14 days till shoot!

Hello friends,

Stopped by multiple locations yesterday. FUN. Quite amazing views out there. My little car got to see them all. Have been back dozens of times, but we always manage to find some little special spot that we somehow missed last time round. Love it. One minute you're in an irrigated oasis, the next you're in the desert. Makes me think that maybe oranges, rice and cotton weren't the best things for us Aussies to grow... Easy to say in retrospect though.

Not sure if you can make out the colour of the Jacaranda tree in that top photo, but its flowers are bright purple to the eye. We've timed filming beautifully (total fluke) as Jacarandas all over the region have just started to bloom.

Producers Marc and John arrived with our Production Manager Virginia, and it feels amazing to be on the ground and into it. Finalising funding, insurance and contracts have stressed me a bit in recent weeks, but now that we're on location I've been set free (knock on wood). With just TWO WEEKS LEFT TILL SHOOT I feel like we're in a really healthy position. Cast locked, crew locked, locations locked. Please don't let that be famous last words!

Our Composer Alies arrives today. Haven't seen her in about 2 years, so very pumped to catch up. Over the years Alies has had to put up with me telling her: "It's happening" (like 4 times) only for me to make the dreaded call months later and conclude: "I don't know what happened, but it's not happening". Well, as she's flown in from China to visit locations and work on the score with me, she can finally take my word with some confidence! It's happening. As well as being a composer, Alies is a solo violinist, so she'll take Rachael Taylor for some pretty serious lessons when she arrives on the weekend. Rachael will play the violin live in three scenes and is dead keen on looking convincing. Tough work the violin, but she'll nail it.

Am off now to a breakfast meeting at Stefano's Cafe. Very lucky to be buddies with one of the best cooks in Australia. I think Mildura's one of the only in-land places in Australia where the food and coffee (at selected outlets) is as good as the food in the city. That said, a sausage from the BBQ by the pool tends to taste the same the world over.

Ricky : )