imisstony.com

Trying to Find My Way

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:09:00 +0000

I was wandering around trails with my brother at Yosemite. While searching for the right routes, we hit huge patches of horse s#it. Another time we came upon a peaceful lake. And that... is life.

Portishead- The Rip

Ouch, Tendonitis

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:28:00 +0000

I've been hanging out at my brother's house this week. We went for a hike today. Even physical activity wasn't enough to push the gloom out of my chest. On the bright side, I've started 'the Project'. I've got a long way to go.

As my brother and I entered a local grocery store yesterday...
"A study came out last year saying there's fecal bacteria on two-thirds of shopping carts."
"Whatever, there was feces on two-thirds of the countries I visited last year."

I'm fortunate to have a lot of fantastic friends. The funny thing is, I can't seem to shake the idea that I'm in this alone.

Epilogue: Time Lapse

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:06:00 +0000

One year ago today, I boarded a flight from San Francisco to Paris, beginning my trip around the globe. Thanks to President Bush's bonus check in the mail, I'm going to begin my "Economic Stimulus Tour" across the country to commemorate my journey. Some possible destinations may include North Carolina, New York, Florida, and Texas.

I've continued to have a really rough time back here in America. I had looked forward to certain things upon my return that haven't panned out. My mood has been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs, leaving me sick to the stomach. Speaking of belly troubles, I've watched my weight quickly return to what it was when I left. And somehow, the fat has decided to congregate in the most unattractive places on my body. I've been paying closer attention to the kinds of processed and fatty foods Americans shovel into their mouths. But I haven't made the effort to stop eating the junk food myself. Eating healthy just plain costs more in this country.

I've also struggled with my identity. Everyone wants to know what's next, where am I working, where am I living? Without a job, it's hard to present yourself as someone with purpose. Even I grow uneasy when it feels like I'm just bumming around the house. But I'm building momentum. Gaining support. I'm in the business of fulfilling dreams, starting with my own.

There will be more to come.

The End

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 03:12:00 +0000

There's an awful moment in life when you hold onto hope so tightly that when you ultimately let go, there's a deep red imprint of it left inside of your hands. Sometimes that imprint even hurts a little... a bloodless cut in your palm that hasn't broken the skin. Your rub it with your thumb, trying to massage it away. Soon it fades.

I made the journey of a lifetime. Thank you for coming along for the ride.

This is the end of the road for now.

Cat Power- "The Greatest" (mp3)

Sunshine State

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 23:52:00 +0000

I arrived in West Palm Beach the other evening. I've been hanging out with my friend out here, not doing a whole lot. I'm preparing to teach her middle school kids how to edit video on the Mac next week. So I've been installing software and testing different workflows out. We discovered today that the most basic MacBook doesn't have a SuperDrive installed. How lame is that, Apple? Why include iMovie and iDVD with no way of burning videos? Argh.

Anyway, none of this is interesting to you I know. But I just wanted to report in and tell you that the weather is warm, the skies sunny, and the bed comfy.

ID Please

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:38:00 +0000

I'm in Tampa Airport. The plane I was on had to go in for maintenance so I'm delayed here for a bit. But they've got wifi. Lucky you.

I've been thinking about identity today. On the road, I was a TRAVELER or more appropriately, a TOURIST. Since my return, I feel like I've lost my identity. My role in life has become unclear. Traveling through different countries, I'd meet people from all over the place. It didn't really matter what they did. Foremost, they were just plain and simply people. CITIZENS of EARTH. What we did for work was secondary.

Back in the States, being unemployed has left me feeling like I have no label. I didn't realize how much that can mess with your brain until people I've been meeting started to ask me what I do. I had no real answer. I'd say, "I was a PRODUCTION ASSISTANT for the past five years". But now, I'm just a consumer I guess. Without some sort of label to impress people, you don't feel like you have a lot of self-worth. While traveling and sharing the adventures on the blog, I was someone interesting and admired. People would tell their friends about me. It starts to feed the ego maybe. When it all abruptly comes to an end, you quickly lose this sensation. What am I now?

