Last week I was lucky enough to take a couple from Singapore out for a shoot to celebrate one year of marriage, despite the inclement weather we all had a great time and got some great pictures to remember the day with…

After a few technical hitches along the way I am the happy owner of a shiny new iPhone 3Gs. For anyone who needs to contact me I can now be reached on 080 4176 8090 (though email is probably still your best bet paul@strikingshots.com)

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have lunch with my friend Refik down in Odaiba. We chatted about a bunch of things, most notably setting up a small student written newspaper which could well turn into something exciting. (Anyone who has any good resources on typesetting and laying out a paper please send them my way…)

I have a couple of days with nothing really exciting to do, as a result I’m having a bit of a spring clean around the site. If anyone comes across anything which is broken, please drop me a line in the comments…

In other news, here’s the view from the end of my street which I thought was quite pretty…

I had a great time shooting an engagment session with Chris and Akiko last month, we were lucky enough to catch the cherry blossom in full bloom.

I’m just sad that I won’t be able to join them for their destination wedding on the Gold Coast in the summer.

Click here for a slideshow of the shoot…

*update* iphone/ipod users can click here for a non flash version, best viewed in landscape mode…

I’ve been using my time back in Tokyo wisely by going out, catching up with old friends and making new ones. I am back into the grind of doing some real work as of Monday, but for now I’m just enjoying the energy that only Tokyo can provide…

See more pictures here and here

Today you should prepare yourself for an overload of cuteness both for today and for tomorrow too. Despite having to wait in the cold for a couple of hours until the designated time we were lucky enough to see some newly hatched turtles while visiting the turtle rookery near Yamba. The turtles require some very strict rules and regulations to ensure their breeding goes according to plan so we were very tightly corralled through the whole process, hence the snap-shot like pictures.

Watching the turtle hatchlings scurry from their nest into the water was all kinds of cool, but due to their apparent super sensitivity to light during this stage (they head towards the brightest light, normally the moon over the ocean) all photography was forbidden…

In other news, my space-bar appears to be sticking, guess it’s keyboard cleaning time…

It’s fair to say the nightlife on the trip wasn’t quite what I’m used to…

I’ve arrived safely back in the land of good internet, otherwise known as Tokyo and it’s cold. I’m currently trying to catch up with the backlog of both pictures and other things which got neglected while I was on holiday. I’m going to try to wrap up all the roadtrip pictures by the end of this week if possible, but I make no promises.

One of the most impressive things for me of the whole trip was stumbling across a colony of soldier crabs. It was amazing to see this mass of creatures all moving in perfectly synchronious movement…

Since the last update I have mostly spent my time walking on the beach, driving to beaches and swimming at the beach

Yesterday was spent at Yamba, which is a wonderful place if you like beaches, surfing or fishing. Otherwise your options are a bit limited, we did however find a nice seafood co-op which sold the most awesome fish and chips I’ve had in a long time…

Today we are staying at Byron bay, a spot known for it’s beaches and surfing. The highlight for me was the local lake which is located in the middle of a teatree forest. The water is a dark and uninviting brown colour due to the amount of the tree extract which has dissolved into the water. After a swim however your skin is left feeling really smooth and nice.

Tomorrow we are headed up to Hervey Bay and then on to visit the Bundeburg distillery, I’m unsure if I’m more excited about the rum or the ginger beer, but either way it should be good….