Born and raised as a northerner, yet house-trained as a southerner, this lad gets his kicks from travel and adventure, gadgets, fast cars, computers, and loose women (err, scratch that last one).

Favourite foods include any hot dinner in a sandwich (recommend macaroni and cheese), chips chas and grav, lasagne, spaghetti bolognaise, and perhaps top is a damn good British style Indian resturant curry.

Favourite films are mostly comedies including The Burbs, Ace Ventura, The Party, Old School, Napolean Dynamite and Superbad.

Born and raised as a southerner, yet now educated in important northern ways such as eating massive plates of greasy dinner quickly, lower expectations of cleanliness, and tortuous hill climbing.

Favourite foods include hummus with everything, lobster thermidor, sandwiches with absurd amounts of filling, filet mignon steak, and current favourite of Mexican sausage tortilla wraps.

Favourite films come under the Pathe category of 'gay classics' including Pride and Prejudice, Moulin Rouge, Sense and Sensibility, Much Ado About Nothing and You've Got Mail.

This bad boy digital SLR has propelled us into the next league of photography. At 8 megapixels, kit up with 4GB memory sticks and 4 spare batteries, it makes for the essential travel companion. Also, a cheap eBay purchase of a 58mm polarising lens is an absolute gem to have for sunny days.

[Photograph courtesy of Adam Rheborg (Copyright) - www.adamrheborg.com]

This slimline fella works well diving. Not too cumbersome, yet captures decent enough stills, and more surprisingly large amounts of video on a 1GB stick which came into its own in the Galapagos. As a regular camera, I'm not keen on it. You have to be ultra careful to keep a steady hand else it results in blurred images.

Ever since buying this mini-DV camera for a Florida trip many moons ago, this work-horse has been dragged all over the world and still produces great results for amateur movie making. Recommend investing in a separate microphone, which is its main downfall.

[Rest In Peace (RIP) - After six years of fantastic video taking, we had to lay the PC100 to rest with terminal focus zoom problems, now lying somewhere in a refuse tip in the Netherlands]

Since we get so much enjoyment from capturing some of our mega trips on video (sad muppets that we are) we had to replace the video camera sharpish after losing the one above. Now we enter the leagues of HD video recording on this sleek little 60GB hard drive model. It's a pain to edit afterwards since virtually no video editing software currently supports the Sony AVCHD HD format, but Nero saved the day which can convert the files down to AVI DV for editing.

Subsequently, moving over to Apple Mac computing and using Final Cut Express has now brought a native AVCHD solution using the inbuilt 'Log and Capture' function converting it to HD QuickTime format and stereo audio ... so much for the concept of recording in 5.1 sourround sound (see below for more on microphones).

(Following on from above) After upgrading the video camera to supposed 'HD technology', I was excited at the prospect of editing with 5.1 surround - hmmphh! Whilst it supposedly records in surround sound via the inbuilt mic, I have no idea how you're supposed to extract and edit those separate channels. Even the latest Final Cut software auto-converts it to stereo, so I've basically concluded it is a gimmick and decided to invest in a better quality stereo mic instead. If you want surround sound background noise or music, then best to record those separately and mix them in during editing.

This Rode mic is good quality (rugged metallic build with 'old-school' switches and attachments) consisting of two separate X/Y condenser mics facing opposing directions and taking power from a 9-volt battery which fits in the housing. Since the HDR-SR7E has the new Sony Active Interface Shoe (AIS) which is smaller than the standard 1/4" universal shoe, I had to buy a small adapter also so that it can be mounted on top of the video camera.

A tripod is essential for long exposure shots and can be useful for extreme close-ups. Previously I've made do with setting the camera on nearby walls, gate-posts or car bonnets, but you can't always rely on them being there for every shot. I bought a couple of mini-tripods also which do a fair job, but they come unstuck when you need to position the camera higher than 25cm. The Gorillapod can be useful in certain situations - I wrapped it round the handrail whilst watching the Hong Kong Symphony of Lights show which worked well, but otherwise it can be a bit fiddly.

In an effort to raise the picture-taking quality, we bought a small tripod that is suitable for carrying with you in a backpack along treks. The final choice was this Manfrotto Modo model which is in a league of its own in terms of build quality (a little bit heavier as a result though compared to similar sized competition). The trigger grip-shift is a joy to use and the different modes for leg positioning give you maximum flexibility. Very happy with this so far and wasn't that expensive at $120 AUD.