[Will & Kate] (0:05 - 0:30)

Burners of New Zealand, Australia and Asia. Radically making magic on the paddock round the fire. B-O-N-Z-A-A-R!

Bonzaar Podcast!

[Stevan]

All right, a beautiful bonzaar, welcome to everyone. And anyone out there listening, I'm Stevan Lay, also known as Silent Disco on paddock, and you've just tuned in to the Burners of New Zealand, Australia and Asian regional podcast, an episodic conversation audio pod about burner culture and its Asia Pacific communities. In this episode, we take a closer look at theme camping, how the pool room was formed, mutant vehicle projects, being regionals and also attending regional burns and the Big Burn, and a chat about larrikinism and generational transitions at Blaze and a pool room review of the 2026 Blazing Swan, It Takes a Village.

Welcome to the panel, Mandy, Marcus and Jodie, or should we say, G'day, Kath and Kim.

[Jodie]

You know your bees, Max, right, why don't you mind it?

[Marcus]

Hello, everyone.

[Jodie]

Hi.

[Mandy]

Hi.

[Stevan]

Let's get some, first of all, let's get some intro. So let's talk about your roles and some of the contributions you've made for the burner or the Blazing Swan community.

[Marcus]

Okay. I'll start. Yes.

I mean, I'll start with our burning story, if you want, because it's just one continuous flow that's gone on for many years now. We, this is Mandy and myself, first went to Burning Man in, I think, 2012. And it was something that we'd sort of heard about for some time and hadn't really paid a lot of attention to.

And we got to a point in our lives where we'd done all the things that we had meant to do. And we're at a bit of a, I won't say a loose end, but we wanted to do something different. So one day sitting around on our veranda with probably a cup of tea and coffee, we saw a magazine that had a picture of some iconic Burning Man mutant vehicles and structures in it.

And we just all decided, this is Mandy, myself and our daughter, great, we'd like to go to that. So we just put that plan in place. And we had no idea what it was, where it was or anything, but we go, yep, we're going to do it.

So then we planned a bit of a road trip in the US around that, ending up at Burning Man after, if I remember, a couple of months. It was quite a big road trip for us. And we got there and I think we were in about 100 kilometre queue on the road to get in as traffic jam as most people are.

And loved that. Loved meeting people on the road as you haven't even got to the event, miles from the event. And as we're driving in, everything just felt right.

And we hadn't even, we'd just literally driven in and we just said to each other, oh, this is great. We love this. And that was it.

Once we just, there's nothing about it we didn't like. And we had a great time there, met a heap of interesting people. And that sort of set the scene for us going back year after year, basically.

And when Blazing Swan came about, it sort of started off as a little event and we got wind of that. And then I think by the second year, we decided to go back and start a theme camp of sorts instantly because we knew that's what we wanted to do. And we did that.

And it's gotten sort of bigger, I suppose, and better every year. And we've just put part of our energy into just keeping this whole thing going and making it something that we look forward to every year and is sustainable, that we know we can do it year after year. We do it in such a way that, well, we keep everybody happy, basically, including ourselves.

And this would be our, the next year will be our 12th year doing it. And hopefully we've got many years yet to go.

[Stevan]

Does that sound right, Mandy?

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Stevan]

Was there anything else, other stories missing?

[Mandy]

I think one of the things for me was when we got back from that first Burning Man, we knew we wanted to keep going. And with Blazing Swan, we thought, oh, we can actually take something rather than just, you know, taking some stubby holders in a suitcase. We can actually take a whole thing.

And we didn't actually know you registered for theme camps that second year that we went. So we just turned up with the pool room, which is basically very similar to what it is now. It's not that much smaller.

We turned up and set up next to these guys who called themselves a roomer. They had a tent and a truck with a band on the back. And we've been camping next to them ever since, really.

But then they came and said, are you a theme camp? And we go, oh, no, oh, we're just here, we're just serving micheladas and doing what we do. So it was very much, we didn't sort of join the org and find out what you need to do with a theme camp.

And at that stage, you just turned up and we just set up a structure. So yeah, it was, as Mark says, grown a bit and we've got more people. We only had three people in the staff and we just had a bar.

We didn't do events, but that's actually the later part of the story is events. This is how we got to meet Jodie and the other lovely ladies from Fountain Lakes.

[Jodie]

The cackle of Cass.

[Mandy]

Yes, the cackle of Cass.

[Marcus]

Now I can elaborate a bit on sort of the ethos of the pool room, because it is a bit different than other theme camps at Blazing Swamp. We always wanted to have something that was on the street. So there was no barriers for anyone to come in.

So basically, the pool room is set up on the street. You're literally one step off the road and you're inside. And there's no walls as such, or there's minimal walls.

So it's open and there's enough shelter for the conditions. And we always wanted it to be a place where people came in and it's not, we don't play music generally. I mean, sometimes there might be a little bit, but it's a place of conversation and friendliness and welcome.

Now, everyone's welcome, of course, which, I mean, that applies anywhere at the Blaze, but it's probably especially so at our camp, because we've made it, that's our core value is everybody's welcome and we make them welcome. And we've managed to sort of keep that going, which, and the way we sort of do it, I think differentiates us from other camps. So anyone who's been there knows it's a place you can go, you can sit down, you can have a conversation or you can just sit in the corner quietly.

There's comfortable chairs, there's a bit of room. If you want to drink, there'll be something there for you to drink. If you're hungry, you'll probably get fed as well.

And there'll always be an ear you can bend and there'll always be somebody to bend your ear as well. So, I mean, that's what we do and that's what we're going to keep doing. And anything else we do is sort of always based around that and that's at the periphery, but that's our core value, I suppose you'd call it, and that's what we plan to keep doing for as long as we possibly can.

[Mandy]

And just to add to that, there's sometimes, and I feel it sometimes at Burning Man and other events, that there's a theme camp and you've got to go through a door. So you're committed and sometimes that can be really hard for people if they're not feeling confident about what's on the other side or they don't know that they feel like having a conversation. So our aim was always, there's not a door, you know, you're there, you can wander through and look at the knickknacks on the wall, but there's not a door, you don't have to commit to coming inside.

[Jodie]

It's like you're walking past someone's living room, that the walls have been taken down so you can have a snapshot anytime what's going on there, I think. And some people, you know, they do a drive-by and they decide, oh, I'll come back later. And then, you know, I think it's the couch that's called to a lot of people for a bit of comfort in the dust.

[Mandy]

And there weren't many comforted couches in the first few places either.

[Stevan]

Yeah, the open spaces really help to open the conversations.

[Mandy]

Yes, it does.

[Stevan]

So, Jodie, how did you get involved in the family, in the pool room family?

You've got an interesting story as well.

[Jodie]

Yeah, so our entry into the pool room was just as punters coming through. And I have to say the first year that I went to Blaze, I didn't, the first time I went to the pool room, I don't think I've told Marcus and Mandy this, it was closed, it was late at night, like it was probably like at one or two in the morning.

[Stevan]

I thought it was 24-7.

[Jodie]

No, no, it's generally not.

[Marcus]

It is sometimes, yes.

[Jodie]

But the setup is always there. So, as long as you're, I think, not too rowdy, I think people come all the time in the middle of the night, don't they, Mandy?

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Jodie]

And have a little, we probably sometimes have people sleeping on the couch or something in the morning.

[Marcus]

That's happened, yes.

[Jodie]

But it was very, very early, it was before I had a child, so I was out all night. And we just sort of sat in the pool room and had a quiet, stupid chat because it was the only place you could really sit. And we weren't ready to go back to camp and in the tents and that sort of thing.

So, that was my first experience. And then in the day, I also went by as well and got caught up, I think there was a Muriel's wedding event that was fantastic. But we, my friends and I were really, are really into Kath and Kim, obviously, and we love it.

We've had some parties and themes and just, you know, watch parties where you'll sit down with friends and a few drinks and binge. And it's very, such an Aussie culture, kind of concentrated culture, like the best and the worst of Australian culture, basically. So, we thought, wouldn't it be fantastic to do a Kath and Kim event?

Because we've done a few parties. And at the time, we were just in general, gen pop. We weren't affiliated with the same camp.

And we were like, well, we'd have to request to put it on somewhere. And of course, the natural answer was, let's ask the pool room, because it's perfect. It's aligned with their, you know, it just sits perfectly.

So, Bree, one of my mates, got in touch with Marcus and Mandy, and they were all for it. So, that's great. We had a few ideas and we settled on this kooky kind of concept of Arnott's Biscuits that you'd, like a tarot kind of set up that you'd get your biscuits read and find out what biscuit you are.

And we have a really cool kind of moving table that's like a Lazy Susan. It's a bit weird, but it works. And then all of the biscuits have a personality or a, anyway, so this was the event that we floated to them.

They're like, yep, do it. Let's do it. So, we settled on a day and I just, this is just burned in my memory.

That day we woke up and it was absolutely terrible weather. It had been raining heavily overnight before. It wasn't raining heavily, but it was like constant drizzle and it was dreary.

Everything was muddy. It was cold. And we were probably all a bit hungover.

And we were like, oh, we can't, like, we can't do it today because we need to be on the ground with our moving table and, you know, there's shelter at the pool room, but it's raining. There's not that much shelter. Look, let's tell them that we can't do it today or we'll postpone it.

So, me being the confident one, I was like, that's all right. I'll go and talk to them. I'll go and tell them that, you know, we're just, we're rethinking and we'll put it on later today or maybe tomorrow.

I went and spoke to Marcus and he's like, no, no, no, you do it or you don't do it. There's no, there's no if, there's no, it's on or it's not. It's very cut and dry.

And I was like, sounds fair. So, I went back to the cats and said, no, Marcus says we've got to put it on. So, then everyone's like, all right, then we pulled ourselves out, got ourselves together and did it.

And it was really, it was such a fantastic intro, I think, for what we've now done for four years. Was this our fourth year? No, I think it was, wasn't it, or three?

Yeah, anyway, we've changed it up each time, but the basic premise has been the same with Arnott's Biscuits and how they can kind of represent the ideals of the Australian culture within, you know, a personal sense. So, you could be a milk arrowroot, plain as a milk arrowroot biscuit. You could be a Kingston, you know, a Jax.

We had some tiny teddies. They're all in the mix and they all have a different kind of characteristic that we just indiscriminately choose for someone. But of course, the table will read your biscuit and tell you, you know, what fits for you.

And we've done it, we did it that first year and we were honoured to be asked by Marcus and Mandy if we'd like to join the pool room. Like it seriously was such an honour to be asked to join. And of course, we all said yes.

And within that space and that family, we just really feel at home and like we've been really made a part of the furniture, like the couches. And I think we all have our strengths and weaknesses and we all have different things that we bring. And I love what Marcus and Mandy can sort of, as the figureheads of our family, they set it up for us to just fit within and they're absolutely wonderful to work with.

And I've just had the best time. It makes me with a little one, it just makes things so, so effortless because you have a family you can rely on and they know they can rely on us. So, yeah, we love it.

[Marcus]

Can I just defend myself a little bit here? One of the things I really love about Blazers and Boons in general is the fact that they go on regardless of the conditions. And I've seen it so often and I'm just so impressed by the fact that no matter what the weather or the conditions, dust, rain, heat, everything, we've had every imaginable awful condition, yet the thing still goes on.

And I've always amazed when we might have the most terrible night, rain pouring down, mud everywhere, structures on the ground. But in the morning, there'll always be somebody wandering up the road soaked to the skin as if everything was fine and they're just enjoying themselves just the same. And I just love the way that the events just go on regardless.

And I guess that's why I was a little bit hard on you, Jodie.

[Jodie]

No, it was very, it was actually needed. We needed just like, you know.

[Marcus]

Well, it's another one of our core principles.

[Jodie]

Yeah, suck it up.

[Marcus]

Yes, okay.

[Jodie]

Princesses.

[Marcus]

It's not changing.

[Mandy]

It's good, I love it. I can remember that first year you did the tarot reading because you were going to do a couple of sittings and I think you did 96 readings that day, that first one. It was just, people were just queuing up to get their biscuits read.

You know, am I really a Kingston or not?

[Jodie]

Yeah, and also Brie and Renee, they wore their wigs out, I think, and did mobile tarot biscuit readings, you know, like just never ending. It was such a hoot. It's so much fun.

[Stevan]

What do you think of the reception of burners? Like when you do this kind of crazy stuff?

[Jodie]

Oh, they love it. It's just like, it's kooky as, like it's nuts. It doesn't make sense, but, and because we're all, of course, we're all in costume.

And yeah, some people have never, they don't know Kath and Kim at all, but they're just into it. It doesn't matter. It's loose.

