chase the light

[SIGNS GALLERY]After going through some of my photos from New Zealand, I gathered a collection of the signs I came across.

When they can get it up, the spinnaker juts out like a huge helmet, and the wind sure can blow that boat long and hard across the water. So I heard.

[ZORBING VIDEO LINK – 01:45 – 320×240 – 5.51mb] Volcano’s, farm animals, and Zorbing? In one day?! No way! I’ve died and gone to heaven. Our second day on holiday begins with a bang. A helicopter flight out to White Island volcano, then a farm, and last but not least, Zorbing. Zorbing is a beautiful […]

Jill and I arrived in Rotorua this morning after a total scramble to get out of Wellington. In the next month, We’ll be on a plane 13 times, a helicopter, boats, cars, kayaks, trains, buses, vans, taxis, a gondola, a ferry, a quadbike, and even a camel. More on that in the full blown vacation […]

[TWO TOWERS WRAP PARTY GALLERY] The “golden ticket” to the exclusive Weta Digital Wrap party. No, you can’t go with me.

New Zealand’s funny in that you can do almost anything that you want too. Except genetically modify food. Want to tie a rubberband to your feet and jump off a bridge? Sure. Want to land a helicopter in a live volcano? Sure. Want your own fireworks show? Sure. Hurt yourself while doing any of those. […]

Two days left in Wellington, and I’m completely packed and ready to go. As a bit of last minute sight seeing I finally ride the funicular by my house. Before you start a Google search. funicular: noun Date: 1911 : a cable railway ascending a mountain; especially : one in which an ascending car counterbalances […]

Last day at Weta, so it’s time for the crew photo. They really should have taken this 4 or 5 months ago when we weren’t all fat and pale. Visual effects make you ugly.

As the last week on Lord Of The Rings came upon us, we all found ourselves going to our favorite places to eat one last time. The combination of that and clear weather is always a good reason to go to the Chocolate Fish. On rainy days you go to the Chocolate Frog. The sister […]

[ISLANDER DANCING VIDEO LINK – 30secs – 192×144 – 566.3k] The production company thought we deserved a little entertainment after all the hard work we’ve been putting in. Not sure why they thought Cook Island dancers were what we needed, but ok. It’s just not right watching Polynesian dancers on a motion capture stage with […]

[ICE SKATING VIDEO LINK – 29secs – 192×144 – 559.5kb] The city of Wellington set up this ice skating rink during spring break. Spring Break? It still feels like winter out there. They wanted to see the feasibility of a more permanent rink that might be built in the city. The first day the rink […]

One of the biggest things that is lacking in Wellington is Mexican food. Since 90% of the imported workers at Weta are from California, they all have the same opinion about mexican food in New Zealand. It’s pretty much non-existent and when you do find it, it sucks. So instead of the usual Weta catering […]

Oh yeah, same to you Cow. Stick your tongue out at me, why I’ll make you into… oh I dunno. On a beautiful day I decided to go for another short drive up to the wind turbine to take a look at the city. After being in Wellington for a few months, you get used […]

This morning about 6:00am it started hailing like mad. Yes that’s hail, not snow. I’m talking massive bruising hail. Damn, that’s a lot of hail. Here’s a bunch of pictures people sent out at work. I guess the groundhog saw his shadow. Brrrrr… Of course by lunchtime most of it had melted and throwing hailballs […]

[CARTERTON DAFFODIL CARNIVAL PHOTO GALLERY] [CARTERTON VIDEO LINK – 04:20m – 160×120 – 3.37mb] George, Sarah, Jill and I woke up way to early on an extremely blustery Sunday to ride a train to look at some flowers. Every year the New Zealand Cancer Society has a steam train that travels from Wellington to the […]

[WIND TURBINE VIDEO LINK – 30secs – 320×240 – 1.11mb] Wellington’s one and only wind turbine. Long movie file to to the right to pick up the vibe. With real life turbine sounds and whistling wind. They really could use more of these turbines like in Northern California. You could power the whole Wellington area […]

[CASTLEPOINT PHOTO GALLERY] Castlepoint and its lighthouse on the Wairarapa Coast, east of Masterton. I had been reading a bit about this place and George said it was nice, so Jill and I did the extended Sunday drive through lots of rural farmland on our way to Castlepoint. On the way there was a huge […]

Waiting for the sunset at Pukerua beach. The sunset was cool, and my camera has this little bubble level on it that looks really cool when the sun shines through it. I’m not sure it was worth the half hour drive to find that out. I could have been home watching the free porn I […]

This is tragic story of a little camera that could. The previous evening I went out to the coast to shoot those boulders. Well, it was really nice out, but I was about half an hour late, so I decided to try again tonight. Early in the day I told Jill to grab her camera […]

There’s this pile of boulders by the airport. It was obviously built by the ancient druids for time keeping… oh wait, wrong country. Anyway, boulders, stacked, near work, cool reverse sunset, no celtic origins. I predict rain tonight.