Episode 07: 2025 Blazing Swan Cosmic Coincidence Review (Georg, Nina, & Vida)

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Stevan (00:00):
All right, A Bonzaar.
Welcome to anyone out therelistening this episode.
We'll take a look back at the 2025Blazing Swan Cosmic coincidence
event slash burn slash gatheringslash not ado slash festival.
We'll reflect back at some of thethings that went right or wrong and
some of the improvements for nextyear for next burn, some highlights

(00:21):
and the magic moments, and thecontroversies in the community learnings.
Uh, with me, I haveNina, George, and Vida.
Now, before I ask you guys, how wasyour, how was your blazing swan?
How was your burn?
Did any of you guys, um, actuallymention next year was better to anybody?
'cause if you did it, uh, it, itwas a self-fulfilling prophecy.

(00:42):
It, it came true.
I didn't, I

Nina (00:44):
can't say I did.
But now that you'vesaid it, next year was,

Stevan (00:49):
so how was your blaze?
How was your burn?

Georg (00:52):
Well, my burn was wonderful.
I avoided all the sound camps.
I, uh, I zoned out wherever I could.
I did a bit of rangering andI walked around naked when
the temperature was right.
And to me, that's, that's all I lookfor in a burn, just to be myself.

Nina (01:07):
Oh, George, I saw you with clothes on a fair bit this year.

Georg (01:11):
Uh, it is weird.
Yeah.
When it's too sunny, i, I burn.
So there were times when I had anumbrella and I didn't have clothes on.

Stevan (01:19):
Well, let's start talking about, about the weather this year at Blaze.
How was it and compared to previous years,was this one of the best fucking perfect?

Nina (01:26):
It was the best we've ever had.
I can't stop raving.
It was amazing.
There were no flies.
There were no double cheese.
There was no dust.
There was no rain, there wasno hot, there was no cold.
It was perfect.

Vida (01:38):
Yeah, it was bloody amazing.
Although we did have a hailstormthe week before everybody
arrived while we were setting up.
But during the event, yeah.
Yeah.
And the rock turned it on for us.
It was perfect.

Georg (01:50):
No, I have to agree.
The wind is generally thekiller out there in the desert.
And this year I thought thewind behaved itself impeccably.
It was just wonderful.

Nina (01:59):
It was like a pleasant little breeze.
It was, it was like notblazing swan weather wise.

Georg (02:04):
Exactly.

Vida (02:05):
It was bloody cold at night though.
But you know.

Stevan (02:08):
Yeah.

Vida (02:09):
Unexpected.
Yeah,

Stevan (02:11):
it is late April as well.
So yeah, let's talk aboutyour roles and your community.
Um, eng Well, participationat Blazing Swan.
You guys are longstandingmembers of the community.
Let's start with you, Nina.

Nina (02:24):
Um, yes.
I was not like a founding memberanything, but I've been to all
of them, uh, the first year asa very, very mind blown punter.
And then, then I've done a bunch stuff.
I don't really.
Like some of our other panel membersthat I organize, I, I cat herd.
So I've beening for a few years.

(02:45):
I've done greeters.
Um, this year I organized theevent app that we've been using.
Uh, previously I've donethe what the fuck guide.
Uh, I used to be the theme campmanager, a whole bunch of stuff.
Uh, I helped organize the Ranger campthis year and I also run the best
event at any bird in the entire world.
Ask a drunk scientist.

Stevan (03:06):
And what and the, the, can you explain to the listeners out
there, what, what is the dust app,the, the guide that, that people use?

Nina (03:14):
Sure.
So it's an app developed by um, aguy named Damien, who is Australian
but for some reason lives in Nevada.
Um, and who, so he developed it for thebig burn, you know, the Nevada regional.
And then he's offered it for freeas a gift to any other regional
burn that would like to use it.
So it's, it's an app specificallydeveloped for burns and it works offline.

(03:36):
It's free, blah, blah, blah.
It, it has a fair bit of functionalityin that you can add all of the events,
the theme camps, your art pieces, thatsort of thing, and a map so that you
can, geolocate discovered this year youcan broadcast your location from an art
car so that people can hunt you down.
So we've used it, kind of trialedit last year and then used
it this year for the events.

(03:57):
'cause we're still working throughwhether that's a better way
to do it than a printed guide.
I think it's brilliant.
It just does have the drawbackthat you would have to carry
your phone around to look at it.
So it does, for some people reallyimpact the, the principle of immediacy.
And did,

Vida (04:13):
oh, I just wanted to ask a question about it.
I tried to get on the dust app this yeara couple of times, and I feel like there
was so many phones trying to access it.
Did it stop functioning at some point?

Nina (04:23):
Uh, so it didn't, and I only know this because I had the exact
same problem, even though I, the.
Um, the problem is if your phone is onbecause you have Telstra and every other
year it works, dust is trying to update.
So if you turn your Telstra phone onairplane mode, then dust functions
be like four days to figure that out.

Vida (04:43):
That's what was going on.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Okay.

Nina (04:45):
I dunno, people with no mobile service were fine and those of us who
like actually have Telstra, we're not

Georg (04:52):
Wow.

Vida (04:53):
Classic

Nina (04:54):
next year's learnings.

Stevan (04:57):
So was it, what was the feedback?
Was it very popular?
People were using it, ithelped a lot of people out.

Nina (05:01):
Um, my feedback's entirely like anecdotal, so you know, the
randos I spoke to everyone loved it.
I have spoken to other leads in theorganization who had different anecdotal
feedback who said people really don't loveit and they wanna a print it guide because
they don't wanna carry their phone around.
We tried to alleviate thatissue by putting a PDF of

(05:24):
the events on the website.
So if you don't wanna carry yourphone, you can just print it out.
But comms were tricky thisyear, I suspect, because the
world has stopped reading.
So I don't know, we haven't donelike a proper feedback or anything
and I don't even know how we'ddo that 'cause people don't read.
Um, I, I, I really can't answerthat in a scientific manner.

(05:46):
I heard great things, but I, I'm not

Stevan (05:48):
sure.
Yeah, I read some greatthings on the as well would
involvement.

Vida (05:59):
Sure, absolutely.
Like Nina, I've been goingsince day one, um, inception.
So for the first five years of BlazingSwan, I was the camp lead for Camp
Koasis, and then I came across the org,joined the committee, did a year on the
committee as an ordinary committee member,and my background's event management,

(06:22):
so I kind of got involved with eventmanagement on site From that point.
Did a couple of years as the chairpersonof Blazing Swan, and then probably the
last three or four years I've been sitemanaging and then the last two kind
of doing all the planning and eventmanaging organization for the event.

(06:43):
So yeah, pretty big role.
A lot, a lot going on in that space.
It's been a big learning curve this year.
I feel we did really wellin that, in that area.
But yeah, always curve balls andways to improve and new problems and
having to think of new solutions.
I never get bored anyway.

Stevan (07:03):
Cool.
And you, George, what's your,what's your involvement?

Georg (07:07):
I started blazing in 2016.
Um, oddly enough, we were on a, uh,a nude cruise on the Swan River.
And, uh, we'd, we'd come across a coupleof Canadians who'd just come from a, uh,
a blaze, and they were telling us allabout this wonderful festival because
they were nudists, they were able toexpress themselves with their nudity.

(07:28):
And, and I thought, gee,that sounds wonderful.
Uh, we'll have to go next year.
So we did.
And, and that was 2016.
And, uh, we, we've never looked back.
I, I love the Blaze experience.
I love the community.
I love the fact that nobody judges us.
Uh, in my, uh, in, in the de inthe default world, uh, I was a,
um, a corporate lawyer workingfor the, uh, for the government.

(07:49):
And I can tell you, uh, judgment happensevery single hour of every single day.
But day at Blaze, there's no judgment.
It's, uh, it's just alllove and acceptance.
And, and, and now, and on that note, um,I was not a, um, a physical, uh, hugger
or a, a person who was able to show anykind of, um, uh, of that kind of emotion.

(08:09):
But on day one, we gotgreeted by about 20 people.
And, uh, and after your 15th hug andhugging becomes like second nature.
And in that first place, Ithink I hugged about 200 people.
And now all I do is hug people.
In fact, as rangers, we, weincorporate the hug as, as part of
the development and proliferationof our, uh, our social capital.

(08:30):
So, uh, I joined the Rangersin the following year and,
um, I, I've never looked back.
I love, I love Rangering.
I, because I'm older and I've got a, alot of world experience, but not much,
uh, festival or, uh, or or bla experienceapart from, uh, from participating.
So I, I love the fact that I can,I can look after everyone there
and, and they're like my kids.

(08:52):
I just, I love them all,and especially Vida.
I, uh, I see VI everywhere.
Look, I, I feel blessed tobe amongst Blaze royalty.
Watching Vi on the screen hereand listening to her talk, I
was in awe of, uh, of Vida'sabilities as an event manager.
She's just everywhere at Blaze, and Ifeel like a fraud in this, uh, in this
podcast when I'm, when I'm competingwith people like Vida and, and even Nina.

(09:15):
Everyone loves Nina.
Nina's, uh, she's the adorable,uh, adorable person that blaze.
Everyone calls her adorable.
And, and everyone loves Nina.
Everyone knows Nina andeveryone knows Vida, but not
everyone knows the naked Ranga.

Nina (09:27):
So if I could just interrupt, it'd be great that Georgie,
everyone knows the naked Ranga.
You are a much nicer person than me.
Every fucker out there loves you.
You've served on committee,you've also surfed as theme camps.
You were also the lawyercounsel for Blazing Swan.
Stop downplaying your contributions.
I agree with Nina on that.

Georg (09:48):
Without, without Vida we just wouldn't have a, we
wouldn't have a party, would we?
It just wouldn't be,it wouldn't be a blaze

Nina (09:53):
Totally true.
I'm just saying you're awesome too.

Vida (09:56):
Use words.
It just wouldn't be as good.

Stevan (10:02):
So are there any, um, yeah, yeah.
Are, are there any operational talkthat we can, uh, share, uh, stories or,
uh, behind the scenes stuff, uh, Vida

Vida (10:11):
behind the scenes stuff?
Oh, well I could tell you guys that, um,

Stevan (10:17):
like when, when do you guys start actually arriving there and,
and, and building and you know,packing down all that stuff as well?

Vida (10:24):
Oh yeah.
Well, yeah, the whole, to behonest, the whole build and pack
down is where I have my fun.
During the event.
I feel like I'm just working, likeI might get one or two days off, but
I'm always worrying about these 3000people that anything could happen.
And then, you know, we mighthave to implement our emergency

(10:46):
planning and, and deal with somehard incidences and situations.
So during the event, I'm always kind of alittle bit on guard and a little bit, um,
I guess I don't relax so much, but duringthe setup when there's like 30 to 50 to 60
of us there and we're all building a thingtogether, that's my real time to shine.

(11:07):
And, um, we build a little familyand by the time everyone gets
there, we just actually want themall to go away and leave us to.
Family that we've created.
No, no, love, love, love when everyonearrives, but also slightly resent having
to line up from a meal at the kitchenafter being fed first for three weeks.

(11:29):
But yeah, it's a really experience.
Um, this year having all the Irishguys build the temple was really fun
and that, that added a good little,uh, bunch of excellent Irishmen there.
Lots of laughs aroundthe fire every night.
Um,

Stevan (11:43):
did they bring the cracks of

Vida (11:44):
Oh, they always bring the crack.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They definitely broughtthe crack go out there.
Quite a few

Nina (11:52):
toast with irons.
They brought the crack.

Vida (11:56):
They're amazing.
And yeah, they run the magicalfrontier as well, which I have to
say is my new favorite theme camp.
I absolutely love that place.

Nina (12:05):
So good.

Vida (12:06):
But yeah.
And then pack up.
Yeah.
Behind the scenes isthe funnest bit for me.
I can tell you a little stats that Iheard from the policeman last week.
I don't know if you guys know, well,you probably do, but every week our
whole festival gets breathalyzedand drug tested on the way out.
Not one person, not one personcame up positive on the whole

(12:27):
way out of Blazing Swan.
Wow.
So that's an amazing littletick for us as far as our event
presents to the bigger community.
So that's pretty awesome is thatalthough we did some kind of, we did

Stevan (12:39):
some kind of.
The Exodus team?

Vida (12:43):
Yeah, so we've got a new team that kind of started this year called
The Leavers and their role is to justcheck on everyone on the way out, kind
of like the greeters on the way in,make sure, you know, they've had enough
sleep, they've had something to eat,they're feeling okay to leave the event.
And um, yeah, obviously thatthat work paid off this year.

(13:05):
And we do got some kudos fromthe local cops about that.
But yeah, we're just gonna makea little bit of a plan to maybe
have some coffee there as well andyou know, keep improving on that.
'cause that's obviouslymade a big difference.
Oh, and we shut everything down atmidnight the night before, which some
people aren't the happiest about, but itensures that everyone gets enough sleep

(13:27):
so they can leave safely the next day.
So I think that definitelyhelped that situation as well.
But that's just one of those littlethings I'm quite proud of this year.

Nina (13:36):
I'll also add, um, I was hoping out the theme camp team this year, and you're
right, a number of people weren't thrilledwith that decision, but I think once it
was explained, they all understood, youknow, why, why the event team said that.
And I think most people are coolwith the shutting at midnight
the night before it ends.

Vida (13:53):
Yeah.
Well, I mean, theme campscan just shut their doors.
They don't wait for anotherday, they can just shut.
Oh yeah.
I have their own private parties.
I ended up in Camp Koasis atmidnight because I wasn't ready to.
She

Nina (14:08):
I went to after and Mo's it was fabulous.

Vida (14:12):
Yeah.
So we managed to find a way around it,but the 1500 kids had to all go to bed.

Stevan (14:20):
Yeah.
So what are the, some of thestats, um, from this year's blaze?
1500 kids over, over 3000 people.
Yeah.
I think we actually fif 54theme camps altogether as well.
And you had over, like theparticipation rate this year was
quite high, so it's good to hear.

Vida (14:34):
Yeah.
It was, I think it was over 500volunteers, which is amazing.
So yeah, basically volunteersand theme camps usually equal
about half of our total.
And then we're actually 3,300 this year,so a good 300 more than previous years.
So we are growing, which is exciting.

(14:57):
Yeah.
But 54 theme camps.
Awesome.
A bunch of new theme camps.
Like the Graveyard came out ofnowhere into double story SC deck,
you know, like you, they were amazing.
Massive.

Stevan (15:11):
They also is a sound camp.

Nina (15:13):
Yeah.
But they also did a lotof interactive day stuff.
They, it's the graveyard.
So they did, um, tombstone painting.
They had a scavenger hunt aroundsite and the guys running guys
and goes, the, the people runningthe theme camp were just lovely.
They were really looking out for, uh.
Everybody who entered theirspace, they were just delightful.

(15:35):
And yeah, that structure was sick.

Vida (15:37):
Yeah, I was so impressed by their whole vibe.
It was awesome.

Nina (15:40):
And they're brand new, so that was cool.

Stevan (15:43):
And there were more varied, varied mutant vehicles as well
and, and art installations around.

Nina (15:48):
Um, the mutant vehicle numbers were high, but I feel like
a lot of the mutant vehicles thatcame have been coming forever.
They just, you know, finally properlyregistered, um, which is great.
Uh, but there were some cool new cars.
Uh, the mutant vehicle lead rehabilitated,a broken piece of crap from his yard

(16:09):
into a super cool space crab shuttle.
So that was nice.
Yeah, there was good art as well.
I think there was, there were more themecamps than last year and maybe a bit less
art, but the art was really good, I'd say.

Vida (16:20):
Yeah.
I feel like the art was,wasn't as much as last year.
I agree with you on that.
Last year, I feel like the 10thanniversary last year, everyone
just really went all out.
And maybe people were a littlebit burnt out from that this year
and it went down a little bit,
but it'll come back no doubt.

Nina (16:38):
The Shart Gallery was pretty cool though.
It's like an art gallery that was gallery

Stevan (16:40):
was art installation gallery.

Nina (16:41):
Yeah, it was an art installation.
So it was an art gallery, except it was,it was, you know, shart It was shit.
Art shart.
Um, so it was like a little house shewent into that was an art gallery and all
of the art on it was, it was hilarious.

Vida (16:56):
Yeah.
Walking the temple, burn, forthe, uh, opening and got some wine
and cheese and enjoyed the art.
It was great.
Oh, I missed that.

Stevan (17:08):
Super cute.
And George, you, you're alsoinvolved in a theme camp yourself?
Uh, yeah.
The library

Georg (17:14):
in, in the second year that we, uh, we, we went to bla we, we joined
John Mack, who's a, um, he's thesmartest and nicest, uh, most decent
chap I've ever met in my entire life.
He loves books, he loveseverything about books.
And my wife Nu um, is exactly the same.
So those two hit it off from dayone from our first place in 2016.

(17:35):
She fell in love with the library.
So she got us to join John in 2017.
And since then, we've presented thelibrary every year apart from the, uh,
the two years of COVID and the, and thesmall, the small burn, uh, when was that?
2021. So yeah, the library, um, hasbeen bigger and it's been smaller.
Next year it's gonna be even bigger.