[since I never really finished this blog at the airport, it's been a few days since this topic swished around my brain...] I've come to believe that I'm in transition. I was this. I did that. And soon, I'll be doing something new and different. For the moment, I'm still on holiday. Taking a break. Most people think I've been gone for more than a year when I'd only been out there for about ten months. So you know what, I'm going to take the full year off.

There's No Place Called Home

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 07:23:00 +0000

Where have I been, what am I doing? Well, it's seems as if I'm still traveling, mostly catching up with friends and family while learning a little more about myself and how the world trip's affected me.

First of all, I feel unattached. This means freedom but it also means too many options. And that has resulted in this annoying disorientation with life. There's something slightly comforting about having obligations and responsibilities that limit you. Limitations mean you have a path you're supposed to follow.

For the last couple of weeks, the debt seemed to be my number one limitation. My stomach was twisted up, my shoulders heavy with stress, my brain spinning in a panic... all over this thought that I'd have to start paying off the plastic. I'd be a minion of some credit card company, working to make a minimum payment. Ultimately, the debt is manageable and I'm not going to let it steer me into further unhappiness.

Patience. I'm doing my best to be patient with my transition back into the United States. The place looks the same at first glance but if I stand still and gaze at it with my 'new eyes', I notice changes in the landscape of people's lives. Something's different. Everyone claims it's not them and I claim it's not me. I think I'm currently in the process of working that out.

My mood dips frequently. There are many days where I feel alone in a crowded room. I know my journey isn't over. So I'm going to keep on going for a few more weeks.

I caught the new Wong Kar Wai film, My Blueberry Nights, the other day. I loved it. One of the issues that I've been struggling with since I started traveling is my movement away from my passion for filmmaking. It's a scary thing to decide that you have this desire to pursue something, then to find yourself putting it on the back burner just a few months later. Filmmaking had become part of my identity but I'm just discovering other parts of myself. I'm not sure how filmmaking will play a role in my life yet. I just want people to know it. I've taken the pressure off myself to tackle those parts of my dreams. I'm confident it'll happen but it's not something I've put a time frame around right now.

I watched this film about a journey, about love, and I was swept in so deeply. My eyes welled as it ended. I remembered the power a film and a filmmaker can have over someone. If you find yourself catching this one in the theaters, be patient through the first 15 minutes and maybe you'll grow as the characters grow on screen.

Next stop, Florida. See you there.

Art Saves

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:57:00 +0000

I believe creativity will save me from myself once again.

I think these blogs will become annoyingly cryptic as I learn how this story ultimately ends.

Happy Easter!

Lockdown

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 03:30:00 +0000

Howdy, after helping my brother build a goat habitat, I headed back to my mom's house in San Jose where I've pretty much been on a self-imposed lockdown. Why spend money and use up gas? Plus, I signed up for Netflix. Bad idea. I discovered their "Watch Instantly" feature which lets you watch 7,000 videos on demand. Twelve hours of my life gone. Today, I blew through 3 dvds.

And now it's time to get to work. I've started to get rid of the build up of 'stuff' around me. I hope to reduce my collection of junk and antiquated electronics by at least 50%. I found a drawer in my old room with a gallimaufry (sorry, I learned that word from another blog a couple days ago, it means 'jumble or hodgepodge') of knick knacks that have lost their sentimental value. Isn't it funny how we like to keep fortunes from fortune cookies? No more!

I've been running around my mom's house telling her that we've gotta get rid of things. "If we haven't touched something in 15 years, we don't need it!"

Tomorrow, I will leave the house. And this weekend, it's looking like San Francisco. Next week, San Diego? I dunno. The world is my oyster.

Goats!

