Photos from the rock opera
by fiona
Photos from the rock opera shoot are up! My fellow actor Jonas did them. Good stuff.
http://www.jonaslerman.com/index2.html (I forgot how to make links)
Go to "on location" for sneak peak into the making of Portland's newest, hottest indie film sensation!
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Posted on July 30, 2003 | Comments (0)
Well, I am back in
by fiona
Well, I am back in portland and i can say that it is much hotter, much cheaper, and in general not quite as interesing as being in australia. It is really really great to be home, though.
The trip back was pretty uneventful, except for some truly awful cinema (The Core, anyone?) and some pudgy, swollen feet (12 hours sitting motionless in a chair does wonders for the circulation).
Starr picked me up in LA and, after a day's recuperation, we headed up on the roadtrip back to Ptown. My sense of time was all askew, and I ended up driving the midnight-to-6:30 am shift before collapsing in exhaustion at a rest stop in northern cali.
Got back in time for my friend Elizabeth's wedding- she's the first of my friend group to go, but it really seems like everyone is either married or engaged these days. It was so wonderful! And so very portland. There was a bike procession to and from Mt. Tabor (a big wooded hill with a view of the city) and then the reception was held in their backyard. For me, it was a great reunion with friends that i haven't seen since i started med school - it made me realize that i need to stay better in touch with people.
Getting back to the apartment has been awesome. I was there alone for a while cause mike made the bad decision of being in Iowa when i returned home (he had a good time, but I missed him!). But I've been doing a lot of unpacking and cleaning and trying to salvage what's left of my sun-fried garden. Now that he's back it has been so great just to hang out with him again. Now my biggest priority is to make the most of the last summer vacation of my life.
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Posted on July 30, 2003 | Comments (6)
That's it. Tomorrow I leave
by fiona
That's it. Tomorrow I leave Australia. Who knows when i will be back. The whole thing has gone by so quickly, but when i think of all the things i have seen and done, all the people i have met, all the relationships i've rekindled... it has been a very full trip.
Last night we stayed with our cousin Drew and his partner Loretta in their awesome house in Toquay (small surfing town south of Melbourne). Our other cousin Sarah was there also, so it was great to catch up with everyone. We drank a bunch of wine and played pathetic pool and watched the finale of Big Brother, which is just ENORMOUS down here. The whole country is into it. The winner was this girl from Tasmania who ran a fish and chips shop.
The last day in Oz was spent frantically trying to navigate downtown Melbourne by car to do some last minute tourist stuff. Some guy yelled at me for not turning fast enough or something. Road Rage is alive and well down under, i can tell you. I can't wait to get back to my nice little scooter and my nice little apartment in nice little familiar warm portland. I am sad to leave, but it will be good to get back to my life.
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Posted on July 22, 2003 | Comments (0)
I just drove 9 hours
by fiona
I just drove 9 hours from Sydney to Melbourne. I think I have bed sores from all the sitting. It wasn't so bad actually, now that I'm very used to driving on the left side (aka the wrong side) of the road. The time went by much faster than i expected, thanks in large part to me and joanne's CD collection.
However, our tastes in music don't always agree .As we were heading into the homestretch - 1 hour out of melbourne, after witnessing the most incredible pinkcloud sunset over rolling farmland - we begun what ended up to be a fierce battle of wits and perserverence. You know the romantic power ballad "I just died in your arms tonight" from everyone's favorite decade (everyone but my sister's)... imagine that on repeat... for over an hour. I think she was trying to proove some sort of point. Like how I'd get sick of it or somethig. Not so! She was the one that finally caved.
I counted 19 times before I lost track.
Yesterday we took a trip just south of Sydney to this place called Royal National Park. Its right on the coast, and consists of miles and miles of moors that end abruptly at staggering cliffs jutting out over the ocean. The day was really gray and cold, with low threatening clouds hovering over everything. Although it would;ve been nice to have sun (as was forcast) I think the gray fit more with the landscape... stark and isolated and severe. Hiked into it all from this wide surfing beach that was kind of spread between two wooded plateaus. You could see miles down the southern coast, many great landmasses folding out of themselves towards the sea.
