Things I'm not used to seeing...

Like water this crazy turquoise color. I guess when the glaciers move they crush up rocks and that dust gets into the water running off the glacier and so it makes the rivers this crazy turquoise color.

They call that dust, rock flower and I'm trying to remember if I've ever seen water that color before, anywhere else.

I don't think I have. (and I didn't edit these pics at all, lol. this isn't cheating, this is what it really looked like!)

I remember in AK the glacier had parts that looked like toothpaste, and I assume it's from the same type of thing, but I've never seen a whole river be this crazy color. Only in NZ.

I thought it was really cool.

NZ is just so beautiful! I tried not to take a bunch of boring landscape shots, but you almost can't help yourself.

It's just too great. So pristine.

And being surrounded by so much natural beauty makes you think about life on a much grander scale. (at least, it made me think)

In one of the books I just read, in the Thousand Splendid Suns one, I think, it said something about how, when you start noticing beauty, suddenly you notice it everywhere.

And I feel like that's especially true in NZ. It's all around you, all the time.

I'm so glad I got see it!

Snowboarding at Remarkables outside of Queenstown

I don't know if I ever noticed it before but the liner of my snowboarding jacket is a bunch of random passport stamps. so cool.

I wish I had gotten to experience some freshies, but I'm not complaining. I mean, I was snowboarding in AUGUST! So even though the conditions weren't great, it was all good. Icing on the cake.

I had a lot of fun riding at Remarkables.

They had 3 terrain parks that were pretty sweet, although they were really crowded and I hate having to stop and wait at the top of a feature, so I mostly rode the shadow chair.

This was at the entrance to a terrain park that had all wooden features in it. Like rails and boxes but all made from sanded logs. It was cool.

I took all these pics on my last day of riding. Sometimes it's hard to remember to take pictures when you are having fun. Taking photos sometimes ruins it a bit, because it takes you out of the moment. It interrupts the flow. But it's usually worth it.

And that's why I like having a small (although that also = crappy) camera that I can just pull out of my pocket and take pics on the fly. I don't like to have to think too much about what I'm doing or spend much time on it.

Because that is my artistic process, it always seemed, to me, to be somehow less valid, like.. not real art. For me all the time and thought comes afterwards in the editing, which, to me, just seems like cheating. I don't know, lol. Maybe I shouldn't feel that way. Maybe it's just the end result that matters. ???

I took this vid. on my second to last run on my last day of riding. It was the longest run I could find, just a kind of narrow, not too steep, not too crazy run. There's nothing really special in this vid. I just wanted to see what it would look like and sound like. I feel like it came out kinda cool, but maybe that's just because I remember what it actually felt like. I don't know how it will look to you guys :)

so dramatic, lol

I survived the trip home, no worries. (I luv that dramatic, I'm going to die last blog entry. the sick mind is not a rational mind. and they say that misery expressed is misery diminished, so...) But yeah, I got home yesterday. My mom was in town to pick me up, which was awesome! Especially since I wasn't feeling well, and the tire got slashed on my car while I was gone. So we got that all sorted out, with Eric and Jessica's help. And then she stayed for an extra day and helped me do laundry and go grocery shopping and deal with more car stuff. It was super nice. It's always good to have your mom there when you are feeling sick. I do feel better today but my ears are still all plugged up so it sounds like I'm underwater. And I feel a little out if it, jet lagged, a bit like an underwater zombie, I guess. But I'm managing OK. It feels good to be home, that's for sure. No place can ever quite compare to home. San Francisco is as good as it gets, I think. We have the best of everything. I feel so spoiled. I mean, I know I am... big time!
I have a few more pics from the last bit of my NZ trip. I had so much fun. It was all really amazing. And I feel like I've come home with a new appreciation for everything that I have living here in California and in SF. I am so grateful for everything!
I'll post a couple more entries with the last of the pics :)
And thanks to everyone who read my blog! I hope you enjoyed it.
New Zealand was a beautiful and amazing place and if you ever get the chance to go there you should do it!
<3

feeling ill

my sinuses are going crazy. one of my ears is already all plugged up. feeling sick. and I have a crazy 21 hour travel day tomorrow. CHC - AKL - LAX - SFO. it's going to suck so bad. I'm afraid my ear canal might burst. is that possible? fuck, I hope not. I hope I surviiiiive. and then less than 24 hours after getting home I have to go work at Caltopia. I don't know how I'm going to maintain. Oh wait, that's right... I'm superwoman! hehe.
and I found out that one of my tires got slashed on my car. stupid kids. they got like every other car on the block. so annoying. oh well. shit happens, eh.

