I haven't blogged much this year yet. Mainly because not a lot has happened this month (January traditionally is a quiet month) but also because it has been very hot and wet which is not a good combination for outdoor activities.

The next two months however are going to be really busy as I will be traveling in Latin and South America.

I am looking forward to the trips as it will take me to most of South America such as Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil.

As I travel I'll start posting pictures and entries in this blog.

I was glad that I didn't have too much to drink on New Years Eve, because the day after turned out to be a busy one.

In the morning we had breakfast with Kims family at the cemetery where her mum is buried.

Right after this we went to the golf course at the coast and played 18 holes. It was a pretty hot day, but there was a nice breeze along the coast and the course is in such a spectacular location.

Click here to download video of Playing Golf #1
Click here to download video of the Golf Course #2


Most of the beaches in Queensland and New South Wales were closed due to dangerous surf conditions. There is a hurricane off the coast of Queensland creating some huge waves along all of Australia's east coast.

In the evening we had dinner with Kims family having steam boat and those rice paper things that you roll up (not sure what it is called)...and it was yummi.

They have this fermented fish that has been fermented over 3-4 years and it is really nice as a dipping sauce with a few chillies mixed in. Click here to see more photos from New Years Day

The year 2007 has now ended and it is time to start some new adventures in the new year.

2007 was full of traveling and other adventures and I expect 2008 to be much of the same.

Take some time to look at what is happening in 2008 as well as what happened in 2007.

Click on this link to see the events of 2007

Also please bookmark this page and also have a look at the RSS feed features of this page.

After Christmas Eve we went a couple of days to Jervis Bay. Jervis Bay is about 3-4 hours drive south of Sydney and is not part of New South Wales, but belongs to ACT (Australian Capital Territory, Canberra). Hyams beach at Jervis has got a reputation of having the whitest sand in the world.

The house we had rented was right on the beach so it was easy to go for a swim. Unfortunately the water was quite cold, so Kim and I instead opted for a trip to the local golf course.

In the morning we went fishing and although we did catch a few fish they were all too small to keep. The most annoying was that we kept catching stingrays.





Click here to download video of fishing at Jervis Bay #1
Click here to download video of fishing at Jervis Bay #2


I know that the area has got a lot of Port Jackson sharks and on the beaches we found a lot of shark eggs.

In the evenings we played Mah Jong and 21. I decided to stay out of the Mah Jong game until I've got a better grasp of how it is played (some of the numbers on the bricks are in Chinese and it therefore took too long time to compute and I felt it was a disadvantage). I had a lucky night in 21 and won $20.
Click here to see more photos from Jervis Bay

The Australians celebrate Christmas on the 25th December where we in Denmark celebrate it on the 24th in the evening. I still like to celebrate on the 24th and it is the day of the year where I most miss family (and the only day of the year where I miss the cold in Denmark).


Most of my friends were either out of town or have kids and therefore not very mobile on this evening so this year I decided that it should just be Kim and myself.

I cooked the traditional Christmas dinner with duck and ris-a-la-mande and we had a very nice evening.

In the morning next day we went over to Kims family for lunch and there was a lot of people and kids there. Again this year I took on the duty of being Santa's local ambassador and hand out presents to the children...all good fun.

Last weekend Andy, May and myself went climbing at Mt keira near woolongong south of Sydney.

May had never really done any outdoor climbing before and Keira is a good place to go and try your first lead climb.

The weather forecast didn't look promising but we decided to go there anyway as in our experience the forecasts are never very accurate here. Besides it said that there was a chance of one or two showers in the afternoon.

As soon as we arrived to the cliffs in the morning we started feeling the first few drops. The rocks were still dry so we decided to put up an easy route anyway.



Once we finished it was raining more steadily and the rocks started getting slippery. There was a climb in the corner that was still dry so we decided to quickly also do this. And afterwards we put up a top rope on a climb that also still was dry.

Before we got onto it it was raining heavily and there was a storm with lots of lightening approaching.

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Click here to download video

After a couple of not very motivated (and wet) attempts on the climb I volunteered to clean up the climb. As I approached the top the water was coming down like from a waterfall and by the time I had cleaned up the anchors I was drenched (and yes...my pants were very wet).

Climbing wise a really disappointing day...but we still had fun.

This week I am in Tokyo for work visiting a couple of partners and also giving them some training on some of our internal solutions that they would like to sell.

I love visiting Tokyo...it is like Disney land and everything is just so slightly different. Like for instance the toilets have all the buttons on the side. Yesterday I saw one with a volume control and a "flush noise" button. I couldn't help pressing it...and yes the toilet did make very realistic sounding flushing sounds. I am unsure under what circumstances the sounds can be useful...another mystery that I may be able to solve one day.
In the hotel I also tried all the other buttons and it is kind of cool with all the sprinkling water (heated to body temperature), but I still haven't found the button for the 'but' dryer.

Click here to see video of Tokyo Square in Shibuya

We visited one of our partners customer service centre and that was like watching a movie. They had big wall-to-wall screen showing that status of all the various sites, latest news tv, weather forecasts...or anything else that could be relevant to them running their operations. The walls were liquid crystal walls and by the flick of a button they could make the whole wall transparent and the next minute they would have the latest status projected onto the walls instead...unfortunately they wouldn't allow me to take a photo.



Masaru and I also went to a whale restaurant in Shibuya...we tried Whale Sashimi, Whale Tempura, Whale Skin, Whale Bacon, Whale tongue, Whale Beef and Whale soup (I only ate it for Scientific Purposes). It was all very delicious and the Whale Sashimi (raw whale meat) was definitely my favourite.






For lunch today I had a really nice baby clam soup...very unusual and very nice.

In general food is really nice and there are some unusual places that specialise in their small niche markets...for instance the lunch place that specialises in 'Lemon Detox lunches'. Compared to the food in Sydney this is a magnitude better.


The hotel I stay at is in Shibuya which is the area in Tokyo that is very famous with all the lights and screens...it is a very hip area where all the teenagers are wearing the latest fashion and have funny hair. My room is a lot bigger than the one I stayed in last time I was in Tokyo...in this one you can actually walk around the bed and it has got all the features you would normally expect from a western hotel room. And they serve a really nice bacon for breakfast...I bet it is Danish bacon.