You would keep it. Yeah, you got it. I think it's, I think it's really that sort of off the wall tangent that just fits so well within the burn community.

I think people love a concept, but if you just take it to the limit, it just gets outrageous and it's so much fun.

[Stevan]

I think if you've got something outrageous or something fun or something ridiculous, right? The burn, the blaze setting is a perfect, a perfect audience, right? Yeah, they'll be like real time on the spot, go with the flow, stuff like that.

And, you know, they'll have a laugh as well.

[Jodie]

Yeah. And I mean, the pool room is all about like that quintessential Aussie culture, you know, the vibe of the thing. And so lots of people will have, you know, international travelers and stuff that don't know much about, they might've heard of the pool room.

They may not have seen the movie, but they might've heard of it. But it's fairly neat. Kath and Kim's kind of neat.

So it sits well within the pool room, but it's sort of a tangent that complements that sort of Aussie cringe humor so well. But it's, yeah, it really, but burners, even if they don't know anything about it, they just roll with it. They don't care.

[Mandy]

We just tell them to do their homework, go and watch the movie.

[Marcus]

Look, I might have to jump in here because we haven't spoken about this yet. But the basis of the pool room is the movie, The Castle, and the pool room is set up in sort of like the pool room in The Castle, where there's all the, you know, there's all the trashy sort of, you know, Aussie souvenirs and all that sort of stuff on the walls. So it was always envisioned to be sort of an extension of The Castle and the pool room from The Castle, which everyone in Australia knows exactly what that is.

But overseas travellers don't, so we have a bit of fun trying to explain it to them. Usually we don't. They have to get it on.

They have to get it themselves. But it is based heavily on The Castle and some of the events we do are based heavily on that. But as it's Australia's most favourite movie and everyone knows it, knows all the characters and knows everything about it, we have no trouble sort of going with that.

And it seems to be a really solid basis to break down everyone's barriers, which it does instantly in most cases. Yeah. Sorry, we hadn't explained that first up, but anyway, I just did.

[Mandy]

And it is interesting because you get taken by surprise sometimes. I can remember the second year we were there, we'd just set up and this guy, he was South African, he came past and he grabbed a shovel that was lying there and he came up and he said, I've dug a hole. I just went with the quote from the pool room straight away.

[Jodie]

So Dale dug a hole.

[Mandy]

Dale dug a hole. And so it was just lovely that enough people have got to go, oh, yeah, it's a vibrant thing or jousting sticks.

So I'm dreaming, you know, there's enough of that which carries along. And the memorabilia we have on the pool room walls, we specifically set it up to mimic a number of those things. And we did actually have a collection of spoons rack.

We had the rack, but just two spoons in it. Sort of a bit sad, you know, two spoons. But now everyone keeps bringing us spoons every year.

We've filled the rack, but it was all meant to be a bit of a joke that we had a rack for spoons, but no memorabilia. That's gone.

[Stevan]

Okay. Let's describe for the listeners out there, like what is the setting? What is the space?

And what is like the vibe you're going for, for the pool room? How would you describe it? What kind of memorabilia and all that stuff you have as well?

[Mandy]

Yeah. So you've got to have the bar. The bar's the key part.

And of course it's got padded vinyl with studs on the front. And as everyone who grew up in the seventies or maybe the eighties, there was the pine veneer panelling. So we've actually got solid walls.

A lot of places don't have solid walls. We've got the solid walls that are back inside with this proper pine veneer panelling. And then we have the knickknack.

So there's the, there's the, it's like the mantelpiece, isn't it?

[Jodie]

Mantelpiece, all the souvenirs on the mantel. Yeah.

[Mandy]

So there's like the PhD certificate for Carla doing a hairdressing, you know. And if you know the movie, you'll know all the bits and pieces. There's the elephant with the trunk up.

There's the, you know, the poppies. Coco, there's the racing photos.

[Jodie]

Coco, son of Coco.

[Mandy]

Coco, the greyhound. And that was always a nice one to, as people came up to the bar, they'd look at the, at the greyhound racing pictures of Coco and we'd always say, oh, look, it's just gone downhill since that greyhound bloodbathing. So.

So there's, there's that sort of stuff. And we've got beautiful leopard skin lamp shade on the lamp stand. Yeah.

And the, and the clock, the cuckoo clock and the, and the, you know, the, a snow dome, you know, those sorts of things on, on the.

[Jodie]

Kitsch.

[Mandy]

Kitsch.

Kitsch. And people bring us things.

[Marcus]

Yeah.

[Mandy]

Oh, I was thinking about you guys. I saw this.

[Jodie]

Straight to the pool room.

[Mandy]

Straight to the pool room.

[Marcus]

So there's plenty of castle kitsch.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Marcus]

And of course, and we have, and this is one of the perennial jokes, is we've got a full set of pool cues and balls, you know, with a triangle and we've even got some chalk for the end of the pool cues, no pool table and we've got a dart board, but we've got no darts. The whole thing's a bit of a joke and occasionally we have to defend the fact that we haven't got a pool table. And usually I just say, look, we were going to bring it, but we left it in the driveway and we got all the way up here before we remembered.

So yeah, but anyway, it's, we've been, I think we've been through every joke in the castle about a hundred times and we're still laughing at all of them, you know, so.

[Stevan]

Yeah. It never gets old.

[Marcus]

It never gets old. But as I said, you know, we've been doing this for 11 years now and the jokes don't get old. I don't know how.

They just don't.

[Jodie]

Well, it's like Shakespeare. They can always be reinvented and reinvigorated for a new audience. That's right.

[Stevan]

And there's always new generations, you know, curious about it.

[Mandy]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jodie]

Yeah.

And I.

[Mandy]

Sorry, go on.

[Jodie]

I was going to say, I like the no parking signs that were, what were they, Marcus? The politicians.

[Marcus]

Oh, what do we have here? Every year there's something new. Yeah.

[Mandy]

There was an election last year just after Blaze and we have a Muriel's wedding anniversary often as an event. And from Muriel's wedding, you know, Muriel's dad is the is the mayor of Corpus Spit. But we did up little signs with his face on saying, you know, vote one, you know.

And I did catch a couple of rangers reading the sign and saying, I'm not sure that we're allowed political advertising. I can't stop progress.

[Jodie]

That's right. And the couches, I think, are the perfect, I mean, the bar is the focal point. So everyone comes in, walks straight to the bar.

That's where you're drawn into. But then, you know, you'll get yourself a drink, sit down and have a chat. There's a couple of coffee tables that usually have, you know, some nibbles, some dusty peanuts or a couple of chisels.

And it's just a place where people can just, I think, unwind. And some people stay a long time. Some people stay a short time.

I think it's got a little bit of something for everyone. Yeah.

[Stevan]

You guys put a lot of, sorry, go for it.

[Mandy]

No, no. I was just going to say there was this, yeah, there's a place for people to come. But what we try and do is anyone who walks in, there's usually someone behind the bar and we always have a conversation.

It's not about just coming and get a free drink and sit down and talk to other people. No, you come in and you actually have a chat.

[Jodie]

That's right. There's an exchange. There's a connection.

You're making connections. Yeah.

[Stevan]

And there's a lot to admire as well, like a lot of stories, I guess, like all the decorations you do. You put a lot of attention to detail. So what's the build like for you guys?

Like how do you guys, when you put it together that week, is it hard?

[Marcus]

I can answer that. No. No, we're pretty good campers and we came up with a sort of a structure that is easy to put up, lightweight, we can get it up there.

We're from the South Coast, Albany, so it's nearly a 400 kilometre trip for us to bring everything up. So we can get it up there and put it up pretty easily. And it's been up through all the different weathers that blaze has thrown at us.

And it stays up, keeps the wind out, keeps the sun off our heads, and it does the job. But it's nothing overly complicated. It's just simple, but it works.

So we'll just keep sticking with that. It's a basic marquee type structure, but very simplified and it does the job for us. And then within that, there's sort of the walls of this mythical pool room set up in the middle of it and the sort of comfy lounge area.

And as I said, we've been through every sort of weather with it and it's just sat there and we've never had one single issue that I can remember once with it. So we're just going to keep doing it as it is.

[Mandy]

And as we build, it's quite, because we have a purpose, a trailer that's specific and everything goes in it, all the walls go in order, couches, all the rest of the bits and pieces. But when it comes to hanging up the knickknacks, it's like, oh, who's got a photo from last year? What goes in this, on this hanger, you know, but, and we will circulate a few because we get new little special things that have been brought and put up.

We have to keep moving it, but just get a break and break away the double G's and we've got the floor and off you go.

[Jodie]

It is, it's a marvel to behold. It truly is.

[Stevan]

And how big is the camp now? How many people do you have?

[Marcus]

It's about between 20 and 25 at the moment.

And that's sort of- Starting from three people? Yes. Three people. It started at three and it's been three and four for quite a while and then it's just slowly grown. And we're going to keep it at this, this is as big as we can get physically.

So we'll leave it at that. And most years we invite people who wouldn't normally come to the blaze. So we invite them to become part of the camp.

And you know, sometimes people from overseas, you know, there's a whole variety of people and they can come and experience it and then go on their way and we try and keep that up. So there's always a spot or two for people who we can bring into this thing and show them what it is. So yeah, it's going to be that 20 to 25 people from now on, I think.

[Mandy]

Which is about the right sort of size. I know a lot of the bigger camps and they've got big commitments and big structures and so they have to have bigger staff. I suppose because we've got a few more events now when we started doing different events and we usually have three or four over the time.

And they might be scheduled for an hour, but they seem to go for quite a bit longer than that.

[Jodie]

But it's hard to stop, it is hard to stop.

[Mandy]

When you're serving Glamingtons, that's Lamingtons with a little dollop of cream on, you know, people just keep coming in. And so, yeah, we need, it's good because people don't necessarily have a big time commitment at the bar. We keep things pretty cheap.

People can go off and do other things, but there's always usually someone at the bar. We're not really, although Jodie, as she said, things can kick on at the pool room at night, but we're a daytime bar.

[Jodie]

Yeah, definitely. Anything that happens at night is usually a bit more family oriented, isn't it? It's just sort of the home crew kicking on before they go out for a couple of blow-ins.

[Marcus]

No, no, it's whatever happens, yeah, we've, it can be very sedate or very, you know, or it can be, we've had some wild times there.

[Mandy]

I've missed those ones. In your sort of, um, at your level.

[Marcus]

Yeah, yeah.

[Stevan]

So what other events are you guys famous for, the pool room is famous for? You've got the Glamingtons, you've got the Arnott's Biscuit Reading.

[Mandy]

We had the Aussie Icons Party. That was awesome. Well, Kerrigan's wedding anniversary, yeah, was, I suppose, our first sort of event, and then that sort of morphed into a few things.

And then when the Cats joined us, we have a bit of a mix of those. We did have the Castle pub quiz one time, which was great fun. A sing-along as well?

We had a sing-along, Kerrigan family sing-along. That was fantastic. It was low-key, but it was so relaxing.

And people who never wanted to sing or come along to a sing-along came along and sang, so, you know, that was.

[Stevan]

Well, the Castle was not a musical.

[Mandy]

No, but we managed to get the Kerrigan family to have an instrument, but yeah.

[Stevan]

I reckon next time you guys should do a Castle musical, then a stage show or something.

[Mandy]

Well, like Keating or Warnie or something.

[Jodie]

I mean, we're blessed to have some quite creative and talented people within our midst. So, yeah, Mandy and Marcus's daughter is a wonderful performer and she teamed up with, was it Zach?

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Jodie]

Yeah, one of the other kids, I say kids, they're adults, but it was, you know, I think resting on the skill set that we have and being flexible and changing it up, you know, like nothing needs to be really set in stone. I think being able to work with that sort of pool of creativity is really a way to reinvent and just, you know, go with the flow and find something new and engaging each time.

[Mandy]

The vents are fun though, they really are. We have a lot of fun and some of the creativity of people who come along, you know, is just fabulous, fabulous.

[Jodie]

Who knew Erin Patterson was going to show up for the Aussie Awards and that she would bring a plate, you know, heaven forbid she'd bring a Beef Wellington.

[Mandy]

And Erin was going to actually do Beef Wellington Roulette, she was going to have two trays, which tray would you like to choose? And she's going, it's not too soon, is it?

[Jodie]

It was too good, that's for sure, it was too good.

[Marcus]

But I'd have to kick in and say, other than the set of events we have, which, you know, because they go into the guide or the, pretty much it's an app now, a dust app it's called, which all the events have a time and a place, other than the set events, which have to have a time, we have no roster, there is no obligation on anyone to do anything at all, the thing just runs itself, there's no pressure on anyone to be there or do anything.

