It’s been one day over a month since I returned home to Toronto. In that time I have landed a super sweet job, an even sweeter apartment (although I cant move in for another month yet), and reconnected with my friends and family. Im slowly rediscovering my hometown and while I miss New Zealand on a daily basis (mostly its just the little things), for the most part Im really happy to be home.
Im sorry I havent written in a while; I was surprised to see I’d not written one …

I have been admonished for being so far behind in my writing; So much has happened over the last few weeks that Ive wanted time to chill and absorb everything, think about what I wanted to write.
Chiang Mai was fantastic. I really liked it; it’s so much more approachable than Bangkok which is completely in-your-face. I stayed five nights at the Libra Guesthouse in the Old City (the construction I mentioned earlier ended up not being an issue), which worked out perfectly. It was a 10 minute walk to the …

Thailand is everything I thought it would be: hot, humid, insane traffic, friendly people, amazing temples, scam artists, tiny streets, unfamiliar tastes and smells, long train rides, cheap food, hard beds, unbelievable sunsets, and best of all: an adventure every day.
I arrived in Bangkok, a little shell-shocked, five days ago following an 11 hour flight from Auckland. I stayed at Shanti Lodge Guesthouse in Thewet, and I highly recommend it.
After a somewhat ambitious walk to Khao San Road and back, I crashed hard and woke 12 hours later on my …

Sorry for leaving you all on such a down note, the last few weeks have FLOWN by and I am now in Thailand. A quick recap:
My friend Amy flew over from Australia (where she was visiting from the US) and came with me up to the Northland. We went to Whangarei and Tutukaka (on The Perfect Day boat trip to the Poor Knights Islands — fantastic!) and Paihia (where I took the highly recommended AwesomeNZ Cape Reinga day trip) together before going separate ways.
Whangarei & Poor Knights Islands day trip
Paihia …

I’ve been back from Australia for a few weeks now, but have been finding it really hard to sit down and write my thoughts and experiences on the things I’m doing. I guess that is a sure sign that I’m having a good time!
Before Kiwiburn, there was Rainbow Serpent. I had gone last year with Stephanie, Alex and Tim. This year, Steph and I had a new and fantastic crew to run with. Our experience this year could not have been more different than last years — where in 2009 …

Many years ago I learned about the four elements: Air, Fire, Water, and Earth; each one corresponding to a cardinal point on the map, a selection of human emotions and its genders, the seasons of the year, a rainbow of colours and a vast array of gods and goddesses from a multitude of humanity’s faiths. The elements, it would seem, represent all of humanity and the thoughts and realities that each of us can create or experience.
Until now, my only Burning Man experiences were Decompression parties in Toronto. Wildly spectacular, …

When I was a kid, a good chunk of my summers were spent up at Fraser Lake Camp near Bancroft, Ontario. While it was a Mennonite camp, it was also awesome with lots of fantastic activities to keep our pubescent minds safely (okay maybe not-so-safely considering some of the goings-on) occupied: sailing, canoeing, archery, arts & crafts and possibly best of all, horse back riding. Sure, they were more ponies than horses, but when you’re a kid a pony is a horse, and that’s all there was to it. I …