Behind the Lens, Albert Park

Summer Heights High

I have bemoaned the limited selection of NZ television for almost a year now. However, I now have Sky City to thank for introducing me to my new favorite TV show. Summer Heights High is a dark comedy mockumentary series parodying life in a fictitious Australian high school.
Comedian Chris Lilley is an absolute genius; he plays the part of all three main characters. Below is a quick sketch of each:

Jonah Takalua:
13 year old pacific island boy
Known for scrawling his graffiti tag "dicktation" around Summer Heights High and for phrases such as "I'm not dumb, I'm just choosing not to be smart at the moment"

Ja'mie King:
16 year old girl
Pampered and manipulative, she is taking part in a swap scheme to bridge the gap between public and private school but is having a tough time leaving her pampered and privileged past

Mr G:
Drama teacher extraordinaire
Known for writing musicals for his students including one called Tsunamarama, based on the events of the 2004 tsunami disaster, set to the music of Bananarama. He is relentless in creating an arena spectacular school musical

By far one of my favorite scenes was when Jonah performed a rap song at the school's Polynesian day, click here to watch a clip.

The series has been bought by HBO and is scheduled to broadcast later this year in the states so keep your eye out!

Air New Zealand Fashion Week 2008

The 2008 Air New Zealand Fashion Week has come and gone. Yes, that’s right; New Zealand hosts its own fashion week in Auckland each spring. Yet, unlike the other fashion weeks being hosted this time of year by glamorous cities across the globe- Auckland’s is far more accessible by both location and ease of attendance (cheap tickets are sold online and in some cases at the door and off you go—try that in Bryant Park) The shows highlight the quintessential quirkiness that I have come to understand is a mark of pride by native New Zealanders. In their fashion and in life- eccentricity abounds, nothing is taken too seriously and a glass of bubbles continues to be the most covatable accessory.
Without further adieu I give you a quick recap of this years looks that I’ve aptly categorizes into the good, the bad and the ugly…

The good
Trelise Cooper- the darling of New Zealand fashion came out with a collection inspired by her travels which featured beautiful prints and theatrical flare.

The bad
Zambesi- the perennial favorite of the hip and cool Auckland set has me baffled yet again.

The ugly
Lucie Boshier

Explains so much:

This was posted in the elevator of the parking deck in our building.

Donavon Frankenreiter

photo from here

If I didn’t know any better, I would have this guy pegged for a Kiwi based on the photo. Donavon Frankenreiter, American pro- surfer turned musician has a sound infused with the laid back beachy life style he is passionate about.
Best known in the surfing world (he came onto the stage in his early teens), Donavon utilized that community as a platform to promote his music. He has extensively toured Australia and New Zealand which could explain the uncanny similarity he has to the blokes in this part of the world.
His music has taken him far away from the sand and surf, but thanks to NPR, listen to his recent concert in Philly and you’ll be instantly transported to his beachy state of mind.

Perfect Pet for Apartment Living.

Dogs and photography are two of my favorite things; Newfoundlands and New Zealand photography- the peak of my interest!

Seemlingly unrelated topics, right? Well not anymore.



Meet, Rachel Hale. She is an Aucklad based photographer that will do house calls for your pets (my co-worker tells me) but she is also the author of many internationally known books.


She is perhaps most famous for images of her beloved Newfoundland, Henry:Until we can get our own, these images are my perfect apartment living pet.

Anniversary Weekend Part 2

If you couldn't tell, we just can't get enough of the beaches here. Midwesterners at heart, the idea that the beach is just around the corner (literally) is a novel one; after almost a year, the novelty has not dissipated.

Therefore, it was a natural choice for our relaxed anniversary celebration, to spend most of our day enjoying some of our favorite beaches near Auckland. First up, St. Heliers Bay for breakfast and a walk along the shore to enjoy the lively scenery. There are always a stream of people running the bays, some brave soul swimming the surf and plenty of dogs! I could sit for hours on the benches and watch the world go by.

We then drove out to the west coast beach, Muriwai, so Mat could go surfing. It was a bit too cold and windy for me to brave the water, so I played photographer instead and tried to capture Mat in action...

The above is one of my favorite shots; every time I sit and overlook the waves at Muriwai I am reminded that we are on an incredible journey living in New Zealand. What a perfect sentiment for our anniversary.


After a day at the beach, what could be better than enjoying one of our favorite home cooked meals and cake?! I just had to post of picture of this amazing treat. Our friend, Jane, made this specially for us which blew me away. She made each and every one of those flowers by hand, isn't it beautiful!

Thanks for all of the anniversary wishes, it made our day even more special. xxxx

Anniversary Weekend Part 1

To celebrate our anniversary, we enjoyed a "staycation" in Auckland. We filled the weekend with some special experiences in and around the city- take a look:

Saturday morning we woke up early and drove north of Auckland to Matakana. We had the most wonderful breakfast at the Matakana Patisserie, voted New Zealand's best bakery. From fresh bread, homemade donuts and muffins to quiche and gourmet sandwiches everything looked fantastic. Even my latte was pretty:

Afterwards, we strolled through the Matakana Farmers Market which is hosted every Saturday by this quaint little town. Not only can you pick up choice local produce and nibbles, but you can bring your knife, axe or sheers to be sharpened for free! Although this market may cater to the farming locals it also a very popular and trendy place for us Jafa's to get away for the day.

It was so enjoyable to walk around and enjoy the music and the food, we will definitely have to go back.

photos from Flickr

In the afternoon, we went horseback riding on Pakiri beach. I have had a love affair with the idea of horseback riding for years so this was definitely my pick of activities, but I think Mat ended up enjoy this much more than I did. For one thing, they put me on a horse named Stewart and he had anger management issues. Stew didn't like other horses and I feared for my life a few times when he started bucking and kicking. However, when I wasn't hanging on for dear life, I was dazzled by one of the most beautiful unspoiled landscapes I've ever seen. The beach was pretty much desolate besides our little group of 5 and for two hours we were guided along the beach and up through the dunes- stunning!

I'm sorry that I couldn't capture a picture of Mat (again, Stewart was a disaster and I couldn't even get close to Mat's horse to grab the camera- so much for the romantic notion of riding horses together into the sunset). As with many other athletic activities, Mat is naturally inclined. Not only did he look comfortable on the ride, he went on along with the more experienced riders to attempt a canter. What?!

We ended our day at Harbourside restaurant to enjoy some seafood and then hobbled our way back home on saddle sore legs. Will be back tomorrow to share what we did on Sunday!

One year ago today...

We looked like this:

Today, we are celebrating one year of marriage and looking forward to making eachother laugh for many more years to come...

Spring Is In The Air

It may be too soon to put away the umbrella, but this week we have enjoyed 4 whole days of sunshine!
My sunglasses were in hibernation for the past three months and I’m happy to be needing them again. Along with sunshine, I am enjoying some of my other favorite things about spring:

tulipsspring fruits and veggies at the markets

and spring clothes!