Leaving Zimbabwe we had the experience of the aircraft (an old B737) breaking down with engine problems prior to our departure. Although this is not uncommon, most international airports would have a team of aircraft mechanics along with spare parts to fix problems.



Victoria Falls do not have all the same facilities due to the low volume of aircraft, so in our case the pilot and co-pilot stepped up and went out to fix the problem themselves. With just a two hour delay we were back underway.



I doubt a pilot from a big international airline would step up and get his hands dirty or even have the skills to fix basic and common problems....credit go to bush pilots!

The main reason why we made the trip up to Zimbabwe was that our trip to South Africa would be our best opportunity to see and experience the Victoria Falls (and also give Kim and the boys to opportunity to visit another African country).





It is an amazing sight as the entire area around the falls is completely flat. The Zambezi river is at the point of the fall over a kilometer wide and the entire river suddenly drops into this narrow gorge.







The falls themselves are on the Zambian side of the border, and most of the lookouts are on the Zimbabwe side.

The effect is that the water spray gets pushed several hundred meters into the air above the gorge and creates a perpetual plume of rain clouds and spray making it impossible to stay dry.

This also meant that it was a challenge to keep my camera gear dry. I did bring a waterproof case for my camera, but after a few minutes a stopped using it because I couldn't mount the camera on a tripod at the same time. Instead I opted for covering the camera with a microfibre towel that somewhat helped, but otherwise I had to rely on the weather sealing on the Nikon camera and lenses.

To make it easier to dry we had dressed the boys ourselves in rash and sports shirts. This dried very quickly after getting wet unlike cotton clothing. We did bring some disposable ponchos but only Kim used hers a little.

Just outside Victoria Falls there is this Baobab tree that they keep showing to tourists (behind fencing so tourists don't vandalise it). We were brought there on the way to the Boma restaurant because the other people in the bus wanted to see it.

They all went Ooooh and Ahhh by seeing it, but I must say that it is neither big or beautiful as far as Baobab trees go...even the fig trees here in Australia are bigger (and better looking).

In the evening we booked a sunset cruise on the Zambezi river.





It was a beautiful calm evening and the boat slowly cruised in and out between the river islands within Zimbabwe and Zambia. In the distance there were clouds and rain forming beautiful rainbows.



There were lots of hippos around and we also spotted a couple of crocodiles and other wildlife. This time of the year there weren't any elephants as they don't need to go to the river during the rain season.

One thing about Zimbabwe was that everything is quite expensive for tourists in Victoria falls.

Back in 2008/09 the whole economy collapsed and the local currency was worth less than the paper it was printed on. As a result the entire country started using stable currencies such as US dollars.

In Victoria falls this means that everything is paid for in US dollars and since everything is more or less government controlled they try to milk tourists for as much hard currency as they possibly can.

As a result most tourists stay for a shorter duration as they probably would otherwise which is a pity as the benefits of tourism isn't shared with the rest of the country.

The country also has all the typical African inefficiencies and illogical processes which I experienced back in my days in East Africa, but which greatly annoyed Kim.

She was however greatly amused when I came back after a walk telling her that I had made her an instant billionaire - with the note here held by Aiden with a smug on his face.

During the break we decided to make a trip to South Africa and on the way do a quick detour to the Victoria falls on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.

The first evening we book dinner at Boma restaurant. Even though it is a bit touristy (everything around the falls are) they promised a buffet dinner with various game meat and dancing/drumming.





On the menu was Mopani worms, Wort Hog, Elan, Guinea Foul and spit Lamb.






Poor little Lucas was so tired that he fell asleep in the car there and slept the whole way through.
Although Aiden was tired he did enjoy the experience (in his silly fashion).



The drumming was very interactive and the dinner guests could join in.



Good start to the trip.

It has been another year and again Merry Christmas 2016.

Following the tradition I have created another family photo for this year. Aiden and Lucas are growing older and also more naughty, so this year we decided to do something different and let the parents have a quiet evening while we let the boys 'hang out' together.

There are some interesting areas around Botany Bay. One of the is the old WWII cannon positions and ammunition bunkers along the coast line to protect against Japanese invasions.

We have been there quite a few time and here are some of the photos from our last walk there.

 

One day we went down to Boralee park to take some photos of the boys with Kim. Here are some of them.

This winter during school holidays I took a day off to look after Aiden. I asked him if he wanted to go canoeing at the Royal National Park about 30 minutes drive from our house.



It was a beautiful sunny morning with not a wind or any other people in the creek.



Afterwards we went down to Wattamolla to have a look at the waterfall and play at the beach.





At Bundeena we had fish and chips for lunch.



