El Salvador buses

It's about an hour/ hour and a half from Santa Ana to Lago de
Coatepeque, and costs a whopping 45cents per person. I bought a bag of
water (it's how they roll in central America!) for 15cents, so since I
packed a lunch, it should be a cheap day at the lake! It's wild
here... All around central america on these smaller or 'chicken
buses', people are constantly hopping on and off selling their wares,
foods or drinks. I admit it's really handy when you spend a whole day
traveling or even on short trips, and they're usually cheaper than
store bought items. One dude just finished up selling when the bus
pulled off, so he just opened the back emergency exit and hopped out
onto the road with his food and condiments as we were hitting a good
speed.

One Year Prior

One year ago, I left Korea for the homeland, Australia. I still had yet to head to Malaysia, see wild orangutans and stay with the Iban tribe, do a road trip around Australia for a month in my dad's camper van with a friend from Canada, moved to New Zealand for an amazing 5 months, then off to Toronto for 3 months to live with my best friend and be there for her wedding and now here I am in Vancouver; days away from heading to Honduras in the pursuit of reaching my 30 by 30.

beneath; a photo from each of those places.

korea

 

australia

 

malaysia

toronto

it's a non-stop evolution

So I've been tracking my website stats, and how and where the traffic is coming from ... it's amazing watching the surges come depending on what I am doing, but it still hasn't ceased to amaze me how consistant one thing is: whatever city I'm currently located in, is where the majority of the traffic also comes from. This is kind of a strange phenomena, since I move around so much, and although I am obviously trying to get my name out there wherever I may be, it seems to prove to me the adage that you can most certainly be 'out of sight; out of mind', and therefore the opposite applies. As much as I pushed my work in New Zealand, the high level of traffic literally took a dive and Toronto became the major influx city. It shows you can't under estimate the self-promotion side of the industry - just meeting people and getting your name out there and doing your best to direct people to your work so that hopefully the right eyes will find themselves scanning the pages.

I recently dropped a large sum of money developing and scanning roll after roll of film, a few of which can be seen on this website I speak of (iamadroit.com), but below are also a few. I shot mostly with my yashica fx-103 on fuji colour film, between 200-400 iso, but also on the yashica EM with ilford 120 film. Just dropped off another roll of Kodak 120 colour film that I get to go pick up tomorrow night ... can't wait to see how they turned out.

One Way Tickets

I've purchased two one way tickets in the past two days, and I fly out in less than two weeks. Farewell New Zealand, you have been amazing!

 

BANG!

so glad I didn't worry yet about money or work!
I am now currently employed as a freelance retoucher at a photography studio in Auckland, new zealand!

Moving countries is a lot easier when finding a job works out perfectly!

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.

Road trip, Australia

At the moment, I'm 3 weeks into a 1 month long roadtrip, with a friend of mine from Canada, Natalie. We started from my hometown of the Sunshine Coast, Australia, and drive down south hitting the beaches before heading inland towards the amazing Jenolan Caves (the neighbouring town is known as Katoomba; which was art deco and cool cafe's at their best). We then headed back to the sea, to a cheese factory ( ....yum), to a national park with wild kagaroos, birds, and wombats, and then into the metropolitan wilderness known as Melbourne! That place is wild. Alleyways galore crammed full of rad little shops, cafes, bars, and anything else hip that you ought to search for.

THEN to top it all off, our last day in town was the creme of the crop with the St. Kilda Festival - Music, international foods, rides, and a great gaggle of lively spirited people all spread out along the beachside suburb. Highlight there? Firstly, the rad dude in the burger shop who was just too much of a crack up to forget (we had a micheal jackson sing-off, an accent competition, and general mayhem in a 10minute burst of fun), and secondly, the AMAZING performance by Kimbra! Check her out if you haven't heard of this wild bird yet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHV04eSGzAA

Now... now we're in sydney. We went to Manly beach today, and tomorrow the world. I mean. The city. I haven't really ever cared much for Sydney, but hopefully it proves me wrong tomorrow with some good adventuring!