It just seems to work, so we're going to keep it that way and anyone who's a, you know, a member of the theme camp has no obligation to do anything at all, but of course, everything happened like clockwork.

[Jodie]

We all pull in and it all gets done and it is fantastic, it's amazing how it works.

[Stevan]

So let's explain to the listeners, like the geography of where Albany is and where you are, Jodie, and then how you guys are coming together in Kulin.

[Jodie]

Yeah, yeah. So I live on a farm in the Northern, well sort of, it's called the Midwest, but it's sort of the Northern end of the wheat belt and Kulin's kind of sort of towards the South of the wheat, I know Mandy's probably better than me at explaining, but it's where our farm is still the wheat belt, which Kulin is, but it's a completely different location and climate and then these guys are from much, much further South than that. So we all have, I think, a bit of a rural identity, I think, and it's really, I feel quite connected to the event in Kulin because especially when you get to catch up with people who are from there and you can have a chat, you know, I think it really is important to sort of pin you to the place and the history and all of that. I think that I feel quite blessed to have that identity within the Blaise community.

I don't, obviously not that many people do because most will be coming from the city. But it's really nice, I think, to have that vantage point and have an input when you are chatting to people, because, of course, people always say where are you from and that kind of thing. Yeah, so and like the Tin Horse Experience, who for the last few years have always been quite close to the pool room, they're affiliated with Kulin Arts and also the Community Resource Network, which I work for the Community Resource Network here in Kalannie.

So it's really, it's amazing how community has that network and has a way of just finding, you know, you can find your people, you can find your community very easily within another community. It's really, I think it's really engaging.

[Marcus]

So just to put it into perspective, from Albany to, sorry, Albany is about not quite 400 kilometres south of Kulin and Kalannie is probably the best part of 400 kilometres north of Kulin and Perth's about 400 odd kilometres west of Kulin. You're talking about a pretty big area that draws people in from all of that. And that's, I mean, that's pretty normal here in WA, but by some standards, you know, by other places' standards, yeah, there's some big distances involved, but we'll deal with that without any trouble.

In fact, I think we all love the distance, to be honest.

[Mandy]

It's nice with people from the metro area, from Perth and Fremantle and not the Western Australia has very many other bigger cities like Bunbury or whatever, but they get a chance to connect with the rural community and being out in the environment, which a lot of people don't really get that chance. And not many people go out to the outer wheat belt by choice. They might go down the coast camping or touring or holidaying, but being drawn out to the wheat belt on this incredible salt lake with the granite rocks, where the blaze is, it's just a special, special sight as well.

[Stevan]

Yeah, you guys are representing the country folks. It's great. Most of the blazes are coming from the city.

So, yeah, we need more representation, I think.

[Mandy]

It's starting to grow, I reckon.

[Stevan]

I remember the Dunsborough and the Margaret River folks were coming to the first few blazes.

[Marcus]

They're still coming.

[Stevan]

Yeah, they're still coming.

[Marcus]

Yeah, they're still there.

[Mandy]

And they run the most fabulous event, the big dress parade, which is such a favourite for everybody. So that's really nice. And they do such great food service as well.

And I think we started the same year that they... Oh, they might have come to the first one, I think, but we're camped opposite them. So we've sort of got to know them over the years and they're firm friends as well, because they do some great stuff.

[Stevan]

So who are normally your neighbours? It's the Tin Horse Experience and...

[Mandy]

Aruma. I think every year we've been either right next to or straight across the road from Aruma.

[Jodie]

I love last year being next to the Simpsons house. That was awesome.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Stevan]

So you get to the pool room and Moe's Tavern.

[Jodie]

Yeah. Yeah, Moe's and Simpsons house was really close last year. They were a little bit further away this most recent blaze.

Yeah, which I get. I understand. But I did really like that they're our neighbours.

[Marcus]

The theme camp locations change over time and they're shuffled around a bit. But in general, the sound camps are sort of at the bottom of the site. And as you move up towards the top of the site, they get quieter and quieter.

We're up in the top third, I suppose, where there's not a lot of loud music all night. But there are camps that have music and live performances and things. But we're at the quieter end of the spectrum, I suppose.

And the camps move around. But we have had some firm neighbours over the years. And of course, we all get on really well and help each other out when required.

[Stevan]

So running a theme camp, what do you think the purpose of a theme camp is at these events? Because it's quite unique, right? You don't really see these kind of activities or these kind of setups in any other festivals or gatherings.

[Mandy]

It gives us more of a chance to have great fun. That's why I do it anyway. And I get to run a bar.

It was something I was never able to do, even as a teenager, to work in a bar. Now I've got my own bloody bar. And I can stand leaning on the bar and serve people drinks all night if I want.

So that's my self-fulfilling purpose of having a theme camp. It's a little bit of structure. But it gives people an opportunity to be creative and an opportunity to actually participate in things.

Because sometimes people... We're all used to observing, not participating when we do go to stuff. And theme camps invite participation.

And so that's fabulous. And I think also, once you run a theme camp, you probably really always want to be part of a theme camp because of that extra engagement, extra immersion in the whole thing.

[Jodie]

You do feel like you're part of the furniture because you're able to... Because you have the privilege of being able to camp where your theme camp is. So it does feel like you're more in the heart of it.

And I think that does... I think you feel more... You're not just a spectator so much.

You're more of a participant. It does feel like you've got a lot more engagement, definitely, in the culture and in the community. And then you're able to welcome the dusty, weary blazer in and get them involved as well.

It does have that sort of warmth of being able to give back to the community. I like that aspect of it.

[Mandy]

One thing... We'll often heckle... Sorry.

We'll often heckle from the bar, like people walking past sort of looking around. You go, right, you, get over here. Come on, have a drink.

Come on, have a chat.

[Jodie]

That's it, yeah.

[Mandy]

They go, oh, okay. So we do harass people who are still trying to work out how to participate.

[Jodie]

Yeah, that's right.

[Marcus]

One thing that I've always been... This is from day one, I think, from the first minute I got through the gate at Birding Man, was I was amazed by the mix of artistry and practicality. There were people there who were sort of pretty much off with the fairies in their own little fantasy worlds.

There were people who were only there to drive around in V8s and blow things up and burn things. Everyone got on just fine. I just thought, yeah, this is incredible.

The fact that all these people from these different extremes can get together and make this thing work, and not only work, make it work like nothing else. There's always an element of that at any burn or any blaze. So there's the sort of the art of a theme camp, I suppose.

But then there's the practicality of making it happen and keeping it going and keeping it running. And I guess that side of me, I enjoy the idea that the practicality of getting this theme camp there, getting it set up, making it work, hopefully flawlessly for the whole event, packing it up and getting it out of there. And then having the energy to bring it back next year and keep doing it.

And I love that side of it. And I'm proud that we've been able to do that for this long. And it's a mix of skills and sort of, I guess, ethoses and personalities come together.

And I'm not sure there's anything else that brings those sort of things together like something like Blaze or Burning Man or something like that.

[Stevan]

Also, is it like having a theme camp, it's like a sense of duty that you want to impart the Aussie culture for other people to enjoy as well?

[Marcus]

Well, look, really, I mean, the Aussie culture thing is it's, I mean, I can bring it back to the movie, The Castle. It's the movie where everyone's laughing at the castle, the people in the castle, but we're laughing with them as well because we're all embarrassed by it. But we know that that's us down at our core.

So it's Aussie culture.

[Jodie]

There's a little piece of them in all of us, isn't there?

[Marcus]

Exactly.

[Jodie]

A little tiny snippet.

[Stevan]

It's relatable.

[Marcus]

So we're laughing at ourselves, but we're also laughing at Australian culture in general. So that covers a lot of ground.

So there's not many people won't fit in there somewhere. So yeah, it's not a commitment to Aussie culture. It's just that you can have a lot of fun with it and we do.

[Jodie]

It's sort of as I think it's a way to connect with people. You have a common, you know, there's a conversation starter. It's a very straightforward way of starting a conversation.

If they know about it, then it's easy. And if they don't, they're going to ask a question. And, you know, and then because we're proud of it, we're happy to tell them all about it with that sense of pride and purpose.

But it's like, you know, I think Blaze is great for that because everyone's sort of so wildly flamboyant sometimes. But that's a way to connect because you can say, oh gosh, I love you sparkly, whatever. And, you know, we all have a way of finding a common ground.

And yeah, the castle and, you know, what we've been able to put together with the pool room. I think it's, yeah, it's definitely that sort of working class hero ideal.

[Stevan]

Yeah, that sense of finding your people, the sense of belonging. Like you said, the Kath and Kim thing, it's niche. But once you find the people that's into it, you're going to have a ball, right?

[Jodie]

Yeah, that's right.

[Stevan]

That's where it becomes magical, I guess. Yeah, trying to find your own people.

[Jodie]

And I mean, Aussies love to send each other up and that's what it's all about. Like, you know, like Kath, no one, no, imagine if Kath was your mum. But I have to say, there's so much about Kath that was exactly like my mum.

So, you know, we just love to send each other up.

[Mandy]

Yeah, having, just having that ability to, or not an ability, an opportunity, creating an opportunity to explore conversations with people. Whether they get the, you know, the pool room or the Kath and Kim thing, we provide a lighthearted entry to have a conversation. And it's incredible what some people bring or do in their default world or what their experiences are, where they've come from.

And it gives you a chance to actually explore that. You have some just ridiculously wild but wonderful conversations because the pool room gives you permission to just start going, Oi, come over, like, we're going to have a talk, you know, come and chat. So you break down that barrier.

I know some of the bigger camps, like Burning Man, for example, it's all about you going in with your friends and creating your space with your friends. But you don't necessarily interact with others. But that's what you really want to break down.

So, and, you know, that might be people who've not been before. And they're all a bit trying to work out what the hell's going on because they don't really have an idea. Or it might be people who don't feel that they're a big party dance fiend, but they came along anyway.

And they can find a space where they don't have to be smirkle ponied up and rave from 2am to 8am, you know, they can come and have just as good a time during the daytime, which is sort of what we tend to, well, when I say we, I'm talking about Marcus and I, we tend to be the not out past midnight most of the times.

[Jodie]

I don't know, I've seen you with guys out and about in the ladybug. Yes.

[Stevan]

So the ladybug is a vehicle that you guys turned into an art car.

[Marcus]

Oh, yeah, yeah. We've had a, over the time of Blazing Swan, we've had, we've made three mutant vehicles. They're all still operating.

We don't have the ability to bring them all at once because logistics is a thing, unfortunately. It's probably the biggest limiting factor for a lot of camps is just getting the stuff up there and back. And the ability to do that is quite difficult.

But at the moment we're taking up two at a time and that's all we have the ability to do. We've only got so many vehicles and trailers and things we can take up. Yeah, the ladybug's just a, well, it's a ladybug.

[Jodie]

I don't know how to describe it. Isn't it the little bugger? Isn't that the little bugger?

[Marcus]

Yeah, it's called a little bugger. And it's a fluffy ladybug, a ladybug that you can drive around in. Yeah.

It's very cute. It's ridiculous. It's obscenely cute, I think.

[Jodie]

It's very cute. But it's really a single, it's just one person vehicle, really. We have put a couple of people in, but it doesn't do well.

They have to be small.

[Mandy]

And for me, I love riding around the ladybug. But one of the things I really like about it was it used to be my dad's old shop rider. So, and my dad who passed away many years ago, I think he would be absolutely thrilled to see his shop rider done like this.

People go, oh, can you pimp up my shop rider? Can we have it like that? But yeah, it's a really lovely little car that you can tootle around in and have a lot of fun.

But Marcus has created the other two that we take.

[Stevan]

Yes, Marcus, would you like to describe that? One of them is very famous. I've seen pictures around.

[Marcus]

Well, it's been around a long time. I think it's been around since the earliest couple of Blazers. And look, it's just a giant Esky.

And that sort of fits in with our theme of Aussie family life. Who hasn't got a big blue Esky somewhere stashed away in the shed? So we thought, oh, we'll make a bloody big one and figured out how to do it.

It's been a just reliable workhorse for all these years.

[Jodie]

It's an icon. It's a pool room icon.

[Marcus]

Well, it is now. But the thing, we kept it going. It's had a few mechanical issues that we've sorted out over the years.

And I built it to last probably one year. And it's probably into its 10th or 11th year now and still going strong. So yeah, it's a real workhorse.

You can load it up with, well, you can load it up with ice for starters. It does get used to ferry ice around. But you can also put kids in it.

We've carted sort of small structures. And we just use it as a workhorse. And it'll fit a few people in.

And it's just been such a good thing. And it fits in with the theme of the camp. So I guess that'll be around.

One year, we didn't bring it. We brought another vehicle. And all I got for the whole time was people saying, where's the Esky?

