I went on vacation to Australia and New Zealand again in March 2007. A very brief visit, similar to last time, but I'd rather go more frequently for shorter visits than take longer trips less often.

On the first day I had lunch with friends from Sun (thanks for organizing this, Kate). It's an interesting fact that of all the places I've ever worked, I keep in closer contact with my friends from Sun than with my colleagues from any other employer. That applies to friends like Fay and Sunil and Lily in New York as well as to this group in Sydney, and even though only one of the lunch party still works for Sun, that doesn't diminish the ongoing link. I don't know whether this says something about the company or about the people who worked there.

Lunch was at the Museum of Sydney restaurant, and they had a sculptural display of poles in their courtyard (a permanent exhibit, for all I know). It made for an interesting contrast with the modern high-rise buildings surrounding it. Then I headed down to Circular Quay and the Opera House.

I had just bought a wide-angle lens (12-24mm, if you're interested) before I went to Sydney, so several of these shots were experiments with the new lens. Some of the experiments didn't work too well, but you don't find out until you try. In particular, the Sydney Opera House has been photographed so often from so many angles that you have to try something new. The extreme wide-angle shots were my attempts at something new, but the end result wasn't always particularly interesting.