yes yes... it lacks something!

my apologies for not having any images to the new posts yet. I am currently battling the uploading and it's winning. Bastard. 

But those who wait, friends!

Ta,

Dida

Dear Darkness...

So, it’s not all about communities and travels for me, I’m also trying to pull of a few projects of my own. I left Melbourne having one group show still on and another one opening a few days later. (I do hate not attending my own openings, but in this case the choice was easy.) The images from the last one, the Siemens Fine Art scholarship exhibition, are going to the Siemens headquarters in Bayswater for a year. I didn’t get the much-needed scholarship, but being short-listed is still pretty good. All exposure is good exposure, right?  Though the money would have come in handy to help cover the 4000 dollars my mum was nice enough to lend me to do this trip... I love my mum. Preparations for my honours year is ongoing and I reckon I’ll be good to go by the time I hit Melbourne again.

I didn’t have the time to fix my website properly before heading off, but ‘Down A Rabbit Hole” can be found on www.didasundet.com. The blog will still be there, but I am stripping it of a few entries due to wanting to keep my secrets just that, Secret. Don’t ask, ‘cause I’m not telling.

 ‘Down A Rabbit Hole’ still needs 4 more images to be complete, and so far I reckon I have one new one, possibly two. Post-production will have to wait as most of the equipment to that properly is still in Melbourne. Anyone who knows me well enough will know that I do not take any short cuts and will only settle for best when it comes to my work. 

 As well as finishing off that, I have started a new body of work, working title “De Døde Fuglers Sang”. This series will be based more on fear and desire in relation to reality and fantasy, but still remains rooted in the same technique and visual/conceptual borderland as ‘Down A Rabbit Hole’.

As well as all this, I am doing a portrait series of all of us. One (casual) head shot every day. This will (hopefully) end up as 4 large collages, one for each of us, as well as 4 separate video pieces Ben will put together. I am thinking of getting each face up to about an A4 size so that each collage will be able to cover a wall. This project ties back to my 2006 collage series “Ghost In a Shell” (93 self-portraits) and “You Looking at Me Looking At You” and explores, amongst other things, the diversity of individual appearance as well as photography’s futility in trying to capture a personality in a split second.

So far it has been hard to find time to do my own work, especially research. My work has always had a strong conceptual foundation and this takes both time and effort to suss out. I did one shoot in Coober Pedy and another one in Wycliffe Wells. My aim, optimistic as it may be, is to have “Rabbit” finished by the time we get back (minus post and printing, of course) and have 3-4 new images for the new body of work.

Honours starts a few days after we get back, so no rest for the wicked. If anything I am struggling more with the fact that I can’t do all the work I want when I want.

Another aspect proving difficult is the fact that the Australian bush is full of things that can kill you. These things do not care about art or photoshoots at all. During the shoot in Wycliffe Wells I had a very close visit from one of the biggest spiders I have ever seen in the wild. All of a sudden he’s hanging right in front of my face. I do not like spiders. So, needless to say this changes the way and where I work at night quite a bit. I have no need to have another close encounter with a deadly snake, though the last one was due to own stupidity.

But then again... I am curious enough to get myself into all kinds of trouble, so who knows? 

ET, phone home? (And the snake plot thickens...)

Wycliffe Wells, ever heard of it? Neither had I until I read the 4W drive book our lovely Irishman gave us. It’s a basically a caravan park somewhere between Alice Springs and Darwin that has been labelled the UFO capital of Australia due to a multitude of, ah, you guessed it, UFO sightings. It is quite the place. Believer or not, anyone could have ball here, I reckon. Anyone with a bit of imagination anyways. For me, this was like entering a haven. It is by far the sweetest looking caravan park I have ever been to. Statues everywhere, paintings, you name it, they’ve probably got it. If it’s weird enough. It screamed photoshoot! And I do love a good work session amongst the crazy and bizarre.

We’re all pretty hungry, hot and sticky by the time we get there. Once in the cafe there are clippings covering most, if not all, walls. One room even has an international doll collection, and a big old bed with a gorilla on it. Did I say it was a weird place?