We also took the peak hour train in the morning...man those trains are fast and they are packed so tight that it is impossible to move let alone raise your arms.

Being in Tokyo also means very long working hours. People here start working around 9am in the morning and seldom leave work until after 9pm. It is still the musical chairs with meeting rooms, the deadly silence in the offices, hot working environments etc.

One evening we went out with our partners...which was a big introduction to japanese customs. We went out for a late dinner after work a big group of us and when they have dinner then a lot of drinks were served. This was a chinese restaurant so we were drinking some chinese type of wine that tasted like bitter Kahlua. After dinner we went to this drinking place which was really weird (and slightly uncomfortable but interesting). They pay an entry fee of around 3000 Yen ($30 AUD) and you then get to sit down with a girl that serves you drinks and who you can have conversation with (and conversation only).
You cannot choose the girl and I guess this is the modern form of the Geisha...and a cheaper way of talking about your problems at work or with your wife than visiting a psychologist.

I really like visiting Tokyo...but I don't think I could live there (too controlled). It is really interesting to visit especially in a working capacity as you see all the funny differences in lifestyle, work, objects and opinions. Most of the time it is a really good laugh...like when one of the guys asked if he could take a picture of me because he told his wife that he was working with a foreigner that looks like Tom Cruise (I told him that Tom is a full head shorter then I am).

We had an earthquake while I was there. The whole building started swaying from side to side...I was looking at the Japanese guys are they were calm so I thought that there was no reason to panic. Apparently it happens all the time there.

Click here to see more photos from Tokyo

Here is some more photos from the trip.

Before my trip to Tokyo and before Christmas we decided to go to the Hunter Valley to stock up on good wines (We buy them now cheap and drink them in 5-10 years time when they would be really expensive).

Hunter Valley is about 2 hours drive North of Sydney and it had got about 200 Vinyards you can visit for wine tasting and then buy the wines straight from the cellar.

We went there with a couple of Kims friends and Kim and I bought a couple of cases of wine together.



Everything in the Valley was nice ang green due to a lot of rain in the area lately.


Click here to see more photos from Hunter Valley

When Kim left Epicor she got a gift certificate to go Kayaking at Woy Woy, so this weekend we headed up there together with Mike and his wife Helen.



Both Kim and I have done some kayaking before but it was a new experience for Helen. We paddled up through some of the inland waters in Brisbane Waters near Woy Woy and afterwards we stopped at the fisherman's wharf for some really nice seafood.

One of the things about living in Australia is that you are exposed to a lot of creepy crawly stuff. In the urban jungle you don't really notice, but once you come a bit closer to nature then you cannot avoid seeing some of the insects etc. This is especially true when we go climbing. The last couple of weeks Andy and I have been exposed to a couple more creeps than we usually see.

The last couple of weeks Andy and I have been climbing in the Sydney area. Last weekend we went up to Berowra again and had a generally pleasant day had it not been for the brown snake.

On the last climb of the day we decided to try this climb that none of us had done before, but because of the protection we decided to top rope it. In the guide book the description reads:

Savage Cabbage 8m 19
Up thin crack then tricky moves left to main crack. Follow this (take care with pro) to new lower off. Often dirty and sometimes inhabited by a (friendly) brown snake.

This was warning enough and as a safety precaution we checked the holes at the bottom of the climb and didn't see anything suspicious. He started climbing and about 2 metres up he stuck his had into one of the pockets. He then decided to take a peek to see if there was anything in there and very quickly pulled his stand out shouting "Fu...a snake". Fortunately he hadn't been bitten or I would have had to call him a helicopter....again.

Wikipedia says the following about the snake:
Brown snakes are easily alarmed and may bite if approached closely, handled or threatened. The Eastern brown snake is the most toxic member of the genus and is the second most toxic land snake in the world.

I don't think we'll be jumping onto that climb anytime soon.

This weekend we decided instead to go to Narrabeen slaps as we hadn't been there for a while and it is easily accessible (15 minutes drive from home). It is a nice selection of semi difficult slabs along the Wakehurst parkway (almost rain forest).

Generally when climbing in Sydney you see many webs from the funnel webs and I also saw at least one at Narrabeen. And, when we go to other climbing areas then there are always multiple holes in the rocks where you can see the funnel shaped webs. I happen to hate spiders and always fear that I will poke my fingers into a funnel web. I have only seen a live (I think) funnel web once and that was in Nowra on the bottom of a pond of water (people generally check their swimming pools for funnel webs before swimming as they can stay below the surface for ages), I saw a tiny scorpion on the floor of the cooking area in Nowra on the same trip.

Wikipedia says:
Although they are rather small, they should not be handled without taking substantial precautions, because their fangs have been known to penetrate fingernails and soft shoes, resulting in dangerous bites. Funnel-webs are probably one of the three most dangerous spiders in the world and are regarded by some to be the most dangerous.

While Andy was belaying me he saw a redback spider crawl across the rope back and squashed it under his feet. He told me he had to stomp on it several times before it died.

Wikipedia says:
The redback spider is a potentially dangerous spider native to Australia. It resembles a Black widow spider. Redbacks, along with funnel-web spiders, are the most dangerous spiders in Australia. Most Australians dislike the redback spider, thanks in part to the frequency with which it is encountered in the environs of human habitations.

Also, the crag is generally infested with mosquitoes, ticks and on this day we also had the pleasure of a big fat Tiger Leech which had had a feast on Andy's big toe so it started bleeding heavily as we left the crag (but the leech lived to see another day). We saw it earlier on Andy's sandals but flicked it off...only later did we discover that it had been sucking blood from him.

Created: 18 Aug 2001 Last Updated: 16 Sept 2001

Mt Cook ( 15 ~ 28 January 2001 )


I decided to do a Technical Ice-Climbing course with Alpine Guides in New Zealand.

I spent 10 days at Mt Cook doing a very challenging course, but I learnt a lot. I learnt all the techniques required to do ice-climbing safely. I also learnt the necessities of surviving in the icy mountains.

Prior to the trip, a lot of preparation was required. Everyday, I went jogging to build up my fitness, so by the time I left for New Zealand, I could run 3km on the sand without getting puffed. I also had to buy some of the equipment. I had to buy cramp-ons (looks like spiked metal soles) to attach to my boots; ice-axe and ice-hammer; a new Gore-tex jacket (I needed a new one anyway) and some other clothing and equipment.