(17:55):
So yeah, we, we, we were energized afterthis year's, uh, this year's place,
we had a lot of people come through,but because we only had the one tent
set up, we, uh, we had a lot of peoplethat we, uh, we had to turn away.
And so, um, yeah, we tooka lot apart from that.
So we're gonna try and put a bitmore of it into it next year.
And it may mean rangering less orwe, uh, we built a, a bigger team.
We only, we only had basicallythe, uh, the five of us this year.

(18:19):
And we probably need someone abit younger who can carry books.
I mean, there's three and.
So it's, uh, and I'm not getting anyyounger, it's a bit of a physical effort.
I

Vida (18:30):
was ask heavies that sea container on site, George it down, is that right?

Georg (18:35):
Yeah, I'm not And the Fran struggle, is that right?
Like, have, you might have to go digital.
These

Nina (18:39):
guys have an entire sea container literally filled with books and as George
says, there was only one pretty largebelt tent, uh, to present this year.
Like how do you pick which books do youjust show the ones that are at the front?

Georg (18:52):
John John's, uh, he's very good at curating books.
He has a, uh, a real sense aboutwhat people might wanna read.
And what he does is, uh, as someonecomes into the, uh, into the tent,
he engages with him in conversationand, and talks about what books they
they're looking for in particular.
And bugger me if he doesn't wander intothe container and come out with the

(19:12):
exact book that this person's asking.
I, I don't dunno how he does it.

Nina (19:16):
Oh, you restocked from the container?
Okay.

Georg (19:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So we, we were con constantlyrestocking from the container.
You know, he is got another10,000 books at home in Albany
and, and we've got 5,000 here.
So there's probably only about fiveor 6,000 books in the container.
And we only put out about between 15 2000.
So yeah, there's, there's,there's a lot more capacity.
So the library can get bigger and bigger.

Vida (19:39):
Is it called the library?

Georg (19:41):
It's,
which sounds like a cross library.
People necrophilia books.
I dunno.
Just, yeah, a bit like that.

Vida (19:53):
Yeah.
I was wondering wherethat new name came from.
It was,

Nina (19:56):
y'all changed, changed the name, what, like three years ago?
And the larger community has justlike refused to get on board.
I know, I know, I know.

Georg (20:05):
I mean, we, we were called the library then we were called
Rock Library and I mean, we've hadlots of different names, but Yeah,
I think, but I do like, sorry.

Stevan (20:14):
Yeah, I, I I, I do like the, the library being there
as, as well as the post office.
You need these, uh, you know,community services, you know,

Georg (20:23):
the post office is, I love the post office.
It just adds community towards,you know, the whole site.
Absolutely.
We, we had a two, two of our camp went tothe, uh, to the post office to get mail
that they'd left for themselves last year.
And I just thought it was lovely.
I, I can't believe that theyhung onto all that mail.
And there it was, it was all there.

(20:43):
You just go and select andyou read a letter that you
wrote to yourself a year ago.
Just incredible.
So much energy in that camp.
And they're all beautiful, beautiful kids.
Just, I love them all.

Vida (20:54):
Yeah.
Speaking of how beautiful they are, a bitof controversy this year with the, um.
Doing the halftime showat the Grundy walk off.
And then that being so popular that oneof the girls ended up actually winning the
Grundy walk off from the halftime show.

(21:14):
Wow.
Controversy.
Outrageous.
Wow.
Because it's

Nina (21:18):
the first time y'all have let girls compete.
Yeah.
That, that's my controversy.
Sorry, not y'all.
You don't run that camp anymore?

Vida (21:25):
Uh, no, but I agree.
I think that was controversial,but I think the girls, the
girls did well, obviously.

Georg (21:33):
Yeah.
See, that's something that I can't do.
I don't, don't own any underwear,

Nina (21:38):
George.
You know, most people who do it makelike don't wear underwear costumes.
Or don't wear underwear.
It's

Stevan (21:45):
all about, it's all about strutting.
It's not what you're wearing.

Georg (21:48):
No, I understand.
I understand my strutting.
Those are over.

Stevan (21:52):
One of the things I loved was the group photos, the, the group shots.
Uh, there was plenty of them I saw.
Were there any other, uh, werethere any inter camp shenanigans
and fuckery that you heard of?
Us

Vida (22:04):
There was definitely some of that.

Nina (22:05):
I can, yeah.
So I did not arrive until, uh, twonights before the event opened, so
probably Vida knows more of how thishappened, but apparently House of
Orb and the Church of Deliverancehave continued their flame war.
Uh, the only bit that I saw is whensomebody had stolen the doors off the

(22:26):
church, bolted them onto the house, acrane got involved, and then it ended up
with an orb burning in the embers of thechurch that somebody cooked an omelet.
Whoa.
None of that'll make any senseto anybody who wasn't there.

Vida (22:42):
Yeah.
So I, I know a little bit more of thehistory, so the Orb stole the church
doors last year, but the church didn'teven realize until they arrived on site
this year to start building the church.
Oh.
We were all looking everywhere through thecompound, through the site, trying to find

(23:03):
the doors of the church because we've beenstoring its site a It was a long game.
Yeah.
So eventually we figuredout they weren't there.
Meanwhile, the orb has themhostage and had built a little
mini house to mount the doors on topresent to the church as a prank.
So yeah, they built, they built thelittle mini house in the middle of

(23:25):
the night one night and mounted thedoors and then got out crane driver
to drop it right in front of the,
the next day.
Obviously this was horrifyingto the church, but at least
they'd got their doors back.
But they proceeded to graffiti profanitiesall over the, the orb structure.

(23:46):
And, um, yeah, they took their doorsback and then got the crane drive
to then deliver the house next totheir theme camp, which was down
in Sound Camp Alley and continuedto graffiti the hell out of it.
However, the mini, the mini house thatthe doors were mounted on was not an
approved structure on, so we allowed thisall to go on before the event started.

(24:10):
Then we made the orb pull hisstructure apart before event started,
um, because it wasn't approved andit was a little bit big, but yeah.

Nina (24:18):
But could we be fair?

Vida (24:19):
It was a fun joke.

Nina (24:21):
Let's be fair.
The church started this shitlast year to add my profanity.
They stole the orb, theyhoisted it on a crane.
They have video of somebodyhaving relations upon it, and then
they hoisted it up into the air.
So orb couldn't get it back.
And I'm pro church in this instancejust saying they started it.

Vida (24:41):
Absolutely.
It was hilarious.
And there was also a lot of, uh, justcamps stealing each other's mascots.
So Koasis did their, theirclassic rub punch Monday.
And uh, but on Sunday night, an up andcoming member who was trying to get in

(25:02):
a general camper that wanted to earntheir stripes at Koasis was sent on
various missions to get the mascot ofother camps and bring them back to wais.
And then WAIS gang mountedall of the mascots on the big
container wall in the beer gardenon the day of Rum Punch Sunday.

(25:24):
And, and Grundy Waroff andproceeded to have a big party
with all the mascots on the wall.
Is that why somebody stole the camel then?
As like revenge.
Ah, yeah.
As if, as if
was bound to get violated.
Um, yeah.
And so that, that also, and that's notthe first time and probably won't be the

(25:45):
last, but yeah, it was actually in theend I good promotion for the other camps.
Having all their mascots on thewall for the, for the big party,
you know, s anyway, fun and games.
Fun and games, loads of it.

Nina (25:58):
I hate to keep talking about the church to whom I am not a
member, but you did ask after, um,pranks and my favorite this year.
So the church has been a camp fora very long time and they've been
threatening to build their church fora very long time and we all kind of
just figured it was never gonna happen'cause they're full of fucking shit.
Uh, but they did actuallyburn it this year.
And so people, unnamed people decidedthat before that happened, we had to

(26:23):
recreate a previous prank from years past.
And so a, um, blood covered, decapitatedunicorn head was in fact staple gunned
to the church doors before they burnt it.
And it made me very happy.

Vida (26:38):
Love their pranks.
Just going for years and years,especially with the church.

Nina (26:42):
It was years ago.
It would've been sixyears ago that started.
They thought it was funny.
To be fair, it was all in good fun.

Georg (26:48):
No, the.

Stevan (26:53):
Highlights.
Uh, and favorite workshops orevents that you guys remember?

Georg (26:58):
Well,

Vida (26:58):
well, I've worked too much.
I never anything, so

Georg (27:02):
my favorite is year we, we used to run a, a mass mood shoot,
and we started up on, uh, rock andwe'd get about a hundred people up
there, and most of them had, had neverbeen naked in a public place before.
And it was just sensational that,uh, at 10 o'clock on the Thursday,
uh, Thursday morning, it's fresh.
People are just arriving, but, youknow, they get up there and they

(27:25):
just open themselves up to, uh, toeveryone, and it was just wonderful.
Uh, it's been too hard for us toorganize it in the last couple of
years, so we've handed it over toNimrod, and this year he, uh, he took
I think about 70 or 80 people outonto the lake for the mass nurture.
So you won't see any of those photos.
You've gotta be a, a participant to beable to, uh, subscribe to the photos.

(27:45):
But, you know, it's just such a, um, sucha, a communal fun time and, and no stress.
And everyone looks just amazing.
It's just all this, all this sea of pink,uh, on the, uh, on, on the White Lake.
It's just incredible words.
Can't describe how, uh, how beautiful itis and how, how uplifting it is for, uh,
especially for old time nudists like us.

(28:06):
So, yeah, to me that's, you guys

Stevan (28:08):
are, uh.
You guys are afraid ofa cold out there at all?
The wind in the, in the salt lakes?

Georg (28:13):
Nah.
I, I can get naked downto about 10 degrees.
It's um, there must be a bitof viking blood in my family.
It's all good.
Body, body parts don't look so good.
There's uh, a lot of shrinkage of course,but I always say to uh, to my wife
that uh, a bit of cold makes the femaleform look, uh, look 10 years younger.

Nina (28:35):
If I could nominate my favorite event, which is in no way similar to
that, I don't know if you guys madeit to the, uh, bureau of Bureaucracy,
which was a new camp this year.
Uh, some old time Blazers starteda new camp to basically just
take the piss out of office jobs.
And I didn't know how this would go 'causeI work an office job and I was like, I

(28:57):
don't want my day job on the paddock.
But it was brilliant.
It was the funniestthing I've seen in years.
And they ran this event, whichI dragged myself outta bed for.
I was violently hung over.
I was in like the roughest condition I'veever been in and I was like, I don't care.
I'm going to this thing.
I have to go.
It was called PC load letter.

(29:19):
Which if anybody, maybe y'all areold enough to remember Office Space.
The movie Jennifer Aniston or Livington.
Yep.
Yeah.
Where they beat the shit outof a printer in a field because
they hate it and it needs to die.
They brought a printer.
It was BYO Hammer.
I brought a hammer.
I was 30 minutes early.
I have never been early toanything at Blaze, ever.
I was 30 minutes early.
They were like, why are you here?

(29:39):
And I was like, I need to beat theshit out of a printer with a hammer.
So they made me wait.
Um, and then we beat the shitout of a printer with a hammer.
They put a tarp down to catch the moop.
That did not help.
It exploded.
It was delightful.
There were sledgehammers.
It was really, really therapeuticfor a lot of office drones.
The toner cartridge exploded.
There were clouds of death.

(30:01):
It was like the most glorious thingI've ever done, and I loved it.
I hope they come back.
That is all.

Vida (30:07):
I just thought the lines at the bureau were amazing.
I couldn't on the P to

Nina (30:15):
get who the hell is gonna queue up to go to bureaucracy here at a burn.
The lines were down the road.
It was so good.
That's great.

Vida (30:25):
Yeah.

Nina (30:25):
What a win.
Yeah, a little

Stevan (30:27):
weird.
It's very, it's very meta as well.
I think.
You know, having to line up, havingto line up for something at a blaze

Georg (30:36):
to a says it's close, who work in offices, it was like back at work.

Nina (30:45):
Because that was my thought until I went in and then I was
like, oh, this is so funny.
Like they've got, you have to go througha little ticketing queue to get in and
it's done in red 'cause it's red tape.
And then like there'sonly in, there's no out.
So when they turn youaround, there's no out.
So you're going in and outthe red tape simultaneously.
You had to cue to get an,did you consider these idea?

(31:06):
I can't describe it.
It was brilliant.
Would I consider it was,

Stevan (31:08):
it would, would you consider it as a like a performance Performance,
perform performing arts perform?

Georg (31:13):
Yeah, yeah,

Stevan (31:13):
yeah.

Georg (31:14):
Yeah.

Nina (31:14):
Uh, it was verging on performance art.
Yeah.

Stevan (31:17):
Yeah.
Interactive performance art more.
Yeah.
It should be more of that I think,I think should be more encouraging.
Yeah, absolutely.
I think

Nina (31:23):
that's great.
I think, I mean, you guys mighthave different opinions 'cause
I think everybody wanders aroundand has their own different blaze.
It's big enough to do that.
But I feel like there's been moreindividually creative performance
or type things as Blaze has,has gone on through the years.
And I quite like that.

Vida (31:39):
Yeah, absolutely.
I agree with that.
I, I really enjoyed that art car thisyear with the stripper pole in it
that the Circus gang went, oh my god.
Driving around.
That was, that was excellent.

Georg (31:50):
Yep.

Vida (31:51):
Was great.
But yeah, the performance on Wheelseverywhere it went, it was excellent.

Nina (31:57):
I think Blazing Swan in particular has the reputation maybe
of being just like a big duff.
And I don't think that's fair.
But I do think our particular burn hasmore sound camps, diff crews than other.
S of the same.
And I liked that this year therewas a whole lot more than that.
Like we still had the sound campsand new sound camps and it was great,

(32:17):
but we also had all this other stuffthat was really cool this year.

Vida (32:22):
Hell yeah,

Stevan (32:23):
I did like, uh, the transformation of chainsaw of Cobra into, I thought
that was pretty, uh, innovative.

Nina (32:30):
So the clowns, um, so cherry bomb runs circus events here in WA and she's
collaborated with chainsaw Cobra Campbefore and they've done clown stuff.
But yeah, this year, um, the longtime theme camp lead basically handed
it off to a new guy who is alsoa fringe performing clown, and it

(32:54):
just basically became clown camp.
And I thought that wasunexpectedly brilliant.

Vida (32:59):
Yeah, I think that's going on into the future as well, so

Nina (33:03):
I hope so.
I spoke to what's his face who ran itthis year, and he'd never been to Blaze.
He's a long time performer,fringe artist, et cetera.
But he'd never been to Blaze.
He'd never done anything like this.
He didn't know how it was gonna go.
He was very confused and then hepulled it off brilliantly and he says
he's interested in doing it again.

Stevan (33:21):
Hmm.

Nina (33:22):
George, did you go in the clown camp?

Georg (33:24):
No, we didn't.
We went to a couple of their shows.
Yeah.
Look, it, it's, it's hard, Nina,when you, uh, when you run your own
theme camp and, and you also ranger,it's really hard to get out there
and see and do an awful lot of stuff.
I mean, you've gotta sleep as well.

Nina (33:39):
Yeah.
And,

Georg (33:40):
and we're all getting older.
I know.
Oh, goodness me.
I love a, an afternoon nap nowadays.
Yeah.
I

Vida (33:44):
feel that.

Georg (33:48):
Well wait till you retire.

Nina (33:49):
I was reading something I wrote after the first blaze, and
I think I'd slept, I'd counted'cause it was so appalling.
I'd slept like 10 hours andlike five days or something.
Something just

Georg (34:02):
Wow.

Nina (34:03):
Dumb.
And I was like, oh, right.
I was young.
Right.
Okay.
Yeah.
Look good

Vida (34:08):
Old days, 11 years later, it's not so easy.
Uhhuh.
I saw one sunrise this year, soI was proud of that last year.
I don't think I did any,

Nina (34:17):
I only saw one this year and I was very proud of that.
And heard you.

Vida (34:21):
Did you see the Blaze star?

Nina (34:23):
No, I didn't.

Vida (34:25):
Yeah.
The, the one I stayed up for the sunrise.
'cause the blaze star was in the sky,which was apparently the Cosby Venus
incident of why, um, well, someone wascalling it the Blaze Star and I was

Nina (34:38):
Venus.
I know there is also a Blaze star.
She may have seen it.

Vida (34:45):
Say that.
Be Aling.

Nina (34:46):
Yeah.
I I believe you.

Vida (34:49):
I believe it at the time.
Don't my Georg.

Nina (34:55):
Steven do you wanna hear about like the, the rationale for
the theme of the event this year?
The, the cosmic coincidence?

Stevan (35:02):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm curious.

Nina (35:04):
I don't fucking know.
I didn't listen.
Vida, what's the cosmic coincidence?

Vida (35:08):
Well, apparently it was, well, well, I've got two stories
actually, but there was gonna be ameteor shower during the event that
something to do with this blaze star.
So, but then I've got a differentstory that morning that the reason
it was called cosmic coincidence isbecause the Blaze star was gonna be

(35:29):
shining and, and, um, visual in thesky at Blaze during the event, which
was why I believed that that was theblaze star that I saw that morning.

