Weekend in Sydney and Kiama

Sydney Opera House (triple exposure),
originally uploaded by _bernd_.

Lisa and I spent the last weekend of October in Sydney to catch up with old friends from Austria, and we went to the picturesque town of Kiama to celebrate the wedding of a friend and volleyball team mate. I will post more photos as soon as I find time to scan them.

Photos from a short trip to England & Austria

British Museum,
originally uploaded by _bernd_.

Due to work/studies, I spent 2 weeks in England in June 2010. It all happened on a short-term notice and was quite stressful, but interesting and insightful nevertheless. And as a further plus I had a few days of holidays in Austria at the end.

My Yashica FX-D was my constant companion throughout the trip, but it took me a while to get the film rolls developed and scanned. I'm happy to report now that the images from England are on Flickr, and that the images from Austria will follow soonish.

Aotearoa / New Zealand

Kaiteriteri,
originally uploaded by _bernd_.

Lisa and I spent 10 gorgeous days on New Zealand's South Island (Aotearoa is the indigenous Māori language name for New Zealand).
We spotted whales, swam with dolphins, went sea kayaking, walked on a glacier, ... , and Lisa even undertook a bungy jump. I think this is one of the most beautiful countries I've ever seen. Hopefully, some of the photos on Flickr manage to convey that impression.

A new favourite sport

Pakistan vs Australia 1st Test Melbourne 2009,
originally uploaded by _bernd_.

I'm getting more and more into cricket. Before I came to Melbourne I was barely aware of this sport's existence. Then I honestly thought that there could be nothing more boring than watching a game that runs over 5 days. But thanks to my previous housemate Eric, who introduced me to the game, and thanks to Lisa, who took me to the cricket at the MCG during the Christmas break, I'm getting more and more into it. Lisa patiently taught me all the basics: I know what a wicket is, or a duck, or the silly point.

It's a great game to watch, it's always exciting with each new ball, and it is interesting how the game unfolds over the 5 days. I love watching it.

Wineglass Bay & other nice places in Tasmania

Wineglass Bay,
originally uploaded by _bernd_.

Lisa and I spent a prolonged weekend in Tasmania to visit Hobart, Cradle Mountain National Park and the famous beach on Wineglass Bay. The photo shows that the weather wasn't always at its best, but we had a lovely time down there, and I hope we will revisit Tasmania soon having better weather.

I still need to finish a roll of film and get it developed, but I posted some photos on Flickr.

Conference photography

OZCHI 2009 student volunteers,
originally uploaded by _bernd_.

This week was all about OZCHI, the Australian conference on Computer-Human Interaction. I had several roles in the conference, one of them being the event photographer. Have a look at the set of photos on Flickr if you are interested in what's going on during and around such an academic event.

End of the volleyball season

volleyball,
originally uploaded by bernd ploderer.

Last weekend marked the end of the indoor volleyball season. This year I've been playing with the Division 2 team of the Melbourne University Renegades. We dominated this division at the beginning, but lost all our games at the end of the season because half of the team was on holidays. So we landed in fourth position, which was slightly disappointing given the players we had.

After my team was out, I had the opportunity to play the semi-finals and finals with the Division 1 team. Unfortunately, we lost the final against Monash University in 5 sets. Nevertheless, it was fun to play with this team, especially in front of the large crowd in the final.
More images of the finals are on http://www.renegades.com.au/