Waiheke Island | Its A Wrap

Prettyboy Josh from Australia

Its my time to move on. Yesterday was a great finish to my time in Waiheke. Work for 11 hours, taking photos and running drinks to bars. After long day at work we started drinking. We chilled at the VIP area and after closing we continued to a good house party. It was the Fiesta Del Sol afterparty. The had a DJ there and 4 security guards, pretty sweet party! Today when I sorted my hangover out I packed my stuff and went one last time to Stonridge say bye to everyone. I had some great moment there and made even better friends. I could put it this way: working in Stonyridge isn't just a job its more likely a lifestyle. I'm now in Auckland at a hostel for two nights and then continuing my trip to Queenstown. I've planned to stay there about a month but we'll see. Waiheke was great. Thanks to the Stonyridge crew for making my stay there unforgettable.

Some work mates

Last Two

Some of these houses have the most amazing views. There's also pretty gnarly driveways to these houses.

I'm not gonna be posting anything tomorrow because I'll be working at Stonyridge for the Fiesta Del Sol for somewhat 11 hours. But, I'll be taking photos there and I heard there's gonna be around 2000 people there, so its gonna be one good party.

Stars In The Sky

The sky at night is the most beautiful that I've ever seen anywhere. I wish I had a tripod so I could take some star shots.

Surfdale Shops

Waiheke Island has three shopping areas. This is the nearest one for me, Surfdale. There's also Oneroa where are the post office, couple bars, shops and restaurants. Its the island's main shopping area. Ostend is the last one, there they have the supermarket. The store where everyone buy their food at. Onetangi is my favorite place. It only has couple restaurants and a gas station and the nicest beach in Waiheke.

Juicy Grapes

Grapes hanging from the roof of the restaurant. I'm not sure but I think they're chardonnay. These ones are use for eating, not wine.

"I've Never Seen Snow"

After work today I went for a few beers with two of my friends from work (not the ones in the picture). One guy is from England and he is doing a year in New Zealand. Other one in an Aussie, He's a surfer so we talked about surfing and about my intentions to want to try it one day and I asked him has he ever done snowboarding so he replied: "No, I've never even seen snow". That sounds really funny for me because seeing snow is inevitable where I'm from. My point is. When you travel around the world and meet people from different parts of the world things that might seem like everyday life for you some people has not or may not ever experience. But thats the beauty of travelling. When you meet people from different countries, immediately when you start a conversation with them you learn a lot about different lifestyles, attitudes, what people value, their ethics etc. Life is a school.

Party Life

30th of January this place, the Stonyridge Vineyard will be filled with party people, smiley faces, good music, nice weather (hopefully), good times and a party atmosphere. Its Fiesta Del Sol!

Jay Z - Party Life

RDO

Today I had a day off. I didn't do much, just chilled at the apartment. I went for a walk after a little work out and I found this amazing spot. Probably one of the most beautiful places that I've visited on my trip.

Wine fan's paradise

This is from my work, Stonyridge Vineyard. They have world famous wines there. The Larose is probably the most famous Wine, one bottle from cellar is about $200. I've tasted couple wines also. One was chardonnay, it was straight fresh from bottling, it was good. Other one was Airfield, its about $45 a bottle.

I bought a ticket to Queenstown! I'm going there 2nd of February and I'm really stoked. I've heard great things about Queenstown so my hopes are high.

Feelin Good

I don't know what it is. I'm just feeling good for no specific reason. Everything's going well. Its probably because I've been listening good music a lot today. It really can change my mood. One song that steps out is Bon Jovi's You Gave Love A Bad Name. Oh yeah, I watched Superbad today, good movie..... Peace.

Things Do Change

As you might already noticed my blogs name changed. This idea has been on my mind a while and now I finally made it. Feel free to spread the word and hope you enjoy!

Mickey D's

They handed out these hats in the Santa Parade on November. I got one also but I left it to my room when I checked out of my hostel in Auckland. Today I got the confirmation that I will be taking photos in the big party in Stonyridge at the end f of this month. I'm stoked!

Not Much Thoughts

I'm lovin these black & white pictures taken with film camera.

Day by day I appreciate life more and more. In the end things always seem to go well. Like before I got the job in Stonyridge I was hunting for a job for very long and I almost gave up and went home. Then I found Waiheke and got a job and met a lot of cool people and had/will have great experiences in Waiheke. Sometimes I feel that every experience you go through is there ment to teach you someting and that keeps me going when I don't feel so good or when I'm in a situation I wouldn't want to be. I guess some misfortunes are just there for that reason. To educate, to make us stronger, to learn appreciation, to be positive, and enjoy life.

Photographing Dishwasher

This is a ridiculous version of an ambulance.

As the title says. Today I took some photos of the new menu at Stonyridge. What can I say, pretty impressive dishes. I'll get photos here later. The menu though is really good. The day it was released we had a busy day and got lot of compliments. I probably will be doing some more photography in Stonyridge, lets see. Now I have two days off work. The weather I pretty close to perfect and I will hit the beach tomorrow.

Ambulance

In Auckland there was a Santa parade on Queen street before Christmas. It was a nice parade, but from like 100 groups or carts, whatever they call them, one had something to do with christmas. Every once in a while there came these down, paramedics with their so called ambulance. This is pretty understandable compared to tomorrows picture.

Humble Living

This is my room in the house I'm currently living. Its separated from the main house a.k.a its an old garage. Its pretty cool though, lots of space, and a comfy bed, and privacy. Its pretty funny that theres no water in Waiheke, so every house's yard they have huge container thingy and the house uses rain water. Pretty convenient, the water is free, local calls are also free. If the water runs out you have to pay around $200 for refilling the container, but usually, even though its mostly sunny, we get some rain. Sometimes it seems like the rain was ment just to refill the containers. Like last night or the night before. The days were sunny and no rain at all, but the night in between rain a lot. And the day before the rain the owner of the house said that we could use some rain here. Its probably God working in mysterious ways.

