Round Trip To Oz

By Craig Miller (Photos by Craig Miller and Genny Dazzo*)

Part 5

Now that we’re back in Canberra, the week’s mostly a blur. I’d hoped to get a bit more
time for sightseeing with Genny but during the day Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and
Friday, I was with Andrew all day at the production office. What’d we do? I can’t really
go into too much detail but our days included:

Selecting from the 1,000+ photos that were taken at the photo shoot in Sydney.

Editing the interviews with the actors as well as editing Nicholas Hope’s scene into a reel
with the storyboards (Andrew working the Avid, me commenting and making
suggestions).

Working with the layout company on the “bible/presentation” going out to distributors
and international networks/channels, etc.

Notes for some re-writes on the script (and while I don’t agree with all of Andrew’s
suggestions, he’s more than willing to discuss them all and I can usually talk him out of
the ones I think don’t work. And, of course, some of his notes are good and I’m happy to
make them.)

Working with Chucky Kenway, our storyboard artist. (Chucky did the boards for Babe,
Mad Max, The Matrix trilogy, among others.)

Etc. Etc. Etc.

The sandwich shop out here in Murrumbateman (it’s a semi-rural suburb about 30
kilometers from the center of Canberra) still doesn’t believe people don’t want beets and
onions on their sandwiches. But, other than that hardship, the work’s been good. And
very useful.

Genny’s been on her own, sightseeing and shopping, during the days I was working.
Another fan took her to the National Art Gallery. He’d brought his daughter along,
because schools are just getting out, but she found the NAG less than exciting, so after a
little bit, he took her home and left Genny to explore. After a time at the Gallery, Genny
walked next store to the High Court building and looked around there. She thought she’d
walk home but it started raining, so she called Mick, the fan who’d taken her to the
Gallery, and he came back to pick her up and bring her back to the apartment.

Truthfully, I’m not completely sure what she did the other days. At least not specifically.
Although I know there was shopping. And Friday she spent part of the day packing for
our early Sunday morning flight home.
One of the writers we’d met the first night we were in Australia had asked at that time if
we’d like to come to her house for dinner one evening. We said sure. While we were in
Sydney, I received email from Donna asking if Tuesday of this week would be good for
going to Val’s house for dinner. After checking with Genny, I said sure, so Tuesday
evening Donna picked us up and drove us and her son to Val & Mike’s house for dinner.

Val is a psychologist who works for the Australian military. Mike is a trainer, like Genny,
so they hit it off. And his company might even have some work for her. They have a
great big white, fluffy Samoyed dog named Buffy (for guess who?). Dinner was great
and had a main course of roast kangaroo. Donna put the lie to the American image of
Australians we have that the national dish is roo: this was the first time she’d eaten
kangaroo..

Val Toh and her husband Mike Richards

On Wednesday, though, I got the day off. Donna told us on Sunday that she’d arranged to
take the day off on Wednesday and offered to drive us into the countryside to see a
different part of the area. So Monday, I told Andrew I’d like to get Wednesday off, and
so it was arranged.

Donna picked us up around 10:30 am and we drove out to Tidbinbilla, an area around 40
km outside of town. Our first stop was the Deep Space Telescope complex. It’s not the
one depicted in The Dish, the movie about Australia’s part in the Apollo 12 moon
landing, but very similar. It was pretty cool.
The entrance to the Deep Space telescope complex

Here there are four large radio telescopes, the largest being 70 meters across. In the
midst of them all is a small space museum, mostly containing reproductions of lunar and
Mars landers (including a photo showing three different Mars landers, including the
upcoming one Noel’s brother is a project manager for). But there are also a number of
“actual” space items, like moon rocks and uniforms and the actual switch thrown at the
last moment so the video from the surface of the moon, sent by the Apollo 12 astronauts,
wouldn’t be upside-down. The whole thing is free to explore. There’s a snack
bar/restaurant called the Moon Rock Cafe there and we bought Donna lunch.
Donna Hanson and Genny Dazzo outside the Moon Rock Cafe

We next headed on to the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, a few kilometers away. Here
there’s a 28 km roadway that runs through and around the reserve, from which you can
see animals wandering about. There are also parking areas every now and then, where
you can park and take nature walks or see “enclosures” with different animals.

A mob of kangraroos at Tidbinbilla

There were a couple of emus walking along the rode at one point, and several different
size groups of kangaroos, among many other animals. Donna said it was the first time
she’d seen a platypus not in an aquarium or zoo.

An emu walking along the road running through the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve

Donna’s first platypus Donna Hanson and me walking thru Tidbinbilla

That evening, we took Donna to a fancy-ish “bush tucker” restaurant we’d heard about.
The restaurant describes itself as “modern and native Australian” but apparently the local
term for it is “bush tucker”. Crocodile, kangaroo, emu, barramundi, and various native
herbs, spices, fruits, and vegetables. Among the appetizers (“entrees” in Australia) and
entrees (“mains” in Oz) we sampled prawns, kangaroo, and emu. Everything was quite
tasty.

Thursday night, Genny and I ate at home. Friday evening – tonight as I write this –
Donna is having a party of the local SF crowd in our honor. Saturday, Andrew and his
family and Genny and I will drive down to Bateman’s Bay on the coast (about a 2.5 hour
drive) where we’ll visit with one of the investors in our production. He was up in
Canberra earlier in our stay and kept insisting we should come visit him while we’re here.
He has 40 acres on the beach and a 10 bedroom home there. Should be interesting.
Part of the beach in Bateman’s Bay

Genny helping Andrew’s daughter Vanessa collect sea shell “treasure”

The view from the restaurant where we ate lunch in Bateman’s Bay

Sunday morning, our flight is scheduled to leave Canberra at 8:00 am. Hopefully, all will
go smoothly. We’ll arrive back in Los Angeles about half an hour earlier than that, 7:30
am on Sunday.

This is likely the last chance I’ll have to write or post anything so I’m guessing on what’s
to come.

See you soon.

Craig.