Welcome To SleepWalker Studios

Back again. I just Upload a short that I put together from a few nights ago. That is it above.  This is the first official run from SleepWalker Studios. That is it really… enjoy.

I’m Still Here.

So I have spent the last year putting this off.  I am not sure why.  But it has to stop now.  I just looked back and I have not written since  the beginning of 2010.  Well some things happened since then.  We went on another road trip in mexico Amalia, Temo, Andy, John and I.  That I documented in my moleskin.  So I will transcribe that at some point.  Amalia and I continued on in mexico for sometime.

I then headed over to the Caribbean to meet back up with Lamu.  I spent a bit more time with dad and the rest of the crew.  We moved around the islands a bit.  Did a bit of fishing along with some hiking.  I also gained an amazing possession from Wayne. A trade, one Nokia candy bar mobile phone, for one, beautiful Japanese Pre 1978 Pentax k1000. All I can say is thank you Wayne.  Your generosity acted as a catalyst for my enthusiasm to pursue my desires. I have included a picture of the boat it seems fitting as this will be the last post that mentions the beautiful ship for a while and it was taken with the new camera.  The hiking we did was brilliant.  The look out over the dormant volcano covered in vegetation was stunning. I love the Caribbean.

Amalia flew to see her Father in Michigan while I was away.  You would have to ask her what that was like.  From what she relayed to me it sounded like she had a good time.

I then flew back to Australia. On my way to Townsville I stayed with Vicki and Mum.  They had a house in Mooloolah. In the mountains inland from the sunshine coast.  It was great seeing Mum and Vicki. Plenty of scrabble, delicious food and good company.  We did a bit of driving and saw some sites.  Mum and I also went to the theme parks which was fun.

I also went in to Brisbane to see Kellie Christiansen, we went to a small house party with some live electronic tunes that I enjoyed a fair bit.  The same night I ran in to Nathan Roche and Tim Barwise. It was a long night fueled by Tim’s never ending government funded generosity.  Nathan, Tim and I crashed at Tim’s house.  The next day Nathan was bound for the Sunshine Coast so we went to the city to go our separate ways.  We went down into an underground bar in the city for one last drink and the story kind of gets repetitive from here.

Next up was Kyana Pike and Sam Wright who were on a traveling expedition of their own down the east coast of Australia.  They arrived at my mother’s house and we set off from there.  We had many false starts in our attempts to camp in different locations.  We did succeed though, eventually.  It was a brilliant to see some of the friends I had missed so much while I was away.  We had some experiences.  A fly away tent.  A close encounter with a snake.  A sticky situation.  It was a great adventure.

And I will leave it at that for now.

The Movie

So this is the film Lucas, Tim and I worked on while in Mexico together.  I hope you enjoy.

And a plot could also help, i will give you the screenplay i wrote from Timothy’s script.

1.  Princess Amalia is captured by cockroaches
- Who are directed by the mad scientist tim
- who wants her to marry his creation the dragon aka dinosaur.
- she is taken to the center of the earth through a volcano
- The dragon falls in love with the princess
- the princess tries to escape but can’t
- The princesses brother has been searching ever since she was abducted (lucas)
- He uses his magical powers to hack into the earths core and discovers vibrations indicating where the princess is

2. he focus his magic into a sensitive spot on the volcano to stimulate an eruption
- the dragon prince puts the princess in his pouch and surfs the lava stream o the surface
- almost without hope lucas sees them fly out from the volcano in the nick of time
- he rushes to save her and crashes the car into the dragon to save her
- as the dragon lies dying the princess is overcome with emotion and kisses him

3. The dragon turns into louis.
-  They kiss and live happily ever after driving off.
-  Ends with the head of the mad scientist tim bleeding (decapitated) as the credits roll

- Cue Bloopers

Road Trip

These last two weeks have been rather eventful. Arriving home from Manzanillo on the 2nd to greet our new house guests, Piet (Peit) and Marleen. They’re from Belgium and seem like quite nice people.

I would just like to mention I am having a very hard time trying to decide if I should talk in a past tense or present as this all happened awhile ago, but i don’t want to leave a gap. So bare with me until i catch up. The preordained schedule will be ending soon, so i should be able to have enough time to keep it up after that.