The photo on the right became a 3rd-place winner in a photo competition.



Our group consisted of 4 other doing the course. There were no prerequisites, other than a love for the mountains and a very high fitness level. Not all of us who do this course go on to climb the great mountains. We also discovered it takes guts and courage to stand on top of the world and feel confident. One cannot be an ice-climber if there is a fear of heights or if unsteady on the feet.





All of us in the group had come from different backgrounds. Søren was an experienced climber, who had aspirations of going to the Himalayas. Alan was a rock-climber who wanted to try the challenge of ice-climbing. Rob too loved the mountains and wanted the experience and challenge of being on the icey slopes of New Zealand. I had had quite a lot of climbing and mountaineering experience, but this was my first time ice-climbing.

The person holding the camera is Søren. I met him in NZ, whilst waiting for the bus for Mt Cook. To my surprise, he was a Dane living here in Sydney. He was a professional photographer (hence you see him holding the Nikon). He and I had similiar experience so our speed through the course was pretty much the same.



I actually ended up cracking a rib whilst on the course. I did this during a 'self-arrest' technique, where we actually throw ourselves down a steep slope and try to use our ice-axe to stop ourselves from falling any further. This technique is used in case you fall down a crevass and have nothing to hold onto.

Rob was the other person doing the course. He once dropped his ice-axe and one of us had to abseil down to collect it, as an ice-axe is a piece of equipment that is vital and you only carry one of these each.

We worked in pairs, but had to swap partners as our guide took turns working with each of us.



Ice-climbing is nothing like rock-climbing. You cannot use your fingers (well, they will freeze if you take your gloves off), so you really on equipment like ice-axe and ice-picks to anchor yourself into the ice. These pieces of equipment are really important, especially if you are sleeping on a ledge or stopping for a rest. Other than someone belaying you, using ice-picks to secure yourself into the ice is the backup should your belay fail.

We each took turns at ice-climbing! Alan is the one in the blue jacket, Søren is the one in the red.

I guess Søren has more photos of me climbing, whereas I can't take photos of myself!


In the following section, you will see a series of photos of Mt Cook.
If you want to have a look at the black & white version of this (quite artistic), click here.

Last September, Sydney held the Olympic Games. I saw a lot of the events on TV but was disappointed with the coverage of other countries' involvement.

However, I did manage to be at Olympic Park during the Games and also see the first handball match - Denmark vs Norway.

I managed to get tickets for the game and had a very nice day with my girlfriend and the Lenehans. I also managed to get some pretty spectacular photos of the Olympic torch.







Here is Stadium Australia, where the Olympic torch is held. Most of the major track & field events, as well as athletics were held here. It is a pretty spectacular building - and HUGE. During the Olympics, you could not go into just any of the buildings at Olympic Park. You had to have a ticket for an event before you could enter the building.



As you can see me, I am wearing my T-shirt supporting Danmark! This is one of the few days that I can wear the T-shirt.

It was a very sunny and warm day and the place was full of people. During the Olympics, you could only get access to the whole of the Olympic Park if you had a ticket. They had quite tight security, and had to go through a detector on the perimeter of the grounds after you got off the train/bus.




The handball game started at about 2pm and we managed to wander round for quite a bit before going into the arena wear the handball was.

The food as amazingly expensive! Normally a fruit salad would only cost about AUD$3, cost up to AUD$8 that day!. Bottles of water was double the price. They really made it a money-making event for tourists! The funny thing too, we noticed that as you entered Olympic Park, all of the signs were in French and English, and all the announcements were given in French first, then English. It was most peculiar!

As we got closer to where the handball games were being held, we saw a lot of Danes and Norwegians dressed in country colours! Danes in red and white and Norwegians... well, there was a guy there who had lots of cow bells around his neck and attached to his clothes. He was wearing a traditional metal helmet and dressed in old-fashioned gear. It was amazing to feel all the atmosphere - just to be there.



We were all in the true Danish spirit! Even my girlfriend was dressed in a white T-shirt and red pants! We painted flags on our faces with some face paint. We were definitely there to support the Danish team!

Even Lance could not help get caught in the moment with us! *smile*




A break in the handball game - Danmark vs Norway!

Danmark in red & white, Norway in blue & white.

We had pretty good seats - it was a matter of whoever got there first, had the best seats, although we had to enter through certain doors.

All the journalists and officials sat on the left. We even heard that the crown prince of Danmark was there for the game, even though we could not spot him. There were flags everywhere, Danish and Norwegian waving about. Everytime Norway scored, you could hear countless numbers of cow-bells being rung! A few times, some of the people tried to start a Mexican wave, but that did not work out.

It was a very fast and furious game. It was the only handball game that the Danish lost in the whole Olympic Games, and they eventually came first in the finals!










Just after entering Olympic Park, we managed to get a group photo!

As you can see the place is very crowded but very festive - you just had to be there!







A most glorious sunset!

After the handball match, we wandered around for a bit longer. The day had been quite warm, so the night was a beautiful clear night.

After the Lenehans left, Arumi and I had a look at a small Aboriginal art exhibition located at the Park. We sat on one of the few grassy patches, to watch the flickering of the lights and just enjoy the day.

We eventually went home, but Olympic Park was still swarming with people, who were there to watch events that went on later into the night. Although we did not get the chance to see any other events during the Olympics, it was definitely worth the day we spent there. We would have loved to see the final game when Danmark won, but as usual, we were not very organised...


Below, I have included photos taken on the night of the Closing Ceremony.

These were taken from Graham's apartment on a hill at McMahons Point. We had a spectacular view of the fireworks that went off after the Closing Ceremony. It was really windy on the balcony, but I managed to get some photos of the Olympic rings that were placed on Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Beautiful, isn't it?

In September 2000, just after I returned from my trip to Borneo, I had to buy this new car because my girlfriend had written off my car whilst I was away! *smile*

I did not look forward to hunting around for a new car, but I found a good buy locally. This car is a 1997 Ford Futura, with 4.0 litre, 6-cylinder, 220-horsepower, power-steering, central locking and electronic windows (I think I am starting to sound like a car advertisement...)





It is pretty much the same colour as my old car, and it feels so nice to drive!