Stick Wit It

Lets talk more about music. Some songs when you hear them they just immediately makes you feel better. Like theres no worries and no hurries in life. I got this feeling with Flisydes song Skipping Stones. I can relate to the lyrics, kinda. If my trip would have a soundtrack, that would probably be it. I think with music people remember certain moments better. When you hear the song again it remindes you of some great moment when you heard the song earlier. I have that kinda feeling quite often. I got little carried away. I just love music.

Its All About The Music

Music is a huge part of everyday life when you're traveling. I lately been stuck with same songs in my iPhone but now I found a great site to download newest Hip Hop and R&B songs. It brought me memories about the cool events that I've been in. Like this photo. Its from Stand Up! A monthly Hip Hop night in my home town. In this photo is Marc Strech who's from the US. He performed really good show that night. My plans are pretty open still what I'm gonna do after Waiheke. I'm trying to work and save money as much as I can now.

Flatting

I moved in to a flat today and I feel so much better now. More privacy, proper bed and the internet doesn't cost $2 an hour and is fast as a old snail. I'm gonna be working again tomorrow. Today I just relaxed and really didn't do anything. This is the restaurant that I work in. The left bottom corner doors are the wine cellar.

Who They Think I Am

When people ask me where I'm from I usually give them a chance to guess. I've got anwers like, US, Canada, England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Germany. One guy said that I dress like american but sound like European. I guess my accent has a little bit of everything because I've been hanging out with Americans and Brits a lot. But Germany? that was a wierd guess, well probably because every other back packer is from germany someone thought I was also. I was pretty amazed when one woman from our work thought I was either a kiwi or an aussie. I wouldn't want to have that thick accent :D.

Today's work day was pretty good. Not too much people but it wasn't boring. Tomorrow I have a day off and I move to a flat. I'll get you some pictures once I get settled.

They're Everywhere

Is there something wrong with their home country? I'm talking about germans. They are literally everywhere. Now in the hostel theres around 20 people living and atleast half of them are germans. And they also stick together. Whats the point? They come to the otherside of the world to hang out with other germans. Hahah, I'm not mad at them, don't get me wrong its just funny. Its also almost everytime when you meet new people here and you ask where are they from the answer is germany or britain.

All Good

I hoped to start working for accommodation at the hostel tomorrow, but its not gonna happen because the hours with that work goes on to of my hours at Stonyridge. It would've saved me a lot of money. Good news though, I'm getting a flat. Its pretty cool house and I'm renting one room for the end of January for $140 a week, when now its $196 at the hostel.

Not Quite There

I'm so tired from extremely busy day. I think almost everyday I work until I'm sick of it. There's so much work and not enough staff. Thats what I think. I'm glad its only 3 more weeks.

Spot On!

This other day when I was walking to work I found this spot that had just amazing view. This and the last two pictures are from there. I'm trying to think what I'm gonna do after Waiheke. I'll leave here in four weeks and I have couple choices. Either go to Russell, thats up north to meet my good friend John or make my way down to Wellington for a while and then to Queenstown and on my way up again pop in to Russell to see John. There's so many places I would like to go but not enough time or money.

Bangers, Mash n Gravy

Yesterday one cool guy called Bruce from the hostel made Me and Mike some dinner. He has been coming to Waiheke for Xmas & New Years for 14 years. So today Me and Mike made some dinner for all of to share. Its cool once and in a while have something else to eat than pasta and pizza.

Alpacas

First when I saw these I thought they were Llamas, but no they're alpacas. One day when I was walking to work I ended on a field full of alpacas, they always start staring when you go near. I heard that they're also protective for their area.

2010 Spelling Dilemma

In the first day of the new year 2010 I started wondering, well I've been thinking about this before but now its more relevant. How do you say or write 2010? With 2009 it was easy, it was 09. Should 2010 be 010? or just 10? It really doesn't matter but it would be nice to know the official way. Or is the era of shortening the year gone. Is it just 2010.

Recap from last night. Yesterday after work I came back to the hostel for a bbq and some chillin. Around 8 pm guys from work came to pick me up, first we went to this nice ass house that one of my workmates moved in. Its owner had built it by himself with his brother and his friend from ground up. It was a spanish style house, really nice with probably the most nicest view I've ever seen from the deck of a house! It overlooked couple bays of Waiheke Island and you could aslo see Auckland and the Sky Tower. Then we continued to other guys house for a couple drinks and we tried to figure out our plan for the night. We didn't have to ponder for long because some more people from work invited to their place for a few more drinks. After chillin there for a while we headed up to Oneroa and Skinny Sardines bar where we spent the change of the year. On the other side of the road was Sand Bar that had very good music and we left there soon after. There was some DJ's and one Drum n Base artist playing. Really good stuff. Around 3 am we left Sand Bar to go home that was on the other side of the island. So after a while wondering around trying to get a taxi or a ride home we ended up in a bus/taxi that took us to Charley Farleys. Thats a bar near where I live. We still tried to get in, the clock was like 3.30 am at this time. Well, we didn't get in so I started to walk home. Put my iPhone on for some music and walked down the Onetangi beach. I was great ending to the evening. Walk down the beach with the full moon shining down and lighting the ocean. It was so relaxing, There was no one on the beach and it was so quiet and laidback I chilled while at the beach listening to music and just took it all in. It made me realize once again how fortunate I am being able to be in a place like this. Life's Good! Happy New Year!