Chapter 15: Videos, Buildings and Music

Welcome to My State

Monday January 24^th – Thursday 27^th, 2000

The alarm went off at 4:00am, far too early for me, but I had to get to the Filmation offices by 5:00. Time for a quick shower, I put my coffee into a travel mug, and drove across to Willoughby. There was little traffic on the roads this early in the morning, and I was at the studio with ten minutes to spare. The others were already there; Jim and Darryl checking off their equipment, and Monica making sure clothes were packed in the van. I said hello to the others, and I put my bag in the boot of Sue’s car.

Soon it was time to hit the road; I sat in the back seat of Sue’s car. Monica was up front with her, and the others were in the van. As Sue headed up the Pacific Highway towards our first destination – Kim’s, on Toowoon Bay near Terrigal, I tried to curl up and get some more sleep. I must have dozed fitfully, I vaguely recalled various parts of the trip, but it wasn’t until we were close to our destination that I woke up completely.

The sun was just starting to appear below the horizon as we set up on the deck of one of the spa cottages. What had opened decades ago as a low cost, simple camping area was now a luxurious beachside resort, with five-star dining, and several cabins, complete with private spas and in some cases small pools. Just a few paces away, the sandy beach and the ocean was beckoning.

The staff was ready and waiting for us, and in a matter of minutes a wonderful breakfast for two was set on the table, with a bottle of champagne resting in an ice bucket sitting next to the spa. The aim here was to film Monica and I in the spa, as the sun was just rising, then we would get out of the spa, and sit down at the table for breakfast. Again, Sue had made sure Monica was wearing a rather skimpy bikini, different from the one from the beach scene last week, but one designed to show her figure to best advantage.

We ran through the scene several times; the sun wasn’t quite right yet, so it gave Sue a chance to see just how the scene worked out, and she adjusted the position of the second camera so it wasn’t in the way as we sat down at the table. Finally, Sue was happy with the light, the camera positions, and our actions, so she told everyone to take their positions, and the scene started.

The aim of this sequence of scenes was to show how there is much more to see around the state than just Sydney, and how there are a wide range of places to stay. I started on the introduction, about places to stay along the coastline, and how Kim’s was one where you could watch the sun rise over the ocean while you sipped some champagne. We both stood up, and stepped from the spa to the breakfast table, and I pulled Monica’s chair out for her before sitting down.

When the scene was finished, the other three where smiling broadly, and Jim started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“That was good, but we’ll have to shoot it again,” Sue said. “And this time, Monica, can you try to keep your tits inside your bikini top?”

Somehow, Monica’s bikini top had twisted to the side, and both of her breasts were exposed. She laughed, and undid the top tie, and readjusted it to cover herself again.

“Damn stupid micro bikini you want me to wear, Sue,” she said. “How any woman with even regular sized tits can stay in this is beyond me. Why don’t you just have me topless? I bet a lot of people would like to see them, I know Will does.”

“Well, as much as you want to show your tits off to everyone, Mon, that would blow our rating,” Sue replied. “I should have put some tape in them, to keep them in place. Ready to try again?”

We shot the scene several times through, each time Monica’s breasts managed somehow to stay inside the skimpy bikini. While Sue, Jim and Darryl went across to the main dining room to set up for the next set of shots, Monica and I had a quick shower and dressed in our clothes.

“Sometimes having large boobs is a pain in the arse,” Monica said as she was drying herself. “They just didn’t want to stay in that skimpy bikini. Not that you minded seeing them, I bet!”

“I would have thought Sue, in particular, would have realised that,” I replied, trying to ignore her two rather attractive breasts bouncing and jiggling as she dried her back. “I wonder who is larger between the two of you? Personally, I think you are both the ideal size.”

“There are times when I love having boobs this size,” she continued. “I’m sure you can think of some rather pleasurable activities that could be done with them. And I’m sure you and Sue have done that.”

She pushed her breasts together, squeezing her arms on either side, and holding her thumb up, slid it up and down between her lovely mounds, winking at me.

“Monica!” I said, trying to sound offended. “You know I don’t want to talk about that, things that Sue and I may or may not have done!”

