It has been a life long dream of mine to see big fluffy bears in the wild. This may be due to the fact that Australia has absolutely no large mammalian predators (our biggest is the dingo, which is basically a gorgeous golden colored dog, we do however win with the scary reptiles). So I went to Canada during the season where bears are hunting salmon in the streams to fatten up before winter hibernation. It was truly a National Geographic experience. I went to a salmon hatchery on Vancouver Island which is known to attract the local bears.

I was able to watch the bears for hours, who were thankfully much more interested in the salmon than the tourists on the edge of the stream! They were so spoilt for food that they barely ate much of the fish before discarding the half eaten carcass, much to the delight of the nearby birds. It was a magical experience to be in the presence of such large and spectacular creatures such as these.