My Sunday Screening

Most sundays i work until 9 - 9.30ish pm, and all i wanna do when i get home is lax out in my bed with minky (my beloved sandy coloured faux mink blanket), my feather duvet and poofy pillows with my lap top and watch a easy going movie.

Last night i chose a movie that i hadn't actually heard of before; The Edge of Love.

Now this sounds like a cheesy romantic flick, but it wasn't quite. Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller were the female leads in a dark comedy/drama set during World War Two.

The plot was interesting, but what had me most caught up was the stunning artistic cinematography and the cutest 1940's outfits.

i am really loving Sienna. i have always admired her style as a person, but haven't had the privilege to see her act. i have to admit, im definitely a fan.

xxx

my muse-ical box

having strong musically opinionated parents growing up, i too have inherited a passion for music. as my folks themselves were only young when i graced (or should i say disrupted) the world with my presence, they had a mordern taste for the early 90's music that permeated my childhood. i have fond memories of head banging to nirvana and screaming my lungs out to alanis morrisette... in my ballerina costumes!


like most 90's kids i enjoyed pop sensations like spice girls, peter andre and hanson along with jumping on the pre teen bandwagon of listening to songs with swear words, cue eminem and the bloodhound gang. but it wasnt really until after high school that i started to develop my own tastes outside of my dad's (who only permitted us to listen to two radio stations in the car, the rock and hauraki rock).


rock music was still where it was at in my early teens, with the likes of red hot chili peppers and incubus at the top of my list (they both still remain favs of mine). and im proud to say RHCP's californication was the 1st CD i ever brought. although, at one point i even leaned towards the darker side of rock - the heavy metalers such as deftones, system of a down, slipknot, megadeath and even, (dare i say it), cradle of filth. i often attended concerts of all my fav rock musicians.


my musical influences lightened up with age, and i guess you could say i listened to more indie style music in the last few years. in fact anything with melodies that didn't have the heavy baseline i was used to. i took my musical blinders off and open-heartedly listened to a world full of new music. i have the widest range of music genres on my ipod (forgive me though, i am terrible at identifying exactly which genre each are now days). a few of my playlist revolving artists over the last couple of years include vampire weekend, mgmt, razorlight, kings of leon, cold war kids, the kooks, she & him, the shins, newton faulkner, paolo nutini, passion pit, florence and the machine, badly drawn boy, pete doherty, the view, edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros, red light company, gossip, the last shadow puppets, the courteeners... oh the list really does go on.


just recently, in true wanaka style, i have been introduced to dubstep - the town's winter vibe of choice. being described as tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples with occasional words. i have had many a nights in the clubs dancing (or trancing) to the heavy heartbeat sounds.


wanaka also proudly plays its native new zealand music often. after being out of the country for a year i am so appreciative to be surrounded by such an array of nz talent. thrashing beauties like shapeshifter, kora, tahuna breaks, sola rosa, adi dick, gin, la roux, ladyhawke, the lookie loos... again the list does go on and on. i do also have to say big ups to our neighbouring aussie musos too including pendulum, the temper trap and thirsty merc.


to end my musical rant i have to leave you with a kiwi band that is rocking my socks off right now. the slutty new wave/electro duo who describe themselves as "a cross between a late 80's police drama intro theme and a sophisticated super hussy"...

here's to the kids of 88

xxx

Snap happy

this week i have had the dilemma of contemplating on which new camera to buy. after loosing my little compact digital camera in dunedin a couple of weekends ago, i have felt deprived of being able to click away at life's continuous kodak moments. for over a year now i have had my eye on olympus' compact slr camera (the PEN E-P1).

i mean look how beautiful she is...

last year the PEN was a whopping $2000nz... but as a discontinued model (sigh) its now reduced to $800nz. which for an slr is actually quite reasonable, but its still a lot of money that i cannot really afford. oh how i tried to find this model at one of the bigger department stores where you can finance with 6 months interest free and various other deals, but no prevail.

impatient as i am with wanting a camera asap, i kept racking my brain on how i could come up with the funds. again i had come up with no plan as of yet.

however, while scoping out the only camera shop in wanaka my friend alisha picked up this dinky little white pentax and goes "oh this looks like a bit of you..." and there it was, a skip of a heartbeat, camera love at first sight.

of course, i hadnt ended my relationship with the olympus pen, and i still had strong feelings for it.

so, over a bottle of wine in the sun, i weighed up the pros and cons of each:

the olympus is an slr: pro. it has inter changable lenses: pro. it is super pretty: pro. though it is expensive: con. and it doesnt actually come with a flash (you have to purchase them separately for an extra $300): con.

now the pentax on the other hand is only a compact camera: con. but it has the same amount of megapixel as the PEN: pro. it costs half the amount so can buy it straight away: pro. and it is also super pretty: pro.

and on this sunny spring day after a lovely brekky with my dad who had come to visit me, i strolled into our small camera store and politely asked the camera man to take the pentax off the shelf, she will now be mine! (much to the dismay of the other staff member who aparently had had her eye on it also).

so say hello to my little bundle of beauty that will now be snapping all my most precious and memorable moments...

xxx

Traipsing out of Wonderland...

