Tag Archives: travel

Nairn Falls

Waterfalls seemed to be a popular part of our trip to Canada. We did a short hike to the Nairn Falls, a short drive north of Whistler. We chose a rainy day to make our walk but a combination of the right clothing and the tree cover the trails enjoyed for the majority of the walk meant this wasn’t a problem. The rain certainly didn’t hurt the amount of water flowing over the falls.

The falls themselves are in stages. The first section drops down into a gully which then reverses the flow out in the opposite direction. This flow seems to involve going under some rocks so floating objects like logs get stuck whirling around on the surface but never getting downstream. You can head down to a lower level to see more of the falls. The rocks down to this level were a bit slippery given how much it was raining but there are some handrails for old geezers like me to stabilize myself with. It was worth the trip. The bottom of the falls had some strong flows crashing down and they really got your attention.

The downside to exploring the falls was that you were out in the open and the heavens really seemed to deliver while we were there. Even with the rain gear on, there was only so long I wanted to be out there getting hammered on. I made the climb back up to the top. The interesting thing was how many people we saw on the trail out and back but how few seemed to explore the falls themselves. Maybe they didn’t want to get too wet in the rain or perhaps they didn’t realize how far down you could get. I’m glad I checked it all out.

Whistler Sliding Centre

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For some strange reason, the first few days we were in Whistler, I didn’t think about some of the locations that should be there for a Winter Olympics. Then I saw a sign for the Sliding Centre and decided to check it out. This was the home of the bobsled, luge and skeleton events. I don’t know what I had been thinking but the place really surprised me. I knew that the course was down a hill and how fast the competitors go but I hadn’t realized just how steep the descent would be. I figured sliding downhill on ice, it wasn’t hard to go really fast.

In fact, the run drops down some incredibly steep slopes. We were walking alongside the track and it was really steep just going up the road. Sadly, photographs never do justice to steep slopes but believe me when I say this place was steep. The idea of coming down it on a sledge seems insane. No wonder the crashes are so spectacular. Not only that but the end of the course always seems to be on the level when you watch it on TV. In fact, it goes back up the hill very steeply. This was also totally unexpected.

We met a bunch of guys that were using knife like tools to shape the ice. Apparently, they had been running that morning and we had missed it. They were due to run the following afternoon but we were leaving before that. It was a shame to miss the action. As they weren’t running, covers were over the entire course to protect it from the weather but you could still peak between the blinds to see the track itself. A very impressive place and I will have to try and get back there at some point to see the competitors in action.

Hovercraft Transitions

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The hovercraft that ply the route between Ryde on the Isle of Wight and Southsea on the mainland have made a few previous appearances in this blog. I knew that the old hovercraft were due for replacement and that the new craft were coming in to service and figured that I wouldn’t be back before the changeover took place. However, the transition has not been smooth and there have been a number of technical issues with the new craft. Consequently, they have brought the old craft back in to regular use until things are finally fixed.

When I visited the Island recently, none of them were running! A large storm system was sweeping across the country and the high winds had brought a halt to hovercraft operations. This was pretty disappointing to me. However, it did have one unusual effect and that was that all four of the fleet were parked up on the slipway at Ryde during the day. Over the years the slipway has been expanded and improved from its original configuration, but it is still a tight fit for four craft. It would have been pretty interesting to see them all being fitted into place. Maybe this will be my last time seeing the old AP1-88s?

The Olympics Were Here

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We spent a few days in Whistler having a break. The town hosted many of the Winter Olympic events when Vancouver was the host city. There is an Olympic Park in the middle of the town and the Olympic rings are on display. No surprise that everyone is taking a picture of them. I was surprised that they were the only really obvious sign of the Olympics having been here. The weather changed a lot while we were there and the rings looked very different in the different lighting conditions.

Rainbow Over Culver Cliff

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Mum and I drove along the shore of Sandown Bay while I was visiting. The rain was blowing through and the result was a rainbow that was hanging over the cliffs up on Culver. I had a long lens on at the time so my only option was to try and shoot a bunch of images and create a panorama. I didn’t do a good job of it because I missed some areas and the software struggled to align the images because there was so much sky so I ended up sorting it out by hand. This shot was the result.

