Thanks

To everyone involved in the surprise party: THANK YOU. Didn't see that one coming. Felt like I was 6!

one more year

Well, I made it. Thanks for that.

Your vote counts

Did my bit as an honary Kiwi, and voted. Hard to tell if it was for the right person, as I wasn't really folowing all the policies drifing left and right. But duty is duty. The mild winter persisted allowing outdoor persuits and the start of my development as one of the great cinematographers of the modern age. Or not. Time will tell, but so far Sany and I are gettng alon fine. Once I gather my time together I might just update this place and share.

Ronja and I have just returned from a weekend in Dunedin which was pretty cool. Quite laid back, meandering, but that is all I wanted. If you happen to get the chance duck into the museam and head up to the top floor; there's an attic with the craziest collection of animals like a giant down-the-back-of-the-sofa collection.

30 tomorrow. Thirty whats, am still not sure…

Queenstown snowboadring

A long weekend behind me and some great snowboarding too. Ken, Jane, Ross, Ronja and I headed to Queenstown in pursuit of the all too elusive snow. We spent Thursday night outside Wanaka in the back of our respective cars/tents before descending on Cardona. The snow was OK, but after 2 hours i was cursing my brand new boots and the pack they had made with the devil. I was ready to burn them and send them back to the firey pits from which they were spawned until I swapped insoles and beat the life back into them.

Basing ourselves in Q/town in the Black Sheep b/p was a good plan, as was a repeat trip to Cadrona the following day with 10cms of fresh. Bright and shiny days for all.

It is remarkable how little snow the Remarkables has received, and remarkable how shit the ski field is, and remarkable how much it costs, and remarkable haw grumpy the staff are. I will not go back. Never. I know that they cannot control the elements (no matter how like gods they might think they are), but they are in the service industry, selling good times. For some reason or another I cannot enjoy myself there. Everything is wrong about the place, including the terrain. I will spend my money elsewhere.

Like on the Luge! So much fun. Everytime.

Top weekend guys. Thanks for sharing.

Digger

Did I mention that one of my childhood ambitions was at long last achieved? no, I didn't get a part as the next Spiderman, but I haven't given up hope; I did, though, get to did a hole with a digger. A proper hole. And a proper digger. Photos to follow.

Faith in humanity

My faith in humanity has been restored. This morning I left my wallet on the bus, but failed to realise until noon. The usual frantic panic, tearing handfuls of hair out as I tried to retrace my footsteps. Having canceled my c/cards (which was actually pretty easy, considering I didn't have a drop of identity on my I made my way to the bus Xchange. At the bus terminal I asked whe little old ladies behind the counter if any kind citizen had handed anythgin only to be told that lost property on buses went to the bus company not the bus station. It proved harder than I imagined to suggest that maybe, just maybe the passangers didn't know this and maybe had handed it in to someone else. Without a word of warning a little lady popped her head up from behind a counter and siad that someone had handed a wallet in to one of the colleges on the other side of town, and it might just be mine. A hop and a skip through town and I was reunited with my trusted pocket-sized identity. To the mystery person who so honestly handed it in a HUGE THANK YOU!

update

At long last I have added a few photos; Melbourne. My first time. Loved it. Love it. Will return.

Photos of the ascent of Mt Somers (took me 3 years to find the summit, but that's another story) to follow. I am still dragging my legs behind me 3 days after the ordeal. It has been a while. Far too long. At least we saw some snow. For those of you interested in facts: it might be the last sighting of Shapéra in the Southern Alps for quite some time. Good luck up north!

untitled

for those of you (and you know who you are) who have been thinking, "When is there going to be something new and exciting," eat your heart out. I had actually posted a few brilliant blogs; reactions to the London bombings and more recently my comments of the finding of another planet (or not-planet, depending who you believe). However these posts were obviously deemed too sensitive or controversial and never made it up here.
I do have a stack of photos to scan and upload too, but somehow I can't seem to find the time, what with the new house (on the banks of the River Avon – not as idelic as it sounds believe me) and the new office and my new role as Creative Director of Out of the Blue. Not sure what it entails but I like the sound of it.

update

ok,ok... this might be some kind of record. Since my last post a new planet (or not-a-plant, depending who you listen to) has been discovered, and for the time being the bastards who were so intent on destroying backpacks (themselves and others) have fallen silent. What's new? What indeed. I am living in the relative comfort (an cold) of a granny flat on the banks of the River Avon.not as romatic a location as it might sound to all those not that familiar to little old Christchurch. However Ronja and I seem to be making the most of it. It is a bit like the good old days in Nelson, especially as we have Ken and Jane next door for playtime.

The great outdoors isn't quite in winter mode, sure it is cold (both indoors and out) but the snows have failed to appear and despite what I have just said it was the warmest July on record. Not in my kneck of the woods believe me. Still, there has been a time for surfing and gentle walking over the hill.

I am now Creative Director of Out of the Blue. Not that I wasn't before, only now there were witnesses and it is now on a bit of paper (somewhere). Let's just see how that fits. Things are going pretty well, but unfortunatly Smoothfluid has taken a back seat over the last 8 weeks. Still have plans. Big plans.

Terror, my 2c

In a world of 'terror' I have to admit that I am not afraid. Admitidly I am living on a tiny land mass somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean, and the world stage often seems so very far away. However, my links the the motherland are still strong and my thoughts about the explosions in London the other day are as real and valid as the next persons. So here's my 10c for anyone who wants to listen:

Always trying to keep positive about everything… 9 million people travel by public transport every day in London, so as far as 'terror' attacks go it wasn't really a big deal; I think Ireland has been worse hit by the IRA in the past. After all, if you want to coordinate an attack who would really choose to use the most unpredictable public transport in the developed world. It's a fluke that the drivers weren't on strike, as they seem to be every year. I heard this morning that the bus driver was actually lost, and had got out of his bus to ask directions. Go figure.

Admitidly going to work that morning was decididly risky, but then again the road death rate for London alone was around 4500 in the 1840s (according to a stat I pulled from a Google). To everyone I know in London I hope you are safe and well, and to the bastards who 'mastermind' such events I hope one day you work out that death and distruction is not the way forward.