From One To The Other

So, today has been an extremely nerve-wracking day. You would think after having both skydived and bungy jumped, and traveled to a random country without knowing anyone that I would not have been nervous on my first day back at Colorado College. Unfortunately, you would be wrong. However, loss of sleep managed to calm my nerves as I was too dazed to be affected by the stampede of acquaintances that I have not seen in 8 months. Having a schedule again has also helped calm my nerves, yet has frazzled my brain, which is wondering why I ever missed the intensity of the block plan. To break another nerve, I finally entered my essay into Nicholas Kristof's Win-A-Trip on the day of the deadline. This essay has been a long time coming (the contest was announced a month ago) and I do not believe I have much chance of winning. However, I can say that I learned a lot about myself and confirmed the general direction that want to head in life. It also gave me a lot of new ideas for this blog and youtube page, so get pumped!

Today's photos are of Spirit's Bay in Northland, New Zealand. For the Maori, it is where the spirits of the dead head off for their journey to the afterlife. Considering the pain, rubble, and shock in Haiti right now, I feel that showing images of this amazingly peaceful place brings a little hope that though we are in pain on earth, those who have left us are no longer suffering (and are perhaps, better off).

You First...

This is another image from my spring break trip to the South Island (seems like only yesterday... or 2 months ago...what?). I took this somewhere between Franz Joseph and Makarora. Though it's beautiful, the West Coast is barely populated because of its ruggedness (yea, I want to see you trying to make it down to that beach...). I was reminded of this photo because my parents are coming to visit on the 21st, but only have two weeks to hit the best spots in New Zealand. You see, I haven't planned a trip since I've been here, I've just pointed at a map and headed in the correct direction (thank goodness for isites!). However, now I have to be a giver of advice and it have become more complicated than I anticipated. Apparently my subjective opinion is acting as an invisibility cloak over reality. Where is my enthusiasm from my arrival back in Auckland after an amazing two weeks in the South Island? I wanted to show my parents everything then, yet now I find myself being overly critical and selective. Yikes! (did studying change me that much!?!) I think my issue is that I want to be outdoors, tramping, taking photos, and letting the earth calm my soul before I just back into the excessive culture that is the states. Yet my parents are more keen on seeing everything possible (who can blame them though, this country is amazing).

My solution: come back to New Zealand after graduation with a friend who wants to live out of a campervan for a bit and do some real tramping and camping... any takers? please?

PS: I'm free! Exams are over! Time to let off the steam built up from cabin fever! However, I had a "poetic" moment (as Ben C. put it) yesterday when I took my last exam (for my favourite class, Politics and Media) in the same lecture hall that we had International Student Orientation in... I began and ended my sweet as semester at Auckland Uni in the same room... choice, bro.

Also, I'm very much looking forward to this documentary (and I don't say that often): Anne Perry - Interiors

Stradbroke Silhouette

Today's image is from Stradbroke Island. While Katie was taking a nap, I managed to go exploring and find the perfect place to take photos of the sunset/stalk people playing on the beach.

Here is a brilliant short film in the spirit of Halloween: http://artisticthings.com/between-a-short-film-by-tim-bollinger/

Stradbroke Shark

So, Kaite and I thought that the Aussies on Stradbroke Island were just trying to see how gullible two Americans could be when they told us that a shark had washed up on the beach. Well... apparently, there actually was a shark down the beach from us. We finally saw it and marveled at it on our walk into town. The back half of its body was gone, as well as its eyes and all of its teeth (people had taken them I presume). At one point I did see one of its teeth still in and I got closer to grab it, but then.... the smell hit me. Ten times worse than anything my nose has ever encountered before. I couldn't handle it and therefore backed away without the tooth, oh well. Needless to say, this encounter made us really eagar to get in the water... oh, wait... haha

Stradbroke Sunset

I had a wonderful five days at Stradbroke Island in Australia. My friend, Katie, and I happened upon it via google earth and just decided to go (the rest of our friends are taking a short trip to Fiji later). It was a great place and not the least bit touristy. Still catching up on reading emails and doing work that I missed, so it may take me a day or two to get back in the swing of things (once again). I took this photo at sunset one day, the sky had just cleared up after raining all afternoon and I enjoyed the silhouettes of people playing on the beach. I chilled on the beach for about two hours to watch the sun go down and the stars come out.

So Flash

Somewhere in the Golden Bay region.

Bogan

So, the last few posts have been named with New Zealand saying that have caught on with us Americans - or, at least we've tried to get to get in the habit of saying them. All I can say for boan though is to just look it up. I took this photo at Wharariki Beach (remember my other post here). In the photo is Ben again. I took this as the sun was setting and we were headed back to the car. You can see how rough the waters were that day, which made the whole expierence of Wharariki even more profound. We literally just sat and walked around the empty beach for 2 or 3 hours - losing track of time completely. With the elements extremely strong that day, everything seemed to be against us, but the beauty and isolation of the place kept us there. It was by far one of the most spectacular places I have visited to date. As Ben said, something about that day on that beach just made us understand a little bit better how the world works.