Nina (35:39):
So I heard the second one.
Yeah.
So this blaze star is the starvery far away or something,
and it's about to explode.
And the best astronomers could dois that it was going to explode
in like a one month windowthat basically was over blaze.
So what a cosmic coincidence,because it's actually called
the Blaze Star and Oh, really?
And I didn't follow up, so I don'tknow when exactly it exploded,

(36:01):
but clearly after Vida saw it,or maybe you saw the explosion.

Vida (36:07):
Well, I think the explosion was, yeah, the, the thing that people were
saying was gonna look like a media shower.
But I don't think thathappened during the event,
but

Nina (36:16):
it definitely didn't happen before.
It hadn't happened yet, but then Igot distracted by clowns and printers.

Vida (36:25):
Yeah, I heard a week or so ago that it had happened, but it was like,
oh, but like then not during the event.
So yeah, it happened twoweeks or so after the event.

Nina (36:35):
Okay.

Vida (36:36):
Um, yeah.
Well that, that's what I've heard.
Again, haven't done my research andfollowed up on the scientific facts.

Nina (36:45):
Yeah.
Sorry, I feel remiss as thescience event runner person here.
We didn't look into it.

Vida (36:52):
Yeah, you should not in Nina.

Nina (36:54):
I'm, I'm not an astronomer.

Georg (36:56):
Was there an astronomer in the um,

Nina (36:57):
um, not technically, but Paul Castle would like to think himself one.
Wow.
Just naming names.
Um, so Paul is on our panel andhe's a mathematician, but he is been
really digging into this blaze starstuff, so he totally would know.
And I did not ask him.
Sorry.

Stevan (37:16):
Yeah.
One of the traditions that Blaze isto watch the sunrise or sunset at.
What other traditions are there thatyou can think of that that blaze
that people must do you reckon?

Nina (37:28):
Well, I think mud bathing has fallen off and I'd like to take credit for that.
Um, because for many years at AskAdjunct Scientist, we would do a
public service announcement aboutwhy you are all autonomous human
beings and can do what you want.
But it is a terrible idea tobathe in the mud of Jillan Lake.
I dunno.
People used to always go and bathein the mud, which like, cool,

(37:49):
but the, the mud out there is notparticularly something that like,
it's a lot of farm runoff and heavymetal precipitation and it's just not
something I'd wanna be putting a person.
I think it's a, even though I have to

Stevan (38:00):
traditional,

Nina (38:01):
so I think that's kind of fallen off.
It reminds them of

Stevan (38:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That used to be a big thing probably.
Yeah.
Woodstock
or something like that.

Vida (38:07):
Yeah.
But no flashbacks says don't do it people,if you ever one please don't do it.

Nina (38:12):
Like I've tell people for years, it's a terrible idea.

Stevan (38:16):
Yeah.

Vida (38:17):
However, do run around the effigy naked after it's burned.
That's a great tradition.
That's definitely one ofour big traditions, George,
getting bigger and bigger.

Nina (38:25):
Do you run the new Nudie run?

Georg (38:26):
No, I don't because that, to me, that's, um, that's something for
people who I think never go naked do.
No, no.
Well, we're, we're nudists.
We're not exhibitionists.
We, we don't, I live naked.
I don't need to, to, to do anevent like that to express myself.
No, no.
I, I walk around the entire paddock naked.

Nina (38:45):
Don't The Nu Runner's exhibitionism though.

Georg (38:48):
No.
May mean to an nudist.
It is,

Nina (38:50):
but the Nudie run is an exhibitionism.
It's Oh, okay.
Well, it is, you're right.
The one time that people whodon't generally run around naked.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Feel free to do so.

Georg (38:59):
Yeah.
May look one day.

Nina (39:01):
Steven, have you done the Nud Run?
Oh, the podcast.
Can't, but he's shaking his head

Stevan (39:06):
usually.
Um, I, I'm either, uh, doingthe perimeter or, or Yeah, yeah.
Okaying.
So, no, I haven't done it yet.
No,

Georg (39:15):
but there's no reason why you,

Vida (39:16):
I, as the event manager have never stripped off all

Nina (39:21):
Wasn't gonna ask you.
I assume you always working.

Vida (39:23):
Lewi did it this year, the chair.
Oh, did we did it last year.
Kind of semi tradition as well.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Have you ever done that, Nina?
You've asked everyone else.

Nina (39:34):
Oh God, no.
No.
I don't do Naked.
Have you?
You, I did.
Um, my first You want a good story?
My first Blaze 2014, the first Blaze,I did not know what was happening.
I had never heard of Burning Man.
I mean, I'd heard of it, butI didn't know what it was.
Blah, blah, blah.
We go out there randomly,it's mind blowing.
Amazing.
And I walk up to this tent and itturns out it was the unicorn camp.

(39:56):
And a person who I will not name in Shamecomes to the door 'cause she's lovely.
And she said, oh, do you wanna come in?
And I said, yeah.
And she was like, tops off.
And I was like, what?
And she was like, topsoff, then you can come in.
And I was like, oh.
And I was there with workmates.
Like we decided to goto this thing and ugh.

(40:16):
So I look at them and they look at meand we're both like, are you going in?
And they were like, we're going away.
And I was like, great, I'm going in.
Um, and that I think is the lasttime I was topless at Blaze.
Maybe not like I used to dotopless, but it just, you know,
the kids with their cameras, I No.
Yeah, just not,

Stevan (40:34):
yeah.
That's a, that's an issue.
We can, we can talk more about that.
Especially with the nudity run as well.
There was some confusion, butthere's some confusion every year.
I think people are runningthe wrong way, opposite way.
Dunno what the etiquette is.
Um, and, and I think a lot ofpeople are actually thinking twice
about doing the nudity run as well.
Naked hippie run

Vida (40:53):
well, yeah.
This year we did have a little bit ofan issue with the perimeter because
we'd agreed that the firies wouldcreate an inner perimeter once the
fire was ready, uh, for the Nudie run.
However, when it came to the Nudie run,we let the whole perimeter down and all

(41:14):
the Nudies and everyone else came forward.
And so then all the Nudie peopleended up going inside the perimeter.
They'd created, 'cause there wasactually no room for them left to run.
So everyone had come forward.
Oh wow.
So that was a bit of a thing.
So we are gonna improve on that next year.
But that did, yeah, createa little bit of an issue.

(41:34):
But luckily,

Nina (41:35):
so I rangered the, luckily the perimeter.

Vida (41:37):
Yeah, you were there.
I know, yeah.
I arrange the permit.
Yeah.
To look after that power box for me.

Nina (41:42):
Yeah.
I'm ranging the perimeter andVida comes over and she's like,
you need to stand right here.
So people who are naked do not, yeah.
It was quite a large powerbox that was not marked.
Um, so that was communicated to us andwe were kind of like, that sounds great.
How do we drop the perimeterfor what only naked people?
Or how do we hold a second perimeterfor the non naked, or, I think it can

(42:06):
be done, but we just weren't quite surehow, and we were told the Firies would
do the second perimeter, but then thewhole crowd came in and they didn't
know, and it could work out in future.

Vida (42:17):
I, I met up with Gareth, our head fiery today actually, and
we had a little chat about that.
So we've got some ideas.
We'll improve it next year.
But yeah, that was, yeah, justa little issue that we, we came
across with the Nudie run this year.
Um, but no one got hurt and itall worked out, so, you know,
we live to do it again better.

(42:37):
Mm-hmm.

Stevan (42:39):
Alright, so let's, let's move on the, to the next segment.
I've, I've got a Ablazing WAN quiz.
You.
This, this is like theside B of the, the quiz.
I asked, uh, that, that I, that I,um, did with, uh, Aaron and Will,
um, this is about blazing Swanthemes and, and what year it was
on and, and also the attendance.

(43:00):
If you, it's on the website, so ifyou can remember four roughly how many
people attended do we get for that year?

Nina (43:08):
Do we get a prize if we win?

Stevan (43:09):
Of course you do.
What's the prize?
Of course you do.
You get to, you get to be honored again.
Yeah.

Nina (43:17):
Oh God.
Alright, I'll play.
Alright,

Stevan (43:20):
so, so we, this, this, this is a good, uh, memory game because
it helps to be there as well be.
So question one, in, in which year wasthe theme Elemental used for Blazing Swan?

Nina (43:31):
Oh, dude, it's on my wrist.
Gimme a second.

Vida (43:32):
Second year or the third?
I'm pretty sure that was the second year.
So two, it was absolutely

Georg (43:40):
be at 16 or 17.

Nina (43:43):
I'm gonna guess 2016.
Yeah.
But it could been, it could have been 17.

Georg (43:49):
I would've said 17.
Yep.
Yep.

Nina (43:51):
Because we had three years of one word theme that started
with an I and I really liked that.
And then I guess peopleran out of I words.
Yes.

Stevan (44:02):
Yes.
How many, how many people youreckon attended that year in 2017.
Good answer.
Well done.
How many one word themehave blazing Swan used?

Nina (44:17):
Four.

Stevan (44:18):
Correct.
Do do you know all of them?
Do you know all the four?

Georg (44:21):
Inception?

Nina (44:21):
Inception,
elemental.
They're literally on my wrists.
Dude.
Gimme a second.

Vida (44:29):
Oh gosh.
Really?

Nina (44:30):
They both start with eyes memory Banks.
Yeah.
Okay.
Teamwork.
They both start with eyes

Stevan (44:35):
Inception.
Inspiration.
Inspiration.
That's right.
Illumination.
Ah, illumination.
Yeah.
That was one of them.
Yeah.
An elemental.

Nina (44:44):
We've already told you.
We all old mate.

Vida (44:48):
Well, our, our virtual COVID year where we canceled was
also perception, so yeah, thatwould be five if that one counted

Stevan (44:55):
perception.
That's a good one.
Yeah.
What was the theme forblaming this one in 2019?

Nina (45:00):
Happy as Larry.

Vida (45:01):
Happy as Larry.
Larry.
Yeah.

Stevan (45:03):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Do you guys, do you guys rememberthat anything that stands out there?
The effigy was quite different.
It was very different.

Nina (45:14):
Can't say no.

Georg (45:17):
No.

Nina (45:17):
I don't wanna say no.
I, I'm really,

Georg (45:20):
I'm happy to say no.

Nina (45:21):
I'm a bit of a bitch about the effigy.
I just want a big ass swan.

Georg (45:25):
Me too.

Nina (45:26):
I don't want all this creativity and like some twined up snakes that if you
burn 'em the right way and look at it fromthe right angle, it looks like a swan.
I just, I mean, I love the designer,but I just want a big ass swan man.
I'm an effigy purist, so no,I did not love the tap hat.

Stevan (45:44):
Do you know how many people attended that year?
2019? It was kind oflike Peak swan probably.

Vida (45:49):
Yeah, let's say 3000.

Nina (45:51):
That sounds, yeah.

Stevan (45:52):
Yeah, yeah.
That's quite a big number there.
In 20, uh, in 2016 was theyear that Blazing Swan grew to
a population of almost 2,500.
What was the theme for that year?

Nina (46:04):
Fucking mud.
Y'all remember that?

Vida (46:09):
Well, that was Inspira illumination.
That one.

Stevan (46:14):
It wasn't, it wasn't as as bad as the first year.
I think the mud,

Nina (46:17):
it depends.
You were at both of them.
Stevan.
The first year was apocalyp offlooding, run for the hills or die.
The third year was you aregoing to lose knee high wellies
in a mud pit because it's beendribbling for five days straight.
And the mud is so deep,it's eating hippies.
Yeah.

Vida (46:33):
And the toilet sunk.
And then all the vehicles got bulgedtrying to pull the toilet out.

Nina (46:39):
Different styles of rain.
Yeah,

Georg (46:42):
but we had, we had the boat on the lake and that was a sensational art piece.

Nina (46:47):
Oh yeah.

Georg (46:48):
That was Oh,

Stevan (46:49):
that was the same year, wasn't it?
Yes.

Georg (46:50):
Processing the, was the arresting of the boat people.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Just a brilliant piece of inspiration.
Yes.

Stevan (46:58):
So the answer was Illumination.
Illumination.
Which year was the theme?
Theme?
Inspiration news for Blazing Swan.
What,

Nina (47:05):
2015?

Stevan (47:06):
Yeah, 2015.
Second year.

Georg (47:08):
Second year, yeah.
Yeah.
Didn't go.

Vida (47:11):
And that was, was the biggest effigy that ever existed with the big

Nina (47:14):
Oh, was that the double swan?

Vida (47:17):
No, that was the one with the big wings that came down and Yeah.

Georg (47:21):
More like a dragon than a swan.

Nina (47:23):
Yeah.
Holding.

Stevan (47:23):
Was that the one with an egg as well?

Nina (47:25):
Yeah.

Vida (47:26):
Was it, was there an egg?
He had his wing down like

Nina (47:28):
Yeah, there was an egg in it.
Like a metal egg that maybe Ryan made.

Vida (47:32):
Yeah.

Nina (47:33):
And then you're right.
Third year of

Vida (47:35):
all of our time.

Georg (47:37):
Wow.

Stevan (47:37):
2015.
Wow.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That was a good, burn.

Nina (47:40):
Do you know what that budget was?

Vida (47:42):
Yeah, it was roughly 80 grand.

Georg (47:44):
Wow.

Nina (47:45):
For the fucking next, give a bit of, wow.
I Wait, was gonna try to stop swearing,but you, you shat on that 80,000 for

Vida (47:54):
Yeah.
And for the last three or fouryears, it's been between 15 and 20.
To give you some perspectiveon how much bigger that was.

Nina (48:02):
That's more what I thought.
And I'm aware would cost a lot money, but.

Stevan (48:09):
Yep.
Well now you know how big you can go.
Yeah.
Good Benchmark.
Uh, 2014, the theme was

Nina (48:17):
Inception.

Vida (48:18):
Inception.

Stevan (48:19):
Yeah.
Inception.
It was, do, do you know the, anystories behind that Name, that theme?
Obviously Inception has to be,

Nina (48:28):
I just assumed it's, 'cause it was the inception of this event,
but I maybe Vita was, I was notinvolved with this before, you know,
on the, like the pre burn when thefounders decided to start this thing.

Stevan (48:39):
Mm-hmm.

Vida (48:40):
Well, I wasn't either.
I was just in koasis back then, so Idon't have much, um, details behind that,
but I would just assume what is obvious.

Nina (48:50):
Yeah.

Stevan (48:50):
Yes.
Okay.
This is a question is in whatyear did John Stein from Hug
Nation attend Blazing Swan?

Georg (49:00):
It was,

Vida (49:03):
yeah, I think it was actually

Nina (49:05):
Do you mean that, that Yankee with the like videos

Vida (49:08):
Pink hair

Nina (49:09):
Halcyon.

Stevan (49:10):
Yeah.
From Burning Man, that's right.
Yes.

Nina (49:11):
Halcyon.
Um, and

Stevan (49:12):
I think there's a street still named after him

Vida (49:17):
Pink theme camp at Burning Man.

Nina (49:18):
Think it was 2019

Vida (49:21):
Think so

Stevan (49:22):
2016 was, was Illumination.
I think we light up allthose streets in 2016.

Nina (49:28):
Okay.

Stevan (49:31):
In what year was Blazing Swan?
Not on

Georg (49:34):
2020.

Nina (49:35):
Blazing Wan was not in 20 years.
2020 and 20 and 2022.

Stevan (49:41):
Yeah, you're right.
Yeah.

Nina (49:42):
Yeah.
You rewrite your question.
We know

Stevan (49:47):
in what year was the theme?
Phoenix Rising used for Blazing Swan

Vida (49:51):
2021.

Stevan (49:53):
Yes.
Yeah.
That was the In between.
In Between, yeah.
The smallest small attendance.

Georg (49:57):
15.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Stevan (49:58):
Do you guys, yeah.
Do you guys remember?
Yeah.
Do you guys remember anything from that?
Like what was the wholesituation with COVID, whether you

Nina (50:07):
Great Year.
It was best.
I'm not confrontational.
I agree with Vida and you.
It was smaller.
It was hardcore blazers.
It was everybody who'd likemade it through the, you
know, the year of the rona.
It was only core crew and attendees.
Like, it was great.

Vida (50:23):
We all wanted to keep it like that.
Why we took it back

Nina (50:27):
also wanted to keep it like that.

Georg (50:29):
Yep.
I still do.
Hands up.
Yep.
Yep.
Yeah.
Great.
Controversial.

Stevan (50:33):
Did it still, did it still feel like a, A town, a city, like a

Nina (50:36):
Yeah, of course

Georg (50:37):
it did.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We just had more room people.
Weren,

Stevan (50:40):
but half the size.
Yeah.
Yeah.
People weren't living my impression.