He totally crashed on the way home.

Today the Rockstar (Andy) and the Prong went climbing at Berowra. The news media had gotten the hint of the occasion and the paparazzi were there in full force taking photos.



The bureau had told us that it was going to be a cool day, but it turned out to be rather hot for Berowra (29 degrees) and around lunch time the face was pretty much in the sun...so it was skin cancer territory.

We started out by me leading on an easy(iere) climb called "The Wall Thing 18" ...very pleasant climb with a fairly reachy finish. We then did (I led) the "Boundary Rider 19" which was equally pleasant with an extremely long reach to the anchor and the first time I went for it I missed the hold on top (I had no idea where to aim) and peeled off giving myself a rockstar manicure in the process (This is when you feel off all your skin on your hands to the point where it starts bleeding).

We then did "Mental Fatigue 18" and by this time the face was getting hit by the sun and warming up. The sun was in our eyes and it was hard to see where to go. Last time May did this climb she peeled off half way up. This time there was a significant amount of blood stains on one of the holds despite it being a fairly simple and straightforward climb with good protection.

We started getting hot now and the Paparazzi had left so we decided that we didn't have to show off any longer and decided to do a direct variant to "Mental Fatigue" (sopposedly grade 20) on Toprope...very pleasant but would not have been very good on lead as the first bolt was up very high.

The last climb of the day was "Palm Sunday 21" this was the highlight of the day even though we did it on top rope. Next time I go to Berowra and have a good day then I'll definitely come back to this one and try and lead it.


Editors note: It turns out that the paparazzi weren't taking photos of the Rockstar and Prong. The reason why they were there was because Paris Hilton was there showing off her latest outdoor collection...seriously...who gives a sh..!

Saturday morning we drove out to the Blue mountains to spend the day there climbing (Unfortunately Andy couldn't go on an overnight trip).

When we got up there it was cold, covered in clouds and drizzling. We decided to have a coffee and breakfast to check if it would clear up...and fortunately it did.

We were planning to go to Shipley, but after studying the guide we decided to go to Bardens Lookout instead.



It was completely dry and it turned out to be a day with a perfect temperature and we did some really nice and varied climbs (I would tell you the climbs but someone stole/took my guide book during the day). We started on a grade 16 (Karinya I think) for warmup, and then moved to a very pleasant grade 18 (Jolly Good Fellow). I then had a go at a grade 20 (Dr Do Little) with a very reachy and balancy move up the top which almost made me fall off (Andy had a hard time on this move).



We then did a grade 19 (Little Triggers) and by this time my strength was gone so I only just managed to lead it (almost came off clipping the top anchor as I was drained). The climbs are fairly long at Bardens Lookout and I don't have a lot of endurance because the climbs in the gyms are too short.

Phil had a go at a grade 21 (Hang on to Yourself) and was really struggling on it and came off 4-6 times one of which was captured on video and once he came off upside down. Eventually he got through it and I toptoped and cleaned it (With a lot of grunt and swearing).

Download video of Andy Climbing 1
Download video of Andy Climbing 2
Download video of Andy being Lowered
Download video of Phil Falling

As tradition dictates we played golf with Sasha on new years day. And he had booked a time at Brighton Golf Club (Moorebank) at a civilised hour (1.30pm).

Kim and I hadn't played for about 10 months as we had been too busy with all the other things in 2008 (see the rest of the blog postings).



I think we played a fairly decent game considering the time since we'd last played but both Kim and I were fairly tired after the 18 holes. It was a hot day with temperatures in the mid thirties and the course was fairly hot...so we drank lots of water as we went.

Every year both Kim and I have been in the Sydney harbour area to watch the fireworks on New Years Eve.



But this year we decided to have a quiet new years eve just the two of us with a visit to the movies and then a nice dinner at home.



We did however watch the fireworks from our balcony at midnight and it looked just as spectacular as previous years (I borrowed the photo above from another site).

Between Christmas and New year we drove with Kims family up to Smiths Lake (300km North of Sydney). We rented a house on the lake up there.

We hired a tinny (small aluminium boat) a couple of days and went fishing and managed to catch a lot of breams (a lot too small to keep).





Kims dad loves fishing and he quickly found out that in the morning and evening the fish were at the shore just outside the house.

In the evening we cooked nice dinners and BBQ's and the cookaburras came to the balcony around dinner time to check if there were leftovers. We had a bit of fun with them as you can see.



In the evenings we played Blackjack (Kim and I cleaned up) and had nice food and wine.



Chong (The husband of Kims sister) showed his more feminine side.



The rest of the time we spent at the beach playing in the waves and playing with Kims sisters kids.

