wonderland

Photo

Mon, 06 May 2013 13:02:55 +1000

two days of camping and some surfing in the catlins with Roy, road tripping thru the most rugged...

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 14:36:00 +1000

two days of camping and some surfing in the catlins with Roy, road tripping thru the most rugged beautiful coast line on new zealand. Rainforest, steep cliffs and beautiful bays. Music by the camp fire. Art in the Park, autumn leaves leading you to artists at their stalls and musicians playing at their stages. Making simple nature art and hanging out at Patagonia Chocolates with Ruby listening to live talented tango musicians. Pretty picturesque week it has been! :)

Sunday dinner at Francesca’s Italian was so nice....

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 08:08:00 +1000

Roy playing some sweet sounds by the Lake

I look so little on the bench haha

<3

Sunday dinner at Francesca’s Italian was so nice. It’s my favourite spot to eat in Wanaka for dinner now. Our pizza was served with the waitress saying “this is a Nicholas special”. We both turned to the pizza chef by the wood fire oven and gave him the thumbs up. It was pretty cute. After the bruschetta, pizza and wine we went to the open mic at Fitzpatrick. That was really fun. There was a lot of people there in the end. Roy and I had fun playing some new covers, there was this german guy who sang so well and Robbie’s little jam at the end was awesome.

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 15:25:33 +1000

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not you business to determine how good it is nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open.. No artist is pleased. (There is) no satisfaction. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than others.

- Martha Graham.

Kaikoura was beautiful, heaps of perfect pealing waves with no one on them. Fur seals sleeping on...

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:35:08 +1000

Kaikoura was beautiful, heaps of perfect pealing waves with no one on them. Fur seals sleeping on rocks and turquoise glacial water mixing into the sea.. but as i was driving on the road towards my friends place, I was blocked by a crime scene investigation. A young surfers body found in his van… a lovely young dude i met at Temple Basin, so grim. Now i’m in Nelson and its super nice and sunny.

First full day of snowboarding

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 19:28:14 +1000

Saturday : Remarkables, Queenstown. Woke up and left Wanaka early in the morning. We went straight to the Remarks and were one of the first few people up at the mountain. The drive up was awwwwesome, so steep. view behind us: Frankton and Queenstown surrounding Lake Wakatipu
Roy set up his Black Diamond Demo skis and I got geared up with Boots and a Snowboard (not a pink one this time, yay) :) It was my first full day of snowboarding and man it was an epic day. Bright blue sky and quite a lot of sunshine for Queenstown. The mountain got crowded quickly but getting onto the lifts wasn’t as bad as it looked. It was pretty cool snowboarding on my own. Gave me the freedom to meet people and cruise off when ever I wanted. Man, I was frothing coming up the lifts, and all day pretty much. Met some kill joy people on the lifts that weren’t so stoked even though the day was fucking amazing! It was my third day of snowboarding so yeah I was over frothing! Lost count of how many times I went up the lifts. Got so hot after a few runs that I swapped my jacket for Roy’s vest. The gates before the queue at the lifts have scanners that read your card and I assume it shows the liftys your photo as you come through. I still had Roys cards in the pockets of his vest (which looked gangsta as on me). SO I’m looking like a little gangsta snowboarder hood rat with someone else’s pass. There were a few times where the liftys stopped me at the gate until i rummaged through my pockets and found my pass. “I’m not tryin’ to scam you I swear” Haha. “You’re gonna have heaps of trouble coming up the lifts with those passes”. The liftys were actually pretty nice tho. Met some beginner skiers on the lift who were from brisbane, and they were hilarious simply cause they ate so much shit. I cruised with them for a bit until I came across a group of kiwi snowboarders in the queue at the bottom. They all had drinks in their hand as they were lining up with the coolest snowboards. I was like “look how cool you guys look” haha. Lauryn aka lol or lollipop was from Taranaki (where the hardcore people live apparently) and we got on like a house on fire. The two dudes she just met were pretty wasted still from the night before, so they were a bag of laughs. They stacked on top of each other as us girls snowboarded off at the end of the lifts. Next minute they’d bought us drinks at the Ice Bar and that was pretty awesome. Snowman loved coruba rum yum! :) Lol looks like Kenny from south park in this shot. I was super stoked when Lol said she was keen to hit the park. I’d said earlier that I would love to try it but only if I had someone to do it with, that way if i was to stack it I’d have someone there to laugh with or pull me up. She was gnarly tho, she hit the big part of the park which made it mentally easier for me to try the beginner part. Going over the rollers was so much fun! It was my first time to actually gain quite a bit of speed. That feeling alone is quite addictive. It was funny that I didn’t stack on the rollers but as soon as I got to a flatter surface I’d eat shit. haha! Lol, Jonnny (who is obviously from a 70s porno) and myself heading to the sugar Bowl. The day definitely got better once I’d made a snowboarder amiga. She was good to drink with, get inspiration and progression. We got drinks at the bottom of the mountain and as we were in the queue at the lifts again there were a few jelly snowboarders who wanted a drink too. That got the attention of one of the liftys who made us scull our drinks before getting on. “do you reckon they just make us scull our drinks so we’re more likely to buy one at the ice bar at the top?” :P We definitely weren’t the sort of people who’d throw bottles at the skiers or snowboarders below for shits and giggles. That was the last drink anyway, which was perfect. Shortly afterwards we were up the second lift and I did the rollers again. I got my first air on a snowboard ever. It was so amazing. If I could replay and relive that moment again, I would tenfold. It was after this that I decided I have to buy my own gear, a season pass and stay snowboarding until summer. There really not much happening in Byron at the moment anyway. Music makes everything more enjoyable. So far snowboarding to N.W.A, SBTRKRT and Alabama Shakes makes me snowboard better and smile more. Friday: Cardrona, Wanaka.