How come it's not here? And I had to apologize. It was missed, yeah.

I think we had to bring it back the next year. And we did make another vehicle. We made it for Pox Eclipse, actually, sort of more of a Mad Max-themed thing.

And that was, what did we call it? Apocalypse Now, I think it's called. And it's a replica of the little boy atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

But sort of a cartoon version, I guess you'd call it. And it's pretty heavily armed with weapons. And it's just a vehicle you can get around in.

We brought it to the blaze once. And it's pretty scary to look at, to be honest. A lot of people didn't know what to make of it.

But some people liked it. And in the end, I think everyone got what it was, that it was actually a joke. And some people said, yeah, we really liked that one.

And other people just ignored us, as if we were insane for driving around in it. I think we also had some old World War I equipment from my family, like old helmets from the First World War. And I think we had some other weapons and things we took.

So it was a pretty, I don't know what the word is, a pretty daunting thing to have. Confronting. We had fun with it.

It was confronting, yeah. But it was designed to be confronting. We had that for a year.

It didn't fit in with the pool room theme, I can tell you that. But we might bring it back one year. We're not quite sure where the boundaries are with Blazing Swan.

We haven't found them yet. We did have Fort Swan. So yeah, that was like an army.

That's right. Yeah. So it's in line with what Fort Swan used to do.

And as they haven't been there for many years, well, we thought we'd take up the mantle a little bit. And we'll take it back to Pox Eclipse as well at some stage. Probably in this year, yeah, where it belongs, really.

But a mutant vehicle's a mutant vehicle. I mean, I haven't seen the rule book for what you can and can't do yet.

[Stevan]

There was a great one this year, the washing machine.

[Mandy]

Oh, lovely.

[Jodie]

Oh, that was fantastic.

[Marcus]

The ultimate.

[Jodie]

That was so good.

[Marcus]

I have never laughed so much. I think we had a parade of all the mutant vehicles. Because I was the slowest in our escue, I had to bring up the front and be at the front.

And the washing machine spent its time directly behind me. And I think I laughed for about one hour straight. It was so damn funny and so well done.

Yeah. Every time the head popped out of the guy inside driving it, popped his head out of the washing machine with a set of undies over his head, I laughed.

[Jodie]

It was genius. I mean, that's what I love. I love the tangents.

I love a tangent, just pushing it to the limit. Just the absolute creativity of going as far as you can with the concept. It's just so funny.

I think it's genius.

[Mandy]

And the lovely thing about the washing machine, it was actually quite fast. It was nippy. So it was doing laps around, which made it even more spectacular.

[Jodie]

And so manoeuvrable. It could spin on nothing, like it would turn on a dime. Yeah, all the kids loved the washing machine.

Yeah, it was a really good one.

[Marcus]

One of the ultimate mutant vehicles of all time, I'd say. Genius, as everyone else has just said.

[Stevan]

Cool. Can we chat a bit about larrikinism, the Aussie humour? The dry sense of humour is what we're known for.

How would you describe the Aussie humour for the listeners out there?

[Mandy]

Oh, self-depreciating? I don't know. Yeah, it's really hard to.

But for me, it's about enjoying the silliness and enjoying normalness, but making it fun or making it special, really, I suppose.

[Jodie]

And I think maybe poking fun. And I think sometimes it doesn't go over with an international audience, because poking fun in a light-hearted way might be misinterpreted as being unkind. But in some ways, it sort of is a little bit.

But with love, it's sort of like...

[Marcus]

I've found that by the time your average international, you know, backpacker or somebody who's out on a working visa or... By the time they get to Blazing Swan, they've already figured all that out. They might be scratching their heads.

They may not get things, and they may not necessarily find it funny, but they're pretty accepting of it. And bearing in mind that over the years, a huge percentage of the people at Blazing Swan are international visitors of one sort or another, you know, probably as much as 30, 40% some years. I couldn't put a figure to it, but it seems to be, you know, a huge proportion.

And you've got to remember that WA is, you know, generally, the country, once you get outside the metro area, the country is run by backpackers on their working visas. And there's a lot of them there. And Blazing Swan does attract a lot of them.

But they generally get that, yeah, they're not in Europe anymore. And they do appreciate it.

[Mandy]

Especially the Irish, they get it.

[Marcus]

They don't have to get it. They can teach us a thing or two about self-depreciation.

[Jodie]

But I think, yeah, larrikin is an interesting concept. It is quintessentially an Australian kind of affectation, you know, just to kind of poke fun and to see the, you know, like to look at things from the bright side in a way, but in a really, even when things are, you know, the downtrodden, it's sort of, you know, trying to lighten it, trying to lift it up, you know. And I think there's elements of that at Blaze when, you know, there's been a terrible storm and everyone's cold and wet.

And you just got to carry on and make the best of it and make it. And then you make your own fun. Like no one's suffering.

[Marcus]

I think, look, in one of the early years, something's been stuck in my memory ever since. There was a guy who came to Blaze and he wandered around for, I can't remember the weather being particularly good or not. It was pretty raining and pretty wet as well as hot and windy, of course.

But he wandered around for the entire event and he had a goon bag tied onto his big toe that he dragged along in the dirt behind him. And he was dressed pretty much as if he'd just come from a homeless camp somewhere. And he wandered around and the whole event like that.

And when he sat down with us, he was perfectly capable of having a fairly intellectual conversation on any subject that you wanted. And I remember being impressed that this guy's got it right. Yep.

He knows what's up. He was having the time of his life. Yeah.

And that was just one little, tiny little snippet from an old Blaze that I haven't forgotten yet. I don't know who this guy was.

[Jodie]

Where was he from?

[Marcus]

I have no idea. I have no idea.

[Stevan]

It seems like he came from Shitgift.

[Marcus]

Yeah, probably. He might have passed by. He might have, yeah, I don't know, maybe you gave him a bit of spring.

[Stevan]

He's a member of Shitgift.

[Marcus]

Was he?

[Stevan]

No, I'm just...

[Marcus]

Oh, he couldn't be. Yes. I've only got the memory, but I'm not going to...

[Stevan]

The goon and hobo vibes.

[Marcus]

Absolutely. He nailed it completely.

Bare feet with double G's sticking out of all his toes.

[Mandy]

Oh my God.

[Jodie]

Sounds like a crazy guy.

[Mandy]

There was a guy coping with the double G's that I thought was pretty good because I don't think he brought shoes, but he'd got the one litre cool drink bottles and he'd cut the tops out so his feet fitted in the one litre drink bottle containers so he could walk around on that getting double G's. So that was pretty good. You know.

[Marcus]

Kulin clogs, they're called.

[Stevan]

The definition of a larrikin that's been offered is a mischievous young person, an uncultivated rowdy, but good hearted person. So that's what you're talking about. And also a person who acts with apparent disregard for social or political conventions.

So in a way, I think this is kind of relatable, like the larrikin kind of sense of humour, the nature. It fits in well with, I guess, the Burning Man culture because that's where all the cacophony society and all the pranking comes from, you know, all the shenanigans.

[Marcus]

You can also add to that a disregard to safety sometimes.

[Jodie]

Isn't it safety first?

[Marcus]

Safety last, yeah. You perfectly summed up the ethos of the events and some of the themes of Blazing Swan over the year are sort of bordered on that sort of idea. There was Happy is Larry one year, which pretty much sums it up and I think there was Beyond the Black Stump, which sort of, it's there as well.

Yeah, so it's not, we're not coming up with something new here.

[Stevan]

But I was hoping that was the direction that would go, like the iconic Beyond the Black Stump kind of.

[Mandy]

Yeah, keep on that line, yeah. It is funny though, because I can remember, you know, speaking of icons and that would be the Church of Belligerence and their usual style of, and I'm not sure whether I can swear on this podcast or not, just.

[Stevan]

Of course you can.

[Mandy]

Well, you know, you go into the church, to the bar and they go, fuck off. You know, if you're not used to it, you go, oh, hang on a minute. Yeah, but you get into the banter of it and that's the beauty and the joy that they brought to Blaze.

[Jodie]

They wouldn't take your order unless you asked for a fucking drink. Like, don't say please, like, give me a fucking drink. If you said, can I please have a drink, I'd just walk off and ignore you.

You had to be belligerent.

[Mandy]

After this, another member of our camp and I, we were at the Big Burn and this camp we're just sitting up, it was called the Belligerent Saloon and we went, oh, you beauty. So we went over and rode up and just threw a bike on the ground in front of the door, you know, like, excuse me, you can't do that. No, no, no, no.

We went in and went, give us a fucking drink. And they just looked at us with utter horror that we were these people just swearing.

[Jodie]

Misinterpreted it.

[Mandy]

Belligerent Saloon. In the end, I think Anne said, it's not very fucking belligerent, is it? So we had to leave.

But that, I think, is a bit of a difference. You can get away with it a bit more in Australia. Maybe, yeah, maybe I'm just, but that was my experience.

They weren't quite at the same level of belligerent, which was exciting.

[Marcus]

Look, they weren't even close. I mean, if we had to modify our language quite a lot, because if you sort of, you know, were speaking the way we normally speak, there would be quite a few long silences in the conversation where everyone came to grips with what you just said. You do have to modify your language in the US in particular, probably nowhere else, but certainly in the US.

The larrikin culture that you're talking about, it doesn't really, yeah, it's a whole different thing there. They're polite people and the politeness might only be surface deep, but they do take it seriously.

[Mandy]

They still have lots of fun and they do, you know, they do kooky things, but I think Blaise in particular, well, no, Australians in particular, just take it to that next sort of level. I had a lovely experience, I don't know whether it fits here, but I had a lovely experience at Aurora this last year where I got to be one of the handful of people that got to go to the Bougainville digger station lunch, which was such a beautifully curated menu by Willem, you know, starting out with the first on the menu was octopus consomme, but it was actually the little boy's sable was cut so that they expanded out like the octopuses in hot water, you know, it was just lovely. And the creme brulee came out with the torch to brown the sugar surface was actually soaked wheat bits in milk with sugar. That was the creme brulee, it was just gorgeous, but that's the sort of humour that I just loved.

[Jodie]

And I think the Australian kind of way of not taking yourself too seriously, like being serious, but then being able to do it in such a way that, you know, you do it well, but then you have to like also give yourself a bit of shit for it, you know, like it's hard to explain, it's hard to put your finger exactly on it, but you're not half-assing it, but then you're sort of like that self-deprecating humour that Mandy was mentioning, you're sort of, you're trying to do things the best way you can, but then you're kind of still tongue in cheek, laughing at yourself for trying too hard or, you know, going to the extreme.

[Mandy]

The other thing I love, particularly around, and it happens at quite a few of the theme camps, but with the events that we hold and people coming in character and taking on those characters which do that, you know, so it gives you the opportunity to really, you know, play that role. And I don't know whether you remember, and I'm just trying to remember his name, but it was following the Australian of the Year nominees that go from Simmon Heights High, what's his name? Anyway, he did a show.

[Jodie]

Oh, Chris Lilley.

[Mandy]

Chris Lilley and the character of Pat Rollins, the woman who was going to roll from Perth to Sydney.

[Jodie]

No, she was rolling to the rock, Adelaide. Adelaide to Ayers Rock.

[Mandy]

Yes. And, you know, her husband had made her a dingo cage to go behind the ute so she'd be safe, and but she had to pull out because she got a gum nut wedged up her nose. And, you know, in rolls, Pat to the party.

[Jodie]

Yeah, Pat Mullins.

[Mandy]

It was just lovely. Just lovely.

[Jodie]

Well, when we did one of our Kath and Kim events, I was behind the bar as I'm always dressed as, I do an amalgamation of Prue and Trude. So I'm Prude and they're very snobby and quite bitchy. And so I was sort of in character and being a bit of a bitch to someone.

And they were actually getting offended and it got so awkward. I had to break out of character and apologise because they were really like horrified. It was so awkward.

And she had to admit that she had no clue the reference point, but she was Australian, but she just didn't know Kath and Kim at all. So, or certainly didn't know Prue. But it was really awkward because I was really offending her.

[Mandy]

But it's all good. It's all good. We just had another drink or a handful of twisties.

[Jodie]

Oh no, we had a cuddle and, you know, we got back to being friends again in no time. But yeah.

[Stevan]

There's also a saying, be a good sport. You're a good sport.

[Mandy]

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, be part of it.

[Stevan]

Yeah, what does that mean for the listeners that's not familiar with that saying?

[Mandy]

It's go roll with the joke or go with the flow.

[Jodie]

And don't be a sore loser. Don't be a sore loser. Like if you're going to play the game, you've got to learn to lose as well.

Like a good sport is someone that can win. Everyone loves to win, but you have to be able to lose. Like you have to be in it for the love of the game.