“But what makes you think Sue doesn’t talk about that with me?” she replied. “She confides in me a fair bit, you know.”

I wondered just how much Sue had told Monica, hopefully not as much as Monica thought there was to tell.

“Besides, Sue is now with a new boyfriend, Bob Graham, and I promised her I wouldn’t do anything to get in the way, I added.

“I guess you’re right, she seems really happy to have met him. Now, we had better get down to the dining hall, or Sue might think we are doing some of those activities,” she said. “Not that I would, not behind her back. I wouldn’t be taking you from her, but we are here for work, not to fuck!”

Thank God for that, I said to myself. The last thing I wanted was Monica trying to do things – behind Sue’s back or not. I put all thoughts of that from my mind and went through my lines for this next scene. Next week, during the final editing, I would add some voice over commentary about the wide variety of other accommodations on the coast: large resorts, family camping areas, guest houses, motels. But now we were going to show the breakfast spread here, the fresh fruits, seafood, pastries and hot dishes. Kim’s was renowned for the quality and quantity of the food they served.

For this scene, Monica and I were lined up in front of one of the food tables, and as we moved along, putting food on our plates, I said my lines. I managed to look towards the camera, while not spilling any food – a good start. Again, we ran through the whole scene three times, each one from a slightly different angle. When Sue was finally happy, we could actually sit down at a table with our food, and have a belated breakfast.

Not that we had that much time to enjoy the food; it wasn’t long before Sue was looking at her watch.

“Well, we have to be set up at Terrigal by 11 for the pelican feeding,” she said. “They won’t wait for us, and if we miss it, or your tits fall out of your top again Monica, we can’t get them to do it all again. Are you all ready to head off?”

The rest of us groaned light-heartedly, but we knew she was right. The whole timetable was tight, so we quickly finished our food, and headed back to the vehicles. The drive to Terrigal wasn’t long; it was only a few miles up the road. We wanted to be ready before the daily influx of pelicans came to the public jetty for their daily feeding – several years ago, several fishermen would throw some unwanted fish to a few pelicans that were hanging around, the word had quickly spread around the local pelican community, and over time it had become a huge tourist attraction.

By the time we arrived, a crowd was starting to gather near the fishing wharf. Fortunately, Sue had arranged with the fishing co-op, and they had cleared space for us to set up. As the feeding time approached, more and more pelicans arrived, waiting patiently in the water for their treat. Monica was to toss some pieces of fish to the waiting pelicans, while I was to tell how every day, people can come here to feed the waiting birds.

“God, this fish is really slimy,” she whispered to me. “And you know what my hands will smell like afterwards, people will think we had been doing, well, you know...”

“I’m sure you smell, and taste, far more pleasant there than some piece of slimy, raw fish, Monica,” I replied in a whisper.

“You never know your luck, Will, you might get a chance to find out,” she teased back.

After a few final checks of the light, camera angles, and Monica’s bikini, we were ready to record. We ran through the scene several times, some with just Monica throwing the fish to the pelicans, and others where we both fed them. Several times the birds would catch the fish in mid-air, stretching their open bills out to snatch it before any others could take it.

It was almost like throwing chips to seagulls – watching them fight and squabble, not wanting to miss any possible morsel, even though there was plenty of food to go around. Except these birds were much larger than seagulls, and their bills looked a bit intimidating; I made sure I didn’t have my hand too close to them.

After ten or so minutes Sue was satisfied with the scene, and we moved away to let the growing crowd take their turn at feeding.

“Right, do you two want to wash up, get changed, and we will get on our way to the winery,” Sue said. “You must stink of fish, we don’t want that in the car for the drive.”

“That was fun,” Monica said as we walked toward the showers inside the co-op. “But they were a bit scary; I was afraid I would get bitten by one of them.”

“A funny bird is the pelican,” I quoted. “His bill can hold more than his belly can.”

“Well, some of them could sure hold a lot in their bellies,” she replied. “And my hands are all fishy, yours must be too. You are right, my scent is much nicer than that.”