On some shelves I see several; snakes in jars. Curious as I am, I have to have a closer look. What snakes are they? Do they look anything like the one we found?

As I’m tinkering with them, a man walks over to me.

“You playin’ with my snakes?” Meet Russell “Big Dick” Perry, manager and snake man.

He tells me about his snakes and says he just got bit the other day. A Taipan, I believe it was, but don’t quote me on it. He had driven over it with his Ute (that has no door for quicker access) and the snake had flung itself up and nicked him in the shoulder. He said it had only been a scratch from one fang; otherwise he would be in shit creek. As we get talking I tell him about our snake/ legless lizard encounter and what the lady at the Reptile Centre told us to do when meeting a snake. I thought he was about to fall over as the words came out of my mouth.

“Stand still?!! What!?! And let the bastard kill ya!?!!!?”

According to Russell snakes are far from blind (which kinda makes sense to me) and they are curious. They will get you if you stand there. Not only that, but some of them are really aggressive and will attack you, and hey, guess what!?! You can’t outrun a brown snake!! They are faster than greased fucken lightning.

So, later we show Russell the video of the snake and us. Shit. “That is not a legless lizard. That is a venomous snake.” He is outraged that the woman at the Reptile Centre said it was a legless lizard. He goes to find out what snake it is and quickly returns. “That’s an Ingram’s Brown Snake, and that can kill ya.” He looks at me and calls me a luck lady. “You could’ve been in a coffin. Did you see how fast that thing moves?”

The Ingram’s Brown Snake isn’t even in our Field guide of Aussie Reptiles. He gives us the lo-down on neurotoxins and says you would’ve had about 3 hours.

Hopefully there will be a video up of Russell on www.theinlandsea.com.au soon.

He was quite the character. Funny as hell and sweet as. He found my physical size, or lack thereof, very amusing.

Anyway, it goes with the story that we did sit out that night looking for UFO’s. Russell is personally not a believer, but cannot deny what he has seen with his own eyes. Last one only a couple of days before we got there. As expected, we didn’t see any. You never do when you’re looking for it, I reckon. And I’ll insert here that though I am no fanatic, I do believe in life outside and beyond the earth and dumbass humans. I find it somewhat ignorant and self-righteous to think that we are all alone and almighty. We are not alone, we are not Gods.

We went a bit back and forth, shooting then looking for UFO’s. All of a sudden we’re surrounded by invisible howling Dingoes. It was intense. And I’ll admit to being a bit scared due to the fair number of them you could hear. But wow, what a sound! After we went to bed around 3.30 in the morning they start up again, some of them fairly close. (They do come in to camp.) All in all though, I was more afraid of the 30 odd Aboriginals living under the bridge across the road than the Dingoes. But that's a whole other story...

Alice Springs and the legless lizard.

Alice Springs, what can I say? I was pretty excited to be there, but even more so because I was gonna get my contacts sent there. I was getting pretty tired of wearing glasses in bright light and having to squint my way though the days.

Alice Springs is kinda weird. We checked in to the Macdonell Range Caravan Park. I don’t know much about caravan parks, but this one is oh, so sweet! It has a jumping pillow, pools, an impeccable kitchen and some of the friendliest staff.

The first night Eirik comes to the kitchen and says there’s a snake in the boys’ bathroom, and that he thinks it may be a legless lizard. Eager and curious, we grab the field guide to Australian reptiles, a torch and a camera. Slightly distracted on the way by geckoes, and large, orange and black insects, we make our way to the bathroom where the snake/lizard is hanging out under the bench. As we perhaps a bit too eagerly approach it it flings itself up and around, fast as greased lightning. The field guide comes out and we’re trying to figure this out. Have a closer look.  Hm... is it a brown snake or a legless lizard? We think legless lizard.

Later, I go back to photograph it and get up pretty close and personal to get a shot of it. Flash him a few times. Smile for the camera, Mr. lizard! Oh, how cute he is, the little fella. Lost in the boys’ bathroom.