On with the show. So we played a lot of ping pong with our new house guests. Timmy, Lucas and I started on a movie. It will be released here, I am still working on the sound editing though. Scrap that i just finished it.  I will give its own post in a minute.

Then Timmy left.  Which left Amalia and i feeling a little sad.  But the show must go on.  So two days after he left we set off on our road trip.  Sarah, Andy, John, Lucas, Amalia and I all piled in to the four wheel drive and off we went.

So first up was Morelia, we arrived in the night and shuffled into our hotel.  Then we set out to find a place to eat.  There was not much around but we did manage to stumble into “Mexican restaurant” as you probably could of guessed it was atrocious.  But Lucas did well with his order of a hamburguesa. Cold and unfulfilled we headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we headed to see the monarch butterflies at El Rosario.  It was rather cold again and on the walk up to the reserve we passed a lot of stalls selling crafts and food.  The walk up was more exhausting than we expected due to the high altitude.  Once we finally made it to the top we were greeted by thousands of butterflies.  Perhaps not the best time to go though as the butterflies were feeling the cold as well.  Not exactly fluttering around like i had expected.  But every now and then one hurtled down from the hordes that occupied the canopy to come to a rest on twigs where they continued their futile attempts to dry their wings.  I managed to snap a rather pretty picture of one of the monarchs, which you can see up above.

Anyway down the mountain we went,  I made a friend on the way down.  He must of been 3 years old.  We played catch/fetch with a stick.  I then juggled for him and he looked at me in disbelief and then proceeded to pick up three rocks and toss them in every directions while waddling his body back and forth.

Back to Morelia we went.  This nights dinner made the dinner we had eaten the night before look like a meal fit for kings.  We attended KFC.  Much to the complaints of everybody.  But it was the only option, or so we thought.  With our big family feast we headed home, on the way passing the restaurant strip.

The next day, full of KFC, we headed out to see Morelia.  Amalia picked up some fancy boots, and also a few presents were purchased.  We also visited a massive artesanias.  Full of all sorts of impressive  household items and art pieces.  They also had some beautiful guitars.  After our busy morning we continued on to our next destination.

Patzcuaro.  We checked into a hotel that had been recommended to us by Peit and Marleen.  It was a beautiful hotel.  With fireplaces in the rooms, a beautiful courtyard and a really nice lounge and breakfast area around a fireplace for everybody.  All checked in we headed out to see the place.  It is my favorite place on the trip so far.  Sweet shops with lot’s of cool clothes, Katrina dolls and other handy works.  I purchased a bag that i am rather fond of and then went for dinner.  We went home enjoyed the fireplace and had a lovely sleep.

We went to the markets the next morning and had some delicious Tacos.  Which reminds me of something.  Tacos  for all Australian’s out there. Tacos are not what you think they are.  they are not conveniently shaped corn chips to fill with your desired fillings.  That is just a concocted story by the evil beings at old el paso. Those tricksters led me and all of you i assume to believe that mexicans chowed down crispy tacos everyday.  This is false.  They don’t even exist here.  On a side note they are very delicious here but in a different way.

On with the story.  So after the markets we commenced our trip home.  Eager to get back to ping pong before Sarah and Lucas departed.

The end for now.

Manzanillo

What a week. We started with the memorial for Betty who was better known as Gigi (Amalia’s Great Grandmother). Then the wedding. Followed by a days drive to our beach side location in Manzanillo, where we would be celebrating the new year.

The wedding was excellent. A lot of mexican culture had been put on show. They had Viejitos dancing around, a female mariachi band. And a cuban band that provided the music. A wonderful meal was cooked by Augustin a local chef from down the road. And plenty of tequila and cerveza’s. The night ended with a ride home in the back of Temo’s truck with a bottle of wine in one hand and some corn husk table ornament’s that Lucas had won.

