Wanaka Film Trust

Hi all .

Just to let you know that I am well etc. and that I have recently started a another blog .This time it is for the Wanaka Film Trust, of which I am a board member .
The link for the new blog is accessible by clicking here.

Thank you.

Silent Echo

Silent Echo from Robert Holt on Vimeo.

Movie shot as part of the New Zealand 48HOURS 2008 Furious Film Making competition . This is a slightly fixed up version as the one we submitted was disqualified as we had a setting wrong on export so the movie had no sound. Basically this is the same as we submitted , except with the sound and a short extra scene .- It's not perfect and there are a few issues need fixing but I figured it was best to get the thing online.

Ice skating in cars isn't as much fun as it sounds.

Hi all ,
Well we've been in our new house about a month and a half now and we like it lots. There are still boxes to unpack and stuff (mostly books) but we have pretty much settled in.
It's winter so rather cold (mind you the sun is shining right now and I have been out walking with the dogs
so I'm actually quite warm at the moment.)
Rachel is battling cigarette quitting with some success and some setbacks.
Mud and Patch are in fine form . Mud has done a little acting recently and has a photo shoot coming up soon modelling
for D-Fa

As the post header alluded to , I had a bit of an exciting commute to work last Sunday morning at about 6am.
The car hit ice on a steep hill and spun 360 degrees and crossed the opposite lane and left the road , backwards - down a 10-15 foot ditch.
It was sitting on its back end (it's a Nissan Terrano so it has it's spare wheel hanging on the tailgate ) with it's headlights pointing up into the starry sky.
I knew I was unhurt straight away and was able to climb out from the vehicle relatively easily . The first vehicle to stop was the road gritting truck - he decided it would be best if he then gritted the road.
Anyhow the up shot being that I'm fine , the car has minor damage but was insured and I was only about an hour and a half late for work.
That's it for now - I'll post some photos as soon as I can .
x to all
Hope yer all well.

R

HOUSE (not the crappy medical drama on tv though)

Um... we just bought a house! Yikes! This House. ( Although not from a real estate agent and not for that price.)

More news as it comes!!

Still existing

Yeah , I know the blog is more than a little out of date . I keep meaning to update it but I find myself , increasingly ,
busy and rarely seem to have any free time in which I'm not plain knackered . So , alas , the blog suffers on.

What's up with me?

Well , I guess I'm working a hell of a lot, in one way or another.

My main job , as barista etc. at Yohei , clocks in at about 50 hrs a week . I like the job a lot . It's a good place to work and the owners are truly good , nice people.
We set up a retail section of the store .
Y'know , branded t-shirts , trucker caps , travel mugs etc.

Yohei is seen as a 'hip' brand , by locals as well as overseas visitors ( The town relies quiet heavily on tourism - population swells from about 5000 at off peak
season to 90000 at it's busiest - sitting at about 20,000(ish) over the winter months , due to having 3 ski fields in the immediate area .) So we sell quite well.

I also run a barista training programme for anyone who wants to learn - I don't actively promote this , but people come to me looking for lessons ,so ,
instead of sending them to one of the courses run by the polytech - which , by all accounts is rather poor - I teach them myself.

As if that wasn't enough , I have been working a lot with a Cork lad who has a design and media business , here in town.
It's a small firm with 3 or 4 staff , but has many big contracts in the area.
I do a lot of the video based work for him , including , recently , the transfer and editing of about 140 rolls of Super 8 film belonging to Sir Tim Wallis.
It is a lot of interesting footage from all over the world from the 60's and 70's .

We are also in preproduction for a snowboard documentary - kinda like Dogtown and Z-Boys - only about snowboarding .

Doing a bit of art for self and for charity too , occasionally.

Then there is , of course Rachel and Mud and Patch (M & P being the dogs) , who all need caring and feeding , and we are still looking for a house to buy.
We put in an offer for a really nice house with an acre of land recently but it looks like they want to much money for it. The region we live in , is the most expensive
average real estate prices in New Zealand ,so you know , it's hard finding a nice house that is within our budget , but we will keep looking and I'm sure we will find the right spot sooner or later.

Anyhow , hi to all and hope ye are well.

xR

The Slow Season

Hi everyone ,
So it's just at the begining of the so called slow season here in the lakes. Easter school holidays are over and snow sport season won't start until late June and thus it is the time when traditionally Wanaka folk ease back , take stock and ...well , get bored I guess.
The Autumn colours are pretty amazing around these parts at the moment but I imagine winter will approach rather rapidly.

Rachel and Mud and I have had a wee holiday (just within the south island) and are a little bit rested and recouped.
Mud has matured into a lovely polite and sweet dog.(he was these before but even more so now)

Rachel managed to give up smoking for a couple of months but slipped back into the bad ways recently. We are currently entertaining the concept of trying to find an affordable house to buy which , given the criteria, isn't going to be easy.
There are plenty of affordable houses still around New Zealand but anything in the vicinity of where we are currently living seems to be really outside our budget- or at least , starting at prices which would be at our very most streached outer limit. Still , it's kinda exciting just thinking about owning a piece of earth.I doubt we will be buying anything in the immediate future but hopefully , within the next year.

Here are a couple of photos to look at . (One day I'll actually take photos of Rachel and Myself to post)

Congratulations to Manolo and Monique on the birth of Oisin and To Billy and Phillipa on the impending Small.

Hope this finds evryone well.

xr

Quick post to say that I will be adding a longer post shortly.(If there is anyone still reading this!)...back soon...