January 29, 2004
Australia Day in the Whitsundays!
26th January was Australia, to celebrate I travelled up to Airlie Beach which is a coastal town just north of Mackay, in Queensland, northern Australia.
Airlie Beach is a little party town, but best known as the keyway to the Whitsunday Islands, a gorgeous group of islands with white sandy beaches and beautiful blue coloured water.
Whitehaven, one of the beaches on the main island (above), named the Whitsunday Island, is often regarded as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and when I saw it last year I could see why, this year I just had to see it again. :)
Airlie Beach is only a few hours flying time from Melbourne, even closer from Brisbane. It's a fun place to be, so if you're coming to Australia, definitely book a trip there to do some sailing. :)
January 19, 2004
Cancun!
Just about to finish up an awesome week in Cancun, Mexico! These photos were taken today around the Sheraton Hotel, where I'm currently staying. Tomorrow morning I fly to Dallas, and then further on to Denver for a few days.
Still have a bit of travel ahead of me, after Denver I fly to LA, and then back home to Melbourne, Australia. Once I'm in Melbourne it doesn't stop though - I'll be on a flight up to Mackay in Queensland, and on to Airlie Beach to spend the Australia Day (26th Jan) long weekend in the Whitsunday Islands.
Really looking forward to it all. :)
January 09, 2004
Cancun!
Well, it's almost time. On monday I depart Frankfurt for Cancun, Mexico. Will be staying there for a week at the Sheraton (above)!
I was in Cancun in January 2003, and in Cozumel January 2002. Both trips were great, so I'm really looking forward to this one as well. I certainly won't forget the first time I went into Senior Frogs, Carlos and Charlies ;)
Will be flying onwards back home to Australia after Cancun. Here comes the summer! ;)
January 07, 2004
Top 3 DJ's!
I like a lot of different styles of music - back home in Mount Gambier I grew up recording many different kinds of songs off the radio onto tape, and had a few friends who were DJ's at our local (then only) FM radio station 5GTR-FM.
But I guess most of you out there who know me personally know that trance and techno is one of my favourite styles. So, after coding to trance and techno over the past couple of weeks, I thought I'd post my top 3 DJ list :)
1. Paul van Dyk
My all time favourite DJ. PvD comes from Germany (eastern Germany originally), and has written several big tunes in the dance scene like 'For an Angel', 'Columbia', etc. Paul often plays most of his own tunes during his gigs, many I find to be really melodic and uplifting with some groovy beats.
Paul used to DJ every second friday night here in Frankfurt with DJ Talla 2XLC in 1999/2000 which was great. I've seen him spin in Frankfurt (U60311 & Dorian Gray), Berlin (Love Parade), Ibiza (Amnesia & MTV Ibiza), Munich (KW), Mannheim and at other events. He always attracts big crowds, really worth experiencing live.
2. DJ Tiesto
DJ Tiesto is the Dutch DJ responsible for the 'In Search of Sunrise' and 'Forbidden Paradise' series of albums. I find Tiesto to be similar to Paul van Dyk in style, but he brings his own style and flair to his mixing creating heavier beating remixes and tracks with melodic trance.
My favourite DJ Tiesto album is 'In Search of Sunrise 2', closely followed by 'In Search of Sunrise 3 and 1' :)
I've only seen DJ Tiesto live once in Ibiza at Amnesia, was awesome :)
Oakenfold is from the UK and is known in the techno and trance scene everywhere. He's span at just about every major club throughout the world. Most of my experience with Oakenfold's music comes from the Essential Mix series or live recordings that used to be broadcast in the UK.
My favourite Paul Oakenfold album is 'Global Undergound - New York' CD1.
So thats the top 3. Other DJ's I also like include Dave Seaman, Talla 2XLC, Tall Paul, ATB, Ferry Corsten, an older Australian group called Quench - plus many more :)
iPod Mini!
Apple have just announced the iPod Mini, with a 4gb disk for US$249. Looks quite nice, it's even smaller than the original iPod.
I've been thinking about getting one recently, but I've been looking at the 40gig iPod rather than the smaller ones. They retail for about 549 euro here in Germany. Similar prices elsewhere around the world as well. An iPod would be great, as I'd be able to get all of my mp3's, etc, off my notebook and use the disk space for something else - not to mention the portability factor.
A good mate of mine has ported Linux to work on the iPod at iPodLinux which is a bit of a blast - it's amazing what you can do with a bit of hardware and a cross compiler :)