Nina (50:43):
Yeah.
My impression the first year at 2014,and my memory's probably shot, was
that it didn't feel like a city.
It was very spread out.
The things to see and do were quite farapart, but that was also my first burn.
So what do I know that 20, 21 year, itvery much still felt like a city to.

Stevan (51:01):
2018 was a year that JRC reached an approximate population of 3,200.
What was the theme for that year, 2018,

Vida (51:11):
beyond the Black Stump?

Nina (51:13):
Oh God.
Great.

Stevan (51:16):
Good memories from that one.

Vida (51:17):
Yeah.
Was a great year.
Yeah, that was a great think.
That was the first year I wasdoing blaze blazing swan stuff, so
yeah, it was a really good year.
That one.

Nina (51:28):
And I know I just grunged, but I did like that they,
the theme was like aussie as,

Vida (51:33):
yeah.
Loved the artwork.
Loved what everybody, all thetheme camps did with that theme.

Nina (51:38):
Yeah.

Vida (51:39):
Went real australiana with it, because that was fun.
Yeah.
Felt like a real Aussie burn.

Georg (51:45):
Was that the year made like official 10 pieces?

Stevan (51:48):
I think it was.
Oh, so well either thatwas, or 2017, I think.

Nina (51:52):
But could we maybe propose another Australian theme?
Could one year be like,not here to fuck flies

Vida (51:59):
Or Spiders.

Georg (52:00):
Spiders

Nina (52:00):
excuse.
Correct.
But it's blaze.
But it's blaze.
There's flies.
There's flies.
Come on.

Stevan (52:07):
What year was Bat County suggested?

Nina (52:09):
Every year.
Every year.
Been suggested every year.
Uh, but there was

Stevan (52:13):
joke about that for the listen, but there

Nina (52:14):
was, there was a recon bobb where the then committee threw a bone
and called the recon bobb Bat Country.
And they thought thatwould shut people up.
And it, it did not.

Vida (52:24):
Yeah.
I was on committee.

Nina (52:27):
It was a noble gesture.

Georg (52:29):
I've gone to, I've gone to the site, uh, quite a few times outside of
a blazing swan, and every time we gothere are just these little tiny bats
that fly around everywhere and theyfly within, within a foot of you if
you're sitting on the ground becausethey pick the midges outta the air.
It's just incredible.
I, I hadn't realized that therewas so many bats in all those trees
around, around the, uh, the perimeter.

(52:51):
Just incredible.

Nina (52:51):
So you're saying that's where the theme suggestion comes
from because it, I think so isthere's a lot of bats out there.
Yeah.
Okay.

Stevan (52:59):
And are you guys aware of how the, these themes come about?
Like who is there a committee?
Is there There is a committee, yeah.
Yeah.
Voting process.

Vida (53:07):
I, it has gone out to the public a few times though, and
there's been voting process.
Um, Cosmic coincidence thatall just came about from Yeah.
A fun little thing that happened atthe science junk scientist and then,

Nina (53:23):
excuse You, is Drunk scientists.
Hells Down invented space crabs.
And we, we only had the votes to makethe theme space crabs, and apparently
we were shot down in Committee byone human, and I don't know who that
human was, so I can't correct them.
Um, no, we wanted space crabs and wewere denied because apparently committee

(53:44):
thought it was too reminiscent of like.

Vida (53:54):
Well, you know, they, they compromised and gave you something that
you could still be a space crab at.
I guess
not good enough.

Nina (54:05):
I'm over it.
Uhhuh.
I would like bat country though.

Georg (54:08):
We have to have it one year.
Yeah.
One day we're

Vida (54:10):
just gonna get the Alliance crew on the committee and I'm sure it'll happen.

Georg (54:14):
Yeah, yeah.

Nina (54:14):
Yeah.
It's less exciting now thatAlliance doesn't attend.
Yeah.
As a camp.

Stevan (54:20):
Uh, before we go on a break, uh, let's talk about Koasis Creek Vida.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, let's tell the, uh, listenersa bit about background about
that, how that came about, and,um, what's the story behind that?

Vida (54:32):
Oh, yeah.
Well, year one, we've, we've mentionedit a couple of times in, um, in
this conversation, but year one,

Stevan (54:39):
it's in the legend of the map now.

Vida (54:40):
Yeah.
The great floods of 2014.
Um, koasis, my home and heart theme camp,uh, were positioned in what we thought
was a lovely position at the time.
We had some trees around and mm-hmm.
As I told Nina this year, um, in somecomms about ranger camping where,

(55:02):
uh, trees grow, rain goes, um, yeah.
When the big grains came, the, uh,we, we actually ended up in a river.
So our whole camp, all the floorslifted, all the carpets lifted,
all the cushion lifted and endedup down at the fence by the lake.

(55:23):
Um, at one point we had our DJ holdingthe power cords up in the air while
he continued to dj and people weredancing on our bar because they
couldn't dance in the river anymore.
This was all happening while theywere trying to light the effigy, which
was just outside our kind of door.

(55:45):
And our camp had the best viewing spotfor the effigy to be lit. So we kind
of pushing the, the roof with poleswhile drowning, while trying to save
electrical stuff while trying to watchthe aber and all happening at once.
And yeah, just my whole tent was gonewhen I went to go to bed that night,

(56:08):
had notes to us gone, but I had tojump into the back of a friend's
ute and be like, I, no one could
help me.
But yeah, absolute chaos, butabsolute bonding experience
for all of us in the camp.
And you know that.
And, and hence we got our, a river namedafter us, which is now prominently signed.

(56:28):
Don't camp here unless youwanna flood and die or drown.
Um, yeah, now it's got its ownlittle permanent position on the.
When you actually look at the site fromthe air with all the drone footage we have
now and the tech we have now, you can kindof see exactly where the water's gonna go
because there's a big tree line coming allthe way down from the rock to the lake.

(56:51):
But, um, yeah, we didn't know that then.
Um, we certainly know now.

Nina (56:56):
So I never heard any of that because I was at the effigy when
they did get it lit and whatnot.
And then, you know, the heavens opened.
I had no idea you guys were alreadyflooding it up in there trying to
DJ from a held cord on top of thebar, because I went into Koasis
after the, the, the skies opened.
Um, 'cause you know, you guyshad a tent and I had no clothes
on or whatever, a few clothes.

(57:17):
And I get in there and I, Ispent the rest of it in there.
And at one point your genny cutout, your genny must have flooded.
And I was like, huddled on a mud hillwith some dude who I still don't know.
And we were like, fuck, what do we do?
And like, there's no lights.
And everyone had left and, and,and, and I don't know if he's alive.
'cause we both fled indifferent directions.
It was such a good night.

Vida (57:38):
That sounds not right.

Stevan (57:38):
My, my, my memory of of that night was, uh, people just
say Don't go to koasis So weended up at God said yes instead.
So that was the party there.
And uh, thankfully God did say yes.

Nina (57:49):
Oh, you were at Camp Anita?

Stevan (57:51):
Yeah.
That's, that's how it fled.
Papazhans.
Yeah.
Papas

Nina (57:54):
God said yes.
Camp Anita.
What?
Call it, it was the spot.
That's because it was the,

Vida (58:02):
the, this was.

Nina (58:06):
Mm.

Vida (58:07):
Yeah.
It's not a bad spot.
So, good

Nina (58:09):
memories.

Vida (58:10):
They were good times.

Nina (58:11):
It does make me laugh, like, Georg, you weren't there for 2014, but you've
been there in muddy, terrible rain.

Georg (58:17):
We were there in 2016 and there was, it was muddy.
Yeah.

Nina (58:19):
Yeah.
Like do you guys crack up when some newbiecomes and they're like, oh, it's raining.
We're all going to die.
And I'm like, you dunno anything.

Vida (58:30):
It's bonding.

Stevan (58:31):
Yeah.
We pull.
Yeah.
We're all pulled together.
Yeah.

Nina (58:33):
Also, you're gonna be fine.
It's gonna be okay.

Vida (58:36):
Yeah.
Rain stops.
The sun comes out.

Nina (58:39):
Yeah.

Vida (58:39):
Eventually, sometimes,

Stevan (58:41):
well, 10 years later, we all still here.
So it says somethingtragic camping experiences.

Nina (58:46):
Mm-hmm.

Georg (58:46):
And none of us have talked.

Vida (58:47):
Yeah, it does crack me off though.
Like when we had that littlesprinkle, was it last year?
No, two years

Nina (58:52):
ago.
Yeah, two years ago.
And everybody was like, andhalf of general camping left.
Yes.
And half of Jen Pop left.
And I was like, it hardly rained y'all.

Vida (59:01):
It was good though.
It got rid of the, of the, uh, you know,

Nina (59:04):
um, I agree with you.

Stevan (59:06):
Did you tell them No.
Refunds

Vida (59:09):
of course.

Stevan (59:09):
No refunds.
Refund.

Nina (59:10):
No refunds.
That's, that's printed in theT&Cs that the back of your ticket.

Stevan (59:19):
Okay.
We're back.
Let's talk about some of the improvementsover the years at Blazing Swan.
Uh, the site layout as well, maybe.

Vida (59:27):
Do you wanna start on that, Nina, or, um, the site
has definitely changed a lot.

Nina (59:32):
Sure.
So, as Vida was saying earlier,there were many learnings the first
year, mostly about drainage patterns.
And so the first year, as Irecall, everybody was just
higgly, piggly fucking wherever.
And then the second year afterthe violent God sent God,
God said no to our site plan.
And then the second year therewas a lot more thought in my

(59:54):
impression put into like, whereshould the theme camps actually be,
where we're not all gonna drown.
Um, over the years, that'sprogressed further and the
events grown bigger, obviously.
So theme camps at one point, I thinkmaybe around like 2018, I could be wrong
in the year, but around then they, the,the powers that be decided that theme

(01:00:16):
camps would all be at the north end ofthe site and the racetrack where they
run the horse races, the bush races outthere would be for, uh, general camping.
And we were chatting in the Breakabout how I may stand alone,
but I really don't like that.
Um, I think it creates a lotof segregation between people
who've never been to a barn.
You know, we, we, I end up calling themGen pop because that's what they are, and

(01:00:39):
I'm aware that's rude, but that is howthis segregation has resulted, you know,
like theme camps have a lot of issuesbecause people who have never been to a
burn, who aren't volunteers, who aren'tinvolved come up and just take it as, you
know, a free bar for the night, which is.
rude and people who are shunted intoa horse corral down the end and don't

(01:01:00):
know what's happening, have no ideathat the amount of work that goes
into a theme camp is mind boggling.
So in my opinion, if we went backto where everybody was interspersed
and theme camps covered the wholesite, art covered the whole site,
uh, punters covered the whole site.
I just think that works a lot better.
I think that would bring other issues.
Like, you know, the guys whoslave away for six weeks to put in

(01:01:24):
the power grid would have a muchharder time of it and roads cutting
and, and that's a real concern.
But I don't know.
We're meant to be inclusive.
Yeah.
We're not meant to have gen popdown in a racetrack cordoned off
with an actual fence where theyhave to throw their own parties.
'cause, 'cause they're notinvited up into theme camp land
with your separate car passes.
Now I'm ranting.

(01:01:44):
What do you guys think?

Vida (01:01:45):
Well, I, I mean I can see point, I can see how the each one teach one is
a little bit harder to do when one is onone side and one is on the other side.
Yeah.
Um, however, being the girl behind theoperations, as you said, it would be a, a
tricky feat to give what we give currentlyto half the site, to the whole whole site.

(01:02:11):
He, he, you know, and it,as I also mentioned too, in
the breakout town planningcoordinator is about this as well.
And so.
I guess what Blazing Swan needs to dois a bit more longer term strategic
planning about where we wanna goand then how we're gonna achieve it.
Currently we're just kind of rollingthrough year to year and, um, evolving.

(01:02:34):
As you know, we put in more infrastructureand develop the site, but we haven't
long term strategically looked atwhat would be the best for the event
in say, five years or as we grow.
So currently as the site is now, and thisis why it came up with town planning, is

(01:02:54):
that the 1500 people that are camped onthe north side are running outta space.
But yeah, there's still plenty ofcamping in the race, uh, or space
in the racetrack that could be used.
So how can we kind of work the site to,to utilize that and yeah, make it better
for everyone And yeah, the inclusivenessthing would be, would be awesome if

(01:03:18):
we could figure, figure that out.
I'm with you on that, but just logistics
and I hear you on the other aspects.
Logistics.

Nina (01:03:24):
Yeah.
Did you notice this year, becauseI, I was actually a bit confused
'cause we sold more tickets.
Yeah.
And then I'm looking down onlike the Thursday, Friday to the
racetrack and it was not full.
It was hardly, hardly even half full.
And it's because that overflow campingexisted and I think a lot of the, um,
general attendees went up in campedoverflow camping because it's closer

(01:03:45):
to the action, which is totally cool.
Except that that overflow campingis basically in koasis Creek.

Vida (01:03:51):
Yes.
But no, so we actuallyfeel every did that I like
because, um, it rained three daysbefore the event started and the
entry into Yeah, that's right.
I heard that.
Um, entry into the generalcamping got really muddy.
So that's, that's one of the issuesis our current entry into general

(01:04:13):
camping does bog out if it's rained.
Um, and the bottom corner of generalcamping also gets really boggy and marshy.
So to sort of wake for that todry out the first couple of days
of everyone arriving, we probablyparked them all in overflowed first.

(01:04:33):
So that's why that got, thatgot filled up and then general
camping didn't fill up, so

Nina (01:04:38):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Totally cool about that.

Vida (01:04:40):
It's good we've got both because we can adapt, adapt the environment.
But yeah, if it rains, I'm justwondering then sucks down there

Nina (01:04:47):
if there's room in gen pop and we could, if we were to, we, I'm not
in the org, if the org were to drop thesegregation barrier, you know, I, I'm not
sure there's actually that much room downthere unless we do use that whole gen pop,
uh, sorry, overflow camping area and thenthat could get bogged if it rains again.
And I guess it is complex.

Vida (01:05:08):
It is.
It's hard.
Yeah.
'cause once you start putting powerand infrastructure and toilets
in the boggy bits, um, yeah.
You get you that swamp pool.
Yeah.
So we just put people in there.
Um,

Stevan (01:05:27):
Georg.
Georg, were there any, so when you werearranging, um, did you walk towards the
general population camping area and werethere any stories coming out from there?

Georg (01:05:35):
We, we, we always do a couple of laps through there.
Um, especially around the, uh, theburn times because there's, there's
no one in there and, and I rememberone burn we actually had a spate
of, um, cars being broken into for,and people were looking for things
like medication and stuff like that.
So we're

(01:05:57):
someone lo around.
Doing, you know, doing something thatthat, that it shouldn't be doing.
So yeah, we always lookafter, we look after everyone.
We pr we patrol the entire perimeter.

Vida (01:06:07):
But it's pretty fun in there when it's not quiet too.
Right.
Georg?
Like, when I'm been managing andI drive around in there, there,

Georg (01:06:14):
there are, it's gone there.
Lot of parties going.
It's, it's, and and in fact that's one ofthe biggest problems after, after about
midnight, we get a lot of people in gencamping who, uh, who don't wanna have any
noise at all because it's really quiet.
I mean, once you're down there you can'thear any of the noise from the sound camp.
So it's really peaceful andyou can get a lot of sleep.
But after midnight, if there's too manyparties breaking out in the general

(01:06:35):
camping area, that's when you have alot of, uh, a lot of potential conflict.
So yeah, we, we rangerof that a lot of times.
And that's another thing that'schanged a lot of complaints.
It's complaints.

Nina (01:06:43):
I remember there was a year or two forever ago where there was an actual
designated quiet camping area where itwas like quiet camping slash kid friendly
slash you don't want to have the superfun going off that I'd rather hang out at.
Um, and I thought that was nicefor people, but you can't really,
I think we've grown to the sizewhere you can't really have that.

Vida (01:07:03):
Well, it's basically the ass ass end of general camping.

Nina (01:07:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But then I was on ranger shift a coupleyears ago and we were down the ass ass
end of ranger camping, like literallyacross the fence from greeters.
And some dude had parked a rig up there.
He was alone.
He had been blasting side trans at likevolume at 11 for, I've been told 48 hours.
And his neighbors were about to like.

(01:07:28):
Actually lynch him.
Um, so we went over slightly better.
I don't blame them.
I don't blame him.
I don't blame anyone.
I'm a ranger.
Um, so we went over and we, weconvinced him to turn it down
to like eight rather than 11.
But because I agree, if you're willingto hike to the ass ass, end of gen

(01:07:50):
pop, let's put quiet camping there.
And I think his point was that there wasall this free space where he could set up
his thing and you know, like unless youactually designated it's not gonna work.

Vida (01:08:03):
Yeah.
That's some good feedback forthe, uh, town planning team.

Nina (01:08:07):
He was really lovely.

Georg (01:08:08):
Mo most of the feedback I got, not quiet.
Most of the feedback I got from, uh,the general population campers is
that, uh, they love it down there.
They love the peace and quiet.
They love the fact that you'vegotta go away from where all the
cars and where all the people areto actually see the fun things.
Because where, where we are in our themecamp, I mean, we we're at our theme
camp, our cars there, our tents there.
We don't ever get away.

