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The last days have been getting up before dawn and driving up towards the face of Mount Cook to shoot the early light on the snow topped peaks and then spending the day driving from one amazing view to another then staying out late to shoot the setting sun on the glaciated waters. This equals days that start at 4 am. and finish around 10:30pm Those of you who know me are chuckling right now at the idea of me being coherent in any way at 4 am. (not exactly known as a morning person) The whole routine makes for a sleepy Bobbi way to early at night, and with the days lasting longer here it is really strange to be ready for PJ’s when the sun is still out.

I have to say, that there are some pretty funny things in this country. Like, I bet you never saw this on the local Sub Way menu:

And even though every one warned me that there are quite possibly more sheep than humans in this country, I NEVER expected to meet one named Shrek…who grows such thick wool that they can’t keep up with keeping him trimmed.. There are pictures of him looking like a giant stuffed animal, but I’m here to tell you that a big woolly animal that gets wet smells way way worse than an old wool sweater!

And then there are things like this, a super old Ford that we saw stuffed inside a wooden shack at the back of a little garden/shop we stopped at to have yummy hot black currant juice…

and the really really big dog that helped serve us dinner last week…who wears a sign that says not to feed him.

Of course there is a whole lot of amazing too….The lakes near Mount Cook are fed by glacier water and snow melt so they are the perfect color of cyan..not blue, not sort of green.. cyan.. The blogger version of this image won’t show it well, but this is a KRAZY color for water.

Oh, and just in case you can’t tell how big the glacier blobs in this picture are, that tiny yellow thing is a raft big enough to hold twenty people in it.

We got to take a helicopter to the second highest peak next to Mount Cook so that we could shoot from the snow patch we landed on… seriously one of the greatest things I’ve done in a long time.. the space and views are just glorious… that really is the only word I can think of to describe it.

The Lupine are all blooming, so the landscape smells and looks amazing. We are fighting with the wind to try and get some good wide shots for clients to use, but even just trying is great work. To be honest, I may never want to see another Lupine again after this trip!

The next two days are wrap up days and travel back up the coast to Christchurch. I’m sorry to be leaving, but really glad to be getting back home to Mark and the puppies! As soon as I can, I’ll post the real set of pictures for you all to see if you’d like .
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving Holiday! I watched Women’s Net ball (which is a really strange form of basketball with no backboard and girls that don’t dribble the ball.) but even without pumpkin pie it was easy to spend time thinking of our friends and families and missing them a BUNCH!

best,

bh

long long day…. I hope it will be alright if I just post some quick selects of images taken recently. The bird shots aren’t exactly my area of expertise, but just getting a chance to see them in the wild is enough to be worth it to me. so, please, forgive the snapshot nature of some of these…

In the last 7 days I have traveled and shot in Christchurch, Oamaru, around the entire Otago Peninsula, the cities of Dunedin and Portobello (yes they grow the mushrooms there) and around Te Anau - Milford Sound.

I have gotten up at way too early and to sleep way to late on a regular basis to get to some locations prior to sunrise and then lay in wait for fog to lift off of mountain peaks and hiked about in amazing mazes of hides to see elusive creatures like the yellow eyed penguin (there are estimated to be less than 24 breading pairs in all of New Zealand, less than 1500 in the world) spent hours waiting for fog to lift from the top of Mitre Peak, shot dozens of images in vain trying to capture an albatross in flight (they may be big, but man are they fast!) and most recently driven 3 hours before dawn to catch morning light on waterfalls that feed Milford Sound.

Those of you who have enjoyed the visuals from the Lord of the Rings Film series may be able to appreciate this: The scenery is amazing.. the old growth rain forests are lush and the animals (Kea birds, Seals, Oyster Catchers, Sheep, Deer, Albatross, Penguins) are abundant… but the trade off is that the world that made up Middle Earth for those films…is not so internet friendly. All this is to say, sorry for taking so long for my next blog post. I’m sitting in a nice little motel room in Mildford Sound after a 17 hour day of early driving, shooting, waiting, shooting, swatting at the scary little black biting flies and more shooting. Tomorrow we get a “late start” and drive out at 8a.m. to See if Lake Manpouri has any pastoral scenes worthy of our clients.

I’m exhausted but happy.. too tired to really pull any images to show, so I’ll just include two low resolution versions of the yellow eyes penguins that we waited in a blind at a special reserve to see if we could capture a glimpse of. I’m told there are less than 24 breading pairs in this country. In addition to some shots of a parent keeping an egg warm near a man made safe space, we managed to capture two more wild adults returning from the sea with food in their tummies to bring to recently hatched young. The pictures I’m posting here are of a single adult that waddled his lovely little fat body up from the beach and then after we watched him preen for quite a while he finally moved his way up from the sand and right past where we where hiding on his way to his little family. I was hoping to just be able to see one from far far away… this little man walked past us and then stood with his back to us contemplating his long waddle home and then trudged his way across the grasses to his spouse and new born to trade places and watch the nest.