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 05:37:00 +0000

I made it out to my brother's place for the weekend. Farm land. Cows, horses, and the House of Beef. I bet you've never met anyone who's worked in a nanotech lab and built a pygmy goat shelter in the same week. That's what I've been up to. Kickin' it with my nieces and their goats. Along with some dirt biking, Rock Banding, and scooter scavenging for fencing supplies.

Backtrack

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:14:00 +0000

I'm just retracing my food steps over the last week for my personal records... Friday, Mexicali in Studio City to Don Cuco's and Bob's Big Boy in Burbank. Saturday, Mo's in Burbank for brunch, Al Gelateria dinner in Beverly Hills, Cat and the Fiddle in Hollywood, house party in Silverlake. Sunday lunch at the Mustard Seed in Los Feliz. Back to San Jose.

Monday breakfast at the Evergreen Inn. Tuesday, home with mom. Wednesday, off to Berkeley, pizza at Zachary's on Solano, ice cream at Polly Ann's. Wednesday, lunch at Gregoires in Berkeley, shabu shabu dinner at Mum's.

Intense.

It was a busy shoot in Burbank last week followed by exhausting LA wanderings and very little sleep. The brief rest routine has continued back home. I spent a day at UC Berkeley, working in a nanotechnology lab for an hour and hanging out on campus in the afternoon. Four girls walked up to me. This would usually be the beginning of some interesting coed fantasy but in reality, they just wanted me to accept Jesus Christ as my savior. I declined. I think this was the first time I've ever commuted by motorcycle, Porche 911, and hybrid car in a single day. Thanks for the rides Donovan.

I'm headed to Oakdale on Thursday to meet some goats. More on that later.

For the moment, I've decided to enjoy this immense freedom that I have right now. This is a time for me to take risks. I've returned to the United States and I'm still on my own, I'm responsible for my own life and if I say I'm going to live it in a way different from you and the next guy, then so be it.

My routine for the last ten months has been to continuously move around uncharted territories, discovering people, cultures, and ideas unfamiliar to me. Ironically, it's being back in the familiarity of home that makes me feel lost. I will find my way. Either way, life is a journey and I, an eager traveler.

Speaking of traveling, I've been debating whether or not to shoot over to Austin, Texas for the SXSW festival. It's an awfully expensive adventure on such short notice but hey, what else would I do with freedom at my disposal?

Old Habits

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:11:00 +0000

I've been back in Los Angeles for about two days and I've just caught myself reading celebrity gossip blogs for half an hour. I feel like my brain has lost a couple points of IQ so I'm here to confess my sins. What is "The Hills" and why do people care who "Spencer" is dating? These are questions I could probably never answer and still feel like I've lived a full life.

It was a fun day on the job yesterday. Though I'm still not sleeping very much and I'm feeling like my old haggard LA self again. We're about to start another full day of running around, setting up lights, and pointing HD cameras at people.

I'm going to enjoy my weekend and shoot back up to San Jose by Monday to catch up with more people. I'm slowly sorting my head out and deciding what I want. The interesting is, I may even figure out how to get it.

2008, it's all happening.

City of Angels

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:20:00 +0000

I rolled into smoggy Los Angeles today after a long quiet drive. When I got into town, I felt really optimistic and felt a positive energy coming my way. It's a nice feeling and one I didn't get very often when I was living down here. I also have this sense of freedom. Everything is in my hands. I've got incredible friends and family. I feel good. Only negative thing right now is my horrible sleeping patterns. I've got a shoot to go to in five or six hours and I'm still up.

I'll be spending the next two days helping Manash and Julian with a video shoot. We're working with these new Sony EX1 HD cameras. Should be fun running around a set hooking up expensive equipment. Doing this sort of thing makes me remember that I have learned a thing or two about this and that.

Seriously though, time for bed.

The Backpacker's New Clothes

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 02:20:00 +0000

When you're living out of a backpack for ten months, you get really tired of wearing the same gear everyday. Colors slowly fade away after hand washings in hostel sinks or cheap laundering in Asian countries. Whites take on stains that never come out or turn a subtle shade of gray due to fraternizing with the darks.