There was only one shower, in fact, it was just the shower outlet up on the side of the wall. Monica quickly removed her bikini, and stood under the water.

“Oh, that’s a bit cold!” she exclaimed, adjusting the taps.

She looked very sexy, standing naked under the shower with the water streaming over her body. I felt my prick starting to stiffen, imagining my hands and lips over her round breasts, and tried – unsuccessfully – to put those images from my mind.

“Are you going to have a shower?” Monica asked. “We don’t have much time, come on, I won’t bite you. Unless you are into that, Will!”

I took my clothes off, putting them on the bench, and tried to ignore my semi-erect prick as I walked over to the shower. Monica moved to one side and handed me the soap. At least the water was still cool, that would take the edge off my erection, I hoped.

“Under different circumstances, this could be the start of something fun, or more,” she said to me. “A pity we don’t have more time, I could ask you to wash my back for me, and I could do the same to you.”

She reached over, and rubbed my prick with a soapy hand, then kissed my cheek before moving away from the shower. She bent down slowly to pick up her towel, giving me a full view of her backside, then turned around to smile at me when she stood up. She made sure she was facing me directly as she dried herself, and seemed to take special delight in drying her breasts, rubbing her towel around each of them in turn, then giving me a great view of her pussy as she dried her legs. By now I was completely erect; my rock hard prick pointing straight up.

“I wish I could help you with that,” she said, “but we don’t have time.”

“And I suspect Sue wouldn’t be all that pleased with us, either,” I said, as I turned the water off.

“Maybe not,” she said, tossing a towel to me. “But with Sue, you can never tell; she might want to join us.”

I doubted that; but I didn’t want to dispel Monica’s fantasy. She continued to give me plenty of “eyefuls” as she got dressed, making sure I could see her trimmed pubic hair, and that she still looked pretty damp between her legs. I dressed quickly, tucking my still erect prick into my undies, eliciting a longing gaze from Monica – she saw that I noticed her looking, and she deliberately licked her lips.

“A tasty treat,” she said smiling.

I just smiled back and finished getting dressed.

The drive to the winery took about two hours, getting there in time for a late lunch. Over the meal, Sue outlined what she wanted to get this afternoon – wine tasting, plus a look at the production part, so people can see that they can do more than just taste and buy the wine. As well, she wanted to get some general shots of the grape vines and other parts of the winery that would get edited into the overall segment.

The others were setting up the camera and lighting equipment while I sat outside and read over my lines until I was sure I had them perfect. I had done fairly well remembering my lines and not stuffing up the shooting; something that I had been initially really worried about. The others had been great to work with, even Monica’s teasing had taken my mind off worrying about my lines, letting me be myself, so the lines just came naturally.

When everything was ready, we ran through the wine tasting scene twice, as a dry run, with Sue checking the angles and lighting. They all seemed pretty happy with the setup, so after one final check, and a brief touch up of my make up, we were ready. As John, the main winemaker at the estate was behind the bar counter, and poured several small glasses of white wine, as I explained how close to Sydney the Hunter Valley wineries were, how they offered tastings and cellar door sales.

The next scene was behind the tasting area, where the main wine making equipment was located. John started to explain the wine making process, as the cameras caught all the details. I supposed that in the editing, this would be merged with some of the other segments around the winery, because there was a whole section of “voice over” that I would be dubbing in later on.

We finished up with a few more photos of Monica and me around the winery; getting out of the car, looking at all of the wine on display, drinking together. That was my work done for the day, the others were going to get some more outdoor shots, but I decided to go to the room that Sue and I had in the guest house and go over tomorrow’s lines.

The guest house had several bedrooms; we had booked several of them for the night. Even though there was an attached kitchen and eating area, we had planned to have dinner in a restaurant in the nearby town of Rothbury.

I took my shoes off, and lay on the bed, and started reading tomorrow scripts. I must have drifted off to sleep, because there was Monica leaning over me.

“You are so tempting,” she said. “I was wondering if I could get those pants off you and start sucking before you woke up.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to go to sleep,” I said. “How long before we are going to dinner?”

“We are leaving in fifteen minutes,” Monica said. “That’s why I came in here to get you, in case you had fallen asleep – which you had!”