… to be updated.

License To Chill

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 11:02:00 +1000

We hit the road to the mountains ridiculously early in the morning on Saturday. Roy driving us to this amazing off road track :) Lake Lyndon. As the road got higher, the view got more ultimate. I said every moment was beautiful. Setting up. Roy is the black diamond man. “Once you go black theres no going back” HAHA! Mount Cheeseman. I went skiing for the first three fun runs down the mountain and then swapped all the gear for snowboard gear. The hire dude didn’t charge me anything for that which was sweet. There was a ukulele in the hire room so when it got slightly busy and I had to wait for my boots + board, i just played a few songs. First day of snowboarding and like every beginner I’m on my bum. haha

Snowboarding, I’ve never stacked so hard, so many times in my life and still have so much fun. The snow got softer as the day progressed thanks to the sunshine. Going up the T bar lift was the most challenging part for a beginner snowboarder. I ate so much shit trying to go up on my own. It was hilarious. A lot of friendly skiers and snowboarders helped me out when they could. There was one kid - Lloyd who was a snowboarder and had been snowboarding for a few years. We snowboarded along side each other (cute ey?) and he encouraged me. “For your first day of snowboarding without any lessons you’re pretty good” :) Yeah I was stoked. hahah He has a License to Chill. Was such a fun day! We had a quick run down the slope together after packing up and before the lift closed. It was sweet. I felt more in control of the snowboard on the last run, but had a fair amount of time in the snow. Overall I had a real sweet time. Pretty amped on getting some snowboarding gear now. Even though I’m aching like a motherfucker and my knees legs have seen better days, I love it. :) on the drive home. Sunset in Methven.

Kia Ora New Zealand

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 14:44:00 +1000

View from in the clouds Driving out of the cloud first day at mt hutt, went skiing with the schott family. I ate shit coming off the ski lift the first time round haha and Tarn - the little grom didn’t come off and they had to stop the lift to get him off. It was hilarious. “Its all down hill from here” - Mr Schott. He used to be a skii instructor for mt hutt so i was very lucky to be skiing with him. It was fun. I improved so much by the third run down the mountain, even though I’m super keen to learn snowboarding it was so much fun skiing that day with him and Tarn. Tarn shot down the mountain passing everyone else and leaving us two behind. When he got down the mountain his nan asked him how was he the first one down.. and he replied “I need to Pee!” Going up! “how are we gonna get down Tarn?” - I asked. “Skii” - Tarn. last run on the slope

Earlier that day: Went for a walk in this little man’s forest.

Last night in Byron Bay

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 13:37:00 +1000

All day I couldn’t get my head around packing a suitcase of winter clothing and procrastinated by learning some songs by the Strokes with Josh.
Ian Peres (the pianist from wolfmother) came over and started setting up his amp and electric guitar in our warehouse lounge room. Originally the plan was to play a few songs at open mic and drink beers at the beach hotel whilst seeing a few friends before I headed off to new zealand. Plans changed and the rest of the night was spent in our warehouse playing music, drinking wine and mingling.

The Design Kids warehouse, i lived here with Frankie for 4 - 5 amazing months

Josh, myself and Ian starting to jam out before the o-sushi dinner intermission.

Me and Frankie <3

the singing and smiling reminded me of Beauty and the Bones times, but better. :)

Yew!

The only consistent thing is change.

