Happy New Year!

I started off this new year in Mexico riding motorbikes across the Baja desert! It was an amazing trip and one that I will never forget..... like them all really. We rode from Tijuana in the north to Todos Santos in the south over 13 days cruising through deserts, cactus, rock formations, valleys, over mountains and through rivers and farms. The scenery there was unbelievable at parts and the people were very friendly.

The most memorable things for me.......

The Cactus. They are over 2000 years old each! They don't start growing another arm until they are at least 80 years of age and the ones with multiple arms are really really old.


SCORPIONS! We went to a beach called 'Scorpion Bay'..... called that for a pretty good reason. Every rock you look under has a scorpion under it! This little guy was the biggest we found and it was as big as a 50cent coin. The smaller they are the more poison they pump out.


After the shoot in Mexico I met up with Gerard, Jacquie and Hayley in Los Angeles. We spent 1 day filming a dream sequence and the rest of the time Jake from Steriogram showed us around in his cool van. I went to Universal Studios and have some fun! Brian left me with the motorbike so I spent a week cruising around L.A in style. I cruised Santa Monica beach and then rode up over the Beverly Hills and along Mulholland Drive. It was so much fun and a really nice break. Jado, KC's Cousin let me use his apartment for a few days which was awesome of him!

In other news! I am the proud owner of the new Sony EX1! This camera creates stunning images and I am looking forward to filming a drama with it. We will be filming our next movie on this.

I have finally got my personal website going. I have been uploading photos to that each day and in the next few weeks i should have them all up there. I will try and arrange the gallery and do a little more design on the pages so that they are not so messy. But I don't know anything right now.... it took me 4 hours to add photos.

Right now I am getting back into the groove of a freelance cameraman. I am working on a couple of drama series at the moment. 'Outrageous Fortune' and 'Jacquie Browns Diaries'. I will be learning a lot from each of these jobs and I cant wait to get stuck in.

So thats a quick update from me. There are a hundred things happening at once.


later

lance

Its like i have started a new life.....

Settling in.....

I have been working non stop since i got back from the earthrace epic. This week alone i have done over 106 hours which is insane really when it is such physical work..... but man, it is fun and i am learning a lot!

Things are going great outside of work.... I moved in to my new flat with Amit on the north shore 2 weeks ago. It has been great living with Amit as we get along so well and also living so close to the city really saves a lot of time travelling each day. The house is situated right next to the wharf in birkenhead and each night the sun sets out over the Waitakere hills. I have 2 baby birds living right outside my window so that adds a bit of wildlife to the scene. A few days ago they started to talk...... hmmm no 'sleep ins' for me on my days off.... if i get them.

I am counting down the days till we go to Mexico..... It is going to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life to date. Just hope that this time i dont get lost in the wilderness because these conditions will be a lot more extreme than the last one.... at least there is no bears this time. In 2 weeks I cruise down to Queenstown for xmas with the family. Tania and Andrew have moved in to a new 1.4 million dollar apartment so that should be a few days of absolute luxury before we cruise the dessert of Baja, Mexico on dirt bikes yeehaa!!

Scott and Alison came over last week to help me out with my photo book of Earthrace. I have just not had the time to finish the book off so Scott will be doing that and it should be available for sale in the next few days. Scott and Ali are absolute legends and its great to have them in NZ.

I have a lot more to write and a few photos that i will load up in the next week or so. right now tho i am going to go to sleep. good night


lance

Back to normal life

Well. What a trip!

I arrived in New Zealand yesturday after sitting in a plane for 24 hours with complete strangers resting their tired heads on my shoulders and a cute little girl (her entire family was coming to live in NZ) from Namibia, Africa crying and laughing at me all the time. Why is it, and i am sure Amit gets the same thing, that kids ALWAYS look at me and smile and laugh! Do i look radiculous or something? Dont get me wrong, i love it because i love kids but whey do they do that? I was in the supermarket once and this kid of about 2 pointed at me and laughed! hmmm, anyway.....