Later that night the assistant manager, Pete, comes along. I remember the lizard and tell him about it thinking we can put the poor creature back out. I take him to the bathroom and walk up to where the lizard is. All of a sudden I hear “ Stop. That is NOT a legless lizard that’s a brown snake. Stand still and watch him while I get something to catch him with.” I stutter a few confused words and promise to stay there and watch him. As the door closes, I’m not feeling all that safe anymore. I walk over to the door and try to get Steinar’s attention thinking they should get the camera and come film this. Pete returns and calmly asks me to leave. Naively I ask if he’s going to be ok...

A few moments later he comes back out. Snake is taken care of. He finds the whole legless lizard-thing quite amusing as we freak out about how incredibly close to it we got and how dumb we were in the first place assuming it was harmless. Pete is one sweet guy. I think he enjoyed our stay as much as we did. And there’s my first ever snake experience. Check out the video of the whole ordeal including an interview with Pete on www.theinlandsea.com.au

Alice Springs, what can I say? I was pretty excited to be there, but even more so because I was gonna get my contacts sent there. I was getting pretty tired of wearing glasses in bright light and having to squint my way though the days.

Alice Springs is kinda weird. We checked in to the Macdonell Range Caravan Park. I don’t know much about caravan parks, but this one is oh, so sweet! It has a jumping pillow, pools, an impeccable kitchen and some of the friendliest staff.

The first night Eirik comes to the kitchen and says there’s a snake in the boys’ bathroom, and that he thinks it may be a legless lizard. Eager and curious, we grab the field guide to Australian reptiles, a torch and a camera. Slightly distracted on the way by geckoes, and large, orange and black insects, we make our way to the bathroom where the snake/lizard is hanging out under the bench. As we perhaps a bit too eagerly approach it it flings itself up and around, fast as greased lightning. The field guide comes out and we’re trying to figure this out. Have a closer look.  Hm... is it a brown snake or a legless lizard? We think legless lizard.

Later, I go back to photograph it and get up pretty close and personal to get a shot of it. Flash him a few times. Smile for the camera, Mr. lizard! Oh, how cute he is, the little fella. Lost in the boys’ bathroom.

Later that night the assistant manager, Pete, comes along. I remember the lizard and tell him about it thinking we can put the poor creature back out. I take him to the bathroom and walk up to where the lizard is. All of a sudden I hear “ Stop. That is NOT a legless lizard that’s a brown snake. Stand still and watch him while I get something to catch him with.” I stutter a few confused words and promise to stay there and watch him. As the door closes, I’m not feeling all that safe anymore. I walk over to the door and try to get Steinar’s attention thinking they should get the camera and come film this. Pete returns and calmly asks me to leave. Naively I ask if he’s going to be ok...

A few moments later he comes back out. Snake is taken care of. He finds the whole legless lizard-thing quite amusing as we freak out about how incredibly close to it we got and how dumb we were in the first place assuming it was harmless. Pete is one sweet guy. I think he enjoyed our stay as much as we did. And there’s my first ever snake experience. Check out the video of the whole ordeal including an interview with Pete on www.theinlandsea.com.au

A brown snake is one of the most venomous snakes in the world. There are several different ones. It is a very aggressive snake and it will attack when feeling threatened. This was a small one, but still potentially deadly.

The next day we head into Alice Springs Reptile Centre to learn more about snakes. We get a talk about wildlife and get to hold various lizards and an olive python. I have always been terrified of snakes and have never held one. The lizards were cool, and they feel great to hold, though one decided to pee in my hand. Then there’s the snake. Oh mama. I had already promised myself that I was not to leave before holding it. The first minute or so freaked me out, but then I fell completely in love with this beautiful creature. It feels so good on your skin and is so gentle, yet amazingly strong. Once was not enough, I had to hold it again, and would have had it on me for a while if I could. I may just want to get one some day.

Now, it goes with this story that we showed the photos of the snake to the lady at the centre and she said it was a legless lizard. Confusion be thy name. This was not to be the end of that story.

