Bobby Farquhar

8/14/2019 Bobby Farquhar

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Round Trip To Oz

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

[This was originally written and sent out in occasional installments, as the trip was

taking place. With one major exception, the text hasn’t been altered (except to correct typographical errors) but the photos have been added. I added the final section, just to

be able to show you the photos. You’ll see why when you get to it ]

Part 1

It’s Sunday morning as I write this. Saturday afternoon by L.A. time. It’s been busy,which is why this is the first time I’ve had to scribble anything down. I think you may allknow this but we’re in Australia, thanks to the production company I’m working for. I’vewritten a movie that’s to be the pilot for a science fiction television series. They broughtme down for three weeks and, very generously, sprung for a ticket for Genny, too.

We left Los Angeles Monday night, June 16th, thanks to a ride to the airport from BeckyLilienfeld (much appreciated). The flights to Australia (first to Sydney and then a changeof planes to Canberra) were long but mostly uneventful. Genny and I ended up seatedseparately because, by the time we had tickets from the production company, 70% of theseats on the flight were already booked and Qantas’s policy to save the last 30% to book at the ticket counter on the day of departure. So we each had an aisle seat a few rowsapart, though on opposite sides of the plane.

While waiting to board, we noticed a group of young women in sports-style wheelchairs being preboarded. They each wore a jacket with “Australia” embroidered on the back.

Because there were five of them, I guessed it was the official Australian Women’s Murder Ball team (Murder Ball is basketball in wheelchairs; a particularly physical activity). Itturned out I was right. It also turned out that, when I got to my seat, one of the teammembers was in it. I said “I think you’re in my seat” and she explained that as sherequired a wheelchair, it was important for her to be on the aisle, to be able to get in andout of her seat. She offered that I could take the middle seat next to her. I told her Ididn’t want to make her move but that I’d spent some effort making sure I had an aisleseat for a 15 hour flight, so I’d see if the flight attendants could find somewhere else for me.

I found the nearest flight attendant who turned my problem over to the purser. I told him

I didn’t want to make her move but really wanted an aisle seat. He went to talk to thewoman in my seat. He came back several minutes later and I could read on his face the bottom line of what transpired. He was going to make her move then realized, after discussion with her and possibly others that Qantas really didn’t want the bad press of having made a wheelchair-bound woman move. They found me another aisle seat. Fine by me.,



Much time passes. We made it to Sydney and I’ll spare you the saga of getting our luggage and clearing customs and travelling to another terminal in time to make our connecting flight. We did. Barely.

Eventually, we made it to Canberra, where it had magically turned to Wednesday

morning. It is, I think 17 hours different between L.A. and Canberra but it’s easier for meto calculate it as it being 7 hours earlier, but tomorrow. (From here, you’re 7 hours later, but yesterday.)

Andrew Dillon, the producer-director of my film/show, picked us up. He drove us to theshort-term apartment he’d rented for us, admitting he’d never been there but it was in a good,central area near (if you call a kilometer near) lots of restaurants and shops. It was small butfine. I think we’d have been happier if it had been a half-step nicer but we’ll be fine. Or hadWiFi. (When I’ve been able to get on-line from the apartment, it’s from someone’s nearbyunlocked WiFi set-up. Unfortunately, it’s pretty weak and I can’t always get it to work.) Wedropped off our bags and off and all went to breakfast, which turned out to be my first

meeting of the trip. About 40 minutes after getting off the plane. Oy.

Andrew Dillon, during one of our meetings later in the trip

The meeting was fairly informal and was with Andrew and Bobby Farquhar, one of our stars. Bobby has been a ballet dancer, a martial artist, and an actor. He also runs the

National Acting School in Canberra and has been responsible for a lot of successfulAustralian acting careers. He helped find much of our teenage cast. The meeting wentwell and neither Genny nor I fell asleep during it. But jetlag was hitting Genny prettyhard and we got a ride back to our apartment, where we unpacked and took a nap.



Cat who lives two doors down from our temporary apartment. Some occupantsof the building are obviously here longer than others.

That evening at 5:30, we got picked up by a Donna Hanson, a local fan and the editor of several SF anthologies and non-fiction books. She’s also an aspiring novelist. She took us to dinner and then to the monthly meeting of the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild, agroup of professional writers and some aspiring. The dinner was great, at a very goodrestaurant called Sage, with half a dozen folks from the CSFG. It seems, being thenation’s capital, an awful lot of folks including several of the ones at dinner – work for the government in one capacity or another.

Clockwise from left front: Genny, me, ???, Val Toh, Donna Hanson, Gillian ?



After dinner, we walked over to the room where the CSFG meets. I was their guestspeaker. They’d asked me in advance of our trip if I would do it and I told them Icouldn’t promise to be awake or, if I was awake, coherent but I’d try.

Things went quite well, actually. It was more of a ramble than a talk. I didn’t have a

prepared speech. And there were a few times I’d get most of the way through ananecdote then think “why am I telling this story?” but usually found my way. They allseemed to enjoy it. Around 10:00, the evening was called to an end despite there beingmany questions still waiting to be asked and answered.

Donna offered to take us by a supermarket on the way back to our apartment. Despite being tired, we accepted her offer. One of the nice things about staying in an apartmentrather than a hotel room is the presence of a kitchen. You don’t have to go out for threemeals a day. Food in Australia is Very Expensive. Very. Less so once I remembered thata kilogram is equivalent to something like two pounds (rather than like half-a-pound – hey, a kilometer is like half a mile) but still very expensive. Hamburger works out to

about US$3.50 a pound. A two-liter bottle of Diet Coke is US$2.50. Et cetera. Donna bought us a package of Tim Tams, a Very Nice cookie. Then she took us home, whereGenny and I promptly got into bed and went to sleep.

Thursday morning, Genny and I were picked up by Andrew and off we went to meetBobby again. This time we met at the Canberra Centre, a large shopping mall in themiddle of downtown Canberra. First we went to a store where Genny and I could buy acell phone (or, locally, a mobile) that will work here, unlike our US phones. Then wewent shopping for prop eye glass frames for Bobby’s costume as Prof. Billings in myshow. Once we’d found Just The Right Pair, Bobby went off one direction, Genny wentoff to spend the day shopping and wandering about Canberra, and Andrew and I went tothe conference room at a local post house owned by one of the people working on our movie. We spent the day working on the script for some of the material we’d beshooting, determining the contents of the website for it, and I trimmed the series bibleinto a “mini-bible” for use with finance, licensing, and other folks who aren’t involved inthe actual production aspects.



Conference room in the production office, during a rare break

Eventually, Andrew brought me back to the apartment. Genny, inspired by the tales of allthe local Canberrans who told us how they walk to work, walk here, and walk there,Genny decided to walk back from town to our apartment. She hadn’t quite realized howfar away it was – about six kilometers. It was a lovely walk, passed many parks andsuch. But a long way none the less.

That night, Donna picked us up again and took us to the opening evening of a three-plusday writers event being held in Canberra. Lots of different writers speaking, apparentlyall free and sponsored by the government. Mostly “literary” authors but this night it was

Garth Nix. There was a socializing period beforehand during which Genny and I wereintroduced to Garth and several other local authors and fans (most of whose names I’llnever remember). His talk was fun and I refrained from shouting out replies to the one-liners he let roll about the floor.

That's enough for one message. More to come.

Be warned.

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Bobby Farquhar