I hope to be able to post more soon. We should have access to the internet for the next couple of days.. then we are on our way to Queenstown. so there should be some shots of kingston flyer railway line (this is all in the remote area where a lot of the Lord of the Rings was actually filmed…

Mark and I love it when you guys add comments to the blog ( you don’t have to register or anything…just click on the comments link below this posting and let us know how you are and or say Hi etc. it makes us feel like there are people we know out there when we travel!

best regards from Middle earth!

bh

Breakfast this morning was at a little place next door to the motor lodge…how very Route 66 of them. Except of course for the menu itself, I don’t think Marmite and 14 grain toast with passion fruit filled yogurt was ever served to people with white wall tires on their rides. For those of you who haven’t tried Marmite, it’s a salty sort of brown paste made from yeast that turns out to be pretty tasty on toast…they swear it is good for you, but it does make me wonder if I’m turning the wheat from the bread I just ate into some form of beer in my tummy with all that yeast.

It took me a moment to decide if I wanted any after being offered a pot of “plunger coffee” maybe it is the jet lag, but my first thought was of scary use of plumbing equipment and not what basically turns out to be a French Press. I’m sure the waitress thought I was daft when I had to ask “so, the plunger coffee, it’s made here?” The best thing about this place is also the most strange: The Bee Gees are blaring through the place…not just a single song from a play list, but whole albums now I have the song “tragedy!” stuck in my head and indeed it is one…

Yesterday was “cup day” (this is part of the week long horse racing and shows going on here in Christchurch.) So, besides the obvious racing and horse shows, there is apparently a contest for things like best hat and best dressed people.. with outfits that would have made Eliza Doolitle proud (as well as the Queen Mum!) But the best part is this: one of the prizes goes to a category titled “Edge Dress” which would appear to be whatever outlandish costume a person is willing to show up in.. the winner? A woman wearing only a hat and skirt with the rest of her outfit painted on. I’m no prude, a full salute to anyone daring enough to go for it…my issue is that it was less than 60 degrees yesterday and this poor woman was using pink paint to keep warm!

It’s raining in a way that only New Zealand can conjure…now I know how this place stays so middle earthy green! But we can see the sun trying to burn through on the horizon line so this afternoon’s shooting should still be a go. We are 18 hours ahead of central time here so the whole today/tomorrow thing won’t make any sense, but Wednesday morning we are leaving Christchurch to Grab shots near the Selwyn River and then over to the Pacific Ocean to a town called Oamaru. Looking forward to lots of beach and Moeraki boulders to shoot there.

Mark got back home from Bulgaria this afternoon, Tbilisi is still under a state of emergency so the decision to postpone that leg of the trip was clearly a good one…   The puppies are so glad that he’s back that the two of them are piled on top of him while all three take a much deserved nap.

INDIA ADVISORY: When you travel out of the country, beware: though they seal your checked luggage after it goes through security, it’s meaningless; some bastard broke the ziptie I watched them place on my bag, opened it up, dug thru and stole my trusty leatherman. Grrr…

Anyway, on to Sofia… What a cool place! We had a nice sunny day under the watchful gaze of the snow-capped mountains, which the local ski buffs are no doubt eyeing with anticipation. Magical MotoMaggie, and our very cool drivers Latchezar and Spas, took us all over this compelling city. It’s quite interesting; there’s a deep history—Roman ruins and all that–and very fabulous old buildings (especially the old Communist buildings, like Party HQ)….but they’re not all that old, as the city was bombed heavily during World War II (Bulgaria entered the war on the side of the Axis…oops!). But the parks and the fountains and all the very nice people were just a treat. Passed a fun flea market, in the shadows of the cathedral, that seemed to be dominated by old wristwatches and very authentic old Nazi stuff. I must say, I was very tempted by a Nazi-issued Leica M2 camera, but…nyet for me. Bulgaria in general, and Sofia in particular, is yet another place I very much want to explore again—especially knowing that Sofia überambassador, the lovely and very well-connected Maggie, is here to help. But for now, it’s 5pm on Friday, and in about 12 hours our client Paula and I leave for the airport and flights home. Suffice it to say, it’s been ANOTHER truly amazing global adventure, and it’ll be wonderful to see Bobbi—even if only for half a day—before she goes on HER solo adventure, to New Zealand. Be sure to stay tuned to the blog, as Bobbi hits the keyboard with her adventures starting next week!