As you can see, pretty similar, but I also really miss my old car! It had a lot of computerised features - from a digital odometer, to adjusting the internal temperature of the car. It was a pretty cool car and wished I could have kept it for another few more years.







A huge contrast to my first car!

It is a red hatchback that I bought early 1998, a few months after I arrived in Australia. But someone wrote it off a few months after I bought it. It was a pretty bad accident, but luckily I was alright. I was only covered by Third Party insurance, and to go through a lot of paperwork just to get reimbursement for the car!

Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )

Arrival	Silam / Jungle Ops	Repeater Stations	The Competitors	Helicopter	Jungle Around Us	The Village

Away from Headquarters . . .

I managed to explore the villages at Silam.

The people here wore this white stuff on their faces - I guess their form of sunscreen.

These people were refugees from the Philippines.



The kids were fighting to fit into the photo!





The kids here were really cute.

These kids here, had caught a monkey and was trying to sell it at the camp for 5 ringgit (AUD$2.50).

No-one wanted to buy it because they knew if they bought it, and set it loose, the kids would just catch it again, and try to sell it.

In general, there were lots of great photos at Silam village.





One of the helicopter pilots was driving through the jungle roads, took a corner too fast, and had a minor mishap.



We headed into Lahad Datu to get some seafood!

An escape from camp food. Camp food was disgusting. There were live worms in the vegetables (yes, after cooked). Most of the food was not fresh, and was pretty boring. The seafood was fantastic here. Whenever we had the chance, we ate lots of seafood.

Yum... Paul did not get to eat all of the crabs - all of us had a portion of it.



Yummm... they were huge, but we did not eat them. They were too big for us to eat, pretty impressive though. They were the biggest lobsters I have seen in my life. We saw these at the same place we ate our seafood and frogs (below).




We had this frog for dinner about 2 min after I took the photo.

This was actually when I went out with Glen in Kota Kinabalu - he asked me to pick some food and to surprise him.

I did not tell him till a year later that he ate frog meat. He asked me what it was, because he reckoned it tasted funny, but I did not tell him at the time.

I think he will only eat it again. Only if he really had to.





Petronis Towers - the tallest twin towers in the world.

Actually, they are the tallest buildings in the world, followed by the Sears Towers in Chicago.

The towers are joined by some sort pedestrian platform.

These towers are located in Kuala Lumpur.

I went to Kuala Lumpur to pick up my Permanent Residency for Australia.

Woohoo!!! After 2 years of lots of paperwork, and correspondence back and forth with Berlin, I finally managed to get it!

The inconvenience of it all, was that I actually had to leave Australia ie collect my PR before re-entering Australia.









Below, is the only photo I have of the Lateral Linking Team that I worked with during the race.



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Created: 7 Dec 2001

Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )

Arrival	Silam / Jungle Ops	Repeater Stations	The Competitors	Helicopter	Jungle Around Us	The Village

The Wildlife in Borneo . . .

The jungles in Borneo are really dense, dark and humid.

You will find that some of the photos look as though they have been over-exposed, but in reality, it is just the humidity in the air.






I have a photo of this at home - Glen enlarged it for me, and framed it!

Don't ask me why - I think I look rather wasted there.

Glen and I tried to race through the jungle.

The climb to the top of the mountain is rated as a 1.5 hour climb... Glen and I have done it in 26 minutes... actually I was confident that I could do it in less than 20 and so I did!

I held the record of taking 17 minutes to race to the top of Mt Silam, covering a distance of approx 4 kilometres through the jungle, up a mountain.

I was getting really fit (My girlfriend was proud of me).



This photo shows how dense and dark the jungle can be. It was so humid there... no, not because I hadn't cleaned my lenses.



You can see how muddy it is in the jungle - I became quite dirty after many trips into the jungle.



I think these trees are just as big as the Californian Redwoods. They might not be as old, but definitely just as big.



This was taken with a 300mm lens, from 1.5 metres.

The most amazing thing about them, is when they are scared, the curl up into little "marbles".

It looks like a small bug, but it is actually at least 7cm long, which is actually quite big.




I noticed in Borneo, most of the insects there were huge.

The wingspan of the brown moth was about 15cm wide - huge!

They are mostly active at night, which is quite common for creatures in the jungle.

A couple of the girls stationed in the jungles, was stationed here. Not a wise decision, considering these girls were paranoid about the insects.

(Note: in the photo below, I still had conjunctivitis) I had the red eyes for most of the trip.


Big and beautiful, don't you think? You can see how big the black moth is compared to the size of the telephone.





These plants were kind of special because each branch split into two, so by the end of it, they formed a hexagonal pattern.

Below, are plants known as the "pitcher" plant.

The pitcher plants are meat-eating plants - you have watch out not to fall into them because they will swallow you whole.



If you just believed that, you are very gullible! *laugh*

The pitcher plant, like other carnivorous plants, feed on insects.

They have sweet-smelling nectar that attract the unsuspecting insect to it.

When the insect lands, it finds the surface slippery and fall straight into the “pitcher”, where the plants juices drowns it and is digested by the plant.

You may have heard of other type of carnivorous plants such as the Venus Fly Trap, and the Sundew plants.



Yes, you see me holding the snake with a leaf.

It was a poisonous snake, and I was worried about it's venom getting on my skin.

For example a puff adder, contact with the venom numbs the skin.

I was not familiar with the snakes in Borneo, and was not about to risk it.


The tarantella was sitting inside the catering tent hunting.

Everyone was looking at it and admiring it, which was pretty amazing, considering I know many people who would willingly kill a spider in sight.

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Created: 7 Dec 2001

Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )

Arrival	Silam / Jungle Ops	Repeater Stations	The Competitors	Helicopter	Jungle Around Us	The Village

Helicopters . . .
The radio communications team had to arrive a few days before that because we had to hand out over 2,000 pieces of radio equipment. We had problems getting the necessary approvals for helicopters so they were grounded! I ended having to hand out most of the equipment as Glen and Paul had to sort out our use of the helicopters.

We had to fly all the equipment to Silam before the start of the race, and our team managed to fly to Silam the day before the race started.

Do you believe that Paul managed to take a photo of me whilst I was flying the chopper? He was standing to the side of me, and took the photo at night time, with the door open ...



Just kidding.

