fydesvindico

cool! thanks for sharing. reminds me of i-dosing

yep! If you learn to work with it, you can have some pretty awesome and bizarre experiences.. when this first started happening to me, I was reading into lucid dreaming quite a bit and was trying out a few different approaches, in particular; falling straight into lucid dreaming without having to wait for REM/ set alarms, etc (I read somewhere of someone who could successfully fall straight into lucid dreaming).. so I would lay in bed and doa 61 point relaxation exercise, and try to get into a meditative kind of state... every now and then i'd get this massive rush, and feel as if my mind was trying to separate itself from by body. but every time it happened i'd focus on it too much and shock myself back awake.. I used to get a bit of sleep paralysis every now and again too, but learnt if I could go with the sleep paralysis, and also the "blasting into out of space" feeling.. I could too, fall straight into a lucid dream... But not without some amazing geometric patterns and out of body experiences first! some awesome stuff!

can someone PLEASE, PLEASE PRETTY PLEEEEEEASE collect and save some prints for me for my return to aus! i'll cover postage, pay you, trade you, jump through burning hoops, fondle you, etc etc.. i'll do almost anything! I'll even let you know my secret spots if your in SEQ! sadly, by the time I make it back up that way i'll end up missing the season ...at least I'll be in melb for the subs nxt year though

Hey man, we've also decided to move to Melb early next year too! We've sold all our shit, saved up a heap of money, booked our tickets and are ready to go! One thing you should definitely take into consideration though, as we didn't, is how your gonna secure a house from NZ. We thought it was gonna be as easy as scoring a place from here, then getting off the plane and pretty much moving into our new home! NOT THAT EASY! Allot of real estates require you to actually view the property in person before you can even apply for it, which is a bit hard to do when your in a different country . They want your bond payed within 24 hours of being approved for a house (so set up an aus bank account to transfer money straight away) and they also need a MONTH in advance on top of that. if you don't have a job already lined up, or aren't returning to one, they'll require 6 months in advance (pretty much a deposit to buy your own house!) so you can prove that your able to afford the rent.. otherwise a really good excuse! If you do manage to score a job from here however, you'll need to email/ fax them your employment contract etc. The best way to do it is, to start looking for temporary share accommodation (as you don't really require too much bond/ work etc) so you can actually live there and start looking for work/ places to live and get some aus history behind you for the real-estates. in saying that, We wrote a nice fancy cover letter and applied for a dozen houses from here just too see how we would go.. will have to wait and see (fingers crossed) otherwise we'll be having to do the share accommodation thing too. (hostels/ B&B are way too expensive) Also, the exchange rate sucks from here, so your lovely savings will obviously be worth F all when you get there.. our respectable amount of around $8000 is just over $6000 au. so once you account for your bond and month in advance, plus maybe another month of money to cover your rent if you cant get a job straight away, money to afford to eat for that amount of time, transport etc... your not left with much.. so start saving! luckily jobs are pretty easy to find in melb though, so you should be rolling in delicious australian dollars within a few weeks and wont have to worry so much. Nice places we're looking at that are reasonably affordable, and close enough to the city without having to need a car are.. Prahran, Windsor, St. Kilda/ east, Caulfield north, Malvern east (starting to get too far) richmond is alright too. up the other end of the city, Kensington, and Flemington are nice as well. ...Just what we've learnt so far, wish I knew some of this before we booked our tickets haha. hope it helps. and good luck!

I like something you can at least change the lenses on for when you get bored of your setup... A Nikon D90 is sweet as for beginners, and easy as hell to use. reasonably cheap, and has HD recording, long battery life etc.. better yet is the D5100.. although they're pretty chunky and a bit more pricey. some of the cheap canons are real good, and fun to play with, but your pretty limited with the lenses you can buy for em..

Hey guys, Just a heads up to any kiwi members here. Since i've decided to move back to Aus, I'm selling my small cacti collection that i've managed to accumulate here in NZ since the start of the year. If you end up winning my auction i've got going on trademe, I'll guarantee you a minimum 20% off the winning price.. but could be up to 50% depending on how generous i'm feeling once sold would much prefer my fellow sab members to look after my babies than anyone else haha. heres the auction: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=535112813 Just let me know either on here, or on trade me that your from sab, and we'll sort out a price. cheers! fyde.

if either of you want the peres, you can have it for free if you cover postage, as someone else wants the cereus separately.. so i'm breaking it all up.

haha, I really enjoyed this! thanks for sharing!

cheers etherealdrifter! good to know I'm getting exciteeeddddd!