“Sorry, I’ll be ready to go in five minutes,” I said.

I got off the bed, went into the bathroom to rinse my face. When I returned to the main part of the room, Monica had left, so I quickly got dressed, and went out to the main reception area, where the others were ready, waiting outside for me; Monica made an exaggerated look at her watch.

“I thought we said to meet at six?” she said. “So, what’s your excuse for being late?”

“No excuse needed, since Sue said, ‘around six’, which it is,” I replied. “It’s only a minute past six. If you were so worried, why didn’t you come in and wake me earlier?”

“You don’t know just how long I was in your room while you slept,” Monica said.

“Okay, everyone, enough bickering!” Sue said. “We have a dinner appointment, and time is awasting!”

We piled into the van and drove to the restaurant in Rothbury village. A table had been set up for us in a private room in the restaurant, while the others set up the lights and camera tripods, Monica and I got dressed, and she touched up my make-up, so that my face wouldn’t be too shiny under the lights. Monica and I emerged into the restaurant, a table had been set for us, so we sat down. The scene involved us being served with a rather fancy looking meal, and some local wine being poured for us. I was to take a sip, tasting the wine, and telling the wine steward that the wine was perfect, then we would start to eat our meal. I didn’t want to think of what could go wrong with the wine glasses or dinner plates, I had a vision of Monica’s meal sliding off the plate as the waiter served her, ending up in her lap. But everything would go perfectly, I told myself.

We sat at the table, the lights were powered on, and Sue called ‘action’. The wine steward moved across and poured some wine in my glass for me to taste. I held up the glass, swirled the wine around, then took a sip. Actually, I didn’t have to act, it was excellent wine, so I put the glass down, and nodded to the steward.

“That’s excellent, thanks,” I said.

He filled both of our wine glasses, then Monica and I raised our glasses, clinked them together gently, and each took a sip. Meanwhile, the waiter arrived with our meals, placing them in front of us. I hoped that we would actually get to eat the meals, they food looked particularly appetising. We paused while the cameras were repositioned, then on Sue’s command, we each started to eat, taking a mouthful of the food, which I washed down with another sip of wine.

“Okay, let’s finish our meals,” Sue said, “then it’s dessert time. How does it taste, guys?”

“This is lovely food,” Monica said. “I was hoping we would be allowed to finish it!”

We quickly finished our meals, while the rest of the crew ate; then the table was cleared, and the cameras and lights set up. Sue called for quiet, then ‘action’. The waiter brought us our desserts – apple pie, ice cream, and runny cream. I said my lines, and asked for two coffees, and two glasses of port, then Monica and I started to eat our pie. It was one of the best apple pies I had ever had, even better than the homemade pies of my grandmother, which was saying something. After a mouthful, I looked up at the camera, and recited my last line.

“Make sure you finish your meal off with a traditional Australian dessert, either an apple pie, or some pavlova.”

“Okay, that’s a wrap,” Sue said. “Well done everyone, now it’s back to bed, we have another early start and a long day tomorrow.”

As we walked back to our rooms from the van, Monica took hold of my hand.

“That was a lovely meal with you, Will,” she said. “Even if they were filming us. I was thinking how much I would have loved to go on a dinner date with you, back when we were at high school. We probably couldn’t have afforded anything as fancy as that, but going out with you on a date would have been lovely.”

“That would have been something special,” I said. “Although when I was at high school, I was too nervous, too shy to ask you out. I was scared you would have turned me down, and made me feel like an idiot.”

“Never. I would have felt so special if you had asked me out, but you never seemed to notice me,” she said. “I wish we could spend tonight together in my room, but that may not be a good idea.”

“No, and although I have some freedom, I can’t just sleep with anyone, not without talking it over with Angie first,” I said. “I made a mistake like that last year, and it almost ended our relationship.”

“I wouldn’t want to do that to you, Will,” she said. “But can we have a nice kiss before we go to our rooms? I’ve always dreamt about kissing you, imagining how your lips would feel against mine.”

“Just a kiss, okay?” I said.

