George Kourounis

George travels to the northern wilds of Vancouver Island to find out where the rain goes by exploring the deep, wet caves that pepper the area. Accompanied by a group of hardcore cavers from Alberta and British Columbia, he descends into four different caves that lead deep into the earth. One requires a 40 meter rappel to enter. Another, they enter through a waterfall. On a third, the team carries inflatable kayaks so they can explore the dark river running deep under the ground. Linking up with legendary stormchaser Jim Leonard, George tracks Hurricane Dean as it makes its way across the Caribbean, eventually building to Category 5 strength. The pair fly to Jamaica to intercept the storm, and get right into the action, witnessing it pounding the shoreline of the island. George then travels to Nova Scotia to experience the even bigger turmoil of Hurricane Noel as it roars into the iconic maritime village of Peggy’s Cove.   Waterspouts are the nautical relations of tornadoes – spinning whirlwinds of liquid vapour that menace mariners and exposed shorelines. George uses a motorboat, a van and small plane to try to get up close to these freak winds in the Florida Keys – home to more waterspouts than anywhere else in the world. While exploring the southern tip of Florida, he gets a chance to meet some of the 25 million alligators that live in the Sunshine State.   George explores the wild side of Hawaii – diving with Galapagos sharks, ascending through snow covered blizzard conditions at the top of Mauna Kea, descending to 85 feet under the water to have his teeth cleaned by Peppermint Cleaner Shrimp, witnessing Banzai Pipeline – the biggest, toughest surfing beach in the world – and getting his boots set on fire by Kilauea, one of the world’s most active and spectacular volcanoes.   When summer starts to heat up, the thunderstorms and winds start to blow across the Great Plains of North America. In early December, the same thing happens across the dry dusty Outback of Australia. George heads down under to link up with Aussie stormchaser Jimmy Deguara, and the pair head out “back a buggary” as the Aussies say, to witness the storms. While in Oz, he dives with some of the creatures of the Great Barrier Reef, and when the opportunity arises to find out just how painful the sting of the venomous Box Jellyfish is, well, he has to have a go, doesn’t he?   Guess North America’s hottest temperature ever? 134 degrees F – Death Valley, California. The coldest – Snag, Yukon - -81 degrees F. We visit both – Death Valley in the hottest week of the summer, Yukon during a long cold snap in mid-February. In both extremes, George meets ultramarathon runners, testing themselves against the searing heat of Death Valley and the bone-chilling cold of the Yukon. He tries his hand at running through the desert, and dog-sledding though the northern snow. He also meets some of the wild characters of the north, like Caveman Bill, who has now lived in a cave outside Dawson through 12 long cold Yukon winters.   Italy is one of the few nations in the world that regularly gets three major extreme natural phenomena - volcanoes, flooding, and avalanches.We travel to Italy to document its three major volcanoes - Etna, Vusuvius and Stomboli - to see the damage that Mediterranean flooding is doing to Venice, and see how the Italians deal with the avalanches that fall from the Dolomite Mountains. Today's tourists often need wading boots to explore the architectural wonders of Venice. Will they one day need scuba gear? The peril has been the subsidence of the ground on which Venice is built, combined with ever higher tides caused by rising sea levels. When storm winds blow from the south, the Adriatic floods the lagoon, causing acqua alta, or high water. Under certain weather conditions, the flooding can be catastrophic.   Changing weather patterns mean that the weather is getting wilder on Canada’s rugged west coast. George tries his hand at ice-climbing up a 70 meter frozen waterfall. He then straps on ski-skins to climb high up Mt.Garibaldi to experience th