Monday 29 September 2008

The Jump To Jasper

With the bear viewing in the bag, we made the long jump to jasper with Paul having to drive about 10 hours through a little snow on the long mountain climb out of Bella-Coola, through some beautiful country side, stopping at Tim Horton’s for coffee of course, to the more commercial and tourism based, but none the less magnificent town of Jasper.

The stay in Jasper was designed to offer us some picturesque mountain scenery and wildlife shots such as a range of Birds, Coyote, Elk, Mule Deer, White Tail Deer, Sheep, Chipmunks, Squirrels, Pikas (The worlds smallest rabbit at only about 6 inches long) and the illusive Moose and Wolf, that we so far haven’t managed to find. This is really beautiful country and a must to see if you’re visiting Alberta Canada.
The photographers are thick on the ground here and it only takes minutes after we’ve stopped to photograph an Elk, for dozens to materialise out of nowhere. I do have a little lens envy when some of these guys pop lenses on their cameras that look more like the Hubble Telescope than a camera lens, but then again, there is a lot using the same lenses and Dad and I, so I don’t quite feel like I’m using a tiny little compact.I’ve had a few late nights sorting thousands of photographs, so I’m going to keep the writing a little light for this BLOG. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I have prepared a sample of some of the things we’ve photographed that should give me brownie point for a huge essay. Because we’ve got so much to show you, I’ve created another new album to show you the wildlife, a few scenes, people and even a couple of lovely young ladies who were ever so helpful to a couple of Australian Tourists.
MORE PHOTOS ADDED TODAY : NEW ALBUM 3
If you would like to see some more photo's of what we've seen so far, please visit our PICASA Web Albums page!

Keep smiling ...
Darren & Keith Gardiner
Jasper Jokers

Wednesday 24 September 2008

The Bear Essentials Part 2

The first part of our safari has been dedicated to photographing Grizzly and Black Bears in the wild and we certainly haven’t been disappointed. For those of you more interested in the Autumn Scenery and other Wildlife, don’t worry … that is all still to come. We left the Chilko River Lodge and our wonderful hosts, HOUSI and ANNETT for a change of scenery and have some nice accommodation, with power and an internet connection at Hagensborg, just down the road from Bella-Coola on the west coast of British Columbia. We had an early start on Monday in the rain with Fraser in his inflatable (Raft that is … not “Special” friend) and floated down the river. I’m really glad my deodorant isn’t made from fish oil because these Bears only have one thing on their mind at the moment … and that’s eating.
We have seen so many bears now I’ve lost count and it’s quite an adrenalin rush sitting in a little dingy only metres from these very powerful animals … did I mention they only have eating on their mind at the moment? On Tuesday, we had the pleasure of LES’ company for the “Cruise” in his fibreglass dingy which was a little more comfortable and my camera bag didn’t have to go swimming like the day before either. All in all, this dingy was a win for both my butt and my camera gear, plus it wasn’t raining. It is truly awesome to be sitting silently, with nothing more than camera shutters whirring at six shots a second, to record the action from just metres away from an animal that could happily make you their next meal. Did you see those claws? I think I’d be little high in cholesterol for them after eating all that Canadian Bacon and Maple Syrup soaked Pancakes for breakfast though. PAUL has been looking after us in the meals department and for those of you who know my Dad and his clockwork stomach well, telling you he had breakfast at 10:00am, lunch at 7:45pm and Dinner at 10:00pm yesterday will seem unbelievable, but it’s true!
The only really sad thing we’ve experienced here is seeing the thousands of Salmon, yes the ones John West Reject … dead or dying right in front of you. I understand that this is their natural life cycle, but it seems such an undignified end, to what is ultimately such a triumphant journey … all for the kids, which are those nice little red balls you saw the Bear eating in THIS PHOTO. Before they die, they are almost a fluorescent red colour, but after jumping their last rapid, they fast become a smelly, colourless rotting carcase. Depressed yet?
So this will be about the last of the Bear photographs for this trip, as tomorrow we have a short drive (about 10 or so hours) to our next destination, where we will begin to photograph some of the other scenery and wildlife we had on our list of things to do.


