living on the run

I'd like to share some photos from the breathtaking-gorgeous landscape of Nueva Zealandia.  Photos snapped while holidaying with my family- from the North to the South Island.  These are unedited and pure... a real essence of this country.

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Thank you each and everyone of you for bringing your smiles, love, hugs and walking shoes all the way to New Zealand. Having you out here was a mighty good gift in itself... but being able to travel for 12 beautiful nights together was the delicious icing on a cake.

I had so much fun with each one of you, and continue to appreciate the memories from our travels. I wish we could get together more often to play late night games, and share generally tear-jerkingly hilarious conversations. 

Highlights:

• Our sporty red car... super flash!
  
• WOW Art show and dresses that look like they are made of origami paper, glow in the dark stars, or the innards of a piano
  
• Bottles upon bottles of delicious red wine... down the hatch!
  
• Kicking your butts the first night of 31
  
• Sunshine on Waiheke
• Chief Bruce Douglas, "I come in peace, proudly representing 17 humble nations"... :)
  
• The joy of seeing my HEALTHY family (big blessing)
  
• Bottles upon bottles of delicious wine with Robin and Jim in Napier (could be a re-occurring theme)
  
• Romantic date night with Shannon, Indian food and our superstar Bollywood-guru server
  
• An epic plane flight over the Southern Alps only to land amongst the clouds
  
• scary 4x4 adventures (not too sure about letting Dad drive... that man was very trusting... too trusting) and scary bike rides with shannon
  
• KIWI AND TAKAHE (see photo below)!!! (also penguins and parakeets!)
• 

Honey.... Oh Sugar Sugar!

This little tie-died plant it my favorite New Zealand gem. Its called Manuka, and when bees pollinate on these gorgeous (normally white) flowers they are enriched with a multitude of nutrients and pollens which eventually create a delicious and nutritious honey for us humans!

I try to eat some everyday... once i met a woman (kind of a strange one) who swore that Manuka honey had cured her throat cancer.
Its some good sh*t!!!

DANCE, DANCE, DANCE

The Mythical Land of Rarotonga

Kia Orana! Good day to you and yours.

I have just returned from a twelve-day adventure on the largest of the Cook Islands, Rarotonga. A place I'll admit I never even knew existed until coming to another Pacific island- New Zealand. And how extremely fortunate for me to be able to discover this haven. Rarotonga is, like most of the Pacific Islands, of volcanic origin- leaving the landscape scattered with jagged mountains and the fauna of the island either avian or domesticated animals. The people are still true subsistence farmers whose diet and livelihood depends on 5 major crops: bananas, taro, nu (coconut), manioc and fish. Beautiful family gardens are squeezed alongside every road and between all houses. Between the rows of taro plants, banana leaves are left on the ground to keep the soil moist and to provide a beautifully designed walking path that keeps your feet above the soggy ground (sorry no photo).

Their are plenty of large and small fish surrounding the island, I believe the main export industry is fishing. Other than that the island is pristine and pure- slowly developing a tourism industry, but not sold out to corporate resorts or foreign investments. Nothing about the country is tainted (unlike many places I've seen before- there was no evident signs of social problems such as alcoholism, drug abuse, obesity, filth, etc...)

There is a law that a building can be no taller than a palm tree, leaving the beach resorts no more than two stories tall and always under the shade and protection of trees.

The general attitude of Cook Islanders is happiness, satisfaction and generosity.

About 20 years ago Hilton Hotels began building a 400 room resort, but rumors have it the private money that was invested in the project was laundered money from some European mafia... so the development was abandoned at the final stages in the project. The water still runs, all rooms have electricity, some which haven't been fully looted have sinks, beds and drawers that are now covered in a layer of plant growth and dust. We walked around this property, through the would-be reception area, absorbing the eeriness of the situation. Some of my favorite photos from the trip were through the cracked windows of the abandoned paradise.

John and I spent our days hiking through the jagged mountains. I found it quite funny that people frequently paid guides to take them up the mountains... that is until we attempted the "Ikarangi Trek", which left my legs cut and scraped from the overgrown fern foliage and the bottom of my pants covered in dirt from falling down the hills so frequently. We had a good time attempting to reach the Ikarangi summit, but turned around early.

We rented a beautiful, simple one bedroom home on the island which came equipped with BBQ, Kayaks and snorkel gear. Once arriving to the island we didn't really need to worry about what to do because we were completely set up. We spent as much time as we could on the beach, absorbing UV Rays and snorkeling. I saw loads of big and little neon fish, a really strange fish that looked like a samurai sword and hung out just below the surface of the water rendering it almost invisible and ultra-creepy. The islands are completely surrounded by a tropical aquamarine lagoon, that is incredibly safe and fun to play in.

Below are two photos of the same house, our neighbor really. It was a stunning building, splattered with 10 shades of pastel paint. We spent one night sipping whiskey under the moon and attempting to capture glorious night-time images. There was a lot of wind, but this one turned out pretty good.

My two favorite flowers: Hibiscus and Frangipani

reincarnate me as a dog please...

some photos of the dog's playing at the local "not too shabby" dog playground or in Kiwiana "WOOF RUF RUF" which means dog park...
alibi enjoying the day with his new mates. He has now officially caught bigger waves than me.

THE BIRTH OF A SHOLA BEAR...

happy birthday to you and thanks darling for creating the world's most hideous invite ever. what i wouldn't give to be teleported to beaulahland to sip on just one ice cold beer and squeeze you.