I was gonna stay home and look what I got...a whole lotta adventure and a whole lotta love. It's been two months since I have been back in beautiful lake Tahoe, my home, and I don't plan on leaving for a while, not for a long while anyway. Next week i am tackling the pacific northwest: seattle to tahoe. I cant wait. You know there are always adventures around every corner. Keep up the adventure; I know I will keep working on mine.  Keep checking back- the adventures are just beginning.

Its been a while...but I am back home.

Its been a while since words have been written on this page.  And since then, my life has been turned upside down yet again.  Or, should I say, my life has been turned back right-side up?

I am back in Tennessee with people I love and with people who love me.  I am with my dog.  I have a unrelenting cellular device and I am back behind the wheel of a stylie Subaru.  It feels good.  Tennessee rocks.  It's gorgeous and green and lovely and loving.  But, as we now know, and some have known all along, I don't stay in one place for long.

Tomorrow, I hit the road yet again; away from the friends who make the world go 'round but towards more adventure.  One thing I have learned from my travels is that adventure is always around the corner.  Life is an adventure.  A big, fun, funny adventure.

I shed a tear as I leave behind yet another wonderful place (and all the people who come with it) but this feeling will always be with me on every new adventure I find as I carry on with this crazy trip I like to call life.
 

I made it North.  Just in time too.  My days in NZ are coming close to an end.  I made this heart to commemorate my time here in NZ, my experiences on this trip have been...fabulous, inexplicable, perfect.  This heart has now been washed away by the tide that hits the Kapiti coast on the west side of the North Island of New Zealand.  Buts its been washed away to the sea where my love for everyone I have met, for everyone who allowed this trip to take place, will always be.  A big love shout out for all my new friends. WhooHoo!

The heart of shells was constructed on a rainy, deserted beach up the west coast of NZ.  In the photo above, the last bit of land you see there in the distance, is this deserted and gorgeous beach of which I speak. Paraparaumu: where they make fresh fruit ice cream, tractors pull boats on to the beach and you can walk for miles without much of another person running into you.  Its beautiful.

Later in the day, on my way back to Wellington, I found the sunshine and a locally known trail to these crazy  high bluffs.  Just taking in another day's scenery in NZ...no big deal...yes, it is a big deal.  Every where you look, more gorgeousness.  Kinda like life I suppose, depends on how you look at it but, there sure is a lot out there to love.   

Vintage sunrises...and vintage is over!

Every week of mine is like the longest day...the days run into one another and out spits...Wednesday, already!?  Soon I will be done and the sunrises will be seen less frequently with these eyes.  And oh, boy, do I need some sleep. But, the grapes don't recognize this fact, do they?  Nope!  The grapes are selfish and need to be turned into wine.  So we have worked 24/7 for almost a month.

This means that I have been lucky enough to have almost a month of sunrises.

Now, however, vintage is coming to an end, the grapes just ain't graping any more and, so... my travels will continue. Yay!  I head to the North Island/Wellington on Saturday...and may the adventures keep coming!

So many sunrises...and grapes...and barrels and tanks...

 Barrels perched lovingly in the tippy tank yard, followed by dozens of pairs of 50,000 liter tanks and then 100,000s.

 This is Christian.  We work together in the crush...and thank goodness. He is a giant German and his family owns vineyards/a winery in Germany.  At least someone can get something done around here/move these hoses in less than ten minutes like me/know what the heck that noise is!

 Sauv Blanc...its tasty, even in 25 tons.

Sunrise over the vineyard.  Its nice...because I know I am off soon.  

Winery cellar hand, that is my job...and what that means is that I am the winery's bitch.  I run around dragging hoses, switching lines from 50,000 liter tanks to other 50,000 liter tanks, I participate in warming tanks, inoculation of yeast, yadayada.

But, mostly, I look at grapes get dropped and crushed and sent to be pressed.  It is quite dramatic when 15 tons of grapes drop into the stainless steal 25 ton capacity 'hopper,' as its called.  This is where the fruit hits the winery and starts its way to becoming wine.



And, this is what I get to look at all day...wait...all night. Yup, I work from 7pm to 7:30 am...fancy, eh?  Its not so bad, just sticky...all the time sticky.

Actually, on one of my first days a couple weeks ago, when I was cleaning up grapes, sweeping and scooping, squeegeeing and shoveling massive amounts of spilled grapes into piles to go into the conveyor to go out to the massive mound of waste grapes one of the winemakers called down to me: "Working in the winery is real glamorous, eh?"

