Travel, Technology, Thoughts
In late August I went to the V8 Supercars Sydney Motorsport Park 400 race at Eastern Creek.
As always I took hundreds of photos, but on this visit I was trying to get better panning shots. I’m fairly pleased with the results, and the 27 photos below are mostly focused on this.
Additionally, there are two videos of the race start and restart embedded further below.
Read moreThe final part of my USA/Canada trip, and the main purpose of the visit, was attending the 2014 AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence. This was held in Quebec City, Quebec. During the week I spent there I got to hear some amazing speakers, and spent a few evenings exploring the city.
Quebec was a fascinating city, it really felt like being in Europe, the food, the street art and the churches were like nothing else I have seen in North America.
Below is a selection of photos from the week.
Read moreAfter four days in Florida I flew to Boston for a short two day visit.
After checking into my hotel, I spent the first afternoon exploring the Public Garden, Boston Common and CBD area. Boston is one of the birthplaces of the USA and has some amazingly old churches, buildings, and markets. In particular, there was a great mix between the old and the new.
Read moreThe third and fourth days I spent in Florida were at Disney World.
On the first day there I went to the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios – until rain brought an early end to the day. On the second day I began at Hollywood Studios and then went to Epcot and back to the Magic Kingdom for the Wishes Fireworks.
The video below shows the first minute of the wishes fireworks. The whole show was amazing. Additionally, the photos that follow are from across the two days – but photos and video don’t do the two days full justice, it was such an amazing and unique place to go to.
Read moreOn the second day in Florida, I went to the Kennedy Space Center. It was by pure coincidence that this was exactly 45 years to the day since man first walked on the moon.
The bus tour around the launch facilities at KSC is awesome. My inner child had such a great time, including getting a photoshopped photo of me as an astronaut.
Read moreIn July I travelled to North America.
The first stop was a four day visit to Orlando, Florida where I met up with a friend who used to study in Sydney.
During these four days I went to Gatorland, Florida Mall, Downtown Orlando, Kennedy Space Center and Disney World.
The photos below are from the first day of the trip which was spent exploring around the Orlando area.
Read moreYesterday I went with two friends to Wentworth Falls and the Valley of the Waters in the Blue Mountains. It was near freezing and the winds were below freezing, but it was a beautiful day.
Starting from the conservation hut we began on the short cut track, and cut through to breakfast point lookout. From there through to Wentworth Falls and down, down and down the slack stairs to Wentworth Pass, then back up through the Valley of the Waters. It took us 3 hours 45 minutes. This is the first solid hike I’ve done in quite a while and with the massive climb out of the valley my legs are so sore this morning.
Read moreOn the Saturday of ANZAC weekend I went to the New Zealand round of the V8 Supercars Championship at Pukekohe Park Raceway.
This is the first time I’ve been to Pukekohe since 2006. Many changes have been made to Pukekohe over the past few years to improve safety. However, for spectators this has come at the loss of a few good places to stand and watch the racing. In addition, in places, the double set of catch fencing makes seeing the action up close rather difficult.
Read moreWhile visiting Auckland over the ANZAC day weekend, I went tramping at Karekare with some friends. It was a beautiful walk, on a beautiful day, through the beautiful wild west coast of Auckland.
We started from Watchman Road and walked up Ahu Ahu Track before returning via Comans Track and cutting through to Karekare Beach.
Read moreLast weekend I was in Auckland for the weekend. During this time I went to the launch of Auckland’s new electric trains – something of a major milestone in Auckland transport history.
Below are a set of photos from the day.
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