I've unpacked all my belongings already.... a sign that i have changed because a year ago i would have just left it on the floor in my room to rot. And, being back in New Zealand is a breath of fresh air... literally. During my travels I have now come to realize that New Zealand really is, the nicest place in the entire world to live and that the 4 million people that live here are the luckiest in the world. Just driving home yesturday i had a huge smile on my face because of how beautiful it is here. I am guilty of taking New Zealand for granted over the last few years and its not until you have travelled the world that you realise how amazingly fortunate we are.

Another thing that I have been contemplating over the last couple of months is how the world really needs help. Not just from a few individuals who want to make a difference, but from all of us who are able to. Education of the issues and what we can do to help is the key and I have made my mind up on how i will help but i hope it makes a big enough difference....

I met up with Tania and Andrew who were up from Queenstown. Was really nice to see them again and also, Max. man i missed them! I could'nt believe how much people have changed in the last 10 months! Amit is coming for breakfast this morning so cant wait to see him again. Will post photos up soon.

I plan to get fit again and start playing all my sports again. Will get into the routine of having at least one sport each night if i can.

And i do plan in writing a blog for each country that i was in over the next month or so....


later


lance

Portland, Oregan

After an amazing time, i have left europe and arrived in Portland, Oregan for my next adventure...... riding across Washington state on dirt bikes!

I met ryan and Brian at the airport last night after a long but relatively stress free flight. Naturally, being in a new city we went out for a quick drink..... which quickly turned in to a few drinks with Thor, one of the guys who is riding with us and who is also a pretty damn good rider..... he was on Jackass 2 and did a complete loop the loop!

Waking up the next day was easier than expected.... a lot easier! considering that, now, because i have'nt drunk much for ages, i get drunk off 2 beers and we downed at least 7 each! Brian and I spent the day getting stuff ready for the trip. Ryan picked up the beautiful Tara from the airport. After a long day of driving around looking for a new stills camera (unsuccessfully) it was time to head back home and actually learn how to ride a motorbike! especially when the trail we are riding is quite difficult in some places.

So, Ryan and I were in the same boat. He had'nt riden a motorbike for 10 years.... and i had only ridden a motorbike once in my life (excluding the amazing ginger moped of course) and was'nt very good at it back then! So, after some great wisdom from Brian it was time to jump on and give it a go. Wearing full body armor and helmet i sat on the bike rearing to go. Unluckily for me i was blessed with short beautiful legs which make it very hard to touch the ground.... so it was a little difficult to even get on the bike at first. Ryan laughed, he has incredibly long legs. I started the bike, cranked it in to 1st gear and away i went.... nervously awaiting the accidental wheelie that could occur from too much throttle, but, to my amazement, I did'nt do that this time! (last time i almost fell off the back of max's bike) Ryan then had a go and took to the bike like a worm to mud.

After some practice Brian decided to take us to a park to learn some skills. But, on the way we were stopped by a guy in a car. I thought he was an off duty cop who was going to tell me off for filming on the back of the bike without a permit... but it turned out he was a wicked wicked guy who wanted to know about camera's. So, after a small chat he took us to his 'boat house' for a beer. The boat house was incredible! amazing in fact! he also had his 42 foot sail boat docked on his deck outside and then had his speed boat down the other side of his house! So tomorrow he has invited us around for dinner and a wakeboard which will be good fun.

Portland really is a beautiful city. This evening i was watching hundreds of geese fly in and land in the river against a stunning sunset of green and blue colors. Took a mental picture because my stills camera is broken so sorry i could'nt share. Maybe they will be there tomorrow.

am in a happy happy mood right now.

Singapore

I have been really bad at keeping up to date with me blogs..... and it is important for me to keep in touch with a lot of people who read this so I will try my best to keep it going from now on..... it is hard tho.

Earthrace came and left Singapore the other day. Tomorrow, I fly to my favourite country, India which i am extremely excited about. Just have to get my visa tomorrow at 4pm.... flights at 8.15pm...... hmmmmmm...... pushing it but it should be sweet!

The trip so far has just been amazing. The more countries you go to the better they become! It has changed me a lot.... more than anything else ever has..... and i hope it is for the best. The countries we have been to so far have been Panama, Guatemala, Mexico, San Diego, Hawaii, Marshall Islands, Palau, Singapore and now on to India. We are not even half way around the globe and still have the most interesting stops to make! I have shot so much footage and going over it on my laptop makes me confident that this doco will be an extremely interesting watch.

