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, 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!
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