A couple of days before the race started, I was at the airport most of the day. We had some problems with the radios in the helicopters... I must have been in and out of those helicopters at least 200 times.

I did manage to get someone to take some photos of me in a helicopter, looking very much like the pilot!

I had hoped that I had the time to explore Kota Kinabalue, but we were so busy, it had to wait.



Here is the 212 or "Huey" - a twin-turbine Vietnam helicopter taking off. It is a hell a lot more powerful than some of the other helicopters we were using, which were 206s.


Here are the medical guys practising abseiling out of the helicopters (Aussie style)!

At the start of the race, I was sitting there listening to the first rescue on the radio.

3 hours after the start, four boats had capsized... helicopters and boats were very busy!

The competitors were due to arrive at Silam (another checkpoint) the next day (21st Aug).

For the first few days after the race started, I had to help organise to get the fuel to the top of the mountain.

After that the helicopter came in useful. It brought up 100 litres of fuel on the 4th day so I did not have to ferry fuel anymore!



At the end of the race, we had to sling-load the repeaters, to get them off the mountain. That means we had to strap them onto the helicopters, and pull them off the mountains that way - quite effective really.






Repeater station finally airborne!


You can see a pole in the right photo.
My girlfriend asked me what it was for - it helps balance the load so that it does not keep swinging whilst airborne.


Below, you will see some pretty good photos from the chopper.



Towards the end of the race, we had to scan the rivers for the last competitors coming in - to make sure they had completed this section of the race course. It was low-altitude flying of the river-bed.

The photo on the left shows the chopper approaching Silam Village. This village was located just outside of Silam HQ.



Glen liked wanted to have a photo of the back of my head - and I ruined the photo by turning my head as he took it...

Here's a sunset shot of the helicopters flying around.

I had to put in this fantastic photo - the lighting gives a really nice feel to the photo.



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Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )

Arrival	Silam / Jungle Ops	Repeater Stations	The Competitors	Helicopter	Jungle Around Us	The Village

Repeater Stations . . .



Here, you see Paul and I transporting some of the repeater stations by air.

From Silam, we flew down to DFVC. We stayed there for three days before going back to Silam.



I am at one of the repeater sites. Here, the top of one of the mountains was cleared, so we could safely land a helicopter there.

Oh... did I forget to mention that I almost chopped one of my fingers in half at the repeater site?

On top of my infected eye, I had another thing for the medical team to look at. The fingernail had been chopped in half and there was not much I could do about it except clean it up and try to avoid infections. The medical team was great there... they were extremely good.




We had a few problems with some of the communications gear.

Paul and Glen were handling it, and at times I tried to assist.

The first few days had been really tough.


The top of Silam is covered in clouds for most of the afternoons, so the solar panels are quite useless. A survey of the conditions made prior to the race was useless.

If you ask any of the locals, they would have told us that the peak is always covered in clouds... but apparently no-one asked them!!!




We had problems keeping the generators running - they were using more power than predicted and there was no sun on the top of Silam to recharge the batteries.

The generator itself was a re-built petrol engine with a car alternator on it.

We basically tried to use a system where we used a jerry can, cut holes into it, and relied on the force of gravity to transport the fuel to the generator.

This design ended up working best for us.


Our helicopter pilot sitting on the side there, just grinning...

On the third day of the race, I hiked up the mountain three times. I was really tired and all I could think of was getting a bit of a rest and some food. I managed to get a bit once I got to Danum. In Danum I managed to get 6 hours sleep before someone woke me up and told me that the repeater had died in Silam... again all the cars had to leave in a convoy... so rush, rush to find my driver and managed (just) to get into the convoy!

The road to Danum closes at 6.30pm and all the cars had to go in the convoy.


The helicopter flew all of us to the top of the mountain, and waited there for us till we were finished. Glen quite often told the pilot, "You don't have to shut down, because we'll only be here for 5 minutes." Well... quite often, we were there for as long as an hour and half! (Don't worry, the pilot was sensible enough to shut down immediately... he got to know Glen very well.)

I went up there often make sure that it was still running. It is much better getting a helicopter to fly me up there so that I can bring some fuel with me !



Glen has mostly been on top of the mountain getting the generator back online.
We have to keep the generator running 24 hours per day until the end of the race.




On the third night after the race started, one of the repeaters went dead.

I had to hike up the mountain on the previous day as the generator had died.

I did not leave the mountain until it was dark, so I had to climb down through the jungle in the dark!

Fortunately I had my torch with me!




Paul later gave me strict instructions to make sure that I leave the mountain so that I could be back at HQ while there was still light!

I found out that I did not have any problems navigating at night... I even offered Paul to go back up when the repeater died!

Anyhow, we ended up having to send the airborne repeater up!





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Created: 7 Dec 2001

Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )

Arrival	Silam / Jungle Ops	Repeater Stations	The Competitors	Helicopter	Jungle Around Us	The Village

The Competitors . . .

The competitors did not rest... three of the teams were half way through the 600 kilometre course after only three days... pretty amazing!

Two of the teams were Australian. 18 teams were out of the race. At least 10 of these were due to medical problems.

Hardly any people around here get enough sleep... the place is active 24 hours per day because there are always competitors coming in!

I was keen to find out how the Danish team would turn out. At the beginning of the race, they were not very sociable. But by the end of the race, I think the tension of the race had gone, and I managed to have a chat with them. By the third day, the Danes are doing pretty well... they had a 22nd place!



This was the mountain-bike leg of the race.

The guy you see being transported to hospital in the helicopter (photos below), was doing this part of the race. He was rounding a corner on his bike and rode straight into a large branch.



We had a lot of medical urgencies... we almost lost a guy with a punctured lung !
I got some great photos and helped getting the guy into the mobile hospital. There was a lot publicity on the website and through the media about it.

Fortunately, he was only 15 minutes away from HQ, so it was possible for us to get him to the helicopter very quickly, and to the nearest hospital.



Another leg of the race involved rowing in these “sampans”, a Malay term for “boat”. At some point, the teams in the race had to also split up - some of them swimming, some of them rowing, to complete the water leg of the race.

Below, the competitors had to use a flying fox to cross the canyons. I managed to have a go at it - compared to rock-climbing... well, I found it pretty boring *smile*. I imagine most people would find it quite fun though.



