We camp in the copious back yard of Katie. Damien, Harry, Aiden, Aaron and Luka. Damien's in a jazz band and has shorter hair than I aspire to, which is cool. They're trying to get their house valued so we have to be out after two nights so the valuer doesn't see the bunch of ferals in the back yard. This turns out not to be the case, we're later invited to stay as long as we like. Even when they know that that is likely to be months rather than days. And they have a PC with Internet access which is great because I spent a lot of time job- surfing. They have four boys and a large backyard, which we occupy. People start leaving for home and the group disperses pretty much over the next couple of weeks. Much saying of goodbye.
I get organisational and collect films from people to get processed in one lot. We end up doing the deal with Fletchers Photographics in Freemantle, and the guy was great to deal with. I got triple prints of everything (30+ films) and it was fairly reasonably priced. OK, very reasonably priced and I'm a cheapskate. I kept one set, people got their own photos, and one set went to the group - people bought them by the print. Of the $600 I paid, I got about $300 back which is not too bad. When I got to Sydney I decided to scan the negatives instead, so I could have either sold or not bought the set of prints I got. Hence this CD, by the way.
Sunny and Tali get their own flat and intend to stay out west for a while. Some others are biking into the SW which is apparently nice. Naima will join them then keep gong round the country.
Jobs are easy to get promises of. I buy a cell phone and start arranging interviews. They all want me right now even though it's mid- Olympics. I rang round and discovered that I could fly back to Sydney for $165, bus back for about $250, or train back for over $300. In retrospect it would have been better to train it, to see more countryside, since the job market went on hold in the games even though the recruiters were too money-hungry to say so. I flew back and spent a couple of weeks waiting for interviewers to return from their Olympic holidays.
I ended up working for Pocketmail as a Delphi contractor. This is fun, I like the company and I wish I'd had one of their devices on the ride. It sends and receives email from any phone as a local call (1300 number). They're providing the PC I'm writing this on, and the CD burner to create the CD. Specifically, they let you do email from public phones, which we saw all across the state. You just had to get in quick before Leo buggered them up trying to steal money from them.
As of December, many people will be in Sydney about the 16th and we're having a reunion of sorts in Centennial Park. Evan is back and starting to think about CANC 3. I'm about to move in with Kelly (again) and working for Pocketmail until March or so. I see a few CANC people at Critical Mass, which I'm more involved in now I'm back. Shooting continues for another cycling documentary only this time I'm not in front of the camera, I'm under it (carrying the cameraman).
The CANC email list filled up with contact details for people, and I'm going to include the current one on this CD.
For me, this has been a great experience, I'll never forget being out in the wide open spaces of Western Australia. It was dusty, dry and flat in a way I've never experienced before. The group was big, intense and had some great moments.