Here are the photos from Jessie, Julie, and my trip to Queenstown earlier this month.
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Merry Christmas from NZ!
This is a Pohutukawa blossom, from a tree known as the "Kiwi Christmas Tree". Great thing about a spring time Christmas is that things are in bloom!
Also have photos from my Christmas weekend here.
Also have photos from my Christmas weekend here.
Friday, December 23, 2005
Fortnight of Firsts
So it has been more than a fortnight, but Kiwi’s use the term all the time and I just had to pull it out for fun.
Not a whole bunch has happened if I look back on the last few weeks, which means I’m probably working too much. Nonetheless, I had my first earthquake! A 4.6 while I was playing X-box at the office, so it didn’t even register with me for about 15 seconds at which point when I asked the guy I was playing with if we just had an earthquake. He response was yes, and then he swiftly killed me for my lack of concentration.
Actually with a bit a thought, lots have happened. Jessie and Julie from Austin visited for many nights of fun, a four-day trip to Queenstown, climbing mountains, BBQ, and 11 PM sunsets! (Pictures coming after Xmas)
That reminds me, my camera is fixed! (Like finding out a pet is going to pull through surgery) Sweetness, thanks to kiwi get it done attitude. Nikon here actually re-soldered a connection. I have to assume I would have been told to replace well before soldering ever happened back stateside.
I got my tickets for my trip to Europe in July and the leave without a blink. (July 1 to August 5) As it turns out my Dad and step-mom will be in Italy during that time so I’ll meet them there, as I probably won’t be back in the states for another year. On the way back I’ll got four days in Dubai to see my first of the Middle East, yet this is a very westernised city – it should still be a ball.
I’ve been terrible about updating the blog as well as returning email… apologies to all waiting for email (emails stretching back 2 months!) but it’s happening over the break – better late than never.
So I’m bolting from work in a couple hours to cruise down to the Malboro Sounds and join some Enlgish friends for a couple of days sitting in a cabin amongst Fjords for a great view and some relaxation!
Merry Christmas to all! I’ll be toasting you all with sunsets at 11, flip-flops, and 80-degree warmth wishing you all the best!
Not a whole bunch has happened if I look back on the last few weeks, which means I’m probably working too much. Nonetheless, I had my first earthquake! A 4.6 while I was playing X-box at the office, so it didn’t even register with me for about 15 seconds at which point when I asked the guy I was playing with if we just had an earthquake. He response was yes, and then he swiftly killed me for my lack of concentration.
Actually with a bit a thought, lots have happened. Jessie and Julie from Austin visited for many nights of fun, a four-day trip to Queenstown, climbing mountains, BBQ, and 11 PM sunsets! (Pictures coming after Xmas)
That reminds me, my camera is fixed! (Like finding out a pet is going to pull through surgery) Sweetness, thanks to kiwi get it done attitude. Nikon here actually re-soldered a connection. I have to assume I would have been told to replace well before soldering ever happened back stateside.
I got my tickets for my trip to Europe in July and the leave without a blink. (July 1 to August 5) As it turns out my Dad and step-mom will be in Italy during that time so I’ll meet them there, as I probably won’t be back in the states for another year. On the way back I’ll got four days in Dubai to see my first of the Middle East, yet this is a very westernised city – it should still be a ball.
I’ve been terrible about updating the blog as well as returning email… apologies to all waiting for email (emails stretching back 2 months!) but it’s happening over the break – better late than never.
So I’m bolting from work in a couple hours to cruise down to the Malboro Sounds and join some Enlgish friends for a couple of days sitting in a cabin amongst Fjords for a great view and some relaxation!
Merry Christmas to all! I’ll be toasting you all with sunsets at 11, flip-flops, and 80-degree warmth wishing you all the best!
Friday, December 02, 2005
You know you away from the US when....
I received my official invitation to apply for residency in New Zealand! Now I get to go get chest X-Rays, FBI files, and other fun documentation.
Also, I saw some new VW car today I not see before, the Touran. I saw it and thought to myself it's odd I didn't know about this car. I've always been mildly a car buff and a big fan of V-dubs, so why didn't I know about this? Then it hit me, I'm no longer emerged the ultimate consumer society of the US. A dramatic realization I came about subtly is how much less advertising I am exposed to, moreover that I don't have that itch to buy stuff anymore. Don't know if it just me and not my environment, but I dig the change.
Happy Friday, y'all.
Also, I saw some new VW car today I not see before, the Touran. I saw it and thought to myself it's odd I didn't know about this car. I've always been mildly a car buff and a big fan of V-dubs, so why didn't I know about this? Then it hit me, I'm no longer emerged the ultimate consumer society of the US. A dramatic realization I came about subtly is how much less advertising I am exposed to, moreover that I don't have that itch to buy stuff anymore. Don't know if it just me and not my environment, but I dig the change.
Happy Friday, y'all.
Monday, November 28, 2005
Hello Again!
Wow it’s amazing how I fast time flies. I guess it’s been a month since my last post, yet thankfully it feels like quite a bit longer.
If anything I want to insure I don’t fall into autopilot and realize that a year has past that feels like a month. I always prefer months that feel like years.
So what has happened in Trey’s life? (By the way I hope this day-to-day journal isn’t nearly as dull as it feels writing; I am also hoping I’ll appreciate having it one day)
My office rugby team has had their first, second, third, and now eight game. Despite having only triumphed in one, we have had a ball and I must say I might have a new favourite (spelling I have to get used to for work) team sport – well at least to watch. Granted I have never really enjoyed watching any sports, rugby doesn’t have to do much to come out as my “favourite”.
I revert back to my notes to see the ups and downs of the month….
• I spent an entire weekend at work, yet thanks to the Kiwi work/life balance I’ve been given an extra two days of holiday to take for the effort.
• I’m still on my first tank of gas in my scooter – since July!
• I listen to NPR and Austin’s KUT on podcasts still and was impressed again with one of our countries strengths when the KKK led a protest in support of Proposition 2 in Texas. I couldn’t possibly disagree more with their views, but am so impressed with a country that tolerates those views and allows them to be broadcast. Yet, I was then utterly ashamed when Texas passed prop 2 – how can this place I call home, that I love so much, be so hatefully bigoted? How can the great state of Texas represent blatant prejudice, not in the back room of a farmhouse with the former generation that is often tolerated with the “they were brain washed” argument? But in our polls with landslide figures! What is happening to my home while I am away?
• Went to the Toast Martinborough Wine & Food Festival last weekend, which had the perfect combination of great wine, food, music, and friends.
• Like having a pet die, I had to take my camera into the shop. We’ll see if I have to purchase “the next one”, until then (possibly 6 weeks) I won’t be shooting. Damn this kills me!
• A wonderful English couple I befriended in Tonga have hired me to shoot their wedding in July - in the UK! So Europe for my annual month long holiday (thank you Kiwi holidays) in Europe! I plan to be in the UK for about a week then head south by train… not to much planned after that other than to insist on not moving around that much – afteral I’ll be back plenty I’m sure. Looks like I may not get back to the States for possibly another year, but anyone that misses me should just come to New Zealand or meet me in Europe – tell me that doesn’t sound like more fun?!
• I have been accepted to apply for residency in New Zealand after submitting my “Expression of Interest”. I realized I may not have laid out my plan so well before so here is the very rough version (I don’t intend it to ever be very concrete): Stay here for at least 2 summers saving money, then fly to Malaysia for a year long over land trip taking me into Africa (obviously I’ll get on a boat here and there). I hope to go through Malaysia, Borneo, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, India, Iran (maybe), Israel, Libya, Egypt, Kenya, (other African nations) – at the end of which I want to go to Europe and work in a non-English speaking country. This is about as rough as plans get. I have also considered taking off in two summers to work in South America as a volunteer and get my Spanish is good shape. The one thing that is certain is that nothing is certain. In that vein I am applying for residency in order to start the clock on my New Zealand citizenship. If I happen to be here for three years I’ll have it to go along with my US citizenship which would allow me to live here or Australia if/when I wanted to – not to mention travel on a Common Wealth passport and possibly less inflammatory one.
• I’ve actually caught myself getting nostalgic for the US watching West Wing DVDs from the Library (I have a Library card as of yesterday). I know I’m away when upon seeing the Chilean embassy walking today I realized I have not idea where the US embassy is – but there is one within a mile of my flat.
• I’m so ashamed to admit this…. Yet, having the unbelievably orderly British way here is rubbing off on me. I ironed my pillow cases today (I know pelt me with rocks – it’s ridiculous)
New Zealand celebrated Guy Fawks Day a few weeks back, a day celebrating some guy who attempted to blow up the king in 1605 (in England as there were no Europeans here then). The whole premise of this day cracks me up, as the guy was basically a terrorist. So one must wonder what all the fireworks represent? Apparently, the night started out with bonfires to celebrate the safety of the King, but now the Brits and Kiwis celebrate Guy Fawks in a way to “stick it to the man”.
Independent of the history the night was awesome. Great BBQ/costume party (the Kiwi’s love their “fancy dress” parties), some American girls I had become aquatinted with through a British Girl I met in Fiji were in for the night and we had ball. The fireworks over the bay were awesome. Yet running late to see them we walked into some folk’s backyard, introduced ourselves, and enjoyed the fireworks from Mt. Victoria. A panoramic view of the city lights horseshoeing around the bay, fireworks going off at eye level that appeared to eclipse the bay in size, in a still cool night extenuated by the bay mirroring the colourful explosions above.
On the subject of holidays, Thanksgiving passed last week. I was curious what it would feel like without family – yet it didn’t really feel like Thanksgiving so I wasn’t so bothered. Of course I had to take the mickey out of my friends by wishing them all a Happy Thanksgiving. My friends John and Sarah planned a huge BBQ for the occasion, with the invitation inviting all to take advantage of the holiday with their “token American”. The weather didn’t cooperate so we resorted to plan B, an awesome night at a fabulous restaurant – which I must say would put up a hard fight to be topped by any BBQ.
This past week my friend Vic from San Francisco visited. Austin dot com, to Standford, to BioTech in Silicon Valley… and now travelling for 6+ months. (see anyone can do this – that’s my prod for the month) We had a ball, I showed him through Wellington in the evenings and despite only travelling for a month he greatly appreciated having access to a “home” for a week.
This last weekend I’ve been a bit sick or “crook” as the Kiwis say. Nonetheless, I had a great weekend, specifically brunch on Saturday. Vic and I hopped up the Cable Car that is below my flat, climbed about 300 feet vertically into the Botanical Gardens where we met my friend Elisabet, a fabulous German girl I’ve met here. Walked through a misty day to the rose gardens where we had coffee and brunch sitting on leather couches in a greenhouse. Natural and bright light shown as we chatted, reclined, read the paper – all the while with views of the fields of roses blurred by the rain on the panes of glass that encased us.
Sunday I wandered to a movie, then Te Papa (the Kiwi version of the Smithsonian). Only visited the café, yet I was again taken aback by the enormity of the architecture. I love to concretely remind myself of the enormity of things external. Similar to my day today, strolling through the gardens again, I renew my amazement with the beauty that surrounds. I notice myself looking up again. This sense of quite literally widening my perspective by looking up reminds me of travelling again. Noticing the rooflines, trees, sky, and mountains – unlike the “rat race” which has me see only my computer, sidewalk, next source of sustenance – a shrinking of my view.
This makes me think about my lifestyle. I wrote about it to my friend George and was curious if I’ve put it down in words here… so out of laziness I’ll just copy it from my email.
Life here is good. I live in a flat in downtown Wellington, a city that feels quite like a miniature San Francisco to me. I really enjoy the lifestyle I'm living now. I have a 4 minute walk to work though 360 degrees of concrete along crowded sidewalks stuffed with clothing boutiques and coffee shops. Work is great as it is truly challenging me and I honestly believe it is moving my career forward as I am working with large organizations and large networks. Nonetheless, the work environment is fantastic. Our Wellington office has the vast majority of the company with about 90 people; it is very young, full of energy, and the company prides its self on its meritocracy and flat, young culture. All the desks are covered with legos, pictures, sports balls, and nerf guns, while the aisles between desks are jammed with mountain bikes and kayak paddles. With no offices or separators, the place is loud and high energy - constantly reminding me of a newsroom.
I have met some lovely people. Lots through my work and unlike my previous work experience I relate exceptionally well with my colleges. With folks from the office: I go running Mondays and Wednesdays, play rugby Tuesday and Thursdays, play soccer on Fridays, race sail boats on the weekends, go hiking in the mountains, road trips around New Zealand wine country, kayaking in sounds, and really enjoy myself.
Well that’s plenty blathering for tonight, yet to give a bit of reading value for my blog I thought I would recommend a couple things I’ve been consuming lately:
New Music:
Melissa Greener (Austin)
Porterdavis (Austin)
Hurts to Purr (Austin) - not on iTunes yet
Andy Guthrie (USA)
Podcasts (if you aren’t listening to these you should check ‘em out):
NPR’s “On The Media”
Fresh Bread from a French bakery! Whoo hoo!
If anything I want to insure I don’t fall into autopilot and realize that a year has past that feels like a month. I always prefer months that feel like years.
So what has happened in Trey’s life? (By the way I hope this day-to-day journal isn’t nearly as dull as it feels writing; I am also hoping I’ll appreciate having it one day)
My office rugby team has had their first, second, third, and now eight game. Despite having only triumphed in one, we have had a ball and I must say I might have a new favourite (spelling I have to get used to for work) team sport – well at least to watch. Granted I have never really enjoyed watching any sports, rugby doesn’t have to do much to come out as my “favourite”.
I revert back to my notes to see the ups and downs of the month….
• I spent an entire weekend at work, yet thanks to the Kiwi work/life balance I’ve been given an extra two days of holiday to take for the effort.
• I’m still on my first tank of gas in my scooter – since July!
• I listen to NPR and Austin’s KUT on podcasts still and was impressed again with one of our countries strengths when the KKK led a protest in support of Proposition 2 in Texas. I couldn’t possibly disagree more with their views, but am so impressed with a country that tolerates those views and allows them to be broadcast. Yet, I was then utterly ashamed when Texas passed prop 2 – how can this place I call home, that I love so much, be so hatefully bigoted? How can the great state of Texas represent blatant prejudice, not in the back room of a farmhouse with the former generation that is often tolerated with the “they were brain washed” argument? But in our polls with landslide figures! What is happening to my home while I am away?
• Went to the Toast Martinborough Wine & Food Festival last weekend, which had the perfect combination of great wine, food, music, and friends.
• Like having a pet die, I had to take my camera into the shop. We’ll see if I have to purchase “the next one”, until then (possibly 6 weeks) I won’t be shooting. Damn this kills me!
• A wonderful English couple I befriended in Tonga have hired me to shoot their wedding in July - in the UK! So Europe for my annual month long holiday (thank you Kiwi holidays) in Europe! I plan to be in the UK for about a week then head south by train… not to much planned after that other than to insist on not moving around that much – afteral I’ll be back plenty I’m sure. Looks like I may not get back to the States for possibly another year, but anyone that misses me should just come to New Zealand or meet me in Europe – tell me that doesn’t sound like more fun?!
• I have been accepted to apply for residency in New Zealand after submitting my “Expression of Interest”. I realized I may not have laid out my plan so well before so here is the very rough version (I don’t intend it to ever be very concrete): Stay here for at least 2 summers saving money, then fly to Malaysia for a year long over land trip taking me into Africa (obviously I’ll get on a boat here and there). I hope to go through Malaysia, Borneo, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, India, Iran (maybe), Israel, Libya, Egypt, Kenya, (other African nations) – at the end of which I want to go to Europe and work in a non-English speaking country. This is about as rough as plans get. I have also considered taking off in two summers to work in South America as a volunteer and get my Spanish is good shape. The one thing that is certain is that nothing is certain. In that vein I am applying for residency in order to start the clock on my New Zealand citizenship. If I happen to be here for three years I’ll have it to go along with my US citizenship which would allow me to live here or Australia if/when I wanted to – not to mention travel on a Common Wealth passport and possibly less inflammatory one.
• I’ve actually caught myself getting nostalgic for the US watching West Wing DVDs from the Library (I have a Library card as of yesterday). I know I’m away when upon seeing the Chilean embassy walking today I realized I have not idea where the US embassy is – but there is one within a mile of my flat.
• I’m so ashamed to admit this…. Yet, having the unbelievably orderly British way here is rubbing off on me. I ironed my pillow cases today (I know pelt me with rocks – it’s ridiculous)
New Zealand celebrated Guy Fawks Day a few weeks back, a day celebrating some guy who attempted to blow up the king in 1605 (in England as there were no Europeans here then). The whole premise of this day cracks me up, as the guy was basically a terrorist. So one must wonder what all the fireworks represent? Apparently, the night started out with bonfires to celebrate the safety of the King, but now the Brits and Kiwis celebrate Guy Fawks in a way to “stick it to the man”.