MORE PHOTOS ADDED TODAY : ALBUM 2
If you would like to see some more photo's of what we've seen so far, please visit our PICASA Web Albums page!
Go To:
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/styleid/Safari2008Album02#



Keep smiling ...
Darren & Keith Gardiner
Grizzly Hunters Extraordinaire

Sunday 21 September 2008

The Bear Essentials …

The safari has begun and we’re with our guide for the next few weeks, professional photographer Paul Stone from Canada Photo Safaris. From the first meeting, which I’m sure I was only tricked into believing was supposed to happen at 9:00am and actually started at 6:30am, Paul seems to have the sense of humour needed for putting up with Dad and I over the long and many days ahead. Let’s see if he can still cope with us after a couple of weeks shall we? We started off with a very long drive in our huge GMC Suburban from the Quality Hotel Downtown in Vancouver at a little after 6:30am and after a few comfort breaks, free doughnuts from the girls at Tim Hortons and stops for food supplies, we ended up at the Chilko River Lodge and Guest Ranch (www.chilkoriverlodge.ca), adjacent the Chilko River at about 8:00pm. That’s one hell of a long drive in a single day with only a few litres of coffee, bacon, eggs, toast, sausages and a BLT in the afternoon to keep us going. It’s like driving from Brisbane to the Whitsundays.
This is truly Canadian Wilderness country, without a bitumen road or even electricity in sight. We’re staying in a homely rustic log cabin, with gas mantles for lighting, a wood stove for heating and yes … no electricity. There is a generator up at the lodge for power to download the thousands of photo’s taken each day, but nothing in the rooms. Housi and Annette are our hosts at the lodge and they have truly offered us the warm, friendly, welcoming host experience we were looking for.
The first few days have been dedicated to photographing the mighty Grizzly and Black Bears and we certainly haven’t been disappointed. We’ve found and photographed up to 25 Grizzly Bears each day. These bears are truly amazing creatures to be in the presence of and surprisingly calm when drifting as close as a few metres away in our 6 metre tinny. Watching the mothers guarding their cubs while they play, it’s very obvious that one eye is kept on us every second and I don’t think any of us would be met with welcoming arms if we ventured out of the boat. We’ve seen so many, it’s hard to keep track, but this has truly been an experience of a lifetime.


MORE PHOTOS ADDED TODAY : NEW ALBUM
If you would like to see some more photo's of what we've seen so far, please visit our PICASA Web Albums page!
Go To: http://picasaweb.google.com.au/styleid/Safari2008Album02#



Keep smiling ...
Darren & Keith Gardiner
Grizzly Hunters Extraordinaire

Tuesday 16 September 2008

Vancouver or Bust !

Just like this lovely mothers dress, we “Busted into Vancouver's, Queen Elizabeth Park today, taking advantage of the few short hours we had put aside to at least try and test some of the new lenses and equipment we purchased for the trip. It’s been just a tad hectic having had two Sundays this week. Yes, we actually arrived in Vancouver, 4 hours before we took off from Taipei and we even managed to squeeze in a 10.5 hour flight to boot.

That said, we are suffering a little jetlag and have just received a call from our guide Paul Stone, from Canada Photo Safaris at www.canadaphotosafaris.com informing us that we will now be leaving at 6:30am instead of the planned 9am time. Yes, as you all know my feelings on this subject of early morning rises … people wishing to interact at this time of the morning should be executed. Subtle as a sledge hammer aren’t I? It’s just wrong to contemplate this sort of insane action without 2 litres of coffee and half a pack of Davidoff. Did I mention that one of Australia’s most expensive cigarettes called Davidoff are only AUD$2.30 a pack in Taipei … but I digress.

So we have been busy little “Bees” today and don’t have a great deal to tell you as I’m sure you’re all sick of hearing about the wonderful meals we’re eating and the fantastic service we’re getting and the … jealous yet? Today has really just been a preparation day for the upcoming safari.