We scrambled up from the beach to the top of a plateau, which seemed to extend forever in its infinite scrubby flatness. Miles and miles of stunted, prickly, self-defensive, gray-green shrubs. Occasionally a little burst of white or yellow flowers. And birds everywhere. Darting in and out of the spines, mostly hidden but always heard.
Then, every once in a while the trail would take us up to a cliff edge, which plummeted down towards crashing waves. The first place we stopped was where a stream had emerged from the moors and formed a small waterfall off the cliff. But it was so delicate that it never really reached the water - the wind coming up the rockface just blew it into a constant spray, blew a lot of it back towards the stream that it came from. It was kind of surreal. A waterfall that disappeared into the air the instant it became a waterfall.
But the incredible thing was that the stream had carved all these shallow pools into the top of the cliff. And in those pools there were tadpoles. Black tadpoles, just sitting there in water literally feet away from the edge. They were so close to being swept over it to their doom, yet there they were. Slowly becoming frogs.
I crawled out to the edge and lay there, with my chin on the rock, looking down into the water that seethed stories below. There were whales out there somewhere in the depths. July is when they migrate. I reached down with my hands around either side of the precipice, angled over the exact point where the land ceased to be, and looked back along the coastline.
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Posted on July 20, 2003 | Comments (0)
8:30 pm. Surfer's Paradise, Queensland,
by fiona
8:30 pm. Surfer's Paradise, Queensland, Australia. I am staying with the parents of friends of friends (the couple we stayed with in new zealand). They are this great Polish couple who prepared a lovely traditional polish meal, and then made me something different at the last minute when they found out i was vegetarian. Great people. In fact, they are waiting for me to have tea i think, so i can't be too long.
It really is paradise here. Warm, no wind, palm trees, white sand beaches, and if you like miles of highrise condos and swarms of japanese tourists, well then you would be in heaven. Drove down from Bundaberg today, stopping on the way to see this amazing surfing beach, gawk at a koala lazing in a gum tree, and have scones and jam in this beautiful forest mountain range called the glasshouse mountains. After 4 days styaing with relatives, its a bit rough to be on the road again, but there is so much beauty to see here.
Yes, and did the whole outback/ayer's rock thing. It was pretty damn breathtaking. Trip's almost over and I'm sad to leave but looking forward to chilling in p-town. Tea calls (and maybe some vodka later!)
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Posted on July 16, 2003 | Comments (0)
You know how when you
by fiona
You know how when you were younger people would ask you what your favorite tree was, along with favorite animal and color and new kids member and so forth? Well, after waffling between willows and various pine species for years, I have settled on a sure favorite: the karri eucalyptus tree of western australia. We drove through a forrest of them day before yesterday, while driving down the western coast. Beautiful white/silver trunks soar up into the sky and gracefully dissipate into slender, writhing branches, coated with shimmering gold leaves. The nerd in me couldn't help but think of Lothlorien and the elvish mallorn trees. THey should have filmed it there.
THe trip south was great - we fit in a cave, a lighthouse, a day at the beach, and a couple embarassing incidents when i tried to play cricket with my 14 yo cousin (who i just taught to shuffle cards, thank you very much). Also lots of wine. Who knew my family was full of such lushes?
Tomorrow joanne and i are heading to the outback where we plan to take in the splendor of ayers rock (now called Uluru, as the aboriginal tribe has been "allowed" to reclaim it) and various other stunning outbackish experiences. Sunset over ayer's rock? Yes please.
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Posted on July 7, 2003 | Comments (0)
Saw kangaroos today! Lots of
by fiona
Saw kangaroos today! Lots of them. Bounding across the road and sheepishly roaming around the underbrush. They really are honestly like deer. Also saw my 2nd kuckaburra of the trip. Australian safari 2003 has begun.