There are no places to climb here.

I had hoped to take one of the helicopters to Madai Caves to check out the 200 metre abseil. The road to the Madai Caves lead directly through the tiny village of Gua Madai - a small cluster of homes, their wood bleached grey.

The town’s main sources of income are tourism and birds’ nests. The nests are found high up the walls of the cave, tucked away in cracks and crevasses, and can command thousands of dollars. They are harvested about three times a year.

My girlfriend mentioned trying "bird's nest soup" whilst I was there. She said normally the bird's nest they use belong to the swallow. It is a delicacy to many Asians, and similar to shark's fin soup - that is if you have tried it. Normally the nests are made out of the birds' saliva.



There was so much rain at Silam that HQ was often flooded.

Many of the competitors took the opportunity to get some sleep and the slept on whatever they could find.


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Created: 7 Dec 2001

Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )

Arrival	Silam / Jungle Ops	Repeater Stations	The Competitors	Helicopter	Jungle Around Us	The Village

Silam and Jungle Ops . . .
It is so bloody hot in Silam! It must have been at least 40 degrees and 100% humidity!

Silam was the overall headquarters, and Danum Valley Field Centre (DVFC) was referred to as Jungle Ops. Jungle Ops controlled all radio communications and conducted the race through the the jungle.

From Kota Kinabalu, we flew to Lahad Datu and drove the rest of the way to Silam. Silam was the site of one of the repeater stations. We had to set up a HQ a few kilometres from this station... heaps of opportunities for a few walks in the jungle.

The operation at Silam was huge!... I had never seen such a busy place before. The place was crawling with energy. It was bigger than any military operation I had ever seen! You would be amazed to see the logistics involved in this project ! At the time I did not have the time to take a lot of photos.

We had many army trucks transporting the competitors' equipment - very good cooperation from the military. They helped out with the preparation and set-up of HQ, and with the transportation of fuel.





This is the headquarters on the left.

The whole Ecochallenge race is governed from this office.

The map in the background contains the position of all the checkpoints at which the competitors have to go through.




Both of the above photos are aerial shots of HQ and were taken from a helicopter.


I managed to get a nice aerial shot of Silam HQ. The big white patch in the middle is where the competitors stored all their equipment. Just to the left are the containers from where the race is controlled. The 4 'finger-like' white pads on the right are the heli-pads. The long rectangle to the left is the eating area, and just above it is the hospital.




Approaching DVFC in helicopter.

This is actually a research centre in the middle of the jungle - commonly known as DVFC (Danum Valley Field Centre).

DVFC is not normally accessible the tourists and the general public, only to researchers.

DVFC is concerned about contamination into the jungle.



Outside Jungle Ops HQ.

The green boxes contain bottled drinking water.

By the time the race was over, most of this had been consumed - quite amazing really, considering there were really only 10 people at Jungle Ops.

During the competitors were not allowed any help from us, and that included the provision of drinking water.




Paul with some of the radio equipment at Silam.

He is standing next to the HQ matrix, which contained all the communications equipment for headquarters.

Paul is also standing next to the only 2 beds in the HQ building. These were used by the radio operators to nap in between shifts.


Below, you see me sitting in the catering tent at Silam.

I think it must have been a good day, to have been sitting there, smiling... I am just guessing here, because obviously I did not take the photo, and I cannot remerber the place.





Bad hair day?

I did not have a shower for a very long time, and to hold my hair in place, I adopted various techniques, such as the sunglasses-hairband...

This place is a breathing ground for tropical diseases!

As you can see, my right eye is really red. I somehow managed to get conjunctivitis and did not know it was contagious. I did not want to trouble the medics as they were pretty tied up with the competitors. When my vision on the left eye was getting blurry and I had problems seeing what was in front of me, I was ordered to get it checked. Just as well I did!

In Kota Kinabalu, I had the same problem on the other eye... at one point both my eyes were infected. It started on my left eye on the way to Kota Kinabalu in the plane ! It then spread to my right eye. The nurse at Silam told me that I should be careful because it could re-infect to my left eye. It started to look and feel a lot better after using the eyedrops that they gave me.

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Created: 7 Dec 2001

I can apply a lot of Dilbert's Principles to my work, that is why I always go to the Dilbert website to see what else Dilbert has come up with. More importantly, I thought Dilbert an accurate description of what I do, hence the first think you see on this page is... Dilbert!



I had the privilege of working as a contractor in the world's leading company in bionic implants, Cochlear. I worked there for 1½ years as the head designer/developer of the software programming the bionic implants. I worked with some of the best developers, and had a lot of fun whilst I was at it.



I had the chance to go on the Harbour Bridge climb, organised by the company. It is quite an expensive trip up over thte top of the bridge and normally would not pay to do it, but had the opportunity to do this with my colleagues. It is very windy up there and the view spectacular. There is quite a lot of people on the bridge climb - average about 10-15 per group, with about 3-5 groups on the bridge at a time. The whole walk from the bottom, to the top and back the other side takes about 2 hours. Many tourists take the opportunity to try out the climb, and I am told that the trip at sunset is spectacular.



I took this trip on a Douglas DC-3 (from the 1930-40's) with PMP Software. PMP Software was the company I worked for during the years I was waiting to get my permanent residency in Australia. I had the chance to see this state from an aerial view. There were quite a few Danes working for PMP, and at present, Kenneth is also working for them.

New Zealand ( June 1998 ) . . .


My first trip to New Zealand took place in June 1998. I travelled with the Lenehans - friends I have known since my arrival in Australia. This was one of many trips I took with Lance and Anne. We rented a campervan and decided to explore the south island of NZ.

I have since been to New Zealand again - NZ has some of the most beautiful mountains and I had the chance to go there again in January 2001 to do a technical ice-climbing course.

I took so many photos and would have loved to place all of them on this webpage.

Instead, I have selected a few to show some of the places I managed to go to, such as Milford Sound, Nelson, Arthurs Pass and Mt Cook.

There were many glaciers in NZ and lots of seals to go with them!

NZ is a beautiful country with many unusual natural formations. It is a photographer's haven. We ended our trip with a farewell dinner in Christchurch.




Seals . . .

The Lenehans and I decided to spend 2 weeks in New Zealand in the winter of 1998. We flew to Christchurch from Sydney, and drove north to Nelson.