Next up was the trip to Manzanillo. It was a decent days drive from Ajijic. The villa we stayed in was stunning. 180 views of the bay and complete with a hot tub and infinity pool. As nice as Manzinallo was a lot of people knew it so the beaches found themselves swarming with tourists which was rather unappealing. So Tim (Amalia’s Step-dad ), John (Amalia’s grandfather), Brian (Amalia’s Uncle) and I set of in search of beaches with less inhabitants. Tim and I had skimmed over the satellite imagery and noticed some dirt roads trailing away from the highway north of the town. So off we went. Within 15 minutes we had located a road which seemed rather promising to begin with. The car we were in was comparable to a Hyundai excel, not really designed for off-road experiences. Nevertheless we continued down what seemed like a rather well-kept dirt road. As we continued on the road had given away a little from the rains but the little car with some guidance from us made it through the ditches. Doubt started to swell with in our stomachs as the road just seemed to stretch on. But after what seemed like 40 minutes but probably closer to 15 we finally found Playa de Oro (Beach of Gold) which was rather appropriate considering our hunt.

The beach was excellent, much better than the crowded sands within the city. Rather strong waves that seemed to dump rather quickly. Regardless it was excellent to be in the surf once again. The beach is pictured above. That’s me on a rock.

We also had a another beach experience north of Manzanillo. We went to look at Amalia’s grandmothers property that they will be building on this year. It is on the beach front. The beach is covered with black sands and strong waves.

What else, what else. I am trying to cover as much as i can because as you may have noticed i have been a bit slack with blog post’s. I attribute this to very little free time.

We also went on a boat ride to bays over for some snorkeling. Which was pretty cool. Then came the new years celebration.

Plenty of ginger Margaritas and a bit of hackie sack. As midnight rolled around we started to take our positions for the display. I Shuffled around the edge of the pool and sat on the edge overlooking the entire bay with completely uninterrupted views of the whole thing. It was an excellent show. Perhaps not for the quality but for the sheer number of separate displays occurring all around the bay in unison.

Anyway that’s about it for the Manzanillo trip. The post is only a month late, not to bad. I am still continuing to catch up. Then i can start thinking about making a photo page on here so everyone is not limited to seeing a single 600×208 single frame window into my life.

Mexico

Ajijic – Mexico. So we arrived without any hassles. And we were reunited with the family once again. We had a few days to see the town before the masses arrived. The town is interesting. There seems to be more to see but we have the time later on.

Three things worth mentioning so far.

The first. We found the man above. He was being pulled by a donkey. He wasn’t really coherent but looked rather cool. I think he was offering pictures with himself and his donkey for a charge. Possible career path noted.

The second. Was a textile shop we stumbled upon. It was a husband and wife. The wife manned the shop and the husband was out the back weaving the fabrics. It was such an exquisite process. Seeing him in action it was like he was dancing.

The third. Andy and Johns’ house. Amalia’s grandparents. This is who we are with for our stay in Mexico. The house is beautiful. Very well thought out. On top of the visual appeal of the house, it also contains something that seems to consume a good portion of each night. A ping pong table.

The wedding is approaching and after that we will be off to Manzanillo for the new year celebrations. So until then i think i will go and play some ping pong.

Transit.

The transit was long.  Not that long. But considering the distance we needed to travel.  And the means of travel.  24 hours was a tad longer than we had hoped.  But never the less we did it.

So we flew from Barbados to Miami.  With no time at all for our connecting flight to L.A  We landed on time in Miami but it took us 50 minutes to actually get off the plane.  A mad rush through the ridiculous American security measures all guided by blue and yellow dots on the floor we made it to our connecting flight with 20 minutes to spare as it had been delayed. Due to it having to changed gates twice. A short stop at some odd Chinese fast food restaurant and then  on to L.A.

We had 12 hours in the city of angels.  Although it started at 12 at night.  And nothing was open until 5.  So we had 5 hours of genuine bore.  It was freezing and I had no jumper.  We found ways to pass the time however.  We watched Woody Allen’s Melinda and Melinda.  That burnt down 2 hours.  Then we found out that the first thing to open would be the McDonald’s at the Tom Bradley international.  At 5 am mind you. By the time we arrived we had two hours to go.  Like ravenous wolves we waited.  Finally it opened and i was reminded of just how bad McDonald’s in America is.  It makes Australia’s McDonald’s look like a five star restaurant.  Filled with food, we headed on to Guadalajara.

……..

Barbados.

So Barbados.  For three days.  Two days longer than we expected.   We had a great deal of fun.   Would have stayed longer if time permitted.

I  made a few friends by the beach.  The oldest was ten. We Played a bit of soccer and wowed them with how high i could through the ball into the air.  It then turned into all of us trying to impress each other.  From head flips to back flips.  It was a tremendous display of acrobatics, that had us all pretty impressed with each other.  Until Boya came back from his walk and performed a 180-handspring layout.