I was excited to get home and to wear something different. But as I threw on my grey hoodie and some old pajama pants, I felt strange. It didn't feel right. I looked too different. I'd somehow gotten used to what I looked like wearing variations of the same six t-shirts, two pairs of shorts, and two pairs of trousers.

When I brushed me teeth the other day, I noticed all sorts of toiletries I'd left in the bathroom before I left. Neutrogena lotion, hair gels, anti-bacterial soaps. Did I need any of this stuff? I'd survived nearly a year living out of the same bag. Why did I need anything else? It's interesting to slowly transition back to the old ways with new attitudes.

Fuel prices are skyrocketing. Just as I need to make a 350 mile drive to LA tomorrow morning. Gas Bless America.

Dealing

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:54:00 +0000

I got an email from Kat, a friend I met in Spain who was on quite a journey around the world of her own. She asked me how I was feeling and this spewed out... sounds like a blog rant so I thought I'd share:

Well, when I was about to land in San Francisco and reflected on the journey I was about to complete, I felt like I had done something pretty amazing. I was pumped up, thinking that I proved to myself that I could do some incredible things. I just needed to go out and try.

The next day, I felt a bit exhausted and suffocated by the life that I left behind (employment, boxes of stuff...). It seemed to all be sitting there waiting for me to deal with. But I'm looking at it and thinking, why does THAT have to be life?

It's just frustrating because this is what we were taught or trained to believe we needed to have a 'normal' life. I still want all of these nice things... I want the nice home, stylish furniture, tv shows in HD. But I keep asking myself whether there's another way to go about it all.

I really think I have this incredible freedom right now to continue going out there and doing something different. It's just the debt that's weighing me down. Fortunately, I planned accordingly and bought myself some time if I want it. What I need is to get the blood flowing again. I wish I could go for a run but there's a gruesome sound of cartilage or something funny going on in my knee.

What I may look into doing is spending some time with a non-profit. My friend Valentina (who let me crash on her flat in Paris at the start of my trip) has found herself with a new challenge in West Africa. She's trying to raise the funds for a promotional video to raise awareness for the Niapele Project, which aims to bring education, nutrition, and health care to the 600+ children of the Buduburam refugee settlement in Ghana. The project hopes to help provide these kids with a sustainable future. Val and her friend's Ayoka Productions is taking tax-deductible donations for their trip to Africa to shoot the film.

If you're in the giving mood and would like to do something positive today, head over to Ayoka's Paypal donation page or learn about the Niapele Project.

First Full Day Back

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:13:00 +0000

Pretty uneventful yet slightly productive. First meal back- InNOut burger. My sleep schedule is completely off. It's been off since I landed in Hawaii last week. Good thing I don't have to get up for work tomorrow. The first night back at my mom's, I went through a few hundred pieces of mail that had piled up over 10 months. I'd say half of it was made up of credit card offers. There were two class action suit settlements. One Christmas card (thanks Anthonette, nice pop-up card!). Two boxes, each containing jeans I'd shipped home. Several tax forms. And two tour brochures from Intrepid- Africa and Latin America. :drool:

I spent most of today with the family before sitting down tonight to take care of my tax return. Good news is, huge return comin'. Bad news, it won't even make a dent in the plastic debt I've accrued. Gone are the days of Perrier and Friskie cat snacks (I found that photo above on my computer, it was from 3 1/2 years ago).

Tomorrow's exciting activities: laundry! cleaning! and more sleep at odd hours...

P.S.- I think I'm giving up television.

Home Stretch

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 23:12:00 +0000

Yesterday was just another day at the beach but this morning I decided to get up early and hike up Diamond Head Crater. I zoomed up past the other tourists in my flip flops, triumphantly reaching the top in about 25 minutes. Sweat running from my forehead, I took a last look around Oahu and thought about completing my around the world journey in ten hours. I rushed back down the crater to make it back in time for a shower at my last shared hostel dorm room of the trip. Before I did though, I grabbed a Hawaiian shave ice.

