chase the light

Yesterday we left Naqara village and kayaked along the south eastern shore of Ono and headed to Albert’s Place. We made a quick stop at Jona’s Paradise before heading across the channel to the main island of Kadavu. With a lack of sleep, I skipped the channel crossing and rode the support boat. The other 7 made it, but I was feeling exhausted and sunburnt and completely happy to enjoy the ride. I also got to take pictures of the crew paddling across the channel. Ono can be seen in the distance, and the dark area on the island is where the crossing started, and here is where it ended.

After last night’s arrival into the village we awoke this morning to the sound of rooster’s crowing, kid’s yelling, and a dogfight. I slept about 2 hours, if that. I’m going to be a wreck in the kayak’s today. We ate breakfast with about a 1000 flies. Not sure why there weren’t that many flies at dinner the night before, but wow. We were taken over to the school and got to meet the kids. They were totally amazing and they sang for us. They sang some traditional songs, and sang a version of “This Land is Your Land”. They sang the first half in fijian and the second half in english. They also reworked the lyrics to refer to things in Fiji rather than “redwood forests” and “gulf stream waters”. We all introduced ourselves and told them where we’re from and what we do. They do have access to DVD’s, so they had all seen movies, but I’m sure they didn’t really grasp what we really do. I told them I was from Los Angeles and geographically I think that went right over them. A map would have been handy about then. After about half an hour, we waved goodbye and I couldn’t help but think their school is probably like any school around the world. There’s probably a bully, a bookworm, an outcast, a jock, etc. A whole Fijian “Breakfast Club” sitting right in front of me. A real highlight of the trip.

This morning we set out in the kayaks. The coastline was spectacular with many beautiful sand beaches, green and blue bays, and picture perfect palm trees. That’s my kayak the “Screaming Yellow Zonker” at our midday stop about a quarter of the way around Ono. For lunch we had carbs. Carb salad, carbs on ice, fresh cut carbs, liquid carbs, and carbs in the shape of Pringles. Tonight we’re staying in the village of Naqara. I think we’re all excited yet anxious about what’s going to go on there. Lot’s of customs to follow. George was voted our “Ratu”, or Chief, as he’s the oldest and will represent us at the ceremonies.

Relaxed around Jona’s today. It’s Sunday, and all the Fijian’s left for church this morning so I grabbed my camera for a walk along the beach. I came across this huge crab. It was about 8 inches across and I kept taking photos of it. Getting closer and closer, I thought it would eventually run away. It never did. It was dead. So I erased about 10 photos and got one real good closeup. I took it back and put it in Jill’s bure to scare her. That didn’t work out so well, as she looked at it and ignored it. Dork, I probably could have predicted that. We got to end the day with a beautiful pink and purple sunset.

We flew down to Kadavu today, pronounced Kandavu (see the pattern?), and took a squirrely boat ride to Jona’s Paradise. Jona was a popular musician around Fiji and now lives here with his family. This is an island called Ono which is off the north eastern shore of Kadavu. The beach was beautiful and our bure’s were really nice. We relaxed here for two days playing in the kayaks and enjoying the layed back experience. The moment we arrived the mozzies started their relentless attack which would continue until the day we left. I somehow avoided the mosquitos for a few days until they all turned on me and ate me alive. I quickly caught up with rest of the group in number of bites.

Woo Hoo, Fiji!!!!!! We stayed in Nadi, pronounced Nandi, the first two nights. It’s a crazy little city with lots of sellers begging you into their shops. The hotel, the Tanoa, was nice enough, but the city was pretty sketchy. None the less, it turned out to be an interesting shopping experience. The swami temple at the edge of town is definitely the most interesting landmark in the city. I’ll spare you the ugliness of Nadi here, but within 30 secs. of sitting down outside a tourist shop, I was offered drugs and told about where to get some cheap cheap women. Um, no thanks, I’ve seen Midnight Express.

