Onboard Qantas

April 1, 2008--Just two hours to go until we land in Sydney, Australia. It's still dark outside but I know the vast Pacific ocean is just below. Leo Laporte is asleep in the seat next to me.(See photo below. Click on it to enlarge.) Other Adventure team members from around the world are en-route as well. Jackie King is flying from London and probably in Hobart by now. Simone Muller is flying in from Frankfurt. Maki Kawakita and Masaaki Aihara, are traveling from Tokyo. Peter Krogh and Bruce Dale started this afternoon in Washington, DC and are in a plane just ahead of us. We'll probably run into each other at customs in Sydney and fly down to Tasmania together.

Another wave of photographers and Adobe people leave tomorrow and most of the team will be Hobart by Wednesday.

Up to now--for me--the adventure has mostly been dealing with organizational details. But now, I'm shifting gears toward documenting the project and authoring the book that will come out of it. This is the fun part, the part where an amazing collaboration between artists and toolmakers takes place. It's so rewarding watching people get to know each other, learn from each other, and share everything they learn with our photo community. In fact, I'm in a better mood than I've been in weeks! Stay tuned.

BTW, Leo's adventure blogs can be found at http://leoville.com/category/Tasmania/. Leo will also be posting blogs here, on the O'Reilly Adventure site.