Christmas day was celebrated with Kims family at her sisters house.

A lot of people were there and everyone had been asked to bring some food. Kim had cooked Red Duck Curry the day before while I was preparing the Christmas Eve dinner.



Again...lots of food, playing table tennis, jumping the trampoline and all the kids got to open their presents.

Christmas even was celebrated in the traditional Danish way in the evening of the 24th December.

Kim and I had invited some friends over to out new house and prepared the traditional roast duck, ris-a-la-mande and large tiger prawns for entrees.



It was a nice evening and we didn't finish until well after midnight and all of us were really full by the time we finished dinner. There was a couple of kid and after dinner they got to open their Christmas presents.

Every year on Kims dads birthday we celebrate with the family. Every couple brings a couple of dishes of food and we all share it.

On our honeymoon in Bali I really wanted to do this scuba dive that was recommended to me by my friend Andy. It is this old wreck of a US cargo ship (USS liberty) that was torpedoed by the japanese in 1942 and then beached to save the men and the cargo.



The wreck has since slided back into deeper water (during a volcanic eruption in 1962) and it now in 5 to 27 meters of water just off the coast.



I did two dives on the wreck while Kim was snorkeling in the surface on top of the wreck and it is without a doubt the most amazing scuba diving experience I've had. The ship is huge and you can swim through the cargo hulls and there is an amazing variety of fish and corals on the wreck.

I saw a 1.5 meter barracuda, a 1cm tall seahorse, a garden of eels and a great variety of other fish including a large school of travelly.



I had my personal dive master for the day and I got him to take some photos and some video with his camera while we were diving. On the first dive we went all the way around the wreck (max depth 27 meters) and on the second we went through the wreck itself.



Kim had a really good experience as well and really enjoyed the 30 degree warm water and managed to get her bum burnt while snorkeling for several hours.

I think we'll both go back there if we get the chance.

Click here to download video of me feeding fish

Click here to download video of me diving

Our Honeymoon day after the wedding went to Bali in Indonesia. We did have some hesitation going there considering that the Bali Bombers had been executed the week before and that the Australian government discouraged all travel there.

The plane up there (and back) was only 25% full so plenty of space to get a good sleep.

We stayed in Nusa Dua Westin....a nice hotel although the rooms are a bit small.

On the first day we slept in and later in the day drove to Kuta to have a look around and do some shopping. Later in the evening we went to Jimbaran Bay for dinner. This is a whole beach where all the restaurants have put their tables and chairs out onto the beach itself...very romantic but quite expensive compared to local restaurants.





The second day we hired a car to drive us to Ubud in the hills, Monkey Forest and later in the day down to a small place called Tanah Lot. Especially the last one was very nice around sunset and we ended up not getting back to our hotel until 8.30 in the evening much to the dismay of our driver.





Dinner took place near the hotel and we found that the value of the food/prices was much better here.

A couple of days later we went for another drive (In between we went to Tulamben...see posting below) up to some beautiful lakes and temples up on the north of the island as well as rice paddies and we had a really nice trip despite driving with the most grumpy driver.







Time was running out and Kim felt that she hadn't spent enough time shopping so the last two days were spent shopping and sitting at the pool and on the beach.



One evening we booked a really nice restaurant called "The Living Room" in Seminyak and I booked the whole outdoor area (cost a fortune) just so that we could have a romantic evening in the garden just the two of us with personal waiting staff.





The week was way too short and we never got to do everything we wanted to do so I have a feel we will be coming back in the future.

There are a number of waterfalls on the main island Efete in Vanuatu.

Some of these are very accessible as they are right next to the road such as this one.



Others are a bit more of a hike, but definitely worth it...such as these ones at Mele.

Unfortunately the access to the falls is not being very well managed. They have cut steps into the limestone and scrubbing the surface to avoid people slipping when walking. Unfortunately this also erodes and changes the waterfalls and I think they should put a walking track adjacent to the falls instead.

One day we hired a driver to take us around the island.

One of the places we stopped was the Blue Lagoon which is a small semi freshwater lagoon with large lime stone deposits making the water very blue to look at.



We also stopped at Turtle Bay which is supposed to be a turtle sanctuary...but for what it is (tiny) and the knowledge of your guide (none) very over prised.

But they did have some live coconut crabs.



Some baby turtles



And a couple of large turtles in a very small and dirty enclosure.

The hotel we stayed at was in a great location at the back of the lagoon with a little private beach.





...and a Tam Tam out the front.




It was great using some of the watersport equipment such as kayaks and catemarans







And it had a golf course which we didn't get a chance to use.



Mostly we would just relax or swim when around the hotel.