A girl named Kori discovered my short film, Missing Pieces, on the net about a year ago and soon after, she found out about my trip. I'd never met her but she was one of the first donors to feedtony.com. A native Hawaiian, she requested that I treat myself to a shave ice when I made it to Honolulu. So here it is, my last thank you of the trip:

Mahalo Kori!

I'm at the airport waiting for my flight. Five hours til I hit the mainland. Nutty man, nutty.

Mahalo!

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:51:00 +0000

Been taking it easy in Hawaii. The weather's been great. I've worn shorts and flip flops everyday. I have many thanks to go out to people who have thrown some extra funds my way to help ease the pain of spending real American currency. Let me tell you, it's shocking to hand over the greenbacks after playing with the 'Monopoly money' that is foreign currency for the past ten months. I feel like the cashiers at the ABC store have to pry the bills from my hands sometimes.

First big thanks goes to Erica and Anton for my sunset dinner at Longhi's in the Ala Moana Center. I ate at this restaurant with my friend Manash when I was in Honolulu two years ago for the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival. Back then, I tried the Longhi's Shrimp and Scallops. I'd been dreaming of having it again ever since I left two years ago. This time around I started with an artichoke appetizer. I don't remember the last time I had a whole artichoke but it reminded me of eating them with my parents when I was a kid. Mmm, butter. Anyhoo, it was a nice meal even though I had to dine alone this time.

Yesterday, I went to do the touristy Polynesian Cultural Center museum and Lu'au. Mahalo to my brother Walt for helping to fund the full day of exploring Tahiti, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Aoteroa, Hawaii, and Marquesas cultures. I saw traditional dances, listened to music, learned how to throw a Tongan spear (my favorite part), and sampled coconut bread cooked in the ground. In the evening I got lei'd on my way to my first luau. There I watched more performances, including one guy's amazing jam session on the ukelele, and feasted on a massive meal of fish, chicken, taro, roast pork, rice, salads, and four types of dessert. I had to fight a food coma on the bus ride back to the hotel.

And today, I did some scuba diving with Dive Oahu, a great dive shop here in Honolulu where Captain Dave and Hector, my dive guide, took really good care of me. This trip came courtesy of Carol and John who've urged me to enjoy these dive opportunities whenever I can. I'm glad I did because this wreck dive down to a ship called Sea Tiger was one of my favorite dives. About 100 feet deep, the ship was a really cool sight. The most thrilling bit was when I turned to point out a spotted ray to my fellow divers and just as I turned back to look at it again, a sea turtle swam right up to me. I flipped around backwards and watched it glide right over me. Later, the guide took us into the ship where we found another turtle hiding out in the dark. Fun stuff.

Exhausted from waking up early and getting on a boat, I checked into the YHA hostel and took an afternoon nap. For dinner, Tristan's cash went towards a Mexican dinner at Senor Frog's. I'd been craving Mexican food for months and I was going to wait til I got back to California but a coupon lured me to this funny joint. I had tortilla soup and chicken enchiladas, oh, and a crazy full stomach afterwards. To ease the pain I went for a post-dinner walk along the beach at sunset.

One more full day to enjoy paradise. I'm back in the Bay Area on Saturday night. I'll be in town for a few days and then I'm running down to LA for a two day film gig. Gotta go where the money is. But no worries, I will be around Cali to see all of my friends and family before some employer slaps the shackles back on my wrists.

Check out Azad's latest photoblog from Iran, Germany, and Spain at LifeGoesOnInTehran.com Wish him a happy birthday, too (because I forgot to!)
Aloha!

Aloha

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 10:55:00 +0000

Can you believe it? I'm on American soil again. I made it! The flight was a little over 8 hours long. I was a bit miserable. When I landed, I felt as lonely as the day I left. But after making a few phone calls and cracking jokes with customs officials, I was getting into the aloha spirit.