So i've recently moved to NZ from Australia to try and better my life... I moved here with my partner as it seemed like a good idea at the time, but as it turns out it was a rather instantaneous and reckless decision. As it was proving rather difficult to study in Aus, being a NZ citizen by birth (Born in Aus but to NZ parents) it seemed like it might be allot easier to settle in to study here and have a nice cruisy, student life. However; the NZ minimum wage is terrible, everything is overpriced, and it actually turns out to be hell of a lot harder to study! You are classified as a youth here until you're 24, which means that it's up to your parents to pay for your study unless there is no contact whatsoever with so called parents... you are eligible for independent youth allowance, but only if you fit into a few categories! Even if there is only one parent around (as in my case) the forms to fill out are as follows... - There is a breakdown in the relationship between the student and their other parent, and contact now would have a detrimental psychological effect on either the student or that parent. - The other parent (or their spouse) has physically or sexually abused the student. - The other parent is in prison or under an inpatient order under the mental health act 1992, and is unable to be responsible for the student. - I am the only students living parent. - There are other special circumstances that demonstrate that the relationship has so broken down that the student should be considered independent from the other parent. (the last one actually needs to have been documented by a doctor/ psychiatrist, police officer, councilor etc.. and the situation has to have been known, and documented for at least 12 months). ...And, if the parent/s earn more than a specified amount per year (as in my partners case) they are not eligible, and therefor the parents are to pay for it.... unless you fit into any of the categories above... So it turned out to be way harder to qualify in NZ than Aus.. which was one of the main reasons we even moved here!!! Although this all proved extremely difficult, I was accepted in the end, and managed to get past all this mumbo jumbo... until I stumbled into the extremely ridiculous price of living! Rent is just stupid! I'm talking like $350 - $400 for 1 or 2 bedroom houses in my university area! We live about 1 and a half hours from uni in the middle of nowhere for $255p/w.. Which isn't too bad, but when you accommodate for petrol which is about $2.20 on a good day, it's costing at least $80 in petrol a day, 5 days a week!! with a $13.49 p/h job! sucks.. I wont even get into the price of food! Anyways, we've been thinking, and reckon it's gonna be a hell of a lot easier to just move back to Aus... It was a good experience, and we gave it a go... it just sucks we spent so much money trying something new and ended up with nothing from it! We also originally moved to get away from our lives that weren't really going anywhere in aus, our shitty jobs, shitty friends etc... just to stumble back into it! but in a different country! So rather than move back to where we came from, we're thinking about giving a Melb a go! ...So be prepared for a "WANTED: help with accommodation in Melb" topic!! haha! anyways, end rant! So much more I could unload, but think it would be unreasonable... so blah!

It's all very interesting to hear what people have to say! I'm quite happy to have started this thread as it's great to hear what everyone else's points of views are... Thank you all! Yep back to Aus! We've put everything in perspective and it looks like it's our best option for the time being... My partner and I have managed to score some jobs in the kiwi fruit orchards close to where I have family we can stay with (here in NZ).. just bud thinning and cane ripping, so some easy dollars for a few weeks to help us get back to Aus. We've decided to give melbourne a go. We've only ever visited, and have no family or friends down there... But from what we know of it, it seems like a good place to start fresh... once again. We're both country kids, having lived in SEQ/NNSW hinterland most of our lives it's a bit of a change for us.. even having lived over here (NZ) we've been mostly rural. I've had years of call centre experience though, and have usually had to travel 50-60 mins to get to work where I used to live, so hopefully living in the city should prove fruitful. From experience, we've decided it's in our best interest to "trial" new things first.. so we've givin melbourne a 1 year trial to see if it's for us, otherwise we'll give something else a go.. but it's looking good at the moment.. so fingers crossed! We've also decided that Australia feels more like our "home"... so it will be nice to return once again!

I agree with what allot of people are saying here... I do feel privileged to live in a country/s where things like the benefit are available to myself and others. and I do understand that there are others all over the world way, way worse off than me, and that some others would be more than grateful to even have the opportunity of employment etc. I was really just having a whinge and feeling hard done by, as even though my life may be allot better than others in less well of countries etc, it's still hard when you stumble off the path regardless of your situation. Growing up in australia i've always had the opportunity of employment etc but i've also lived in poverty and experienced homelessness too, so yes I will take free money that the government is handing out, as in these countries, its entitled to me.. and why shouldn't I take something that i'm entitled to? I have no criminal history, i'm not a drug user, and if after loosing full time work and having bills to pay i'm able to receive some free money to help me out between jobs.. i'm gonna take it... or at least try to... I just don't like it when I'm made out by the people giving out the free money, that I don't deserve it.. and when they look at me like i'm scum... I'm a full time student, trying to make something of myself, and like allot of other people sometimes I need a little bit of help... I tried my hardest and sometimes it doesn't always work out like others expect it to. "Where's the opportunity to enjoy life" for me personally, my most important goal in life is to enjoy it, to be happy and have the least amount of worries... If i can accomplish this the most easiest way possible, I'm happy.... if there is the availability for happiness, why should anyone put it aside? ...for me, if happiness means not working and having to worry about bills etc.. i'm gonna do it... in saying that, if it means for someone else that it's working 45 hours a week, having allot of money and no time for family etc.. they should do that... all in all, yes I do have it sweet... yes i'm lucky to live in such awesome countries.. and yes some peoples lives suck... i'm just trying to make mine better, in the world that I know... just sometimes it's hard... just like the millionaire that thinks they're being hard done by when they loose a couple hundred thousand in the stocks. we're all lucky to even be here on this planet and to be alive and well... I just wish it worked out easier, thats all.

