Beverages

For some reason I have taken a collection of photos of all the drinks I've had in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Australia. Why? The differences in drink labels interests me, I guess. I have also noticed Coke tastes different everywhere you go. Pepsi in Vietnam was also really weird tasting (almost spicy) although the photo of that can is on my iphone.

Enjoy.

The Outback

Here are a couple from my 3 hour road trip to one of the sites from Darwin. The wet season just ended so things are still quite green. It should be the dry season but it still rains right now. Usually it starts in March and doesn't rain at all. Stopped at a restaurant where the filmed Crocodile Dundee and they have stuffed the actual water buffalo that is in the film. Pretty nuts. I'll to soon get some photos of wildlife, the massive termite mounds (bigger than me), and some more sweet outback shots.

Work

Above are three photos from the site I will be working at which is about 3 hours north of Darwin and is right near Kakadu national park. The swamp/pond probably has a croc in it. There is also a photo of a nursery of wetland plant species that we've started and will plant later on. Finally there is the Toyota land cruiser, typical outback vehicle.

Vegemite

It's the worst, don't try it. I've been around Darwin most of the days so far but have ventured pretty far into the outback. I have yet to see any crocs, snakes (except on the road), koalas, or cane toads. I am sure there are plenty and I haven't been paying attention. There were lots of wallabies and kangaroos the other day around the mine site and we saw a bush turkey which was pretty huge and looked like a emu. I'm hoping to not encounter any of the most dangerous snakes, especially while I'm working alone very far away from any type of civilization. I may soon be living out of a tent in the bush by my choice right at the site where I'm working so I can focus on this really amazing project. I have to carry my own anti-venoms so that I can administer them myself. Andy comes soon and we're heading to Kakadu, should be awesome and hopefully we will get some behind the scenes courtesy of my new friend the expert Kakadu park ranger (similar to Randolph MacKenzie, for those of you who know him).

Leaving Darwin

I am off into the outback tomorrow morning to Humpty Doo in the Northern Territory. After sleeping a new record (16 hours) the first night I went to the casino with my boss for dinner and won $170 playing roulette. Please note this is my first time ever stepping into a casino and the only bet I made ($5) all night. My boss is not only the head of environmental at the mine but he also has a film production company and works with one of the Baldwin brothers in Los Angeles. He used to be a commercial diver on oil rigs and was has produced and filmed tons of nature documentaries for National Geographic. Most of his videography/photography is underwater and he will be lending me some of his rigs so I can potentially shoot some video underwater in the coming months. As of now plans during my breaks are to go to the west coast to dive with whale sharks, possibly dive in Bali, Indonesia and hit up the great barrier reef with my friend Andy.

Here is a photo from a market at Mindil Beach on the other end of town. The market opens at 5 and tons of people in town come to watch the sunset, eat really good food, and do some shopping at the open air markets. Unfortunately I was too late getting to the beach and missed a photo of the sun as a giant orange ball going into the sea which is so amazing to see. Darwin is only 110,000 (about the size of Guelph) but there is so much cool stuff to do and it seems way bigger than Guelph since it's so spread out.

Also found out part of my job might be doing aerial photography from a helicopter and doing lots of other photo related jobs while I'm here.

Hope everyone is having a sweet summer so far! Updates might be less frequent for the next two weeks because of the isolation of the new town I'm going to.

Check out my flickr (link to the right) for more photos from HK/Taiwan. I'll post a few different photos here and on flickr.

Down Under

After not sleeping for the last two days and spending an entire day in the Ho Chi Minh City airport in Vietnam and witnessing some pretty crazy americans (apparently they love it there) I have arrived in Darwin. I'm in a pretty swanky hotel right on the ocean. More photos from Taiwan and some new ones from Darwin very soon. Need sleep first...

For more photos from my trip see:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jordanhoffmanphoto/

On the way to class

This is a photo of Paris (aka Paris Hilton) who is a blonde horse that we feed while walking to class at one of the research buildings at the aquarium. Paris likes long grass and apples. All of the horses are numbered because they are for science. There is also February (aka horse #28), Darkie, and a few others. We probably play with them about 10-15 times a day. Today one of my classmates styled Paris' mane which you can see in one of the above photos. Only a few more days left in Taiwan! Lots of work still to do unfortunately but it's been a pretty awesome time so far.

Where we live

We are living at an aquarium. It's basically like night at the museum.

Today

Here are two shots from Taiwan today, one from the beach (which was full of sharp coral) and another of some friends playing with horses.

Pink Dolphin

In Taiwan we are working a lot with a critically endangered population of the Indo-pacific humpback dolphin with only approximately 60 individuals left in Taiwan. It's been pretty amazing to be able to learn about the population which may not be around for much longer. Later on I'll post some photos from the heavily industrialized area where the dolphins live.

Fishing Ports

Hong Kong/Taiwan Fishing Ports from Jordan Hoffman on Vimeo.

Here is a short video I made of a ton of my photos from fishing ports in Taiwan. There are just so many crazy species of fish in huge numbers as Taiwan really has no regulations on catch limits or restrictions of any sort. You'll notice a lot of shark fins and shark bodies, these are usually caught in places such as the Galapagos where the catches are illegal. Shark fins are then usually sold to China where they can go for a hefty price.

Road Trip

A bunch of random photos from all over Taiwan on my previously mentioned road trip. I have a few of some huge factories and some really cool fish and what not from the trip that I will post in the near future so check back!

Taiwan Update

Just came back from a huge road trip all over Taiwan. Here is one photo of many which I will upload (maybe in the form of a slide show video) soon enough. We were in the middle of a pod of dolphins (in this case spinner dolphins) that was over 100 individuals. Definitely an amazing experience. This isn't even my best one (I'm saving those for later).

Butterflies

Here are a few shots that I took over the two mornings spent in Hong Kong. Check back soon for photos of the chinese white dolphin and some of my other favourites from Hong Kong.

Hong Kong

Here's a sneak peek from HK. More to come soon. Just arrived in Taiwan at 2am and there is a promise of many photo opportunities to come. This photo is outside the actual city of Taiwan and is just a smaller town and was taken during a survey for dolphins in the area.

More Guelph!

A few of Dana, Luke, and Jill (newfie fiddling) from a night in Guelph. Maintaining a proper sleep schedule is not going to work. I will have to welcome jet lag into my life.