This is the thread for my travels

I was gna email you the first draft of SMÉAGOL'S INADVERTENT GIFT (needs work - see me): maybe i will send it to rainy!!

Also, Robbie Williams looks like Gary Numan, at a slight angle. These revelations courtesy of my flight over to Auckland. The first came from the book of puzzles I had with me to kill time. The second came from the collection of videos screened near the end of the flight. Other revelations -- Jamiroquai and Ronan Keating have between them made THE FUNNIEST VIDEOS EVER. Jamiroquai as an Indian chief summoning up the powers of nature -- ridiculous beyond all measure. Keating throwing himself in front a car while singing at the camera -- pure joy in stupidity. And so forth. The actual films screened included that remake of Ocean's 11 and the original Grease. I've dealt with worse.

So far, so good, this trip. One major exception -- either my iPod somehow ran out of power or completely crashed. This is troubling, to put it mildly, but will be investigated. But that's the kind of problem I want to have in comparison to how well everything else has gone -- flight took off on time, landed on time, and even if I didn't get much sleep I'm not on the verge of crashing...yet. We'll see how it all goes in Melbourne. Right now I'm in ILX member Damian's family's house -- they've all been very friendly and pleasant, hurrah to them all! :-) A few hours here and back to the Auckland airport for Australia, hurrah.

I already like the feel of Auckland. Sea within eyesight, green hills -- sure, this is more the suburbs, but why not? It's a good omen all around. :-) I'll have a chance to see more in future days, but this is a good taster, as is sensing (if not seeing) the sun come up.

Who knows when I will post next? Depends on my net access in Australia -- otherwise, you'll all hear from me on Tuesday or so. See all you Melbourne folks soon! :-)

(try holding the menu and pause buttons down together Ned)

Fit the Second -- Spider-Man visuals plus South Pacific ocean views plus a good chardonnay plus a working iPod = transcendence

So selfish, so shallow, so accurate. Thus the story of another day via plane, but only for a few hours this time, from Auckland to Melbourne. Again, another fine flight = preceding this was more good times with Damian and company, including: the discovery that my iPod simply needed recharging (why, I don't know -- I had barely used it!), some fine book purchases at a good local used bookstore (a Chris Heath book on the Pet Shop Boys, a James Branch Cabell, a big ol' book on NZ views and natural sights as a Christmas gift, etc.), chat about T. Rex and Led Zeppelin with Damian's brother Rory, a fine corn and celery soup from Damian's mom (both his parents are in fact Irish) and the like. Then off to Auckland airport and the flight, and the aforementioned rush of visual stimuli and others. Gotta love it.

Currently at the motel near Melbourne's airport I'm staying at which, bliss! has an Internet kiosk, thus this post. The place is run by a garrulous but friendly French immigrant = I like this city already. Have just called everybody -- either left messages or talked to people directly (hi Toraneko!) and await whatever happens tomorrow with aplomb. I'll check in tomorrow morning before I leave for the city -- where, yes, photos will be taken. :-)

I got lucky. My room at the motel faces the sunrise -- and so, after a long overdue sleep, I got to see the sun come up from behind a distant bank of clouds, almost like a faraway mountain range, on a lovely morning. The distant lights of the city from here, mostly hidden by trees, looked like a strange, fantastic realm. All was peace and gentle quiet, and if it wasn't for the fact that the window is designed not to fully open, I would have taken a picture. I'll just have to keep that memory intact, for as long as I can.

Almost can't believe I'm here! But I am. And now, breakfast. :-)

The Tote is a pub -- used to be better, said Sasha, but now there are too many wankers, though I still had a good time. Toraneko rocked the pool table but Keith and Sasha still ended up winning.

And that's how the day ended before Toraneko gave me a drive back to Spencer Street Station so I could get back to my motel. It began with me tracing the reverse route to the station from my motel, so I could finally get into the Central Business District and see what the shouting was all about. Walking along in the crisp, cool Sunday morning air, not many people about or cars on the streets, my music flooding my ears -- all a gentle dream, in its own way. I passed by buildings that had to have been Victorian-era up against modern skyscrapers; a blend of times familiar from other locations, but the variations present were either more florid or more curious or more intriguing than many such combinations I had seen elsewhere, Western civ architecture through a slightly distorted lens. I walked through a park, Flagstaff Gardens, observed a monument or two, saw a huge crowd of people apparently meditating, headed towards the Great Victoria Market to meet people to start the day.