Wed, 02 May 2012 16:43:00 +1000

Monday was a rainy morning.
I rode my bike around the industrial estate between showers.
Stopped at the Bone Machine skate shop to talk to Matt about band stuff.
Visited Claud’s at Tallow and got some wonderful surf friendly swim wear and talked more band stuff.

Frankie!

All smiles in my new tallow swimmers. :)

Found a daybed at the op shop.. and within moments Frankie arrived and we were purchasing our first piece of furniture together! ♥ “Amaaaazing!” - Frankie haha.
Made the Design Kids Shop my room by putting the sofa bed in it. So that part of the studio is called the Igloo now. :)
I’m so happy that I’m living with Frankie and all the new changes are exciting for the both of us. So whack that at the end of 2010 we both wrote our own achievements that year in our own books before meeting each other. We exchanged books for a read over dinner and it was a really funny read. :)

Claudia in the igloo. (photo by Kat Charles)

Me being silly (photo by Kat) Kat Charles
Beauty and the Bones after band practise. That Sangria was so delicious!

Yay for Frankie Fridays! While Frankie is away in Bali for a...

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 12:47:00 +1000

Yay for Frankie Fridays! While Frankie is away in Bali for a few weeks J’aime and I are renting the loft of her studio. She’s such a sweetheart for looking out for me. I felt so bad that she had to drop the other person before me but I have to admit it felt so nice to hear that her loyalty was with me. J’aime is happy to pay most of the rent cause he makes more money than I do, leaving me to pay only fifty a week. What a lovely man!

He came to rescue me from the rain while i was practicing at Matt’s Bone Machine skate shop before my set. I had so much fun playing, there were about 20 or 25 people surrounding me, up against the walls of the warehouse. All eyes on me for at least four songs straight. It was intense, but a lot of fun. I like doing things that scare me and I was told afterwards that I managed really well. “you looked a little scared but you were having fun and enjoying it too.” -J’aime

”we were just thinking while you were playing.. where can we download this stuff?” said Sam, a young skateboarding editor for Slam magazine. He had a really rad new age polaroid camera and only nice things to say. I sat there in flattery next to him for a while.

The Design Kids Party was loads of fun. A fridge full of free beer, free sausies and a crew of my favourite people about. <3

I love her and her shaved head!

munchkin xx

Live art at the party.

this morning. :)

Penny look book 2012 filmed and edited by the talented...

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 11:33:28 +1000

Penny look book 2012 filmed and edited by the talented J’aime Fazackerly. Featuring me on a skateboard getting pulled by Stevie on a bicycle. Happy days. :)

Bone Machine Jam Night #1

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 22:44:00 +1000

All photos by Kat Charles. www.katscreativespace.blogspot.com

Had our first jam on tuesday night. Mat who owns the Bone Machine Skate Shop let us jam in the raddest space and even bought all the beer. What a legend! It was Kat on drums/percussion. Nic on electric guitar. Claudia on Tambourine. Jaime on electric acoustic. Molly on Guitar. Me on the ukulele and singing. We all did a bit of singing and it was a whole lot of fun. Covered the Beatles, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and that Young Folks song with the catchiest whistling part. We all whistled that part together and at the end of the song Roobie (Mat’s dog) howled. It was adorable.

All of us girls got into the zone harmonising to feel good melodies.

Followed by the guys getting loud and noisy busting out surfer rock and punk sounds.

Stay tuned for more Radness! Haha!

Life is better when you're here.

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:40:00 +1000

I arrived back home in Byron last monday evening. So stoked and happy to be back!

Went straight to Design Kids & Real design studio to see the girls… it was so lovely!

Went with Kat to O-Sushi for dinner and bumped into some more friendly familiar faces.

Found a place on Tuesday. (photo from tuesday morning of Kat and Justin)

Moved in on Wednesday. Went out for a few drinks with Kat and Frankie

(photos from Frankie Ratford)

Hungover and resume writing on thursday.

Handed out resumes on Friday. :)

Rest of Friday:

I had a few friends over at my house for the night and we made awesome little pizzas. Chilled out on the couch listening to music and then laid down on the drive way with jaime looking up at the night sky full of stars.

Saturday:

Explored the big overgrown garden in front of my new place. Cut holes into coconuts and sipped up the juice first thing in the morning. Then Jaime and I went for a dip at Wategoes Beach - Skated around Byron to get guitar strings and shoes-Then chilled out in the hammock before going out to catch a few little waves at the Pass. Frankie has the funnest surf board. Got some fun footage on the Go Pro. Will upload a video sometime soon. :)

Pizza for dinner at the Tree house. There was a lovely band playing and the place had a lovely atmosphere. J + I strolled through the night markets and came across a busker who looked like a character out of Howls Moving Castle or Spirited away. He was long legged, wore a white mask and long purple scarf. He’d soul gaze into your eyes and write it down on paper for you. Went to the Rails for a bit and then went home to chill.