(01:08:29):
But if we, if we were in, I mean I've,I've camped at, uh, in gen pop once
and I thought it was pretty good tobe able to just leave all the ranging
and all the other stuff behind andgo back and have a quiet night.
I mean, I, I loved it.
And most of them feel the same way.
If, if you gave them the choice, theywouldn't wanna, uh, set up their,
uh, their tents in Sound Camp Alley.

(01:08:50):
They love the fact thatthey'd stand at the racetrack.
So, I mean, I, I disagree with you, Nina.
I think, um, I think that'stotally fair of people.

Nina (01:08:57):
I think that's fair of people who camp down there intentionally.
Yeah.
I don't think it's necessarily fair ofpeople who've never been to Blaze before.

Georg (01:09:06):
Uh, my experience is, would get a lot more out

Nina (01:09:08):
of it if they could camp.
by a theme camp.

Georg (01:09:11):
Yep.
Well, tho those people who want to,they always, they always say, oh no,
I'm, I'm with a friend who's with afriend and they end up finding places to
camp, you know, where they wanna camp.
Yeah.
There's so, so many of the generalpunters end up, you know, where we are.
There were people parked behind us.
There were people parked inbetween other them camps.
I mean Yeah, people sneak in everywhere.

(01:09:31):
Yeah.
No, my experience is that, um,everyone I speak to in general
camping just loves it down there.
They, uh, they, they don'twanna go anywhere else.
And, and those that do, I think, um,they, they where as they come in, they
see the general camping populationand they think, well, is there
another place here that we can park?
And they drive around until theyfind a, uh, a little spot and
they, and they just park in there.

(01:09:52):
We had a few campers near us that, uh,they, they were definitely gen pop.
They weren't with any theme camp.
And they were parked in.
Yeah, we used to have that.
Yeah, it happens everywhere.
You must have had that.

Nina (01:10:02):
Like I, when I used to run shit gift, we'd have kids come up, kids,
we'd have people come up every year.
I ran it for three years andthey'd be like, Hey, you got all
this field, can we like, we're genpub, can we camp in your backyard?
And I'd be like,

Georg (01:10:14):
well you had a great little, your location was fantastic.
It was on Camp koasis, you hadthat lovely little clum of trees.
You had the, so we got lovely camp

Nina (01:10:22):
of trees covered in rocks that might flood.
So I would explain the topographyto them and then they'd be like,
yeah, we got all this space.
I don't care if you're genpop camp in our backyard.
And they'd love it.
So I think you're right.
People who like gen pop really wannastay down there, whether they're
theme camp or normal people orwhatever, but, but some people be,
they theme camper, normal people orwhatever, really wanna come up top.

(01:10:42):
And it would just be lessawkward if they didn't have to
like wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
Yo Nina, can I camp here?
And I'd be like, yeah, I don't care.
Just tell everybody youhave a car park pass.
I didn't say that.
Yeah, but do remember I do.
But imagine if everyone did that.
But everyone did that for fouryears and it was absolutely fine.
Well what's there?
And I'm sad it died, but Ithink that we just got too big.

(01:11:07):
Yeah.

Vida (01:11:07):
Yeah.
Having 500 volunteers means wehave to look after them and put
them somewhere quiet so they cansleep in between their shifts.
However, that being said, I personallywas trying to open it up a bit
more for some smaller camps thisyear and we got a couple back in.
Um, but I got a lot of pushback from.

(01:11:28):
Certain people about that.
So then it got kind ofreserved again for crew.
But again, I felt like there was stillheaps of room up there and we could
have possibly, you know, fit a few morepeople, maybe some families, maybe some
other people that wanted to be there.
But, um, there's a bit of a lot of it

Nina (01:11:46):
because crew gets there so early and puts in, you know,
this four weeks beforehand.
And of course they should havewherever the hell they want
to camp preserve for them.
But because people arrive staggered, thespace is not utilized as well as it could
be if we all rocked up on the same day.
But there's a huge amount ofspace like behind Cunt Rock.

(01:12:06):
So like you've got the infinite loopthat's always quite full, but then there's
that whole space like where Louis campedthis year, I won't say where because
he had the best spot in the house.
Um mm-hmm.
But over where, youknow where Louis camped?
Yeah.
There's so much room back there andit's not suitable to all vehicles, but
you could put fit a lot of crew, a lotof families, a lot of stuff back up

Vida (01:12:25):
that actually in fill up quite a bit towards the end and yeah.
Okay.
With people in vansand caravans and stuff.
Because anywhere aroundthe rock it's rocky.
You can't get pegs in for a tent.
Yeah.
If it's windy tent's gonna blow away.
But with caravans andstuff like that, it works.
But

Nina (01:12:43):
I mean, to be fair, that's the other issue with the site.
Like half of it's gorgeousand Peg something and oh.
As it work.
So I've never tried issues before site.

Vida (01:12:58):
Probably double pegging is what you need to do with blazing.

Nina (01:13:02):
Oh, I would've just said a much longer rebar.
peg
just hold the,

Stevan (01:13:08):
it needs to be drilled down.

Vida (01:13:10):
Drill P double begged.
And drilled down, you know,

Nina (01:13:16):
um, it'd be fun when there's no aussies listening to this.

Stevan (01:13:20):
And over the years, the, the DPW crew, um, the infrastructure,
uh, it's, it's improved a lot.
Uh, so you guys have a bit more,more comfortable, a bit more,
uh, it's less dramas, I guess.

Vida (01:13:32):
Yeah.
Like I'm not a lie.
Having, um, money behind us from havinga couple of good years of, you know,
getting the numbers and having a tightbudget and having a little bit of extra
room to move with actually being able toget the equipment that we need to do the
job and buy the tools that we need to dothe job probably and, you know, be able

(01:13:57):
to feed the numbers that we need to do thejob has definitely made the job easier.
And this year we, we actuallytook down the big kitchen
marquee at the end of the event.
We had our quickest ever packed down.
So in all the years I've been doingpack down, the earliest I've ever
got out is the Monday morning afterthe event shuts on the Tuesday.

(01:14:21):
This year we packed up and took down thewhole massive marquee that we've used as
our shelter for the last, well, forever.
And I was out, our budget o'clockon Sunday afternoon was amazing.
Hmm.
So good teamwork.
Yeah, and just having those returnvolunteers definitely massively helps as

(01:14:42):
well because everyone kind of, they'relooked after, they're treated well.
They come back and theyknow what they're doing.
So it means we get things done fasterand we've got the tools to get it done
with less drama makes our life easier.
So, so, so good.

Nina (01:14:57):
I really think as an outside observer that also having Vida
employed as the event manager for thepast, what you said three years now?
Two, three years.

Vida (01:15:06):
This is my second year.
This year.
I,

Nina (01:15:07):
yeah, two years.
I think like as an outside person, havingthat has made the faces of everyone
involved so much smile, like thanks.
It has been so much smootherfrom people I've talked to.
Like just, I mean, not just havinga person as event manager, but
having you like you're great,

Vida (01:15:25):
oh thank you.

Nina (01:15:25):
I'm not complimenting anyone else today.
That was it.

Vida (01:15:28):
Cute.
Well, yeah, I just think that one personactually overseeing from beginning to end.
Yeah.
You know, documenting everything andyou know, knows what's going on instead
of this volunteer can do that weekand then that Volunteerer can do that
week, but they don't actually know whatthey're doing and you know, but they're
trying, so let's just make it work.

(01:15:50):
That kind of.
Yeah, we've gotten out ofthat now, which is great.

Stevan (01:15:54):
Sure.

Nina (01:15:54):
Yeah.
Stevan, are you ever coming back to Blaze?

Stevan (01:15:57):
Uh, probably next year.

Vida (01:15:58):
Oh,

Nina (01:15:59):
maybe.
We'll see.
Oh my God.

Vida (01:16:01):
Okay.
Silent disco.

Nina (01:16:02):
Yeah,
see,

Vida (01:16:06):
do miss silent disco.
And I miss the roller derby,the roller rink as well.

Nina (01:16:10):
I love that roller rink.
Yeah.
Do you want the, the people to hearthe story of how you, um, used to run a
camper blazing swan and then you didn't?

Stevan (01:16:20):
Uh, sure.
Uh, yeah, the silent disco, but it,well, it first started with couch
surfing, so we're just a bunch oftravelers, a bunch of, uh, I guess
nomadic people, um, internationalbackpackers or tourists or whatever.
Uh, that was the first year and ourcamp got flooded, so some people
didn't wanna come back and, youknow, I didn't know what to do.

(01:16:42):
Well, we didn't know what to do, soI thought maybe we'll do something
more interactive, uh, less work maybe.
Um, and that was a silent disco.

Nina (01:16:52):
That was for a couple years.
Great year.
And Steven, a great event.
Did any of you guys geor?
You went that Vida, didyou attend the year?
He ran naked, silent disco witha competition and a trophy.

Vida (01:17:03):
I I, I'm like you babe.
I don't get naked, but, um, I think,

Nina (01:17:07):
oh no, I just watched.

Stevan (01:17:08):
I was Well, you're naked except for headphones.
You wearing, headphones you wearing and
a smile.
Big smile.

Nina (01:17:15):
He blindfolded everybody.
They got, you know, consensually, theygot naked and they silent disco and
it was like a dance competition forlike naked blindfold, silent disco.
It was so much fun.

Georg (01:17:25):
Oh, that sounds amazing.

Nina (01:17:27):
It was really cute.
Cute.

Stevan (01:17:28):
Well, you know how in Toastmasters where, you know, you get told to, to
visualize people being naked, you know,to, to lessen the whole anxiety and Yeah.
So if you blind blindfoldyourself, you, you won't be, you
won't have that much anxiety.
I guess.

Nina (01:17:43):
It worked as well.
People really let loose with the dancing.

Stevan (01:17:47):
Okay.
So something I want to, one thingI wanna talk about is the, um, over
the years, how years I think livemusic has, has been dying, um, in,
in the burn, in the burn communities.
So, uh, I'd like to say more of that.
Um, wood blazing swan.
I remember the first few years there wasa live camp, jam camp, things like that.
Progressively abode hasbeen doing some live things

(01:18:11):
chainsaw Cobra with the lounge.
Uh, what do you guys feelabout live music in general?

Vida (01:18:17):
Oh, for it.
Yeah.
Um, that's why I think MagicalFrontier is like, yeah, well, koasis
had the beer garden this year, whichwas a massive excellent addition.
So big beer garden out the front andlive music pretty much every afternoon,
like pub vibes, like pretty cool beers ontap, live music, pop vibes out the front.

(01:18:40):
Uh, that really went off.
And I think they'll keep doing that.
And then of course, I'm just gonnarave about the magical frontier
because I love them and I love beingable to get away from the doff and
actually just feel a bit of heart andsoul and listen to some classic max.
Yeah.
And they just like, yeah, itwas mostly covers down there,
but it was classic covers

Nina (01:19:01):
and it was so good.
Yeah.
You find them and you walk in and theyhave humans singing songs with words
and the words are words that you know,and they let you sing and it Oh yeah.
It was mostly covers.
Who cares?
It was brilliant.
They also, a couple nights I wasat Magical Frontier, they had
people in the crowd come up andbe like, Hey, yo, I, I can jam.

(01:19:23):
And they'd let whoeverwanted to come up on stage.
Um, oh wow.
They had some Swedish kid whowas backpacking who'd never
been to a burn, blah, blah.
I think he said he was 19 and hecame up and they lent him a guitar
and he sang some songs he's writtenbecause he's trying to become a muso.
And I'm not gonna say I'm gonna followhim, but I love that that happened.

(01:19:43):
Huh?
That was rude.
He was fine.
Not my jam.
Um, but it was great.
Like more live music?
Yes.

Vida (01:19:51):
All about it.
Effigy last year actually hada little live music this year
a bit less, but yeah, there is.
And the big bad wolf, they weren'there again this year, but last year
they were doing that kind of vibe.
And yeahs definitely.

Nina (01:20:05):
They actually set up in, in gen pop this year.
They Oh, cute.
Yeah.
Didn't know that

Vida (01:20:12):
too much red tape?

Nina (01:20:13):
I don't know.
'cause they're, they're theme camp leadis on committee, so I, I don't know.

Vida (01:20:19):
Yeah.
Funny.
Yeah.
I'd love to see a Jam camp Live camps,specific live music camp come back.
But you definitely still getting a tadof that with a couple of the camps, which
is where I always end up being actually.

Nina (01:20:33):
Yeah.

Stevan (01:20:34):
Could we, could that be something considered as a, like for an arts grant,
like performing arts grant or somethingthat can encourage more to scene?

Nina (01:20:42):
I would be very surprised if the arts department was interested in giving
a grant to somebody for live music.

Georg (01:20:49):
Karaoke.
Yeah.

Nina (01:20:49):
They definitely do performing arts.
Sure.
Like, you know, clown camp.
But they try to really keepit to, to the structural.
I, I don't, I'm not structural.
Yeah.

Vida (01:21:01):
Visual.

Nina (01:21:02):
Visual, yeah.
Visual.
I really think that'd be a hard sell.
Um, I think maybe in musiccamp would get a theme.
Camp Grant.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Because we do roving campsas well as inplace, you know,
actual placed theme camps.
And so, uh, once live camp died, the guyswho ran it still did like an art card
that had a live band on the back, and theywould do live music for a number of years

(01:21:25):
before they branched into something else.
And that would get a theme campthat be called Charlie, would it?
Yeah.
Champagne.
Yeah, champagne.
Jelly.
Champagne Charlie.
So that's definitely something thatcould be promoted, funded through theme
camps, but I don't think it would quite,I mean, there's this weird overlap
between what is art, what is theme camp?
What is neither, what is both?
I, I I would send themtowards theme Camp Land.

Vida (01:21:48):
Yeah.

Nina (01:21:49):
And one thing you said, Steven, you said you think live music has gotten
lesser or died off over the years.
I, I don't know that I agree with that.
I don't think, I mean, I've onlybeen to two different regional
burns, but like, do you thinkthere used to be more live music?
I don't,

Stevan (01:22:05):
um, I think, yeah.
Well, you know, with o over here in theEast, uh, with Burning Seed, we used
to have, uh, trash Mansion, which was,you know, all about, you know, the live
music, the whole, you know, kind of likeyou said the, the, the pub feel as well.
But, um, besides that, I thinkEDM is actually taking over, so
it seems like it becoming morelike a, I guess like a culture.

(01:22:28):
But it's wrong with that.

Nina (01:22:29):
No, there isn't.
I'm just.
Over think it's alwaysbeen EDM 90% of the time.

Stevan (01:22:38):
Yeah.
Maybe caters to the younger crowd,maybe the, I'm not sure what the
answer is or what the situationis happening with live music.
It's also outside of TheBlazecommunity in general as well.

Nina (01:22:50):
Yeah.
Okay.
That, that I might agree with.

Stevan (01:22:52):
Yeah.

Georg (01:22:53):
Well, speaking for someone who's old enough to be all of your,
um, fathers, I would love live music.
I'm sick and tired of DJs who justproduce exactly the same sound
to me in every one of the camps.
I mean, I, I, I, I honestlycan't stand it if I have to
range down at Sound Camp Alley.
I just, I look for an excuse togo up the other end of Jen Pop.

(01:23:15):
But yeah, live music, I, I actuallyheard some John Denver playing from,
um, from a rumor or something like that.
My favorite.
And it was wonderful.

Nina (01:23:22):
Georg, you should have been there at the Ranger camping this year when I
had to explain to a group of, I swearto God, 15 people who Roger Waters was.

Georg (01:23:30):
Oh my God.
Well, there you go.
See,

Nina (01:23:32):
like, yes, you're slightly older than me, but live music would be great.

Georg (01:23:35):
Yep.
We don't have this hair for nothing.
I mean, you know, just,

Vida (01:23:39):
I think we all agree there more live music, more classics, more diversity.

Stevan (01:23:45):
Yeah.

Nina (01:23:46):
I mean, part of that's the size of the event.
Yeah.
Like we're getting bigger and that's cool.
And I think we all agreed there wasmore diversity of creativity this year.
I like diversity's great, butit's hard when it's small.

Georg (01:23:58):
Hmm.

Stevan (01:23:59):
And what were your thoughts about some of the workshops?

Nina (01:24:02):
Not sure I went to one.
Sorry.

Stevan (01:24:04):
Oh, we didn't go to heavy metal Yoga.
No.

Georg (01:24:08):
Heavy yoga.

Vida (01:24:10):
I was basically
yoga podcast.

Stevan (01:24:13):
I think the church used to do that.

Vida (01:24:15):
Well, there used to be Bogar, which was Bogan Yoga.
That was amazing.

Nina (01:24:19):
The church definitely did heavy metal yoga for a number of years.
I, I'm aware I did the app of events, butI can't remember if they did it this year.
Yeah.
Well there was a lot of yoga this year.
There was like 17 different kinds ofyoga every day and I went to none of it.
And I love yoga.

