The end of 2008

It's a new year! I've got to find a way to stay awake - and in control of the telescope - until 7am and so I thought that I'd find some photos taken in 2008. (This is more fun than working out why my routine for calculating the inverse of a matrix is not working properly!).

New year 2008 started in Canada with Jonathan, mum and dad. That seems a long time ago! Probably putting a photo of us skiing is a bit unfair because 1) it was taken a few days before 2008 and 2) it gives the impression that Jonathan can actually ski. It was a wonderful holiday in Canada and I wouldn't mind cooling down a bit in the snow now!







Christine (who took the photo of us skiing) spent a long time in Australia. Joris and I went with her for a superb holiday in the centre of Australia. We flew into Alice Springs, drove to Uluru, back up (via some meteor craters) to the West MacDonnell ranges, across to the East MacDonnell ranges and then back to Alice Springs.

I managed to do quite a bit of travelling for work. We had a conference in the Blue Mountains and trips to Tasmania, Canberra, Melbourne, Parkes, Narrabri, Albury and Perth. During the Perth conference, I managed to find time for a spectacular boat crossing to Rottnest Island where I saw quokkas in the wild!









After the Perth conference I started the second of my main holidays this year and took the Indian Pacific train all the way across Australia from Perth to Sydney. The highlight of this trip, by far, was the crossing of the Nullarbor and spotting eagles, camels, dingoes, kangaroos, emus, etc. etc. from the train window.



The Sydney area was as beautiful as ever. I still haven't managed to get further down the Great North Walk (I hope to do that this year), but did manage to fit in some amazing hiking in the local area. I'm still exciting about seeing my first waratah in the wild (and before I forget, in Tasmania, we managed to spot a wild platypus)!







Alice, Anna and I had a wonderful trip driving around Tasmania. It is so incredibly varied that it's impossible to summarise in a couple of sentences. Anyway, I want to go back and do some more hiking and sight-seeing.














I was lucky enough to have a work trip to England and Wales. Emma, Peter and Alexander showed me areas around London that I hadn't seen before. I then spent a couple of weeks at Jodrell Bank before heading down for a relaxing weekend near Cardiff. This trip really got me excited again about doing more travelling around the UK with various walks around Devon and South Wales at the top of my to-do list!



I started the year in the cold and snow in Canada. I finished the year with the complete opposite in tropical Darwin. Another wonderful holiday which included a long drive to the Kakadu national park. It was hot, humid and completely different to Canada!

What a year!! I must admit that (out of all the places that I've been this year) the place that I'd most like to be at the moment would be Ormiston Gorge in the centre of Australia (although I wouldn't be at all upset if I was in Tasmania, Darwin, Canada or even Parkes - which is where I happen to be!)

Oh well ... enough procrastination. Now I'd better get back to my inverse matrices. Happy New year to all the strange people that actually read my blog!!