Somewhat coherent rambles by me. If I ever learn any jokes I might post them here. I love cheese. I love my bike. I love movies. I love living in other countries. I love clever.
Lalomalava, Savai’i. By me. March 2011.
The churches in Samoa have their own swimming holes.
Tongariro Crossing, National Park, New Zealand. October, 2010.
One of the best views ever. A day’s hike across a volcano range on the north island of New Zealand.
MOVE
3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage… all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ….into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films…..
The other two short films EAT and LEARN by Rick Mereki, Tim White and Andrew Lees are up on Vimeo.
Lovely… just lovely.
Stingray Bay, Coromandel, New Zealand. By me.
Hahei is tiny. Charming and quaint, it is a speck of a town on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula. It is the gateway to the infamous Cathedral Cove and a good place to stay if visiting Hotwater Beach. It seems that Cathedral Cove gets all the love but personally I found Stingray Bay (between Cathedral Cove and the town of Hahei) to be so much prettier and naturally stunning. When there in October Cathedral Cove was roped off and there were lots of signs posted about the instability of the area, which bummed out the view quite a bit.
For the Next Time You Visit Carpinteria
Ok, so their website is totally awesome lame but the gallery and works there and the space itself it beautiful. Mixed media and paintings and some stunning photography are displayed in two gallery spaces of the Palm Loft studios at Carpinteria State Beach. They also do exhibit openings with live music and they have an open house with all of the artists every so often. Totally worth a visit. Afterwards you can walk over to Island Brewing Company along the train tracks (not that I encourage walking on train tracks but you could if you decided of your own free will to do so) or around along the beach.
I wish I was here right now.
Savai’i was hot and humid and quiet and stunning when I was there earlier this year. It was before the tourist season so I believe I was 1 of 10 foreigners on the island for a week. Snorkeling every day. Fresh fish and papaya for every meal. Lots of reading in the shade of the trees. GIANT hermit crab landmines in the dark. Take me back.
View from Roy Peak of Lake Wanaka. Wanaka, South Island, New Zealand. Christmas, 2010.
I imagined Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere to be warm and summery but no, it snowed. Wanaka is a tiny town (on the US scale) in the middle of the South Island, nestled between great peaks and teal blue lakes and the so-called little sister of the boisterous Queenstown. Home to an amazing cinema (I succumbed to 4 films the week I was there - EAT THE COOKIES!), great coffee shops and the trail heads to some stunning day hikes, I love Wanaka. The Wanaka YHA is a great base with nice staff, location and bike rentals, a movie room, huge kitchen, wifi, laundry, etc.
Tsunami havoc-ed church on Savai’i; March, 2011
10 months living in another country and it’s time to post some of my favorite photos before I forget my travel stories…
One of the most awesomest days on my week in Samoa my amigos and I rented a car to drive the 117km around the island of Savai’i. We passed this beautiful skeleton of a church that had been wiped out by the 2009 tsunami and we stopped to take some photos. Within a moment of getting out of the car a young woman ran up to us for payment to the village to take a picture of their church. She literally came out of nowhere and the nearest fale wasn’t for at least a mile. We paid her 5 ST each and then took 10 minutes worth of photos. There were palms and moss growing up and over the leftover walls and floors and even some signs of lava flow. It was one of those settings that I wish could tell it’s own stories.