And so it happened. Tim Finney first, the lovely man (still want his writing ability, dammit! who wouldn't?) then mostly lurker Amanda -- we went for coffee and then the first of many record store stops during the day, and then commenced a general wander about the CBD and elsewhere. The weather remained grand, the conditions for perfect wandering on a cooler day. Eventually met up with Keith, Andrew the server god and Marco the not-yet-posting (that will change), and the six of us went for a small lunch and lotsa chats, while phone calls were placed to other parties here and there. Tim eventually had to split while the rest of us went for a brief drink at an Italian place near Melbourne University. There Amanda and Andrew had to leave, but Minna joined us, and everything was still grand fun -- from there to, eventually, a Thai restaurant for dinner, joined there by Toraneko and Sasha, another not-yet-poster here. After that, Minna and Marco had to go while the rest of us hit the Tote, which is where I came in.

To all of you today, thanks VERY much for showing me around, the various suggestions and recommendations, the wonderful conversation and the overall good time. I had a blast. :-) Looking forward to hopefully seeing some of you tomorrow in St. Kilda as well!

And I'm too tired to say more now. But Monday was another fabulous day, with low-key pleasures of its own to be found. Proof that contemplating nature can be a good thing. :-) But I will speak of more of that tomorrow. For now, goodbye to Melbourne! I will yet see all you fine folks again. :-)

please burn down new zealand.

love,
jess & simon

Le sigh. So I'll just have to sum up quickly -- Melbourne: Botanical Gardens, flying foxes, Chardonnay, St. Kilda at sunset and meeting up with Andrew and Jim = another classic and wonderful day. Now in Auckland and tomorrow will happen when it does. :-)

(Cor waHEY ect ect)

Oh man. You have no idea, people, what a great place this is. The weather is wonderful, sunny or wet. The city is small enough to walk around in and there's plenty of places to eat, drink, or just linger and read (or check your e-mail! ;-)). The scenery is just beautiful -- and the people? Already met Di, SK, Menelaus and of course Rainy, who I'm crashing with (yay her and yay Maryann for not minding my staying over!), and they're all cool as hell. Various plans for this and that are already being formulated. Last night most of us met up over at a Japanese place and after several bottles of wine decamped to Rainy's flat for general talk and the like. Highlights -- Rainy and Di on acoust and unplugged electric guitar performing "Into the Groove," amusement at me slowly falling to sleep after midnight (when I turn into a metaphorical pumpkin) and how I need to try Luxury Flake (which I did, and tasty it is too). Today has been spent in having good crepes for breakfast, visiting a local museum (quite nice and informative on the region's history, actually) and now at the Arc Cafe just down the High Street from Rainy's abode.

Auckland went very well indeed -- Damian is again a mighty fine person as is his family for putting me up, and meeting up with Angeline, Elisabeth and Alex on Wednesday for record shopping, food and the like was a treat. Ended up being touristy at points by going to among other places One Tree Hill -- yes, THAT one, Joshua Tree lovers. But the tree isn't there anymore, doh. There is a big ol' grave though -- alas, it is not of Bono, which would soothe my soul to an extent musically speaking. Also a fun highlight -- seeing the Do I Not Like That documentary on Graham Taylor and finally realizing what that damn phrase was all about (and of course how to say it -- along with how to say "REF-er-EE! REF-er-EE!").

Right now after all the plane travels of the past week it's just nice to be in a place where I can do nothing (or not much of it!) for over a week -- in ways this is where the core of the vacation begins for me. I can read some of the books I've brought with me (currently started on Jaroslav Hasek's The Good Soldier Svejk, which I recommend to anyone and everyone with a good sense of the picaresque -- get the Penguin unabridged translation with the original illustrations), keep listening to my music and generally just zone. It's a treat and a half, and I can't thank everyone enough for already making me feel so much at home. :-)

Next up, somehow and somewhere -- Christchurch for record shopping, Fjordland for spectacular scenery, the local area for general fun, various band performances and more food and drink than could be dreamed of in ways. But I can dream quite a bit if necessary. :-)

everyone involved needs to take as many pictures as possible and post them all over ilx :-)

Tonight's plan -- fish, chips, beer and whatever else comes to mind. I can live with this. And my laundryis done, an even better thing!

All my New Zealand punxx0r fantasties FLATTENED with ONE FELL BLOW!

Dammit!!

Although Japanese food eh, COR I don't half fancy a huge big bowl of ramen right now num num num *scoff* *slurp*

That's great ned, tell us how it goes (anyway, how did you get the opportunity in the first place).

Please tell me something horrible about my former home town.