[Marcus]

Oh, and no matter what else happens, she'll be right, mate.

[Jodie]

And you can't buy what I've got.

[Mandy]

No, that's right. That's part of our yearly thing is which badges, because we do badges every year. And a lot of people come and get a badge, you know, with the year that it is and sort of quotes from the pool rooms of which ones we're going to use this year.

So we have a lot of fun. Yeah, coming up with that and then crunching away, making the badges for the session. So yeah, they're out there on people's jackets, all the sayings.

[Stevan]

So let's talk about some of the other. So you mentioned Aurora previously. Let's talk about some of the other birds, other regionals and international birds.

You always go out there and try to bring some larrikinism with you as well and have a bit of fun.

[Marcus]

Always fun. We, I mean, you're Australian wherever you go. You can't help that. But we don't, I don't think, we're not going out to press the point.

We're just going out to be ourselves and enjoy, you know, enjoy other people, really. I mean, you know, I think we've all said this among ourselves many times is that if you have to, what's the best thing about a burn or a blaze? And it's the conversations you have.

So we're all about the conversations and everything else is great as well. But the things you remember, the conversations you have with people on subjects that you never knew existed. And I mean, that's what we go to enjoy.

And we're just ourselves. Yeah, we're not putting on a show. We're not trying to be something we're not.

And the beauty of a burn or a blaze is you don't have to. You can be yourself. It's one of the few places you can be yourself.

Your real self, yeah. And I think most people get that.

[Stevan]

Do you remember the theme camp Serene Green? They were saying the same thing. It's all about the people.

[Mandy]

That's right. It is. And just having that opportunity to not have a conversation where in your situation where you go, oh, I know they do this for a living or they live in this place.

So therefore, they're like X or whatever or where do your kids go to school? But those aren't the conversations. The conversations are on much a deeper level, but a nicer level and a more human level because you're doing away with all that other stuff.

You can have a conversation that jumps in from anywhere about a subject rather than having to do the niceties sort of like, oh, yes, and where do you work? Don't even ask that question. Don't even talk about that at all.

That's just sort of almost an off limits subject. But speaking of the international burns for us, because you're traveling and you're not really taking anything. It's more just interacting with who's there and what's there.

And just naturally, you're being your own personality. But we're not sitting out to take something there for those events, I suppose.

[Stevan]

And what are some of the differences and some of the things that stood out for you from the other burns?

[Mandy]

One thing that really jumped out at me, I'd been a greeter for quite a few years at Blaze. And greeters is such an important thing at Blaze. And I know people go, oh, just doing four hours.

You know, stand around and listen to be told of the principles. But it's so good and they do it so well. And when you don't get greeted and you go to an event or it's like, oh, hi, good.

You've read the guide, great, go. It's just not the same. And I think we have a much better culture because whether people like it or not, they've got to stand and be reminded why they're there and what the principles are.

So then they can let go. And we encourage people to let go when you're at greeters. Here you are, you're actually crossing the threshold, leave behind all that shit.

That to me is a really good, a really important thing that Blaze does really, really well.

[Jodie]

It sets the scene, doesn't it? And I think, I mean, I've been a greeter and, you know, I've not, unfortunately, I haven't had the lack of being able to get to a different burn. I've only been to Blaze.

But in my experience, having been to Blaze a number of years now, it's such an important, I wouldn't rush it. And when we've arrived, which we have a few years after the greeter's gates closed, we'll always go back in the morning and go through and be greeted always. Because I think it feels like you haven't got there yet.

Like it's the way to actually introduce yourself to the event, to the vibe of the thing.

[Mandy]

Yeah, that, yeah, greeters to me is a really big difference and a really, really nice thing. I mean, we have a few burns, but I think I was saying earlier, the Africa burn, because everything's wood, they just burn everything. Like there's 40 burns, which means they often run out of fire wardens because everyone's already done about 10, 15 burns.

And so the artwork is actually quite different because a lot of people are making things out of wood. There's not the same use of metal in Blaze or the big burns. So it's quite a different, it was quite a different feel in that way.

I mean, the big burn, it's sheer number. I mean, you can just stay in your neighbourhood all day and be completely entertained, explore everything that you never thought you needed to explore, but you happen to be walking past just in your little section of the whole burn without even going out to bigger artworks and things.

[Marcus]

I'd have to say that all the different burns, they all have their, the big burns are spectacular. Obviously Burning Man's very spectacular. I mean, it'll guaranteed to blow your mind the first time you go out on the central playa after dark.

There's nobody just can deal with that. Easily, but the small ones are just as good. And I'd have to say they're all good in their own way.

And I'd have to say, from my experience, Blazing Swan is as satisfying as any of them. It's got its own character now and its own way of doing things. It runs very smoothly.

There's, everyone there is on their best behaviour, which is generally the case with burns, but more so with Blazing Swan than others. And it's consistently been that way for over a decade now, 12 or so years, however long it's been going. Yes, it's been consistently extremely well-organised, extremely well-run, and I know there'd be behind the scenes issues, but they all seem to be resolved.

And when the event's run, it runs very, very well. And Burning Man, yeah, it's what it is, but we've been there enough times to have seen the bad side of it. There's a lot of police out there, we've seen police operations there, been involved in some of them by being in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

There's theft, there's all these things, and that just comes with a huge event run in the middle of nowhere. So there's a downside to it, though it's almost overwhelmingly positive, but there is a different side to it, which you will never get at a Blazing Swan or a smaller event like that.

[Mandy]

I still remember when we took our daughter, when she was 13, to Burning Man the first time, and at the end of Burning Man, we were talking about it, and she said, thanks, Mum and Dad, for ruining my life. We just go, oh, what have we done? And she goes, I'll never be able to go to the Albany show again.

[Stevan]

That's true, right?

[Mandy]

Yeah, it was like that was just going to the top of the waza.

[Stevan]

Everything's incomparable. It's fascinating. You took your young daughter.

She's also an experienced blazer as well. So we're introducing it to the next generation. So what are your thoughts about these generational transition here?

They must have a different perspective to what we have as well.

[Marcus]

Of course they do. We can talk about it specifically in our small camp, really. I think the last year or two, we've had between four and maybe even six this year of our children.

So the people who are in the camp, our children, there's another whole generation.

[Mandy]

They're in their 20s now.

[Marcus]

Yeah, they're all in their 20s. Jodie's daughter is a little bit younger.

[Mandy]

Oh, yes.

[Jodie]

I've got a five-year-old, so that's a different vibe, totally.

[Stevan]

That would be the generation alpha, where the 20-year-olds would be the Gen Z.

[Jodie]

Yeah.

[Marcus]

But look, it's working fine. I mean, we've spanned the generational gap. I mean, that generation, they're not embarrassed to be seen with their parents anymore, luckily.

That's good. When they were, they weren't there. They wouldn't go, but now they're happy to come.

And look, I'm hoping that we can basically hand over the whole thing to them and they can continue it for as long as possible. So we'll have our fingers crossed that'll happen. And we've also got quite a wide age range in the camp as well.

So I mean, there's a natural progression there anyway. Yeah, we've got our fingers crossed that this will just work and just keep on going and our kids can enjoy it as much as we have.

[Mandy]

And it is interesting when, as a teenager, it's probably a hard place to go. I mean, there are teenagers who really enjoy it and they're pretty special kids to go. They're not a kid, so it's not really the kid activities that fit them, but then there's a lot of sort of older activities.

So I'm really impressed with the teenagers who go and enjoy it because that means they're pretty special, special kids. But it is a big jump. So I know a number of people, their kids have come back again later as sort of young adults rather than teenagers and then can see what it's about from a different perspective and enjoy it in a different way.

So there is a little bit of a jump in there, but that's good too because they bring new things when they come back a bit older and ready to do stuff. Because being a theme camp, there is stuff to do and it's a bit like every group of people living together, you've got to be able to work it out and keep everybody on the straight and narrow.

[Jodie]

It's that village kind of vibe, isn't it? I really feel like the theme of this year's plays, it takes a village. It really does encapsulate what our theme camp is about where I do feel quite, it's got a real family kind of feeling to it because there is a whole host of generations and people have all different backgrounds and we are working together towards a common goal and no one can do anything on their own.

And we have to rely on each other, but I love the setup that Marcus introduced that there's no obligation. And that's actually true, there isn't. But of course, we all feel obliged to pitch in because we are part of the village.

No one wants to just take from the village and have the benefit of everything. We all want to be involved and work towards achieving our goals together and put our own effort in. And having a little one running around is an ask for the rest of my campers because we all have to accommodate each other and we all have different needs.

And for me, as a mum of a young one, it's just been the most heartwarming experience to be involved in because no one, I don't expect anyone to look after my child, but knowing that we're all there to pull together so that we can ease, create those moments for each other is really, really heartwarming. And I think it's one of the best things that I've experienced at Blaze. And I started going to Blaze before having a child.

And then coming back with one has been, yeah, it's been, I didn't know that it would work, but it does. I think you have to be flexible and you have to keep an open mind and you do have to rely on other people. But all of that, I think, is so worthwhile.

[Mandy]

And this generation, I think Marcus has brought up as well, there's sort of the people with differences. We've had people in the camp who've come along and been pretty overwhelmed for whatever reason. But you know what?

You'd get up in the morning and they'd be the ones just washing the dishes because they know it's important. It has to be done. It's part of being in a group, part of being in the village.

And that's just as important job as someone cleaning up and being ready for the next day as it is to be out the front. So it does give an opportunity for whatever level you want to experience it. And that means kids as well.

So yeah, we're hoping, I mean, hey, the kids might all get together and go, look, we've had enough of the benevolent dictatorship that was leadership of the pool room. We're going to do it really differently. But who knows?

[Jodie]

I wouldn't call it a dictatorship, Mandy.

[Mandy]

Benevolent, benevolent.

[Stevan]

I know that some people, some parents have concerns about the nudity issues, having their kids being exposed to such things as that and some other things they could be concerned about.

[Marcus]

Well, I think I can answer that. I think as we drove into Burning Man for the first time with wide eyes, I'd have to say, I think our daughter was in the car. I think she was 12 or 13 at the time.

And I think there was no nudity immediately we were there. No, I mean, there's not a lot there. I mean, you can dress up or you can dress down.

Some people choose to dress up. Some people choose to dress down. And I remember saying later, yeah, well, I got, this is our daughter said to me, so I got used to that pretty fast.

And I mean, it's not a big deal. That's yeah, okay, that's what happens here. They get used to it pretty fast.

And, you know, and the younger the kid, you know, they're just, it's not going to make, they're not going to worry about it.

[Mandy]

I don't think little kids actually notice nudity, like as much as parents think they might, because they're often running around in a nutty plane anyway. So, or if they've seen nudity at home, it just, it's like, it doesn't actually impinge on their consciousness really, unless parents are going, oh, you mustn't see anyone nude. You mustn't see anyone nude.

[Jodie]

Yeah, don't look, don't look.

[Mandy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jodie]

But I think the kind of parents that are happy to take their children to Blaze are usually a little bit more sort of open to those kinds of experiences. Like they understand that that's going to happen. I mean, lots of people ask me, because we've been taking Georgie.

I mean, technically she was supposed to be there in utero, but that was the year that, one of the years that Blaze was cancelled. But she's gone every year that it's been on since she was born. And everyone asks me, oh, when do you think, you can't take her when she's a teenager.

And I'm just not sure. I think like Mandy was saying, it probably just depends on the child. I think we need to be able to protect them.

Obviously, there's stuff that you want to be able to manage how and the way that kids learn things. And if you, teenagers need a degree of freedom as well. So I think for that reason being in those teenage years might be difficult.

And I'm just going to have to make up my mind as we go along. But at the moment for a little one, it's like Disneyland. She loves it.

It's such a great place for kids. There's so many fun things happening all the time. Everyone's so friendly and careful and caring.

And there's just like, it's an adventure every day. She just absolutely loves it. And you're camping with all your friends.

We've got all the aunts and uncles all around us. And then she's got a confident little thing. So she's happy to chat to anyone.

And within that, I think we do have to be careful. It's not like everyone who goes to Blaze is on the levels, tracks all kinds, like in the real world. So I do feel as she becomes more aware of stuff, I am going to need to be a little bit more careful.

But at the moment, it's quite an easy place to have a child, I would say. I think the challenge is trying to balance your own needs and wants to go out to party and childcare. That's the difficult tightrope is to stay being a decent parent and still have fun.

You can do it. It's totally doable. But you can't always do all the things.

So that's the challenge. But I'd rather go and miss out on some stuff than not go at all. Because you still get the stuff that happens in the daytime is still amazing.