Independent of the history the night was awesome. Great BBQ/costume party (the Kiwi’s love their “fancy dress” parties), some American girls I had become aquatinted with through a British Girl I met in Fiji were in for the night and we had ball. The fireworks over the bay were awesome. Yet running late to see them we walked into some folk’s backyard, introduced ourselves, and enjoyed the fireworks from Mt. Victoria. A panoramic view of the city lights horseshoeing around the bay, fireworks going off at eye level that appeared to eclipse the bay in size, in a still cool night extenuated by the bay mirroring the colourful explosions above.
On the subject of holidays, Thanksgiving passed last week. I was curious what it would feel like without family – yet it didn’t really feel like Thanksgiving so I wasn’t so bothered. Of course I had to take the mickey out of my friends by wishing them all a Happy Thanksgiving. My friends John and Sarah planned a huge BBQ for the occasion, with the invitation inviting all to take advantage of the holiday with their “token American”. The weather didn’t cooperate so we resorted to plan B, an awesome night at a fabulous restaurant – which I must say would put up a hard fight to be topped by any BBQ.
This past week my friend Vic from San Francisco visited. Austin dot com, to Standford, to BioTech in Silicon Valley… and now travelling for 6+ months. (see anyone can do this – that’s my prod for the month) We had a ball, I showed him through Wellington in the evenings and despite only travelling for a month he greatly appreciated having access to a “home” for a week.
This last weekend I’ve been a bit sick or “crook” as the Kiwis say. Nonetheless, I had a great weekend, specifically brunch on Saturday. Vic and I hopped up the Cable Car that is below my flat, climbed about 300 feet vertically into the Botanical Gardens where we met my friend Elisabet, a fabulous German girl I’ve met here. Walked through a misty day to the rose gardens where we had coffee and brunch sitting on leather couches in a greenhouse. Natural and bright light shown as we chatted, reclined, read the paper – all the while with views of the fields of roses blurred by the rain on the panes of glass that encased us.
Sunday I wandered to a movie, then Te Papa (the Kiwi version of the Smithsonian). Only visited the café, yet I was again taken aback by the enormity of the architecture. I love to concretely remind myself of the enormity of things external. Similar to my day today, strolling through the gardens again, I renew my amazement with the beauty that surrounds. I notice myself looking up again. This sense of quite literally widening my perspective by looking up reminds me of travelling again. Noticing the rooflines, trees, sky, and mountains – unlike the “rat race” which has me see only my computer, sidewalk, next source of sustenance – a shrinking of my view.
This makes me think about my lifestyle. I wrote about it to my friend George and was curious if I’ve put it down in words here… so out of laziness I’ll just copy it from my email.
Life here is good. I live in a flat in downtown Wellington, a city that feels quite like a miniature San Francisco to me. I really enjoy the lifestyle I'm living now. I have a 4 minute walk to work though 360 degrees of concrete along crowded sidewalks stuffed with clothing boutiques and coffee shops. Work is great as it is truly challenging me and I honestly believe it is moving my career forward as I am working with large organizations and large networks. Nonetheless, the work environment is fantastic. Our Wellington office has the vast majority of the company with about 90 people; it is very young, full of energy, and the company prides its self on its meritocracy and flat, young culture. All the desks are covered with legos, pictures, sports balls, and nerf guns, while the aisles between desks are jammed with mountain bikes and kayak paddles. With no offices or separators, the place is loud and high energy - constantly reminding me of a newsroom.
I have met some lovely people. Lots through my work and unlike my previous work experience I relate exceptionally well with my colleges. With folks from the office: I go running Mondays and Wednesdays, play rugby Tuesday and Thursdays, play soccer on Fridays, race sail boats on the weekends, go hiking in the mountains, road trips around New Zealand wine country, kayaking in sounds, and really enjoy myself.
Well that’s plenty blathering for tonight, yet to give a bit of reading value for my blog I thought I would recommend a couple things I’ve been consuming lately:
New Music:
Melissa Greener (Austin)
Porterdavis (Austin)
Hurts to Purr (Austin) - not on iTunes yet
Andy Guthrie (USA)
Podcasts (if you aren’t listening to these you should check ‘em out):
NPR’s “On The Media”
Fresh Bread from a French bakery! Whoo hoo!
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Sunday, October 30, 2005
New things.
I am on my first official business trip, whoa ho! Working with Automobile Association of New Zealand’s 80+ websites and trying to figure out how to integrate them all and leverage them better towards their business goals. (That’s the spiel at least)
A bit daunting though, when I flew in Friday morning and upon arriving at their office I realize I’m pulling up to a 20 story building that is one (granted the headquarters) of 140 odd locations. A building topped with the two letters I’ve been writing about in my proposals of late “AA”. I won a bit more business at last minute, so I’ll stay in Auckland through Tuesday to build an infrastructure strategy for the Human Rights Commission of NZ… hold onto your seats; I know how you must all be dying to do something so riveting! Really though, I must admit this is the best job I’ve ever had and I’m having a ball.
So over the weekend I decided to check back into the City Garden Lodge, one of my favorite hostels I’ve stayed in. I can’t tell you how much some time on my own has been awesome. Spent Saturday dragging a camera around Auckland and enjoying not having any conversations. I forget how good a solid few days without conversations is for me. Not to say I haven’t yet again met wonderful people in the hostel. This reinforces the whole “don’t forget to travel theme” for me. The travelers are the most relaxed, happy, and glowing people I’ve ever been around – and it’s contagious. I love that when my room was waking up at 8:30 on Saturday and I was wondering why so early, I remembered that days don’t have any meaning while traveling. Things to not forget.
I jumped into taking more pictures of plants and flowers; I’m a bit enchanted by their form as of late. Spring is in the air and I love shooting the perfection that only nature can create. I’m reminded of my desire to shoot body as landscape nudes. Not sure how I could make that happen, don’t want to use women I’m dating (dodgy to say the least). So I could always try to hire models, but what would the classified look like? WANTED: Nude female models, flawless skin, immaculate muscle tone, horse-faces no problem. I would have to kick my own ass if I could honestly seek someone in that way. Of coarse, I relish the form nature creates – including that in the body, which is the epitome of objectifying someone. Hum… do I deserver a self-delivered can of whoop ass?
So I more pictures on the way, ignore them if you are already bored of my “flower” phase.
A bit daunting though, when I flew in Friday morning and upon arriving at their office I realize I’m pulling up to a 20 story building that is one (granted the headquarters) of 140 odd locations. A building topped with the two letters I’ve been writing about in my proposals of late “AA”. I won a bit more business at last minute, so I’ll stay in Auckland through Tuesday to build an infrastructure strategy for the Human Rights Commission of NZ… hold onto your seats; I know how you must all be dying to do something so riveting! Really though, I must admit this is the best job I’ve ever had and I’m having a ball.
So over the weekend I decided to check back into the City Garden Lodge, one of my favorite hostels I’ve stayed in. I can’t tell you how much some time on my own has been awesome. Spent Saturday dragging a camera around Auckland and enjoying not having any conversations. I forget how good a solid few days without conversations is for me. Not to say I haven’t yet again met wonderful people in the hostel. This reinforces the whole “don’t forget to travel theme” for me. The travelers are the most relaxed, happy, and glowing people I’ve ever been around – and it’s contagious. I love that when my room was waking up at 8:30 on Saturday and I was wondering why so early, I remembered that days don’t have any meaning while traveling. Things to not forget.
I jumped into taking more pictures of plants and flowers; I’m a bit enchanted by their form as of late. Spring is in the air and I love shooting the perfection that only nature can create. I’m reminded of my desire to shoot body as landscape nudes. Not sure how I could make that happen, don’t want to use women I’m dating (dodgy to say the least). So I could always try to hire models, but what would the classified look like? WANTED: Nude female models, flawless skin, immaculate muscle tone, horse-faces no problem. I would have to kick my own ass if I could honestly seek someone in that way. Of coarse, I relish the form nature creates – including that in the body, which is the epitome of objectifying someone. Hum… do I deserver a self-delivered can of whoop ass?
So I more pictures on the way, ignore them if you are already bored of my “flower” phase.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Picture Time!
This is when you should cringe. Like when an uncle wants to do a slideshow of his trip to the Grand Canyon - it'll only take a couple hours. What else do you have to do?
Had a great time this weekend and here are some photos. First, at long last I took some photos of where I live. So here is my flat (We are the top floor of the building):
And My Street:
Saturday we hoped in the car by 9AM and drove north letting a coin flip be our guide. As it turned out heads took us to the west coast.
And holy hell, yes that is four of us in a Mini Cooper!
We ended up in small town and back roads via our coin destiny, and took advantage of empty roads for a group photo.
Driving through NZ countryside I was amazed at how pretty it is so I have to throw in at least one blurry from the car shot:
We even ended up going through some town that was is the "Gum Boot Capital of New Zealand". I still have issues with the accent, so I asked the 'what' boot. To which they responded, you know Wellingtons. I then proceeded to become more confused. Finally I realized we were talking about rain boots. The 'ol gumboot capital will never be the same.
(By the way we're jumping off a giant corrugated iron gum boot, gotta love small towns)
We finally ended up in Taupo for the night where we checked in to the last beds in town. Ran down to the hot tub and enjoyed a night of hot tubing, playing pool, pizza, and finally out to the bars.
Next day we were up slowly and had just enough energy to get breakfast and then lie down in the grass along lake Taupo and soak up the sun. Eventually we decided to get picnic foods and start back south along the east coast.
The weather was incredible and view was even more stunning. We stopped at a hill, jumped a fence, and ran up the hill for a picnic - only to be blown away by the view. (or at least as a foreigner I was)
The Car:
The Walk:
The View (You should click on this one to see it big):
And the gratuitous group shot:
Finally a picnic later in a sunny field (the sheep hill had too many remnants of it's inhabitants)
And then we arrived in Napier for a winery tour. Beautiful place, gorgeous day, and as we strolled around some vintage Rolls Royce’s showed up with a wedding party. It was idyllic.
Finally we hopped back in the Mini, tuned into "Mini FM" (My iPod) and enjoyed the rest of our 20 odd hours of music we heard throughout the weekend.
Slept like a rock only to wake up to a Monday off! I love Labour Day in any country!
It was rainy but pleasant, saw the movie "The World's Fastest Indian". Did this get shown much back in the states? If so you should see it, the accent is dead on and the character is very "Kiwi".
Hope you all enjoyed your weekends! Cheers from down under.
Had a great time this weekend and here are some photos. First, at long last I took some photos of where I live. So here is my flat (We are the top floor of the building):
And My Street:
Saturday we hoped in the car by 9AM and drove north letting a coin flip be our guide. As it turned out heads took us to the west coast.
And holy hell, yes that is four of us in a Mini Cooper!
We ended up in small town and back roads via our coin destiny, and took advantage of empty roads for a group photo.
Driving through NZ countryside I was amazed at how pretty it is so I have to throw in at least one blurry from the car shot:
We even ended up going through some town that was is the "Gum Boot Capital of New Zealand". I still have issues with the accent, so I asked the 'what' boot. To which they responded, you know Wellingtons. I then proceeded to become more confused. Finally I realized we were talking about rain boots. The 'ol gumboot capital will never be the same.
(By the way we're jumping off a giant corrugated iron gum boot, gotta love small towns)
We finally ended up in Taupo for the night where we checked in to the last beds in town. Ran down to the hot tub and enjoyed a night of hot tubing, playing pool, pizza, and finally out to the bars.
Next day we were up slowly and had just enough energy to get breakfast and then lie down in the grass along lake Taupo and soak up the sun. Eventually we decided to get picnic foods and start back south along the east coast.
The weather was incredible and view was even more stunning. We stopped at a hill, jumped a fence, and ran up the hill for a picnic - only to be blown away by the view. (or at least as a foreigner I was)
The Car:
The Walk:
The View (You should click on this one to see it big):
And the gratuitous group shot:
Finally a picnic later in a sunny field (the sheep hill had too many remnants of it's inhabitants)
And then we arrived in Napier for a winery tour. Beautiful place, gorgeous day, and as we strolled around some vintage Rolls Royce’s showed up with a wedding party. It was idyllic.
Finally we hopped back in the Mini, tuned into "Mini FM" (My iPod) and enjoyed the rest of our 20 odd hours of music we heard throughout the weekend.
Slept like a rock only to wake up to a Monday off! I love Labour Day in any country!
It was rainy but pleasant, saw the movie "The World's Fastest Indian". Did this get shown much back in the states? If so you should see it, the accent is dead on and the character is very "Kiwi".
Hope you all enjoyed your weekends! Cheers from down under.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Norah nights
It's midnight, just finished reading a chunk of Microserfs by Douglas Coupland - which is shaping up to be very entertaining. I feel like a real geek for getting virtually every reference to technology, but I love how this story told of startup software engineers is about relationships. Timely as well, as I begin to become aware of my own relationships while working in a software company. (creepy coincidence)
Disconcertingly, I've fallen back into needing to do things with people. This may sound weird, but there was a huge liberation in the 6 months of travel to learn how happy one can be just doing their own thing. Now I'm having a blast and making great friends, yet other people feel almost like a crutch as I spend so little time on my own. I wonder how much of my unease is due to the knowledge of near certain ends of all the relationships I'm building when I leave. (Yet another life lesson for me - all relationships certainly end) I guess this is one of those, "It's the journey, not the destination" things. Funny that being with people has made me lonely.
A goal of mine when I got to Wellington, and I think I need to do this soon, is to do a multiple day hike on my own. This scares me. Not the being by myself in the wilderness, but not having someone to talk to. I have to wonder about people (me) who need continuous external stimulation, what are we afraid of hearing from ourselves?
On the social butterfly front, things are fantastic. Our flat warming party (held in the bar downstairs) was a smashing success. About 200 people, 5 bartenders, DJ, and even folks walking around with appetizers - how flash! More to the point, it was a freaking awesome time. I was surprised that I had 50 friends to invite after only living here for ~4 months. (nearly missed trouble by inviting 5 women) I love how friendly people are here! Saw the sky lighten up when I finally hit the sack at half 5, only to wake up a couple hours later for yacht racing on Sunday. (Bring our the violin)
Next Monday is Labour Day and we have a three-day weekend. So in Craig Nehrkorn style, I'm hoping in a car with Kelly, Julie, and Simon and we are driving wherever a coin flip leads us. (First flip for North or South) Just have to be back Monday night. I'm looking forward to getting out of the city for a couple days and seeing the stars again.
I'm knackered from sprint training today (getting into an exercise regime with coworkers) and I've got rugby tomorrow so I'll say good night.
Happy Thursday, from the bottom of the world!
Disconcertingly, I've fallen back into needing to do things with people. This may sound weird, but there was a huge liberation in the 6 months of travel to learn how happy one can be just doing their own thing. Now I'm having a blast and making great friends, yet other people feel almost like a crutch as I spend so little time on my own. I wonder how much of my unease is due to the knowledge of near certain ends of all the relationships I'm building when I leave. (Yet another life lesson for me - all relationships certainly end) I guess this is one of those, "It's the journey, not the destination" things. Funny that being with people has made me lonely.
A goal of mine when I got to Wellington, and I think I need to do this soon, is to do a multiple day hike on my own. This scares me. Not the being by myself in the wilderness, but not having someone to talk to. I have to wonder about people (me) who need continuous external stimulation, what are we afraid of hearing from ourselves?
On the social butterfly front, things are fantastic. Our flat warming party (held in the bar downstairs) was a smashing success. About 200 people, 5 bartenders, DJ, and even folks walking around with appetizers - how flash! More to the point, it was a freaking awesome time. I was surprised that I had 50 friends to invite after only living here for ~4 months. (nearly missed trouble by inviting 5 women) I love how friendly people are here! Saw the sky lighten up when I finally hit the sack at half 5, only to wake up a couple hours later for yacht racing on Sunday. (Bring our the violin)
Next Monday is Labour Day and we have a three-day weekend. So in Craig Nehrkorn style, I'm hoping in a car with Kelly, Julie, and Simon and we are driving wherever a coin flip leads us. (First flip for North or South) Just have to be back Monday night. I'm looking forward to getting out of the city for a couple days and seeing the stars again.
I'm knackered from sprint training today (getting into an exercise regime with coworkers) and I've got rugby tomorrow so I'll say good night.
Happy Thursday, from the bottom of the world!
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Eastbourne Photos
I've got photos from Eastbourne up finally... Only took me a 3 weeks, a month? But who's counting?
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Malleable Plans
Wednesday evening around 6 PM at the office I realized the Black Eyed Peas were playing that night, so I had to go. Being the social bunny I am, I talked a work colleague into joining. Americans are pushy; add to that my "Guinn-ness" and you have an unstoppable force - naturally, Kristie couldn't say no.
A freaking amazing concert! A great part of living on the edge of the world is that you can see a huge act like the Peas with only about 3000 other people and buy your ticket at the door. A door, which I have to add, is maybe 400 yards from my front door. Follow that with a great night on the town and I think I enjoyed no less than 5 hours of solid dancing before collapsing at half 2. (Work was a blast the next day)
Weekend rolled around and the race was moved to Sunday due to a massive front on Saturday that would have cancelled the race (For some reason they can't start races in gale force winds, go figure?). Yet this was the killer for my race plans as Sunday I was set to volunteer with Foster kids. I was gutted to miss the race, but I had an awesome time with the kids. Something about the fact that I act like a 12 year old helps me get along quite well with 12 year olds.
