Chapter 2; Conquering Auckland and Starting my Filmmaking Journey: March 2011

Today I borrowed my sisters car and drove across the city to my old work (Civic Video) which i quit at the end of february so i could prepare for this course. I'm gonna miss the old place, good times and times i will definately use in scripts i write as the amount of strange and beautiful characters that walked through that shop would last me a lifetime.

Actually after the 22nd Feb earthquake i walked across the city (a story for another time, very surreal and heartbreaking) but i didnt take any pictures unlike others on their phones on bicycles mixing social networking with a tourist walk even though hundreds had just lost their lives, (to me its insensitive, finding joy in other's misfortune) but its almost been a month and i wont be back so i took a couple pics of the area near my shop.

Below is Eastgate mall, they had to take off the wall that fell off during the quake and now you can see the guts of it.

And around the corner the old fish and chip shop is goneburger as well as their neighbors, i did this while driving home so happy it didn't turn out blurry, but a few more big aftershocks should have the shops reclaimed by gravity.

Anyway the reason i went to the shop was to drop off my workshirt and work-keys and pick up my DVDs i ordered before i left, Legend of the Fist (which i saw at the movies, fantastic film! now i can see a making of etc) and 14 Blades which i havent seen yet but am excited about, have to buy a dvd player and tv when i get to auckland, i hope there is one in the studio already so fingers crossed) The pic below is of the dvds on top of my suitcase :)

Anyway, before i can write any more blogs i have to buy a computer or laptop, i hope i can get one by the end of next week, but keep checking as i aim to keep this updated :) Thanks, and Catch up with you all soon :)

My name is Matt Kinsman and I'm a Big Dreamer.

I had planned on setting up my own official site and blogging for a year from there but since i have spent my savings on securing accommodation ,my blog on my journey from action fan to action man, will be here. On kickthemintheface.blogspot.com and i will link to here from the main site later.

Me and my wife headed to Auckland via Air Newzealand this weekend with the mission of finding myself a crib to call home while i studied the ins and outs of being a film-maker. We left on Friday night(march 4^th) with an eye to return on Sunday so my wife could still turn up to work on the Monday. I hadn’t been on a flight since my GKR Karate conference trip to gold coast a couple years ago and i have to say, Air NZ have stepped up their service (alot had to do with checking in yourself which was nice and easy ) very clear instructions as you can see in the pic below

also the inflight safety video was one of the most entertaining videos i have ever seen onboard an airline, its great for national pride J click the link below to watch it, you'll laugh :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f1awn9vBZE

Once we got to Auckland i went to hire a car i had booked online, turns out i cant cos i am on a restricted licence even though i have had it for 5 years, plus im 24 which is under 25. Sad face.

So after half an hour of deliberating(thats asking all the car rentals in the area to cut this brother some slack) we caught a bus to our hotel. The holiday inn in mangarere was awesome! The rooms were great, the service was fantastic and we had a great stay there during the trip. The front counter lady did well with rapport based on my freshness at staying at hotels (which i hope to be good at once i become a star J haha) and our smiles. Room service was always respectful and always seemed polite when they came into our rooms and when they did they stayed in the front entrance hallway which i thought was very respectful. Dinner was great and worth the small fortune...and life is meant to be lived large...(btw its wedges in the green box)

The Hotel also had a gym which i only used once (bad dispicline i know but its a holidaaaayy) and a pool which was closed for maintenance but considering it rained both days (humid which is great as Christchurch rains are generally freezing) it didn’t really matter.

welcome to the mini bar, no whiskey so lucky wallet.

The crunchie bar was the first casualty of our stay ;) even heaven was shining on it :P

Nice room huh, anyways Saturday Morning we ordered breakfast in,

thats just my share (apart from the ham and cheese, thats not how i roll) after tucker we then caught a bus into the city. Now, apart from being on the wrong side of the road when waiting for the bus (the map was upside down, not my logic :P) we got on the right side after the driver pointed it out with a chuckle, It had to have been one of the longest bus rides in my life but this also taught me about the sprawling city, surrounded by water, built practically on hills and mountains (i should have taken PHOTOS - i will next week :P)

Once we got to the city we were greeted by Spidery motorways teeming with traffic and skyscrapers and buildings stretching for the sky across the horizon. It was awesome, just like the movies J

My first choice of accommodation for the study year was booked out (great real estate guy emails me once im ALREADY in the city, good timing buddy), and my second (which was actually my first choice but i refrained due to cost, though in the end decided money was no object and my trip would not be in vain) had one deluxe studio left so we raced down to the netcafe, transferred some funds and put down my 500 bucks deposit so i had a place to stay on my return to the city on Friday.

With mission accomplished me and my wife spent the rest of the day browsing shops. Right through Beach road to Quay st and around Queen St. Auckland started pissing down with rain so we went into the next shop and bought a 5 dollar umbrella, but as soon as we went outside the sun was shining, all in the space of 2 minutes. We smiled. Its nice to have a city with a sense of humor.

Here are some pics from the downtown westfield mall, complete coincidence about us posing with the king and queen (for me anyway, i just grabbed the bigger piece, only realized now lol subconscious smarts? hope so :)

pigeons. wow :)

Waiting at the bus stop at town taught me 2 things, 1) i cant wait to hire one of these...

what a beats, hummer limo! and 2)buses don’t actually stop at bus stops unless you practically stand in the middle of the road to let them know you are there.

"i know right?" (wifes catchphrase of the month lol)

i guess at least they apologize ;)

Slyvia Park mall is huge, its pretty much set up like Mall of Asia in manila, phillipines in that its shops spread over quite a difference, though not as big, Slyvia Park is the biggest Mall in New Zealand I am told and it was really nice there.

pap shot lol

We had lunch at Garrison Pub, very nice meals all around, i wished i could finish it but damn, alot of bang for buck here. J

After bookshop shopping and groceries and browsing through clothes and bags we caught a taxi home to the hotel. The first taxi didn’t show up but after another friendly call they sent another one quickly with apologies. This was another reminder to myself to buy a car as soon as i can afford one here as public transport sucks here compared to Christchurch where buses go everywhere and taxis always hang out at malls for shoppers who need rides home, and if they aren’t they are at least taxi phones installed. At least my school is walking distance from my new crib :)

no matter how bored we are we always have time for photos :)

When we got back to the hotel I took the gym for a spin and then we used the ecafe for booking tickets home, then spent the rest of night talking/room service dinner and channel surfing and relaxing after a long days walk.

Sunday morning we woke up, browsed the local shops and then checked out, paid off our 200 dollar tab (yeah room service adds up lol rockstar living) and then caught the hotel bus to the airport. like i said before, when we wait, out comes the camera :P great way to kill time ;)

I bought a neck cushion for wifey as the seats definately aint made for sleeping, as pic shows, very good move. Brownie points lol

One of the appeals of Auckland was they had the dunkin donut franchise available up there (like manila) and Christchurch, sadly, doesnt, so off to the shop for treats for ourselves and our family, and yeah, i get stuck with the bag ;)

After buying donuts and breakfast and paying the info desk to hold my suitcase (full of dvds/martial art books and clothes lol) til Friday when i return, we got on the plane and headed back to Christchurch, nervous as the news said of a 4.8 aftershock that hit the night before (sure enough today as i write this little aftershocks pop up now and then)

Above is a few pics of us Waiting at the departure terminal with the other aliens (see painted background haha nice), and below snapshots of the flight home;