Postcards...

From where I'm sitting at Gulf Harbour on the Whangaparoa Peninsula, life is looking pretty damn good, and it's winter don't forget.
Behind The Flying Tortoise is the marina with a typical variety of yachts and motor launches, sitting quietly and securely until their owners have time to play.
To my left there is the entrance with the protective sea wall and beyond that, Rangitoto Island, one of the world's most recently formed islands.
It's only eight hundred years old, the result of a bit of volcanic activity back then and now a wonderful recreation area on Auckland's Harbour.
And in front of me, well there's Guellaume doing his mid morning Tai Chi...

Another Gypsy...

Another of the beautiful housetrucks
we are so fortunate to have
enhancing our roads in New Zealand.
This one travels with the Gypsy Faire...

No Hugging...

No kissing either in this supermarket.
It may lead to all sorts of 'you know what' in the car park...

The Hobbit House...

This delightfully imaginative creation by Simon Dale has a reciprocal framed roof, described as 'A timeless piece of natures wisdom that has great resonance for our time.'
Simon built this masterpiece of a home in Wales for three thousand pounds taking about fifteen hundred man hours.
Do have a look at his website,
it might make your day...
www.simondale.net

The Secret Garden...

In Auckland, New Zealand.
Just don't ask me where...

That Roundhouse...

That Roundhouse is Tony Wrench and Jane Faith's beautiful almost hidden home.
It was built in 1997/98 by them, their friends and volunteers from recycled materials in Pembrokeshire County, Wales without any planning consents or permissions.
The design is based on the Celtic Roundhouse.
It's a wooden framed, cobwood ecohome with a straw insulated turf roof, solar and wind turbine generated electricity, compost toilet and with reed beds for grey water.
Discovered by the bureaucrats from the air sometime later, a ten year battle ensured.
Eventually Tony and Jane won the battle and in doing so became the inspiration for thousands of people around the world.
Tony and Jane live luxuriously,
well below the poverty line.
Their realised dream has made
a great contribution to our world.
You can go to www.thatroundhouse.info/
or as with most things these days,
simply google That Roundhouse
to follow the ongoing story.
And Tony tells me
they do harvest grapes on the roof...

Less Is More...

Three Chairs For...

"I had three chairs in my home"
said Henry David Thoreau.
"One for solitude, two for friendship
and three for society."
He never had one like this though...

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die |
Video on TED.com
Click on the above link for fifteen minutes
of time well spent.
It's easy to admire and be inspired by much
of what this man has to say...

A Big Mack To Go...

A recent addition to the wonderful variety of interesting housetrucks in New Zealand is this converted Mack Firetruck.
For those with an appetite for more of this sort of diet, there's more on the menu at HousetrucksNZ...

http://www.htnz.co.nz/gallery/housetrucks/

Body Language...

The two men who aspire to be Mayor of the new Auckland Super City if the voting public allows one of them to.
One of them captured here by NZ Herald's Greg Bowker is the incumbant who seems to take it all in his stride but won't deign to share the podium with the other.
One of them is behind in the polls.
Guess who...

What's Small and Yellow...

Seems to be old but could be
quite new, goes to school,
has lots to teach the Western World
and is Very Green!
It might also be the minimalists mobile home
of the future.
Or even today...

Today's Fairy Tale...

Once upon a time, Victoria, a beautiful Swedish Princess, fell in love with her handsome personal trainer called Daniel.
And Daniel fell in love with Victoria.
Well, he'd have been silly not to.
Maybe they'll live happily ever after...

Homeowners Delight...

Jonathon Gull and Sons. Roof painters and plasterers to the Chosen.
They can re-surface your roof any colour you like as long as it's white. Some people think they do a shitty job but they don't mind.
Someone has to do it they say.
Their work is guaranteed,
to be very difficult to remove...

Simplicity and Solar...

One of my most favourite architecturally designed off grid homes, a wonderful example of simplicity and solar working together.
Perhaps an early Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece...

The Good Doctor...

Doctor Good aka Stan Coster has been on the road in his little van for the last fourteen years. Before that he'd been bad. He was a member of the Mongrol Mob since life began for him some fifty years ago. Twenty six of those years were spent in various prisons for all sorts of anti-social behaviour. Things have changed for Stan as he now talks to young people in alternative schools about getting it right first time around. Instead of doing drugs, he makes chocolate fish.
They're yummy...

Retail Therapy...

What DO women want?
As a mere male, many's the time
I've pondered this question
and many's the time
I've got the answer wrong.
But this upmarket department store
could have it right...

Bye Darling...

Street Therapy...

Saint Christina,
in case you didn't know,
is the Patron Saint of Psychiatrists.
Today evidently is her day.
The little town of Onehunga, near Auckland, have this beautiful Psychiatrists Couch in the main street so that one may lay awhile and tell someone, anyone who may stop and listen,
of their problems...

There's Such Potential...

Vizualeyes...

Maz Thomas is a Visual Artist/Educator who tours New Zealand in her little housetruck, often in the company of the Gypsy Fair.
She's about to go off for a day in the classroom of a local school, where using visual aids, this Deaf and extraordinary lady will enhance young peoples lives by teaching different styles of communicating.
Using art especially...
You'll find her at http://www.vizualeyes.org

The Great Ice Cream Robbery...

Five teenagers held up an Auckland dairy at gunpoint a couple of weeks ago and made off with six dozen 'Magnum' ice creams.
It didn't take long for the marketing people to realise the potential of the story and within days these billboards dotted the city.
Someone's fifteen minutes of fame...

Gypsy Style...

Another gorgeous Gypsy Housetruck, one of many that roam the roads of New Zealand, this one can be found with the Gypsy Faire...

Sir Ken Robinson...

One of the world's most wonderful speakers, he spoke at TED in 2006 on how schools kill creativity and how we should rethink the education system.
Now in 2010 he again challenges us all to realise that children lay their dreams at our feet,
that we should tread lightly lest we tread on their dreams.
You will enjoy this man.
His lateral thinking will delight and inspire.
Sir Ken and other great thinkers and shakers are on www.ted.com