You would think that a country with access to some of the best seafood and freshest produce would have fantastic food.

Although the food was Ok, we didn't find it fantastic and generally very over prised.



There was plenty of restaurant in and around Port Vila and some of them serving specialties such as coconut crabs and flying foxes.

We tried the coconut crab...but it was overcooked and dry and had surprising little meat on it (no meat in the body itself).




So we stuck to more traditional seafood which most often was battered and deep fried.



And as usual Aiden got into the free kids menu desserts

This weekend we went up to Lake Macquarie with the family to stay for a couple of night at a resort. I didn't take a lot of photos because we either didn't do much or were too busy with the family.

I did however take this one photo one evening at Katherine Hill Bay.

The beach at the hotel was full of really big and colourful star fish....couldn't help but take a few snapshots.

Lucas is now 7 Months and for this month we decided to take his Monthly photos while he was on his first overseas trip to Vanuatu.

This series of photos was taken at Eton Beach on the east side of the island of Efate in Vanuatu...he loved the water and had a hard time to understand that it is unpleasant to eat the sand and drink the salt water.

He is now almost able to crawl...he just needs to figure out that it is not enough to just move the legs...you also have to move your hands.

I know it was a couple of months ago, but I only now got around to processing it.

Here is another photo that I took of Lucas when he was 4 Months.

The other night we went for dinner at Marks place. He asked us if we could help him take some photos of the kids Axolotls...our response was 'Their WHAT??'.

Anyway, it turns out to be some sort of Mexican Salamander and he'd attempted to get some photos using his point and shoot camera, but wanted something better that he could print and hang on the kids wall.

Here are some of my efforts:

When Lucas doesn't have any toys to play with then his favourit pass time is to suck his feet. Here is a quick snapshot from the other day when he was at it again.




He's now got two teeth, so hopefully he wont chomp off his toes.

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

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

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





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

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

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

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



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

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

I love the new camera...it performed abosolutely amazing on the weekend when I did a photoshoot with the family. The 36 Megapixels mean that every detail such as pores in the skin, hairs etc. is visible and sharp.

This photo below shows one of the photos of Chong and Emma zoomed in at 100 percent..the small photo on the left shows the original photo.

A couple of months ago Chong and KC had a new addition to their family.

Last week they asked me if I'd take some photos for them. It was a good chance for me to have a play with the new camera as well as some light setups.






Emma was very good and only had one 'accident'.



It was also a good practice session for when our next addition arrives in a couple of months.











I love the new camera, the details are absolutely amazing in the studio and the autofocus is accurate now after I had it fixed by Nikon.

Yesterday I went to a work conference where at the end of the day they offered us to do some site visits.

I was fortunate enough to visit the satellite tracking facility in the Northern part of Sydney. The company I work for owns a number of satellites (at a cost of around $400 million each) and they will be launching their 10th satellite later this year...the 'O10'.


This photo is from the control room where they look after all the locations, transponders and media broadcasts from the satellites.




It was interesting to be able to see the raw/unedited broadcasts from areas such as the London Olympics, the conflict in Syria etc.


The actual electronics was equally impressive.






I even found the box that currently is receiving all the media broadcasts from the 2012 London Olympics.






This is the Satelite Dish controller...On the display you can see the current position of the dish (and from that you could probably calculate the location of the actual satellite).




Outside was the array of dishes.






Most of the satellites are being launched from French Guyana by the European space agency.

A couple of days ago it was my birthday...I wish it was my 27th...but it wasn't!

Kim took me out for dinner on the day itself to a nice place at Circular Quay...very nice, but absolutely freezing and windy in there.





Day after we went out for dinner with the family to a Japanese restaurant and they ordered a shameful amount of food!

After the dinner we went back to our place for cake.

Aiden is a big fan of the Thomas Trains, so a few weeks ago when Kim saw some vouchers for the Train Shed she bought some tickets.

This morning we went out there with the whole family to go riding on the trains. Aiden was very excited...to the point where he didn't want to get off the train.



The kids had 5 rides each and they also had lunch and scones provided for us.







Aiden had to check out anything that remotely looked like a train (looks like he is taking a wee here).




It was also a good day to try out the new camera (just came back after 5 weeks in the repair shop for recalibration). Kim was using it most of the day and said she loves it compared to my old camera.


On the way in I had seen a signpost towards the Warragamba Dam. This is where 80-90 percent of Sydneys drinking water supply comes from.

This morning it was a beautiful winter day here in Sydney and we decided therefore to go duck feeding in Centenial Park with Aiden and Dylan (I was supposed to have been doing a course, but it was cancelled).