I learnt a few things that day that I have later been told were terribly wrong. It is hard to tell this story in its entirety without jumping ahead, but we’ll get there to everything.

- When you see a snake a couple of meters in front of you stop. If it gets up in its defence position, stand still. It will loose interest and forget that you’re there in about 30 seconds and move along. According to this woman snakes are nearly blind. 

- when bit, start wrapping from the furthest end of the limb, like the fingers, wrapping upwards all the way to the elbow. I was a bit fuzzy accepting this having read that you start on the bite to stop circulation, wrap down to the furthest end of the limb, then all the way up, then splinter it or immobilize it otherwise. I’ll stick to the book version if push comes to shove. Makes no sense not to start on the bite when that’s where you need to stop shit from getting into your bloodstream. Do not under any circumstances follow this Reptile Lady’s advise. It could kill you.

A few other things also happened while in Alice. The story on 86 year Molly Clark from Alice Springs can be found on Steinar’s website soon. She is the founder of the National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame and quite the character. Her life is worth hearing about. She amongst other things made the road from her homestead on the edge of the Simpson Desert to the Stuart Highway. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. I have nothing but admiration for this lady.

We went and saw part of a gig with a local Aboriginal heavy metal band after dinner one night. It was funny, but got old after a few songs. The guys had a good night at the casino, which gave us a sweet feed.

Crossing the road one day, I walk past two Aboriginal kids, one tall and one short. As I pass them (carrying my wallet in my hand) I can see them talking behind me in the reflection in the window on the opposite side of the road. The short one says something to the other one and speeds up behind me. I have a feeling something is going on. I move my wallet from my side to the front, and as I get to the other side I decide to stop all of a sudden in front of the shop window figuring that if I turn the corner he might try something. The kid almost walks right into me. I turn and he says “ you looking for book?” “Nah, man, I’m not looking for a book.” Next thing I know, Ben’s friend, Lauren, walks up and says hi and the kids quickly move away. Are you looking for book? If that’s the best you can do under pressure, kid, you better stick to trying to rob old ladies. And you should remember that your reflection is visible in shop windows. Though luck. Wasn’t much to steal in there anyway.

I must have gotten over my fear of snakes at some point, cause I fell in love with this Olive Python at the Alice Springs Reptile Center. 

Three guys and a girl...in a tin box...

Life in a car is chaotic to say the least. It has become my belief that there is a gnome living somewhere in the car who comes out at night to move all our stuff around. It is more or less impossible to find things. Packing is still a game of Tetris. And a task that takes both time and patience. The everlasting mantra being ‘Where is the..” Where’s my...?” I initially thought the gnome was Ben. (Sorry, Ben!) But after some consideration I remembered a little guy called Pete. He’s a little fella, but man, oh, man... can he make a mess! Pete’s gone ever so slightly haywire after being left in the car for several nights. Involuntary rehab of sorts, if you will.

Our fantastic tents have already begun to deteriorate. Poles breaking, holes here and there, and it sure as hell wasn’t made for storms! Still standing, but a storm or two more and we might find ourselves pretty soaked and tangled.

Anyway, back to life in a car. First things first, yeah? It’s pretty impressive how much shit we can fit in the car and still manage to fit ourselves in. Comfort levels not reaching any all time highs, but you have room for your ass and a pocket to stick your feet in. It is after all not a big car and we’re 4 people with all the gear to be a mobile production team covering most medias plus personal shit.. If anything, the heat is the killer. No air condition in tropical weather does take its toll. It is the stickiest, most uncomfortable aspect of this whole journey, perhaps the only uncomfortable aspect, now that I think about it. And something I struggle immensely with.  (Well, ok ok, besides having to spend over a week without sunnies and certain other female hormone overdose aspects.) I doubt you’ll find me in these parts in summer and wet season again... But then again, never say never. 

Besides from all this, we are having a ball! We all get along like strawberries in a daiquiri and I am having the time of my life.

