Here I go again up in the air at about 20,000 feet after just having said goodbye to not only another city, but an amazing collective of new friends and some old. I haven't really slept the past few days - a few nights ago I slept only 2hrs, and last night I managed a whole half an hour of eyelids closed to the world before having to rise once more to head out to the airport.

My dear friend Ralph drove me out and hung out with me until i finally  had to conceed to the clock and head through security alone. I'm  pretty good at goodbyes; Ive done it countless times in so many different countries and to so many people, but it is sad not knowing  when I will see this face that has become such a part of my life  again. They're trying to convince me to come back for summer, and I'm  interested for sure, but it's more of a monetary question at this  point. At the moment, Im leaning towards this rough draft of a plan -  hustle and shake in Toronto until after my friends wedding in mid  November, then off to London for a bit (a week to a month there) then  perhaps on to Norway and onwards as long as I can handle the cold. 

I've got a goal of hitting a few more (4, to be exact) countries  before my next birthday in January, so I'd like to fulfill that then  that might be the time I could return to New Zealand for 4-8 weeks and  then heading back to Europe for a wild trek there by motorcycle after  first being a part of the Holi festival in India on March 7th. Ralph  is going to be getting the irresistable campaign from me to try and get him to come and taste a bit more of the world with me, so hopefully he is in the right space and will jump into that idea with the furvour of a man coming up out of the water for air.

Life of leaving

I'm now well and truly into my last week of living in new zealand. It's a bit harder than any other place i've left so far - I think in large part because I've only been here 5 months, so it feels too soon to say goodbye to people. I've really only begun to really find my crowd here, but like I've said many times before, I'm resigned to chasing down my photography career and if I'm not learning here or going somewhere with my photography... or at least saving up ... then I can't really justify staying. I don't know that I would have had the motivation to get up and go right now though if it weren't for my best friend getting married in Toronto in a few months, so I was going to pay the money to get out there anyway. Might as well go now and catch the tail end of summer and try and get some momentum with my photography there while I have the chance and a place to live with my friend.

The challenge now is to get my life packed back into a bag. A bag. one 23kg bag with one carry on. This includes my (not light) cameras, lenses, stand, flash, umbrella and somehow some personal belongings and necessities so that I don't have to buy stuff when I get to Canada. I'm considering shipping some stuff to my parents home in Australia, but thats pretty pricey too, so I'm not sure how I'll go about this, but I don't want to have too much stuff with me incase I want to get travelling again after my friends wedding in mid november. Trying to plan for a plan shrouded in fog is a little tricky, but I've learnt that it's always best to just travel light and make do with what little you have. The reality of packing your whole life into one bag over and over again can be tough, but everytime I get where I'm supposed to be you never miss the possessions of the last place, just the people.

I'm still working at the moment, but also trying to do as many shoots before I go and just take a lot of photos. I guess moving is always good motivation to remind me to keep shooting. I've given up a lot to live this life and to chase down photography. 

I met up with this great photographer this week, and she let me just pick her brain about things and how she works / gets work and it was so great to talk to another photographer who carved a spot for herself and does it really well. One of my big challenges is to figure out what direction I want to take so that I can really focus on that; but also just to shoot as much as possible so that I am getting as much experience as I can. This below is some stuff I shot for an actor friend of mine yesterday in Auckland, NZ.

New Country, New Zealand

This is the 4th / 5th time I've moved countries, most actually within the last 6-7 years, and I've definitely learnt a few things.

#1 Having even one ally in a town can literally make or break you. I've lucked out here in Auckland, and have this great friend named Ralph, who is a constantly amazing friend and keeps introducing me to even more great people! The weekend away at the Coromandel (the seaside) was DOPE. There were 15 or so of us holed up in what they call a 'bach' - really it was like a miniature house/ cabin that is literally just for the purposes of a quick getaway. We ate good food, drank cheap wine, played games, and talked and I watched as an amazing group of people said goodbye to one of their own, as she embarks on her own adventures and a new life in London, England in a few days time.

#2 Enjoying your time at the start and not stressing about all the necessities - job, house, friends, phone, transport, health coverage, bank ... etc etc.
Those things will all come with a little bit of work and looking around for your best options and being willing to go out and have a bit of fun. If you freak out (which we are ALL susceptible to going through), you will just end up making it harder on yourself in more ways than one. You'll stress out, feel like things are a lot harder than they actually are, and even alienate yourself from a potential boss or friend from getting to see you for who you actually are.

So yesterday.. when I was feeling a little overwhelmed with everything .. I climbed a tree in a big park with not many souls strolling about and wrote in my journal just to empty my thoughts on to a page rather than to continue swirling around in my mind with no tangible outlet. I felt SO free after that. Even just climbing into the tree made me feel like I was elevated in a way from my problems, even if just for an hour. Sometimes that seems to be enough to make the self-induced pressure subside. So I'm sitting up in this tree minding my own business as a woman and her dog come by. I thought they had passed me, and was about to jump out of the tree, when next thing I know this woman's dog took a running start and ran up the tree (it is a bit slanted in climbing's favour, but FAR too steep to have ever expected that to happen), and was scrambling along my legs when I caught it from losing it's momentum and falling from the limbs. Then it was so excited and started licking my face, and I just started laughing out of complete shock and amazement as well as ticklishness, and had to help the dog out of the tree with it's owner completely flabbergasted and yelling for her dear Rose to 'come out of that tree right now!'.

TOO funny.

After that I wandered around for a few hours, found a Japanese market, a Korean market (!!), picked up my film, found a sweet veggie restaurant where you buy 6 dishes and get the 7th for free, and then stumbled upon an amazing old abandoned building that was about to get renovated, and got a tour from the architect and an autistic man in a skirt who was helping them fix it up in exchange for being able to stay there. Seriously great day.

And the flatmates at Ralph's.. love them all. We have one American, two Kiwis, one Norweigan, one German, and now me.

As to finish of the list of how to settle faster -
#3. Be up for anything. a n y thing. Just go. Do it. You don't like it, then don't do it again, but I bet you'll still meet some rad folks.

#4. Talk to everyone. Have conversations, make friends. I've already made one at the bus stop who I've got to call because she's invited me over for dinner at her place! People are; for the most part of course; inherently kind and also like making new friends just as much as you do, you just have to find the ones that you click with is all.