Just what I was thinking, Darren, thanks.
 
Its sticky, its industrial, there are grapes everywhere, I don't know what the heck that machine is for, its dangerous, grapes, climbing up and down stairs, crushing grapes, hanging out with truckers and scooping grapes, grapes, grapes. This is what I do.  And its so awesome.  My 'crush' team is so fun; the night shift crew is so fun.  We all do our best to keep good spirits and so far so good.  We are making memories as funny things go wrong every night...tanks over flowing and hoses blowing off lines while pumping grapes and thus grapes fly around everywhere...its quite a crazy place this winery setting.  And many more fun stories to come...we still have three weeks or so or 24/7 action at good ole Dryland's winery, Blenheim, Marlborough, New Zealand. 

Riding through Marlborough...

Riding through Marlborough, this is what I see

All sorts a sheep a-looking at me

The sun it sets in the most amazing ways

Even when the skies are grey

One sees the flowers even brighter

The sun, the moon, we all have big party!

The vines grow in rows of green

Soon we will see the fall creep in

As I ride my bike I will keep my eyes

Open and loving on the fields which give

Such amazing fruit and then drink.



I enjoy my stay.  This is what i say.  Everyday.
I am making new friends.  Staying on the fun side of things.  That is til work really begins and the grapes start coming in.  But through and through I will stay true to have so much fun no matter what.

Until next time, enjoy your life, make a big smile and think to yourself all the while...This is what life is, adventure and fun, no matter where you are and who you meet there is always potential for big memories.

I can't wait to show you more, stay tuned for big fun!

Coast to Coast...

 There certainly are some pretty things to look at on the west coast of the south island.  The pancake rocks of geologically mysterious proportions here are made of limestone and are ever changing in the beautiful but powerful and unforgiving sea.

And, here some tall grasses between the pancakes and the mountain forests on the same west coast blow in the wind.  I think the wind never ceases here.  Some of the trees in just a light, light breeze look as thought they are blowing in the fiercest of hurricane wind.  Everywhere you look, here in New Zealand,  there is something quite beautiful and something quite comical as well.

I hitchhiked from the west coast to Marlborough about a week ago now.  It was a fun adventure, met some nice people but, since then, I have gotten a new mode of transport.  I borrow a nice road bike from a friend and have been doing many-a-many tasting of the wine with this puppy!

This is what I bike through and past everyday....beautiful Marlborough and its wonderful...everything...

This is where I am: Marlborough

 Distances to my favorite places/people/dogs as the crow flies:

Knoxville: 8366 miles
Tahoe: 6970 miles
Phoenix: 6986 miles

So far!

Beijing, China: 6431 miles, but it sounds better if you put it in kilometers because it sounds further: 10,349 km.  Oh, so nice.

Life can be oh, so tough.  Here is a map and the 411 on my location.  I am outside of Blenheim in a tiny village called Renwick in the province of Marlborough on the northwest of the south island of New Zealand.  Life is good here.  The sun shines, though this summer has been fairly cool I am told, and mountians loom in all directions, the sea is close and the grapes are growing.  Yum.  Work in the winery starts tomorrow so my life will change a little bit but, I will still be loving every minute.  I hope you are too.

I ride through vineyards on flat straight streets, taste fresh picked pears and laugh at funny sheep in this small horticultured town.  This area is the most famous for grapes in NZ and touts a fairly reputable name as a wine growing region throughout the world.  I feel lucky to have this opportunity...and to drink it too! Cheers, mates!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlborough_Region

Now that I have left good 'ole China, one really gets a nice perspective on things. So here it is: my last love to Beijing #1：the food...煎饼 JianBing...so freaking good

I have been in New Zealand for over three weeks now.  I am happy: the food is fresh and delicious,yummy things grow everywhere, vegetables grow everywhere, fruit trees everywhere (especially the grape variety!)...but even so I am still thinking about my favorite Chinese street snack.  I fled China without posting this "number one" thing from Beijing entry.  Gotta give China a little love for feeding me so well.  Enjoy!

The traditional egg and spring onion pancake is by far the best street food in Beijing.  It makes me happy.  And yes, I do believe happiness can come in the form of food.  Because for me in Beijing, everyday, I find happiness in the delicious textures and fragrances and fillings the street carts and food stands have to offer.  This, I will miss.  