I am going to keep this a brief update … no picture of “Girls in Briefs” sorry … as we now have to scamper around like “Squirrels” to rearrange the packing of our bags to allow for quick and easy access to our nuts … err … I mean camera gear. Can you tell I’m tired?

Hope you liked all the bad puns with matching photos, all taken at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver, BC, Canada today.

MORE PHOTOS ADDED TODAY
If you would like to see some more photo's of what we've seen so far, please visit our PICASA Web Albums page!

Go To: http://picasaweb.google.com.au/styleid/Safari2008Album01#

PS: Special thanks to Michael Jackson (Yes, that’s his real name!) from Less Stress Computer Services for helping my poor mother be far less confused than is expected, when video conferencing with Dad and I on Skype. Visit Michael’s web site at www.lessstress.com.au if you need help with a computer … how’s that for a plug?

Keep smiling ...
Darren & Keith Gardiner
Grizzly Hunters Extraordinaire

Sunday 14 September 2008

Typhoon ... iD Style

You have to say we have the luck of a Suicide Bomber with a faulty trigger. All we've heard about since landing is that the Typhoon which raged between midnight (while I went out for a rather wet walk) and around six o'clock this morning, was going to dump about a metre of water on the city. If it did as the news broadcasts are telling us … Brisbane needs to learn a thing or two about drainage. Other than wet roads and the occasional gail force wind, all the drains are flowing well and there’s barely a puddle to be seen on their roads between the myriad of scooters.

Due to the fact that we had 150klm/hr winds and there was just a little rain about, we had a slow start to the day in our room, getting the BLOG set-up and attending to photo filing systems before heading out to one of the only shopping centres that was still open on Saturday. Unfortunately, neither Dad, nor I was really interested in purchasing a new handbag or pair of stilettos’ so after some serious communicating with some of the cutest help desk girls in Taipei, we found a delightful young lady who pointed out that there was another shopping centre just across the road and it was open too.

I decided to tuck myself under Dad’s Poncho (Keep it clean) for what seemed like the crossing of the Jordan River and subsequently managed to grab an extra shower on the journey across the street. I wasn’t planning on doing this fully clothed, but hey … I never knock back an opportunity to freshen up before going shopping. We are both SO GLAD we bought those AWESOME WATERPROOF “Timberland” Hiking boots. That was a good call and we can’t recommend them highly enough. These “Timberland” boots are more comfortable than any sneaker I’ve ever worn and allowed us to have one dry body part … our feet. My jeans and shirt were absolutely soaked, crossing the street.

This next shopping centre was more like the Aspley Hypermarket with everything from Mobile Phones and Ladies Underwear, (No I didn’t buy any) to wait for it … a lovely bottle of Johnnie Walker Green Label for about AUD$34.00! Nothing new or latest technology here though. For a mid afternoon lunch, we decided to try a local bowl of noodles and managed to find a Taiwan Chef by the name of Steven, without Taiwan citizenship, because he was born in L.A. Needless to say, he spoke like a yank which made communicating far more pleasant than trying to pass the 5Kg’s of food they fed us on the flight here.
He wrote down an address of a street where the Uni Students buy their gear which turned out to be a gem for purchasing the additional couple of Laptop Hard Drives we wanted. We bought a couple of Transcend 320Gb USB Drives for AUD$124.00ea … not bad for a brand name even I recognise. They had about 40 shops jammed next to each other full of laptops and every kind of computer part you can think of. Did I mention this is the place to buy laptops? There must have been literally thousands on display in this one street.

Back to the hotel with Peter Brock the Taiwanese Race Car … I mean Taxi Driver, we relaxed in the room and ordered a “Chicken Cordon Blue Sandwich” from room service. It didn’t look BLUE to me but hey … it tasted great and who am I to get picky on colours anyway? Dad crashed and I went out for a walk “Smoke” and after trying five convenience stores, finally managed to find Dad a can of Deodorant. What, don’t Taiwanese people stink or sweat in 30+ temperatures and high humidity?