I'm staying at the Aqua Continental at the moment [that's my partial ocean view above]. My first evening back in America consisted of eating Round Table Pizza delivery and watching late night talk shows. [I think it gave me heart burn. American food strikes its first blow to my system. Nice one.]

I saw this thing on Blogger today and I'm not sure what it does but I've got time on my hands so feel free to try it out. I think if you click this button, it'll call my phone or something [UPDATE- Put YOUR number in and it'll call you to ask if you'd like to call my phone. Really weird but it actually works]:

Brighter Days

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:12:00 +0000

Can you believe it? The sun came out my last day in New Zealand, effectively the last day of my international trip around the planet. Steph, Carlien, Amy, and I hopped on the Stray bus for a free tour of Auckland. Carlien and Steph scored a free jump off of the Sky Tower which was a funny way to start off the day. We took in some other sights around town, walked around a volcanic crater, and sat by the water watching really big seagulls (these birds were the size of dogs).

In the evening Carlien and I went up to the observation deck of the Sky Tower. We had a cocktail and a chat above Auckland skyline. My head was flooded with thoughts and my shoulders tense with anxiety over returning to the States. {You know what... I missed the Oscars this year}

302 days I've spent on the road. It boggles my mind a bit. I wonder about how a trip like this will shape me from here on out. I feel as if I could return home and slip right back into where I was before. But I hope that doesn't happen.

I leave New Zealand on Tuesday morning and arrive in Hawaii Monday night. I'll take a few days on the beautiful island of Oahu to sort my head out a bit.

Thanks again to Walt, Mom, Mai, Charley, Lisa, Kim, Carol, John, Erica, Anton, Shilpa, Mikey, Daniel, Jeremy, and Kat for dropping some funds into the FeedTony hat to help me on the New Zealand leg of the trip. This place has been the most expensive country by far but I've had some unbelievable experiences here. Thanks for being a part of it all.

Soggy BBQ- Thanks Mikey!

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:36:00 +0000

It hasn't stopped raining in 24 hours. A poor end to this NZ trip. Hopefully I can get a partial refund on this Kiwi top bit tour thing and do a dive in Hawaii. When you can do anything outdoors, you have to find indoor entertainment.

Mike, thanks for the fundage which kept me at the hostel and out of the rain when dinner time came around last night. Steak and sausage barbecue was the evening meal with a free pint to wash it down. I spent the rest of the evening watching Whale Rider. It was a heck of a lot more interesting after being to the town where it was shot and learning a bit more about the Maori history behind it. Anyhoo, here's a look at lovely Paihia where we've been stuck for the last couple of days. It's off to Auckland this afternoon.

Rain! Argh.

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:17:00 +0000

Made it up north to Paihia. It's raining miserably. Looks like diving is out of the itinerary for New Zealand. Crossing my fingers for some sunshine before I leave Auckland on Tuesday morning.

Ooo, Glow... Maggots?

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 06:38:00 +0000

Had another early morning today. This time it was off to Waitomo for Black Water Rafting in the Ruakuri Caves. This basically involved throwing on the ridiculous gear you see above, grabbing a rubber tube, and throwing ourselves into a hole in the ground with rushing water all around us. Good fun! One of the coolest parts of the ride was floating in the dark, looking up, and seeing hundreds of tiny lights on the ceiling. The lights were from glowworms which we learned were actually the larvae of gnats. So they're really glow-maggots. And what makes them glow is their excrement. Lovely. But with that weird knowledge aside, it was magical. Tomorrow I'm off to Auckland for a night and then up to the northern tip of NZ for some sand dune boarding and hopefully a scuba dive around the Bay of Islands if the weather gets friendlier.

Kia Ora!