“And a hug,” she added. “And I expect it to be a really good kiss, with lots of tongue action, please.”

We had reached the door to my room, Monica stood close in front of me, and put her arms around me, her face and lips moved closer.

“Imagine we are back in sixth grade, and I just tied those strands of cotton around our wrists, and I’ve told you that means we will be together forever ... what will you do?”

I put my arms around Monica, pulled her body close to mine. I could feel her breasts pressing against my chest, the warmth of her breath against my cheek ... the tip of her tongue flicked around her lips, they were moist, parted ... The gap between our respective lips closed, and I felt the warm wetness of her lips pressing against mine. They were soft, smooth, she brushed them against my lips, and I felt the little tingles of electricity between us. She then pulled me harder against her, and with a hand behind my head, pressed my lips firmly against hers. I could feel her tongue pushing between my lips, I moved my tongue so that the tips of our tongues pushed against each other. She ground her body, her breasts, her groin against me, and I was starting to get hard. I was sure she noticed the growing bulge in my crotch, but she continued rubbing her crotch against me.

I could feel her grinding starting to get me more and more turned on, and I was worried that if she continued much longer, I might inadvertently come in my pants. I pulled my face from hers, and suggested we stop.

“Um, Monica, if you keep doing that to me, then ... I might not be able to control something,” I said.

“You mean, I might make you come in your pants?” she asked. “Really? That would be something special for me ... I know, I know, Will,” she sighed. “I can’t help myself; we should go to our separate beds; I need to have a cold shower, or something!”

“Good night, Monica,” I said, kissing her again, gently this time. “Thank you for being my friend.”

“Good night, Will,” she replied. “You are right, we really shouldn’t take things further at the moment. I’m going to have to take care of something, or I’ll never be able to sleep.”

She let go of me and headed up to her room. I opened my door, went into my room, and decided to get ready for bed. I took a shower, and got into bed; before I turned the lights out, I called Angie to let her know how the day went. She answered the phone, and asked how the shooting went.

I told her about the pelicans, the winery and the dinner, and said how tomorrow would be very busy, travelling up through Mudgee to Hill End and Gulgong. She told me that Jenny had a call from Debra at my work and said she would put her on the line.

“Will? I’ve got an interview first thing in the morning, thanks for setting that up for me,” she said. “Tomorrow night I will tell you how it all went. Thank you, I am so grateful of everything you’ve done for me.”

I said good night to her and Angie, and as I got undressed I looked at the notepad where I had been keeping a tally of times I thought about various women, following Alexa’s suggestion. I had deliberately excluded Sue from the tally, since I was working with her all day; to avoid seeing the counts through the day, and subconsciously ‘rigging’ the results, all I did was make a tally stroke against the name. To me ‘thinking’ of someone was when a thought would enter my head completely out of the blue, one situation was I had thoughts of Tracy Mann when we were doing the videos at Kim’s, no doubt triggered by the memory of the time she and I spent there, before she left for Melbourne.

I quickly added up the scores, and I was surprised; while both Angie and Jenny scored ‘four’ and ‘three’ respectively, Michelle was also ‘four’, even Alexa was a ‘three’. But Lori and Megan each had ‘eight’ – I guess the same score because I was thinking about the two of them together, not only because the three of us had lived together, but they were now sharing Megan’s place. Cathy rated a ‘five’, but the high scores for Lori and Megan came as a big surprise to me. I pondered whether I should add Monica to the list, but decided against it, since I would be working with her all day, and for the same reason I didn’t have Sue on the list, the results wouldn’t be all that meaningful.

I turned out the light and got into bed. My mind was filled with thoughts of Monica, the kiss we had, and how clear her intentions were. I fell asleep, a sleep filled with troubled dreams about Monica and me.

The next morning was another early start, my alarm was set for 4:30. I dragged myself out of bed, had a shave and a hot shower before getting dressed, packing my bag, and I was ready to leave at 5:00. I got into the back seat of Sue’s car and tried to sleep; a difficult task on the winding roads as we climbed the mountains, through Sandy Hollow and Merriwa towards Mudgee. Every so often we would stop so that some background video could be shot, at least I didn’t have to do anything in those; these were just to ‘add colour’ to the videos, showing the beauty and variety of the local scenery.