On the way to Nelson, on the east coast of the southern island, there are hundreds of seals. It was a spectacular sight and I managed to get quite close to them to take photos.



They did not seem to mind me taking a few photos. Some of the seals look tired - I guess even seals, like humans become tired. Who wouldn't like to pet a seal? They look different when they are wet though.



This was taken near where the seals were. I like the blend of colours and the harmony of the picture.

A lot of friends have commented on this photo! Most of them really like the photo, and feel there is something calm about it.








Nelson . . .

Nelson is located at the northern most part of the southern island.

We explored the area around Lake Rotoiti.




These were taken from the ridge itself.

There is a lake at the end of the mountain ridge. From here, it is all downhill. We camped just below the lake at 1,500 metres altitude.

It was snowing the next morning and all water was frozen. We estimated the temperature to be around -7 degrees celcius.




The side of the ridge was one big stonefall.

It was very cold and the wind was strong that day so it was necessary to wear gloves hat.

We managed to get a group shot from the top of the ridge. The mountains in the background are knows as the McAngus ridge at Lake Rotoiti.

Here are the mountains at Lake Rotoiti.




The mornings are incredibly beautiful at Lake Rotoiti. Here you can see the morning mist floating gently on the water.

It is also very cold here - that is why there is ice on the bridge in the foreground.


The photo on the right shows the Lenehans crossing one of the suspension bridges at Lake Rotoiti.

At this point we had walked 15 kilometres, with a 1,000 metre descent. We had yet another 7 to 8 kilometres to go that day!



This is what happens when you do not use a tripod. The effect is quiet interesting and makes the photo look like a painting by Monet.

This photo has has been dubbed "The Renet" among my friends.









Arthurs Pass . . .


We drove to Arthurs Pass, on the way from Nelson to Queenstown further south.

There is a place called Goat Pass, and there is only one way in - on foot.

Here, you can see Anne climbing up ladders on the Goat Pass track.



It was raining so much that we were not able to get down through the canyon on the other side of the Pass. We therefore decided to go back the way we came.

Further down the track, we had passed a bivouak and decided to stay ther during the night. It was very dirty and Anne would rather sleep outside in the rain.

Everything was wet so she changed her mind and came back in. *laugh*



She wore plastic bags on her feet, in her boots are so that she could wear her boots without getting cold feet! Aussies will never get used to the cold.

Here is Anne crossing one of the rivers.

Every time she crossed a river, she would sit and massage her feet for 10 minutes until they warm again.

I guess Aussies will never get used to the cold. Neither will Danes for that matter! An Australian winter is like a Danish summer - so you can imagine how cold Denmark is! Still, Danes cannot get used to it - just ask Kenneth or Soeren!



Sleeping ???

Aussies will never learn to live with the cold!

I must admit I hate the cold. I loved it when I lived in Kenya - so hot and humid!

Even living in Denmark for all those year did not make me like cold weather any more than I used to. That is why I love Australia - warm summers and mild winters. Sometimes winter in Australia is a bit too cold for me! But I do not usually wear more than a T-shirt or a thin jumper in winter. My girlfriend was complaining about me having the heater on full-blast in the car during spring!

Okay, so I love the heat!





Inside the campervan.

Temperature was down to -10 degrees Celcius during the night and there was no heating in the van.


This explains why Anne was wearing a thick blanket. There was only enough water for a two minute shower. That is why Anne is wearing a hat indoors.


See the expression on her face? She knows I will write a stupid description for this photo.




In the campervan I had the top bunk.

This is one of my girlfriend's favourite photos!












On the way to Milford Sound, we saw some unusual formations - The Pancake Rocks. The Pancake Rocks are located near Hokitika, between Kumara and Ross.



They do not taste as good as real pancakes - you get sand in your teeth...



At Queenstown, we had the most glorious view of "The Remarkables". The Remarkables are the mountains in the background - don't ask me why they call The Remarkables, I don't know. But the photo on the left shows Queenstown with these mountains in the background.

The photo on the right shows the a sunset at The Remarkables (with snow on top!) Pretty 'remarkable', huh?








Milford Sound . . .


Milford Sound is located near the southern-most tip of the south island of NZ. It is the series of 'islands' that you can see on the western tip of NZ on the map.

To get to Milford Sound, we had to take a huge detour from Queenstown. To come back from Milford Sound, we had to take the same detour before heading east from Queenstown.

Driving down to Milford Sound, we had to put chains on the tyres of the campervan.

In the pass, there was at least 10 centimetres of snow on the road, and it was illegal to continue on without chains. Chains help create friction on the roads and makes it easier for the vehicle to drive on in icy conditions.

We managed to rent a set of chains in Te Anau because we had heard rumours about chains being mandatory.

If you go to New Zealand during the winter, then make sure you have a set of chains for the car.





How many postcards have you seen from Milford Sound, where there was snow on top of the mountains?

It is beautiful, but nothing compared to the Mount Cook area.






The sun rising in the Milford Sound area.






Glaciers . . .



Most of the glaciers we went to were located on the main range.

We had to drive inland when we were heading south on the west coast because the Westland was too rough and wild to drive through.

Here on the right is the Tasman glacier near Mt Cook village. It is 35 km long - a hundred years ago it was 85km long. The ice is 600m thick and used to be 1,300m thick.

Where the glacier ends at the water on the photo, the ice is more than 200m thick.





Both the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers are located on the west coast.

On the left is The Fox Glacier.

It is so huge that if you built a house at the end where the ice begins (or ends since it is a glacier), you would not be able to see it on this picture.




The pile of ice behind me are 3 to 4 times bigger than the size of a house.

I am standing about half a kilometre from the glacier.




At the Franz Josef glacier, people have been feeding the keas. The kea is the only alpine parrot in the world.

This means the keas associate every man-made thing with something edible.

They are therefore making the attempt to eat the cars. You can see the keas on the roof of our campervan.

It is a very weird bird. They can survive in extreme conditions with freezing temperatures and snow.








Mount Cook . . .


On the way back to Christchurch, we went to Mt Cook.

Here is Mt Cook as seen from the west coast.

I achieved my goal to climb it in January 2001! You can see the photos from this trip.




Take a look at the colours. The photos were taken at Lindes Pass, just north of Mount Cook.