Vida (01:24:35):
Same

Nina (01:24:36):
George.
Sure.
That you went to one workshop.

Georg (01:24:38):
Well, I, I kind of had to, uh, my partner ran the, um, pussies
pancakes and Polaroids there session.
There you go.
And that was so well attended.
This was lovely.
I just,

Vida (01:24:48):
where was that George at steampunk the Oh, at library.

Georg (01:24:53):
We wanted to, uh, to go to steampunk, but um, yeah,
they were, they were all asleep.

Vida (01:24:58):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Well there was that newGarden of Eros Camp, which I
didn't go to, but they appear.
And I heard that you had to do a four hourworkshop to then go workshop beforehand.

Georg (01:25:11):
Yep.

Vida (01:25:12):
To a session.
Um, I actually don't know much about it.
Does anyone know anyone that attended?

Georg (01:25:18):
Um, I.
The whole, all the crew, butI didn't go to a single one.

Vida (01:25:26):
I didn't go to just four hours to be able to go to anything.
Like I, I don't do more thanfive minutes anywhere at Blaze.
I'm so busy.
I'm like, you know, I'm there, I'mthere, I'm everywhere, as you say.
And I don't, I don't have time todo four hours just to go in for

Nina (01:25:41):
I'm with, with you, and it's not really my scene.
Um, but the point of themhaving that is that they were
running workshops on consent.
I was not aware they were four hours.
Um, but they were, uh, they all hatethis, but so they're a sex camp.
Um, and so they were running thingsthat you had to attend to be informed
about consent and stuff before youcould attend any of their workshops

(01:26:02):
that were a bit more sexy time.
Um, and, you know, bless 'em fordoing that because probably absolute
shouldn't just let anybody in.
I don't know about that fourhour time length thing there.
Yeah.
But yes, it's good that they did havethe, the, so you'd have to attend
a workshop and you'd get like adifferent colored wrist spend based
on what they'd seen you complete, andthen you could attend further things.

Georg (01:26:23):
But all the sessions were packed.
I mean, the tents were always full.
We, we ranged past there severaltimes and there was lots and
lots of shoes out the front.
Didn't hear anything,

Vida (01:26:34):
hear anything?

Georg (01:26:34):
No.
No.
A lot of the stuff was, uh, nonverbal.
A lot of a.

Nina (01:26:42):
It's a nonverbal sex camp.

Georg (01:26:45):
Wow.

Nina (01:26:46):
Sorry.
That's delight.

Vida (01:26:47):
I don't, I don't understand.

Nina (01:26:49):
I don't either.

Georg (01:26:52):
It's like a marriage things, verbal without sex.
But anyway,

Vida (01:26:56):
the opposite.

Georg (01:26:58):
It's the opposite.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Stevan (01:26:59):
Well there was some, uh, there was some community controversies
and, and learnings added fromthese, from this year's bla as well.
Let's, um, introduce a new segmentwhere we can all play along and,
and talk about some of these topics.
So, so this new segment I'm gonnaintroduce is called burnier than thou.
Oh, I remember, I remember hearingthis, uh, this, this, this sentence,

(01:27:22):
burnier than thou first time.
And I thought, well, how doesthis apply to our communities?
You know?
Uh, it's, it's like theholier than thou, right?
So we're all morally superiorwithout judgment and thoughts.
So the first kind of topicmaybe we can talk about is,
are foreigners or backpackers?
Ruining.
Blazing swan.
Oh my god.
That was something that came up.

Nina (01:27:44):
So I find this, I saw that you put that on the thing and I
find it particularly hilariousgiven you're a foreigner.
I'm a foreigner.
We met via blazing swan because youran a camp specifically geared towards
backpackers slash foreigners slash couch.
Surfers slash.
Whoever might be in Perth and hasn'theard of this thing and might wanna go and
do this thing and you started a camp tosupport them when they don't have like,

(01:28:06):
you know, tents or food or whatever.
So I thought it was really interestingthat you were putting that up because
we both joined this as dirty foreigners.
You're right.
Well, let's, let's feedback.

Vida (01:28:18):
I don't wanna come across as racist to you guys, guys, but I'm gonna
say that neither of you're French.
I was waiting for you to say French.
Someone had to mentionthat there is a massive

Stevan (01:28:32):
French German.
Yep.

Nina (01:28:34):
Oh, German.
You haven't been Stevan.
You haven't been.
It's French.
It's French.
It's French.
It's French.
For the past two years it's just French,French, French, drowning, and French.
There is a love, and I find thisalso hilarious because I speak fluent
French and I saw such a difference thisyear and last year because yes, both
years were inundated with Frenchies.
But last year every single Frenchperson I spoke to was, sorry, a cunt.

(01:28:57):
And this year, every single Frenchperson I spoke to was delightful.
And I am a data point of one, butI have a theory that the French,
the cohort has rolled over.
We have a new crop.
I like these French.
I want to keep them.

Vida (01:29:11):
Okay, well what about the French theme camp that just didn't roll up?

Nina (01:29:17):
Sorry, who was that?

Stevan (01:29:19):
No limit

Vida (01:29:19):
Healing Island.
Oh dude, they didn't show,did they, were they French?
They didn't even roll up.
They got 50 band camp tickets.
No, they totally didn't show.
And they hired a stretch in, theygot a stretch plan put up for them.
They got the thing, didthey Money that didn't come.
Wow.
That's, have we putthem in the black book?

(01:29:40):
They're definitely in the black book.
Okay.
Half of them rocked up, but then,you know, their lead wasn't there and
they, none of their stuff was there.
And they just ended up randomlycamping, in general camping because Wow.
Their theme camp leaders didn't arrive.

Nina (01:30:02):
All right, I'll retract my, all the French were lovely, but, well I mean

Vida (01:30:05):
those guys weren't there, so,
I dunno.
But some of them, but

Nina (01:30:10):
to be more silly, I do think this like Vida's, right?
It's been an inundation of Frenchfor two years now, but I think
this whole discussion is just notracist, but just a bit bullshit.
Like, so you're foreign, so you'rebackpacker, so you're whatever.
Have you been here for 13 years?
Like me or your whole life like NamLayor you know, are you just off the boat?

(01:30:30):
Are you moving here on a visa ofsome sort or are you literally just
backpacking through, are you a foreignerwho came from a country where you've
been to the Nevada Regional for 12years running and you wanted to come
to Blaze, but ooh, got your French.
Like you can't lump all this together.
And I think the main problem isburgeon, not foreigners or frenchies

(01:30:52):
or backpackers or whatever.
It's burgeon.

Vida (01:30:55):
Absolutely.
Like some of the, but, but that, eventhat being said, like some of the,
uh, people that volunteered in thekitchen and DPW and and came from
the beginning were all first timeburners that now changed their life.
Really generalized.
You're actually, it's not even,

Nina (01:31:18):
it's

Georg (01:31:27):
comes up people that are on outside of our tent.
I mean, it, it can't helpbut leave a sour taste.
Yeah.

Nina (01:31:35):
Have you been to France?
Toilet etiquette is different.
It's not their fault.

Georg (01:31:39):
No, I understand that.
I know, but we all know where toilets are.
I mean, bloody hell, it's no, honestly,the French don't, doesn't like

Nina (01:31:46):
God intended.
I love France.
Pee outside as God intended.

Vida (01:31:49):
Have they got different signs for like when, like for toilets or
something over there that aren't little?
They have a lot more open air toilets.

Stevan (01:31:59):
You make a, you make an interesting point.
I mean, our signage is mainly insymbols or, or English, right?

Nina (01:32:05):
No, it, it's in symbols.
Fine.
It's symbols.
It's pretty fucking clear.

Georg (01:32:13):
You, you've got more toilets this year than I've
ever seen at any other blaze.
You've done Well, there'stoilets, bloody everywhere.
There's no reason.
Yeah.
There's no reason to pee on a tent.
I mean, that's just disgusting.
No,

Nina (01:32:25):
there is no reason to pee on at tents.
I am pro peeing outside, but noton other people's possessions.

Georg (01:32:33):
I mean, there's people peeing on the fence, I guess.
Don't have a problem with that.
I mean, if I, I saw oneperson peeing at a fence.
It was literally 10 metersaway from the toilet block.
I mean, how lazy are you?

Nina (01:32:46):
Yeah, I'm pretty lazy.
I so Vida's.
Right.
You know, it's not just burgeon.
I take that back, but I don'tknow that there's any way to
differentiate when somebody justbuys a ticket between No, I know.
Because a lot of people on thepage have suggested, oh, we
bring back the burner profile.
Have you been to a burnbefore, blah, blah, blah.
Yep.
And I just think that's, I think it'squite gatekeeping and I also don't

(01:33:09):
think it would achieve the goal.
Like there are, we all know there'ssome people who been to blaze 10
times who are still kind of cty.

Georg (01:33:17):
Well, on, on my first blaze, Nina, there was a greeter who, uh, you know,
wound down our window and said, have yougot enough water to last you five days?
Yeah.
And I said, yeah, we'vegot 200 liters of water.
I mean, they went through a checklist ofthings and I don't, I haven't been greeted
since, because we always get in early now.
But I, I would like to, we still do that.
We're still asking these basic questions.

Nina (01:33:38):
They still do that.
Yeah.
The gate, the gates still.
And people still come in.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They still do that.
People still come in.
I remember place and I, I didn't knowwhat the hell was happening without food.
I mean, I didn't, because I've all my,don't they, but, well, they manage it by
sping or being nice people or somehow.
I just don't think there's any way todifferentiate who's gonna be a nice

(01:34:00):
community member and who's gonna piss onsomebody's tent until, until you see them.

Georg (01:34:05):
Well, when four people rock up,

Vida (01:34:06):
I'm with better profiles.
You know, I wouldn't mind if I

Nina (01:34:10):
Oh no, I'm okay with that as well.
I just don't think it wouldsolve the whole problem.

Vida (01:34:14):
No, but, but if we ever do get to the point where we are selling
out, which we're not in any threatof that at the moment, because
technically we can get up to 5,000people on the site that we've got.

Georg (01:34:25):
Wow.

Vida (01:34:26):
Um, so we've got so much room to grow, so we don't need to be picky.
But as we, as we mentionedearlier, we really liked the event
where it was only 1500 peopleand it was on the crew as well.

Georg (01:34:36):
Yep, yep.

Vida (01:34:37):
Depending on yet again, long-term strategic planning of what we actually
want to happen with this event and whowe wanna be there and all of that thing.

Nina (01:34:46):
But it's exactly that.
And that's what you saidbefore about each one.
Teach one, each one teach one is fabulous.
Each one teach 12 is unsustainable.

Vida (01:34:54):
Yeah.

Nina (01:34:54):
And there's not historically been appetite from the organizers
to do strategic planning,long-term growth, et cetera.
If somebody were to actuallydo that, that would be great.
And if they were to consider, perhapswe should cap the number of newbies.
The ratio of newbiesto previous attendees.
I think that would fix a lot of it.

(01:35:14):
And I don't care who those newbies are.
They can be disgusting Frenchbackpackers, they can be delightful.
French backpackers, they can be whoever.
But if you capped newbies toto old ft, you know, I think it
would be a lot easier to onboard.

Vida (01:35:27):
Yep.
That's a good point.
Or little, well, I can making this

Nina (01:35:29):
point in public for 10 years and nobody listens to me, so I'm done now.

Vida (01:35:34):
Yeah.
Well if the committee time, I'msure they would like to long term
strategic plan, but I feel likeI, that's always the problem.

Georg (01:35:41):
Yeah.

Nina (01:35:42):
There is no time.
I'm not blaming, there's never enoughcommittee, there's never enough
resources, you know?
All right.
I'm blaming the committee, but I'mnot really blaming the committee.
There's never enough time.
And then you end up with this,you know, NamLay like clearly
touched a button for me at least.
Yeah.
But like this subject comes up everyyear and it will come up forever.
Mm-hmm.
Because there's never time to address it.

Vida (01:36:01):
Yeah, true stories.

Stevan (01:36:03):
Okay, so, so foreigners are, are ruining blazing swan,

Nina (01:36:07):
not what I said.

Stevan (01:36:07):
Let's move on.

Vida (01:36:09):
Oh, also I wanted to mention the other type of burnier than
thou of the now vowel foreigners.
Ooh.
Which are foreigners that come from otherburns that think they're other than you
because they've been to all types of otherburns and they come, can I say something?
See our little West Australian burn andgo, we down do everything so good And I've
never been, can say something inflammatoryand think they know more than you.

(01:36:31):
That is another versionof burnier than thou

Nina (01:36:33):
I wanna say something super inflammatory because you
annoyed me earlier, Stevan.
I'm just gonna say Halcyon,

Stevan (01:36:39):
right?
Okay.

Nina (01:36:40):
Because I met him and yeah.

Georg (01:36:46):
Wow.
But they don't, what about co Theydon't get showers and power in
any of these other burns, do they?
I mean, we're really spoilt.

Nina (01:36:53):
Yeah.
But kiwi burn gets ariver and forest bathing.

Georg (01:36:55):
No, no.
I underst.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, that's true.
Forest bathing.
But the big burn, there's no river there.

Nina (01:37:01):
No, I think you're right though.
Vida, you get people in who've likebeen to the Nevada Regional Yes.
Said it three times, um, 15 times orwhatever, and they're like, oh, hmm.

Vida (01:37:11):
But we at back over there.
We do it like this.
We do it like this, we do it like that.
You're like, you're here nowand this is how we do it.

Nina (01:37:18):
They're just different things, right?
They're just different things.
Like, like Stevan um, sent me all sortsof fascinating articles about different
burns in Asia and some of them I lookand I'm like, oh no, that's not a burn.
But that's just me being burner than thou,like everybody does it their own way,

Vida (01:37:36):
of course.
Hmm.

Stevan (01:37:37):
Well how about cultural appropriation always
comes up every year as well.

Nina (01:37:41):
Um, I dunno if it did this year, did we escape that this year?
Someone was disgruntled, um, becausethey saw some people who they
thought were costuming in Kafi.
As as, um, it was unclear.

(01:38:02):
The person who posted thought that theywere culturally appropriating and being
offensive to Arabs, and a number ofcommentators thought that they might
just have been like, showing support.
And I, I stopped reading at that point.

Vida (01:38:18):
Oh, I didn't, I didn't actually come across any of that this year.
I thought it was minimal in regardsto, you know, the South American
headdresses and the, you know, butI mean, how far does that go again?
Like the Egyptians in God said no.
Like,

Nina (01:38:33):
well, there is one actually the same camp lead of God said no,
hilariously is actually Egyptian.

Vida (01:38:39):
Oh yeah.
Karim.

Nina (01:38:40):
Which I find so appropriate.

Vida (01:38:42):
That's fairly culturally appropriate.

Nina (01:38:45):
That's, he is, he is not appropriating, he is actually Egyptian.

Georg (01:38:50):
You might say it's Faro enough.
Mm-hmm.
Not

Nina (01:38:54):
George.
Man.
You'd made it this far.
I think it won.

Vida (01:38:57):
Yeah.
Good one.

Nina (01:38:58):
It should.

Stevan (01:39:00):
Well, how about this one, Georg?
The, the, the photography and consent?
So you, you mentioned the, the,uh, naked shoot, um, that was
fully consented amongst everybody.
Yeah.
There.
Just consent in general withphotography and with technology.
I mean, it's pervasive now.
I mean, think about in, in 10 yearstime, it, it wouldn't have to be just a,

(01:39:21):
you know, a square or rectangle object.
It would be a wearable, youknow, glasses or something.

Georg (01:39:27):
People are wearing glasses.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.

Nina (01:39:28):
My impress, like the appropriation of culture is that it was better
this year than in previous years,but I also didn't spend a lot
of time in sun camps this year.
So I, I've heard things aboutnon-consensual photography that didn't.
I, I think theme camps are crackingdown on it more, which is great, but
I don't, I mean, you're right Steven,I don't know how you police that.

(01:39:51):
I also think maybe people think teama bit too far think done pretty well

Vida (01:39:54):
in that space a little bit as well.
And like putting some signing, like wehave taken a few steps and done some
pre-event posts on all the socials andwe've got an actual consent team now that
are running workshops during the event,you know, telling people about this stuff.
And yeah, you're right, theme campsare cracking down and everyone,

(01:40:18):
uh, each one's teaching one.
And like, uh, when I was talking to Garethtoday, he was saying our fire lead, he was
saying, yeah, it was amazing this year.
There was so much less of that.
So yeah, I really think it's been better.
Yeah, it's definitely the word'sgetting out those big signage screens
this year were pretty cool too.
Like they're kind of just remindingpeople, just reminding people

(01:40:41):
about some of the key stuff.

Georg (01:40:43):
Well, I was up early every morning and what I thought was delightful was
that a lot of the general camping peoplewere up really early as well, taking
photographs of, um, art installationsand cars and, and, and lovely
buildings when there was no one around.
Oh, that's, whereas in previous,previous, um, burns, people would
just, they would literally have their,uh, phone or their camera with them

(01:41:03):
and they would take photographs ofeverything with people around it.
So, yeah, this year, even in the, if youcommunity community group on Facebook,
there's so few photos taken where there'sactually people who don't, like, they
wanna be photographs being photographed.
So I think, I think it improving.
I think we're learning.

