This is our roof garden, which we will be able to sit out on and have a beer within the next two weeks. And is only 250m from Darling Harbour. It’s 2800m2 and is on split levels, with a full kitchen and bbq area on the upper half. Perhaps we can have moving in party, I will provide accommodation if you get the flights

I will get some better pictures once we move in, but in the mean time you can check out a few from the M Central site. Click on Living, then Landscape.

I’m shocked that I’m almost 29 and I still couldn’t resist buying this R/C Wall-E Toy. This little Disney/Pixars U-Control Wall-E is fantasitc and my little sister is going to love it! As much as I do, I can’t take it to Australia.

It’s in a perfect location, on the border between Brighton and Hove, 4 minutes to the beach, 5 minutes to Waitrose, 3 minutes to Tesco and 15 minutes to Brighton Station. Kitchen is complete with cooker, washer/dryer, separate fridge & freezer.

You can see more details on the Rightmove website:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-21110962.html and Gumtree.

Very bright open plan living room, traditional sash windows. L-Shaped sofa bed. Very large bedroom, with massive fitted wardrobes. The bathroom has an awesome illuminated mirror cabinet not shown and a powerful thermostatic controlled shower. Click on photos to enlarge.

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We are off to Venice for 4 days then we are back for a day before departing to Hong Kong to spend 4 days there and then heading off to Sydney. Having no idea when I will return. I can’t wait.

We are flying with EasyJet as per usual to Venice, but to Hong Kong we are flying with Cathay Pacific, does anyone have any experience with these guys? We took their flights as they were the cheap which means we have more money for travelling, and their new economy class looks really good. Our first flight with them is on a Airbus A343 followed by the Airbus A330. Unfortunately no double decker A380 for me unlike my friend Nick.

More to come

My blog is streaming the lower quality video you can go to YouTube to view the high quality video.

Well after completing my accelerated free fall course with Sydney Skydivers on 12/01/2005, here is the video of my first solo skydive.
Skydiving is most definitely the most exhilarating hobby I have had, unfortunately I haven’t been able to skydive in the UK since getting home. This isn’t down to the price of skydiving as it’s not so expensive, it’s just that the nearest drop zone to me is a two hour drive. So the time that I add petrol to that days jumping makes it an extremely expensive day out.

However I guarantee it won’t be long before I’m back skydiving again, it’s just annoying that I have left it so long, as I’m going to have to do a bit of training before I’m allowed to jump again. That in its self is a good thing judging by my current injuries!

I had seriously considered applying for it, and a friend of mine who works for a TV production company offered to help. But have decided today that I am not going to. I am sure there are going to be another 10,000 people out there who have a considerable amount of time available to invest into their application which I just don’t have.

Anyway I’ve already been to the Whitsunday Islands and thinking about it, I would probably get a little bored after 6 months.

If you want to apply check out the following site http://www.islandreefjob.com/

On one side it could be seen as terrible but to me it’s been one of the best years ever.

I’m sat here typing with a broken scaphiod in my right hand with my arm in cast after breaking my wrist in a bizarre and freak snowboarding accident in Milton Keynes. YES before my actual snowboarding holiday!

I’ve worn out my knees and have had to have anthroscopy in my right knee and a lateral release, which allowed me to wear amazing paper pants and involved the cutting of around 6 inches of tissue around my knee. With physiotherapy still ongoing. I’m so looking forward to having the next one done. I’ve had my zygoma broken whilst being on the end of a punch from Gary at karate and another broken nose from getting my face squashed by Casey in BJJ. Whilst with the consultant at Brighton hospital viewing the x-ray of my face to check that my zygoma had healed properly he was more concerned about the top of my right eye socket as it appears that I broke that too. Not sure how as I don’t especially remember being hit there? (I’m still trying to get a copy of my x-ray, it amazing to see an x-ray of your own head!)

I have just had a blood test for Helicobacter Pylori as it now appears that I have been eating human fecal matter. Ever since returning home from travelling Asia I have been unable to eat bread due to servere indegestion which temporailly stops me from breathing from the pain. After numerous trips to my doctor Dr Rogers and the pain becoming more frequent he believes that I have this strange coil shaped bacteria living in my stomach

… and with thanks to the Wikipedia:

Helicobacter pylori is a gram-negative, microaerophilic bacterium that inhabits various areas of the stomach and duodenum. It causes a chronic low-level inflammation of the stomach lining and is strongly linked to the development of duodenal and gastric ulcers and stomach cancer.