Sunday:

Coconuts, watermelons and rockmelons for breakfast. Walked through the forest in broken head to a place i’d never been before.

It was so beautiful. Climbed down the rocks to this beautiful swimming hole of trapped sea water:

played ukulele under the trees.

The Endless Sunrise exhibition was on later.. We skated there after buying a kite and some bubbles. There were so many people! So many faces I hadn’t seen in so long. Really cool exhibition with live music, skaters skating the ramps and awesome photos.

Frankie is such a cutie!

Such an awesome weekend.

I’ve got a lot of blogging to catch up with. So many good times have been had :)

a little help from my friends...

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:51:00 +1000

”Christina Roberts. What conjures in my mind when I think of this sassy young vixen with whom I fell in love with across a coffee counter? Well here goes.

Christina. Knees chipped with scars tells tales of bowls carved and some high speed reverb action.

You might catch her with a ukelele in hand, sharing Beatles songs on a lucky sidepath or sketching mates by a creek.

Just follow the scent of her upbeat rhythm for living passionately because it surely is infectious.” - Jolene

“When Christina isn’t shredding the bowl at the skate park, she’s probably serenading the world with her ukulele, taking some kind of epic adventure, and documenting it all in her journal or on her blog. She’s a rad chick, with contagious enthusiasm ready to spread the word and share the stoke on the Penny blog. ” Maria

Photo

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:39:19 +1000

Video from Yorkeys Beach this stunning sunday afternoon. Pretty...

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 20:03:00 +1000

Video from Yorkeys Beach this stunning sunday afternoon.

Pretty epic night last night at Pretty Beach.
Lini and I were meant to go skating but the streets were too wet to shred so we ended up at a sweet venue with a rad vibe, retro and recycled decor, chai, cakes and live music… then to a rave at Pretty Beach. where we popped our rave cherries. Drunken fire twirlers and pumping loud shitty trans music that i danced to anyway on the beach and amongst the trees. Lots of peeing in public amongst the bushes. haha! and not enough, if any sleep. Best ever pick up line : “you’re hot, lets go to the fire!” (then sing Jimi Hendrix - let me stand next to your fire). Was a funny night. The sea was flat this morning and I was the only one in the water for a bit. Some lucky guy was getting pulled on his wake-board along the beach by a car.

earlier that day I was at work. We were having a sale on the cars, and the promotion was you could win a boat and trailor if you did a test drive or bought a car. Dad won it which was awesome and hilarious. Seeing as all he did was test drive a car. Would’ve look so rigged. Haha.

Mucking around with Zaldy at work… He’s pretty much the best car detailer ever.

Rewind to Wednesday night… which is now the night of the week that a little group of us beach kids get together after work and have a bon fire at the beach with marshmellows… :D

Last weekends drive car. Beachy blue nissan micra :) busking at the port douglas markets with babies. Today. Sunday smiles at the beach.

Pamika in the hammock chilling out cause the wind wasn’t strong enough for her to get kitesurfing.

Photo

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 22:49:51 +1000

quick monday night skate, film and edit. :)

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:00:00 +1000

quick monday night skate, film and edit. :)

Oh man, I’ve definately got a calling to go home. So the...

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 09:50:00 +1000

Oh man, I’ve definately got a calling to go home.
So the plan at the moment is to love and live on the sea 6 nights repeatedly.

Save money from my occupation as a mermaid.

Drive into the sunset - road trip of no return.

End up in Byron Bay for Summer to be with Sasha, Rachael and all my loves. Sea, surf, sun and sand. Road trip it a bit more. Sell or burn the white rabbit (my car) and then fly to New Zeland where I will begin something i’ve always wanted to study - but didn’t comit to until I’d had a taste(3 years) of being stone free and drifting.

I’m looking into doing university at Massey in Wellington - New Zeland.
Its a great university for fine arts, design and all that awesome stuff that inspires me and kept me going through the teenage years in high school.
Need to apply for study link, an IRD/Tax file number, apply for an 18+ card or drivers license transfer? Look into share or student accomodation. And pay for the one way ticket over there.

I’m so excited just thinking about it. It feels so right. I really can’t wait. Also, can’t wait to be buzzing on creativity and the feeling of achievement. Creating a new life, making short films, drawing, doing photography or cinematography! Golly, im all jittery inside. Somebody stop me!