After a great night’s sleep on a nice firm bed … no really … it was, we had yet another 5kg breakfast in the hotel and wandered outside to snap a couple of locals riding on some of the forty million scooters that seem to be transporting entire families and in some cases, the contents of their home, business and next door neighbour’s furniture on the back of these tiny buzz boxes.
Apparently, the later flights like ours at 11:40pm to Vancouver are running on schedule, so at least for now, it looks like we’ll be leaving Taipei for Vancouver as planned on Sunday night.

MORE PHOTOS ADDED TODAY
If you would like to see some more photo's of what we've seen so far, please visit our PICASA Web Albums page!
Go To:
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/styleid/Safari2008Album01#

Keep smiling ...
Typhoon Darren & Keith Gardiner

Saturday 13 September 2008

The Adventure Begins ...

Well, the enormous lead up has finally led to Dad and I fleeing the country. Sorry everyone, but no more business cards until I get back now. I don't think the Grizzly's have a printing press.

For those of you who don't already know, I slipped on the wet tiles at home while testing one of our new lenses and broke my tailbone and cracked my skull last Friday. This led to just a touch of anxiety about sitting in what we normally foresee as a thimble holder of a aeroplane seat for somewhere in the vicinity of nine hours. But ... to my surprise ... and delight, the plane seat provided by China Airlines in Business Class is much larger than the equivalent seat on a Qantas Business Class flight to New Zealand for our honeymoon a couple of years ago. I FIT IN IT!

To be honest, the Flight with China Airlines was wonderful. Yes we are in Business Class, but these seats cost half what Qantas and Air New Zealand charge for a Business Class seat. But they are not half the airline. Both Dad and I are very impressed so far. The fully electric seats are roomy and comfortable, with me not even being able to touch the seat in front, as I have that much leg room. The food was truly wonderful. From aperitifs of marinated mushrooms and capsicum with curried vegetable patty, to starters of smoked salmon, tasty salads, main courses of grilled black bean Barramundi, rice, vegetables and bread, plus some lovely fresh fruit and scrumptious Orange Cheesecake Mousse Thingie with Chocolate Scrolls. We accompanied this with our choice of just about any beverage imaginable, but decided to skip on the Baileys for now and just had a nice French Merlot Blend.


The rest of the flight was relaxing with many hours to watch IRONMAN, catch a couple of Z's power up the laptop, dump a few photo's, check the plane power source was working and wait for it ... EAT AGAIN!

Yes, they decided that the 5Kg's of food they stuffed into us around lunch time wouldn't be enough to keep our sleepy souls from starving, so they served up a lovely bowl of Asian seafood soup, with our choice of add ins like asparagus, onion, chili, parsley and a yellow vegetable that so far remains nameless. Needless to say, we were both stuffed to the eyeballs, but the Taipei government was nice enough to give us a 5Klm walk to immigration in what seemed like the longest airport terminal in the world. Praise the lord for "Travelators"!!!
To speed up the ending of this BLOG, we were picked up in a week old BMW 740 Series Limo "NICE" and then sat in peak hour traffic for an hour and a half listening to the radio reports informing us that the Typhoon that was due to hit that night or the next day was expected to dump ... wait for it ... about 1m of water on the city and ... how surprising, some areas may experience flash flooding. Damn, if Brisbane got a metre of water in a night, we'd all be going to work in a kayak.

The hotel and staff are as you would expect for a 5 star hotel ... very, very, very, accommodating! I will now point out that the Riviera Hotel is "All Boarded Up" ... a comforting thought knowing we were planning to spend Saturday shopping in Camera Street Taipei. Might think about taking a Poncho with me tomorrow. Hmmm ... that'll be fun in 30 degree heat and 95% humidity won't it?

Well, that's enough for today ... time to go have some breakfast ... wonder if they have those deep fried scorpions here?
WANT MORE PHOTOS?
If you would like to see some more photo's of what we've seen so far, please visit our PICASA Web Albums page!

Keep smiling ...
Darren & Keith Gardiner