Greetings fellow OMers
I've been off list for a while due to work pressures, however I must
share with you all this amusing tale re Ulf and Ada Westerberg, who
recently stopped briefly here at Brisbane, Australia. They are currently
somewhere in the Flinders Ranges in South Australia in a campervan (half
their bloody luck!!) burning up film on mountain landscapes, and
hopefully having a great time.
I met up with them for an afternoon in Brisbane. I had arranged for a
friend to bring his small tinny (alum. boat) with outboard down to
Tingalpa Creek, a great local wetland area. As we set off up creek, we
were hoping to catch a glimpse of some of the local birds of prey that
can be seen around the area. Ulf was armed with two OM4Tis, one with a
Tamron 400 with 1.4X (a neat set-up, particularly with that bright
screen.) After a half hour or so of chugging along, seeing all sorts of
stuff, we noticed an osprey heading along the creek toward us, at about
50-60 feet above the creek (we have two osprey nests in this area, one
of them is on a mobile phone tower).
Ulf grabbed the mega lens and the trusty OM4 and started getting some
good shots as the bird approached us. The next second, the bird folded
its wings, stuck out its talons and power-dived straight at us! Despite
at least 4 cameras between us, the only thing that moved was our jaws,
as they dropped in amazement. Staring straight at us with bright yellow
eyes, the bird rocketed forward. Confusion and astonishment gripped me -
was it attacking us? Was it overcome to see a legendary OM4Ti on the
creek and keen to carry it off, with Ulf attached, to show the other
raptors? Was this the bird that I had spent days training to fly close
to the boat to impress Ulf?
Then, there was a huge splash as the bird slammed into the water about 2
metres to the side of the boat, showering Ulf and Ada with water. It
floated there, wings outstretched, gazing calmly at us, having
apparently missed the fish that it was after (this was now obvious!),
before hauling itself out and flapping over us. We all burst into
laughter and shouts of astonishment. Not a single frame taken, although
Ulf may be able to post some shots of the bird moments before its
dive-bombing run. In my many hours of local osprey watching I have never
come so close to one of these awesome critters.
It was a lot of fun meeting Ulf and Ada. This is the second time that I
have met other "foreign" list members. My wife and I recently travelled
to Ireland, Scotland and England (leaving Australia for the first time -
scary!!), and we had the good fortune to be able to meet Giles Stewart
and his wife and son at their property in Connemara in the west of
Ireland. (Not that Gile's is really "foreign" to me, - he's ex-Aus, as
I'm sure you all know). There we enjoyed great hospitality and an
absolutely awe-inspiring landscape - Atlantic views, lakes, forest, bogs
full of flowers, stone walls, butterflies, even the sight of a kestrel
and a merlin hunting (I had really hoped to find a merlin, Ireland's
smallest falcon, and while out walking on the incredible bogs one zoomed
past.) Needless to say I fired off quite a few rolls of film. It was
great to meet Giles - lots of chat about OM gear (of which he has a
wonderful selection). My wife and I agreed that our stay in Connemara
was the highlight of a great trip. Having now met Giles and Ulf it's
obvious to me that this high quality OM gear seems to attract the
highest quality people!
More about my travels a bit later (I'm trying to get a second job to pay
for the developing costs ---arrgghhhh!!!).
Cheers
Robert Ashdown
Brisbane
Australia
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