We had arrived at our destination for the first action scene of the day, a sheep farm between Mudgee and Gulgong. The aim was to tell about opportunities for people to have a ‘farm stay’, to see the ‘real New South Wales’ (a term I objected to, but Sue said we had to use that), where people could experience a few days on a sheep farm, riding horses, working the livestock, and seeing just what rural life is like. I was introduced to the farmer, Neil Lanham, who asked me if I knew how to ride a horse.

“I’ve done it a few times, I’m certainly no expert, but I’m not likely to fall off,” I said.

“No worries, we’ll just be taking it slow, walking behind a mob of sheep. The dogs will do all the hard work,” he said.

It was off to the truck, where I changed into my costume – some moleskins, a denim shirt, R.M. Williams riding boots, and an Akubra hat. I thought I looked a bit too much of a caricature of a ‘city slicker’ pretending to be a country person, but that was what was chosen. For the first scene, Neil and I would be riding our horses behind a mob of sheep, while the film crew followed us on the back of a flat-bed truck. There were no lines for me to say, just sit and follow. Easy-peasy. The next scene was in the stock yards, the sheep dogs were helping move the sheep into some of the yards, then it was into the sheering shed, I would pull sheep from the pen, move one to where Neil would shear it. I was pretty experienced at doing that, I had spent a lot of time on my Uncle’s farm as a teenager, and I knew how to throw a sheep down, and carry it to the sheering stand.

All of the scenes went without a hitch, Sue was pleased with the result; we thanked Neil for his time, and it was on to our next stop, the historic gold mining town of Gulgong.

“You knew your way around sheep, Will,” Monica said. “Where did you learn that trick about getting those sheep down on the ground so you could drag them across the shed floor?”

“My uncle had a sheep farm near Cowra, and I would go there during school holidays and help,” I said.

“And there I was thinking it was something to do with a previous girlfriend of yours,” Sue said. “Will the Sheep-shagger!”

“No! Nothing like that at all,” I said, laughing. “I’m not from New Zealand!”

“Fair enough,” she replied. “Now, the next set of scenes, in Gulgong, you and Monica will just be walking around, looking at the historic buildings, and we will end up in one of the old pubs for a drink at the bar. Try not to trip over and spill your drink everywhere this time, Monica.”

Monica poked her tongue out at Sue and blew a raspberry.

“I won’t do that again,” she said. “You will never let me live that down, will you?”

“Of course not, it was so funny to see you end up on your arse,” Sue said. “Now, let’s get ready for this scene. What we want to get is the two of you looking at the old shops along the main street, we will do a long shot as you walk down past all of the store fronts, just take your time, look in the window, point things out. Will, can you put an arm around Monica’s waist, imagine you are here with a girlfriend or wife, and you are having an enjoyable time, taking in the history. I want you chatting to each other – we won’t be recording any sound, but I want it to look as if you are talking about what is in the shops.”

We parked behind the main street – Herbert Street – next to Apex Park, Monica and I got changed, and she touched up my makeup, then it was up to the main street for the crew to video us as we ambled along looking at the shops. The next scene was inside the ‘Gulgong Pioneers Museum’, then it was down to the restored ‘Prince of Wales Opera House’, set up like a turn of the century music hall. Finally, it was up the street to the Commercial Travellers’ Hotel, where we rewarded ourselves with a refreshing beer. True to her word, Monica didn’t spill her glass, and Sue was pleased with everything we had done. Time to have a quick lunch at a café up the road before heading to our final destination for the day, the old gold mining town of Hill End.

We drove from Gulgong, back to Mudgee, then the back roads to Hill End; once there we started at Bald Hill, with a panoramic overlook of the town, then to some of the other historic sites, where I told the story of the gold rush of the 1850s, with thousands of people – diggers – moved in, all hoping to strike it rich. We were able to get several scenes shot before the light became too uneven, I pointed out where various mines were located, where some of the twenty-eight pubs were located, and what facilities remained in the town.