And even if I only get to go out one or two nights of Blaze, it's still better than not going at all. So as a parent, I would highly recommend Blaze. If you're that way inclined, it's not for everyone, obviously.

[Mandy]

I think if you hadn't been and you took your 15-year-old or 16-year-old teenager for the first time, that would be a hard drop. When you're taking a young kid, you can explain things, you can talk about what's happening and those sorts of things. But when perhaps they're 15 or 16, they're not really wanting to hang out with their parents and wander around.

So they won't have that same, not guidance, but I suppose an understanding of how to look at what's happening or how to process what's happening. So I think that would be harder. If you suddenly turned up with a 16-year-old, for example, it'd be more difficult.

[Stevan]

So do you think that there's a gap between those ages? We're not seeing too many of these age groups because of that?

[Mandy]

I think it's harder. It's harder, particularly when there aren't so many of that age group there as well. They don't have as many in a group, so there's not really that cohort to be catered for or whatever.

And you are sort of caught in that, I want to be an adult, there's all this adult stuff happening, I want to be part of that.

[Jodie]

I think it's risky, yeah.

[Mandy]

It's a lot harder and that's what I said before, I just really appreciate those kids who come along as teenagers and just really do it well. I'm just so impressed with those kids.

[Stevan]

And the ones that really do it well, they're still trying to figure out, like you were saying, with your daughter, she's still trying to forget what Blaze is all about, right?

[Mandy]

That's right.

[Jodie]

Aren't we all?

[Stevan]

Yeah. Even as adults

[Jodie]

It's different every day. Yeah, but I think it's nice for children. You know, we are these days so constrained in, they call it the default world.

You know, in the real world, there's so many conditions and restrictions and things that you just... And it is, I think, it's a playground at Blaze, it's adults playing. And that's such a lovely thing to share with children because that's all they want to do is play.

So then we sort of feel like we can be on their level a little bit more. And it is, I mean, they're called theme camps, but it is a lot like a theme park. You know, like if anyone's been to Disneyland and stuff, like there's different worlds within it.

And that's incredibly exciting for children. That's why we go every year because we want to relive that sort of childhood experience. Yeah, I would say it's such a perfect place for kids and to be able to connect with kids as a parent, with your child, with that sense of play and purpose is really, it's a really fun aspect of it.

[Stevan]

Cool. Okay. Let's get a review of Blazing Swan 2026.

It takes a village from the perspective of the pool room. So this year we had about 60 plus theme camps and about 4,000 people. So it's a booming population now.

It's quite impressive. Did it feel overcrowded?

[Marcus]

I can say space-wise as a theme camp, we were restricted in space more than any years past, and all the theme camps were, but everyone adapted to that. We all know how to get on with our neighbours and that's how that works. And the numbers, you know, whether it's 3,000 or 4,000, you don't, you know, most of the time you don't notice that from minute to minute or day to day.

I guess there's a pressure on, you know, toilets and showers and that sort of thing, but not, you know, I can't say I really noticed it. You know, the organisation of the event is that good that they actually handle it and all the hiccups along the way really, really well. You know, it's a very well organised event, especially when you look at it, it's all volunteers doing their best.

You know, I really can't fault it. You know, from our point of view, it was a fantastic Blaze this year. You know, I remember saying to a few people, look, I think this is the best one we've had, but I was splitting hairs because they were all good.

[Jodie]

You say that every year, Marcus.

[Marcus]

Yeah, but- He does.

[Jodie]

Every year is the best year, every year.

[Marcus]

Yeah, and as we drive out, I always say, well, I can't wait till next year as well. Next year was better. Yeah, next year will be better, yeah.

Yeah, but look, from our point of view of, you know, a group of people running a theme camp and doing all the stuff we do, a faultless, faultless organisation. We're so grateful to all the people who put in the hard work. And, you know, that includes theme camps as well, because everyone puts in hard work.

And you won't find a single person there who won't say, you know, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.

[Jodie]

Agreed, yeah, I agree with that. And the actual, I mean, the Blaze Org, I think, hats off to them, because it was a huge event. And, you know, I can only imagine what it's like trying to manage everything.

And I know that the Blaze Org often gets some, you know, a bit of flack for some politics and, you know, stuff here and there. But really, I think it's amazing how they can manage to create such experiences every year. Some we know of, and we love, and we would miss if they weren't there, like the Grundy Walk-Off and all the favourites.

But then, you know, you're just constantly surprised with all the new and amazing adventures you can find. But talking about the size, I agree that it was a larger event this year. I think I felt it.

If you go into the general camping, you really feel it there, because that's where the numbers are. Although there were quite a lot of theme camps this year. I don't know what the relationship with last year, whether there was many, many more or not.

The actual sort of set up of all the theme camps and experiences on the player didn't seem that much more increased in my experience. But definitely from the punters, from the audience or the, you know, the participants, I did feel like there was a big contingent. But not that I think it detracted from it, personally.

Yeah, I think there was some murmurs of quite a bigger audience from international, backpacker-type, traveller, tourist origins. But I think that's exciting as well, though. I think that sort of feels like we are an event that's talked about and that people aspire to attend.

You know, having been a traveller myself, if I knew something like this was on in the place I was travelling to and I made it my mission to get there, because it would be a mission, I think, yeah, I think that's exciting. I think it's something to be proud of.

[Stevan]

Yeah, the tourism part, the backpackers and the travellers that you're talking about, as we mentioned before, that is key to the WA economy.

[Jodie]

It is. I think, yeah, Mandy mentioned, you know, that they're the ones doing all the jobs, because a lot of the seasonal work, these little towns just don't have enough population to manage it properly. And we do rely on it, definitely.

And part of the visa regulations are that they have to do a certain amount of time out in the regions in order to be able to extend their visas to stay longer. You get another year on their work visa and stuff like that. So, I mean, they're just using the system, which I would if I was them as well.

I couldn't falter it. I think it adds to the cultural, you know, the richness of it all. I don't have a problem.

I know there is a bit, there's sort of murmurs of, you know, that there was a lot this year and maybe that's why this was like that. But I think we have to embrace it. It's up to the organisers how many tickets they cap.

So, that's not something I can comment on. But I think, you know, you have to open the ticket sales to everybody. Yeah, I think it's interesting, exciting.

And if I was a tourist, that's what I would want to do.

[Mandy]

Yeah, I've found it a good number. And I think it's about people coming with the right intentions, not how many or where they're from or what the mix is. And I know that, in fact, I've been having quite a few conversations because they get a lot of people rolling up on Saturday and Sunday.

And their tickets are quite cheap as well. So, people go, oh, let's go and have a look. We don't want to come and bloody have a look.

We want you to actually be part of it. So, it's about the commitment for, you know, being there. And I suppose that's the thing, what I was saying about greeters, that just being giving everyone the best opportunity for them to really understand what it's about is more important than actual physical numbers.

I think they all do well at catering for what they need to have in place for the numbers. But I think it's about the perspective of the people who are coming. And generally, that's really, really good.

[Stevan]

Yeah, so this year's theme, it takes a village. What were your thoughts about that?

[Mandy]

Took me a little while to go, oh, yeah, I know, well, I know what the phrase means, but how does it relate to Blaze? But in some ways, the theme isn't a big part, but it does set the scene for the event.

[Marcus]

I'd have to say that Jodie's already covered that beautifully, because the phrase is, it takes a village to bring up a child. I mean, that's where the theme comes from. And Jodie has explained her view of that beautifully and I can't add a single thing to it.

[Jodie]

I do feel like the pool room, it's the perfect theme for the pool room, because it is about that shared experience, I think. Because the pool room is based from it. It's a family.

It's about a family struggling through life. They're battlers. They've got to fight the powers that be to win and get their trudge through the murk of all of the legal battles and the whole lot.

And they get there in the end. And I think that's a really good parable for life, but also just that Aussie battler kind of mentality.

[Mandy]

And they're always positive as well.

[Jodie]

Yeah.

[Mandy]

At the same time.

[Jodie]

Yeah.

[Stevan]

And the effigy was magnificent.

[Jodie]

Yeah, it really was. It was an interesting effigy this year.

[Stevan]

They really incorporated the theme really well.

[Jodie]

Yeah. I think so.

[Mandy]

Having the village square sort of approach.

[Jodie]

Yeah. The temple, though, for me was the standout. I thought the temple was outstanding.

I mean, I love the effigy. That was really exciting and such an interesting kind of concept. But yeah, the actual temple was the best.

[Marcus]

Yeah, the structures that are burned each year, they vary year to year, the temple and the effigy. And they should vary each year. They can be bigger, they can be small, they can be exactly as they are.

They're the vision of an artist or a group of artists to do something. And they burn it, it's gone, and then you start afresh. Yeah, it's such a great concept.

And you can basically read into it whatever you want. I mean, I think that's the beauty of Burning Man. I mean, they burn a man every year.

But there's no official meaning and there's no one explaining what it means. You provide your own explanation and that applies to the Blazing Swan as well. And everyone sees it differently.

And that's the way it should be.

[Mandy]

It's not a cult.

[Jodie]

And it's not a festival.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Jodie]

But it is a community. And that's why I think it takes a village was a really lovely one. Because I think we all identify as that shared, you know, all different people that have never met.

But we all have a shared experience because we've prioritized all the things that we've done to get there, whether you're in a theme camp or you're just there as a participant. Everyone wants to give back and everyone wants to, you know, revel in all the experiences they know that are open to them. Yeah, I really like that theme.

I can't wait to find out what the next thing is going to be.

[Mandy]

I did like, it took me a while to get my head around having the effigy as the village square. Having events and things in it. But then I really liked that all were keen and not brave, but keen to try something different and break the mould a little bit.

And I did really like it. It took me a little while to get used to it, but then reflecting on it. Yeah, I really like that concept.

[Jodie]

It's sort of been leading up to it because for a few years, there's been the effigies have had a space.

[Mandy]

Or a little dive bar underneath.

[Jodie]

Yeah, it's been a surprising little way of interacting with it. Whereas I think the temple, it's really, well, in my experience, it's been really common that there's some form of interaction within the temple. You can enter it.

So I think, yeah, it was, you know, and there's people who agree and disagree. And I think that's part of it. And having the conversation actually means that it was successful, that we're talking about it and what it means to us and what we think is the way it should be, or it should be this or that.

Like, it's what art's about. Just because you don't, you know, it's not necessarily whether it's good or bad art. It's created a conversation and made people think.

So then it is successful.

[Stevan]

Would you like to see the effigy being built back as a prominent swan, as a big swan?

[Marcus]

I don't see any need for that. We've done swans.

[Jodie]

None swans? The snakes were cool. I did like the snakes.

[Marcus]

We've done intertwining snakes or wongs.

[Speaker 5]

The snakes were cool.

[Marcus]

Which was a beautiful thing to see. But it's, yeah, just throw it open. It can be whatever it has to be.

Yeah. I mean, I'm speaking for myself here, but yeah, I'm not fussy.

[Jodie]

But forgive my ignorance, isn't the whole thing about the effigy concept, it's like a, not a tender process, but like there's applications by different artists that are then selected by the committee. So it's going to depend on what's being put forth by the creative people with a vision. And then the committee gets to select what they consider is the, you know, so it just depends, I suppose.

[Marcus]

Well, as Mandy said, you know, she was happy for the mould to be broken. I think someone said that.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Marcus]

I'd be happy if they broke the mould every year and started off from scratch.

[Mandy]

I suppose the guidelines for when they're selected is usually meant to be some sort of swan link. But yeah, Daniel's two snakes was a different from that. But when you look at all the men that have been burned, mans, it's forced a creativity to come up with something different rather than just replicating the man.

So I sort of quite like that challenge. Okay. You know, you've got this bit of a guideline, but then really give us your best.

Come on, come up with something that is different. So there's that nice theme in it. Like, I remember the Happiest Larry year when they, it was the year that Larry, the founder of Burning Men, or one of the founders, died.

But when the effigy burned, there was a tiny man that rose out and that was the first time I think they did it. And that was a lovely homage, you know, just the way they did it. I really like that.

I think the little metal man has been part of it ever since.

[Jodie]

Ever since. Yeah, I agree. Yeah.

And the hat, Larry's hat, I think was quite iconic.

[Mandy]

Oh.

[Stevan]

But there was also little swans in there as well.

[Mandy]

Yeah, there were.

[Stevan]

Little cygnets.

[Mandy]

Yeah.

[Stevan]

Keeping with the traditions.

[Jodie]

Yeah.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Stevan]

Then what about the art installations and the art pieces? What stood out? What were your thoughts?

[Mandy]

They're so varied and it's so bloody hard. You know, people must come up with these incredible ideas and then just go, how the fuck are we going to do that? Or get out there or be able to afford to do it or whatever.