An exhausting weekend of fun and now back at work, yet more importantly getting ready for the flat party this weekend. Quite concerned that we can't have more than 150 in the bar and we have about 150 RSVPs from people planning to bring a friend. It should pretty damn good time. I'll have to be on the pictures - speaking of, I've got to get some up from the other weekend. Will do soon.
And oh yeah, Happy Columbus Day!
A freaking amazing concert! A great part of living on the edge of the world is that you can see a huge act like the Peas with only about 3000 other people and buy your ticket at the door. A door, which I have to add, is maybe 400 yards from my front door. Follow that with a great night on the town and I think I enjoyed no less than 5 hours of solid dancing before collapsing at half 2. (Work was a blast the next day)
Weekend rolled around and the race was moved to Sunday due to a massive front on Saturday that would have cancelled the race (For some reason they can't start races in gale force winds, go figure?). Yet this was the killer for my race plans as Sunday I was set to volunteer with Foster kids. I was gutted to miss the race, but I had an awesome time with the kids. Something about the fact that I act like a 12 year old helps me get along quite well with 12 year olds.
An exhausting weekend of fun and now back at work, yet more importantly getting ready for the flat party this weekend. Quite concerned that we can't have more than 150 in the bar and we have about 150 RSVPs from people planning to bring a friend. It should pretty damn good time. I'll have to be on the pictures - speaking of, I've got to get some up from the other weekend. Will do soon.
And oh yeah, Happy Columbus Day!
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Um… Anyone still checking this stale ol’ thing?
Sorry for the long silence, I’ve been busy – but this is the worst excuse. A lesson I learned while traveling and having nothing really to do for weeks and months at a time, ‘I always have time – having too much to do is because I am trying to do too much.’
So for a catch up as I apparently haven’t made a terribly large amount of time for this neglected blog:
To pick up where I left off, I went snowboarding for the first time… 4 weekends ago. It was freaking awesome! I’m buying a season pass next season – that’s all there is to it. By the end of the first day I was on top of the mountain taking on blacks. Second day on a high performance board I was discovering the power of edges and crushed my cell phone’s LCD during a face plant. (Fixed in an hour on Monday – I love having a nice, cheap, and basic phone) By the end of the second day I experienced an exhaustion I’m not sure I have ever felt before. It was literally a challenge to stand for about 36 hours – now that’s what I call a good time!
Then I went to work for a week… yeah work.
Then a weekend out on the town and sailing. Saturday Sailing this time with the spring season opener. These guys are amazing sailors and very serious. The boats and sails are covered with sponsors and we even had a helicopter watching the race! We sailed in 25-30 knot winds and hit 12 knots surfing the kite downwind! (We are only on a 33 foot boat) I hope to get out and shoot a race when I’m not sailing because it is beautiful. Saturday night we had a big awards banquet for our office. A lot of fun, I DJ’ed the dancing later in the night as I watched my ~100 coworkers have no problem getting completely trolleyed (kiwi-ism for drunk). Was supposed to join folks out but fell asleep fully dressed and sitting up on couch when I went to drop off my laptop at 2 AM. Awoke the next morning and had text messages from Kristie, Kelly, and Julie between 3 and 4 am asking where I was – there is definitely some fun to be had here. Sunday for recovery with a visit to the museum and some Jazz at a local café with my friend Elisabet (German girl who speaks German (go figure), English, French, and Thai – freaking Thai!) that turned into a late night with following drinks at Matterhorn (a favorite local haunt). Being the geek that I am, a high point of the weekend was when I had to go fill up my scooter. Why you ask? Because I realized I have used 1 gallon of petrol in 10 weeks – now that’s a lifestyle I dig. (Granted 1 gallon of petrol is $7)
Another week of work… (and a great reggae concert with a guy that was actually Bob Marley’s producer, Lee “Scratch” Perry)
Then I went snowboarding again!! Whoo hoo! This time I took Friday off and hit three days straight. (I love that after 3 months of work I already have 5 days of vacation time) Went up with a great guy I met at work named Scotty. A huge traveler, along with apparently every other Kiwi I’ve met. This guy even managed to get kidnapped in Morocco – now that’s a story that will be hard to top. Started landing jumps Friday, Saturday landed a jump from a frozen waterfall (second try). And Sunday I climbed to the summit (9,200 feet) of the active volcano we were snowboarding on to feel the 60 MPH winds trying to blow us in the massive crater lake hundreds of feet below. The snow, ice, and wind were blinding and deafening – so what better thing to do but snowboard down through it?
Then back to work for a week…
Friday night out with the work crew, but must admit it’s hard to keep up with these kiwis – they do like to party. Then Saturday with a ferry ride to Eastbourne (suburb across bay) for hiking with Simon (English pal) and Marie (Swedish gal) and finally pulled my camera out again. It had sat dormant too long – will upload some photos at work tomorrow. Beautiful hike on a great day. On the ferry ride back we sat on the top deck, had red wine, and watched the sunset, magnificent. Met another German, Ilka, sitting next to us and the four of us managed to leave the ferry at 7:30 pm and not get home until 3 am. Sunday was more racing on “Flying Boat” and an invite to race on the “Brothers Race”. I’m thrilled as this is an offshore race across the Cook Strait and back. The Cook Strait, I’m told, is one of the more vicious in the world. We are in the Roaring Forties to start, and then it is sandwiched between two seas of different temperature, and lastly between two mountainous islands with world famous currents. I’m heard stories of previous years with 11 knot currents, 20 foot breaking swells crashing over the boat, and flying spinnakers in 40 knots of wind! The race can last anywhere from 9 to 36 hours depending on wind and currents, but this year the forecast is for large fronts to blowing through during the race. To register with the crew manager for the race I had to give my next of kin – now this is some real fun. Because everyone knows you can’t have real fun unless your life is danger…right?
I have managed to sleep well following these weekends. I really missed ACL Fest, but at the time I was climbing a volcano and snowboarding down – so I guess I’ll live.
I’ve started another week of work, which despite my previous descriptions on this entry is really fun. The people are great, the work is challenging and fun and I’m getting to start doing some really big projects. I’m currently implementing the hosting platform (that I designed it a few weeks ago) for the NZ government’s most busy website. I’m being flown to Auckland for a week to give my opinion to AA (NZ’s version of AAA) on how to do their ecommerce and integrate their website and intranet securely. And the best for last – today I was accepted by the NZ postal service to design their first centralized network directory. (~10,000 users and multiple business units, only one of which is NZ’s 3rd largest bank) So, work is great – challenging as hell, but a blast.
All the wonderful things in the world won’t change the fact that I miss family and friends back home. Yet, I also miss people I’ve met around the world. This is the worst characteristic of traveling on to new and exciting things, good-byes. Yet, without them, I wouldn’t have all the new hellos.
So for a catch up as I apparently haven’t made a terribly large amount of time for this neglected blog:
To pick up where I left off, I went snowboarding for the first time… 4 weekends ago. It was freaking awesome! I’m buying a season pass next season – that’s all there is to it. By the end of the first day I was on top of the mountain taking on blacks. Second day on a high performance board I was discovering the power of edges and crushed my cell phone’s LCD during a face plant. (Fixed in an hour on Monday – I love having a nice, cheap, and basic phone) By the end of the second day I experienced an exhaustion I’m not sure I have ever felt before. It was literally a challenge to stand for about 36 hours – now that’s what I call a good time!
Then I went to work for a week… yeah work.
Then a weekend out on the town and sailing. Saturday Sailing this time with the spring season opener. These guys are amazing sailors and very serious. The boats and sails are covered with sponsors and we even had a helicopter watching the race! We sailed in 25-30 knot winds and hit 12 knots surfing the kite downwind! (We are only on a 33 foot boat) I hope to get out and shoot a race when I’m not sailing because it is beautiful. Saturday night we had a big awards banquet for our office. A lot of fun, I DJ’ed the dancing later in the night as I watched my ~100 coworkers have no problem getting completely trolleyed (kiwi-ism for drunk). Was supposed to join folks out but fell asleep fully dressed and sitting up on couch when I went to drop off my laptop at 2 AM. Awoke the next morning and had text messages from Kristie, Kelly, and Julie between 3 and 4 am asking where I was – there is definitely some fun to be had here. Sunday for recovery with a visit to the museum and some Jazz at a local café with my friend Elisabet (German girl who speaks German (go figure), English, French, and Thai – freaking Thai!) that turned into a late night with following drinks at Matterhorn (a favorite local haunt). Being the geek that I am, a high point of the weekend was when I had to go fill up my scooter. Why you ask? Because I realized I have used 1 gallon of petrol in 10 weeks – now that’s a lifestyle I dig. (Granted 1 gallon of petrol is $7)
Another week of work… (and a great reggae concert with a guy that was actually Bob Marley’s producer, Lee “Scratch” Perry)
Then I went snowboarding again!! Whoo hoo! This time I took Friday off and hit three days straight. (I love that after 3 months of work I already have 5 days of vacation time) Went up with a great guy I met at work named Scotty. A huge traveler, along with apparently every other Kiwi I’ve met. This guy even managed to get kidnapped in Morocco – now that’s a story that will be hard to top. Started landing jumps Friday, Saturday landed a jump from a frozen waterfall (second try). And Sunday I climbed to the summit (9,200 feet) of the active volcano we were snowboarding on to feel the 60 MPH winds trying to blow us in the massive crater lake hundreds of feet below. The snow, ice, and wind were blinding and deafening – so what better thing to do but snowboard down through it?
Then back to work for a week…
Friday night out with the work crew, but must admit it’s hard to keep up with these kiwis – they do like to party. Then Saturday with a ferry ride to Eastbourne (suburb across bay) for hiking with Simon (English pal) and Marie (Swedish gal) and finally pulled my camera out again. It had sat dormant too long – will upload some photos at work tomorrow. Beautiful hike on a great day. On the ferry ride back we sat on the top deck, had red wine, and watched the sunset, magnificent. Met another German, Ilka, sitting next to us and the four of us managed to leave the ferry at 7:30 pm and not get home until 3 am. Sunday was more racing on “Flying Boat” and an invite to race on the “Brothers Race”. I’m thrilled as this is an offshore race across the Cook Strait and back. The Cook Strait, I’m told, is one of the more vicious in the world. We are in the Roaring Forties to start, and then it is sandwiched between two seas of different temperature, and lastly between two mountainous islands with world famous currents. I’m heard stories of previous years with 11 knot currents, 20 foot breaking swells crashing over the boat, and flying spinnakers in 40 knots of wind! The race can last anywhere from 9 to 36 hours depending on wind and currents, but this year the forecast is for large fronts to blowing through during the race. To register with the crew manager for the race I had to give my next of kin – now this is some real fun. Because everyone knows you can’t have real fun unless your life is danger…right?
I have managed to sleep well following these weekends. I really missed ACL Fest, but at the time I was climbing a volcano and snowboarding down – so I guess I’ll live.
I’ve started another week of work, which despite my previous descriptions on this entry is really fun. The people are great, the work is challenging and fun and I’m getting to start doing some really big projects. I’m currently implementing the hosting platform (that I designed it a few weeks ago) for the NZ government’s most busy website. I’m being flown to Auckland for a week to give my opinion to AA (NZ’s version of AAA) on how to do their ecommerce and integrate their website and intranet securely. And the best for last – today I was accepted by the NZ postal service to design their first centralized network directory. (~10,000 users and multiple business units, only one of which is NZ’s 3rd largest bank) So, work is great – challenging as hell, but a blast.
All the wonderful things in the world won’t change the fact that I miss family and friends back home. Yet, I also miss people I’ve met around the world. This is the worst characteristic of traveling on to new and exciting things, good-byes. Yet, without them, I wouldn’t have all the new hellos.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
A Birthday Weekend to Remember
Well half the office left at noon for the ferry terminal and proceeded to drink coffee in the sun and wait for the ferry to board. I was astounded to find that the ferry was large enough that it carried trains, and once boarded upon the top deck, 8 stories above the water, I was thrilled by the view.
The party pretty much started at the bar aboard amongst strolls onto a sun-drenched deck as we watched the north island slip away and the snow capped peaks of the south island approach. It was a gorgeous trip and I realize how seduced I am by ship travel, falling in the company of train travel as some of my favorites.
Arrived in Picton, New Zealand, a seaside town tucked into the Marlboro Sounds, just in time to turn it upside down. Checked into fabulous apartments with plasma TVs and gorgeous views (did I mention my office is paying for the trip?) only to move rapidly to dinner and then our private party in the apartment next door.
Gluttony ensued.
It was an absolute blast as the drinks flowed and the dancing commenced (thank you iPod for DJ’ing the event). By 2 AM I retired to the “Girl’s Apartment” that I just had my arm twisted to stay in.
Half 7 came very, very early as I arose for kayaking: a gorgeous day of kayaking along the narrow sounds surrounded by towering mountains. 20 Kilometers of kayaking in calm water to see seals and starfish and by the end I was reasonably knackered.
Retired to the porch of my apartment for jazz over tea and I was in heaven as I watched the sun drop between the cloud capped mountains of the sounds. Fell asleep after dinner and watching ruby – I’m still not a really a sports fan (Oh well).
Then half 6 really came atrociously early as I crawled to breakfast and then to the dive shop. And hour of half airborne boat riding and 14 millimeters of wetsuit later I was diving 90 feet deep on a 300 foot Russian cruise ship. Spooky and excellent in the 40 degree water.
On the way back the scale of the sounds astounds me. My eyes fixed on a bird, as I focused out I notice that it is a microscopic spec amongst the massive green mountain that was the shore. Then I see that this green giant of a mountain is moving relative to and being dwarfed by the more distant mountain as we speed along in the dive boat. Calm, deep ocean is woven among all of this and I’m in heaven.
By Sunday night the ferry ride home is all the excitement my body has left to handle. I sleep like the dead… and it goes in the books as one hell of a weekend.
My week continues with more work that I’m thoroughly enjoying (but wouldn’t bore you with), finally starting to call magazines and producers to drum up photography business and joining the office rugby team. It’s touch rugby, but a blast nonetheless. Not to mention, who wouldn’t enjoy leaving work for hour and a half to play sports!?
Have I mentioned I like working here yet?
I’m off to snowboarding tomorrow afternoon for my first time. (It’s winter here) And by the end of the weekend I’m sure I’ll be thoroughly bruised and very happy. Some friends and I are renting a chalet for the weekend and I can’t wait to wake up amoungst snow-capped mountains!
Next weekend is a big office party that they play up like the Oscars: awards, speeches, and then plenty of dinner, drinks and dancing.
And, I’ve got to get on the invitations for our flat warming party! 150 people between our flat and the bar downstairs - In a few weeks I’ll be sure to have my sleep interrupted by more fun again. Of coarse this will probably happen most days between now and then anyways.
To living life to it’s fullest! I’m sending my love to all you guys at home and around the world. -Trey
PS A huge thanks to the wonderful birthday cards via mail and email - you guys made my freakin' month!
The party pretty much started at the bar aboard amongst strolls onto a sun-drenched deck as we watched the north island slip away and the snow capped peaks of the south island approach. It was a gorgeous trip and I realize how seduced I am by ship travel, falling in the company of train travel as some of my favorites.
Arrived in Picton, New Zealand, a seaside town tucked into the Marlboro Sounds, just in time to turn it upside down. Checked into fabulous apartments with plasma TVs and gorgeous views (did I mention my office is paying for the trip?) only to move rapidly to dinner and then our private party in the apartment next door.
Gluttony ensued.
It was an absolute blast as the drinks flowed and the dancing commenced (thank you iPod for DJ’ing the event). By 2 AM I retired to the “Girl’s Apartment” that I just had my arm twisted to stay in.
Half 7 came very, very early as I arose for kayaking: a gorgeous day of kayaking along the narrow sounds surrounded by towering mountains. 20 Kilometers of kayaking in calm water to see seals and starfish and by the end I was reasonably knackered.
Retired to the porch of my apartment for jazz over tea and I was in heaven as I watched the sun drop between the cloud capped mountains of the sounds. Fell asleep after dinner and watching ruby – I’m still not a really a sports fan (Oh well).
Then half 6 really came atrociously early as I crawled to breakfast and then to the dive shop. And hour of half airborne boat riding and 14 millimeters of wetsuit later I was diving 90 feet deep on a 300 foot Russian cruise ship. Spooky and excellent in the 40 degree water.
On the way back the scale of the sounds astounds me. My eyes fixed on a bird, as I focused out I notice that it is a microscopic spec amongst the massive green mountain that was the shore. Then I see that this green giant of a mountain is moving relative to and being dwarfed by the more distant mountain as we speed along in the dive boat. Calm, deep ocean is woven among all of this and I’m in heaven.
By Sunday night the ferry ride home is all the excitement my body has left to handle. I sleep like the dead… and it goes in the books as one hell of a weekend.
My week continues with more work that I’m thoroughly enjoying (but wouldn’t bore you with), finally starting to call magazines and producers to drum up photography business and joining the office rugby team. It’s touch rugby, but a blast nonetheless. Not to mention, who wouldn’t enjoy leaving work for hour and a half to play sports!?