JianBing.  Whoa.  Though similar, no two are ever quite the same.  Equally delicious, yes, just different in small ways.  For example, I had one in Gulou hutong the other day that used three sauces instead of the typical two.  Don't really know what those sauces are, I can guess, but I don't really care-it is so freaking good.  I had one in Chengde, where the imperial summer resorts are, it was the first one I tried where the chef used two eggs instead of the typical one.  The batter in that one was also a little sweeter.  Was it good?  Absolutely.  

The best ones have an unexpected vegetable (or seed, or sauce) added to the mix while cooking.  Once, near the Yonghegong Lama Temple, I had one with black sesame seeds.  There has also been occasion to have tou dao si 土豆丝 added to the mix.  This is julienne sliced potatoes cooked in too much oil (yum!) with a little spice.  MmmmMm.  

Really, there are just so many options here.  But the classic is what got me hooked.  Simple and magical: plain batter spread over a hot flat iron skillet, an egg cracked on top, spread out on the batter, two thin spatulas flip the big thin crepe-like cake, toss a little spring onion and parsley on top of the hoison and chili sauces, add the fried rice wafer thingy, fold it up, put in a handy carrying device/plastic bag and you have got a classic Jian Bing for all of two minutes and 4 yuan.  Told you: happiness can be bought...

Even though I love me some mutha-luvin' Jian Bing, this is more my style:

These mushrooms were growing on the side of a mountain overlooking a gorgeous blue lake, Roturua Lake.   

NZ, it ain't Tennessee, but its the place to be.

NZ is wonderful...WONDERFUL I tell you!!

This whole trip has been amazing.  There is so much everyday I can't even begin to break into the seal of the treasures of travel I have found down here.  I will start with a few blips and try to let it absorb.  This place is a gem.

A day at the beach on the northern tip of the south island.  Caves and arches, dunes and small pools, through beech forest and fields of sheep to crazy rocks and baby seals; its all here in walk of a couple kilometers.

 Abel Tasman national park, where I spent four days on a bay only accessible by water, has unbelievable gold beaches below rocky cliffs through the thick temperate rain forest.  The inlets and bays are amazing and the marine life in the marine reserve is overflowing.  We played with some seals on our kayak on day, picked some fresh mussels the next.  

Our team: Clay, Sanaz and myself on Whariki Beach

Right now I sit, happily, in the surf town of Westport, on the west coast of the south island NZ.  Its rainy and I welcome this time to rest (especially after the BIG party we made with the locals last night!)  The last two weeks have been a wonderous addition to my trip/life. I can't believe things can look like this.  My eyes actually are having trouble absorbing all of the beauty surrounding me.The forests are cool, physically cooling to the skin, and the green in the trees and plants is the green that taught all other green how to be.

Its lovely, just lovely. The sea roars and rolls, the mountains are tall, the people laugh all the time and the birds are talkative, funny and friendly little things.  

And the sunsets ain't bed either...

Made it...New Zealand...

I arrived in the land of spectacular!  Coastlines a plenty, mountains strewn about and a few sheep rolling around too. 

The Kaikoura peninsula: green pastures filled with love and sheep and cows, the ocean cracks below the cliffs and the snowy mountains come right up to the sea.  Amazing.

Sheep!

I am going to love it here.  In one day I swam with wild Dusky dolphins and then rode my bike around Marlborough wine tasting.  Oh, hello, NZ. 

Seeing as how I don't start work for the winery for a few weeks, I am running around the south island with my friend Clay from Tahoe.  We are meeting cool people, staying cool places and going into the forest.  Last night we kicked it with a multitude of glow worms in the green mussel(delicious!) capital of NZ.  This place is freaking awesome, eh?

Hooray!

And....I'm out!  

Flying out of Beijing with a couple days in Malaysia,then heading on to the land of green: New Zealand!  Yay for a fresh experience and some fresh air!

Walls: Great and city...

The Great Wall is really cool.  I did a cartwheel on it.

A couple of friends and I went north to the small(er) city of Shan Hai Guan on a bullet train to experience two grand sections of the wall: Jiumenkou, the only place where the epic wall crosses a body of water, and the Dragon's Head, where the wall finds its end at the BoHai bay in the Yellow Sea.
Here is Jiumenkou, redone and original sections stand among the mountains and terraced fields.  The frozen river adds to the majestic scene of this world wonder.