Stevan (01:41:22):
And do you guys have special wristbands for people who
don't wanna be taken photos taken?

Georg (01:41:26):
Well, funny should say, at our NIST club, we've got, um, you know,
the wristbands, if you're wearing awristband, that means that the, the club
photographer can take photos of you.
So Yeah.
And if you're not wearing awristband, you just can't appear
a photographer photograph you.
Right.

Vida (01:41:40):
That's actually dropped off as a, as a, um, as a thing.
It's too kind of, I guess, hardto manage as a preregister.
I don it would work thingand, you know, yeah.
Like, just

Nina (01:41:55):
so kiwiburn did it for a while where you don't have to pre-register, you
just, everybody's given one at the gate.
And then if you're feeling it in themoment, you can stick on the, feel
free to photograph me wristband.
And then if you're not feelingit, you can take it off.
And I like that, but I don't, Idon't know, I don't think it's a
perfect solution and I don't dunnothat it would work in a crowd.
No.

(01:42:16):
Yeah.
I dunno the key it, I dunno thatit actually works that well.

Stevan (01:42:21):
And the reasoning behind no photos on the dance floor.
Some theme camps have adopted that,

Nina (01:42:27):
um, F cos did that.
I think koasis did that as well, butI don't know if anybody else did.
And they sounded like that worked.
But then I've also heard pushbackfrom people who were like, I'm
here with my friends, I havetheir two faces in the shot.
Why the fuck can't I take a photo ofmy best night ever on your dance floor?

(01:42:47):
So I, I don't know how to fix that.

Vida (01:42:51):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a hard one for you.

Stevan (01:42:53):
Mm mm Okay.
And let's talk about the naked hippie run.
So had a, had a few confusions.
Are there any way we can actuallyimprove this, this, uh, tradition?

Georg (01:43:04):
Yeah.
Make it compulsory.
Yeah.
Everyone should get out there.
Everyone should do it.
George, you said you don't do it.

Vida (01:43:11):
It was my cold, busy George.
Uh, it's fucking freezing.

Georg (01:43:13):
If everyone did it.
It's not exhibitionism.
It's just participation then.

Nina (01:43:18):
Yeah.
But now you're violating my consent.
You don't tell me when to get naked.

Vida (01:43:22):
Yeah.

Georg (01:43:24):
Um, no, you, you turned up at one of our nude shoots and you very
helpfully held people's clothes.
And you

Nina (01:43:31):
I did.
I just made friends with George andhis delightful wife, and I loved
them as human beings, and I accepttheir lifestyle and they do not
accept my lifestyle wearing quotes.
And so we had a lot of debate overthis, and they're on board now.
Um, but they invited me to the nudephoto shoot and I was like, well,
that's cool, but I'm not getting naked.
And they were like, oh, well.

(01:43:52):
And I was like, well, that's cool.
I'm not coming.
Um, so I did, I rock top and I, I wasthe Ong bitch, so I handed out ONGs to
all of the naked people after their photoshoot and I think we all enjoyed it.

Vida (01:44:04):
Well, on that note, there has been talk about getting coat
racks and having, if someonewanted to give, oh God, I saw that.
A coat racking system tothe newie rum, that would be
super helpful in making them.

Nina (01:44:16):
Can you imagine?
I saw and I was like,

Vida (01:44:19):
exactly.
What is that?

Nina (01:44:22):
I saw that post and I like adorable.
Good for you.
Have fun.
Don't talk to.

Vida (01:44:29):
I mean, yeah.
That was what high every people shouldbe, I experienced because everybody's co
for being Jack at the, at the door run.
Exactly like I experienced thisyear at, as the event manager
at the nudity run, people notbeing able to find their clothes.
Yeah.
Afterwards getting really cold, gettinghypothermia, having to end up in medical
because they couldn't find their clothesand got really cold and were having too

(01:44:52):
much fun and couldn't get back to theircamp at the other end of general camping,
and therefore were freezing their tits offand that became a bad experience for them.
So yeah.
You know, in, in regards to coatrack, that might be a nice thing.
Or just someone of all had ablanket, a spo to the people
that couldn't find their clothes.

Nina (01:45:09):
If I ever have the spoons, I will again volunteer myself as like
clothes holder for the naked people.

Vida (01:45:18):
Yeah.
Sounds like.

Stevan (01:45:21):
Okay.
So that settles.
We've gotta run anti-clockwise then.
All Or your naked hippies hip.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Is that just confuse It'llget you warm clockwise.
Yeah,

Nina (01:45:32):
they were too hot because the perimeter was too close then
they were too cold because theycouldn't find their clothes.
Like, you can't help everybody.

Stevan (01:45:41):
All right.
So that's, that's the, that'sthe segment burnier than thou.
Uh, let's talk aboutsome, some travel tips.
The Kulin township.
Uh, it takes four hours to get there.
What should people goand see and do there?
Well, some travel tips.
Well,

Nina (01:45:57):
so many things.

Vida (01:45:58):
Well, there's a couple of things.
Um, water slide number one featureand the beautiful story of the water
slide and the cooling communityand why we love them so much.
They're like a proper community.
So the, the community actually fundrafundraised themselves, uh, to get

(01:46:19):
the money doing a bunch of differentevents and stuff in the schools and
stuff to get the money together.
And then a bunch of them traveled overto Queensland to buy this water slide,
packed it up into a shipping container,shipped it back, brought it to cool
and built it in the aquatic park.
And that's now like thecoolest thing in town to do.

(01:46:43):
Um,

Nina (01:46:43):
and it's the largest water slide in regional Western Australia.
Yeah.
And so, I'm not kidding.
Like I actually think this is super cool.

Vida (01:46:52):
It so cool.
And I love how town.
They're like a community,like our Blaze community.
Like they all come together to dorandom shit, like by a water slide
or, you know, we come together to dorandom shit like put on blazing swaps.
So, you know, that's why we fit there.
But yeah, so we'll, we'll do that.
It, it's only open until the end ofMarch, so if it's a late blaze, you might

(01:47:16):
not make it to go to the water slide.
Um, but yeah, we, if it's an early blaze,we often do that when we're building
site on days off, go out there and,um, spend the afternoon on a day off,
having a bit of fun at the water slide
and yeah.

Nina (01:47:30):
And as soon as you hit Kulin you can stop at the pub.
You can stop at the IGA.
They always stock up for us.
Then you take the right handturn, you pass the water
slide and then what happens?
Vida?

Vida (01:47:40):
You hit the tin horse highway, yeah.
Um, again, another community ventureas part of that excellent town
where every year at the Kulin andBush races, which is the one other
event that happens on our site.
They

Stevan (01:47:57):
have, has any one of you guys been,

Vida (01:47:59):
I haven't, I can't believe I haven't, but I haven't,

Nina (01:48:02):
I can't believe I haven't either.
It's always a bad weekend.

Georg (01:48:05):
The problem is it sells out in like an hour.
You just, it's reallyhard to get a ticket.
So

Vida (01:48:11):
six minutes last year.

Georg (01:48:17):
Um, so no, you can't get in.
Yes, you can get in if you volunteer.
Yeah.
Like our, our, our team cam leader,he, he volunteers, he, uh, he
cleans, he waits at tables andhe cleans the toilets afterwards.
So, uh, he gets a discounted ticket.

Nina (01:48:31):
Does he go every year?

Georg (01:48:33):
Yep.
Yep.
He loves it.
He wants to get us out there too.
Yeah, he, he's, he wants tosell his house in Albany.
And how loves

Nina (01:48:42):
that doesn't, he would do.

Georg (01:48:45):
Yeah.

Vida (01:48:49):
Every year at the, they have the competition for the
best tin horse and then whoever.
And so everyone in the communitygets together, makes all these
crazy different types of horses.
And then, um, whoever the judging

Nina (01:49:07):
have to make sense

Vida (01:49:08):
of it.
Yeah.
Like outta a 44 gallonjump is the usual bags.
Yeah.
Like

Nina (01:49:12):
they're big.

Vida (01:49:12):
Yeah.
Big guys.
So the winner

Nina (01:49:16):
of, so you drive down the highway to the site and you
can see them in the patterns.

Vida (01:49:19):
Yeah.
I mean there's all sorts, isn't there?
They, they did a sparkle pony in, inorder of us this year's new one was,
um, was re Reagan the break dancer.
Oh God.
That's, you've got the cops,you've got everything out there.
But whoever wins the Bush races, tinhorse competition gets their horse
on the highway, which is so fun.

(01:49:41):
And yeah, there's even a little miniwater slide as it coming into town.
So yeah.
That's the best, best littlescenic tour out to our site.

Nina (01:49:48):
But there's other stuff as well, like, like, so those are the things that
happened on the way to the actual site.
But like, it's only an hour fromWave Rock, which is one of the most
impressive things I've seen in Australia.
Um, so I've, I've known people who've beenlike, oh my God, I've been at Blaze for
four days and they've literally paid for acar pass out to go to Wave Rock, see wave,
rock climb, wave rock, eat at the pub andcome back because it's really quite close.

Vida (01:50:13):
Yeah.

Nina (01:50:14):
There's a cool shit out there on the way.

Vida (01:50:16):
And then is it the bin op shop?
Everyone goes on about that.
Apparently it's the bestregional op shop in WA as well.
It's an hour drive.

Nina (01:50:25):
But uh, I would debate that because the op shop in, uh, bowing
up is the best op shop on earth.

Vida (01:50:34):
I reckon you might have run for your money.
I reckon you'd have
might.
have to give it a crack next time

Nina (01:50:41):
saying this woman, this woman who runs it is the grumpiest I've ever met.
And she'll let you rock up to her op shop.
She'll give you a bag and she willsay, you may fill this bag for $2.

Georg (01:50:51):
Wow.

Nina (01:50:53):
Will not be nice about it, but like brilliant hop shop.

Vida (01:50:56):
Well, yeah.
Same with the Rabin one.
Like if you get there, okay.
I think it's only Saturday morningsor one particular morning a week.
But if you get there at the rightmorning of the week, yeah, you
got the garbage bag two feel vibe.
So yeah, you're gonna give
that a crack.

Nina (01:51:13):
I'd also like to shout out the KO Roadhouse wing dings.
They're the second best in the state.

Vida (01:51:18):
I'd say their sausage rolls are up there with the best as well.

Nina (01:51:22):
I don't think I've had the sausage rolls.
They're fried chickens.
Okay.
But they're wing dings, which they'realways fucking out are the second based
best in this entire state, which is the.

Vida (01:51:34):
Oh, what else goes on in town?
Uh, um, we could talkabout the, the pub's great.
There's a number of people come,they do a good surfing turf.

Nina (01:51:42):
There's people who come from Kulin who've been attending Blaze for
the entirety of Blaze, and some of themactually run like fundraisers in town.
Like do you remember when the, the,uh, primary school kids made steampunk
hats and sold them to all the blazers?

Vida (01:51:59):
Yes.
So cute.
That's so cute.
So cute.

Nina (01:52:01):
They were doing a fundraiser for the primary school, so they spent all
year making steampunk hats and thenwhen the Blazers rolled through on
the way to the event, you could go buylike, you know, a bit for your costume.

Vida (01:52:11):
Hmm.
Hell yeah.
That's cute.
Yeah.
Why don't they still do that?
I mean there's, you know, I dunno,

Nina (01:52:17):
I don't think they've done the steam punk in a few years.

Georg (01:52:19):
I think there's only four kids in the school.

Nina (01:52:21):
There might be that

Vida (01:52:22):
they get a lot of money outta our rubbish then.

Nina (01:52:27):
Well, but yeah, that's true.
They also, they come out and on the lastday of blaze when everybody's exodus,
they run um, a gold coin donation and theytake all our fucking trash away, so Yeah.
Less cooling.

Vida (01:52:41):
Yeah, so good.
I think this year we raised $9,000for the local primary school in doing.
Oh, that's great.
Um, they do a little sausage sizzle aswell, but they charge a donation rub.
Just another little thing we do withthe community is, um, they run that

(01:53:03):
and then this year, after all costsI think, yeah, they came, they come
up with about 9,000 towards theschool, so that's pretty awesome.

Stevan (01:53:11):
That was collecting cans and the bottles?

Vida (01:53:13):
Well, no, the cans and bottles is a separate thing
by the Lions Club.
And Lions Club.
Also the arts, the community arts.
What, what's Aaron's thing called?
It's Aaron's Art Center.
The Kulin Center?
Yeah, the Kulin

Georg (01:53:31):
Arts.
Kulin Arts,

Vida (01:53:32):
yeah.
Kulin.
And Arts Network.
That's it.

Nina (01:53:34):
But the trash collection is different.
They just set up a thing at the gateand you can gold coin or if you're going
to dump something larger, more money.
Um, but it's a donation and so they'lltake, you know, your garbage bags or
if you wanna dump a, like, maybe nota couch, but you know, larger items,
um, they'll take that over, not tothe tip, but to the actual dump point.
And then they raise thatmoney for the primary school?

Vida (01:53:56):
Yeah.

Stevan (01:53:57):
Yeah.
For a small towns, for a small community.
They actually do a lot.

Vida (01:54:00):
They're

Nina (01:54:00):
really active.
Yeah, I think so.

Vida (01:54:03):
Amazing.

Nina (01:54:04):
And a lot of them come out like a whole, like some years, I
swear the whole town's fucking there.
Um, because they can do like a cheaperday pass just to come out Saturday.
If they wanna like bring the kids orjust themselves and just see the aig,
they can do like a cheaper day pass.

Vida (01:54:18):
Yeah, we do locals tickets, shi and.

Stevan (01:54:26):
As well as the local ambos and local cops.

Vida (01:54:30):
Oh, absolutely.
Like we've got, yeah, I just can't, Ican't actually go on enough about how
supportive the town is of our event.
Like local cops are amazing.
Like the little meetings that, um,myself and a couple of committee go
out to pre-event, we usually do twopre-event meetings with the cops, the

(01:54:53):
council, the ambos, the firies, um,and the bush racers and the landowners.
We kind of all get together a couple oftimes a year before the event just to
kind of workshop everything and talk abouteverything and all the nicest feedback.
The meetings are always really greatand, but they always, yeah, it's a

(01:55:15):
constructive conversation and they'rereally a part of it, so we're really
lucky to have that kind of, uh, supportin the community like that, but amazing.

Georg (01:55:26):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Was, was it just my, um, observation orwas there more police presence this year?
We seemed to get the, um, the, the,the warnings that police were on site
every single day was, um, incredible.

Vida (01:55:39):
Well, the thing about our event is it's the most interesting
thing that happens in the wheat belt.
Yeah.
Everyone wants to come and have a look.
So basically all the cops around thearea are kind of interested to come
and have a look and see how it runs.

(01:56:00):
We've got a really goodreputation for how we run things.
So yeah, they, theycome, they have a look.
We, we called them a couple oftimes because we needed them.

Georg (01:56:09):
Mm-hmm.

Vida (01:56:09):
And they're there for us like that, so.

Georg (01:56:13):
Okay.

Vida (01:56:13):
That, that's cool.
Um, a couple of times they just cameto check it out, see how it was going.
But from my point of view, as the eventmanager, they're, they're on our side.
Like they're not, we need them.
And if they're there,it's kind of, it's good.
Makes people think, okay, this, as much aswe like to escape into our own world, that

(01:56:38):
there are a few idiots every time thatneed to see that there's still reality.
Like if, you know, keep behaveyourselves, people, there's still,
there's a bit of reality of thebackground going on, you know, so
I, I actually enjoy their presence.

Nina (01:56:54):
Yeah.
I get to, I also enjoy their presenceand I've kind of made it a point over the
past, maybe, maybe like seven, eight yearsto every event I always wanna talk to.
Um, 'cause bla hires medics usually,and they hire security usually.
And obviously the cops come by sometimesand I always make it a point to go
talk to them when I can find them.
It's.

(01:57:15):
Every security guy I've ever spokento, ablaze has said, this is the
easiest job he's ever worked.
And he will come back everysingle year until he's not allowed
anymore because they love it.
Yeah.
Uh, the medics generally say the same.
The cops say the same.
They're like, sure, we needto call them sometimes.
And, and they're always really decent andcompetent about it, but they just love it.

(01:57:37):
They're like, there's noagro, there's no whatever.
I just get to watch, you know,naked hippies having a good time.
Yeah.
Everybody's friendly.
People come up to chat to them.
Like some of them are a bit overwhelmed,particularly to like trainee medics.
Yeah.
Um, but they just love it.
And I, I love to see that it'smaking them happy on their job.

Vida (01:57:58):
Yeah.
Well, the cops actually said to meduring the event this year, um, over
this Easter weekend, you guys are lessof a concern to us than everyone in town.
Like they, they're like, you guys areless of a strain on us than town has been.
You know, like they're like

Nina (01:58:16):
in the Kulin town of 500 people.