High Tide

So, Ben and I missed the water taxi we were supposed to take in order to do a day tramp, but instead of freaking out, we just took a few photos and then found another place to head off to (the Golden Bay area, which turned out to be absolutely amazing). This photo was actually taken during high tide, but during low tide, the tide falls back so much that you can literally drive on the sand for quite a distance. I'm pretty sure the sign was talking about the street, but I'd like to think that there are some people who would attempt to camp on the sand, only to wake up to waves. I guess I just enjoy amusing mental images.

Picture Frame

There are several well-known tips for always getting an interesting photograph. One of those is to frame your subject, so I did that here. Actually, I wasn't wondering into the cave just to frame these cool rocks on the beach; I just wanted to explore. However, when I turned around to walk out I realized I could get a great shot. I took this on Stilwell Bay in the Abel Tasman National Park. On this day, Ben and I tramped a little over 12km to the Bay and back; it was absolutely unspeakably gorgeous.

Model Pose

On our way from Nelson to Christchurch, Ben and I stopped to spend a night in Kaikoura. I instantly fell in love with it (you'll read that statement a lot in the coming posts). Once we got there, we met up with two other friends, Lauren and Jill, and went to a seal colony to hang out and take photos. Then, Lauren, Jill, and I decided that we wanted to wake up to see the sunrise - one of the best decisions made during my break. We woke up the next morning - not so bright, but very early - and went back to the seal colony. I'm a skier in Colorado, which means I get to see my fair share of sunrises in the rocky mountains on winter mornings that I didn't think could compare with anything else. However, I was wrong. Not only did I get to see snow capped mountains turn to gold, I also got to expierence the waves crashing at their bases while seagulls and seals wondered why we were disturbing their peace. It sounds like a scene from some Disney princess movie, but it was ten times better than that. On our way out of the parking lot, we noticed a group of very large (to say the least) seals and had to stop to capture them on our cameras. This was one of them...

Click Here to read an inspirational blog. It is written by Lisa Ray, who has been one of my favorite actresses ever since I saw Water (you may remember my blog post about it: here). Most people who know me, know that I love actors and actresses that haven't quite made it big; because when an actor or actress's high-profile personality gets bigger than his or her talent, it's time for me to tune out. I no longer see the character, I just see whoever is playing them. However, Lisa Ray is different. I have now seen five of her films and I never notice her, the actress, I notice and connect to her characters - that is what I consider great acting. However, now I am paying attention to her for another reason: because she's not afraid to talk about what the rest of us are afraid bout: cancer. Every single person I know has been effected by it, one way or another, which is probably what makes it so difficult to talk about it. However, if you still can't talk about it, at least you can read about it on Lisa Ray's incredible blog.

Beautiful Day

I promise I have been to more places than Devonport, but it was just beautiful the day that I have to keep posting photos from it. Next week I'll have some new images from around Auckland and Rotorua.

Chillin'

It's a rainy day here in Auckland, so I thought I'd post an image from a sunnier day. I took this photo while walking on a beach in Devonport (I have already posted a few other pictures from the same day). Once the weather gets warmer, I hope to go there more frequently... it certainly had a better view than my apartment.

Old Wood

I am slowly getting used to being in a big city, I know I'll probably love it by the time it is time to leave. Today I took a ferry with three friends to Devonport, an old suburb of Auckland. It was beautiful and I fell in love with all of the houses. We hiked to the top of the two volcanic cones to get amazing views of Auckland and the harbor, later in the afternoon we went to the Royal New Zealand Navy Museum. We also walked along the beach and collected some of the best shells I have ever seen. I took this photo along a rocky section of the beach where a tree had fallen from the hill above. I love the mixing of different elements of nature. I am off to do some more exploring this weekend, so I won't be able to make updates, but please come back next week and I'll begin updating regularly again. Thanks for being patient.

They're still fighting, are you still listening? Thousands Protest...

Beach Sky On Fire

I have been spending the past couple of weeks at Litchfield Beach and for the past few nights, lightning has been catching the sky on fire. If you know me well, then you know I am completely terrified of lightning. However, two nights ago I sat outside on my front porch for two hours durning a thunderstorm to try to get a good picture of lightning (something I have been trying to get for a year now). I managed to get 9 photos of lightning and of those, I was satisfied with about 5. Pretty good odds, so I'd say it was a success.

Brookgreen Arches

This is a photograph taken at Brookgreen Gardens last summer. It is a spectacular place and I have been there to take photographs many times. This is one of the more subtle photographs I have taken there; it does not show the amazing statues, beautiful birds, or colorful flowers. It doesn't really say much about the character of Brookgreen at all, but I really like the shadows and multiple frames in this photograph. What do you think?