Spark Your Dream. Dead Sheep in Trees. First gig at Penguin's Club Across Seven Seas.

       The highlight of the week definitely was meeting the most incredible family from Argentina. I went to see Jeremy the other day at Backpackers as well as use internet and generally just spend another beautiful day in Oamaru. Just as I met him, he pointed to a car that looked like it had been in a time machine and travelled all the way from 1930's. On top of that he informed that this crazy family was staying in backpackers and that I should definitely see them. I had no idea so far what was he talking about but I spotted a book in the window of a car - Spark Your Dream! You gonna read all the details on their website but in short; they've been on the way for 9 years, have 4 children which were born on different continents and they've driven their amazing vehicle from Patagonia up to Alaska, crossing rivers and mountain ranges, measuring unbelievable distances at the speed that doesn't go higher than 50/60 km/h. Now at this point I couldn't be more intrigued in meeting them. 

Well, we'll get to the rest of the story but to make things more contemporary we have to split story and squeeze in something from in between. I didn't know sheep could fly and it turned out they can't! this is what happens if they try though!

Try #1

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Try # 1 too, but for another sheep. You know you only try once, don't you?

This is where all the magic happens - Earthquakes. They all come here to die or in other words to fly. Poor animals, they land on top of trees and rot there. Is it some sort of sky burial? Similar to one you can find in Tibetan culture where the human body is being chopped and fed to the vultures. 

I spot the date of 1888 and think - those souls came all this way here on ships. They didn't have flying sheep back in those days. They wouldn't discover a sheep potential of this country yet. 

Earthquakes. Why? Because of the huge cracks in the ground that first were thought to be caused by earthquakes. Later this idea was replaced by idea that the cracks in the ground were created by a Sheep God Denis and it was known as a place where you could go to hell by falling into one of the cracks in the ground or you could fall and get stuck in a tree where it's supposed to be a heaven, but it's not. Anyway, Denis keeps it in secret because sheep has a brain in size of a walnut and haven't really questioned anything. 

I spotted this pale skin sheep above Vietnamese jungle. It had only two legs and couldn't perform a maneuver required for taking off. 

The valley is endowed with different animal shapes. This reminded me of an animal I haven't seen before and don't know a name of. 

It really is late. I am off to sleep. Being faster than the world can be exhausting. 

Octagon is one of the main squares in Dunedin and the name reminded me of old 411 video magazine that had Dr. Octagon song 3000 in there. I clearly forgot who's part that was, but I definitely spent my teenage years watching Lance Mountain introducing another issue. There is a crazy amount of mongo pushers here in Dunedin, it's crazy! I think they've never realized how awful it looks. Mongo should be banned. 

Apart of guys pushing mongo down the busy streets of Dunedin, the city itself is very attractive with plenty of galleries, cafes and shops on the map. University fills the city with young men and women, sometimes very good looking and many artsy events taking place. Hearing Television in one of the coffee shops really surprised me.

I spotted a music instrument shop right across the street from where I was having cappuccino in a whisky glass. While still being still into the article in New Yorker about Marina Abramovic's life and performances that are quite hard to detach one from another, I thought that's where I'm going when I'm finished with the article and listening to a lot of Pearl Jam on the speakers. I guess someone loved it there to death. 

I talked to the owner (on the left) about what brought him down to Dunedin when two guys rolled in and were asking for this one specific ukulele. Anyway, owner and one of the older men seemed to know each other. Suddenly I got caught up in the ultimate ukulele's and whistle action. Couldn't love it more really and would you believe me if told that this man's name ir - Mike Jackson? He has published a couple books about uke's and going around gigging schools and teaching kids how to play all these lovely instruments. 

If me and Kat had a band, it was named after one of the new-names-in-consideration for hipsters - "Shwazzies" .

My jaw dropped to the floor  when I accidently entered this huge and most perfect room I've ever been to. Temple Galleries owners live there and I was absolutely shocked seeing how much of a style one could have. Honestly, it was the best room so far I've seen in my life. 

These suckas can scare the thing out of you if you forgot about their existence and taking a leak somewhere in the bushes. They make noises as someone being tortured to death. Possums they call them and this one was chillin up in the tree near our house. 

Herman enters the kitchen accompanies by a beam of light. He radiates it and shares with everyone on the way, everything he touches and sees. He makes breakfast for his adorable family, white bread dipped in milk and eggs and fries it on the pan. "You want some?", he asks and neither me, nor a german guy at the table refuses. They are something special and you can absolutely see that. Anyway, I will transcribe an interview for you shortly, which is very inspiring, then you'll get all the why's. 

Victoriena Oamaru: "I love this town". Malkovich's style

Me rolling to the gig at Penguin's club. I got on stage right after a band that sounded like The Smiths at some point. Right after I plugged in a guitar that I borrowed from a very kind man I turned around and was surrounded by a band who wanted to play along. I told them I played original songs and playing will require a lot of improvisation. They all nodded and off we went! First song, Craving Images, sounded like we were playing together for ages. Everyone in the club was shocked and said they didn't believe that we hadn't rehearsed before. Well, magic happens. After playing 4 songs, all of them in most extended versions ever, cause every song required an improvised ending and usually the lead guitarist would go on forever and ever not noticing that other 4 people are staring at him trying to get in eye contact to give a hint of an end.

Can you get enough of this color? This is where I restrung an polished an old Japanese version of Hummingbird guitar and spent my weekend wondering around the lakes and trying to get an interview with Herman off my camera. No success so far, gonna go to find someone with a card reader today. 

These lakes are located here on the map - have a look! 

Enjoy the lakes. I am about to enjoy my breakfast and get back to writing an article for a magazine.