THAT’S A BIG FUCKEN ROCK!

We attempted to leave Marla early and got up at 6. The car was already half packed and things should have been quick and easy. Note: should have been. Some of us take longer in the bathroom than others, and don’t point that finger at me first, because you’ll be sadly mistaken. Closer to two hours later, we’re on the road. We’ve had some stinking hot drives, but this one wasn’t all too bad. At first. Then it got STINKING HOT as per usual. It is sticky and humid and sometimes rather horrible to be quite honest.

On our way we stop a couple of  times, once to photograph a dead cow. As you do. Or as we do anyway. And no, it’s not “eeeeeewwwww”. It’s as interesting as anything else. Although a lot smellier.

We get in to the resort around Uluru and set up camp. Ben was first one out in the pool, and we soon followed. That pool was ridiculously hot, man... My guess was around 27 degrees, Steinar’s 30.

Anyways, that night I get a phone call a while after Eirik has gone to bed. It’s him calling me from the tent. He calmly tells me to be careful when going to bed because he has just had a snake under his tent. The rest of us kind of freak out a bit, Ben taking the lead of the Itteh Bitteh Kitteh Freak Out Commiteh.

Ben: “ Did Eirik sound scared?”

Dida: “It’s Eirik, man. He’s always cool.”

As is usually the case. The man has the ability to stay seemingly calm and composed during whatever shit’s going on. Gotta admire that, man. Personally I was a little freaked, I’ll admit that, but I was still brave enough to walk Ben to his swag and make sure he was ok. Must be the mothering instinct or something.

Next day rained us in and was spent working, doing laundry and all those things. This is no recreational holiday. Make no mistake about it. There’s filming, writing, photographing, recording, editing, transcribing, and it’s making me dizzy just thinking about it. It’s a big project to pull off with limited time, people and money, but it looks sweet as.

On the day we’re leaving we manage to get in and see Uluru. Now. The night before saw us have a few in the resort bar and we were all pretty wasted by the time we went to bed. Wake up call was set to 4.50 in the morning to get the sunrise. I’ll cut a really long story short and just say that we were on the sunset side of Uluru for the sunrise. Not the best of mornings in more than one way. I was still intoxicated when I woke up. And we didn’t drink that much. Dehydration is a killer. We drove around the thing later, and it’s a big fucken rock. I was pretty impressed, but I think I would have been even more so if I had gotten closer and walked around it. But, yes, it was pretty sweet. And oh, don’t forget scorching hot as always. It’s too freakin’ hot!!

 Images will follow soon. I am currently fighting the battle of the uploads.  

 

Run, little piggy, run!!

Following our Roxby Downs adventure, we set sails for what was supposed to be William Creek. Unfortunately, the wet season has no consideration for travel plans so we made a rational and wise choice to head to Coober Pedy.  Hello weirdness!

First thing that happens after a long, stinking hot day in the car when i go in to the second supermarket in Coober Pedy to ask for directions is this: The girl in there kindly gives me directions on how to get to the camp sites. She tells me where to stay and where not to stay. I am thankful and as I turn to leave and say goodbye she almost whispers: ‘Please stay.’  Wow, Nelly! Never in my life have I been asked to stay in a supermarket. From the looks of it I was the only person in there. Can’t say I blame her for wanting some company.

Anyways, we check in at Stuart Range Caravan Park. Pretty sweet place. Any place with a pool is a haven in this godforsaken heat. From our neighbours we hear that a storm passed last night turning the whole site into a mud hole. Wet season, you say? We know nothing of the sorts!

So, when you drive into Coober Pedy you pass a big mining truck on this platform that says Coober Pedy. Ben figures he can get a sweet sunset time lapse down there the second day and heads off alone while we clear up after dinner. A while later, I’ve packed my gear to go down and do a shoot when it gets dark. We jump the camp fence (rather tall and hard to get over) and cross a field to get to where he is on the other side of the road. As we cross, two kids on motorbikes pass us yelling obscenities. Mind you, when I say kids, they could range anywhere from 16-23. Or that would be my educated guess anyways. 