Something horrible about Dunedin? No good Mexican place, but I say that about everywhere beyond the states that border Mexico itself, so hey.

And why not, really? As mentioned up above, the last couple of days have been nothing much but general calm -- Sunday was spent going to the St. Clair beach (I wanted to go there as well since Jean Smith had mentioned that's where she lived when she was in NZ -- looked like a rather nice place!), then seeing 24 Hour Party People. Very enjoyable film, caught a couple of obscure in-jokes I knew from interviews and the like, can't complain! After grabbing some fish and chips (so obvious!) I headed back to Rainy's flat for an early night of sleep, while the rain poured down in great amounts.

Monday was much dryer in comparison (and today even more so, though a wild wind kicked up last night and is only vaguely calmer now) -- that was spent on my expeditions in the town for a place that sold good sweaters. And I was successful -- found a nice blue merino wool one for very cheap thanks to the end of season markdown. Also wandered amongst the recommended record stores -- for all that I heard disparaging things in comparison to Christchurch's and elsewhere, I found quite a bit of goodness for astoundingly cheap. I shall not complain. :-) Read and relaxed in the public library a bit then went to the art gallery Rainy manages for a new opening, and from there various ilxor types and their friends decamped to a very good Indian vegetarian restaurant, where we munched contentedly (though some were the worse for wear for drink). A poem was written -- but more on that at another time.

Today I'll be browsing through the book stores, pondering some wine choices and enjoying the beautiful weather. Am planning a bus trip on the Otago Peninsula if possible -- otherwise, another day in paradise. Darn.

Oh yeah, today I get back the first photos from this whole trip. Heh heh heh.

that's me that Ned refers to.

(haha & I actually read that poem! & won a guitar string shaped into a flower!)

(& everyone should see 24HPP with Ned excitedly whispering commentary into their ears, & giggling)

Whew -- that'll have to wait until I get home and figure out everything I got! Suffice to say that finding the Ray Charles country and western box set for $25 American (and the Madness three CD singles/rarities comp for $11 American) makes me very, very happy.

haha & I actually read that poem! & won a guitar string shaped into a flower!)

Yes! The poem was indeed a masterpiece of mastery. If you will.

(& everyone should see 24HPP with Ned excitedly whispering commentary into their ears, & giggling)

Oh dear. I wouldn't recommend it for all.

Somedays you just get lucky. And yesterday was like that. I had thought I'd do the book store scrounge-around on that day, as muttered above, and had vague plans for same. But I had mentioned to Rainy and others about wanting to get out on the Otago peninsula at some point, and taking a bus tour was suggested. I think I've muttered elsewhere that I'm really not one for package tours of any kind -- I prefer chatting with friends about interesting things and places in favor of patter and the obvious 'sights' sold as such.

But what the hey -- this was going to be my best (and maybe my only?) chance to go out there, and the weather was slightly cloudly and breezy but not either terribly windy or massively rainy, so I took all that as a sign. I booked a ticket for a combination trip that buses folks out to the end of the peninsula and from there to a combination working sheep farm/nature preserve. The owners, canny people, realized that a good way to increase karma and profits would be eco-touring, and on their lands are various beaches where seals and a particular rare breed of penguin -- the yellow-headed, I think it's called -- are found, among other beasties.

And me? Well, I grew up near the sea, Navy family and all. I'm always used to the edge of the land, as I like to think of it. I like knowing that a continent ends. For me, some of the greatest and most intense personal pleasures of my life have been found while standing out on the edge of the sea, looking out across the ocean separating Olympic Peninsula from Vancouver Island while standing in the sunset on a western cliff on San Juan Island, or gazing out towards the Outer Hebrides from the Isle of Skye, right near the edge. These to me are personal, almost holy places -- societal programming via Romantic sensibilities and theories of the sublime, perhaps. But I cannot and will not deny the power and grace I feel there, where there is nothing but short trees if any, wind hissing through the grass, waves crashing on the shore and an endless blue vista reaching out to an infinity.

I got that yesterday, out on Taireoa (I hope I've spelled that right) Head at the end of Otago Peninsula. There the land and sea all blend, while the mainland of New Zealand is just right there -- the way down the water to Dunedin is a pocket of contained beauty, the founding of the city a logical consequence of colonial interest and personal practicality. I looked out, slightly to the north and west -- I could see sudden cliffs and mountains almost rising out of the water, and deeper inland the snow-covered mountains still there at the heart of the island, while the ocean swept out like a dream. Cormorants nested or flew in the air, and I was at perfect peace with everything. I could only imagine was a cold winter's night might be like, with howling winds and a storm rising, but my time there was quietly dramatic and haunting enough. Every last fantasy of building the ultimate getaway isolated from everything and surrounded on almost all sides by ocean came to mind -- a silly idea, of course. But not one to be ignored by my psyche, at the cost of denying who I am and what impulses I can feel.