Aiden eventually figured out that it was fun to tear off small pieces of bread and throw it in the water for the ducks and swans to eat.



I showed him how to hand feed the big swans with a flat hand, but he still didn't like them much...and even less so when one of them stole his bread after sneaking in from behind.



Stupid Swan!!!!



But eventually the swan apologised and he was happy to feed the smaller birds.



Also the pond is full of fat eels (and on one occation I have seen turtles there). Some of them would surface to try and steal the bread from the ducks.

Yesterday we went to Emily's birthday party in Centennial park. We were there on time at 10.30 on a very cold morning (it had been 7 degrees overnight) but there was no-one else there...the host and the birthday child turned up two hours later (I cannot stand people who consistently have no respect for other people time).

We had brought Aiden tri-cycle that he got as a birthday present from his grandma last year.



We also spend some time exploring the forest next to the playground.

I did a couple of different sets with Valerie. Depending on the makeup she would look totally different and unrecognisable.

I call this my 'Get Lost' photo...bit of attitude.







Model: Valerie Peovska
Hair: Cara Leupuscek
Makeup: Melisa Tomic
Set: Studio 1A Sydney

The last of the girls that I shot at the window set was Edyta.

She has got a bit more of a rough look to her...a bit like Geena Davis in 'Long Kiss Goodnight'.

Being at the window with soft light everywhere the tough look didn't work for me, but I did manage to get this photo which emotionally is a bit more on the lighter side.




Model: Edyta Jedrzejowska
Hair: Cara Leupuscek
Makeup: Melisa Tomic
Set: Studio 1A Sydney

Another Natural Light shoot that I did was with a girl called Britney.

She has a very photogenic face if done right. I also did a couple of shots in one of the sets but I just couldn't make it work as well as with soft natural light.




Again I was shooting with the Samyang but it was a bit later in the day so it was easier to control the light.



Photographer: Rene Pallesen
Model: Britney Williams
Hair: Cara Leupuscek
Makeup: Melisa Tomic
Sets: Studio 1A Sydney

One of the model was a more mature girl by the name of Sarah.

I had the pleasure of shooting her using natural light next to one of the windows in the upstairs studio.

The Look I was going for was a more soft Boudoir type look and I think I managed to capture that in this photo.



I found it really hard shooting using natural light. I was using a new Samyang 85mm f/1.4 lens that I bought. The look I wanted required me to shoot it at 1.4 but the light at the window was fairly bright so I was constantly hitting the ceiling of how low the ISO could go and how high shutter speed I had.

Model: Sarah Lucien
Hair and Makeup: Carla Vallelonga
Lights: Natural

I had a blast of a day this Sunday participating in a modelling workshop with Studio 1A...22 models, 10 makeup artists, 20 sets and lots of opportunity to take great photos.

I was totally buggered after shooting for 5 hours but it was great for building experience.

This was one of my favorite photos (many more to come) from the day.



Model: Taylia Lopez
Lighting & Set: Studio 1A
Hair & Make-up: Kabuki Mee Designs

A cute moment of Lucas attempting to draw and with a very snotty nose.

This is a test shot using a new Samyang 85mm f/1.4 lens that I recently bought.

It is a manual focus lens so it is harder to use (especially with the kids), but this shot shows what beautiful results I am getting when shooting wide open.

We are training Aiden at the moment. The other day he did a big one on the toilet and as a reward we gave him the dinosaur that we had promised him.

My Aunty and her husband arrived to Australia a couple of days ago and will be traveling around the country for the next 5 weeks.
They asked if they could come over for dinner one evening to see where/how we live, so Saturday night we hosted them at our place.
It is not often that I have relatives in this part of the world, so when it does happen then it is nice even if it is just for a short visit.



The menu was Kims lemon pepper prawns for starters, Duck breast with home made bearnaise and raspberry creme brulee for desert (plus a lot of other goodies such as dips and cheese and wine).

They were supposed to have arrived the night before but their flight was delayed so they arrived 6am in the morning going straight to their hotel and then straight onto a bicycle tour around Sydney. From there they went straight to our place...they must have been buggered...

Last weekend we went down to La Perouse to do some family photos as we needed some new ones. We decided to do some on the lawn in front of the tower.
Lucas was not in the mood to have his photo taken and wanted to be held all the time so we decided to stick to using the picture frame that I had brought along.



Aiden on the other hand was having a blast of a time running, climbing and playing.

Monday it was St Patricks day (an Irish thing) and at daycare they were celebrating it by putting colour and hairspray in the kids hair (Green is the Irish National colour).

Aiden came back with very spiky hair and was his own cheeky self about it...