemurs (Half monkeys) from Madagascar.





Driving around we also saw a number of other animals such as the asian water buffalo (which loves mud), zebras, Zobel Antelopes, Goats










Kim even found a horse her own size



We had a bit of fun with the camels. I don't know what they were thinking but they kept eating my hair and I think one of them was in love with me.







They also have some more exotic animals there such as tigers and rhinos (The wouldn't allow us to get out of our car to pet these).

Not far from where my parent live there is an open air museum displaying how people lived in the medieval time which in Denmark was the late 14th century.

For Kim and I it felt like we suddenly were a princess and a knight from that time.











Besides from houses, ships and other buildings the place also displays various handicraft, weaponry and how people battles in those times.

They have working Trebuchets there to throw massive stones (or dead animals and burning tar) accurately for distances of more than several hundred metres.



Every day they show people how they work and hurl massive stones into the water.


We tried some of the weapons. I used to be fairly alright with a bow and arrow when I was a kid. I tried the bow and arrow here and it was a total disaster.





Obviously Kim went straigh for the shoes and the furs (I am not a fur person myself):





They also had a knights tournament on while we were there. Two knights would fight using their lances which would shatter on the impact against the shields.

On one of the days in Denmark we had a really nice and relatively calm day. This was perfect for us to go sailing and bring my mum along.



First we had to get my mum onboard. The Sailing clum has a crane for removing masts from the boats. This is perfect for lifting her in a specially designed harness from her wheelchair to the boat.







The water between the two islands (Lolland and Falster...the island I grew up on) is fairly narrow and long and we spent time sailing north for a couple of hours, had some lunch whereafter we turned back again. It was a beautiful day and my mum really enjoyed it as well.

We managed to take some really nice family photos on the trip.








On the same evening we had a beautiful sunset.

When Kim and i got married last year we promised my mum that we would come to Denmark this summer (European) and have a little party with her as she was unable to attend.

Our journey there didn't start well. A five hour delay from Sydney meant that we missed our flight in London. British Airways told us that we wouldn't be able to get on a flight until next day but we insisted that they get get on us a flight the same day. They waitlisted us on a couple of flight and eventually we managed to get to Copenhagen late the same evening. Thanks to modern technology my parents were updated with the flight details so they didn't have to wait around and they arrived to the airport just before we arrived.
It took our luggage another two days to catch up with us, this meant that we had to do some essential clothes shopping.


The first couple of day we spent with my parent, cooking for them, taking my mum to the forest, the beach as well as going sailing. It is summer time in Denmark at the moment, so the weather was a lot more pleasant than the last time we were there and there was more people at the beach etc.





It was a bit weird visiting this time. My mum and dad are no longer living together and they had sold the house week before we arrived. This meant that we were staying in my dads apartment (Which used to be my brothers) and visiting my mum during the day. My mum has got a really nice little apartment in a facility where there are people around to assist her whenever she needs help.



My mum has also still got the car, so it is easier to take her to places as it has got a lift and special belts to secure the wheelchair.



At the end of the week my dad had organised a party for my family and friends. It was in the middle of the holiday season, so a lot of cousins and other family members were unable to join.







It was especially good to see my grandma (who is 89).



We were in Denmark a total of 10 days before then heading to Italy.

Kim likes to have a lot of parties (Pre-Party, Party and Post Party) when it is her birthday. This weekend we had a big group of her friends over for a BBQ.

It is currently winter here, but it was nice and sunny, so the backyard was still warm in the mid twenty degrees so we were able to sit outside.



Kim had baked cupcakes the night before and used the cupcake stand from our wedding to present them and it looked fantastic.

Last year I took Kim to Hunter Valley for her birthday. This year we decided to head up to the cold Blue Mountains.

We hired a cabin that we stayed in a couple of years ago. It is a nice little self contained cottage in the Blue Mountains...loads of privacy and a nice little woodfire and spa.





It was cold up there so the wood fire was very convenient.

Saturday morning we had booked a round of golf at Leura golf course. The first thing you notice here is that everyone plays really slowly. We got let through two groups but still managed to complete the round in less than 4 hours. It is a beautiful course and it was one of the most enjoyable rounds of golf I'd played for a long time.