Have I mentioned I like working here yet?
I’m off to snowboarding tomorrow afternoon for my first time. (It’s winter here) And by the end of the weekend I’m sure I’ll be thoroughly bruised and very happy. Some friends and I are renting a chalet for the weekend and I can’t wait to wake up amoungst snow-capped mountains!
Next weekend is a big office party that they play up like the Oscars: awards, speeches, and then plenty of dinner, drinks and dancing.
And, I’ve got to get on the invitations for our flat warming party! 150 people between our flat and the bar downstairs - In a few weeks I’ll be sure to have my sleep interrupted by more fun again. Of coarse this will probably happen most days between now and then anyways.
To living life to it’s fullest! I’m sending my love to all you guys at home and around the world. -Trey
PS A huge thanks to the wonderful birthday cards via mail and email - you guys made my freakin' month!
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Katrina
My thoughts are consumed by all involved with Hurricane Katrina. It dominates the news here and I've even seen the Salvation Army collecting here.
It's crazy to be somewhere that people talk about Katrina as some far off thing affecting people somewhere else in the world. Just an excellent reminder that anytime we see something awful on the news - it's always someone's home.
This time it's mine.
Sending my hope and concern from the Southern Hemisphere.
It's crazy to be somewhere that people talk about Katrina as some far off thing affecting people somewhere else in the world. Just an excellent reminder that anytime we see something awful on the news - it's always someone's home.
This time it's mine.
Sending my hope and concern from the Southern Hemisphere.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Ironing with a spring in my step.
“It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day… it’s a new life for me. And I’m feeling good.” Oh sing it Nina! I’m ironing some shirts for the coming week of work. Fallen into a Sunday routine of taking turns making dinner with Dougal, doing our ironing, and watching a movie.
Today the flat reverberates with Ms. Simon’s fabulous lyrics and they resonate all through me.
Thank you Jane & Dad for the clothes, all 100 lbs! I wore my boots out last night and I must say they work here, seventy-four hundred and forty miles from Texas. Like a magnetic force, we travelers managed to congregate in the midst of a packed bars as I met more brits last night - planning a ski trip with them weekend after this coming one down on the south island.
Amazingly the scent of Rockport came through the shirts as I ironed and I felt a pang of reminiscence. Hanging photos of my adventure thus far and hearing Etta James chime through, I am reminded of how good it feels surrunded by amazing memories, hear music I love, and live the life I thirst for.
Life is adventure!
Today the flat reverberates with Ms. Simon’s fabulous lyrics and they resonate all through me.
Thank you Jane & Dad for the clothes, all 100 lbs! I wore my boots out last night and I must say they work here, seventy-four hundred and forty miles from Texas. Like a magnetic force, we travelers managed to congregate in the midst of a packed bars as I met more brits last night - planning a ski trip with them weekend after this coming one down on the south island.
Amazingly the scent of Rockport came through the shirts as I ironed and I felt a pang of reminiscence. Hanging photos of my adventure thus far and hearing Etta James chime through, I am reminded of how good it feels surrunded by amazing memories, hear music I love, and live the life I thirst for.
Life is adventure!
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Sunday night in a windowsill
Great weekend of parties, yoga, and hiking in the surrounding mountains: now finishing up with a night of takeout and movies with my fabulous flatmate Dougal.
Dougal’s hit the sack while I relax in the living room. Peering out of the windows on the street, I see a city asleep. A bus confirms I’m not just looking at a photo. Norah Jones’ sultry voice sings, “I don’t miss you at all”. The contradiction reminds me a bit of my own.
I’m still amazed with how lucky I am to land here and fall into the company of great people in a lovely city. Yet, I do miss you folks back home. Alas, without the challenge of doing this on my own, this adventure would lose a lot of its rewards.
I can’t believe it, but on Thursday I’ve been working a month already. I can tell I’m back in the rat race as time disappears and a month has passed in the blink of an eye. At least I have the memories of great times at work and plenty of laughter with folks I’ve met here.
Took maybe 10 photos in 3 weeks, but that’s part of settling. Building a home, with its forthcoming foundation comes the comfort to stretch back out into the things one does for fun instead of those we do for survival.
Long Friday and Saturday nights with friends, buying sheets and a towel hook for the bathroom, and a nice hike with Simon up a local mountain in the fog – I do love this city. A week of work and then possibly some sailing in the Marlborough sounds in the South Island. The next weekend will bring a weekend party with people from work in a hired Yacht Club, kayaking the sounds, and diving a wreck – that will all be fantastic. Next weekend also brings my birthday, my first family event without family around. This is though… the adventure.
Dougal’s hit the sack while I relax in the living room. Peering out of the windows on the street, I see a city asleep. A bus confirms I’m not just looking at a photo. Norah Jones’ sultry voice sings, “I don’t miss you at all”. The contradiction reminds me a bit of my own.
I’m still amazed with how lucky I am to land here and fall into the company of great people in a lovely city. Yet, I do miss you folks back home. Alas, without the challenge of doing this on my own, this adventure would lose a lot of its rewards.
I can’t believe it, but on Thursday I’ve been working a month already. I can tell I’m back in the rat race as time disappears and a month has passed in the blink of an eye. At least I have the memories of great times at work and plenty of laughter with folks I’ve met here.
Took maybe 10 photos in 3 weeks, but that’s part of settling. Building a home, with its forthcoming foundation comes the comfort to stretch back out into the things one does for fun instead of those we do for survival.
Long Friday and Saturday nights with friends, buying sheets and a towel hook for the bathroom, and a nice hike with Simon up a local mountain in the fog – I do love this city. A week of work and then possibly some sailing in the Marlborough sounds in the South Island. The next weekend will bring a weekend party with people from work in a hired Yacht Club, kayaking the sounds, and diving a wreck – that will all be fantastic. Next weekend also brings my birthday, my first family event without family around. This is though… the adventure.
Sunday, August 07, 2005
My life as a tax paying Wellingtonian...
It’s official, I pay taxes, have a job, business cards, telephone number, and now even an address. To make it better, my address is without a street number. For all you parents out there:
Apartment B
Stonehams Building, Cable Car Lane
Wellington, New Zealand
Home: 64 4 472 5636 / Mobile: 64 21 313 446 / Work: 64 4 472 2021
Whitney’s visit finished up with the grand finale of my mom visiting. (I do believe I’ve received more visits in New Zealand that I ever did in Austin) I wasn’t able to provide Whitney with any excitement on par with climbing waterfalls in southern Thailand, but I really enjoyed her company and help looking for a flat. I had grown quite accustomed to having family around so there was less shock on my Mom’s visit. (She was here as a stop off on the way to some work in Sydney from Monday to Thursday) The three of us had a grand ol’ time while I had the special privilege of showing my mom my new “life”.
More appropriately, the current one. I am though, just as scared if not more, transitioning into another lifestyle here as I was when I started my trip. Yet, just like my travels, scary tends to be rewarding. I’ve managed to land in job I like with people that I like, in a city that is beautiful and welcoming. (Although bloody cold now that it’s winter) After a fair bit of hunting, I now flatting with Dougal (pronounced doo-gul, I know – but that’s apparently not uncommon here) in a hundred year old building in the middle of downtown Wellington (pictures coming soon). Our flat is the top floor of an old three-story building surrounded by skyscrapers. The second floor is a bar that I have already come to love. My work is about a four and half minute walk away, and my moped is parked on the sidewalk when I’m feeling lazy as I can get nearly anywhere by walking in this city.
This weekend made me realize how damn lucky I am for landing on my proverbial feet. After work Friday, and went out with some guys for happy hour at the bar below my bedroom and listened to jazz (love it!) – then upstairs for a bit of an impromptu party (living above a bar may be dangerous). Saturday it was off to a fantastic yoga class followed by furniture shopping. This is funny because I’m having to balance my picky, spoiled taste with the fact that no, I won’t use this piece of furniture for the next ten years. I thought that in May of last year when I was furnishing my apartment in Austin, now all that stuff is at other people’s homes and I’m creating a home in a place I would never have imaged myself in - in May of last year. A crisp blue Saturday afternoon with a friend from work and her little girl at the park which presented an opportunity to teach Abby to always ask to swing higher and try to jump off things. Abby and I had a blast as her mother grew grey hairs. Out to dinner with friends, a little bar hoping and I found my favorite bar already. Somehow ended up at the wrap party for King Kong with freakin’ movie stars and then finally to bed. This morning I walked to a local bakery for fresh scones and chai before sailing on one of Wellington’s most competitive yachts all afternoon. Holy, freaking cow - this place is a blast!
I can’t believe how lucky I am. I’ve got to be sure to pump good karma back into the ether because I’m sucking it up at the moment. I guess it just goes to show you how easy it is to just have an adventure. Or more importantly, how good it feels to do what you want with life. Every breath I take reminds me that I’m living a finite lifetime, so I better be taking that breath while grabbing life by the horns and living it instead of watching it slip away.
I do miss you guys back home. I miss Austin and I miss Texas. I will return someday, just have to wait for when the time is right. After all, I’ve got my whole life to play – I just want play off in the corners of the playground for a while.
Apartment B
Stonehams Building, Cable Car Lane
Wellington, New Zealand
Home: 64 4 472 5636 / Mobile: 64 21 313 446 / Work: 64 4 472 2021
Whitney’s visit finished up with the grand finale of my mom visiting. (I do believe I’ve received more visits in New Zealand that I ever did in Austin) I wasn’t able to provide Whitney with any excitement on par with climbing waterfalls in southern Thailand, but I really enjoyed her company and help looking for a flat. I had grown quite accustomed to having family around so there was less shock on my Mom’s visit. (She was here as a stop off on the way to some work in Sydney from Monday to Thursday) The three of us had a grand ol’ time while I had the special privilege of showing my mom my new “life”.
More appropriately, the current one. I am though, just as scared if not more, transitioning into another lifestyle here as I was when I started my trip. Yet, just like my travels, scary tends to be rewarding. I’ve managed to land in job I like with people that I like, in a city that is beautiful and welcoming. (Although bloody cold now that it’s winter) After a fair bit of hunting, I now flatting with Dougal (pronounced doo-gul, I know – but that’s apparently not uncommon here) in a hundred year old building in the middle of downtown Wellington (pictures coming soon). Our flat is the top floor of an old three-story building surrounded by skyscrapers. The second floor is a bar that I have already come to love. My work is about a four and half minute walk away, and my moped is parked on the sidewalk when I’m feeling lazy as I can get nearly anywhere by walking in this city.
This weekend made me realize how damn lucky I am for landing on my proverbial feet. After work Friday, and went out with some guys for happy hour at the bar below my bedroom and listened to jazz (love it!) – then upstairs for a bit of an impromptu party (living above a bar may be dangerous). Saturday it was off to a fantastic yoga class followed by furniture shopping. This is funny because I’m having to balance my picky, spoiled taste with the fact that no, I won’t use this piece of furniture for the next ten years. I thought that in May of last year when I was furnishing my apartment in Austin, now all that stuff is at other people’s homes and I’m creating a home in a place I would never have imaged myself in - in May of last year. A crisp blue Saturday afternoon with a friend from work and her little girl at the park which presented an opportunity to teach Abby to always ask to swing higher and try to jump off things. Abby and I had a blast as her mother grew grey hairs. Out to dinner with friends, a little bar hoping and I found my favorite bar already. Somehow ended up at the wrap party for King Kong with freakin’ movie stars and then finally to bed. This morning I walked to a local bakery for fresh scones and chai before sailing on one of Wellington’s most competitive yachts all afternoon. Holy, freaking cow - this place is a blast!
I can’t believe how lucky I am. I’ve got to be sure to pump good karma back into the ether because I’m sucking it up at the moment. I guess it just goes to show you how easy it is to just have an adventure. Or more importantly, how good it feels to do what you want with life. Every breath I take reminds me that I’m living a finite lifetime, so I better be taking that breath while grabbing life by the horns and living it instead of watching it slip away.
I do miss you guys back home. I miss Austin and I miss Texas. I will return someday, just have to wait for when the time is right. After all, I’ve got my whole life to play – I just want play off in the corners of the playground for a while.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Sunday, July 24, 2005
One last shot
Here's a seal pup we saw Saturday walking on Wellinton's south coast. Also, here are my pics from this weekend as a set.
South Coast of Wellington
This is what the south coast looks like. You can just see the snow capped mountains of the South Island in the background.
Workin' Man... again
I’ve finished my first week of work… and I’m having fun! I guess it’s the perfect formula: 6 months holiday, great company, cool colleagues, & in a beautiful foreign country.
Staying in a hostel with Whitney, though I still feel guilty for not showing her more of New Zealand while she’s here. 20 min walk through downtown Wellington to work - I’ll get myself a flat soon enough.
I work in an office where 8 hours a day is really a full day. We have tons of cool techie gadgets (big network, great developers, and a data center), the folks (not just guys) I work with are cool, dynamic people that actually see the sun rather frequently. In the 90 person office there are 6 nationally ranked athletes, a slew of mountain bikes scattered about that people ride in, groups that run at lunch, shower onsite for midday exercise, cappuccino machine, stocked fridge, dart board, old arcade game, X-box, and lounge.
Fridays conclude with a company wide meeting where I as a newbie stand up to introduce myself. Handed a beer, as is standard for Friday meetings, and shoved to the front of the room I enjoyed a little heckling (when was the last time your where in jail? or what’s your favorite sexual position? questions thrown from the crowd) and felt honestly welcomed by the fraternal atmosphere. Then we actually covered strategy and new plans – but it was interesting and brief. Lastly they finished up with the “hero of the week” award, folks are nominated for going the extra step – and I managed to somehow win? (whoo hoo!) After the meeting I met a number of the guys across the street at a pub, then Whitney and I were joined at a great French restaurant for dinner until midnight.
I must say I like this place so far. During lunchtimes with Whitney this week we visited parliament (Wellington is the capital) and Te Papa (NZ version of the Smithsonian). Then we were blessed with gorgeous weather this weekend. After a long Friday night with a group of South Americans, Whitney and I headed to the south coast of Wellington with Simon, a great English chap, where we did a fair bit of hiking along the south coast and saw a number of seals perched on the rocky beach. Later, another fantastic dinner, card games, and fast asleep nice and early. Today we were up to blue skies and the high 60’s, so Whit and I took the cable car up to the botanical gardens for brunch. Found a gourmet grocery store…sweet. Made a great dinner after which Whit joined some Canadians for a movie and I went wandering to find some lovely jazz at a café.
Something tells me I will survive my planned year plus here. I am still reminded constantly of how much I love Austin and the people that made my life the wonderful thing that is was at home. Nonetheless, the limitless of life’s possibilities is fun to test.
Staying in a hostel with Whitney, though I still feel guilty for not showing her more of New Zealand while she’s here. 20 min walk through downtown Wellington to work - I’ll get myself a flat soon enough.
I work in an office where 8 hours a day is really a full day. We have tons of cool techie gadgets (big network, great developers, and a data center), the folks (not just guys) I work with are cool, dynamic people that actually see the sun rather frequently. In the 90 person office there are 6 nationally ranked athletes, a slew of mountain bikes scattered about that people ride in, groups that run at lunch, shower onsite for midday exercise, cappuccino machine, stocked fridge, dart board, old arcade game, X-box, and lounge.
Fridays conclude with a company wide meeting where I as a newbie stand up to introduce myself. Handed a beer, as is standard for Friday meetings, and shoved to the front of the room I enjoyed a little heckling (when was the last time your where in jail? or what’s your favorite sexual position? questions thrown from the crowd) and felt honestly welcomed by the fraternal atmosphere. Then we actually covered strategy and new plans – but it was interesting and brief. Lastly they finished up with the “hero of the week” award, folks are nominated for going the extra step – and I managed to somehow win? (whoo hoo!) After the meeting I met a number of the guys across the street at a pub, then Whitney and I were joined at a great French restaurant for dinner until midnight.
I must say I like this place so far. During lunchtimes with Whitney this week we visited parliament (Wellington is the capital) and Te Papa (NZ version of the Smithsonian). Then we were blessed with gorgeous weather this weekend. After a long Friday night with a group of South Americans, Whitney and I headed to the south coast of Wellington with Simon, a great English chap, where we did a fair bit of hiking along the south coast and saw a number of seals perched on the rocky beach. Later, another fantastic dinner, card games, and fast asleep nice and early. Today we were up to blue skies and the high 60’s, so Whit and I took the cable car up to the botanical gardens for brunch. Found a gourmet grocery store…sweet. Made a great dinner after which Whit joined some Canadians for a movie and I went wandering to find some lovely jazz at a café.
Something tells me I will survive my planned year plus here. I am still reminded constantly of how much I love Austin and the people that made my life the wonderful thing that is was at home. Nonetheless, the limitless of life’s possibilities is fun to test.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Mad Dash South
Whit and I landed in Auckland after flying in the least sleepable planes in the skies, thank you Garuda Indonesia. Yet, their cheap!
12 hours of flying and 4 countries later, Whit and I stumbled bleary eyed around Auckland to see a few sights. Slept like babies at the wonderful City Garden Lodge and hopped into a hired car to cruise down to Rotarua.