The Dragon's Head was more than impressive: the surrounding frozen sea, the crisp arctic wind, the dramatic end to the most epic of human wonders.  It easily produces a sense of wonder about the whole construction of this piece.  In a word, the wall is mighty.

It was so freaking cold here.  Whoa.  But I got to stand on the frozen ocean (and see this epic end) so it was worth it.

The city of Shan Hai Guan has a population of about 400,000.  Up here, based on Beijingers, one is outside of contemporary China.  The older parts of the city lay inside the giant city wall.  The hutong holds numerous treasures, crooks and crannies, and once again the dramatic walls of China impress.

We walked inside the wall for a couple hours and a Russian fighter jet was giving us a show all the while...take-off/landing exercises we guessed, it was pretty cool.

I did a handstand on the wall too.

The Gulou hutong...#2 on the still going countdown...

As many adventures there are to have outside of Beijing, there are just as many to have inside the city.  The air ain't pretty, my throat is scratchey from the pollution, its a two pack a day polluted sky but that's a hazard of Beijing livin'.  We go out, enjoying it all the while anyway.

The Gulou hutong is a beautifully redone hutong (alleyway) close to city center.  Here, there are many quirky, local shops (God Save the Streaking), cafes(McDonalds), bars (Pass By) and snack stands (churros!).  Also, high in the sky towers an ancient bell tower and a drum tower.  The China usual: lovely old with the ever changing new.

Looking around, one can always find surprises.  One, for example, is the buildings.  In China, they are always a surprise. Construction is constant, sky cranes bringing more stories to a tall, tall building, new subway lines, maybe the building next door isn't pretty enough.  The hutong is surrounded by such happenings, the neighborhood always changing.

In Beijing, one has endless choices of food; street food is obviously the best choice.  Should we get sweet potatoes cooked on a grill behind a bicyle cart?  Perhaps charred lamb on a stick?  Maybe sour fresh yogurt?  Nope.  Something you can only get in the hutong...
Its a cold, cold day so what better a snack than CHURROS and ICE CREAM!!  Hot fresh churros, hot fudge and soft serve....best snack ever.  Fat and happy.

Dried chrysanthemum flower tea on display outside of a traditional Chinese tea shop.  The hutong holds many  traditional Chinese treasures.  It's a maze of Chinese history. Gulou is, of course, a touristy hutong but, it is a preserved part of China's history and wonderfully enjoyable. Other hutongs throughout the city survive the constant change and construction, though often times, the old alleyways lose to the big dollars.

Just this morning I walked through a beautiful hutong as it awakened in the early morning.  The residents cooking breakfast and street foods for themselves and their stands, dogs and cats hanging with their owners as they get ready for work, laundry hanging next to peeling stone walls. Its oddly quiet in here, but the city is constantly pushing its way in.   The hutongs are one of the most enjoyable things about Beijing.  And that's the truth.

My two favorite photos:

This bung-bung looks well loved; I like it.  My camera and I passed it on a side street in a small city on the Bohai Bay in Northeastern China called Shan Hai Guan.  Maybe this little go cart bung-bung was around during the cultural revolution.

On my travels, I have seen many people with inventive and even beautiful ways of carrying the fruits of the day's labor.  This man looked exceptionally poetic on a day I visited the only place where the Great Wall spans a body of water at Jiumenkou.  Maybe he works one of the many fields of apple trees in the area. 

A day in Ruins...

Another adventure in the heart of Beijing city: the ruins at the Old Summer Palace.  Devery and I enjoyed another beautiful and breezy winter day gallivanting through some interesting sights.

We started the day with my favorite street food; Jian Bing, the traditional Beijing egg and spring onion pancake.  Yum, this means the day starts out right.  I mean, this pancake is $.75 worth of delicious perfection (i have challenged my self to eat one a day for my last two weeks...its going well so far!)....getting off track here, back to the ruins.  

With the proper fuel and the windy weather, this park was at the mercy of silliness.  The Old Summer Palace has a lot of fun things to play around on, walk through and photo op. The European influence clearly stands out in the piles of toppled structures strewn about the place.  Black swans wash and hunt in the ponds.  And we walk among the few tourists having a good ole time.

The Palace was used for government affairs in the 1800s Qing dynasty.  During the second opium war certain morbid events led British and French troops to destroy the palace.  It is in ruins but its actually quite beautiful.

I'm pretty sure this wasn't a good idea....but it was really fun.

A falling apart bridge, real purty like.