So it's and some of the smallest ones are.

[Jodie]

Really exciting, yeah.

[Mandy]

Some of the best and some of the biggest ones are the best. So they grab you in different ways. And I never did crack the code, though, in the, I can't remember the name of it.

This year, you went in and you were meant to break the code.

[Jodie]

Oh, I didn't do that one.

[Mandy]

I managed to not do it, not manage it at all. Was this like a Rubik's Cube kind of puzzle? No, no.

They were sort of puzzles and clues and you went inside.

[Jodie]

But it was sort of like an escape room. It was like an escape room kind of concept, wasn't it? Yeah, I didn't.

I have a little one, so I couldn't possibly go in there without everything being taken. But I love the light installations. I just think there's such vision in those.

I mean, they're such large scale as well. I think that's super exciting. And that's what all my daughter wants to look at.

We do a lap around the player in the beach trolley before bed. And that's just, it's like a nursery rhyme for her. Going around looking at all the colorful lights and hearing all the music and straight to bed.

So that's what I love about it. That sort of amazing landscape of just creation and exciting ideas that people put together. And you have to take it all there and put it all together.

It's just, it's really an inspiration.

[Stevan]

What about other pieces you'd like to mention?

[Mandy]

Well, my problem is being in the bar. I'm always in the bar. And so I have to go, I whiz around to go and try and catch up with people in each of the camps and then have a quick zoom around the art installation so I don't get so much time to really enjoy them.

And then make sure you get to the temple and have a look there. And you've got to see things both in the daytime and the night time. So it's at least a double.

[Stevan]

Yeah, it changes.

[Mandy]

And that's the great ones are the ones that look incredible during the day. And you go at night and they look incredible at night. And that must be really hard to do.

Some look really good at night. But it's a bit hard to tell what they are during the day and vice versa. But the ones who manage both day and night, yeah, the hats off.

[Jodie]

The little duck hunt was really cool. It was like a little installation where you got to play with some little ducks and you get a little ticket. And I think that was one of the theme camps made a little, just a fun experience.

And there was some amazing laser cut sculptures that was sort of laser cut material.

[Mandy]

Assembled together.

[Jodie]

Yeah, that was just outstanding. Yeah, it was just like the amount, like, I assume they would have had to build a great amount of that on site. Yeah, it was so inspiring.

But yeah, unfortunately, I can't always get to all of the installations either, the artworks. But I'm so happy that it's such a creative bed for people to be able to work through, you know, bring stuff to present to people. And I think it creates a lot of confidence, I think, in artists because they feel comfortable to be able to, you know, put something out there.

And then I think they then can take that confidence further into their practice.

[Marcus]

There's a different set of standards for art at Blaze than there are in the general community. The standards are a lot, lot wider and that's the beauty of it. I mean, some of the big, you know, the big impressive, you know, artworks and structures and vehicles and all the art cars.

I mean, obviously, they're impressive because of the scale of them. But some of the tiniest little details that you see in, you know, tiny artworks or the details on some of the bigger ones are just as impressive, you know. So, you know, there's no end to it.

And you'll never, even at a relatively small event like the Blaze, you'll never see all of it. You think you have, but you haven't. So, you just have to take the slice that you've seen and appreciate it for what it is.

[Jodie]

Yeah, that's good advice, Marcus.

[Stevan]

And did you also have time to roll around to check other events besides the ones you guys are holding?

[Mandy]

Well, we always go to the Big Dress Parade. That's a fixture every year. That's most definitely a really good thing.

[Jodie]

That's a highlight.

[Mandy]

And we sort of wedge our event on one side of that one. So, it's often hard. It's always easier when you're running the camp to get some things closer so you can limp across to the birthday party, the birthday camp and joining with those dancers.

[Jodie]

And the Narnia, the wardrobe Narnia.

[Marcus]

As a camp, we do seem to put a bit of effort into the Big Dress Parade. Over the years, yeah, we've gone a little bit over and above with our big dresses and we'll continue to do that, I hope.

[Stevan]

Well, you'll be happy to know that the Big Dress Parade also happens at the East Coast Burns. We didn't know that. When you come around, definitely bring your big dress.

[Marcus]

I don't think they're going to fit on any airplane.

[Stevan]

You're going to wear it on you.

[Marcus]

Even a freight company is going to have trouble with our dresses.

[Jodie]

Imagine turning up in that doll one, Mandy. You hop on the plane with your doll. It has the little flaps out.

[Mandy]

Yeah, that's right. I was just thinking we'd turn up in the Big Dress Parade at the airport, just going, where's my seat?

[Marcus]

As you know, WA is a big state. When we have a Big Dress Parade, yeah, the dresses are bloody big.

[Jodie]

Pretty big.

[Stevan]

Go big or go home, yeah.

[Mandy]

Yeah, exactly. Was it last year? Was it the year before?

In the middle of the Big Dress Parade, there was a protest. There were people holding placards who marched past saying, small dresses matter.

[Jodie]

Yeah, tiny dresses.

[Mandy]

Yeah, which I thought was great. See, that's another part of the ways that take the piss out of people taking the piss, which is even better.

[Jodie]

Yeah, tiny dresses matter too. Instead of a dress, she just had doll dresses like a bikini, a little dress on each breast. That was her outfit.

[Stevan]

Some of the costumes and the cosplay and the imagination of people, what they come up with, it's so rad. It's so amazing in this community.

[Mandy]

People put in so much effort. Effort, yeah. Effort, yeah, and just the ideas of things.

It's just fabulous to see. I mean, I'm not really someone who goes to festivals and dresses up normally, but the opportunity to come up with costumes and dress up, it's so much fun, particularly when it adds to an event, which rather than just wandering around dressed up for me.

[Jodie]

What, you wouldn't wear your T-bar out and about normally, hey? Just in case the listeners don't know, the T-bar is just a G-string turned the other way.

[Mandy]

Yes, Kath was modeling the T-bar during her lingerie party, which was a G-string back to front.

[Jodie]

Yeah, so Mandy does get her T-bar out, but luckily it's over. Some other exercise wear.

[Mandy]

Some beautiful leopard skin tights, yeah. Yeah, that's right. But part of our camp really got into the 25-year celebration of Priscilla Queen of the Desert and just made some incredible costumes and rolled in in style.

[Jodie]

Oh, yeah.

[Mandy]

And of course, the Tin Horse experience across the way, blinging and sparkling up. Oh, sorry.

The Tin Horse camp next door with Erin and family, they spend all blaze blinging and blitzing up everybody's costumes. So everyone comes out of there looking fabulous.

[Jodie]

Yes, thank God for the Tin Horse experience. They keep little kids crafting for hours and hours.

[Mandy]

And they all come back with burnt fingertips from the hot glue gun.

[Stevan]

Yeah, what are the events that you guys regularly go to, you can't miss out on?

[Jodie]

Oh, I hate to miss out on the Grundy, the Grundy walk-off. So that one is, I actually didn't see it this year, unfortunately.

[Stevan]

You might have to explain it for the listeners a little bit.

[Jodie]

So it's sort of like a lip sync battle, but it's about Grundy, if for those people that don't know, it's Undies, your Grundies, your grundy undies. So it's traditionally been a man's kind of striptease to music, but it's not just for men. It's sort of a lip sync battle.

So you'll sort of have people either with a choreographed kind of show to a particular song, or else dudes just want to have a walk around and start taking everything off. So it's a mixture of all of that, but it's definitely a highlight. But you have to get, I wasn't able to get there in time this year.

You have to get there early to even get a space because there's limited space in the tent. And you really can't see much if you're on the outside. So I missed it this year, but I will endeavour to see it again next year.

It's the first year I've missed, but it's definitely a highlight. It's so fun.

[Stevan]

Yeah, it has been traditional since day one, I think.

[Mandy]

Has it? I think so.

[Speaker 5]

Yes.

[Stevan]

I remember going to the first Grundy walk.

[Mandy]

Yeah, right. Because I think that it was taken to Big Burn, they do a Grundy walk off. But I don't know whether the reference to the Reg Grundy's actually transplants very well.

But yeah, so it's definitely key ones. And people run different events each year as well. So it's sort of, you know, I love that event, but they're not doing it this year because they're doing something else.

So, you know, all sorts of different events. And I don't think I had Bogan Yoga.

[Jodie]

No, they haven't had it for a few years. I miss that. That was the best.

Bogan Yoga was the best. Yeah, that was definitely a highlight for me a few years ago. Yeah.

Yes.

[Mandy]

Yes.

[Jodie]

They usually have a twerk workshop, which is always fun. Lots of yoga at different places.

[Mandy]

More yoga than in Perth, I reckon, or not?

[Jodie]

Probably. There's a running. Not that I'm a frequenter of it.

Isn't there a running group? Don't they go out for a jog? Yeah, yeah, they'll probably go out for a jog.

Clothed or not?

[Mandy]

Not quite a marathon, but it's definitely a big run.

[Jodie]

The nude photo shoot's always the highlight. I've actually not taken part, but I remember my first blaze after the nude photo shoot, I just had to rub my eyes in disbelief. I saw two guys on a tandem bike, but they were facing each other in the nude.

And it's just like, did I just see that? Ride past? Like, it was crazy.

Like, I didn't blaze.

[Mandy]

And then, of course, there's up on the top of the rock each evening as the sun goes down. And if you time it right, you get your Scotch on the rock. Yes.

Whiskey old-fashioned or whatever. And then the howl at the sunset, which is always a lovely time. Yeah, it is great on the top of the rock.

And so Blazers 1 does have traditions, although we try not to have traditions. We do have traditions.

[Stevan]

And do you try to get to the sunset or the sunrise? I'm not so good on the sunrise.

[Mandy]

No, me neither. But try to get to the sunsets. And it's funny, sometimes you get caught out because the bar's full.

You go, oh, oh, oh, I've got to go, I've got to go. When you've got to delegate, put someone else in charge while you run out. Yeah.

And the bar will be like that sometimes. You know, you say, oh, there's only a couple of people, we'll head up. And then you look up and there's 20 people in there that you're making drinks.

And we don't just have a bowl of punch in the corner. We hand build our special drinks for everyone. So we make micheladas.

So it's a process of making a michelada. It's a bit like making a Bloody Mary. You don't pre-prepare it really.

So you've got to salt their rims. You've got to, you know, see whether they want tomato juice or not, man. And then the whole lot seasoning, Tabasco.

So it takes time to make drinks, which is the lovely part because you can talk whilst you're making drinks unless you're really unco like me. And then you get confused about what you've put in and what you haven't because you've been talking too much. But yeah, when the bar gets crowded, we're making individual drinks for everybody.

So it takes time. Yeah. And most people haven't had a michelada before.

So they're not quite sure.

[Jodie]

Yeah. That's a lot of the talking is actually what it is and convincing them that they should try it. And then they're usually sold after the first sip.

Yeah. Especially on a hot day. It's very refreshing.

[Stevan]

You don't do the Kath and Kim Bloody Marys with the Frankfurt's?

[Jodie]

No, no, we don't. For our event, the last couple of years, we've done the iced vovo shot, which we've become renowned for most days. But also bin punch.

We do a bit of bin punch as well. We have a bin and there's usually a soggy old tea bag in there. And that one goes quite well.

[Mandy]

And when we have the events, it's hard to make space to have people standing at the We tend to have different things at that. But yeah, yeah. Roving bubbles.

Yes, roving bubbles. It's always worthwhile. It was lovely one year for the Aussie Icon show.

The guys up at the volunteers kitchen. So they're pumping out meals for the volunteers. But they got up especially early and made a spam and aspic ring with all the garnishing as a beautiful, like a 70s Australian kind of entertaining platter.

And it was just magnificent. It was just magnificent. The effort they went to.

[Jodie]

Especially knowing that probably no one would eat it. But you'd be surprised. People really hide into it in the end.

[Mandy]

It was gorgeous.

[Jodie]

Yeah, that was cool.

[Stevan]

Mandy, let's get a quick story about the best gift you ever got from Ship Gift.

[Mandy]

It was many years ago and I think I'd wandered past Shit Gift and maybe added some cheddar, not coon, to the wine and cheese or something like that. But anyway, I was back up in the pool room and one of the members of Shit Gift said, I've got this special thing for you. And she brought it up and it was a stubby holder.

But it had a kilt on, like a proper kilt, not just printed on, but a piece of material like with the pleats and everything and a little sporran as well. It's the best stubby holder I've ever had. So it's just a perfect little Scottish kilt with sporran.

So it went straight to the pool room.

[Jodie]

Why haven't I seen that, Mandy?

[Mandy]

Because it's actually in my pool room at home. It's too good to go to blaze.

[Jodie]

I want to get the dust on it.

