Shaun’s due home in a few weeks, but each time Lori hears from him, through scratchy WhatsApp calls, it seems like there’s another hold up…in fact the ship can’t actually reach Mawson Station due to a thick band of sea ice…
Lori pushes down feelings of resentment and bitterness, and at the same time longs to see and touch her husband. She looks around for people who might be in the same boat.
She runs into Nitesh and Silpi who long to visit family in Nepal, and Geo who was separated from his new husband for the first 14 months of marriage!
Meanwhile on the ship, Shaun chats to Peter, an electrician on his way to winter in Antarctica and Dr Jaimie, a fellow watercraft operator and an albatross expert!
Together, from a million miles away, Lori and Shaun navigate feelings of longing and loneliness as they ask the people around them how they manage intimacy from afar.
Contributors to Ep1: Nitesh Raj Pant, Silpi Dhungana Pant, Geo Hulme, Tamara Travers, Rhiannon Townsend, Jaimie Cleeland and Peter Boyle.
Host and executive producer: Lori Uden
Co-producers: Cinnamon Nippard and Lori Uden
Interviews and sound recordings: Shaun and Lori Uden
The kids! 10-year old Matilda Uden and 9-year old Saxon Uden
Editor: Cinnamon Nippard
Mixer: Hamish Robertson
Music producer: Serina Pech
Online producer: Lori uden
Graphic designer: Kelly Walsh
Photographer: Helen Orr, Adam Leatherbarrow & Shaun Uden
Mentor: Johanna Bell
Critical listeners: Johanna Bell and Jess Ong
From Afar was created on beautiful Larrakia land and was produced with funding support from the Northern Territory Government through Arts NT
Thanks also goes to the Australian Antarctic Division and Maritime Construction Services for their support.