In this episode, Jess shares with you the sounds she heard in her first month of being in Australia. The episode begins with the birds she could hear last October on her birthday in a remote part of Gippsland where she stayed for a few days off grid near the sea. As the soundscape moves, we are taken on a journey from Gippsland to Northern Tasmania where we can hear some of the sounds from the heath where Jess began her search for blue sun orchids. There is some commentary which was recorded in the field by Jess as she sat with a particularly beautiful orchid in the wind and rain for an hour.

Jess' experience of Tasmania was incredibly deep and moving and as a result she has made the decision to extend her trip and return to the landscape towards the end of December to record it in paint, text and sound alone. 

As a nomadic artist, a fair amount of planning is called for in order to conduct this type of work (especially over the festive season). The canvas for painting on was ordered in a fabric shop in Wellington with Sue Wickison and shipped on to Tauranga where Jess was staying with artist friend Jenny Coker. The paints, oils and turpentine will be sourced in Melbourne, decanted (so some can be taken to Gippsland) with the rest being posted by boat (oil paints cannot be shipped by plane or put in hold luggage) onto Tasmania so that they are ready waiting for Jess' arrival by propeller plane.