Brisbane Flooding chapter 2

a friends house lies beyond the phone booth out of view

Brisbane Flooding

Yesterday after work, I drove down to Brisbane to go check out what was going on and photograph some of the mayhem. So my friends and I drove to another friends house - where we actually had my welcome home party only a few weeks ago all together. This time though, we all stood up the street from it, at the waters edge looking at the water engulfing the street, houses, pay phone booths and anything else that was in it's path. One of the weirdest things was driving down a street and then suddenly being at a new lake - with kayakers, boaters, and swimmers where solid ground used to be, but the one that made it the most glaringly shocking was seeing a street lined with cars along an incline. The first white van had hgih tide marks all the way to the roof where the dirty water had receded along. Next was a red four door with the front headlights peering out above the murkiness; and finally all you could see a sliver of what looked like a white hummer. Bummer hummer. 

The attitude of the Australian people is astounding. Talk about survivors and optimistic even at the most heart-wrenching of times. For the most part, people are volunteering their help, their clothes, and even opening their homes to strangers to help out their fellow Australian. It's amazing, and makes you proud to be an Australian. I'll pop-pictures up once I get them developed!

Australia

This country is soooo huge. I got a bit spoiled in Korea. 

I wanted to be at the top of the country one day, and the bottom the next, it was no problem, just a super affordable bus ride away and a couple of hours with my charged ipod, and I was set.. but here is just unfathomable and expensive to do such an expedition. I was talking on skype to a friend who is in a little dot on the map called Kintore. It's a speck, really. A red, dusty speck. A bit of a dream to photograph, with this amazing spectacular earthen colour, and the local people so full of character. So i had this bright idea to pop over and hang out there for NYE... bzzt! 

Her father (I was over at the family's house for din dins and catch-up time) told me it was an $800 ish/ 2 hr flight to Alice Springs, and then a 7 hour drive.

Nevermind.

But I really, truly would love to head out there.

This family is sooo awesome. I worked for them when I was in University on my days off from school, and they are the most well-traveled people with the biggest hearts, and actually run this really amazing organisation called World Outreach, so the father was in Pakistan during the floods, told me about the amazing sights in Calcutta, and want me to come with them to Bangladesh on their next trip there. Of course I'm so in. It's really inspiring to talk to people like this and to know that i'm not completely bonkers to want to see so much of the world.

SHARKS

So this is my surprise!

I got driven to the local aquarium (it's pretty radical), and after exploring and going through there for a bit, we were led over to another area to put on wetsuits, given training on how to use the equipment, and then sent into the aquarium waters with the sharks, fish, GIANT sting rays, and a whole other smattering of sea life.

FUN!

What a rad present for Christmas. So stoked my brother listened to me saying I didn't want any present I couldn't pack into my bag with all my other stuff (I don't even know what country I want to live in next year yet), and he was really workin' the creative juices and came up with this gem!

Soup-rise

As I mentioned before, I'm back home for a stint over Christmas, and slightly beyond. I've got a job and am working managing a photography studio while I'm home (it's not as glamorous as it might sound), and am taking the day of work wednesday because my Christmas present from my brother is some sort of a surprise. 

I L-O-V-E surprises! Sometimes ... often... more than whatever it actually is. So all I know is i need a swimsuit, towel, and sense of adventure. My brother is a pilot/ likes engines, so I'm lead to the following conclusions:

#1.Parasailing

#2. Scuba diving (he recently got his master divers licence for scuba diving)

#3. Jet ski adventure

#4. Something lame and not nearly as bourgeois like a surfing lesson.
#5. skydiving into the ocean.

sooooo curious to see what it turns out to be!! They even tried to tell me today what it is (I've been told what to bring, that it's been paid for and can't be changed to another day, and that we're meeting at the beach). My family is RADICAL.