And as you can tell Kim was very relaxed too.



And here showing the latest in golf fashion.



In the afternoon we had a look at Leura (Kim had the munchies for scones) and we had a look at the local shops.


In the evening it was time to celebrate her Birthday so I took her out to dinner at Echos Point Restaurant. Food was ok, but overprices compared to many really good Sydney restaurants. But there was plenty of food so we skipped the desert...and had a really nice and romantic evening, so Kim was very happy.



Next morning we woke up early to have a look at a few shops and gardens around the place. First we went to a garden called Everglades...nice, but would have been nicer once the flowers are out in late winter (It is winter here in Oz now) . After that we went to Mount Tomah botanical gardens. These are very nice, there was plenty of flowers and the layout of the gardens is really nice.









I bought a new tripod for photography last week so we decided to have some fun around the place with jump shots.

This year Sydney has put on a fantastic lightshow in the city centre. Purpose is to draw people into the city here at winter time.

One evening after having dinner with a couple of friends, Kim and I went in there to take some photos of some of the light shows....and here are the results.

Yesterday on the 11th June Adam was born by Kim's sister Dao. He is an impatient little bugger and decided to arrive two weeks early and later at night while all the other boys in the family were out watching the soccer match between Australia and Bahrain.

Suddenly Wednesday evening Dao called saying that she'd started going into labour. Normally Wednesday is my climbing night but luckily I was home this evening. Kim and I quickly picked up KC (Kims other sister) and they took the car (while I stayed with KC's kids) to go and pick up Dao and bring her to the hospital.



She was in labour until after midnight and in the early hours Thursday arrived.

We all went there yesterday to have a look and both mother and child is doing fine. And Dylan (on the left in the photo) is excited to have a baby brother.

Today Andy and I went climbing at a place called Cathedral at Bangor in the southern part of Sydney.

None of us has been there before but according to the description we should park at the end of this street and then it would be a 5 minute scramble from there.

We found the start of the track ok, but 15 minutes later we were still bush bashing out way trying to spot markers that would indicate where the cliffs were.



Half way down I dropped my water bottle out of my backpack and it disappeared between some rocks. I went down to retrieve it and then we continued down the gully into dense rain forest full of impenetratable bamboo. After taking a couple of turns with dead-ends we could see glimses of the river. and after about a 25 minute walk we suddenly found ourselves on this really nice little beach.



Andy mumbled that there was no way that he was going to go back the same way and he'd rather walk a big detour along the river. We could now see the cliffline and walked down to the end of the beach where we went back into the forest along a track that let us to the cliffs.

We could see why it was called The Cathedral.



The cliffs are massive, intimidating and completely blank of any features that lend themselves to climbing. We had a hard time finding the various routes and started scrambling along the base at the cliffs. We got to the end of the cliffline and I shoulted "I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE!". Andy looked at me confused and asked "You've climbed here before". I replied..."No, I have been here before...This is where I dropped my waterbottle". DOOOHHH...we could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble if we had turned left here instead of going straight...and suddenly then way back out didn't look so bad.

Anyway we couldn't figure out the climbs so I decided to jump onto a grade 21 climb called Imogen. I got to the first bolt and started moving up on really bad feet (small pebbles) going for a very long reach. Eventually my foothold broke and I slid down the side of the rock getting a sandpaper cut on my arm and leg. We decided to bail the climb and find something that was more suitable for warming up on.



We scrambled down to the other end and found a number of grade 16...but eventually I settled for a climb called "Ozone Action (17 ***)" which is what is a mixed climb (part bolted and geared climbing).

This was a really good one. It was sustained at the grade and had everything in it...laybacks, chimney, mantel, overhang, slab, face climbing etc. If anyone does it then follow the advise and bring cams/slings....is it desperately run-out unless protected.




I set up a belay at the top and Andy followed me up...with a big smile on his face. After this we absailed down to the grade 16's. All good fun...and I toproped something that I'm sure is harder.

After this it was time to pack up and head back.