Left hand driving is interesting enough, but why did they switch the sides of the bloody blinker and wiper? I'm still wiping my way into the left lane - I might break this habit in about a year.
Arrived in Rotarua in time to hit a hot spring spa, have dinner, and promptly pass out. Dragging our jet-lagged butts from bed at 10 am and filled the day with a park full of geysers, boiling mud, Maori dancing, then rode some Zorbs, and lastly went to an excellent Hungi (Maori food cooked in the ground, dances, and a hike in a sacred forest).
Today we scraped ourselves from bed at 9 and drove through beautiful mountains to Taupo and attempted to go sky diving. Yet, the weather foiled our plans so we continued through the rain to Napier where we whittled the rainy afternoon away with soup and movies.
W day is approaching with a drive to Wellington tomorrow and work the next morning... holy hell.
12 hours of flying and 4 countries later, Whit and I stumbled bleary eyed around Auckland to see a few sights. Slept like babies at the wonderful City Garden Lodge and hopped into a hired car to cruise down to Rotarua.
Left hand driving is interesting enough, but why did they switch the sides of the bloody blinker and wiper? I'm still wiping my way into the left lane - I might break this habit in about a year.
Arrived in Rotarua in time to hit a hot spring spa, have dinner, and promptly pass out. Dragging our jet-lagged butts from bed at 10 am and filled the day with a park full of geysers, boiling mud, Maori dancing, then rode some Zorbs, and lastly went to an excellent Hungi (Maori food cooked in the ground, dances, and a hike in a sacred forest).
Today we scraped ourselves from bed at 9 and drove through beautiful mountains to Taupo and attempted to go sky diving. Yet, the weather foiled our plans so we continued through the rain to Napier where we whittled the rainy afternoon away with soup and movies.
W day is approaching with a drive to Wellington tomorrow and work the next morning... holy hell.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
At a fine pace now
So our last 5 days or so in Koh Samui included more daily Thai massage along with a few other diversions.
Nights eating on the beach and playing cards. Going kayaking, snorkeling, and hiking on amazing islands that look like small mushrooms popping out of the sea surface. Meeting some great people and even going to a "Black Moon" party, basically a rave on the beach with about a 1000 people. Literally dancing until 8:30 in the morning, which had the effect of a profoundly harsh light on the cast of the party. Mopeding around the island, climbing through waterfalls, and more than a couple rides on jet-skis. All in all, one hell of a time on the beach for about 8 days. We returned to Bangkok for shopping in 8 story malls with what felt like 100,000 fellow shoppers. Thankfully, Tannie joined us to guide our way and barter in Thai - gotta love someone who can mid-sentence switch between any of 3 languages. Latter that night we caught up with Pop and Oak for a bit more shopping, lots of laughing, and great "Thai-Indian" food - a surprisingly fantastic fusion.
Finally we were off the next morning to a short flight to Singapore. A beautiful, clean, yet slightly sterile feeling city. Driving around, the city looks like the set from Robocop or any other cheesy, futuristic movie set. Crazy though, to see buildings like this in brick and mortar.
The first night we caught up with a British couple and went to a Seafood Expo, which was less than thrilling. Yet, Whitney and I got up on stage for salsa dancing with the carrot of "prizes". With only 3 contestants, we all won a six-pack of Tiger bear and $50 gift certificates to a seafood restaurant.
The next day was composed of more shopping, high tea at Raffles (150 year old British hotel). It was fantastic sitting where the old British "gentleman" explores used to - in the far east. Had a Singapore sling at the bar where they were invented – still too damn sweet. Last night we made it to the Singapore zoo for a "night safari", which was excellent. Driven around in a tram to see animals under artificial moonlight in pens with no fences. Much more active in the night time, the lions were awe inspiring when they roared. In the fruit bat cage Whitney and I hit the deck when one nearly landed on our heads - we felt the wind from its 3 foot wingspan on our necks! Finally a fantastic Singapore dinner of things in Chinese until 1 am with the Tony, the Singaporean hostel owner and our gift certificates. Later I ran off to tour the city until 3 am with Tony to take pictures of the skyline and enjoy my first late night prata, which I can best describe as an Indian-Muslim tortilla pancake.
Slept in late, packed our bags, and now we await our flight to Auckland (a mere 15 hours of traveling later). Two weeks in SE Asian heat, and soon we'll land in a proper Winter. Damn - I must say that I'm having fun.
I'm starting work - that dreaded word - in 6 days. I will have been traveling for 6 months the day before I start, so I'm bummed to see an end to it - or more likely an extended pause. Nonetheless, the job looks like a blast with great people in a cool city and hey, I'm going to be a freakin' ex-pat after all. So I'm really going from one lifestyle I enjoy and aspire too, to yet another - so I should be slapped if anyone catches me whining.
Nights eating on the beach and playing cards. Going kayaking, snorkeling, and hiking on amazing islands that look like small mushrooms popping out of the sea surface. Meeting some great people and even going to a "Black Moon" party, basically a rave on the beach with about a 1000 people. Literally dancing until 8:30 in the morning, which had the effect of a profoundly harsh light on the cast of the party. Mopeding around the island, climbing through waterfalls, and more than a couple rides on jet-skis. All in all, one hell of a time on the beach for about 8 days. We returned to Bangkok for shopping in 8 story malls with what felt like 100,000 fellow shoppers. Thankfully, Tannie joined us to guide our way and barter in Thai - gotta love someone who can mid-sentence switch between any of 3 languages. Latter that night we caught up with Pop and Oak for a bit more shopping, lots of laughing, and great "Thai-Indian" food - a surprisingly fantastic fusion.
Finally we were off the next morning to a short flight to Singapore. A beautiful, clean, yet slightly sterile feeling city. Driving around, the city looks like the set from Robocop or any other cheesy, futuristic movie set. Crazy though, to see buildings like this in brick and mortar.
The first night we caught up with a British couple and went to a Seafood Expo, which was less than thrilling. Yet, Whitney and I got up on stage for salsa dancing with the carrot of "prizes". With only 3 contestants, we all won a six-pack of Tiger bear and $50 gift certificates to a seafood restaurant.
The next day was composed of more shopping, high tea at Raffles (150 year old British hotel). It was fantastic sitting where the old British "gentleman" explores used to - in the far east. Had a Singapore sling at the bar where they were invented – still too damn sweet. Last night we made it to the Singapore zoo for a "night safari", which was excellent. Driven around in a tram to see animals under artificial moonlight in pens with no fences. Much more active in the night time, the lions were awe inspiring when they roared. In the fruit bat cage Whitney and I hit the deck when one nearly landed on our heads - we felt the wind from its 3 foot wingspan on our necks! Finally a fantastic Singapore dinner of things in Chinese until 1 am with the Tony, the Singaporean hostel owner and our gift certificates. Later I ran off to tour the city until 3 am with Tony to take pictures of the skyline and enjoy my first late night prata, which I can best describe as an Indian-Muslim tortilla pancake.
Slept in late, packed our bags, and now we await our flight to Auckland (a mere 15 hours of traveling later). Two weeks in SE Asian heat, and soon we'll land in a proper Winter. Damn - I must say that I'm having fun.
I'm starting work - that dreaded word - in 6 days. I will have been traveling for 6 months the day before I start, so I'm bummed to see an end to it - or more likely an extended pause. Nonetheless, the job looks like a blast with great people in a cool city and hey, I'm going to be a freakin' ex-pat after all. So I'm really going from one lifestyle I enjoy and aspire too, to yet another - so I should be slapped if anyone catches me whining.
Monday, July 04, 2005
The tuff life...
With a little Cipro Whit was back to 110%, yet arriving on a sprawling beach that is mostly a serious of sandy restaurants & cabanas in nothing less than paradise didn't hurt.
Checked into our cabana and walked 20 yards to the beach for a stroll the first day. As the sun set we found a place barbecuing fish that was swimming that afternoon. I pointed at the red snapper, but Whit ordered the tuna. Upon seeing the woman grab the tail of a 4 foot fish from beneath the ice and whack at it with a cleaver to cut off 1/2 pound fillets, I had to change my order. Fantastic fish at a table in the sand with the lights around the beach reflecting from the silky water - it was perfect. After dinner we went for Thai "foot massages", they're an hour long include your full legs & some pressure points in your shoulders for about five bucks.
The last two days have continued on par. Met up with an English couple we flew in with from Bangkok, tanned (in Whitney's case) or burned (in my case). A little jet-skiing, a massage a day, great food, and fun shopping - bargaining is practically a sport here. "Cheap Cheap" "Good for you, good for me" "Give me best price"
After our full body afternoon Thai massage today (on the beach, looking over the water), a down-pour settled in - which couldn't dampen our spirits if it wanted to.
Tomorrow we have to decide between tanning, private guide around the island, or kayaking the lagoon where "The Beach" was filmed. These are problems one likes to have.
We're working on our Thai, getting a kick out the Heinz ketchup label in Thai, and appreciating that even in this town where any excuse for a party is executed there is not a single reference to the 4th of July - in other words appreciating that we are on the opposite side of the world, lucky enough to see things that very few Americans ever do.
Checked into our cabana and walked 20 yards to the beach for a stroll the first day. As the sun set we found a place barbecuing fish that was swimming that afternoon. I pointed at the red snapper, but Whit ordered the tuna. Upon seeing the woman grab the tail of a 4 foot fish from beneath the ice and whack at it with a cleaver to cut off 1/2 pound fillets, I had to change my order. Fantastic fish at a table in the sand with the lights around the beach reflecting from the silky water - it was perfect. After dinner we went for Thai "foot massages", they're an hour long include your full legs & some pressure points in your shoulders for about five bucks.
The last two days have continued on par. Met up with an English couple we flew in with from Bangkok, tanned (in Whitney's case) or burned (in my case). A little jet-skiing, a massage a day, great food, and fun shopping - bargaining is practically a sport here. "Cheap Cheap" "Good for you, good for me" "Give me best price"
After our full body afternoon Thai massage today (on the beach, looking over the water), a down-pour settled in - which couldn't dampen our spirits if it wanted to.
Tomorrow we have to decide between tanning, private guide around the island, or kayaking the lagoon where "The Beach" was filmed. These are problems one likes to have.
We're working on our Thai, getting a kick out the Heinz ketchup label in Thai, and appreciating that even in this town where any excuse for a party is executed there is not a single reference to the 4th of July - in other words appreciating that we are on the opposite side of the world, lucky enough to see things that very few Americans ever do.
Friday, July 01, 2005
On the road again....
Started out this most recent journey in a bit of a rush. I was writing a recap of the weeks with my Dad and my down week between their trip my trip to Bangkok, uploading pictures, and packing when I got on the phone with my Mom. So... in our mutual gregariousness I got half my photos uploaded, didn't finish the recap (will past that when I'm back in about a week and a half), and finished packing as my airport shuttle arrived.
Off to the airport for a 14 1/2 hour flight to Bangkok from Auckland to meet my sister Whitney. A stop in Brisbane, Australia for refueling and I slept about 2 hours. Two movies on the Thai airway flight that thankfully were in English, yet I'm nearly positive they never made it to US movie screens. Then arrival in Bangkok at 5 am.
So I only needed to wait a mere 6 hours for Whitney's flight to arrive; I passed the time trying to sleep and trying to make a phone call (never successful). Whitney on the other hand traveled for about 40 hours straight, on her first trip outside of the country, she would impress even the harshest critics. 16, first time out of the country and she had to change planes in Dallas, then into the international terminal at LAX, then again in Hong Kong, and finally arriving in Bangkok where she had to just hope I would be. Damn, I'm impressed.
So we leave the airport at about noon and the culture shock hit me like a brick wall, again. I can only imagine what Whitney was thinking. In one cab, then had to jump out because he wouldn't use the meter. Second cab and into the unimaginable Bangkok traffic. Arrive our hostel, and I think I'm more tired than Whitney despite the fact she is dealing with a 12 hour time difference and I only have 5. We go for our first walk to Koh San road to eat some food that isn't so scary and I hear "Hey Trey". This is my first time for the international travelers run in, and I'm thrilled it happened in front of my sister - but I run into a great British couple I met in Indonesia in Feburary. I love how small the world is and I really love showing my Whitney at 16 what I'm just now getting at 26.
Meekly we eat our western food (I'm just to damn tired to worry about Thai from a food stand at this point) and we take the express boat up and down the river. The express boat is basically and bus service and the best way to get out of the noise and smell of Bangkok that I have found. Head back to the hostel, eat dinner at the attached restaurant with 50 year old Thai men singing karioke, and crash as soon as it's dark as we try to push our bodies into GMT +7.
Up around 4 for whit and 6 for me we leave the hostel and head to "the tallest hotel in the world" for breakfast and a view of Bangkok from the 87th floor. Back on the street we stroll through clothing markets that are just waking up and see designer jeans for the equivalent of $5. We have to wait for things to open up so I recommend seeing a movie in MBK (a nine story mall) to get out of the noise and pass some time. As we get through MBK, which is empty as the doors only opened 15 minutes ago, I realize I'm having to yell for Whit to hear me over the sounds of advertisements and music. I'm not sure if I can express how loud Bangkok is, I've decided my one piece of advice for a tourist is earplugs. We see a movie, but half way through Whitney finds out she has gotten sick from something. She is unbelievably sweet about the hole thing, but end up spending the rest of the day recouping back at the hostel (probably not a bad idea anyways). That night I snuck away to catch up with a German friend of mine I met in Auckland for dinner, and really missed being able to introduce Whitney to Anita so that Whit could see how possible it is for a single female to travel on their own for 6 months to a year - despite what we hear back home.
Slept better, but Whit's still a bit shaky this morning, we are at the National Library using the free internet and waiting for a Thai Cooking class to start in about an hour back at the hostel. I'll be able to introduce Whitney to Tannie, a great Thai girl I met here in January. Then we're on a plane to Koh Samui for a week on a beach in a lovely resort.
Always an adventure and fantastic to be able to share it with my younger sister.
Off to the airport for a 14 1/2 hour flight to Bangkok from Auckland to meet my sister Whitney. A stop in Brisbane, Australia for refueling and I slept about 2 hours. Two movies on the Thai airway flight that thankfully were in English, yet I'm nearly positive they never made it to US movie screens. Then arrival in Bangkok at 5 am.
So I only needed to wait a mere 6 hours for Whitney's flight to arrive; I passed the time trying to sleep and trying to make a phone call (never successful). Whitney on the other hand traveled for about 40 hours straight, on her first trip outside of the country, she would impress even the harshest critics. 16, first time out of the country and she had to change planes in Dallas, then into the international terminal at LAX, then again in Hong Kong, and finally arriving in Bangkok where she had to just hope I would be. Damn, I'm impressed.
So we leave the airport at about noon and the culture shock hit me like a brick wall, again. I can only imagine what Whitney was thinking. In one cab, then had to jump out because he wouldn't use the meter. Second cab and into the unimaginable Bangkok traffic. Arrive our hostel, and I think I'm more tired than Whitney despite the fact she is dealing with a 12 hour time difference and I only have 5. We go for our first walk to Koh San road to eat some food that isn't so scary and I hear "Hey Trey". This is my first time for the international travelers run in, and I'm thrilled it happened in front of my sister - but I run into a great British couple I met in Indonesia in Feburary. I love how small the world is and I really love showing my Whitney at 16 what I'm just now getting at 26.
Meekly we eat our western food (I'm just to damn tired to worry about Thai from a food stand at this point) and we take the express boat up and down the river. The express boat is basically and bus service and the best way to get out of the noise and smell of Bangkok that I have found. Head back to the hostel, eat dinner at the attached restaurant with 50 year old Thai men singing karioke, and crash as soon as it's dark as we try to push our bodies into GMT +7.
Up around 4 for whit and 6 for me we leave the hostel and head to "the tallest hotel in the world" for breakfast and a view of Bangkok from the 87th floor. Back on the street we stroll through clothing markets that are just waking up and see designer jeans for the equivalent of $5. We have to wait for things to open up so I recommend seeing a movie in MBK (a nine story mall) to get out of the noise and pass some time. As we get through MBK, which is empty as the doors only opened 15 minutes ago, I realize I'm having to yell for Whit to hear me over the sounds of advertisements and music. I'm not sure if I can express how loud Bangkok is, I've decided my one piece of advice for a tourist is earplugs. We see a movie, but half way through Whitney finds out she has gotten sick from something. She is unbelievably sweet about the hole thing, but end up spending the rest of the day recouping back at the hostel (probably not a bad idea anyways). That night I snuck away to catch up with a German friend of mine I met in Auckland for dinner, and really missed being able to introduce Whitney to Anita so that Whit could see how possible it is for a single female to travel on their own for 6 months to a year - despite what we hear back home.
Slept better, but Whit's still a bit shaky this morning, we are at the National Library using the free internet and waiting for a Thai Cooking class to start in about an hour back at the hostel. I'll be able to introduce Whitney to Tannie, a great Thai girl I met here in January. Then we're on a plane to Koh Samui for a week on a beach in a lovely resort.
