15-02-26 / FLICKERFEST & AUSTRALIA

The Sun burped another CME towards Earth and created auroras everywhere. The following day I flew out to Australia to attend a screening of Notes From Planet Three at FlickerFest, courtesy of a travel grant from the British Council. The flight, which was stopping via the USA, went right over Greenland and Arctic Canada., so my fingers and nuts were tightly crossed for aurora views from my window seat. Alas, I had to make do with a baby crescent moon. Like a simple toddler, I admired it for so long that I missed out on at least two potential in-flight films.

Despite the first leg of the journey being 10 hours, I was determined to save sleep for the second flight, which was 14 hours and arrived in Sydney early morning. Sadly, that flight ended up being much busier and far less comfortable, complete with an instant-recliner guy sitting in front of me. You know the sort.

When I got to Bondi I still couldn't sleep, so I went for a stroll and quickly identified a familiar looking bridge. Sure enough, it was the spot of the gun massacre one month before. In the roaring sunshine it was surreal and disturbing to imagine. A few days later I would see two tuff guys on this same bridge amuse their challenged selves with quick re-enactment of the shooter, howling with laughter and high-fiving. 

Attended the festival opening night (and open air!) screening and reception, then finally got got some kip, despite great news about a decent US premiere for Notes From Planet Three threatening to keep me awake with all sorts of relief and excitement. 

Woke on Saturday and strolled the 90 minute Bondi-to-Bronte coast walk. What a stunning part of the world this is, man. Turns out four shark attacks over 48 hours in Sydney waters hadn't deterred the surfers here. Also, everyone appears to be jacked, it’s really weird. Sculpted bodies in all directions.

In the afternoon it was the first international competition screening, which I really enjoyed. I skipped the following show to find some food and film some surfers, then went to two national competition programmes in the evening, which were both alright. 

Sunday was a scorching 38 degrees and I got burned despite sunscreen while out filming again. Loads of years ago, someone asked me if it was a rifle in my tripod shoulder bag. That thought always stayed with me. Here in Bondi, where last month’s tragedy still weighs heavy, I found myself leaving the tripod in my room to avoid unnerving anyone. One less thing to lug around in the heat anyway.

My screening was at 4pm on this sweltering day, the sunniest, hottest afternoon of the trip. Being a Sunday too, attendance wasn't quite as generous as it had been at other screenings. My film was first up, which is always just bad luck as the audience haven't really settled into a vibe yet. A guy found me after the show to say how perfect it would have been in the evening slot, outdoors and beneath the stars, noting that Jupiter was above last night’s screening (obviously a fellow nerd). Shame indeed, but just the way it goes sometimes. Talking of the sky, even through light pollution I got my first glimpse of the southern cross constellation, and an upside-down Orion.

I did the ‘federation cliff walk’ on Monday, heading north toward Watson's Bay. It was a cloudy day, so a bit of welcome relief from the harsh sun. A surprise surcharge on a cup of coffee taught me that it was a national holiday. ‘Australia day’, no less. After jumping on a bus to return to Bondi I found a sheltered corner of the beach to record some sound away from the wind, and discovered a crapload of comedy crabs. Well that was me done for the next hour, filming crabs.

All change Tuesday! But first, I woke at 7 to do some last filming in Bondi and rreceived a message from UK colleagues saying they were at a sold out London Short Film Festival screening where Notes From Planet Three was playing last. There’s something oddly fitting about that being the exact opposite to the schedule here while we’re on opposite sides of the planet, in opposite seasons.

I set off back down to the quiet beach corner to see my new crab pals, this time bathed in Eastern morning sunshine, and got word that the London screening was a success. It actually screened in two evening programmes, back to back. Damn shame I couldn't be there. 

In the afternoon it was time to fly north from Sydney to Ballina, where I'd be extending my trip to stay with my nephew and his family. I wanted to take the 12 hour train but arranging it became more complicated than it should be. For this part of the trip I was on a mission to capture some night sky action in the southern hemisphere, despite the cloudy forecasts and the moon being in the worst possible part of its cycle for my whole stay.

