HERE, NOT LOST

Chai

2017-05-29T19:48:00.006+10:00

Chai, Autumn 2017

I ran into Chai in a club as it was closing up at 6am, we had met at a house party in Sydney the year before. He'd since moved to Melbourne and was living temporarily in Fitzroy in a cheap room found on Gumtree, which turned out to be a room in a Thai massage parlour that also happened to be an unlicensed brothel. One of the walls in Chai's room was floor to ceiling glass that was only partially blacked out in the middle, so you could see the customers' shoes as they walked down the hallway past his room. There was a single mattress on the floor which meant that if anyone crouched down past the blacked-out section of the glass, they could also see him lying in bed. The shop was opened every day at 10am but wasn't as busy as it used to be, which was why they were also leasing out unused rooms to a random assortment of people who needed cheap accommodation. The few workers on shift were shy and didn't question our impromptu photoshoot in their workplace. It was a quiet day for them and my back was hurting so I ended up paying for a one-hour Thai massage (without the happy ending).

Melbourne

2017-05-29T19:33:00.003+10:00

Melbourne, Autumn 2017

Sydney was stormy and stagnant so I switched homes with a friend in Collingwood and flew south to catch a few rays of sunshine.

Phi Phi II

2016-10-15T21:04:00.003+11:00

Koh Phi Phi, Summer 2016

After missing the last ferry the day before, Rosie and I managed to get out to the Phi Phi islands where bought pre-rolled joints from the bars on the beach and met a lot of cats. The next morning at breakfast, we were hustled onto a longboat out to "The Beach" on Koh Phi Phi Leh. As soon as the shore disappeared from the horizon, the bosslady took off her hijab and shook out her hair in the sea breeze. There was extra space on the boat so she had taken her two teenaged sons along for the trip and insisted we take photos with them pretending to be their foreign girlfriends. At lunchtime, the captain pulled out a handmade bamboo bong and chopped up some weed that tasted like the pineapples he had just carved with the same knife.

Full Moon Party

2016-10-10T20:59:00.001+11:00

Koh Phangan, Summer 2016

Shroom shakes on Magic Mountain at the Full Moon Party, which was actually just a lot of people getting messy on a beach with fiery displays, cheap buckets of alcohol and tattoo parlours open 24/7. I took the ferry alone from Koh Samui with a backpack and no accommodation plans and ended up having to stay up all night sober for the first ferry back, and witnessed the vomit-splattered horror that was the end of the party.

Thailand II

2016-10-01T21:11:00.004+10:00

Phuket, Summer 2016

I first saw Rosie in an American documentary on cam girls, which I had found doing research for a video on sex work I was producing in Sydney. One year later, we matched on Tinder in Phuket so I took an overpriced taxi from the muay thai district in the south of the island and met up at a trendy night market in Old Phuket Town. After dinner, we went out to Bangla Road with her boyfriend and housemates - all Americans teaching English in Thailand. We were mobbed by street promoters and talked into sports bars, ice bars, girl bars. I ended up spending the weekend with them, and riding around on the back of their scooters, flying through the winding hills and valleys of the island. We went to a rasta bar overlooking the ocean to buy weed and played with the owner's daughters while he rolled joints for us, before spending the afternoon at a quiet beach smoking up and eating street food. The next weekend we decided to go to Koh Phi Phi, and our cab driver decided to stop by his house and bring his entire family along for a day trip, so we ate snacks from 7/11 with his wife and daughters on the way to the ferry wharf.

Muay Thai

2016-09-15T20:49:00.000+10:00

Chalong, Summer 2016

I spent a month training at a Muay Thai camp on Phuket in Thailand

Byron Bay Blues

2016-07-14T22:05:00.000+10:00

Belongil Beach, Autumn 2016
Byron Bay Blues fest in a yellow surf van

Killen Falls

2016-06-01T01:07:00.000+10:00

Killen Falls, Autumn 2016

We took acid in the rainforest by a waterfall and ate chunks of watermelon cracked open on a rock because nobody had thought to bring a knife. The dappled afternoon sunlight played tricks in front of our eyes and the roar of rushing water became a deafening comfort.

Sydney

2016-04-20T21:53:00.000+10:00

Sydney, 2014-16

Late summer nights

Beachside

2016-02-29T21:57:00.000+11:00

Sydney, Summer 2015
All I wanna do I get high by the beach, baby

Burning Man

2016-01-19T05:49:00.000+11:00

Black Rock City, Summer 2015
I know it sounds corny but I went to Burning Man and it felt like home.

Live Drawing

2015-07-15T05:34:00.000+10:00

Lewisham, Autumn 2015

Live drawing with Anthony Lister

Malibu

2015-06-22T04:45:00.000+10:00

Malibu, Winter 2015

Aaron and I drove out to Malibu Beach in his rusty red truck, drinking wine from a thermos.

California

2015-06-22T04:44:00.003+10:00

Downtown Los Angeles, Winter 2015

California dreaming in the warehouses of DTLA

The Container Yard

2015-06-22T04:42:00.000+10:00

Downtown LA, Winter 2015

Matt takes his dog Rosco and I to the Container Yard, where he paints a 3D optical illusion tiger.

Salvation Mountain

2015-06-22T04:37:00.001+10:00

Salton Sea, Winter 2015

We drove out into the deserts of California to pay our respects to Salvation Mountain.

Mulholland Dr

2015-06-22T04:35:00.000+10:00

Mulholland Drive, Winter 2015

Joseph and I drove up through the Hollywood hills on our last night in tinsel town. LA glitters like no place other.

Costa Rica

2015-06-19T00:08:00.004+10:00

Playa Flamingo, Winter 2015
Pura vida en Costa Rica

The Death Road

2015-06-19T00:08:00.003+10:00

Yungas Road, Summer 2015

Mountain biking Boliva's el camino de la muerte 'Death Road' 6 hours downhill, from the snow capped peak to the rainforest in Corocio Valley.

Peru

2015-06-19T00:08:00.002+10:00

Cusco, Summer 2015

Hiking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru

Salar de Uyuni

2015-06-19T00:08:00.001+10:00

Salar de Uyuni, Summer 2015
Driving Mad Max style off into the largest salt flats in the world from Uyuni, Bolivia.

La Paz

2015-06-19T00:00:00.001+10:00

La Paz, Summer 2015

4000 metres above sea level in Bolivia

Cuba

2015-06-18T23:08:00.004+10:00

Old Havana, Summer 2015

Adventures in Cuba

El Vedado, Summer 2015
From the rooftop of Hosteria Cartacuba

Mexico

2015-06-16T02:51:00.004+10:00

Maya Riviera, Winter 2014

Cruising down the Yucatan Peninsula on the Caribbean coast of Mexico

Mexico City, Winter 2014

Markets before Christmas and street food

The Bronx

2014-10-14T23:49:00.000+11:00

The Bronx, Summer 2014

Walking to Popeye's for fried chicken with Christian