I feel your pain bog. Thats disgusting how someone can treat another human being like that.... I think thats the big question: "wheres the opportunity for enjoying life" ...this is basically whats helped us make our decision for moving back to Aus, it doesn't seem like anyone is really getting ahead over here and If you do; your working so much that theres no room for enjoying it. eatfoo... yeah pretty sure you can bail your hex in either country, if you move... over here it comes out of your tax, otherwise your expected to pay it back as soon as your earning over X income (in New Zealand).. same with Australia really, I have a $15 000 hex debt over there for a partially completed Ba. But I never have to pay it back unless I earn over a certain amount... or if I move countries. it's not like they can really arrest you for it or anything..

@ chiili; good to hear you got out before the quakes! Christchurch was our 1st preference when moving here, but since we didn't really have any family down that way it just seemed easier to move to the north island... The south island is beautiful, and we will be sure to make a trip down there before we leave as my partner hasn't gotten to experience it yet. all in all, It is a stunning country! (scenery wise), its a pity that the beauty doesn't make up for the other, less attractive aspects of it Bogfrog, sounds like you've been there, done that too.. it's sad how the government treats its people over here; I thought Aus had it bad, but after experiencing life here, I have seen that it can be allot worse! We have also experienced Work and Incomes wrath! We recently took on full time work, which was set up through work and income... They set us up as the taxi driver, as we were the only one with a car and license in the area... so we had to car pool for an hour with a car load of alcoholic drug addicts smoking bongs and getting pissed on the way to work every day before our recently purchased car fucked out... work and income couldn't help with the costs of fixing it, so after leaving the job since there was no transport (and we were not getting in the car with any of these people, let me tell you!) they advised us that we had "put ourselves into hardship" and that we would have a 13 week stand down before receiving any benefit from them.. so we've had to give our 3 weeks notice and accept the fact we will loose our bond since we have no rent for the 3 weeks... fun fun! edit* and I can't believe they can encourage you to become 'sterlised' ...so crazy. and expecting new mums to begin work again just 2 months of having their baby is so fucked! ...crazy crazy world/ country!

Personally, I forget that its even there! which is funny since I have a bit of a thing for the 'view new content' button.. it's almost the only thing I click on on this website and it's right above the classifieds section! I watch the forums closely (via the 'view new content button) and i'm sure others do too... maybe people realise that their advert has more of a chance being seen in the forums rather than in the classifieds?

^ is that a bong? wtf

looks awesome! there's some pretty cool art made outa it that google images brings up.. I might give something like this a try sometime

is that the inside of a ponga tree fern?

I read recently in 'Inner paths To Outer Space, Journeys to Alien Worlds through Psychedelics and Other Spiritual Technologies' by Rick Strassman, Slawek Wojtowicz, Luis Eduardo Luna, and Ede Frecska: "...as previously mentioned, dozens of studies cite that DMT has been found in human blood, urine, and spinal fluid. Scientists have isolated the gene that synthesizes the DMT-forming enzyme in humans and have inserted this gene into a virus. after they infect mammalian cells with this virus, the cells produce DMT in the test tube." M.A Thompson, E. Moon, U,-J, Kim, J. Xu, M. J. Siciliano, and R. M. Weinshilboum, "human Indolethylamine N-methyltransferase: cDNA Cloning and Expression, Gene Cloning, and Chromosomal Localization," Genomics 61 (1999): 285 - 97.

yeah they can be quite slow to start off with but they pick up after about a month.. I found the less you take care of them the better they grow too.. heres about a 2 month old seedling I barely took care of, almost never watered it except for the occasional in between rains.

yeah, what nabraxas said; less water! let them dry out a bit in between waterings. Also, is that the catha's roots on the soil surface in that pic?

Hey guys, Was wondering if there are any fellow kiwi members in Auckland that have or know of any share/cheap accommodation up that way. My parter and I are looking for something preferably in Albany close-ish to Massey University, but anywhere in Auckland is ideal. We're both full time students, I'm 23 studying medicinal chemistry, and she's 20 studying philosophy, we'll hopefully both have part time jobs once we're up that way too however.. we do receive student allowance and can pay up to $260p/w for a room, although $200 sounds better for us! We have a beautiful black lab x kelpie who is 6 months old and although he's made it extremely difficult for us in finding our own place up that way, we could never give him up! so we need room for our baby! he's very well behaved and is walked at least 2 - 3 times a day so he's not one of those bored, "i'll chew on everything and dig holes in your veggie garden" kinda dog. Of course I also have an ever growing ethno collection that needs space, so a garden is ideal. We're a pretty laid back couple, into nature and healthy living (without sounding cocky, i'm a pretty awesome vego cook too ) ...so we're basically just looking for like-minded people to live with who are down to earth, respect each other and can deal with us having a beautiful dog. I know it's a long shot considering this is a mostly Australian based forum, but it's worth a try; we've exhausted all of our other options, and lost a few "perfect" houses to other tenants (I think it's because I have a beard!) so we're willing to give sharehousing a go, once again! So if anyone knows of anything up that way, please shoot us a PM!! it's massively appreciated!! Sending good vibes your way!! Peace, Fyde.