I am staying at my grandma's in Perth tonight. She was a teacher back in the day, and tends to talk as if everything were a lecture. She especially likes to go on and on about the geology of the region, about which she has written a rather extensive book, apparently... oh well. It has been really good seeing her. We got out some old photo albums and looked at pictures of my mom - a tall, akward child growing up in a small town in the australian bush.
Tomorrow we head down south to stay at a small coastal town for a few days, where apparently they have dolphins and pretty things. Maybe it will stop raining.
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Posted on July 4, 2003 | Comments (0)
Travel Update! Breaking news from
by fiona
Travel Update!
Breaking news from my exciting trip down under. One young med student on the last vacation of her life. One sister. Two countries. Many relatives. One incredible adventure...
So, I'm in australia now, staying with my aunt Vera in melbourne. Yesterday we went wine tasting at this beautiful vineyard that overlooks the ocean. I have never been wine tasting before! It was fun to literally try everything they had to offer - i then bought some savingon blanc. Who knew my favorite would be a white wine? I plan on also bringing back some rum and liquer from bundaberg, a sugar-cane town near the great barrier reef where i plan to stay with long-lost relatives. So i will be laden with alcy on my way back.
Yesterday we also went to visit my cousin Drew (who's 27) and his partner Loretta, who live in this small surfing town on the coast, just south of melbourne. She designs surf and "urban" gear and he is this amazing surfer. They have invited us to stay with them on our way back - basically to party it down before we leave australia. Very cool people.
Ok - so let me give the NZ update. It was awesome. We got off the 13 hour flight and hopped right into a rental car, in which we proceded to drive 10 hours down to Wellington, stopping only to take a tour through the Gloworm Caves of Waitomo. River running through caves. Ferry. Luminescent worm larvae hanging on ceiling. Looked like stars. Amazing.
In Wellington, a gorgeous city, we stayed with Rebecca and Tomek, friends of a friend (adam). They were super nice and both gave us little tours of their work. Tomek works for the meteorologic society, and took us up to the roof where he has the best view of the city and the bay.
Then, we went to Rebecca's work... the Weta Workshop. Ok. It was amazing. rebecca works for Weta Physical now (instead of Weta Digital), so she gave us a tour of the big workshop where they make all the props and minitures (bigatures) for LOTR. I saw the 3 trolls, the Argonath, Treebeard, a model of the cave troll from moria, as well as a whole layout of Gondor and this big ship that they are going to use for the 3rd movie. Sneak preview! So cool. The amount of detail was just incredible. I mean, there were tiny bits of lichen painted onto the rock of the Argonath, as well as rusted copper on some of the domes of Godor, and moss on Treebeard (who was actually a huge costume that someone worked from inside and moved while Merry and Pippin sat on top).
Oh, and rebecca unlocked the trophy case and let us hold the Oscars that that Richard Taylor had won for best special effects and best make up. They are actually quite heavy in real life. It was so great.
Ok, here's another thing about new zealand: everyone is nice. Literally every single person we met was so nice and friendly (even though some pesky trouble maker did manage to give us a parking ticket in W-ton). And the land was so gorgeous - I could really see myself living there. Beautiful lush green rolling hills, rugged coastline, huge snow capped volcanoes looming over desert plains, bubbling hot springs covering the land with mist and steam... Adam and Teresa are really lucky. I will have to go visit them.
And the Maori culture is really present and celebrated. I'm sure racism and injustice exist there as it does everywhere, but it really seemed that NZ society and culture included Maori culture, not existing in spite of it. People still speak the language, and incorporate traditional tribal traditions, symbols, and history into everyday life (as well as into tourism). Joanne and I went to a "Maori Magic" show when we were in Rotorura (up north, by the volcanoes). It was kind of cheezy and amateur, but I thought it was really cool. They did some traditional dances, including the Haka, the war dance, where then men strike all these intimidating poses and stick their tongues out and open their eyes real wide. Pretty intense. After that we went and soaked in hot mineral baths heated by the volcanic hot springs.
Man, I didn't mean for this to get this long. Sorry. I woke up early and there's nothing else to do. More later!
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Posted on July 1, 2003 | Comments (1)