Langley Town Center

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Nancy and I decided to have a day trip to Whidbey Island to do some exploring. We focused our trip on the small town of Langley. Located on the southeast side of the island and not far from the ferry terminal at Clinton, it is an easy place to get to. The town has a very relaxed feel to it. We were there outside peak season which, no doubt, helped but there were still plenty of visitors. Even so, the town had a laid-back feel and did not seem too busy.

We wandered around the shops, had a spot of lunch overlooking the water and checked out some of the older buildings and their history. We also saw some local entertainment but I shall save details of that for another time. On a sunny fall day, you couldn’t have asked for a nicer place to hang out and watch the world go by. When we had looked around the streets, there was still the shore to explore so a little stroll along the water’s edge wrapped up a great little visit.

Brandywine Falls Provincial Park

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We took a trip up to Whistler for a long weekend. On the drive up there, we went past Brandywine Falls Provincial Park. The falls themselves were actually pretty close to the highway so this did not involve a particularly strenuous hike. However, after being in the car for a long drive, it was nice to get out and stretch the legs. Besides, it was a lovely day.

I was not anticipating the falls being very full given the time of year but it turns out they must have a reasonably good source of water and they were flowing strongly. The park has built a viewing deck that allows visitors to get out to the edge in safety and get a good view of the falls themselves. The trail continues on for a way as well so you can look back at the falls from a variety of angles. While it was later in the day, the light was still a bit tricky. The falls were in deep shade while the sun was shining on the surrounding forest. The contrast was harsh which meant the exposure was a compromise. Modern sensors do have considerable latitude to accommodate this variation though. It was possible to pull out details from both the highlights and the shadows within Lightroom.

Billy Bishop Airport

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Over 20 years ago we took a trip to Toronto. While we were up the CN Tower, I took a photo of Toronto City Centre Airport, located on the island just offshore from the city. It wasn’t a busy looking airport at that time. Since then, things have moved on a bit. Now it is a busy hub for Porter Airlines, flying their Bombardier Q400s across Canada and into the US. (Depending on a planning approval, they may add C Series jets to this location.)

I recently had to fly from Toronto to Chicago and, with Midway as the better airport for me, Billy Bishop Airport as it is known, provided the better option. A tunnel has been built between the land and the airport which means you don’t need to take a ferry anymore. It is a compact airport but pretty neat. The tunnel provides good access and, as you come up from there on the escalators, you get some displays of the aircraft Billy Bishop flew. There is also a statue of him on the land side of the tunnel. If you get to fly through there, it is definitely a fun place to transit through as it is far smaller than the average city airport.

Walking Through the Treetops

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Aside from the suspension bridge at Capilano, there is a treetop walk. This is on the opposite side of the bridge and is an interesting attraction. They have built a number of walkways that run through the treetops. These are old growth trees that are really substantial. Without cutting in to the trees, they have mounted platforms around the trunks and strung walkways between them. You get to walk along these walkways from tree to tree.

You are up in the higher parts off the tree so you have a different perspective to that which you would normally get walking along the ground. Indeed, you can get so used to being up there that you forget you are off the ground. Every once in a while, it is a good idea to look down to see just how far you are from the base of some of the trees.

There are so many people up there with you that it is easy to become a bit fixated on keeping going. The walkways are one way so you are all moving along in the same direction. You can start following the person in front and lose perspective on where you are. However, at each tree there is space to step aside and let people pass. Then you can take a moment to look around and embrace your surroundings. I highly recommend you do this if you visit. Look up and look down and see exactly where you are – up with the squirrels in the treetops.

Trying a Time Lapse of the Eclipse

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When thinking about the eclipse and what photos I wanted to get, I did contemplate running a video of the transition. However, since the start to finish was going to be over two hours, I figured that would be a lot of video that would never get used or would only be seen speeded up. Therefore, a time lapse seemed like the best option. I set up a camera with the 100-400 lens on it can’t at an angle to, hopefully, align with the direction the sun progressed across the sky. I didn’t know how much time it would take to cross the viewfinder so I planned on taking a number of sequences with re-positioning after each pass.

This ran just fine during the eclipse itself. My only problems came at totality when I really lost the plot on what I was supposed to do, so overcome was I by the sight of the corona. I initially forgot to remove the solar filter so everything was just dark. When I did take it off, I had not adjusted from the manual exposure I had been running up to that time. However, in the scheme of the eclipse, the totality moment was fleeting so is not a big part of the time lapse anyway.

I have edited together the sequences I shot and here is the resulting video.