There was no sound up there. You could not hear the wind or any birds. The only sound you could hear was yourself breathing.




Lance praying towards Mecca???

No just Lance in a weird posture taking a video of Mt Cook.




One of my favorite photos.
"The man and his mountain". Kerenyaga.

Here is Mt Cook in the background (almost 4,000 meters). I am so glad that I had the opportunity to go back to NZ and actually climb on Mt Cook!







Farewell Dinner . . .



From Milford Sound, back to Queenstown, we then drove back to Christchurch via the east coast. We saw some pretty spectacular sunrises along the way.

During our last night in New Zealand, we went to a restaurant called "The Sign of the Takahe". We had our farewell dinner at Christchurch before returning to Sydney.

It is an old castle/house built in the same style as the old English castles. The atmosphere and food is excellent.

This is the place to bring a date.

Someone was playing quiet piano music in the hall.

The photo is taken with a long exposure because I wanted to capture the atmosphere with the woman playing the piano in these old surroundings.






Created: Jan 2000 Last Updated: 19 Sept 2001

I have the most spectacular view from my home in Narrabeen.

It is an apartment on the beach, only 10 metres away from the sand. As you can see from the picture on the left, this was taken from my balcony, with the beach in the background.

Almost every morning, these beautiful white birds, come in abundance to visit me. I usually hand-feed them sunflower seeds, but you have to be extremely careful because sometimes they mistake your fingers for food!

Cockatoos are approximately the same size as a duck. They are very intelligent and not afraid of humans. However, along with the cockatoos, I also get the pesky pigeons - I wish I could get rid of them!!!




Created: 12 Aug 2001 Last Updated: 25 Oct 2002

During my first year in Australia, after coming from Denmark, I was contracted out to work at Port Macquarie - a quiet, but beautiful and peaceful seaside town a few hours north of Sydney. The first pictures were taken in Port Macquarie during Easter 1998.

Lance, Anne and Graham, some good friends of mine, decided to do some exploring around the area...

Graham here, on the right, The Admiral himself... (also called "Wobber") "Is that a chicky-babe in the water ?"

The photo is taken on "Kermit" (Note, the green seats...) in the river at Port Macquarie.




Lance seasick ???? No, just a little tired !

This is one of many photos I have of Lance sleeping - he has a knack for taking a nap just about anywhere - just ask Anne! *smile*

It's a great day to sail on "Kermit".




Whereas, who do we have here?

Me! I love sailing, and as usual, like to be a'head' of things...

"Clear water ahead Navigator?"

"Aye-Aye Admiral!"



"The Admiral" is giving Anne a good whacking.

Poor Anne...












Lance and The Admiral in front of the lighthouse at Port Macquarie





In the mangrove at Port Macquarie, there are millions of these small blue crabs (Taste like shit). It's pretty amazing though - crabs do not exist only on a beach. They live wherever there is enough water and they can burrow quickly and easily away from danger.

The photo above is taken on a sandbar in the river at Port Macquarie.

There are also a lot of pelicans in Port Macquarie. I managed to get a picture of one flying. And one yawning!

There are quite a few pelicans here in Narrabeen, on Pittwater Rd - a main street near where I live. Narrabeen lakes draws its salt water from the sea, and at one point on Pittwater Rd, there is a bridge. This is where I see most of the pelicans - perched on top of the flat heads of street lights! It's quite funny to see them there, and have never managed to get a photo of this yet, as I usually see them when I am driving over the bridge.



We went bushwalking in the mountains and forests at Port Macquarie and found this beautiful rockpool. We used the opportunity to go for a swim.











Off the beaten track in the forests around Port Macquarie!







Moi!

One of the few pictures of me (as you will notice in this whole website). I tend to prefer taking pictures of other people and places - but my girlfriend is trying to remedy that! (she's still trying not get blurry pictures...)














As you can see, this place is really good for getting comfortable, enjoying my lunch, no worries, good place to get a bit of sleep...



Like my new haircut?

I wanted to do something radical. I needed a change, I wanted people to look at me when I was walking down the street. So decided to change my hairstyle. By the way, you like it green? I can't be a dumb blond forever...







A picture of Lance and I with the beaches at Port Macquarie and one of the Brothers in the background !







There was a storm in Newcastle. These were the biggest waves I had ever seen - some were 7-8 meters high. The waves were washing all the way up to where I am standing taking the picture.

The kids in the photo were waiting for a big wave to hit them and wash them into the rock pool. You know the big wave coming towards them? They were still a couple of hundred meters away from it...





Henrik, Lance and I made a bet with Anne about whether or not we would be able not to use a computer in our sparetime for two weeks while we were up in Newcastle. We accepted the bet and won it simply because it was impossible for us to lose since we didn't have access to any computers!

That meant that Anne had to cook us a dinner... Australian Style!









Aussie?

We had to dress "Australian style" for the dinner (at least to start with). Reckon it is Aussie with a billabong hat? (Need some flies for the corks to chase away). But it is DEFINITELY Aussie with that holey surfie t-shirt and a Fosters (disgusting) in hand!












Can't see, can't hear and can't talk, who am I?

No actually he was trying to wear his wife's earrings but didn't want it on a photo!

I have often said that Port Macquarie was a beautiful place, but it is much too quiet for me in the long run. Working there during 1998 was good, but I was also glad to be back in Sydney!

We celebrated Anne's birthday at a restaurant called Pete's Bite. The only access to the restaurant is by seaplane or boat. It is located 2 hours north of where I live.

The food is marvelous and bloody expensive. It is definetely worth trying (once)!



It was 40-45 degrees that day and no wind so everybody moved out on the lawn in the shade of palms!




So this is what a heat stroke looks like !

Narrabeen Beach . . .

My apartment is situated right on Narrabeen beach - one of the nicer and quieter northern beaches.

Now that I've said this, you're probably wondering about that surfer in the middle of that photo... and is the wave real?

You betcha!

I even have a photo of this surfer being 'chased' by this HUGE wave, on the wall in my apartment.



Narrabeen is renowned for its great surf and dangerous rips. Many famous lifesavers come to surf at this beach. However, usually after a big storm, the beach is closed as the waves can get pretty rough and dangerous rips pull you out to sea.

These photos were taken outside my apartment during the annual National Surf and Lifesaving competition.