The conversation was limited as understanding them was a challenge.  Bajan may be English based but it is far from it.  And so speedy.  Do you eat the tail of the fish gets shortened down to “do ye ed da tell”  Said in about 2 seconds.  But after spending a bit of time it became infectious and the rhythm of my speech was changed for the day.  Much to the amusement of Amalia.

It was our last day and we decided to go diving.  Get the first time out of the way for Amalia.  It was on a sandy bottom 20 meters off the beach.  Needless to say marine life was a tad scarce.   We did manage to spot a puffer fish and a few other finned friends but not to much.  I also managed to impart a little bit of diving knowledge on to Amalia all though it was rather difficult as she was more interested in looking around then at me.

We’re now off to Guadalajara…

The Atlantic.

We did it.  Crossed the big blue.  It took nine days.  It was a rather uneventful crossing.  I am remember it being a lot more exciting 9 years ago.  Although it took us 24 days then and the whole boat was roughly the size of a hallway.

That’s not to say nothing at all happened.  We made a friend.  Who is pictured above.  He joined us 1000 nautical miles out from Barbados.  He hung around for three days, fishing, eating and sleeping.  It was quite cool watching him.  He would swoop down close to the water to scare the flying fish out.  Then the flying fish would take off and he would chase them down.  Every now and then he managed to get ahold of one and would fly back and chow it down.

Other than our friend.  There was a bit of fishing, a rattling pipe that kept us awake for the majority of the voyage and plenty of beautiful uninterrupted sunrises and sunsets.

We are currently sitting on the docks in Barbados waiting to be cleared by customs.   And then i believe we will be heading out to anchor in the bay.  Which will shortly be followed by a swim in the crystal clear water.

I will let you know what barbados is like.  I Just have to go and find out.

The Verde’s.

So we made it.  It was a long trip as we had to keep our speed down because of the owner being onboard.  The owner did manage to land a decent sized marlin.We arrived in Sao Tiago  cleared customs and then headed to Santa Maria on the island of Sal.

Santa Maria was rather touristy.  But beautiful white sandy beaches and crystal clear waters, it was not hard to tell why.   It was pretty shocking how expensive everything was.  Normally when your haggling in africa they start out with some pretty ludicrous prices.  But in the Verde’s it was like nothing i had seen before.  Still we came away with  a few decently priced gifts for the family reunion that seems to be getting closer.

After two days in Santa Maria we headed to Mindelo on the island of Sao Vicente for a short fueling and then we planned to leave at midnight.  But we had to wait for a package to arrive so we had one last night on the town before the crossing.

We decided to have a meal in Mindelo.  The Agent recommended we eat at Pica Pau Restaurant.  So we did.  Amalia, Dad, Assia, Wayne, Samira and I located two taxi’s and where taken on a wild drive around the town.  It was a five minute ride and it turned out our destination was only about 50 meters back and up a side street. Whoops.

Anyway we shuffled into this dingy little bar a tad disappointed.  We where told to wait 15 minutes and handed a bottle of their home made wine. We obliged, but still a tad confused.  After Fifteen minutes a bunch of confused tourist seemed to emerge as if by magic out of the bar’s skinny doors.    We proceeded in side and a door was opened there was a little dinning room inside.  And the walls where covered by A5 hand written reviews in multiple languages.  They all seemed to praise the food.  I took a picture of one. It seemed a tad far fetched but i guess a submarine has got to stop somewhere.

After a few more bottles of wine between us the food finally arrived.  It was pretty good food. I guess if i was to go by the reviews on the wall it is the best in town.   Amalia and i headed back to the ship and the others headed off to explore the night life.

On our way back through the port we stumbled upon a ship that was nearly identical to the Lamu.  The Maju Lisa.  I put a photo up so you could see.  Then we hit the hay.

We woke up a little worse for wear.  But no where near as bad as dad and wayne.  They had stumbled upon a little underground disco and had only arrived home at around 7 in the morning.  So our departure was delayed even further.  So i admired some of the art on the jetty.  It had some pretty cool stuff on it.  You can see a little in the photo.

Anyway by three everybody was set and we were off!  To The Caribbean….

{Pictures are coming}