Arrived to a different world again. Super quiet, hardly any people, grey skies. Before dark we checked out some potential shooting locations. I saw my first kangaroos (!) and dolphins surfacing in the local bay. My attempt at a night shoot was scotched by the clouds but I at least managed to successfully test my first southern hemisphere polar alignment in the back garden. Then I drank one whisky too many and woke up at the opposite end of the garden with a cut on my nut. Meaning my head, not my testicle. Whether I bent and scraped it on the decking posts or just decided to kip while a brain-eating insect had its way with me is anyone's guess. It was a wound to last the remainder of the trip, and still hasn’t gone away. 

The next day I popped off to an archetypal mangrove area where I crept about trying not to alarm the fiddler crabs, then I freaked out when an unidentified bug attached itself to my arm. I jumped about whapping the air with my hat and when I was done every single crab had scarpered.

Stayed out all night on a private farm owned a mate of my nephew’s. The moon and hazy cloud killed any chance of spectacular skies but I was just happy to be out, stoking a fire and shooting with a mix of cameras, including a 360 and analogue film. The end of moonset was very special to watch just before 5am, and an hour later the arrival of pre-sunrise Australian magpies caught me off guard. Their song is insane! Driving back to base, singing all the way to stay awake, we stopped off somewhere rumoured to have koalas in the trees. Sure enough, I got to see a couple of furry bums in the trees. I couldn't really see their faces but I got some arse-scratching action :)

Seeking a place where I could shoot both east and south, I drove an hour to Black Rocks beach on wobbly, suspension-busiting roads, dodging scatty wallabies and negotiating with a stubborn iguana who refused to move out of the road. I then arrived with enough time to set up for the mere half-hour of truly dark sky before the moon was due to rise.

Went walking to Goanna headland and found Seven Mile beach beyond it, which was basically golden empty sands and blue sea as far as the eye can see. Absolute paradise. I attempted to swim but didn't really get past the thrashing waves. Afterwards I filmed some wild kangaroos with funny ears. In the evening I drove back to Black Rocks for what was now one whole hour of pre-moon dark sky. Just beautiful, and I also shot some 360 this time.

While down on the beach retrieving the 360 camera, having had the world to myself since arriving, I heard a male voice shout “Oiiiiiiiiii!”. So weird. It was time to leave. On the drive back, a massive spider lowered itself from the trees right in front of my full beams and hit the bumper with an audible thud. When I got out 30 minutes later I got snagged on its silk, which seemed to have wrapped around the door.

Another headland walk, dodging mantrap spider webs strewn across trails, topped off with a final clear night down. With the moon rising half an hour later each evening, this meant a whole 90 minutes of proper darkness. We kept it local and went down to Chinamans beach with a huge broken mirror to further test an idea for a new film. Big up to Connor for lugging that around. I got another Earth rotation featuring ye olde Milky Way, and some 360 including the eventual moonrise. I also snagged some bonus night kangaroos back at the car park while packing down. The nightly routine of backing up media to external drives meant another too-short 4 hours sleep, which finally started to kick me in the arse.

I left Evans Head the next morning with amazing memories, heading back to Sydney for the final day. After checking in to my Airbnb I chose a walk to squeeze in before dark, then set off and took the ferry across the harbour to Taronga Zoo, heading south around the peninsula path to Chowders Bay via Bradley's Head. It took a few hours because I kept stopping to film lizards. Rearranging bag contents for flying meant I had two camera bodies in my backpack instead of one with a zoom lens, so, limited to a little 50mm pancake lens I did what I could. On the bus back to my accommodation I really wanted to hop off and experience some of the buzzing city life, especially as it was Saturday night. Alas, the sensible half of my brain won out and decided to finally get a decent night's sleep, because it was never going to happen on the flight/s home.