A few weeks ago I went to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains for the day. We did a very short walk and caught the scenic railway back up the cliffs.
Photos: A day in Katoomba
Skiing Perisher 2014
In mid-September I went with some mates to Perisher in the Snowy Mountains. This was the first time I have been skiing in Australia and the first time in three years I have been on skis.
After an hour or so of slow blue and green runs I finally sorted myself out and got my skiing mojo back, and my the end of the weekend was happily skiing some “basic” black runs.
I have to make a massive mea culpa though, for the past four years I have written off Australian ski fields without even visiting them. But Perisher was amazing. It is huge, there are so many lifts and this means there are no big queues, the snow was great, yes there were trees, but there were no rocks and a massive variety of terrain to ski on.
The weather was brilliant, actually ridiculously hot for skiing, 13c at the base area, and I didn’t crash into any trees.
Below are some of the photos taken on the trip.
Read moreA Weekend in Brisbane
In early September I went to Brisbane for a weekend to celebrate a birthday with members of my family.
This was my first proper time in Brisbane, and I was fortunate that the weekend I visited coincided with the start of the Brisbane Festival, which meant there was lots of fun stuff to see and do.
Read moreV8 Supercars SMP 400 Photos
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 moreUSA/Canada Trip: Part Five – Quebec
The 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 moreUSA/Canada Trip: Part Four – Boston
After 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 moreUSA/Canada Trip: Part Three – Disney World
The 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 moreUSA/Canada Trip: Part Two – Kennedy Space Center
On 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 moreUSA/Canada Trip: Part One – Orlando
In 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 moreGoofy Smiles and Slack Stairs
Yesterday 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.
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