“What am I doing? Why am I sitting home on my own on a Saturday night ordering groceries? Things are getting hard and boring and I've had enough. I want my husband home. I want to have a break”, Lori sighs as she turns off her bedside lamp way too early.
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…
Whilst delays are normal for an Antarctic resupply mission, it’s still frustrating. Lori pushes down feelings of resentment and bitterness, and at the same time longs to see and touch her husband. She looks around for others who might be in a similar 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, as well as Tamara who can’t get any alone time when she’s away to talk with the love of her life!
Meanwhile on the ship, Shaun enjoys some down time as he 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 Ep3: 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.
'Intimacy. From a million miles away?' is the third episode of From Afar, a 5-part podcast exploring long distance love, from tropical Darwin to icy Antarctica.