So, we’re down there, it gets dark and I’m doing a shoot with Eirik while the other guys are doing their thing, going back and forth from camp bringing heaps more shit every time. At one point I walk over to get something where we left out stuff only to find my laptop has all of a sudden appeared on the ground playing music... So, the night progresses and Steinar and Ben decide to go back to camp once again. This time, I’m saying “but guys, what about all the stuff? What if we want to go and you guys take ages?’ (Speaking from experience that is very often the case. That they take ages... Speedy Gonzales not being either of their names.) Nothing happens and they leave. So there we are. Waiting for them to come back. We’ve got four chairs, all my camera equipment, tripod, torches, laptops, you name it, we have it. (In the sandy desert. Equipment loves sand...) They return not too long after and we decide to pack it up. It’s getting colder and it’s a bout 2 in the morning when we head for camp.

At this point we’re all pretty much carrying heaps of shit. I have my gear and the others have the rest. We get to the road when two bikes (this time with 2 on each bike) pass us again. They drive a couple of hundred meters up the road before stopping. Uh-oh. At this point we’re all starting to get a bit nervous. We turn off our torches and keep walking as we see them turn around and come back for us. At this point Ben freaks and tells us all to run, which we do. The ground is part hard, part soft, part sand, mud and bushes. Not the best surface to run on in the pitch-black night. With all my gear on me I can hardly run. The guys try and get as much stuff off me while running. Ben yells ‘ Run, Dida, run!!“ “I can’t run! I have too much gear!” "You have to run, they're coming for us!"

By this time the bikes are behind us and my fear is more real than anything I know. The bikes split up as we get closer to the fence and come at us from either side screaming “Get’em! Get’em!”. At the fence I try to climb it, but the stuff I’m carrying is too heavy and I doubt I would have made it over even without it. I hear Ben yelling "Get over that fence, Steinar!” as I feel him grab a hold of me and literally throw me over. The next thing I know, my pants are caught on the fence, I fall down and before I hit the ground Ben comes flying over landing half on top of me. The next seconds are black until I find myself standing in some bushes frozen, thinking ‘Fuck, Dida! Snakes!’

Of course, no snakes there, so I make my way to our camp fighting for breath and almost vomiting from it. We hear them riding around for a while and it takes longer than I would like to admit to calm down. When we finally make our way to bed, I hear some noises outside. Low voices and feet on gravel. “Ben, is that you rummaging around out there?” “No, I thought it was you!”. Half petrified I lean over Steinar to look out, and as I lean over his bag I hear that it’s all coming from in there. AH! Steinar’s Dictaphone has been switched on and is playing back stuff from that night... doh...

We do all realize the mere stupidity in running.  They wanted to scare us, we made their day. But. And I will say this. With as much shit as we had on us, and as scared as we were, one wrong comment in any way could have turned it all around regardless if they’re intentions were just to scare us. If I could go back, this would be my dream scenario for that situation:

They turn to come back for us. We swtich off our torches, get my 4 hockey masks out of the bag. Put them on, line up and light up our faces and freeze as they get closer. Now, I don’t know about you, but that would have scared the shit out of just about anyone. I shot Eirik wearing one of those that night, and man, he was pretty fucken scary.

Next time... we’ll see who laughs last.

 The next day, or night I should say, we get our first storm. Holy crap! We were digging trenches and working hard to keep our stuff semi-dry. But after the night before, nothing could really rock our boat too much. 

Team Fantastic prevails! 

Previously in the adventures of Team Fantastic:

So, not much as been reported so far. As it has always been my aim to change that, I still seem to fail miserably without even trying all that hard.

To re-cap ever so slightly the chain of events so far:

After leaving Taradale we headed for Mildura. A quiet and uneventful night later we zoomed towards Adelaide and Aldinga Beach. It started to get hot and sunny, but thermals were still good and a must at night even for little Vikings. We spent a few days there while Steinar set up his website and did the first Eco Village of the trip, Aldinga Arts Eco Village. I’ll leave all that to his most capable writing skills, so check out www.theinlandsea.com.au for more details.