Apologies if this rambles a bit—it’s been a wacky 48 hours. Bombay day #2 was great, headed over to New Bombay actually for our shoot–excellent interview. Crazy driving in Bombay. In fact, I’m convinced that all automobile travel in India would cease if the technology of the car horn didn’t exist. Somehow we got to and from where we needed to be, then back to my hotel for another fabulous dinner, then a nap in the lobby before my overnight flight. Left for the airport at midnight, and even then the streets of Bombay were teeming. So much activity. Our 10 hour flight to London commenced at 3am, so already my body clock is all upside down. I slept well on the plane–woke up briefly as we flew over Tehran…a clear night, so I could see the well-lighted city very well, and also the stars–millions of them! Landed London Heathrow about 6:30am, then transfered to my flight to Sofia, Bulgaria. Got to a sunny but rather chilly Sofia about 3pm…me and almost all of my bags. Turns out my gear bags, with tripod and lights and chargers and such, didn’t make the flight. And our interview with the customer was set for 10am the next morning. Fortunately, the magical Maggie, of the local Motorola office, was able to secure the necessary rental gear….with only 2 hours left in the business day! That was—-Wednesday, right. So, she and our client Paula brought the gear to the hotel, and I was able to check it out and of course it was all great and I was relieved—until about 11pm, when the extreme need for pepto bismol kicked in with a vengence. And so I was up all night–stomach cramps and worse…a very unhappy system indeed. Fortunately, Thursday was an easy day–four interviews, all in the Motorola offices. Got done with them, got back to the hotel midday, and alternatively slept and kept an eye on the BBC. Why? Because the next stop on my production tour is supposed to be Tbilisi, Georgia–which has just declared a news blackout and a State of Emergency. So now it’s Friday morning and the rising sun is just kissing the snow-capped peak of Vitosha Mountain, and it feels like the bad, bad stomach bug has passed, literally. And with reports in this morning’s news about the current goings-on in Tbilisi….water canons and rubber bullets and tear gas and journalists being beaten and their gear confiscated or destroyed….we’ve decided that the Georgia leg of the journey is off. So it looks like Saturday is now a big travel day home.

OK, so, it’s the 3rd of November still, and I’ve stepped off an airplane and into the early 20th century. As we descended into the brown haze that I believe envelopes this city all the time, we passed over vast numbers of squatter “communities”, also insanely bad traffic, and people washing their clothes and bathing in water that looked filthy, even at 1000 feet. But I also saw some cool stuff, like kids happily playing cricket in a dirt park. Then we touched down, and we rolled past the Indira Gandhi International Airport’s main Fire Station—and the firefighters were playing volleyball. Anyway, we got to the gate, got thru immigration, then out into The World. The Third World. First, there are two different sets of terminals here—International and Domestic—and they are about 8km apart. This involves a bus. I got past the armed guards at the entrance to the Domestic Terminal transfer lounge, and then out towards the free bus to the Domestic terminal—but, no driver, and no information posted. While looking about and trying to make sense of whatever, I was accosted by a smiley, lying thru his teeth cab driver who tried very hard to lure me into his car for the drive to the terminal. Thankfully my “I call bullshit” mode kicked in and I blew him off (he finally heard me after the 10th “go away”), walked around the outside of the terminal and past the teeming masses hovering around the area for—I don’t know what, got back into the terminal past more armed guards, then back in to the lounge, and THIS time I chose the approach of the lemming and stuck with the crowd. Which involved sitting in the lounge and waiting. At 6pm the driver called to us, and on we went to the bus. An armed guard accompanied us as we drove across the airport grounds to the other side. At which point we crossed out of the secure area and in to “regular civilization”. Great googly-moogly, insane-oh! Zillions of cars and people, and more than a few cows and dogs wandering about freely (we’re talking, on the grounds of the airport, here). It’s like Bartertown* with a smoke and curry odor coating (*Mad Max fans, help out the non Mad Max fans). Perhaps the funniest thing was passing two cows, and then an Avis facility…as if anyone with any sense of self-preservation would drive here. As we navigated zig-zag-style across a roundabout, I took note of signage welcoming one and all to the World Toilet Congress and Exhibition (I’m not making this up). Anyway…. I’m through security and awaiting the departure of my flight to Mumbai. Oh, security! Besides the fact they’re all armed with various forms of machine guns, these guys look just as tough as nails and the guns all look like they’ve seen ‘business’. Anyway, kind of hungry—opted to not attempt the airport Indian food near the ticket counters (I guess it would just be know as “food” here)—I’ll see what the in-room dining at the Grand Hyatt has to offer.