Always an adventure and fantastic to be able to share it with my younger sister.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Donating Grey Hairs
Glad I could influence my little sister to donate grey hairs to Pops the way Colin and I have for 2 1/2 decades...
Thursday, June 23, 2005
New Zealand Pics
Got some pics up finally of New Zealand. Family trip, so beware the gratuitous posed shots. Hope you like 'em.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Whirlwind tours
Quick update to promise a proper one:
Family is here, rotating between hugs and strangling each other (ahh, if we didn't love each other so much we couldn't push each others buttons so well!)
In Queenstown, a little but beautiful hiking, 4x4 tours, great food, and going on a helicopter to Milford Sound tomorrow! Traveling in luxury is awesome, but I know I definitely prefer 2 months in hostels to 2 weeks in 5 stars.
Heading up to Wellington on Thursday for a long weekend and then Auckland to say goodbye as Dad and Audrey leave for the US (By the way we started the trip with about 5 days there already). Something tells me I won't have the opportunity to take a deep breath, think, and write about their visit until then. (Commentary about how American travel? You better believe it.)
The visit is wonderful to say the least, it's so fantastic to share this place and what I've learned in the past 5 months.
I'm getting more comfortable with the idea of work here in NZ. Know I'll be here for at least a year, longer if I love it. What more could I want then to have a job in a beautiful foreign country that I only have to keep if love it...
Oh wait, life lesson #257: You only have to keep the jobs you love in the places you love - the world provides plenty of other options.
Don't know what I'll do if I land the Antarctica gig come October, but I cross that bridge when I get there.
Lastly, I leave on the 27th to meet my sister Whitney in Bangkok. Only a week there, a few days in Singapore, and then she'll spend about a month with me in NZ. I'll have to work during the week, but something tells me July will prove a pretty damn fine month nonetheless.
Okay, there's my not so short catch up, promise something worth reading soon -- and photos from a Helicopter, whoo hoo!
Family is here, rotating between hugs and strangling each other (ahh, if we didn't love each other so much we couldn't push each others buttons so well!)
In Queenstown, a little but beautiful hiking, 4x4 tours, great food, and going on a helicopter to Milford Sound tomorrow! Traveling in luxury is awesome, but I know I definitely prefer 2 months in hostels to 2 weeks in 5 stars.
Heading up to Wellington on Thursday for a long weekend and then Auckland to say goodbye as Dad and Audrey leave for the US (By the way we started the trip with about 5 days there already). Something tells me I won't have the opportunity to take a deep breath, think, and write about their visit until then. (Commentary about how American travel? You better believe it.)
The visit is wonderful to say the least, it's so fantastic to share this place and what I've learned in the past 5 months.
I'm getting more comfortable with the idea of work here in NZ. Know I'll be here for at least a year, longer if I love it. What more could I want then to have a job in a beautiful foreign country that I only have to keep if love it...
Oh wait, life lesson #257: You only have to keep the jobs you love in the places you love - the world provides plenty of other options.
Don't know what I'll do if I land the Antarctica gig come October, but I cross that bridge when I get there.
Lastly, I leave on the 27th to meet my sister Whitney in Bangkok. Only a week there, a few days in Singapore, and then she'll spend about a month with me in NZ. I'll have to work during the week, but something tells me July will prove a pretty damn fine month nonetheless.
Okay, there's my not so short catch up, promise something worth reading soon -- and photos from a Helicopter, whoo hoo!
Thursday, June 09, 2005
A whole new wave of panic/excitment
I'm not sure if I am more excited or frightened, but I landed a pretty damn good job here in New Zealand - IT consultant for a company called Intergen in Wellington. This at the same time as my Dad and sister Audrey arriving to travel, and Whitney's visit around the corner.
A job measured in years not months. Stop my trip, immigrate to a foreign country, renewed missing of friends, 4 weeks holiday, 40 hour work weeks, local access to worldclass sailing, snowboarding, and mountain biking - the thoughts are still swirling around like a blender in my head. When I get a moment to think I put something reasonable down.
Excited, scared, thrilled, frightened.... this might take a couple days to settle into. (start date July 12 so I've got time)
A job measured in years not months. Stop my trip, immigrate to a foreign country, renewed missing of friends, 4 weeks holiday, 40 hour work weeks, local access to worldclass sailing, snowboarding, and mountain biking - the thoughts are still swirling around like a blender in my head. When I get a moment to think I put something reasonable down.
Excited, scared, thrilled, frightened.... this might take a couple days to settle into. (start date July 12 so I've got time)
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Holy hell the world is small!
Yesterday I got new roommates (a couple) with whom questioning went like this:
Me: Are you guys from North America?
The Girl: US
Me: Where?
The Girl: Texas
Me: I'm from Austin!
The Girl: So are we!
So these guys, Ali and Mike (the 2nd and 3rd Texans I've met in 5 months - all three from Austin) and I went to dinner and drinks and through conversation get this:
In 7th grade I went to Camp Longhorn and was in the same cabin with Mike, a cabin of 12 boys! So then of course we end up as roommates by chance again, 14 years later in Auckland, New Zealand.
I love how small the world is.
Me: Are you guys from North America?
The Girl: US
Me: Where?
The Girl: Texas
Me: I'm from Austin!
The Girl: So are we!
So these guys, Ali and Mike (the 2nd and 3rd Texans I've met in 5 months - all three from Austin) and I went to dinner and drinks and through conversation get this:
In 7th grade I went to Camp Longhorn and was in the same cabin with Mike, a cabin of 12 boys! So then of course we end up as roommates by chance again, 14 years later in Auckland, New Zealand.
I love how small the world is.
Sunday, May 29, 2005
A week o' work?
Well I just spent a week doing the least demanding work of my life. Few hours of excel chart building a day, mixed with many hours rating music on my iPod, and plenty surfing o' that little thing we call the "internet".
My boss is bad ass though, Welsh born Kiwi who has traveled the world including being a military observer for the UN in Southern Lebanon. Need I say it, damn. She's down to business, but plenty of fun to work with - and the freedom to discuss my ongoing job interviews is a bonus. (By the way, plenty on that front but I must admit I'm paranoid to post much here in case my possible employer's have also heard of google)
So far, working in New Zealand is awesome. Folks are happy, educated, and not even remotely stressed out. Of course barely 8 hour days punctuated with multiple 30 minute tea breaks and minimum hour long lunches helps you keep your sanity. I loved that on Friday, someone literally rang a bell at 4PM at which point we all walked to a pub and started drinking (and I was paid for the first hour of that). Have I mentioned working here is A-OK?
Friday my American recruiter was nice enough to call me up and invite me to join him and is flatmates to Star Wars, which I must say despite my propensity towards the cynical, I rather liked. Planned on a good nights rest and early up to climb the volcano that stayed unconquered last weekend as it decided to rain all day Sunday. But about 3 am someone had a gran mal seizure outside my door - needless to say 2 hours and a ambulance later my early rise was punished. (thankfully the patient appears to be okay)
Nonetheless, joined this weeks group of an English and two Germans to climb two smaller volcanoes and had a good ol' time. Followed up a non-strenuous day with much coffee and cake on the sidewalks of Devonport in North Auckland. The night was filled with card games and plenty of red wine.
Today I bought a scooter! Whoo-hoo! It rains a lot here lately, but I won't let logic get in the way of my decisions. I'm sure I won't be able to contain myself from posting a picture in the near future, at which point I'll have to ask for nickname suggestions (for the scooter, not me on it). Later on climbed another volcano with a French and another German and overall, despite the lack of relative eventfulness it was a pretty swell way to spend the past couple days.
Hope your weekends back home are going well, just think at about 3 PM on Sunday - I'm enjoying my 30 minute walk to work on Monday. Well... if I can force myself from the scooter this next week.
Cheers to all you back home, nothing will be closed for Memorial Day here - hope you enjoy it back home.
(I promise I'll do something more exciting soon, so I'll have something worth reporting)
My boss is bad ass though, Welsh born Kiwi who has traveled the world including being a military observer for the UN in Southern Lebanon. Need I say it, damn. She's down to business, but plenty of fun to work with - and the freedom to discuss my ongoing job interviews is a bonus. (By the way, plenty on that front but I must admit I'm paranoid to post much here in case my possible employer's have also heard of google)
So far, working in New Zealand is awesome. Folks are happy, educated, and not even remotely stressed out. Of course barely 8 hour days punctuated with multiple 30 minute tea breaks and minimum hour long lunches helps you keep your sanity. I loved that on Friday, someone literally rang a bell at 4PM at which point we all walked to a pub and started drinking (and I was paid for the first hour of that). Have I mentioned working here is A-OK?
Friday my American recruiter was nice enough to call me up and invite me to join him and is flatmates to Star Wars, which I must say despite my propensity towards the cynical, I rather liked. Planned on a good nights rest and early up to climb the volcano that stayed unconquered last weekend as it decided to rain all day Sunday. But about 3 am someone had a gran mal seizure outside my door - needless to say 2 hours and a ambulance later my early rise was punished. (thankfully the patient appears to be okay)
Nonetheless, joined this weeks group of an English and two Germans to climb two smaller volcanoes and had a good ol' time. Followed up a non-strenuous day with much coffee and cake on the sidewalks of Devonport in North Auckland. The night was filled with card games and plenty of red wine.
Today I bought a scooter! Whoo-hoo! It rains a lot here lately, but I won't let logic get in the way of my decisions. I'm sure I won't be able to contain myself from posting a picture in the near future, at which point I'll have to ask for nickname suggestions (for the scooter, not me on it). Later on climbed another volcano with a French and another German and overall, despite the lack of relative eventfulness it was a pretty swell way to spend the past couple days.
Hope your weekends back home are going well, just think at about 3 PM on Sunday - I'm enjoying my 30 minute walk to work on Monday. Well... if I can force myself from the scooter this next week.
Cheers to all you back home, nothing will be closed for Memorial Day here - hope you enjoy it back home.
(I promise I'll do something more exciting soon, so I'll have something worth reporting)
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Hanging out in the Southern Hemisphere
Well my schedule feels dramatically slower as I make myself available for interviews - which means stay in the same damn place for a couple weeks.
I picked up temp work, very exciting, mail-merging fun, but yesterday I officially worked my first day in another country - whoo hoo! After passing my 4 month, out-o-the-country anniversary on the 17th.
It's the weekend and I'm going to go climb a volcano tomorrow morning, sounds more dramatic than it is as there are 10 or 20 volcanoes in Auckland. I'm just going to go climb the big one on the other side of the ferry route.
Monday back to envelope stuffing, and awaiting interviews and more resume requests. It's crazy, but I keep having permanent jobs pushed in my direction (and assurances that immigration is a non-issue), so I may have to decide whether or not to move here...humm. Maybe just for a year or two...
Listening live KUT stream on Friday night in Austin while it's Saturday afternoon here, damn I miss Austin music. (I heard Los Lonely Boys on the radio here!)
Nuff' rambling, as there isn't much to report. Cheers.
I picked up temp work, very exciting, mail-merging fun, but yesterday I officially worked my first day in another country - whoo hoo! After passing my 4 month, out-o-the-country anniversary on the 17th.
It's the weekend and I'm going to go climb a volcano tomorrow morning, sounds more dramatic than it is as there are 10 or 20 volcanoes in Auckland. I'm just going to go climb the big one on the other side of the ferry route.
Monday back to envelope stuffing, and awaiting interviews and more resume requests. It's crazy, but I keep having permanent jobs pushed in my direction (and assurances that immigration is a non-issue), so I may have to decide whether or not to move here...humm. Maybe just for a year or two...
Listening live KUT stream on Friday night in Austin while it's Saturday afternoon here, damn I miss Austin music. (I heard Los Lonely Boys on the radio here!)
Nuff' rambling, as there isn't much to report. Cheers.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Cook Islands
Took off at 11 pm Thursday and landed at 4 am Thursday thanks to the dateline. No sleep so speak of, as the plane was full of middle aged women going to the Cook’s for an international netball tournament, which as I was told primarily consisted of a week long drinking binge with 1000 like minded women. They were noisy, but their excitement and giddiness was contagious.
Marion’s generosity knew no bounds as she picked me up at 4 am. Before she left Auckland we though we should go watch the sunrise as we were going to be up at such an hour, yet when the pain of 4 am was in effect a unanimous decision to go to bed was made rapidly. 9 am rise for breakfast, attempted conversation with some folks at the resort, yet fell asleep in my chair a few times and hit the sack for a nap that lasted the majority of the afternoon. Up in time for a stunning sunset over the water, which we watched from a kayak at the edge of the reef.
Spent Friday driving around Rarotonga (a complete round takes about 20 mins at 30 MPH), taking photos and adjusting down even further my sense of schedule. Saturday we were up and off to the airport for our flight to Aitutaki. Flying in, I was amazed by the beauty of the Atoll from the air, a giant round sandbar spotted with islands. The sand glowed an electric turquoise as the white sand reflected the sun through shallow waters, the islands tropical green, and all surrounded by the deep, dark, blue of the Pacific. Landed at the smallest airport I’ve seen yet, the structure consisted of a carved piece of wood labeling it an international airport and an oversized gazebo with a desk. Two minute drive to Samade on the Beach, a collection of 9 cabanas overlooking the most beautiful water I have ever laid eyes on. The first day consisted of me sitting down in a lawn chair on the beach with a Dan Brown book, moving once for lunch, and getting up as the sunset extinguishing my light with only 20 pages left.
The following days were a blast. Kayaking a few miles one day, finding a deserted beach on a deserted island where I shucked some coconuts on a piece of coral for lunch. Renting a moped one day and drove it around in true “Guinn-boy” style including 4x4 trails climbing the steepest dirt tracks on the islands multiple times (1st gear and floored, the bike barely kept moving). “Island night” at the resort with a fantastic Polynesian dance performance and discovering that I should sit in the middle of the group of tables next time, lest I get called up to dance twice again. Teaching Marion to swing dance on the porch of our cabana (iPod speakers rival the invention of the wheel in my eyes) one sunset. Another sunset I got in touch with my retired side (as I’ve definitely been in touch with my inner child over the past 4 months). I felt the greatest pleasure in recent memory: sitting on the porch of the cabana with the sun setting over the lagoon, Ella, Louis, Etta, and Billie wafting through the breeze, and a glass of bourbon in my hands – I’m pretty sure all I needed was a medical problem to make me 65.
The last full day was filled with a “lagoon cruise”, which despite my skepticism was fantastic. An Australian couple, Marion and myself were driven about in a 20-foot motorboat for the day. We went snorkeling in a few places where we saw giant clams, an old tugboat wreck, and a moray eel the size of a Labrador retriever. Followed that up walking around some deserted islands that could make it into any coffee table book of the world’s most beautiful beaches.
Then dinner on another deserted island. Table and chairs setup in the sand, food served in freshly woven palm baskets, and Marlin marinated in seawater among other things that proved to be the best meal of the trip. Of coarse ridiculously tall palms leaning over a white beach surrounded by turquoise water and a beautiful sunset didn’t detract from making it one hell of a dinner.
The last day was great and long. Swimming, kayaking, playing around the resort for the day, then we went to take a picture of the airport’s runway. Early in the week we noticed that there is no fence on the beach side, walking up on the runway I though it would make a cool picture with my wide angle.
I checked with my telephoto and reassured Marion that there was not a plane waiting to take off. A couple minutes later I hear, “Trey… there’s a plane coming…” I looked up in the sky, found it empty, swung around a saw one coming down the runway rapidly in my direction. Scampered to the end of the runway and started swapping lenses.
Marion: “Trey, what are you doing?”
Me: “Changing lenses”
I was off the runway (by about a foot) so I decided to take some pictures of the plane taking off and enjoy having a plane take off over my head for possibly the first and last time of my life. Got some photos and then told Marion through an ear-to-ear grin we should probably leave before we end up in an island prison. (Back in touch with my inner child)
After our last Cook Island sunset we left from the same runway noticing the restricted area sign promising 3 months imprisonment for trespassing. From the plane spotted Orion during the quick hour flight back to Rarotonga. Dinner and saw Marion off at 11, then snuggled up on a metal bench, outside, under a bright light for a less than a restful nap before my 3 am check-in for my flight back to NZ. 4 hour flight time, 22 hours worth of time zones later, landed at 7 am in Auckland after having my Friday evaporate into the oddities of the dateline.
Now I’m back in Auckland and looking at emails confirming my Dad and Audrey’s 2 ½ week visit in May and Whitney’s 6 week visit over July and August. Coupled with my (fingers crossed) possible employment in Antarctica from October through December and my calendar is just darn full.
All smiles here, I hope the same is for you wherever you are reading this.
Marion’s generosity knew no bounds as she picked me up at 4 am. Before she left Auckland we though we should go watch the sunrise as we were going to be up at such an hour, yet when the pain of 4 am was in effect a unanimous decision to go to bed was made rapidly. 9 am rise for breakfast, attempted conversation with some folks at the resort, yet fell asleep in my chair a few times and hit the sack for a nap that lasted the majority of the afternoon. Up in time for a stunning sunset over the water, which we watched from a kayak at the edge of the reef.