 I spent the days reading ‘The Henson case’ and found myself once again frustrated by the narrow mindedness and general uneducated views on art that somehow manage to create their own bush fires.

Anyways, Eirik and I headed down to the beach one day. We’d heard there where two beaches and having already checked out one, we decided to go for the other one. As we come down towards it, I am at first struck by how amazingly beautiful it is. As we get closer I see some people. Hey... these people aren’t wearing many clothes, are they? Ah... and the sight of a fisher wearing only a hat and a vest confirms it. It’s a nudie beach. And man, I saw more flab as we headed for the clothed section on the other side than I have ever needed to see after previously working as a caretaker. Safely one the other side of the nudie sign, I dared to put my feet thoroughly in the water. About knee high or so in, I turn around to brace myself against a few waves. All is well until a massive one decides to knock me over and wash me up on the beach. Looking something like a drowned kitty, I concluded that I don’t need to go any further into the water. At all. 

 

Oh Peter, my Peter...

Leaving Aldinga Beach we went back to Barossa Valley and stopped at the Peter Lehmann winery. Does not need much explanation other than to say yum yum! Something tells me Mr. Peter hasn’t seen the last of us. Unfortunately time is of the essence and we quickly moved on the next day. Onwards we go!

 

Roxby Downs Syndrome

Next stop, after 7 hours or so of driving, Roxby Downs (syndrome).  We set up camp by the BBQ. Besides from some sort of gig going on near by, it was a seemingly quiet place. Exposure to air, sun and massive heat has made us a sleepy bunch and we all tucked it in early. I wake up around 4 to some car ruckus thinking it’s someone messing with our car (which is still packed to the brim and messy as hell). As I turn around to get my glasses, Steinar sits up and yells ‘Holy Shit!!”. I turn around only to hear roaring laughter and see two headlights heading straight for the tent. (There was no road or anything but a path and bushes behind us.) Swerving last minute, they just miss us and drive off. Adrenaline rushes of that sort at 4 in the morning is not recommended. 

Getting up the next day, I went over and found that the car has backed into the bushes then driven straight out barely missing Ben’s swag and our tent. That day also happened to be my lens change day. Imagine my face as I discover that I have brought 7 contact lenses for one eye and none for the other. And it’s sunny and HOT as hell...

And as such.. the game was on. 

Three months. In a car. Introducing...

READY

          STEADY

                                 TEAM FANTASTIC!!!

Steinar Ellingsen- journalist and creative writer, master student and chef, bartender, project director, tutor, model, friend and the love of my life.

Eirik Laugerud- new bred bush cowboy, BA of language student, excellent co-procrastinator, document controller, model, boom guy, handyman and tall, friendly giant.

Benjamin Hall- Visual media multitasking guru, consistently inconsistent, friend, self proclaimed Norwegian, model and creative (borderland) storyteller.

Unn-Therese Dida Sundet- Me. Dida. Photographer, artist, scatterbrain, counsellor, babysitter, friend, nerd and girlfriend.

The Day arrived. Many things to do before mustering some rusted tertis skills to get packing. Re-Shaving. And more packing. Oh, and don’t forget the packing...Oh Boy. As the car left the driveway it was packed to and on the roof, things on laps, stacked around feet and away we go!

First stop and trial camping venue is at the lovely Harrison resort in Taradale. On the way up here we had already figured out that we had too much stuff. What can go? What’s heavy? Some clothes, a spare tire (1 of 2) and not that much else. Turns out the Honda CR-V we have is probably not meant to take four creative people with all their tools, four laptops, camping gear and enough stuff for everything you need to do in the next tree months. Hard figure right there.  Three months. In a car.

And for this once in a lifetime Master’s degree mission Steinar assembled what is and shall be known as

            TEAM FANTASTIC!!

 

Follow our journey as it proceeds on this very unofficial, personal blog. The ups and downs the round and rounds and all of that in between.