February 17, 2008, 3:20 pm : (sort of) Unplugged

I’ve just returned home to London from a vacation in my beloved New Zealand. I moved to New Zealand two days after graduating from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in May 1990. I had never been further west than Kailua, Oahu and that, being from North Dakota, was really the edge of the world. New Zealand was such a far-flung idea, let alone place, that I remember the day that I closed my bank account and the teller asking me how long it took to drive to New Zealand. I actually had to think for a second. This was before the internet, Google Maps and blogs had closed the distance between us all. I knew where New Zealand was, mainly because Split Enz and the Chills had been favourite bands in my late teens and I poured over geography books to find exotic sounding places like Auckland (the ‘Enz) and Dunedin (Chills). I had a mixtape on my Walkman of NZ bands when I took off for Wanganui, New Zealand and my new teaching job, setting up NZ’s first Degree Programmes in Computer Graphic Design. This was before we had courses in ‘interactive design’, Macromedia Director was still in diapers, Digital Darkroom was how we retouchd our scans and Hypercard still ruled when it came to clicking on-screen designs.

The Degree Programme became one of the first in the world to incorporate digital video, design, interactivity, art and design history and typography into a single curriculum and we had a blast: we were only a few years older than our students and when we weren’t pretending to know what we were doing, we kept ourselves occupied with our ideas and lots of cool computers, software and people to play with them. The staff collaborated with each other and our students, we invited David Carson to speak at a conference (and then had to make the conference!), we made groovy films, designed fonts for RayGun magazine and had a blast in a small town in the middle of nowhere on an island at the end of the world. This is where I worked with young, smart people from CalArts, MCAD, RISD, Cranbrook and the Royal College of Art.

It is where I sent my first portfolio work to Saatchi & Saatchi (they had the biggest ad in the Yellow Pages) and started freelancing and working for an Auckland design company, eventually joining Saatchi Wellington to build the interactive team within the creative and strategy disciplines. For the 15 years that I lived on-and-off in New Zealand, I fell for the place: the semi-active volcanoes that I ‘boarded all winter, the cool beaches, vineyards, rugged coastlines and groovy, laid back people. But the place that captured my heart and imagination the most is an island off the coast of the Coromandel Peninsula called Great Barrier Island. We came out here for the first time 5 years ago during Easter holidays, when it was pretty wet and muddy – didn’t matter one bit – this place is magical. I have to admit, I hadn’t prepared for the trip that well – it looked like a very cool, out of the way place where I wouldn’t have web access and mobile coverage was spotty at best. And that was where I stopped reading the website… The first night was a deep and peaceful, with waves lapping near the edge of the path and a million stars to light our way back from the pub. This was handy, as I failed to read that there is no mains power on Great Barrier Island and you need take a flashlight with you on your evening stroll. Everything here runs on diesel generators or solar power, which means that you are in a very environment-friendly place, which also has bird and plant life which you can’t find on the main islands any longer. A little gem on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, where we now have a home (named ‘Molesworth’s’ after a beloved teddy bear) snuggled up on a hill overlooking Shoal Bay at Mulberry Grove Beach.

When I tell folks what Great Barrier Island is like, I get a mix of looks ranging from ‘that sounds ideal’ to ‘what do you mean you don’t have a car and a TV?!?’ I go with the sounds ideal part of things. Here’s my survival guide for a web-aholic, mobile-obsessed creative-type who needs to make the big break from the Matrix and get offline in the closest thing to Jurassic Park you’re likely to see anytime soon:

Here Comes the Sun
When we bought our place, I came out to move in the furniture and set it up for our renters. Being a towny, the first thing I did was plug-in my charger for my mobile. Then, the lights dipped a little and the place went black. Our house wasn’t on 230v and my mobile charger had sucked our solar batteries dry. After a scary Blair Witch Project-meets-Camp Crystal Lake-night of unpacking boxes in the rain by the light of a couple candles, the decision to sort out the power was done. High-density batteries and additional solar panels installed were December 2007, packing in enough juice to power a couple of laptops, stereo, lights and yes, mobile phone chargers. This has makes it a functioning studio with the ocean 300 feet away, ready to go to work (or not…)

Find the Secret Hotspot
Mobile coverage is spotty on the island, but over a few days I noticed that there were several rental cars parked near the entrance of a scenic walk. I pulled my bike down the trail and my Blackberry buzzed, chirped and begged to be poked and prodded. When I reached the end of the trail, I found a spectacular view and two guys pecking away at their mobiles. It was a sad, but funny scene: we’d found a place where the GSM connection and the view were beautiful, clean and plentiful. I snuck away daily to connect, until I was busted by my partner, who began visiting Te Hotspot as well.

Ride to the Hills
Since you are going mostly green, you might as well ditch the car, too. I have always loved my mountain bike and it gets heavy use when I’m on the island. The roads are narrow, there is a major hill every kilometer or so and paved surfaces frequently drop away. It’s the biggest, prettiest cross-trainer ever. When you sweat my way across the lower half of the island daily (from my house to Claris – 16 kilometers each way), you get your cardio with a tanning session thrown in free.

Bring yr *ahem* sketchbook
I think that I’ve found the office in the middle of nowhere solution: draw everything you are working on it your sketchbook, snap them with the camera in your mobile, write a few notes and go up to the Scenic HotSpot with your bike and an iced latte from the corner store and watch the clouds while you send your ideas, notes comments and art direction, digitsed up from pen and paper around the world. I work on my drawing skillz when I get out here. Aside from the obvious sharpening of the tools, I can do it under a shady tree, with all your computing and image making power tucked into your back pocket.

Enjoy the Silence
Really the main reason for going out here – it is, quite literally, OUT THERE. Since there is no mains power, you don’t even hear the buzzing of the street lights on your nightly stroll. The only times to make sure you have some groovy audio technical noise killer headphones is when the neighbours are running their ‘genny’, which I thought was some weird local custom until I figured out that Genny is short for Generator.

If you need some time out to get your creative batteries charged up (no pun intended), this eco-and-people friendly, solar powered paradise is perfect. In fact, here’s the sales pitch: if you want to book 3+ days at Molesworth’s, visit the site, let me know you saw the place from a link on my blog and we’ll give you a sweet discount. Visit Molesworth’s here.

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