And that was only the beginning, though, in ways -- for the tour of the penguin and seal beaches were both worthy. We were a small group -- the bus driver, two English tourists, the guide and myself -- and that helped. The driver himself hadn't seen much of this particular tour, so there was enjoyment all around. On the way down to view the seal beach, we passed by where they often come up the cliff to sun themselves, and there in a small pool separated from the path only by a two strand rope fence were four small seals in a pool, learning to swim or otherwise just sunning themselves. Kick in every last anthropomorphic interpretation ever, and why not? Big bulbous seal eyes are frankly the cutest things on the planet. :-) And they were just as curious about us -- one, noting that we didn't threaten, made his or her way up from the pool, followed by the rest. We didn't touch them or feed them anything, we just enjoyed their presence. Logically, my camera had to get jammed at that point, but I still got in a couple of pictures before we moved on -- some memories will happily stick forever, though, and that'll be one of them.

Then to the penguin beach -- an even more dramatic setting, the photographs won't be able to capture the sheer sweep up from the beach along the various cliffs. They're shy ones, these kind of penguins, but they're loud -- you could hear their calls from across the beach as we stood in the hide clinging to one side of the small bay formed there. At a distance, one then another penguin would emerge from the surf, determinedly climbing the sandy slopes with a waddle, pausing every so often to stretch and relax. Near us, two penguins were in some low bracken and might well have begun to nest. Like the headland itself, like the seal beach, I could have stayed there forever.

On the drive back I drunk it all in, going over the memories in my mind. I hadn't planned this, at all -- I just got lucky, like I said. And for that, I treasure it all the more.

Today has already been great fun -- besides being at the legendary pancake place (and quite good it was too!), I went and toured the Cadbury factory. Oh man -- all yer Willy Wonka dreams come true. You could smell the chocolate everywhere. :-) Got a few things to nibble on, of course -- who wouldn't? And tonight is when Di and Duane take the stage at Arc to bring the rock. Finally, that first batch of pictures did turn out very well -- bring on the rest. :-)

A great thing about Ned is that if you ask him a question, he gives a really well rounded answer! He never clatters around noisily, he listens to me talk about how much snot I have produced on a daily basis. When Ned came home today, I was watching The Monkees and he watched it with me. And then we watched Happy Days and Get Smart.

If you are looking for a visitor to come and stay at your place and amuse you, I thoroughly recommend Ned Raggett.

Ned is the kind of person that inspires one to make a really good sandwich.

*HINT*

The joys of early evening TV -- you get that instead of stupid local news. Brilliant! You do however eventually get Entertainment Tonight.

I'd rather have you Rainy.

How bold.

Thus my capsule review. So I keep hearing about this band and how Duane is in it and all that, but I've not actually heard them so I go into the reunion show with due curiosity. And behold! They are indeed grand and I can see why people lurv them so. I just wish I hadn't run out of film before Di and SK started shaking their respective groove things. George Gossett was there, though, videotaping the whole show, and so I finally got to meet him and Duane and ducklingmonster, yay!

Di was being astoundingly apologetic for the opening set, which was her and Duane as the International Telepaths (yay!). But she does protest too much -- there's some great songs there that will get even better on further outings. :-) And then there was Ritchie Venus, who I gather is an NZ music character of the highest order. He was just wonkily great -- tall character with a great drawl and a brilliant rough way around singing and performing, metageekrock of the highest caliber without even trying. Should be more of it, dammit!

Otherwise yesterday was spent wandering around the Dunedin Public Art Gallery -- a lovely way to kill time on a rainy afternoon -- and wandering here and there. Today, finally, I'll hit those darn bookstores (no, really!), but I'm due for lunch first with Rainy and Michael Morley. That works!

YAY. Though I like distortion. More krautrock *and* more distortion would be my ideal equation. But anyway, will there be any Spacedust on the ILX album? Please, oh, please?

(In fact I hope there is much Dunedin stuff on there because I am deeply impressed by and jealous of everything I hear about all your music. No disrespect to the other contributors, who I'm also looking forward to hearing stuff by. Oooooooo...)

