Hello there shwop-world!!
My apologies for being away for so long…
The reason being – as Sarah mentioned – the three avid shwop-kateers have been verrry busy doing all sorts of weird and wonderful things in the last few months. My adventure was not quite as momentous as the beautiful and amazing wedding of Sarah and Marcus, but it was definitely interesting and a great challenge in it’s own right.
For the first part of this year I have been beavering away working on a rather mad TV show – of which its content is of the secret squirrel kind – so sadly I cannot disclose many details. But lets just say it was a unique co-production between UK and NZ production companies, and involved several colouful and quirky characters traveling around NZ in order to discover the great people, places, events and culture that our wonderful Aotearoa has to offer.
During 6 weeks we toured the country with a merry crew of 8 which included a Presenter, Director, Producer, Production Coordinator (me!), Camera man, Sound man, data wrangler / props / logistics guy and Makeup artist. We covered the length of the country in a convoy of cars, vans and a campervan (very slow on big hills!)
We made our presence felt in Wellington, Soaked up the sun in Nelson, hung with the whitebaiters in Westport, visited the Pancake rocks at Punakaiki and shimmied over to the sparkling Fox Glacier. We then hung out in Queenstown for a few days before popping down to Invercargil and Bluff. Next stop was Christchurch (via a quick detour throughDunedin), then on for a day with the dolphins in Kaikoura and back to hometown Welly for a well needed few days rest!
After a few dramas and a major schedule reshuffle back the at the office we did the long haul up to Gisborne and then embarked on an epic mission visiting nearly every little town on the East Cape. I found peace amongst the gorgeous deserted beaches and had fun finding random filming locations with locals I befriended along the way.
After the East Cape we trapsed to Opotiki to hang with some rodeo horse riders and possum hunters, and then it was up to Auckland for the Grand Finale week in the big smoke.
Without doubt it was one of the hardest, most tiring, fulfilling, wonderful, hilarious and unforgettable jobs I will ever do – and worth every second of it.
I loved it and at times loathed it but its over now and I’m back to a form of normality and back on board for another fantastic Shwop in Wellington!!
But within the madness I didn’t completely forget my shwoptastic tendancies….. Upon my travels I picked up some absolute op-shop beauties, including a stripey angora Witchery jersey from Savemart Levin, made-in-Brazul brown leather kitten heels from Mary Potter Hospice in Wellington and a gorgeous blue and white cocktail dress from Savemart New Plymouth.
Its the way forward people – Recycle those garments and shwop til your drop!!!
Stay tuned for Catch up number three and more deets about the next Big Shwop!!!
xxx Inga
The Big Shwop 