Upgrades, Skeeter Defeaters and Visas

Out With The Old
In an earlier post I semi-jokingly talked of upgrading some electronics before we go on holiday. About the only piece of equipment not mentioned in that post was the camera.
Our 8 year old Nikon CoolPix 4300 has been rained on, snowed on, sweated on, frozen solid, thawed, dropped, used in a waterproof case diving, was held together with a rubber band until some home repairs with dodgy bits purchased off eBay. I'm guessing there's a good deal of internal corrosion, but it is still working and producing the same photo quality as when it was new. The Wikipedia article mentions a short battery life; it was never a problem for me.

The 4300 has always had a few sometimes annoying shortcomings; poor quality video with no audio, a very small monitor and if the settings aren't right a huge lag when using the (weak) flash. Great photo quality for a compact of its era though.

From now its my dive camera.

In With The New
Before the CoolPix there were a couple of SLR film cameras, and I did consider a digital SLR but just didn't want the bulk. So after some research I went for a Canon Powershot S100. It's quite a step up from the old CoolPix as you'd expect, but I've only taken a few photos and movies so far. I'll post my impressions after the holiday.

Another purchase was a Skeeter Defeater. Five stars on KittyAdvisor. Light and packs down into a small stuff sack. Sue is a skeeter attractor, so it'll be much more comfortable and healthy to sleep without being covered in repellent.

Visas
Luckily we can get all but one of the visas we need issued in Brisbane. Vietnam visas are only issued from Canberra. The dollars add up quickly when you're visiting a few countries but it's almost worth it for the pretty stickers in your passport.