Vida (01:58:18):
Yeah, exactly.
It's like six times as many ofyou guys out here, but town's
causing more trouble than you guys.
Cool.
That's nice.

Nina (01:58:28):
And then I have, yeah,

Stevan (01:58:28):
that's the wish.

Nina (01:58:29):
Yeah.
I mean, I hope Kulin Okay, but go us.

Stevan (01:58:41):
I think one, one thing they do see is not just the event or the
festival itself, they also see the, youknow, behind how there's a community,
how there's a, a, a professional team.
You know, like, although we're allvolunteers and we're not, this is not what
we, uh, what we do outside, but, uh, theycan understand how we all come together.

Nina (01:59:00):
I think that's a factor of a number of committees and a number of people like
Vida having spent many, many, many yearsbuilding a relationship with that town
and with the cops out there and so forth.
I think they, at this point, andI'm just saying this again as an
outside observer, but I think at thispoint they, they trust this event.
Yeah.
And it's not just some new thing thatrolled in and they're like, oh, I don't

(01:59:22):
know about you people, how you run this.
Like, I think they, they generallypress blaze to be better, brought
in, better organized, and createless drama than, than other events.

Stevan (01:59:32):
And building that history and the, the whole
reputation is, is immense as well.

Nina (01:59:36):
Mm. It takes years.
Mm.

Vida (01:59:40):
But again, that's why I love Kulin because they're
their own little community.
They kind of understand ours a littlebit more than maybe another town,

Nina (01:59:47):
maybe other towns wouldn't have, wouldn't be this way.
Maybe it's just that's really special.

Vida (01:59:55):
Yeah.

Stevan (01:59:56):
Okay, let's, let's end by by by talking about why Blazing Swan?
Why do you guys love it?
What do you guys return,what do you guys do?
What you guys do?
Because

Nina (02:00:05):
Perth sucks ass, and it was the first place I found cool people.

Stevan (02:00:11):
But the difference between the other birds, like the Eastern State
Burn and Blazing Swan, it's unique.
What's the magic behind it?
I mean, obviously youguys and everyone else.

Vida (02:00:20):
I think so.
I mean, for me, like Nina says thatshe'd never met cool people in Perth.
Sucks ass.
But I've lived here all my life andI've met so many cool people, but in all
different places and times and stuff.
When Blazing Swan happened, all ofthe cool people in different groups
I've ever met, like all came togetherand they're in one place and I was
like, oh, fuck yeah, that's sick.

(02:00:42):
This is where I wanna be.
Like that.
That was kind of like whatmade the magic for me.
I hadn't seen people from my rave days atAmber when I was like, 20 were there and
then whatever, you know, all these people
all came together.

(02:01:03):
It.
You know, that's why I love it.
And also, yeah, the comparison ofafter I went to Blaze, I was like,
oh, I've gotta see the big burn.
I've gotta see the big burn andyou know, it's gonna be amazing.
Have you been?
Yeah, I've been twice now and like, Iwent, um, two 15 and two 17 after, you

(02:01:25):
know, being exposed to blazing 2014.
But I've been twice like searching formore and just, I don't need to go anymore.
We've got more than what, yeah.
In my opinion, they have with our amazingcommunity, with the facts that like you'll
meet someone and you can actually seethat person again and become lifelong

(02:01:46):
friends and build something with them.
And whereas you're at Burning Man, youmeet someone you'll never see them again.
Like you have a,

Nina (02:01:53):
that's a lot of the reason I haven't bothered gonna the big burn.
I mean, there's the price and thelogistics and the blah blah, but like,
I could go, I go to see my parentsback in the States, but I, everyone
who talks about it, the art's amazing.
I would love to see the art, but Idon't wanna go to a place where I meet
the most amazing person I've ever met.
And then I like going toBlaze where I meet the most

(02:02:16):
amazing person I've ever met.
And I absolutely will run intothem at some point during the week.
I like our size.
Yeah.
I can't compare it to the East Coastburns because there's not been, I've only
Kiwi burn and that was quite similar,but they're very different burns.
I don't, I like them in different ways.

Vida (02:02:34):
Yeah, and we've got the rock and we've got the lake, like our landscape
and um, the land that we're on, there'ssomething so bloody special about that.
Like it's just, especially if you'refrom Western Australia, like I'm
just such a, a little wheat belt WestAustralian country girl that I just think

Nina (02:02:54):
the, like I would the best.
That's like Kiwi landscape.
I prefer that.
I thought it was justso fucking beautiful.
And again, the forest bathing.
Um, but I think the community ofBlazing Swan is, is world class.
I love that.
Yeah.
I met George there.

Georg (02:03:12):
You guys are all, how can I not come back to Blaze?
It's where I met Georgeand his lovely wife.
I was just gonna say, youguys, you guys are also unique.
You've all had this history of gonnafestivals and dos and things and,
and so bla was just a progression.
Blaze was our very first festival in 2016.
I mean, look, I'm 66 and, andBlaze was what, nine years ago?

Nina (02:03:34):
Do you mean any festival, like anything whatsoever?

Georg (02:03:37):
Well, we went to like concerts and things, but nothing like Blaze.
Nothing.
Oh, no, no, no.
Nothing overnight and nothing.
Three or four days.
Nothing.
Five days.
No.
This is a very, very different experience.
I mean, it's, it wasliterally life changing.
You know, we, we, we go to Blaze.
I mean, I'm, I'm in court every dayof every day of the week when I'm
working, but when you go to Blaze,it's like you've never lived before.

(02:03:59):
You're meeting people andyou're not arguing with people.
They just.
They're just, they're just all like us.
I mean, it's just incredible.

Stevan (02:04:06):
Now, George, you, you talked about Blaze having the space that
really, you know, caters for you beinga, uh, nudist or is there any other,

Georg (02:04:17):
there's no other places or

Stevan (02:04:17):
spaces?
No,

Georg (02:04:19):
no.
You have join, you guys belong to nudist?
We go outta, we traveled to Brisbaneto do a photo shoot on a bridge
or we go to Queensland to, uh, youknow, to spend a week in a, in a
tropical paradise nudist resort.
But these are all placesthat are set up for it.
They're not like a communitythat welcomes people from all
over the world and strangers.

Nina (02:04:38):
You feel segregated?

Georg (02:04:39):
Yeah, absolutely segregated.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
No, I just love that people can comego to bla and you can be a musician.
You can, you know, you can be apothead, you can be any, anything you
like, and you'll all come together andwe'll all have something in common.
And it's quite, quite a unique experience.

Nina (02:04:55):
The lack of judgment, whoever was, you were saying this earlier.
Exactly.
Complete lack of judgment

Vida (02:05:00):
and the love of fire.
Don't forget that.

Georg (02:05:03):
Well, there's that too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Everyone loves to burn shit.
I mean, we're all,

Stevan (02:05:10):
well you guys also, um, restricted by, by, uh, the fire bans, right?
Not really.
What's the period?
What's the period?
It's always period is, yeah,well that's thing a calendar.

Vida (02:05:30):
The Shire and the council with our risk management plans and all the
support we get from the firies and allthe equipment we have on site to be able
to put out a fire, we can actually geta, um, an out of season permit anyway,
which is what we had to do last yearbecause it was so early last year.

(02:05:51):
So we actually do occasionallyfall into, not total ban,
but extended five ban period.
If it's total fire ban, wegot no chance, but that's only
December through to February.
But March and April, if it'sextended, we can actually apply for
a permit to be able to burn anywayand haven't been rejected yet.

(02:06:13):
So we've only done that two or threetimes, but we have that flexibility.
So as long as you got the right riskmanagement strategies and paperwork in on
that stuff, usually we can get around it.
Well we have so far

Nina (02:06:25):
and there's certainly been years where the fire has been delayed
because of weather or the burn has nothappened because of inclement weather,
but generally it's not been a problem.
Or, or like this year our firelead instituted you need a
mesh top to your burn barrel.
Um, 'cause some people had,had, had pushed the boundaries.

(02:06:46):
Um, but generally we canburn all the shit and that is
definitely a selling point for me.

Vida (02:06:52):
Yeah.
We're pretty lucky.
I'd like to see more pyro effectsand flame throwers and all that cool
stuff we used to have a few years ago,

Nina (02:07:01):
dude, I asked the the art car lead this year.
He, he literally sent out amessage like, what does everyone
want to see from art cars?
And I was like, more fucking fire.
Um, and he, he wrote me backbecause he's very professional and
he was like, look, we're trying,there are rules and regulations.
And I was like, I'm aware.
Um, so, so had two these here thathad some fire effects on the cars.

(02:07:23):
Yeah, A fire tribe had fire tribe wantedto do a flame thrower off the front of
the car, but I was talking to a girl whobuilt it and they couldn't pull it off.
So maybe next year.

Vida (02:07:34):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That'd be cool if we could get abit more of that stuff happening.
I miss Frankie's um, Frankie's thing withthe big flavoring, what was it called?
His art car.
So cool.

Nina (02:07:47):
Do you remember the year?
What's his face?
Brought the trebuchetand he flung Oh yeah.
Flaming cannon balls into the salt lake.

Vida (02:07:54):
Yeah.

Georg (02:07:55):
Wow.

Nina (02:07:56):
It was amazing.
I saw these flaming balls of cannonball being flung into something.
So clearly I walked across the paddockto go see what in the fuck was happening.
And I met him, uh, what's his name?
His name, lovely guy and like Iche.
And I was like, yes, yesyou have, do you help?

(02:08:22):
And he was like, he gave me some flameretardant gloves and he was like,
I'm going to keep Flemming flamingballs of fuck knows what into the lake
and you can go retrieve them for me.
And I was like, great.
Okay.
It was like the coolestthing I'd ever seen.
Yeah.
That maybe that's why I keep comingback to Blaze in the hopes that
Colin will return with the trebuchet.

Vida (02:08:40):
Oh babe, Colin passed away now.

Nina (02:08:42):
I know.
It's never gonna happen again.
Hopefully someone, he was lovely.

Vida (02:08:47):
He was, he was a legend.
He also now has a street named after him.

Nina (02:08:54):
He does.
That's right.
That was

Stevan (02:08:57):
cool.
Okay, so we also have dates forrecom, the decompression party.

Nina (02:09:04):
The Recombobulation?.

Stevan (02:09:06):
Yeah.
That was just announced today I saw.
Yeah,

Nina (02:09:08):
yeah,

Vida (02:09:09):
yeah.

Stevan (02:09:10):
It's uh, what is it, August?
No Eptember.

Vida (02:09:12):
23rd of August, I think last August.

Stevan (02:09:15):
23rd of August.
Yeah.

Vida (02:09:17):
23rd of August.
And usually that's when they announcedthe theme for next year as well.
So that is when we shall await watchBlazing Swan 2026 as in store for us.

Stevan (02:09:30):
Isn't there more exploding styles in the universe?

Georg (02:09:33):
There always.
Is there always doing that.
Yeah.

Stevan (02:09:35):
There always.
Right?

Georg (02:09:37):
There's

Nina (02:09:37):
also always bats.

Georg (02:09:39):
Yes.
Bat country.
Is it country or county?
That country.

Nina (02:09:45):
Country.
Have you not seen the movie

Georg (02:09:47):
Bat Country?

Vida (02:09:48):
He just thought it was some bats floating around in Infinite Loop.
I

Nina (02:09:53):
said movie.
Have you not read the book?

Georg (02:09:57):
I live with a, I live with a bat.

Nina (02:10:00):
So George's wife's, um, player name is Bat Thing.

Vida (02:10:04):
Oh yeah, of course.
Yeah.

Stevan (02:10:08):
Okay, so let's do some shout outs.
Uh, any, um, you guys got anyparticular shout out you wanna mention?

Nina (02:10:12):
I, I do.
I didn't pressure you because I reallydidn't want you to ask the question.
Who was the B dj?
However, there was a best DJ set Isaw, and it was big dread reggae abode.
Sorry, not abode.
Ama Big dread.
Reggae ama more, more, more reggae.
It was epic.

(02:10:34):
He's such a good dj.
He's such a nice guy.
That set was fucking gold.
We went on purpose.
I miss Twisted Job more Ed Blaze.
That's my shout out.

Vida (02:10:44):
Hell yeah.
Well, I'm just gonna shout out.
Shout out who again?
Absolutely nailed a chairpersonof the organization.
Total bloody legend and the restof the committee, um, absolute
legends for everything theydo and working all year round.
I'm also gonna shout out to arumor for taking me out on the

(02:11:06):
keg turtle for my night off.
I'm gonna shout out to KUfor Always being My So Tribe.
I'm gonna shout out to my best mate,Holly, for coming to site the day we
landed till the day we left to support me.
Um, and all the other legends, um, thatwere there for the whole time for setup.
And pat down.

Nina (02:11:28):
I'd like to add Louis gave the best post blaze congratulatory speech to the
crew, the theme camps, the whatnot atlike the event is over dinner that I've
ever heard because I have never hearda human being say Fuck more than me.
He's good at that.
It was glorious.

(02:11:49):
He's, he is really good at,um, stirring the troops.
I don't know how to phrase it.
He, he is really good at motivatingpeople and, and valuing people,
and it was a really nice speechand he did say fuck more than I do.

Vida (02:12:01):
Yeah.

Georg (02:12:03):
Well, I'd like to give a shout out to, uh, a peer of guys who, uh, I'd
never spent much time with, uh, at bla um,Ollie and, uh, and Admiral, we, they took
me, they took me on a, uh, midnight shiftwith them while they were cruising around.
Looking after, uh, after peopleafter the event had shut down.
And those two are the, uh, themost compassionate, caring guys

(02:12:25):
I've ever met in my entire life.
The way they, uh, they dealt withsituations where, uh, where people
who were a little bit under the,uh, under the weather was, um,
it was just heartwarming to see.
I I, I just saw a different side ofthese guys and on, I was in awe of
their, uh, of their, their calmnessand, and their empathy and their
humanity was just lovely to say.

(02:12:47):
And on the same note, uh, John Mack isanother person who's, uh, who's of a
similar, he's just a, a brilliant person.
He loves Colin.
He spent so much of his time awayfrom, uh, from, from his family and
home and at cool and volunteering,doing all sorts of things.
It's just, I, I dunno how he does it.
I dunno where he findsthe energy all the time.
But, uh, he's just an amazing human being.

(02:13:08):
And my last shout out is to, is to Vida.
I have so much, um, love and respectfor all the work that Vida does.
It wouldn't be a blaze without, uh,without vi I just see her everywhere
cruising around in her little car,and she's just always busy and always,
always, always where the action is.
Um, I just have my, my heart just warmsevery time I see vi I know, I know.

(02:13:29):
I'm gonna be at a successful event.

Nina (02:13:31):
Oh, can I, can I do one more?
Do I get one more?
Great.
I'm having one more.
I would love shout to George's wife.
Who could not be with us tonightbecause she, um, had other plans.
Uh, she gave a hundred billionpercent at blaz this year.
She always does.
She's a, she's on ranger ops.
She's a black swan ranger.

(02:13:52):
She gives other things.
She attends my delightful event.
She cares for everyone.
She pushes herself further than sheshould, and we will try to stop her doing
that, um, because she cares so much.
And she is just like,she's not even sappy sweet.
She's just the nicest SST mostwonderful giving person on earth.
You were lucky to have mether and I am lucky to have her

(02:14:15):
as a friend and at and Abla.

Vida (02:14:17):
Oh, yeah.
Here, here.
Yeah.
She's an amazing, amazing black woman.

Georg (02:14:23):
She'll love that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Nina (02:14:24):
She'll hate that and I don't care.

Stevan (02:14:28):
Yeah.
It takes a village to, to

Vida (02:14:30):
It really does.

Georg (02:14:31):
It really does.
Yeah.

Vida (02:14:33):
Yeah, I, I, I actually forgot about saying thank you and shouting
out to all my other event managersthat help me if I run that event.
So thanks for reminding me about them.
George.
Absolute of legends.

Georg (02:14:48):
Yeah.
No, Tim was out and about too.
He was doing a marvelousjob's such every one of them.

Nina (02:14:54):
You mean Tim fil with the broken ribs?

Georg (02:14:57):
Yep.

Vida (02:14:57):
Yeah.
The man's on, he broke his ribs afterevent management training when we all
got a little bit, ran a camp and thenhe fell over his washing basket after
manage training a month before the event.
And then I had come to the event,

Nina (02:15:13):
he message me something and I was bitching about something.
He was like, I'm sorry, I've been out.
I broke my ribs.
And I was like, oh, are you okay?
I'm not gonna ask how you did that.

Vida (02:15:24):
Yeah, wild that night.
Anyway,

Nina (02:15:27):
bless him.

Vida (02:15:29):
Yes.

Stevan (02:15:30):
So can we safely say that next year was better?
Yes.
Yeah, always.
Well just keep on saying it full circle.
It's gonna be true.
Yeah.
That's,
thanks very much for coming on guys.
Thanks.
Thanks, George.
Thanks for inviting us.

Georg (02:15:46):
Thanks Steve.

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