… and again:

Person-to-person transmission by either the oral-oral or fecal-oral route is most likely.[3] Consistent with these transmission routes, the bacteria have been isolated from feces, saliva and dental plaque of some infected people.[3] Transmission occurs mainly within families in developed nations yet can also be acquired from the community in developing countries.[64] H. pylori may also be transmitted orally by means of fecal matter through the ingestion of waste-tainted water, so a hygienic environment could help decrease the risk of H. pylori infection.[3]

Even with all this I’ve still had an amazing year with trips to 10 countries, meeting Dorota, an amazing girl who also shares my passion of travelling, scuba diving, adventure and knowledge with which I went to the last 8 countries with:

Norway – Oslow
Romania – Bucharest, Translyvania

Turkey – Alanya
Netherlands (x18) – Amsterdam, Scheveningen, Kinderdijk + many more places I can’t think of right now
Brussels (x3)- Belgium
France – Paris
Egypt – Hurgharda, Luxor
Czech Republic (x2) – Prague, Svoboda Nad Upou, Pec pod Snezkou
Poland (x2) – Krakow, Wroclaw, Tychy, Kolo, Warszawa
Germany – Berlin

So for 2009 I will try my upmost not to eat developing world feces and hope that I don’t get stomach cancer. We have booked a trip to Venice, have one planned for Sydney and not sure what else as yet. Ideas on a post card.

Bring on 2009!

Anyway about the camera it shoots full HD 1080p, records onto memory card so I don’t have to worry about damaging tapes and moving parts, meaning I can just throw it in my backpack without any care in the world. AND most of all it’s TINY!

The only drawbacks with the camera are firstly the fact that you need to be around 4m away from a person to get a full framed shot (this is the same problem with all compact camcorders) and you are lucky if the battery lasts an hour. So I have also ordered the Canon TL-H37 Wide converter (MVX150i) which will enable this distance to be almost halved, and of course the Double Capacity Canon BP-819 battery. Don’t be fooled by the cheap alternatives on Amazon as the majority of these are 1400mah and not 1780mah the same as the genuine one, AND you won’t be able to charge it on the camera but they are a quarter of the price.

Anyway in the meantime before I update this post there is a great review over at Trusted Reviews on the Canon HF10.

**** EDIT ****

Well after some use my first impressions are the same, it’s fantastic.

It’s TINY
Amazing image quality
Has great image stabilisation
Has manual controls including exposure, perfect for my dive filming
Uses standard 37mm filters
Uses readily available SDHC flash cards (Min. Cat 4)
Has mini hotshoe and mic/headphone jacks

However there are a few issues you should be aware of:

Standard battery life is very short so expect between 50-60 minutes of video
There’s no viewfinder, only the LCD screen
Built-in microphone is very susceptible to wind noise, like all camcorders!
No firewire

Anyway I explained to the man on the phone that this is often happening to me and he informed me that when I know that I am going to be travelling to many different countries in a short space of time to let them know and they can stop this from happening. I told him of my future destinations for the next two months which consist of Poland again, USA, Netherlands and Brussels and to my satisfaction I’ve been informed that my card use will be fine. Horary to Barclays

I suggest that anyone who is travelling frequently to call your credit/debit card provider and let their fraud department know where you are travelling. You don’t want your card suspended whilst thousands of miles away from home.

Have you encountered your card being suspended whilst travelling away from home?

Let’s look where I have been this year… Do Brighton Sewers count?

Bucharest (Romania),
Alanya (Turkey),
Brussels (Belgium),
Amsterdam, Kinderdijk, Maastricht, Scheveningen, Schiermonnikoog and Volendam (The Netherlands),
Paris (France)
Prague (Czech Republic)
Hurghada (Egypt)

Actually when it comes to Amsterdam I have been there the 10th time this weekend, hence why I have been so rubbish at updating my travel blog.
I have some great photos of many of these places to put on in the gallery and some great places to write about. However I’m off to Amsterdam this weekend and Poland next weekend so doubt I will get round to starting to write any of my trips up until then.
Well I shouldn’t moan about all my travelling as one day it will have to stop, but my next proper planned trip is for 10 days to travel round Poland for Christmas.

Bring on Polska!