Stand Tall

Cape Reinga, New Zealand

Clear Day At Cape Farewell

I decided to be on time with the photo for today... check back later for more about this beautiful day at the South Island's northern-most point.

Paikea's View

I did say regular updating, didn't I? Oops. The past two days have been full of sleeping, organizing, catching up on the discovery and history channels, figuring out the next step in my life, and shrieking every time I ride in a car and think I'm on the wrong side of the road. I know you wanted to know all of that. I plan on putting together a book of my photos, but it has been slower going than I thought the process would be because of the high volume of photographs that I now have to conquer. For the post today, I asked my mom to name a place and/or activity of which to post a photo because it would have taken me another two days to go through and finally pick a photo to show y'all (and we wouldn't want that, would we?). I took this while on a whale watching tour in Kaikoura. What you see is the view from our boat, Paikea (name may sound familiar if you have seen Whale Rider), as a sperm whale is about to dive deep into the ocean.

You First... retake

Wow, it has been awhile since my last post, 23 days to be exact. My bad. Since then, I explored the Auckland CBD many times while searching for souvenirs and saying goodbye to my favorite spots, my American friends headed off to travel or to go back to the states, I traveled all the way to Cape Reinga and back to Auckland, my parents came and I packed up and moved out of my apartment, I hung out with my kiwi friends for the last time (not really though, we'll see each other again), then I traveled around New Zealand with my parents for two weeks, and I arrived back in the states (last night). Many more things went down, but I'll share more details with you as I search through my photographs post them.

If you cannot tell, this photograph was taken at the same spot my last posted photograph was taken... just a few months after and with a tad bit different weather. I insisted my parents take the drive from Queenstown up the west coast (eventually ending in Hokitika) because it is absolutely spectacular. Yet, the weather wasn't quite as good this time around. However, even with clouds smothering the area with their chilling grasp, it was still a gorgeous winding ride full of the famous ferns that cover New Zealand and many dramatic waterfalls that one's eye could follow all the way from the snow on top to the forest below.

I apologize for the extended break in posting, but traveling in New Zealand means lack of internet. On the good side though, I added many more photographs to my collection, so even though I'm back in the states, you will still get photos from New Zealand. Expect regular updating from now on.

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

No Worries

Continuing with the animal theme... these are some pretty chill seals outside of Kaikoura. If I had a wall of water coming at me I don't think I'd be scratching me ear (maybe that's just me). At any rate, I was delightfully and gently woken up today by the WSA fire alarm (sarcasm heavily intended). Note to whoever: when a fire alarm goes off, "fire alarm activated, stand by for further assistance," is probably not the best automated advice to give over the intercom. Something along the lines of, "fire alarm activated, get your butt outside," might do the trick.

Oh well, these made me feel better for having to wake up so early: Graphs of Favourite Songs

Stradbroke Shade

The rest of my Stradbroke Island posts had a double "S," so I thought this one should too.

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.

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.

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...

Bird's Eye

Taken out of a plane window upon arriving to Bermuda in July 2007.