Spent Friday driving around Rarotonga (a complete round takes about 20 mins at 30 MPH), taking photos and adjusting down even further my sense of schedule. Saturday we were up and off to the airport for our flight to Aitutaki. Flying in, I was amazed by the beauty of the Atoll from the air, a giant round sandbar spotted with islands. The sand glowed an electric turquoise as the white sand reflected the sun through shallow waters, the islands tropical green, and all surrounded by the deep, dark, blue of the Pacific. Landed at the smallest airport I’ve seen yet, the structure consisted of a carved piece of wood labeling it an international airport and an oversized gazebo with a desk. Two minute drive to Samade on the Beach, a collection of 9 cabanas overlooking the most beautiful water I have ever laid eyes on. The first day consisted of me sitting down in a lawn chair on the beach with a Dan Brown book, moving once for lunch, and getting up as the sunset extinguishing my light with only 20 pages left.
The following days were a blast. Kayaking a few miles one day, finding a deserted beach on a deserted island where I shucked some coconuts on a piece of coral for lunch. Renting a moped one day and drove it around in true “Guinn-boy” style including 4x4 trails climbing the steepest dirt tracks on the islands multiple times (1st gear and floored, the bike barely kept moving). “Island night” at the resort with a fantastic Polynesian dance performance and discovering that I should sit in the middle of the group of tables next time, lest I get called up to dance twice again. Teaching Marion to swing dance on the porch of our cabana (iPod speakers rival the invention of the wheel in my eyes) one sunset. Another sunset I got in touch with my retired side (as I’ve definitely been in touch with my inner child over the past 4 months). I felt the greatest pleasure in recent memory: sitting on the porch of the cabana with the sun setting over the lagoon, Ella, Louis, Etta, and Billie wafting through the breeze, and a glass of bourbon in my hands – I’m pretty sure all I needed was a medical problem to make me 65.
The last full day was filled with a “lagoon cruise”, which despite my skepticism was fantastic. An Australian couple, Marion and myself were driven about in a 20-foot motorboat for the day. We went snorkeling in a few places where we saw giant clams, an old tugboat wreck, and a moray eel the size of a Labrador retriever. Followed that up walking around some deserted islands that could make it into any coffee table book of the world’s most beautiful beaches.
Then dinner on another deserted island. Table and chairs setup in the sand, food served in freshly woven palm baskets, and Marlin marinated in seawater among other things that proved to be the best meal of the trip. Of coarse ridiculously tall palms leaning over a white beach surrounded by turquoise water and a beautiful sunset didn’t detract from making it one hell of a dinner.
The last day was great and long. Swimming, kayaking, playing around the resort for the day, then we went to take a picture of the airport’s runway. Early in the week we noticed that there is no fence on the beach side, walking up on the runway I though it would make a cool picture with my wide angle.
I checked with my telephoto and reassured Marion that there was not a plane waiting to take off. A couple minutes later I hear, “Trey… there’s a plane coming…” I looked up in the sky, found it empty, swung around a saw one coming down the runway rapidly in my direction. Scampered to the end of the runway and started swapping lenses.
Marion: “Trey, what are you doing?”
Me: “Changing lenses”
I was off the runway (by about a foot) so I decided to take some pictures of the plane taking off and enjoy having a plane take off over my head for possibly the first and last time of my life. Got some photos and then told Marion through an ear-to-ear grin we should probably leave before we end up in an island prison. (Back in touch with my inner child)
After our last Cook Island sunset we left from the same runway noticing the restricted area sign promising 3 months imprisonment for trespassing. From the plane spotted Orion during the quick hour flight back to Rarotonga. Dinner and saw Marion off at 11, then snuggled up on a metal bench, outside, under a bright light for a less than a restful nap before my 3 am check-in for my flight back to NZ. 4 hour flight time, 22 hours worth of time zones later, landed at 7 am in Auckland after having my Friday evaporate into the oddities of the dateline.
Now I’m back in Auckland and looking at emails confirming my Dad and Audrey’s 2 ½ week visit in May and Whitney’s 6 week visit over July and August. Coupled with my (fingers crossed) possible employment in Antarctica from October through December and my calendar is just darn full.
All smiles here, I hope the same is for you wherever you are reading this.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Watch out for the Soap Box!
I’m leaving for my last minute trip to the Cook Islands from my extended holiday in New Zealand… I am still marveling that it is possible to have a lifestyle that supports such a statement, and more importantly it is possible without winning the lottery – just a readjustment of one’s life.
The afternoon before my flight I met up with Amelia, a Kiwi friend, and her friend from San Francisco for coffee and conversation that was so enjoyable it merits mention 2 weeks later. Then back to the hostel for dinner with a Dutch girl, Jacquelyn and the sole other American here at the hostel. Jackie speaks 4 languages, grew up between Holland and South Africa, and after continual badgering on my part demonstrated a little Zulu which is a click language (damn, I was impressed). The American girl is a Pharmacy student on her international rotation. She decided to spend her free 3 weeks in New Zealand in one place, grew up in suburban Colorado, is moving to suburbs between Ft. Worth and Dallas to work for the prison system, 25 and once divorced. It would be an understatement to say the contrast was severe, particularly when geopolitics came up in conversation. It would also be unfair to consider this a reasonable contrast of a European to an American. Yet, I realized that this American would probably standout as worldly back home because she had been to New Zealand and the Dutch girl probably would not. This is most likely the best example I have so far for the differences between the rest of the western world, consisting of countries where traveling and knowledge of rest of the world is culturally engrained, and the US where our culture is nearly devoid of curiosity about the outside world.
I’ll have to think of a good way to help change that… let me know if you have any good ideas.
The afternoon before my flight I met up with Amelia, a Kiwi friend, and her friend from San Francisco for coffee and conversation that was so enjoyable it merits mention 2 weeks later. Then back to the hostel for dinner with a Dutch girl, Jacquelyn and the sole other American here at the hostel. Jackie speaks 4 languages, grew up between Holland and South Africa, and after continual badgering on my part demonstrated a little Zulu which is a click language (damn, I was impressed). The American girl is a Pharmacy student on her international rotation. She decided to spend her free 3 weeks in New Zealand in one place, grew up in suburban Colorado, is moving to suburbs between Ft. Worth and Dallas to work for the prison system, 25 and once divorced. It would be an understatement to say the contrast was severe, particularly when geopolitics came up in conversation. It would also be unfair to consider this a reasonable contrast of a European to an American. Yet, I realized that this American would probably standout as worldly back home because she had been to New Zealand and the Dutch girl probably would not. This is most likely the best example I have so far for the differences between the rest of the western world, consisting of countries where traveling and knowledge of rest of the world is culturally engrained, and the US where our culture is nearly devoid of curiosity about the outside world.
I’ll have to think of a good way to help change that… let me know if you have any good ideas.
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Lots 'o walking round
Job applications, interviews, recruiters, phone calls, emails... etc, have filled my days for the last week. Yet in no way is this stressful. I sit in a coffee shop, okay I'll admit it, a Starbucks...damn I hate that, but they have free wireless internet. I do my correspondence for a couple hours and then walk at least an hour in some direction in an attempt to get myself lost - were I always end up finding some fantastic alfresco lunch.
Interviews normally in the afternoon and strolls by the harbor at sunset. As far as job hunting goes - it's alright.
This evening strolling by some yachts, Auckland’s title as "The City of Sails" was earned in my eyes as I saw 4, count 'em, 4 America’s Cup yachts in one harbor - err... harbour.
While emailing I've been catching up with news from home, thanks to internet radio from KUT.org, KGSR.com, and NPR.org. I love technology, but live broadcasts from my favorite radio station always seems to garner me the thrilling programs that are on at 3AM Texas time.
Tonight I recently turned to some good 'ol web browsing. Having been an American abroad, living among possibly the most liberal (and well informed) individuals I am likely ever to be surrounded by. I looked up Saipe in the Wikipedia (a free online encyclopedia I would recommend to anyone) in order to get the whole story on a criticism I heard from a British couple in Indonesia.
This may not come as a surprise to y'all reading this, but did you know the following about Saipan?:
Despite its status as a U.S. Commonwealth, Saipan is exempt from some federal laws, including key labor and immigration laws. As a result, a number of garment factories with wages around half of the U.S. minimum wage have been set up on the island to supply the U.S. market. Goods manufacured in U.S. Commonwealths, including Saipan, may be labeled "Made in the USA".
In January 1999, a coalition of U.S.-based pressure groups and labor unions began a class action on behalf of around 30,000 garment workers whom they claimed had been mistreated in such factories, being submitted to what was in effect indentured servitude. In April 2003, a settlement worth $20 million was reached with 27 garment manufacturers and 27 leading retailers, such as Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, and Polo Ralph Lauren. The firm of Levi Strauss & Co. refused to settle, however; in January 2004, the case against this company was dismissed.
Crazy huh? Some how I feel more responsible to know these things as I travel, because after all I would be the obvious person to ask about things related to the US in a room full of Europeans.
On a lighter note I cracked up to find out the almighty and powerful US of A has territories that are still officially "disputed". That strikes me as just silly.
Writing this I have to wonder if these things seem relevant to you all back home or not. I have no idea what I would have thought a year ago if some pal of mine wrote the same thing on their blog.
Would I care half as much as I do now? Humm....
Interviews normally in the afternoon and strolls by the harbor at sunset. As far as job hunting goes - it's alright.
This evening strolling by some yachts, Auckland’s title as "The City of Sails" was earned in my eyes as I saw 4, count 'em, 4 America’s Cup yachts in one harbor - err... harbour.
While emailing I've been catching up with news from home, thanks to internet radio from KUT.org, KGSR.com, and NPR.org. I love technology, but live broadcasts from my favorite radio station always seems to garner me the thrilling programs that are on at 3AM Texas time.
Tonight I recently turned to some good 'ol web browsing. Having been an American abroad, living among possibly the most liberal (and well informed) individuals I am likely ever to be surrounded by. I looked up Saipe in the Wikipedia (a free online encyclopedia I would recommend to anyone) in order to get the whole story on a criticism I heard from a British couple in Indonesia.
This may not come as a surprise to y'all reading this, but did you know the following about Saipan?:
Despite its status as a U.S. Commonwealth, Saipan is exempt from some federal laws, including key labor and immigration laws. As a result, a number of garment factories with wages around half of the U.S. minimum wage have been set up on the island to supply the U.S. market. Goods manufacured in U.S. Commonwealths, including Saipan, may be labeled "Made in the USA".
In January 1999, a coalition of U.S.-based pressure groups and labor unions began a class action on behalf of around 30,000 garment workers whom they claimed had been mistreated in such factories, being submitted to what was in effect indentured servitude. In April 2003, a settlement worth $20 million was reached with 27 garment manufacturers and 27 leading retailers, such as Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, and Polo Ralph Lauren. The firm of Levi Strauss & Co. refused to settle, however; in January 2004, the case against this company was dismissed.
Crazy huh? Some how I feel more responsible to know these things as I travel, because after all I would be the obvious person to ask about things related to the US in a room full of Europeans.
On a lighter note I cracked up to find out the almighty and powerful US of A has territories that are still officially "disputed". That strikes me as just silly.
Writing this I have to wonder if these things seem relevant to you all back home or not. I have no idea what I would have thought a year ago if some pal of mine wrote the same thing on their blog.
Would I care half as much as I do now? Humm....
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Settling in, in New Zealand
The “where the hell are you?” emails finally motivated me to catch up the ‘ol blog.
My one-nighter in Fiji turned into two when I missed a flight for the first time in my life. Two hours early for my flight at 7:15 when the ticketing agent kindly informed me that the 17:15 flight was taxing away from the gate.
All was cool though as my best good ‘ol Texas smile discounted my ticket change from $190 to $30. On the flight I was able to sit down next to none other than a GM from an Auckland ad agency. (Awfully handy as that is the industry I trying to get work in). A wonderfully nice guy that gave me invaluable info into who, what, & where of the Auckland creative scene – then he even gave me a ride home from the airport.
Checked into a filing cabinate for 20 year olds on their first trip from home. Was ecstatic to find fresh vegetables again after the tomatolessness of Tonga, as I spent a day walking the city to find a better place to stay.
I’ve checked into a beautiful hostel in the neighborhood of Parnell which is a 10 minute walk from downtown. The hostel is an old Victorian home, once belonged to the queen of Tonga, and the innkeeper brings in fresh European breads from the local bakery every morning and afternoon. In the ½ mile of the main strip there are 4 shops with umlauts in the title, over 20 art galleries, an Apple shop, and a disproportionate amount of Italian food restaurants. Parnell happens to also be the home to all the ad agencies, needless to say, I’m loving it. (Parnell is also rather high rent as I’ve seen a Ferrari or Lamborghini daily for nearly two weeks now)
I then jumped headlong into job acquisition mode. Cleaned up my resume and wrote cover letters and actually did cold calling straight into offices. I have a contract computer job on Monday along with two interviews, I’ve applied for jobs in Antartica, and tomorrow I’ll start my winter job options. I have to laugh at the prospect of molding my CV to make me look like a good candidate to be a “Ski Rental Assistant”. My cover letter probably shouldn’t say, “I’ve never been a skier, but come on – I’m not a freakin’ idiot.”
I was lucky enough in my job hunting to run into two local lasses in a coffee shop who have taken me under their wings to show me around. Dinner, drinks, trips to the museum, and introductions to their friends in the ad agencies. I attended the dawn parade on Anzac day (Australia and NZ’s memorial day). It was really a wonderful experience to be at such a patriotic event as a foreigner. I am also impressed that the Anzacs celebrate an historic loss, not a victory – they emphasis the futility of war instead of glorifying it. Definitely a lesson we could learn back home, as our patriotism makes frightening shifts towards nationalism.
And in true traveler style, a German girl (we’re going to a Hip Hop show tonight) invited me to join her in the Cook Islands next week… so I took her up on it. Twist my arm and drag back into the South Pacific.
Miss you guys at home and hope you all are doing great.
Happy Belated Birthday to Audrey! (Email me because I don’t have yours)
Happy Birthday to Whitney on the 8th, love ya and can’t wait to see you in Bangkok!
My one-nighter in Fiji turned into two when I missed a flight for the first time in my life. Two hours early for my flight at 7:15 when the ticketing agent kindly informed me that the 17:15 flight was taxing away from the gate.
All was cool though as my best good ‘ol Texas smile discounted my ticket change from $190 to $30. On the flight I was able to sit down next to none other than a GM from an Auckland ad agency. (Awfully handy as that is the industry I trying to get work in). A wonderfully nice guy that gave me invaluable info into who, what, & where of the Auckland creative scene – then he even gave me a ride home from the airport.
Checked into a filing cabinate for 20 year olds on their first trip from home. Was ecstatic to find fresh vegetables again after the tomatolessness of Tonga, as I spent a day walking the city to find a better place to stay.
I’ve checked into a beautiful hostel in the neighborhood of Parnell which is a 10 minute walk from downtown. The hostel is an old Victorian home, once belonged to the queen of Tonga, and the innkeeper brings in fresh European breads from the local bakery every morning and afternoon. In the ½ mile of the main strip there are 4 shops with umlauts in the title, over 20 art galleries, an Apple shop, and a disproportionate amount of Italian food restaurants. Parnell happens to also be the home to all the ad agencies, needless to say, I’m loving it. (Parnell is also rather high rent as I’ve seen a Ferrari or Lamborghini daily for nearly two weeks now)
I then jumped headlong into job acquisition mode. Cleaned up my resume and wrote cover letters and actually did cold calling straight into offices. I have a contract computer job on Monday along with two interviews, I’ve applied for jobs in Antartica, and tomorrow I’ll start my winter job options. I have to laugh at the prospect of molding my CV to make me look like a good candidate to be a “Ski Rental Assistant”. My cover letter probably shouldn’t say, “I’ve never been a skier, but come on – I’m not a freakin’ idiot.”
I was lucky enough in my job hunting to run into two local lasses in a coffee shop who have taken me under their wings to show me around. Dinner, drinks, trips to the museum, and introductions to their friends in the ad agencies. I attended the dawn parade on Anzac day (Australia and NZ’s memorial day). It was really a wonderful experience to be at such a patriotic event as a foreigner. I am also impressed that the Anzacs celebrate an historic loss, not a victory – they emphasis the futility of war instead of glorifying it. Definitely a lesson we could learn back home, as our patriotism makes frightening shifts towards nationalism.
And in true traveler style, a German girl (we’re going to a Hip Hop show tonight) invited me to join her in the Cook Islands next week… so I took her up on it. Twist my arm and drag back into the South Pacific.
Miss you guys at home and hope you all are doing great.
Happy Belated Birthday to Audrey! (Email me because I don’t have yours)
Happy Birthday to Whitney on the 8th, love ya and can’t wait to see you in Bangkok!
Current Count
As I've arrived to a country for a year stint, I though a count of the past few months was in order:
6 Countries
9 Airlines
5 Local Languages
14 Countries represented in dinner companions
18 Hostels
Countless memories, amazing people, and an ever growing excitement for tomorrows in foreign lands.
