Finally! The new Canon 5D MKII announced

The rumour mill has been circulating on this one for months and now new 5D is actually here. It's had a few names over the months too 6D, 7D but Canon like their MKI, II, IIIs so we get the 5D MKII. The spec on this camera sounds phenomenal and I will definitely be saving up my pennies to buy one of these beasts.

Check out Canon's website for full into:

Canon http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/eos5dm2/index.html

Looks like it's due for release in November.

Get saving!

Big Cat Diary news

Direct from The Big Cat Team...

The BBC team is now in the Mara searching for the stars of the show. You can catch a sneak preview of the Big Cat Live site at www.bbc.co.uk/bigcatlive.

The live updates start next week, but you can get stuck in now:
- join us on Facebook at www.new.facebook.com/pages/Big-Cat-Live/72685000470
- follow the Cats on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bigcatlive>

I'm really looking forward to the live show, all the news from the site and catching up with some old friends like Notch.

Big Cat Diary Live starts 5 - 12 October on the BBC.

Bellagio, Italy

I wasn't sure what to expect from this trip, especially being somewhat of an actual holiday and not a safari! My husband and a few business colleagues had organised some business/strategy meetings in the mornings with the afternoons free to sightsee etc.

The area of Lake Como turned out to be pretty spectacular on the scenery front, a little reminiscent of the Rockies. Our hotel (Hotel Belvedere) was in a fantastic position with views out over Pescallo on Lake Lecco and a view north up Lake Como.

The weather was lovely for the first three days but then turned to some rain during the day with thunderstorms in the evenings. One night we had the worst storm. We were sitting in a restaurant when the mother of all bangs shattered the air followed by an absolutely torrential downpour. The unfortunate people who were sitting outside under the canopy ended up with a river running over their feet. Needless to say we took our time and ordered more Grappa!

My daughter and I enjoyed some time down at Pescallo harbour. She liked to throw rocks in the water whilst I photographed the boats. Pescallo is a very pretty little village with a lovely restaurant called La Pergola where we had our farewell dinner.

Other nice villas to visit include Villa Monastero at Varenna, Villa Balbianello (Star Wars and 007 movies were filmed here). On one of the more dreary days we took a boat down as far as Cernobbio just to have a look at all the pretty little villages along the lake side. Unfortunately we didn't see George Clooney or Brad Pitt, must've been the day we heard they visited Menaggio. Oh well.

There is a lot to see in a week and it is definitely worth a trip back to explore more.