...and into a wonderworld! so far in my six month stint in wanaka i have got to explore a few other scenic gems in the deep south (thats otago to you other lovely kiwis).

my friend/flatmate gina and i have sometimes gotten restless during our small town residence. i feel bad saying it, but i guess you stop admiring the spectacualr beauty that every fresh face to town notices and start to feel a tad claustrophobic. this is especially true in the sense of feeling landlocked. even though wanaka has a lake, the sea is my anchor. around the 1st few days of spring we both were craving the sight, smell and feel of the sea.

so, on one overcast morning in wanaka, jeans and i along with our other friend emma, ventured out to the wild west coast. destination: haast.

After blinking and almost missing the classic kiwi town centre of haast (which consisted of a dairy, tea rooms/takeaway and a pub!) we drove a few more kms to the beach with itching toes...

Not having spent much time at west coast beaches we were amused at the gorse-ridden walkway to the beach, surrounded by paddocks of miniture horses and half fallen down shacks.

Who wears stockings to the beach?!

I definitely had to loose those on the soft sand, but as typical west coast weather goes, it was overcast and windy.

But we didn't care, loving it in the icy salt water

...and played at the cold coast for a good 10 minutes before we froze our toes off and retreated to the car. even though the west coast doesnt have the same peachy pristine visage to it like the east coast beaches, the contrasting colours and untamed atmosphere actually make it

worth it.

****

another spring morning, after going on my daily ritual of walking around mt iron and running home, i got a call from my boss alisha at base backpackers telling me to get to the airport in 20 minutes... im going on a flight to milford sound!

talk about the perks of working in tourism. so off i went in a flurry to the wanaka airport and pretty much boarded the 6 seater plane straight away... 'bagsed' the front seat!

flying over mount aspiring and surrounding snowy ranges, westward

starting our decent into the sounds, greener than ive seen in a while. i got to do a boat cruise as well, which i have done with my bestie monique at the start of this year. it wasn't the same without her... though the best part was seeing dolphies in the water! my favourite animal.

again, here's west coast weather for ya, it started to rain on the way out

and i found somewhere over the rainbow!

****

our last little excursion was to dunedin for a couple of days. we became students again, crashing with fellow student friends in a typical dunedin flat with 5 boys. i have visited them a fair bit over the past few months, but i think gina may have supressed her former grunge student lifestyle and was a little shocked at the state of their abode.

again drawn to the beaches, jeans and i visited aramoana with matt to take a look at the surf...

it was a teensy bit windy, and offshore so no waves for matty to surf. but doesn't gina look like a little pixie blowing in the wind?!

we found the surf at st. claire's beach

along with an odd looking cylindrical concrete structure

what's left of the st. claire pier

after the day spent at the dunedin beaches and the nights re-living our student days it was time to head back to work - 3 hours drive away.

over the weekend we kept hearing the rumour of the worst storm in 100 years to hit otago, the storm the size of australia! not thinking much of it in the spring weather we hit the road in the trusty (or not so trusty) mazda familia who struggled to start when leaving the city. not so long out of town, we started to rub our eyes when we saw white pieces of rain float by the car window... soon the whole country side turned from green to white and the snow got snowier!

stopped in milton for a frollick

magical.

much loved adventures xxx

Playing with the moon

luna inspired beauties...

love to my beautiful mother for sending these to me :)

xxx

When in Winter in Wanaka

this could well be the very first year ever i had ever been looking forward to the blustery blues of winter. ideas of snuggling inside a homely abode sewing bandeeze's and crocheting scarfs at night while shredding the snow in the daytime... mmm! of course my ideas tend to go unfinished and at the start of spring i am left with 2 rows of a crochet scarf, half a bandeeze (that is, a pretty bandanna for keeping toasty up the mountain) and an apartment that is starting to resemble a student flat. but isn't that the sign of an exhilarating and eventful winter season?

my winter life of love...

On the shore of Lake Wanaka

Sunset over the Mount Aspiring Ranges

One of the first mornings in my new apartment before i had curtains i awoke early to see this spectacular view outside my window!

A glorious snowy view from our front balcony

An attempt to pretty my room up with recycled furniture, making up for the lack of a bed (we still sleep on mattresses on the floor... hence the student flat feeling!)

A taste of my home on the wall - this is the longest period of time i have ever lived away from the beach

Gina and i indulging in a wine by the lake on a sunny winters day

Shortly after the sun hid behind a cloud so we retreated to the car to admire the view in the warmth along with our much beloved Frankie mags

My first time up Treble Cone

Once the sun falls behind the peaks the shadow looms

My good friend Matt and i playing in the snow

Just chilling near the top of treble cone

Admiring the scenery

Driving down from Cardrona - Wanaka's somewhere under the inversion layer... now who says i have my head in the clouds?!

Of course Wanaka has its share of rowdiness - Shapeshifter concert in the town hall

A shot i love of one of the most energized people i know at Wanaka's Welcome to Winter party

I feel this shot gone wrong tends to sum up the party scene here - grungy winter madness

This is wanaka:
A small seasonal town that is filled with beauty and soul and speckled with the steeze from transient snow feens. A town i have fallen in love with from the start despite its few flaws. A melting pot of cultures, fashions and backgrounds. A town which i love to be in, but also feel relief of to venture outside of its isolated boarders.

My wonderous winter has been wicked and only alliteration can start to convey WOW factor of wanaka!

xxx