[Mandy]

Yeah, that's right.

[Jodie]

I have to say, Shit Gift is notorious for actually really good things in that bath out the front. I've heard lots of people, they needed something and they found something really good in there, whether it be a pair of shoes or something really good for their costume. I don't think Shit Gift quite is the right term.

[Marcus]

Well, I was going past Shit Gift, I think this year, and there was only one person there, but they were having a big problem, which I was able to solve, some technical problem. I can't remember now, but I was able to solve their problem. So I was able to give something back to Shit Gift for once.

[Mandy]

And it wasn't too shit.

[Jodie]

That's perfect.

[Stevan]

Someone's trash is another person's treasure, as I say.

[Mandy]

Absolutely, absolutely.

[Jodie]

I went to an amazing concert of live music at the frontier, the magical frontier. That was outstanding. It's such a great venue.

And I hadn't seen live music there before. And I just was so, so wrapped. I think it's such a, that for me was one of the highlights of my blaze.

[Mandy]

Yes, we managed to get to about half of that. And it was just stunning and a stunning evening as well. And sitting out there at the magical frontier was lovely.

It really was.

[Stevan]

And were there any new theme camps that impressed you?

[Mandy]

There were a number, but I didn't get to so many this year. I had a lot going on. So I didn't really get down to the big camps at night or anything like that.

So I sort of missed a lot of those.

[Jodie]

But I like the Narnia, the wardrobe Narnia. I thought that was a great concept. And seeing people on there.

[Marcus]

Even though they were our neighbours, I never had the chance to go in there. But that's a pretty normal place.

[Jodie]

Well, I would walk past them and there was like people on the catwalk. And I thought it was such a fun concept. The logistics of it, I just think is outstanding.

Like how they can pull that together, but good on them.

[Mandy]

And I specifically took along a little black dress for a little black dress party across the road. And I used to get my day wrong. And I was at the blending, let me call it blending of business camp and the Bureau of Bureaucracy.

[Marcus]

They were endlessly entertaining with lawyers' letters and threats and defamation suits. Yeah, yeah, we love it.

[Jodie]

I still didn't get a chance to go in there. Because every time I could, they were shut, of course. But the thing is, the benefit of those two camps is that you don't have to go in there to have an interaction or you find out these amazing stories or the summons.

Someone will show you a summons that they got. I just think that that sort of ripples through Lays, those two camps. It has such a knock-on effect in so many ways.

It's just perfect.

[Marcus]

And Jodie, even if you could get there, you'd never get in the door because the queue is endless. And even when you get to the end of the queue, they give you some more paperwork and you're back to where you started from. So you didn't miss much.

[Jodie]

But the stories, like a friend, like Russell told me the story, he got ripped off walking down the road by someone who needed a lawyer to represent him because he would fit the perfect suit that this guy had. And it was someone from the repair shop. The repair cafe who refused to repair, I don't know if it was a dildo or a vibrator.

There was some kind of sex electronic device. And he refused to repair it on the grounds, gross. And then he was summonsed to court.

And so my mate Russell had to defend him. He had a suit for him and everything. So like a three-piece suit that, you know, Russell's a very, very striking, but quite, you know, stocky guy, fit him perfectly.

And he was gifted the suit at the end. I think he won his case. I was gifted the suit at the end of it because it was made for him.

And I know there's so many stories, like people throughout Blaze had interactions with the Bureau of Bureaucracy and or business camp in that same way that may or may not have even gone in there. But it's still, you know, the ripples were felt throughout the whole event. It's the best.

[Marcus]

Well, also, there was a high court of the Blaze as well.

[Mandy]

Of Petty Sessions.

[Marcus]

So if you got in a legal fight with somebody and the lawyers, you know, were really involved, you ended up in high court and had to defend yourself. And judgments were pretty harsh. We've lost a couple of cases there.

[Mandy]

We didn't get set the summons. We should have appealed. But yeah, there are so many camps and so many camps who do different things, and the posties are keeping the whole machinery of the Blaze going by delivering all the summonses, for example.

Yeah, yeah. And links to other events and things like that. So there's so many, you can't name them all, but they all contribute so well.

[Jodie]

Well, thank God for the posties. They do such a great job.

[Stevan]

Yeah, these are the community services that we really need.

[Jodie]

Yeah, I think the amount of work that goes into just running the post office, you know, like it's incredible. I think it's such a great concept. It's such a fun.

Do they have that at the Big Burn, Mandy? Is that a post service? Yep.

[Mandy]

They're a little bit of a different base, but they do a similar role, which is great. But it's all those little camps and you sort of think, oh, you're wandering past and, you know, Couch Potatoes just got their potatoes coming out. So you can, you know, just those sorts of things just add to it.

You know, and Black Lagoon doing their coffee and all the rest of it. And the steampunk antics. Yeah, steampunk.

You know, there's just so much, so much happening. And then there'll be random guys wandering around. There's a group of musicians, I think they're from Fremantle, and they were playing the most incredible instruments with the light on a little, little wagon that was done up, you know, going around at night.

It was just fabulous.

[Stevan]

Was that the clown camp, the Chainsaw Cobra?

[Mandy]

Uh, no, these guys, no, no, it wasn't those ones, but I know who you're talking about. These guys were playing a whole range of instruments. And then they had the guy pushing the cart with a big, beautifully decorated umbrella with all that sort of gear that brought it together.

[Jodie]

Oh, yeah, Mind Rave. Mind Rave, Mind Rave. Yeah, they had like a chameleon.

Yeah, that was really cool.

[Mandy]

So there's so many of these little things we can rave on for hours, sort of literally as we have been. Things that come to mind afterwards going, oh, we've got to talk about them.

[Jodie]

Yeah.

[Stevan]

And that's not even mentioning all the people that, you know, volunteer for rangers and, you know, medics and sanctuary. And, you know, all sorts of things.

[Jodie]

The Moop Patrol, that's a huge one after everyone's packed up. You know, there's so much. I think Anne did that last year, didn't she, Mandy?

Was there for days, just picking up Moop.

[Marcus]

Well, that's a whole other podcast right there.

[Jodie]

Isn't it? Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, there was mention, I think in the Blaze, there was a post on the Blaze page about whether or not it should be a 10 day event. And don't get me wrong, I think I would, I wish Blaze would go on forever. But I think the amount of work that would go into putting it on for any longer than it is, it's, yeah, it would be such a, it must be like the org, again, I've said it, but you have to take hats off to them.

The amount of stuff that they have to work through and manage and, you know, get right. It's outstanding that they can do it year after year and just keep improving. I think it gets better and better.

[Marcus]

I would love to see a 10 day Blaze and then we'd have a crack at it, but then we'd probably realize all the reasons why we don't want a 10 day Blaze. But I'd love to try it.

[Jodie]

I think for the medics, I think it would be too much.

[Stevan]

I think that week or that seven days is perfect. In the East Coast, our burns are usually around five days. We would have the extended seven days.

But people say that week out in the paddock feels like a proper burn.

[Mandy]

And I think when it first started, it was only really five days or so. I think it used to be Thursday night or something.

[Marcus]

Well, there's two Blazes. There's the Blaze that the public attend, which is five or six days. But then there's the Blaze that the theme camps and the organizers attend, which is substantially longer because there's all the work before and all the work afterwards.

So they're almost separate events in some ways. And if you can be part of a theme camp and extend your stay out there, you experience the build up, Blaze itself, and then the wind down as well. And that adds a whole other dimension.

We often say that the best day of the Blaze is the day when everyone's going out the gate. And even the day after that, because it's much more relaxed. And you get lots of time to socialize with people.

And it's a different thing altogether. But we love that as well. Even though we have to pack up and go, we still love it.

[Stevan]

Yeah, it is a different dynamic pre-burn and the post-burn. And I love all aspects. And I'd recommend for people that if you have the opportunity to come for the pre-build and also for the strike when people packing down and the Leave No Trace happens and stuff like that.

So I highly recommend it.

[Mandy]

Absolutely.

[Marcus]

Yes.

[Jodie]

I haven't been able to actually do that yet. But yeah, I look forward to being able to be... I think I've stayed one or two days longer, but I haven't been in for anything earlier.

That's always my struggle, getting there. Arriving is always the challenge.

[Stevan]

I guess the consideration with extending the burn is the cost. With not just the price and tickets, it would have to be raised up. But insurance and just people's timing.

They have to go back to the real world and start making a living again. But yeah, it is tricky.

[Mandy]

Yeah, it's hard for people to take big chunks of time off. Depending on their work or family or whatever. Because I know people juggle family and trying to find someone to take the kids so they can come for...

It's hard to do. But as you say, just even hiring the site staff for longer. Yeah, and it seems like insurance and whatever.

[Marcus]

But we're allowed to have a burn of fantasy, aren't we?

[Jodie]

Wasn't that the goal, Marcus? To live every day like you're at Blaze?

[Marcus]

That's right. Yep. Well, we sort of do sometimes.

Yeah, I think we're halfway there. Our friends think we're a little bit crazy, but they put up with us. It's funny, the leave no trace has definitely spread to the outside world.

That's a commonplace thing you hear from all sorts of events and festivals now. And that started with burns, for sure.

[Stevan]

Hmm. Okay, we usually like to end the show with some shout outs and gratitude. So let's get into that.

Who wants to start with first? Jodie, do you want any shout outs or gratitude?

[Jodie]

Yeah, sure. My gratitude is with the whole Blaze community, I think. It Takes a Village has really outlined that without everyone's input, we wouldn't have that amazing experience.

So my shout out is Blaze.org, all the volunteers, all the theme camps, you know, all of the people that come to experience it and give just as much as they get. That would be my shout out. But especially Mandy and Marcus, I think you guys do an amazing job.

And it is no small feat. They're very humble. They put a lot of effort into it.

And they do have it down to a well-oiled machine, very well organized. They captain the ship. That's been my experience.

And I think they do a bloody good job. So I look forward to many more years with them at the helm. Feel good on you, fellas.

[Mandy]

Yeah, well, thank you. Well, that's why we can't have a Blaze that goes for too long, because we're going to spend the rest of the year trying to think about how we can do the pack up and the build quicker or more effective so that we can enjoy the whole thing there. But a bit like Jodie, I suppose we'll be doing a few shout outs throughout the show.

And it's always easy to miss people or things. But I think Jodie said it well. It's the things that keep the show on the road.

I know how hard that can be and how many festivals or events fail or fail in the long everything because it's bloody hard work. But these guys, you know, people keep giving time to work all year on the Blaze. And it's not just turning up to the Blaze and having fun and doing things like that.

They work all year on the Blaze as volunteers. And those guys are often forgotten that that extraordinary amount of time and effort put in.

[Marcus]

Well, I'd just like to, I guess, give recognition to our international group of friends who we've sort of met at all the various boons and blazes all over, who we try and keep in touch with the best we can, but who sort of taught us the basics that we've tried to go on with and just how much it's changed our lives over the last, well, more than a decade now. I'd have to say probably 13, 14 years. How much they've changed our lives just by being themselves and showing us how much fun you can have, but also how much sense of community you can have with these events.

So I'd like to thank a very wide and varied group of people for putting us on this path and how much enjoyment we've got from it all these years.

[Mandy]

Well, I think we were just talking about the other day is that the whole burning culture is the youth that just keeps giving. We just have such good fun and it just keeps us excited and happy with what could be next.

[Stevan]

Yeah, I want to echo my shout outs to the blaze board and the community. I mean, this year's event had some dramas beforehand, such as the cyclone Narelle that passed through, as well as the fuel crisis. All those kind of, I guess, contributed to such an amazing and unforgettable blaze, I guess.

But yeah, they handled that situation really well. The community and the community, how it all came together and had a successful burn. That was amazing.

So shout out to everyone out there.

[Mandy]

It just throws an extra bit of stress in right at the end, doesn't it, when you least need it.

[Marcus]

But Blazing Swans, the three years of COVID, which they survived and held the events when they could, and probably if you can get through that, which is a real event killer and it's killed other similar events, they can weather anything now.

[Stevan]

Yeah, such an amazing community. Thanks to the pool room. Thanks to you guys, Mandy, Jodie and Marcus, for coming on to the show and having a chat, explaining a bit more about the pool room, giving us some insights into what you guys do.

[Jodie]

Thanks for having us. Thanks for inviting us on. It's been fun.

[Marcus]

Thank you.

[Stevan]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about Blazing Swans this year.

[Mandy]

And we'll be there next year.

[Marcus]

Yep. Love what you do.

[Stevan]

And guess what? This episode is going straight to the pool room. All right.

Thank you.

[Mandy]

Oh, thanks, Stevan.

[Marcus]

Thank you.

Transcripts transcribed by TurboScribe.ai