Books I've read so far on this vaykay

This was a great book. The kind that's hard to put down and that haunts your dreams. It makes you thankful for your life. It's a tragic story about the plight of women in Afghanistan, but it's got a good ending.. the triumph of love and a glimmer of hope. I highly recommend it.

This was also a great book. It was uniquely written with a sort of dark sense of humor, and I love that! The book is about what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur in India. It was a quick easy read. Good stuff.

I really liked this book, although more for the ideas, than for the style or way it was written. I'm not sure I'd recommend it to everyone. I'm sure my parents wouldn't be interested, for example. But I thought it was interesting. The theme deals with a typical middle aged, well off, American and the feeling that although he is blessed with family and work and a good life, something meaningful is still missing. It's the story of one's man quest to put it all in perspective and gain insight into the deeper meaning of life.

And this is the book I'm reading now. I like it. It's a sort of psychology book dealing with the study of happiness, and one man's quest to visit the happiest places on earth. Funny, the countries he has identified and been to so far, have been some of my favorite places to visit. It made me realize that this is a big part of what I seek when I set out to travel.. happiness, a happy place, fun. And I think this is also part of the reason why I haven't been to Africa yet (well, other than Egypt, which doesn't count as Africa, imo) and why I have no real interest in visiting Cambodia. They don't at all strike me as happy places. Although, I do want to go to Ghana, which incidentally is the happiest country on the African Continent according to this book. I'd love to visit Morocco and Tunisia, but these don't really count as "Africa" to me either.

wierd fishy

Yesterday was one of those weird days where I felt like I must have spilled my lunch down the front of my shirt because everyone was looking at me like I was crazy.

First it was the Kiwi driver. He asked if anyone had already booked their accommodation in Queenstown (because he was going to call ahead and arrange it) and I said that I had. So he asks, in front of the whole group of 2-minute noodle eating backpackers, “oh yeah, where are you staying?”
I sort of pause and glanced down and said, “the crown plaza. It’s right next to the… “
And he nods and says, “oh, I know.”
“It’s the end of my trip, so…” I said, as if I needed to explain myself.
He laughed, called me a “Flashpacker.” And then asked if he could come stay the night with me. “If you’re going to book that nice of a room… you might as well…”

And then the French guy at the rental shop, after letting me come behind the counter and check out all the boards finally asked, “Where are you from?”
And I said, “California,” like I always do, (never the US and never America because those words usually won't lead you to anything positive.)
And then he asked, “where do you ride?”
And I said “Tahoe.”
And he nodded, knowingly. “I haven’t been there,” he said. “It’s just because it never happens that a girl walks in here and says she wants the best board… and all this…” He had grabbed the toe straps off another set of bindings and was switching them onto the bindings that he was mounting on the Burton Dominant board that I was renting, adjusting them to be goofy, front foot out 13 degrees and back foot at minus 6.
We chatted a bit about conditions and about if TC was going to open the other half of the mountain. About how we both will ride pretty much anything and everything except the half pipe. I told him I was going to Cardrona tomorrow and he said that the best day of his season so far had been there, but he was going to Treble Cone. And I checked today and TC is still half closed. lame.

I really like this board I rented.

It's really soft and flexible but it still has good edges and doesn't feel sketchy. Although the nose did sort of slip out from under me today when I was doing a little nose press. I guess I'm just not used to it yet. But it feels sooooo much better than the other board I rented in Wanaka. And my switch is like fully dialed in now. I feel like I can almost ride as good switch as I can regular. OMG.. so stoked for next season! Can't wait to ride in Tahoe, which hands down, blows NZ away, imho.
And the guy in the shop is right.. most girls really suck at snowboarding. A lot of them look like they would be really good, they have all the gear and look hella styleee, but then they suck. Or the ones that are good, the best ones I've seen, can only like, hit a couple little boxes and rails. Why is that? I heard a couple of girls the other day talking about riding switch and working on 180's at lunch but I never actually see any girls on the mountain doing those things. Except me, lol.

The 45th Parallel

Yesterday I crossed over the 45th Parallel on my way into Queenstown. The 45th Parallel is the half way point between the equator and the south pole. Apparently, only 5% of the world’s population will ever travel below the 45th Parallel. And now... I guess you can count me as one of those 5%.

Riding Cardrona and watching the Burton New Zealand Open

Today definitely ranked in up in the top 10 of most epic days, like... ever!
It was good weather. No rain, but not too sunny, which saved me from getting burnt by this crazy NZ sun. The snow was a little hard, but fast and it was good.
Riding at Cardrona with sick. They still had the Slope Style course set up from yesterday's competition so getting to ride that was like... really fun and amazing.