You know, forget the books, I really think I won't have the time or the money anymore -- and it's because of this grand day I've had. See, I did indeed meet Michael Morley, but before that:

I had a bit of an impulse to pick up the new David Kilgour album, which is available from the Arc Cafe I've been visiting nearly every day, seeing as it's just a couple of blocks down from Rainy's flat and all and has that there Net access and blah blah blah. And it's also a record label too -- a veritable artistic collective (and yes the food is vegetarian, and you can just go ahead and visit the site here for more info). So I asked after that this morning after my last post, and the end result was I ended up talking with Stephen Kilroy, local engineering legend and current helper at Arc with its general goals. One thing led to another and before I knew it was talking to David himself, along with picking up a slew of Arc-released CDs as well as a cartload of Metonymic stuff (finally, all those Flies Inside the Sun CDs that Kranky didn't see fit to release in the States!). Much friendly talk was had, confirming what I had already sensed, namely that the musicians down here are great, great people. Or at least the ones I've been lucky enough to meet.

And from that to a walk across town, down to the art school and a meet-up with Mr. Morley, who Rainy knows from her school work and general art fun. I didn't have the chance to talk with him back at the Dead C performance in LA at the Smell, as I ended up talking with Bruce Russell more due to his planned radio documentary on Americans' thoughts on that there war on terrorism un-joy. Michael M. remembered the show with great fondness -- apparently there's a recording or two out there somewhere -- and from there we were talking a mile a minute, as Rainy can testify to. He's a perfectly friendly and relaxed conversationalist and much was discussed -- most especially, food and drink. Turns out he's both a gourmand and one with a nose for good wine and whiskey both, and we were exchanging comparisons and discussions on everything from Ethiopian cuisine to how one can't get a good risotto in Dunedin.

I'd been searching for a good pinot noir from NZ as a gift for friends at home, and the upshot was that we set out in his funky yellow car to his fave local suppliers of good drink, Meenan's, which had a 1960s-era sign to die for. The end result is that I now have two pinot noirs, a dry riesling and another combination -- wasn't familiar with the blend, but I trust the recommendation as a good drinking wine as mentioned by the feller at the store we ended up talking with (he suggests it is good with Thai, which I will take under advisement). We also ended up sampling a new shipment of Ardbeg (I hope that's the name) whiskey -- a ten year old single-malt effort from Scotland, and my was it smooth. A little water definitely opens it up as well.

After all that I figured I'd grab some lunch and head back to the flat (though I also picked up oodles of Gate/Dead C stuff from Michael M. as well -- yay!). And back at Arc I ended up meeting Thomas Bell, the guy who is coordinating the whole thing, and like everyone else he's one friendly guy. Such a day!

Currently at the university library about to wander over to Re:Fuel for another well-rocking International Telepaths performance -- as well as seeing Di and Ducklingmonster on the wheels of steel, not to mention female robot-rock from the Futurians. Bring it on!

It certainly did last night -- the International Telepaths brought it, while the Futurians topped it all off with some robot rock luv of their own, and all in all the result was another fine evening of music and friends and goodness. Yay goodness!

And tonight will be the Snares and the Bites at Arc, and I'm there right now actually -- probably around 11 or 11:30 or so I'll turn in, and I'm out of here early tomorrow morning back to Auckland. I'm already missing this place and all the good people here: Di, Hamish, Duane, Liz, Ducklingmonster, Jess, Marcel, Kat, Menelaus, Stephen, David, Thomas, Michael, very definitely SK (though of course I'm seeing him tomorrow in Auckland anyway!) and above all else Rainy, who has been the best of hosts and has perfectly shown what a lovely person she is. :-)

I will see you all again one day, very definitely.

In a couple of hours I head out to the airport here in Auckland and I'm off, arriving some seven hours before I started (I love time zones and the International Date Line). Like I just mentioned on the FAP thread for Auckland, last night was grand fun, seeing Damian, Elizabeth and Alex again while meeting up with Petra Jane, the two Andrews and Brad. Some good drinks, food and video games -- can't go wrong!

Most of my pictures are developed and now everything has to go in as part of memory. But good memories all. To everyone who I met here and in Australia -- my thanks and appreciation to all of you for your kindness and patience with an oddball like myself, winging out to meet you just for the hell of it. :-) Like I've said a few times -- whenever y'all come out my way, let me know well in advance, you've always got a place to stay! This was just the break I needed from work but more importantly it was a wonderful chance to see parts of the world I've always wanted to and to meet people directly that I've long wanted to. It was worth all the planning and chat and then some, and I can't thank you all enough. :-) Like I said above -- I'll yet be back, hopefully soon. :-)

And that is all. Fuck, I am tired. ZZZ.