Right now I am mentally exhausted and the travelling and shooting on no money at all is demanding and frustrating. But i love it! My favourite stop so far would have to be Palau. That place has something special about it and is absolutely stunning! I ended up doing some helicopter stuff with Roll em Productions in Palau and seeing it by air is something else! Singapore has been an interesting trip..... the boat left and most of the time i have been stuck inside the hotel room dumping footage, loading footage to TV3, Loading up blogs, loading up photos for my blog, loading up hi res photos, editing b roll footage, editing footage we shot of earthrace at the marina and sending emails, footage logging... so now i can go outside and see Singapore.

Marshall Islands was nice but very small. There was one road from the airport to the other end of the island. The island is shaped like a horse shoe and is only 100metres wide at the most! The marshallese are beautiful and friendly people. I went for a walk one evening at dusk and took photos of the local kids. There is a really nice feeling of community there which i dont think i have experienced anywhere else. Each night all the locals meet up and have games of volleyball, basketball and sing songs.... I wanted to join in but did'nt know what they were singing lol....

Hawaii was amazing also. The scenary of Maui's volcano's and the deep blue water. We cruised up the tallest volcano at dawn to watch the sunrise.... it was so disorientating because it looked like a little hill, yet it took 1.5hours to drive up it! and at the top the view was amazing! There was a weird cloud in the sky that looked like jet vapour... It was actually steam from a meteorite that flew accross the sky as we drove up. I got a great shot of the steam going over the horrizon. I also went whale watching and met Mele who was the greatest guide in the world! I hired a helicopter to go out and film earthrace coming in.... It was so worth spending the money because I got some pretty cool shots of earthrace flying through the water and dodging whales... that helicopter crashed a week later.

I am about to go and have one last drink with Joan, Angie, Arion and Rama who are the coolest bar staff ever! I am sad to say goodbye to them actually.....

Will post a photo of them on my next blog....

lance

Miami - Panama

Wow, what a blur the last couple of weeks have been!

We arrived in Panama on Wednesday 7th March at night...... The first thing i was thinking after leaving the airport is how much some of the smells of Panama remind me of India.... but not half as strong. The other thought that was running through my head apart from the wind (head hanging out window) was how many photos i am going to be taking throughout this whole trip! I know it was a random thought but when you see Panama, you will know what i mean..... it is stunning in some places!

Before i go onto Panama tho.... i had better fill in on a little of the time in Miami....

Im my last blog i mentioned...o gotta go... update later

Kinder. Children. Bambini

'Kinder. Children. Bambini' - The book that was published with my photos in it is now available to order on the internet.....

Please go to www.avisys.at and order it!! All proceeds go to AMREF - www.amref.org - (African Medical Research Foundation) and www.sos-kinderdorfinternational.org which help provide medicines and build housing and schools for orphaned children.
It is a great cause and only costs 30 euros which to us is nothing, but to them is huge!

We are sitting in our hotel room on Miami Beach..... The room kinda smells at the moment and we are struggling to find the cause of it! We have the incense burning and all the windows open so that should fix it........ hopefully. All of us are on our laptops working right now..... trying to find sponsors, flights, organize fuel, accomodation etc etc.....

This morning i went and took some photos of the sun rising over the ocean....... Definately a good start to the day and will TRY and do that each morning whilst we are staying here. you really do meet some strange people in the early morning hours which is always uplifting. Yesturday i went for a walk along the beach for a while to gather my thoughts. The thing i loved the most, apart from topless women running towards me, was how multicultural it is here....... even more so than New Zealand. There were people from every continent all swimming together and just having a great time.... Its hard to imagine that happening 100 years ago.......... Here is a photo of the sunrise this morning:



and just a random that i liked:



John just farted......

I found a piece of music on the internet yesturday that really inspired me to be a cameraman as a kid........ Its called 'Cadillac of the skies' by John Williams and was on the movie "Empire of the Sun" - an amazing movie. So have been listening to that song a lot whilst trying to install software on my computer..... a lengthy process..... and john just farted again.

Since spanish is the main language for a few of the locations we are going to, Alison and Scott are going to try and teach me...... I will also try and download some lessons off the internet some time soon. gonna go get some cuban lunch.......

Adios!