UPDATE: Great meal on the flight! In fact, best Indian food I’ve ever had—and on an airplane! So, got to my hotel in Mumbai (somehow, I don’t know—very scary cab ride in a very scary cab), turned on the TV at 1:30am to find that Pres. Musharref has declared Martial Law in Pakistan, 400 miles away. Pakistani supporters are the ones who seem to delight in doing bombings in Mumbai once in a while, so…yay, that’s exciting.

Got very bizy sleeping hard in biz class from Jakarta to Tokyo—a solid 6 hours or so, then awoke to see a beautiful sunrise over the pacific (I think), then on in to Tokyo. Flight not nearly as bumpy as that to Jakarta, thankfully. The cab to the hotel was the reality-check reminder that this place ain’t cheap; 22,000 yen from Narita Airport to the Westin Tokyo….that’s over $200 to you and me! Checked in right at 10a then, since I’m not on the clock again until 3:30, dumped my gear and headed right back out to Harajuku and the spectacle that is Takeshita Dori. Bobbi and I were here in May when the place was in full swing—a warm Spring day, and the punked-out-schoolgirl thing is pretty fun to see (check the pics from that trip), but on the slightly chilly and overcast Thursday in Autumn, not so much with that scene. But there were still lots of schoolkids on class breaks (I guess) hitting the shops and the McDonald’s. I popped in to this cool eyeglass store that we found back in May, and proceeded to do the exact same thing I did last time; spent an hour trying on all the bizarro frames they had, then walked out with nothing. Oh, I could have gone überfashionista big time, but it just didn’t feel right (especially since Bobbi and I both just got new glasses in Paris 6 weeks ago, and that’s when it struck me, again; this is the second round-the-world trip in as many months, which is just crazy. KRAZY!!). Walked all around the Harajuku area, hitting a few shops to see all the fun items, and enjoying the ability to use my iPhone as a wifi device (I popped out the SIM card from my iPhone and placed it in the combo 3G/GSM unlocked Motorola phone I got off eBay, which one needs if one wishes to use a mobile phone here that thinks it’s your regular mobile #). There I was, strolling about, sending and receiving emails from Bobbi, compliments of all the free wifi hotspots that are, like, EVERYwhere in the area, and all over Tokyo in fact. Then it was back to the hotel to grab my gear and off to shoot some b-roll….right back at Harajuku. But by the time we got there a slight sprinkle was happening, so not so much with the exterior shots (until later, when the rain stopped and the pavement, acting like a black mirror, made the neon-drenched streets look veeeery cool). Got back to the Westin and my grand plans to go right back out, to Ginza this time, were thwarted by an urgent need to consume a lot of the pepto bismol I cleverly brought with me. I think it was the spicy lunch I had at the little Chinese place (I know, I know) across from Harajuku Station. OK then, plan B—put all batteries on charge and hit the sack early.

TKO Day 2 was actually, amazingly, a normal-type business day. We alighted from the hotel for the Motorola offices at 8:30am, shot our interviews and a some b-roll (with a fish and chips lunchbreak at an English Pub place on the ground floor of the ThinkPark building where we were), then it was back in a cab for the hotel about 5:30pm. As my client Bethany raced through some emails to India in her room, I hit the hotel’s humidor for a delicious, authentically-Cuban Monte Christo, then on into The Bar to enjoy it and a few fantastic glasses of my favorite bourbon, Blanton’s. It’s a small-batch, single barrel Kentucky bourbon that is just soooooo smoothe. More like a cognac than a bourbon. Anyway, after Bethany came down we were off to Ginza for a walkabout, a visit to the Apple Store for supplies, into a few shops, then down to the matter at hand; sushi. Back in May, Bobbi found this delightful sushi place for us, and so that’s where I took Bethany for a Thanks For The Gig dinner….and it didn’t disappoint. I know some who are reading this view sushi as expensive bait (hi Mom), but this stuff was sooo tasty and fresh. And, as before, when Bobbi and I were there, Bethany and I were the only foreigners in the place, so you know it gotta be good.

And now it’s Saturday the 3rd of November, Bethany heads back to the US and I go onwards to work with her colleagues. Most of my day has been spent in an airplane—from Tokyo to Delhi (and then on into Mumbai later this evening). We took off and, once above the clouds, there was Mount Fuji, like a postcard. Across Southern Japan, then across the East China Sea, then directly over Shanghai, which looked amazing (bright sunny day and a crystal clear view of the city). Very bumpy across most of China, then it chilled out as we approached and crossed Bangledesh. Now we’re descending into Indira Ghandi International, and I’m being very politely encouraged to wrap it up. Back ‘atcha soon with the report from Mumbai!