6 Countries
9 Airlines
5 Local Languages
14 Countries represented in dinner companions
18 Hostels
Countless memories, amazing people, and an ever growing excitement for tomorrows in foreign lands.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
Tonga Photos Also
I've got my Tonga pictures uploaded as well. (Thanks to hacking free internet from my hostel in Fiji) Click here to see some paradise.
Saturday, April 16, 2005
One-Nighters
Due to the fact that the domestic airline ran out of fuel, I left a day early to Tongatapu on a charter Air Polynesia flight. I realized I am not immune to boredom, as much as I would like to think the opposite is true. I stayed my last night at the transit lodge again in a village near the airport and had nothing to do but sit around from noon until I wanted to go to bed as it was pouring down rain outside.
Watched Ferris Bueler’s day off and was reminded that my brother Colin is the slightly more grown up embodiment of Ferris Bueler – he gets away with anything, and you gotta love him for it. For lunch I had a McDonalds Hamburger which was as repulsive as I remember. I would never buy one, yet Francis the 20 year old son of the people that live at the homestead offered it too me, and I hate to refuse a gift. I noticed that it was reheated, but that effected the taste little. Upon thanking Francis for the burger he smiled a big smile saying his father brought them from New Zealand the night before. It was only then that it clicked in my head that there are no McDonald’s in Tonga and more importantly I realized the generosity of this young man to give me something that was obviously very special for him. So I still hate McD’s burgers, but I was touched by the underserved generosity.
Read 600 pages of a bad spy novel without moving and crashed only to be kept awake by mosquitoes nearly all night. Slept in to make up for quality with quantity, discovered a New Zealander that had checked in, and enjoyed a conversation in unbroken English for the first time in about 5 days.
Bounced over to the airport and enjoyed the open-air, islander style of the place. No air-conditioning, nearly all of it without walls, and people walked around comfortably without shoes.
Hoped on the plane, a proper 737, and was taken aback at first with the strange quality of the air – then I realized it is just air-conditioned and I really haven’t been in that much over the past 3 months.
I’ll land in Fiji and stay another one-nighter before waking upon my travel’s three month anniversary to head to New Zealand where I feel a whole new adventure cresting the horizon – living in another country instead of just walking through it.
Watched Ferris Bueler’s day off and was reminded that my brother Colin is the slightly more grown up embodiment of Ferris Bueler – he gets away with anything, and you gotta love him for it. For lunch I had a McDonalds Hamburger which was as repulsive as I remember. I would never buy one, yet Francis the 20 year old son of the people that live at the homestead offered it too me, and I hate to refuse a gift. I noticed that it was reheated, but that effected the taste little. Upon thanking Francis for the burger he smiled a big smile saying his father brought them from New Zealand the night before. It was only then that it clicked in my head that there are no McDonald’s in Tonga and more importantly I realized the generosity of this young man to give me something that was obviously very special for him. So I still hate McD’s burgers, but I was touched by the underserved generosity.
Read 600 pages of a bad spy novel without moving and crashed only to be kept awake by mosquitoes nearly all night. Slept in to make up for quality with quantity, discovered a New Zealander that had checked in, and enjoyed a conversation in unbroken English for the first time in about 5 days.
Bounced over to the airport and enjoyed the open-air, islander style of the place. No air-conditioning, nearly all of it without walls, and people walked around comfortably without shoes.
Hoped on the plane, a proper 737, and was taken aback at first with the strange quality of the air – then I realized it is just air-conditioned and I really haven’t been in that much over the past 3 months.
I’ll land in Fiji and stay another one-nighter before waking upon my travel’s three month anniversary to head to New Zealand where I feel a whole new adventure cresting the horizon – living in another country instead of just walking through it.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Leaving Tonga
Sitting in plastic lawn furniture on the spacious second story balcony of “Adventure Backpackers”, I’m enraptured by the sounds of Nora Jones while watching the sunset light storm clouds afire and silhouette tiny Tongan islands. Stubborn spots of sky breaking through the clouds slide from yellow, to red, to green; palm trees standing above native trees standing above rusted corrugated steel roofs as the last stragglers of the day mosey home, moving as slow as the sunset – you can only see their motion if you look away for thirty seconds.
From my vantage point above Vava’u’s harbor I sip tea and reminisce over my “firsts” experiences here in Tonga. It has been my first time to see more of a place underwater than above with 12 dives over the last 8 days. My first night dive, on a wreck, at 100 foot depth with only 6 feet of visibility. My first, second, third, … fifth, … tenth time to swim with sharks. First time to swim within a hands reach of 6 foot sea snakes and countless lion fish. First time to worry about my laptop’s apparent ant infestation. First time to have a hostel completely to myself – definitely my first time to love that. First time to spend an entire day getting a cable to plug my iPod into a stereo because it required being hand soldered by a German Marine electrician. Without a doubt, my first time to have my flight canceled because the entire airline ran out of fuel. First time to lay on a sandy sea floor at 130 foot depth surrounded by Garden Eels, look back and distinctly see the whole structure of the tiny island we dove from rise from that sea floor, and finally to look up 130 feet and see the ripples of the surface clearly through the aquarium clear water – the distance only punctuated by the minutes it took my bubbles to reach the surface.
Tonga’s been great, Va’vau a fantastic happenstance choice. I’m off to the Mermaid (my favorite of three restaurants due to it’s placement on a pier and also acting as the local yacht club) for my last dinner here. Get my last Tongan small island gossip about the prince and the airline that seems to cancel more flights than it makes. Say good-bye to the folks I’ve met and get ready for another country switch. Tonga is so relaxed it forced me to sit and find yet another level of calm, I could ask for nothing more.
From my vantage point above Vava’u’s harbor I sip tea and reminisce over my “firsts” experiences here in Tonga. It has been my first time to see more of a place underwater than above with 12 dives over the last 8 days. My first night dive, on a wreck, at 100 foot depth with only 6 feet of visibility. My first, second, third, … fifth, … tenth time to swim with sharks. First time to swim within a hands reach of 6 foot sea snakes and countless lion fish. First time to worry about my laptop’s apparent ant infestation. First time to have a hostel completely to myself – definitely my first time to love that. First time to spend an entire day getting a cable to plug my iPod into a stereo because it required being hand soldered by a German Marine electrician. Without a doubt, my first time to have my flight canceled because the entire airline ran out of fuel. First time to lay on a sandy sea floor at 130 foot depth surrounded by Garden Eels, look back and distinctly see the whole structure of the tiny island we dove from rise from that sea floor, and finally to look up 130 feet and see the ripples of the surface clearly through the aquarium clear water – the distance only punctuated by the minutes it took my bubbles to reach the surface.
Tonga’s been great, Va’vau a fantastic happenstance choice. I’m off to the Mermaid (my favorite of three restaurants due to it’s placement on a pier and also acting as the local yacht club) for my last dinner here. Get my last Tongan small island gossip about the prince and the airline that seems to cancel more flights than it makes. Say good-bye to the folks I’ve met and get ready for another country switch. Tonga is so relaxed it forced me to sit and find yet another level of calm, I could ask for nothing more.
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Relaxed to the point of shallow breaths
Last two days having been filled with diving. The water is fantastic – warm and clear. Highlights include: a wreck of a 300 foot freight liner 90 feet below where I swam through the holds with snapper half my size, swimming in a cave with 8 sharks, and seeing an eagle ray swim by at full tilt. It is very relaxed here, but I find myself more and more excited about New Zealand. More and more excited about being in one spot for a couple months straight. Thankfully this desire is not fed by loneliness, but just a desire to stop moving for a little while. I want to know where the good grocery store & café are, and visit them more than once.
I’ve met a number of New Zealand ex-pats here (they run the dive shop and internet café) and I’m confronted with the question: “Could I live here?” It is very slow and reasonably isolated, yet completely lacks any smidge of stress while living quite literally in paradise. I’d half to say no though, I feel like I need some stress in my life to know I’m still breathing. My fidgetiness is possibly a shortcoming, but I can’t be this stagnant long-term – it’s really a challenge to do it for the few weeks I’m here. Maybe all this will change over the length of this trip, but only time will tell.
I’ve met a number of New Zealand ex-pats here (they run the dive shop and internet café) and I’m confronted with the question: “Could I live here?” It is very slow and reasonably isolated, yet completely lacks any smidge of stress while living quite literally in paradise. I’d half to say no though, I feel like I need some stress in my life to know I’m still breathing. My fidgetiness is possibly a shortcoming, but I can’t be this stagnant long-term – it’s really a challenge to do it for the few weeks I’m here. Maybe all this will change over the length of this trip, but only time will tell.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
A great Thursday
Chartered a trimaran with the two Brits and an American girl I met the day before. It is literally postcards everywhere you look. Some snorkeling, pictures, and a walk around a tiny island and we’ll call that a day. Back to the hostel for dinner with my sunburn and time to rest up for a day of diving tomorrow.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Tonga, day 2
Up at 6:30, breakfast server by the ever so grandmotherly Susanna. The Taxi driver shows up at 7 for my 7:30 pickup and then proceeds to listen to radio loud enough to ensure that I know he’s there. By the way, Tonga has one, count ‘em one, radio station that will play Karma Chameleon back to back with 50 Cent (like John Ailee in Austin, but admittedly worse). Tonga also has one TV station that plays movies from pirated DVDs, even included the caption “Not for Distribution, For Award Consideration Only”.
Made the 5 minute drive to the domestic terminal at the airport. The sign reads “mest erm nal”, but you get the idea. After all there are only three buildings to choose from: the international gate, the Tongan Air Force, or the domestic terminal – all together are smaller than an HEB. Luckily I make the 8:30 on standby and I’m in for a treat. A 1953 DC-3 (picture coming soon). I thought it was fun to drive in a 1953 Ford, here’s to flying in a 1953 plane. We take off and I’m aware that the FAA isn’t in Tonga when they just leave the door open to the cockpit. The flight attendant then tells me during flight I’m welcome to walk into the cockpit and put on a headset to chat with the pilots – you better believe I didn’t pass that opportunity up! Then it was a long walk back to my seat in row 6 out of 7 where I find myself a bit chilly from the A/C. It takes a minute for me to connect that there is no A/C, the wind is hitting my hip, and I’m in the emergency row. That’s right, the breeze is coming through the emergency door. This leads me to walk to the back to check out the main door that you can see light coming through around the entire thing. Now I’m convinced I love Tonga.
We land at the smallest airport I’ve ever seen. It’s about the size of an ice cream stand. The baggage claim is a long hole in the wall and the airport consists of a single 15’x15’ room (I’m curious why we just didn’t carry our bags from the plane?) Nonetheless, it is labeled the Vava’u International Airport.
Caught back up with an English girl I met on the plane from Fiji and her boyfriend who has just finished a med school rotation in Tonga, we’re all staying at the same hostel – the only one – and share a cab. Check in, meet the other 3 people in the hostel, meet the other 1 tourist in town, and put around for the day until we find the a local bar on the water and watch the sunset with a cold drink. I pose the question again, “Trey, how are you ever going to go back to work?”
Made the 5 minute drive to the domestic terminal at the airport. The sign reads “mest erm nal”, but you get the idea. After all there are only three buildings to choose from: the international gate, the Tongan Air Force, or the domestic terminal – all together are smaller than an HEB. Luckily I make the 8:30 on standby and I’m in for a treat. A 1953 DC-3 (picture coming soon). I thought it was fun to drive in a 1953 Ford, here’s to flying in a 1953 plane. We take off and I’m aware that the FAA isn’t in Tonga when they just leave the door open to the cockpit. The flight attendant then tells me during flight I’m welcome to walk into the cockpit and put on a headset to chat with the pilots – you better believe I didn’t pass that opportunity up! Then it was a long walk back to my seat in row 6 out of 7 where I find myself a bit chilly from the A/C. It takes a minute for me to connect that there is no A/C, the wind is hitting my hip, and I’m in the emergency row. That’s right, the breeze is coming through the emergency door. This leads me to walk to the back to check out the main door that you can see light coming through around the entire thing. Now I’m convinced I love Tonga.
We land at the smallest airport I’ve ever seen. It’s about the size of an ice cream stand. The baggage claim is a long hole in the wall and the airport consists of a single 15’x15’ room (I’m curious why we just didn’t carry our bags from the plane?) Nonetheless, it is labeled the Vava’u International Airport.
Caught back up with an English girl I met on the plane from Fiji and her boyfriend who has just finished a med school rotation in Tonga, we’re all staying at the same hostel – the only one – and share a cab. Check in, meet the other 3 people in the hostel, meet the other 1 tourist in town, and put around for the day until we find the a local bar on the water and watch the sunset with a cold drink. I pose the question again, “Trey, how are you ever going to go back to work?”
Monday, April 04, 2005
On the ground in Tonga
Well the airport was a bit larger than Suva, this one had two hangers: one for the headquarters of the local airline Peau Vava'u Limited and one for the “Air Force” which is housed in a small one story building. I was surely scammed for the 3 dollar cab ride to the Peau Vava’u Office that was a mile away (driver didn’t mind being paid in Fijian dollars). So expecting to buy a ticket for the morning or even today I was a bit disappointed. Today’s afternoon flight was canceled due to low attendance. I found this out after waiting an hour (my patience feels almost unlimited at this point as I have no appointments at all) and somehow both flights are booked tomorrow. So now I’m on standby tomorrow. So the same slightly scam artist taxi driver took me to the local accommodation where I have my own room for T$ 30 per night. The place is clean and quite nice. The structure appears to be a store, 3 rooms, and a house – out of which I’m the only guest. My room is really just a room off of the owners house (hoping to enjoy some Tongan family life tonight) and upon trying to charge my laptop I was informed that the village power is off from noon until 5 pm, to which I smile to myself thinking I might be getting off the beaten path. After all, the Peau Vava’u guy, upon questioning, told me proudly that the airport I was going to was not only paved – but had lights also… that’s right it has lights. The large pig grazing around in front of me as I type on my iBook makes me realize I’m getting pretty far from home. So I’ll sit back, watch the lack of traffic, read my Economist, and wait for Susanna’s nephew to drive into town to pick up her granddaughter and so that I can see what Nuku'alofa looks like.
Once evening rolled around...
Spent the afternoon putting around until the van overheated. Just like back home, all the guys strut around the vehicle trying to diagnose it (myself included). Picked up a hitchhiker, but this is far from an unusual way to get around for anyone here and cruised back home.
Spent the evening watching “Garden State”, which every time I see this movie I’m more convinced it is one of my favorites. Yet, sitting here on a porch of a local family in the Kingdom of Tonga I’m struck by two themes that really hit home for me in that movie: sense of home and being present and courageous with ones’ own life. During a pool scene, there’s a great dialogue about how part of coming of age is the lose of the sense of home as you go out into the world to create your own home. (A great line being, ‘Maybe that’s all a family is, a group of people that miss the same imaginary place’) Thoughts of home, putting down roots, and coming into my own definitely pass through my head as I travel, now for 3 months and looking at another 21 ahead. I feel a need to dissect my own desire to lay down roots, even as I look at working in New Zealand – I have to be sure that I don’t lay any roots out of insecurity. I hold an expectation for myself to not settle somewhere just so that I’ll have less fear of some unknown - of what could happen tomorrow. I think the desire to seek security and predictability leads people to fall short of living their life fully. When someone feels comfortable enough with their life that they no longer have to pay attention, they begin let it slide by unconscious of it’s marrow. So to ensure I don’t do that; I’ve left a very comfortable life to challenge myself with ever changing environments. I just have to stay on top of myself and make sure I don’t let myself slide back into comfortable numbness, because I want to take full advantage of every second of this life I so lucky to lead… it would be a waste to just follow it instead.
Once evening rolled around...
Spent the afternoon putting around until the van overheated. Just like back home, all the guys strut around the vehicle trying to diagnose it (myself included). Picked up a hitchhiker, but this is far from an unusual way to get around for anyone here and cruised back home.
Spent the evening watching “Garden State”, which every time I see this movie I’m more convinced it is one of my favorites. Yet, sitting here on a porch of a local family in the Kingdom of Tonga I’m struck by two themes that really hit home for me in that movie: sense of home and being present and courageous with ones’ own life. During a pool scene, there’s a great dialogue about how part of coming of age is the lose of the sense of home as you go out into the world to create your own home. (A great line being, ‘Maybe that’s all a family is, a group of people that miss the same imaginary place’) Thoughts of home, putting down roots, and coming into my own definitely pass through my head as I travel, now for 3 months and looking at another 21 ahead. I feel a need to dissect my own desire to lay down roots, even as I look at working in New Zealand – I have to be sure that I don’t lay any roots out of insecurity. I hold an expectation for myself to not settle somewhere just so that I’ll have less fear of some unknown - of what could happen tomorrow. I think the desire to seek security and predictability leads people to fall short of living their life fully. When someone feels comfortable enough with their life that they no longer have to pay attention, they begin let it slide by unconscious of it’s marrow. So to ensure I don’t do that; I’ve left a very comfortable life to challenge myself with ever changing environments. I just have to stay on top of myself and make sure I don’t let myself slide back into comfortable numbness, because I want to take full advantage of every second of this life I so lucky to lead… it would be a waste to just follow it instead.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
