Destinations, The Official Panedia Weblog

50+ Floriade Virtual Tours.

The Annual Canberra flower festival – Floriade is on right now… up until the 11th of October 2009.  If you get a chance… go, it’s beautiful.  Now I’m not a flower lover in particular, but they build all sorts of images in flowers, it’s amazing stuff.

Official Floriade Site Link

When I shot the festival last year I happened to arrive in Canberra about 1hr before it finished for the year. I not only witnessed the amazing flowers, but the aftermath, as festival volunteers got to dig up whatever plants they wanted.

Floriade Aftermath. (Only for volunteers)

The fact everything was about to be destroyed also meant I could walk all over the flower beds as well, getting to the middle of them for virtual tours, which was great.  I would have loved to shoot pole panoramas there as well, but unfortunately time didn’t permit.

FullScreen Map Link

Dust Storm Comparison Virtual Tours.

With all the noise about the Sydney Dust Storms this morning we here in Queensland were watching with interest… until about lunchtime when the dust storms hit us as well, 1000km (620 miles) north of Sydney.

Surfers Paradise Beach – Under Dust.

I figured if the dust got so thick I couldn’t see buildings about 300m (1000ft) away I’d head into Surfers Paradise and shoot some virtual tours for posterity.  As it turns out we got the pea soup thick dust, so I took the shots.

Surfers Paradise Beach – Typical Morning.

Here is the full set of 4 virtual tours I shot today.  You can also check them out on maps in the virtual tour player. Click the ‘map’ button, on the lower right control panel.

Dust storm virtual tours.

Finally I did up a quick comparison page showing each of the dusty scenes as they normally look.  You can check it out here:

Dust Storm Comparison Virtual Tours.

Like everyone else in Australia & many around the world our hearts are heavy at the devastating loss of life & property caused by the Victorian Bush Fires. 

Being a dad with a young family I cannot read the tragic stories of loss without imagining my family in those horriffic situations…battling the flames for their homes, then battling or fleeing for their lives.  Just considering this is more than I can bear. 

Being 2000km from the fires & with all my money invested in Panedia, I’ve been pondering what I could do to help.  The answer was obvious, use what I have & what I do to raise money for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal, so that’s precisely what we’ve done.

We’re selling high quality large panoramic prints of regions devastated by the fires.  We’re then donating 100% of the profit from sales to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal.

The goal is not to have people buy prints instead of donating directly, but to appeal to people who weren’t planning to donate in the first place, or who have already given what they had planned.

Please pass the link to the site: http://vicfires.panedia.com along to people you know.

Thanks, Aaron Spence & the Panedia Team.

The best Alcatraz virtual tour on the web is right here: Alcatraz Virtual Tour. View the full map version with audio here: Alcatraz Virtual Tour with Audio.

Alcatraz Virtual Tour – Main Cell Block

There are plenty of Alcatraz Virtual Tours on the web, but apart from ours none of them contain high resolution, best quality full spherical, full screen virtual tours with hotspots, mapped on google maps & containing audio recorded live at the time.

Alcatraz Virtual Tour – Officers Club

Alcatraz Virtual Tour – Exercise Yard

Alcatraz Virtual Tour – Control Centre

Alcatraz is an incredible place and it’s well worth spending a few hours to half a day there. At some times in the year they have an early boat over to the island. It arrives well before the crowds. Get that boat & take advantage of the crowd less Alcatraz. Here’s the official cruise company where you can book your Alcatraz tickets online.

When I visited Alcatraz Island to shoot these virtual tours a funny thing happened. At around midday I was back at the dock waiting for the ferry to arrive when off the boat hopped the guys from Mapjack, ready to shoot their own virtual tour of Alcatraz. Here is me on Alcatraz just finished shooting virtual tours, as shot by Mapjack, another virtual tour company.

For more info on Alcatraz go to the official National Parks website here: Alcatraz Island

With over 500 virtual tours of Adelaide you’ll find plenty to see on our virtual tour site.

Adelaide is a beautiful city full of old buildings & churches (by Australian standards). The City area is completely surrounded by massive parks, some of which contain sports fields & botanical gardens. Here you can view over 60 Adelaide Botanical Gardens Virtual Tours.

Victoria Square – Adelaide Virtual Tour

Glass Footbridge – Adelaide Virtual Tour

Black swan & paddle boats on The River Torrens – Adelaide Virtual Tour

Botanic Gardens of Adelaide Virtual Tour

Bicentennial Conservatory – Adelaide Virtual Tour

Port Adelaide Virtual Tour – Queens Wharf

Henley Jetty – Adelaide Virtual Tour