Ok, really the Louis Vuitton Cup, then the America’s Cup. We had a six hour layover in Auckland on the way to Fiji. So we checked our luggage and stored our carry-on’s at the airport. The long ass cab ride to Auckland harbor made me glad Weta wasn’t based here. We’re in Auckland, and the Cup is kinda a big deal even though I know practically nothing about it, so why not? Stars and Stripes is sponsored by Viagra. The boat must perform well with a stiff wind. Ugh, the cab ride back to the airport was at rush hour. Zoiks. On to Fiji tonight.

[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 thing.

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 report. Anytime you see a sign like this it usually means you’re in the middle of absolutely nowhere. In a way we are, and it’ll sum up the whole journey. According to the sign L.A. is 6488 miles away and San Francisco is 6502. So San Francisco is only 14 miles from L.A.? …said the dumb guy.

[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. Oh well. Your stupid. Sorry. A couple people from Weta threw a goodbye party on the beach and lit up the sky with some fireworks. And not with ground bloom flowers and piccolo petes. We’re talking loose your eyeball in an accident kinda fireworks.

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 a descending car. Exactly. What Merriam Webster said.

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 stores have slightly different menus, but only one is on the water.

[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 really bright halogen lamps illuminating every corner of the building. Where’s the sand, the tiki torches, and the giant pig cooked in the ground?

[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 never opened because of a mechanical problem. No ice = mechanical problem. A group of us were supposed to meet after dinner and have a skate. Since it wasn’t open, everybody just got sloshed at the nearby restaurants. Eventually they got everything figured out and they played a lot of 90’s pop as you can see here. Which adds to the comedy of Wellington Kiwis who can’t ice skate. Our one day off and we can’t go skating. Bitch.

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 on Friday night, some Yanks got together and created a Mexican Fiesta for the lot. Not to shabby, and I got to act like it was all for my birthday. Which is today. They also had a birthday pinata for me… um, yeah. Lopsie tried to explain to the Kiwi’s how this pinata thing works. They just stared and found it funny at first. Then a kiwi got up to give it a shot… um, it’s behind you… See, the Kiwi’s just aren’t grasping it. Let’s see an American… Ahhh… there we go! Lance beats the little donkey into submission but doesn’t tame it. Another kiwi not quite getting it as the donkey taunts him. “I do what with this stick?” Upon closer inspection we found out the donkey wasn’t made of paper mache but of cardboard and cellophane tape. New Zealand can’t even make a proper pinata. Ya know how hard it is to break into a cardboard and cellophane tape donkey? Really friggin’ hard. Seriously, about an hour and 10 minutes later, and having roughly 40 people beat on the thing, its back finally broke. Just a handful of chocolate trickled out. Ay yi yi. It might as well been the blackbox of an airplane we were beating on. Eventually Tim, a lookalike for a singer of a Haysi Fantaysee tribute band, killed off the donkey with a blow to the back. And so ended my birthday, er, Mexikiwi day.

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 to seeing cows and sheep all over the place. No biggie, but as soon as you find yourself on the same side of the fence with them you realize just how big cows are. They’re also hard to “read”. Take a horse, you can pretty much tell when they’re agitated, they let you know. Ears go back, they show their teeth, etc… But with cows, you can’t really tell. They kinda just stare at you. Then this one stuck it’s tongue out at me and that was enough of a sign for me that I better leave it alone. Cows are cool though.

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 was not out of the question. I destroyed my second car today. I went to pick George up for lunch and pulled into the parking lot. As I flipped a U-turn we heard some metal scrape. Well, the car kept going so we went to lunch and I dropped him off and went to the other building. I got about half way there when the car crapped out. Long story short I broke a pipe or hose of from underneath and it drained the radiator and fried the engine. Nice. Why is there a pipe that is that vital to the car located soemplace that it can be scraped off. I’ll blame the Australians for this one on their poor design. In the photo of George throwing the hailball, on the left side of the picture you can see the metal thing I hit. Who put that there?

[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 Carterton Daffodil Carnival. For a few more dollars you can pick a bunch of daffodils from the Middlerun Fields with all the proceeds going to the charity. Steam trains are one of the most amazing things ever. Kinda like a huge version of your teapot, but big enough to pull hundreds of thousands of pounds. That’s a big teapot. My teapot can’t do that, although it does have a little whistle.