The weekend arrived in Tasmania, and everyone was looking forward to cutting loose a little bit at the Winter Festival, Dark Mofo. Halsey and Tess had a few things to take care off in town and seeing as a festival was going on, we loaded up the rental car, caught the ferry of Bruny, and drove into Hobart for some good time city fun. I wasn’t really sure what Dark Mofo was but I just went with the flow and found myself having a great night.
Turns out the Dark Mofo festival is basically a huge awesome party. We started off enjoying some of the food vendors inside of a huge warehouse. There were so many different kinds of delicious food, that I am positive I only scratched the surface with my goat taco and loose meat sandwich. Evie got jipped on the first round with a bowl of so-so beans, but it didn't slow down her spirit any. After some beers and food we made our way up to check out the huge light beam that had been in the sky for the last few nights. Evie and I had first seen it driving into Hobart on the way back from our east coast trip but it was visible all the way to Bruny Island. Apparently the beam was actually 15km high.
Once we got there I was instantly captivated and wishing I'd come sooner. It was really interesting because although the beam was insanely bright, it was also easy to interact with. You could walk right up to a single beam and put your hand over it. There was no danger of going blind or getting burnt or anything that you might think when seeing such a massive amount of light stream up into the sky. Seeing all these dust particles in the air made me instantly yearn for my high speed camera. I started to think of all those stock footage clips I have worked with for animation. It was the perfect opportunity to get some amazing high speed footage of dust, and bokeh. It preoccupied my mind for the next few hours as we continued to enjoy the night...
We made our way back to the food and drink area. We encountered the whiskey tasting area. We had a few beers. We were a bit late for more food, but of course the Bruny Island Cheese Company booth came to the rescue and supplied a healthy size platter of delicious cheese and other nibbles. We ended up taking a awesome huge group photo with some friendly Tasmanian Teens that were high on life.
We got back to our hotel room pretty late, Tess and Halsey came through with some delicious fried fish and chips, perfect to soak up a little alcohol. As everyone else was winding down, I just couldn't get the thought of getting some high speed dust out of my mind, so at around 3:30am I strapped on my huge backpack of camera gear along with my ts3cine to get some money-making stock clips that could pay for the rest of our trip on residuals. Once I got there it seemed like Hobart was experiencing a magically clear and wind free night. All those glistening dust particles I had seen earlier were gone!! I setup my camera and started trying to get some stuff, but it really wasn't happening. It seemed that the camera became a bit of a talking point however, and I ended up chating with a few really interesting people. At one point I was able to capture a bit of smoke footage from a group smoking a funny cigarette. It ended up being pretty fun, even if I didn’t get the money shot.
On my way back to the hotel at what must have been around 5am I realized where the real show was. The streets of Hobart were like a zombie movie. However, instead of flesh-hungry half-dead people, it was filled with large groups of completely shit-faced Tasmanians. I was getting the odd high five request, and a few questions about my funny “irish” accent, when one stumbly lad glared at me and asked “what do you got to say for yourself ?”. It was at that point I realized some of these blokes could be a tad bit feisty and seeing as how I was loaded with expensive camera equipment, quickening the pace might not be a bad thing. I was almost back to the hotel when a car suddenly pulled over in front of me. A door flung open and a man immediately fell out of the car and dragged himself to the grass ahead. Seeming as though he had eaten some bad fish and groaning, I couldn't help but ask if he was alright. As I past however, I saw his 3 buddies who steadfastly remained in the car. I figured the situation was well under control. I arrived safely back at our hotel with many fond memories of a lovely Dark Mofo.
-James