On another note, my parents (mostly Mum) are completely bonkers for Christmas tradition, and two of the biggest are baking way too many treats, and buying a new ornament each year to represent the year past. I have two this year; a camera, and a globe! The plan, cheesy as it may sound, is to mark a little 'x' on all 26 or so countries I've been to up to this point on my life and then breeze past it next year! I have this desire to get to 30 countries before I'm 30, so my bike ride through the middle east next year will be perfect as long as I can raise enough money for this amazing event. (http://followthewomen.chipin.com/follow-the-women)


I'd ideally like to donate some of my photography, and have a show while I'm in Australia and donate the proceeds to the event, but it's a lot of organisation which I'm finding a little hard to juggle with a job, family-time, Christmas, and catching up with friends I haven't seen in the last few years, but HAVE to do since I'm really passionate about this cause.

In China

This airport in Guangzhou sucks balls yo.

no computers (i have mine), nowhere to charge anything unless you want to over pay for a coffee in the random Blenz here.

Somehow i got bitten by (but in return killed) a persistent little mosquito. The air here has a fun haze.

Word to the wise: never fly China Southern Airlines if you have more than a minute amount of baggage - they jack you up the arse if you have more than 20kgs total baggage - see a previous post. ALL i could bring was my bike and skateboard and my carry-on luggage. Poo. I'll get clothing in a week or so.

Das racist

I've been absent for good reason; I did a mini tour de Korea; I caught buses to all the towns I spent significant time and had friends who I had to see one last time before leaving Korea. At this point, the count is dismally down to something around 5 days. So I hung out in Jinju, having fun, making new friends (one Korean girl; extremely inebriated I might add; took a strong liking to me and ended up trying to kiss and cuddle me into a corner), playing pool ad sleeping in a country-side looking area in a miniature chateau/ school where my friend works, and getting up at 7:30am after a big night out.

Das Racist

Next was Daegu, and another all nighter; shooting Das Racist, a rap trio out of New York, before finally making it back to my friends house. She had forgotten Yo pay her utilities bill for far too long, and actually had the electricity shut off for the ONE night I was there. Luckily I apparently watched enough MacGyver as a kid, and not only had a flashlight, but strung it from the ceiling. I forgot to mention that since she had no hot water either, earlier in the night to get ready for the show, I had washed my hair myself in a hairdressers shop after explaining as best as I could in Korean my predicament. Luckily they thought it was entertaining and hooked it up for free. Booyah for getting to use the good shampoos and conditioners for free! I also blow dried it since it's freezing outside these days. This was a major gamble, as sometimes I can turn out looking like a healthy blend of Frankenstein an a chia pet after using these contraptions, but luckily I got a fun rocker look. Phew.

The next morning I was up early again after only a few hours sleep, to go visit my friends family that I had lived with on and off during the summer. Petted the rabbit, had the final (for now) chit chats with the fams, and then was off again to go do a photoshoot with Das Racist. Good Lord, I hope they turn out good. Film always gives me a heart attack that way. Also got some in a thrift store on the good old un-heart-attack giving digital. It was fun. It's a little tricky bossing around three New York rappers, but they're all really good fun guys. I got a new fav saying from one of them, just dropping in 'that's so sexual' at random times. Fun!

Das Racist #2

Then I boosted to Daejeon where I've got some superb friends I met through skateboarding; even though I dreadfully suck at said activity. So we got drinks, played pool, and just shivered our way around Daejeon, and then my friend that night gave me his 'room'; sleeping on the floor in the living room or his family house, and he shared his sisters room. I love Korea.

Das Racist performing in Seoul at the Rolling Hall, in Hongdae

Then back up to Seoul for shooting Tecla and Das Racist (DR) again .... the venue caught on fire!

No big deal, they caught it quickly since Tecla was singing and pointing at it saying it was on fire pretty fast. The resulting fire extinguisher fumes were overwhelming, but still the show went on. DR came on after, and are frigging hilarious. They dance around, try to tell the crowd to say it was during their set that the stage caught on fire, and they really just have fun and make it a fun time.