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 06:33:00 +0000

Hello Mai! Thank you so much for sending me some funds for a nice meal. I decided to take in the Tamaki Maori Experience which featured a hangi meal (a meal cooked under the earth with hot stones). Our shuttle picked us up from the hostel and a host on the bus started by teaching us some of the Maori language (Kia Ora means "To Life" and is used as a greeting, a thanks, and a goodbye) as well as the etiquette for being welcomed into a Maori village and its chief.

Right from the start the experience was amazing. While villagers chanted in the background, Maori warriors dressed in full regalia and carrying traditional weapons came out to perform a traditional welcome. This involves lots of fierce eye-bulging, guttural grunts, and threatening swings and jabs of various weaponry. Then we were walked into a replica village to learn about different aspects of ancient Maori life like wood carving and more weapon wielding (Can you tell that I was pretty fascinated with the warriors?)

Following our village visit was a full out concert with dancing, drumming, and a an exciting haka or Maori war dance. And finally, dinner! I had my fill of potatoes, carrots, kumara, lamb, pasta, salad, mussels, fish, chicken, and a dessert of fruit, kiwi pavlova, and steamed bread pudding. All of it, crazy good. It was a great evening and thanks again for making it easy on my wallet! Kia Ora!

Off the Grid

noreply@blogger.com (Tony) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 12:31:00 +0000

For the last four days, I've been traveling along the north eastern corner of New Zealand where I had zero access to the internet, cell phone signals, or credit cards. With a pocket full of Kiwi dollars, I jumped on a bus from Taupo on Friday morning and headed off to Te Kaha. On the way we made stops at a sacred tree (which we hugged), several churches with beautiful Maori carving, and mostly just got used to our bus driver's wild driving through windy mountain roads (I would have been a little nervous but he's been rolling through these highways since 1959).

It was a quiet first night spent walking around the beach, taking in the sunset, and staring at stars. Early the next morning, we booked it down the coastline to Rangitukia where I spent the afternoon learning how to carve Maori designs out of beef bone. Later in the night I picked up a .22 rifle and fired a gun for the first time in my life. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal except that I was out at 11pm hunting for possum. (I know some of my "PETA" friends are scolding me for possum shooting but it was a one time experience that I took part in mostly because the possum in NZ are considered to be pests that eat bird eggs and destroy fruit trees and crops) I was surprised at how well I did with the rifle, swiftly picking off two possum from the moon roof of an SUV.

With blood on my hands (not literally) I slept soundly for a few hours before waking up early to hike up into the hills at 6am to watch the sunrise. From this point in New Zealand I was among the first in the world to see the beginning of the new day. By noon we'd arrived in the beach town of Tatapouri. There, I threw on some waders and walked out into the ocean to feed huge stingrays. These are the creatures that stung the late Steve Irwin. Weighing around 60kg, these guys swim right up to you for a bite of fish from your hands, waving the poisonous barb at you like a dog who's just gotten a treat. Afterwards, we watched one of the guys from Dive Tatapouri feed a little blue penguin that they were raising in captivity. It was a rare opportunity to see this species up close and fun to watch the little dude gobble up hunks of bait fish we'd caught while feeding the rays.

Afterwards, I grabbed a surfboard and tried my luck on some New Zealand waves. It was my first time on a fiberglass short board and it was really tough. Bigger waves than Australia and one slippery board made for a frustrating few runs. But once I got up a couple of times, it was all good. Later in the afternoon, we took a ride over to Whangara where the film Whale Rider was filmed. After taking a look at some prop whales and replica waka, we were invited into a Marae (a Maori meeting house) by one of the local elders. She gave some of the history of the people in the area and some behind the scenes details on the film and ended our visit to the Marae with a traditional hongi (the touching of noses between Maori's). Before we left, she also took a group of us down to the beach to do a blessing on the bone carvings we'd created the day before.

And today, it was back to Taupo. We stopped at a hot river where I watched steam rise around me as I sat beneath a waterfall, soaking my achy muscles. Bone carving, possum shooting, stingray feeding, surfing, and bathing in hot rivers... what a weekend.