And the mountain was big. I didn't have time to get everywhere beeeeeecause I was too busy watching the Burton New Zealand Open Half Pipe competition, which was so freakin' rad!

All the best riders in the world were there. The event was huge and the pipe was massive. The walls were 22 ft. tall and the pipe was 150 meters long.

and then, I got to meet Shaun White, THE BEST snowboarder in the world.

And he's super nice! I was on a flight with his mom and sister once, when they were on their way to see him ride at the Olympics in Torino and they are also super nice. I don't know why, but I always felt like after meeting them, that someday I would get to meet Shaun and then today, I did. I've literally had dreams about it, not that I'm obsessed or anything. But he is just such a freakin' legend. He can always find a way to step up his game. Today after the first round of the finals he was like 4 or 5 points down, and then he just came with it and busted some sick shit that nobody has ever done in competition before, back to back cork 1080's. Freakin' siiiiick. Here's his winning run. It's not a very good vid but you get the idea.

And I had so much fun taking pictures today! Those guys were getting so_much_air!



And they were busting huge tricks.

Some of the girls were even throwing down 900's. It was so sick.



And big ups to Burton for awarding equal prize money to the guys and the girls. Even though I have to admit that watching the guys is way more exciting than watching the girls. There is just a totally different level on insanity.


AND today I also got to hang out with the boys with the big cameras, which was totally awesome.

I had a super sweet spot to watch the comp. and all these professional photographers and film crews kept showing up.

Chatting with those guys was really cool. Talk about having a crazy and interesting life! And with my California accent they all just assumed I was here one of the riders so everyone was really nice to me. And the whole thing was just so random... that I happened to be here for all of this.

so cool. such a good day.

no heli-boarding for me on this trip

So I was talking to these pro-snowboard photographer guys today at the contest, and they were telling me that a snowboarder they know just died in an avalanche heli-boarding down here on the South Island of NZ. They were out riding with one of the local companies and 5 people got buried and they were only able to dig 4 out in time. These photographer guys were saying that heli-boarding is really really dangerous and they hate going on those photo shoots (especially up in Haines Alaska) because they have kids and they always wonder if they are going to come back from those trips or not.
Talking to them made me realize that even if it's cheap to heli-board down here, it would be stupid to do it if the conditions aren't great and I wouldn't even be riding on my own board. The conditions have pretty much sucked lately. And even though I tried to rent the best board I could find, I still don't feel anywhere near as comfortable as I would on my own board.

soooooo... not on this trip. sommmmeday, maybe. but not anytime soon. gonna stick to the lifts, lol.

partying with pro-snowboarders in wanaka

I feel like a few days/weeks ago I said I wanted to meet and party with some pro-snowboarders while I was here in NZ and now I can officially check that off the list.
tonight was hilarious!
it was so crowded.
the movie was sick.
a few of the guys were cute.
(devun walsh, gabe taylor and these two japanese guys who's names I can't remember)
but a few of the guys could have easily have passed for homeless.
the crowd and the other girls in the vip were amazing to watch.
the cops came.
danny kass gave me a pair of his new goggles.
score! (they are pretty ugly but I might use them any way because mine were hella fogging up today)
then an italian boy on a bike followed me home.
(but I left him outside on the sidewalk)
and tomorrow I'm gonna ride cardrona and watch the half pipe finals.
sweeeeet!

Snowboarding in New Zealand...

would probably be choice if it wasn't raining.

I rode Treble Cone today and it rained on and off all day long. I guess they've had a warm spell lately so the snow was super slushy and the runs were really choppy and it was pretty rough going.

But I'll take slush over ice any day! And I still managed to make the best of it and ripped it all to shreds, of course. (can you see the rainbow?)

The snow here in New Zealand, and maybe all over the southern hemisphere... I don't know, is above the tree line. That was weird. I couldn't tell where the runs were because there was nothing separating them. Of course visibility was also shit.

I'm sure on a powder day riding here would be siiiiiiick.
My legs are pretty destroyed after today because it was so slushy and choppy. But I felt more fit than I thought I would, it being my first day snowboarding in months and months. But by the end of the day I had to mostly ride switch because I couldn't put any more weight on my right leg. And on my last run at like 330p, I literally could not see a thing. But it was a rad day, none the less.

And Treble Cone is cool. I bet on a clear day the view is amazing.


And I got one good photograph today.

I hope the weather gets better! I read that it might snow a little bit in the morning. Tomorrow I'm going to ride at Cardrona because that's where they are holding the Burton New Zealand Open and tomorrow is the Half Pipe Finals, so I'm way stoked to check that out.
:))))