So, you want to go to Burning Man eh? Awesome!! Just putting your intention out there is the first step!

I had always been aware of Burning Man, even though like most people I wasn’t completely sure what it was. As luck would have it, I had a year long contract finishing up just before The Burn in 2016, so I would have the time and money to indulge. The stars had aligned.

I started with checking out burningman.org which is an excellent, if somewhat confusing place to start. There is a lot of great information here – there is a lot of information here actually, some of it great, a lot of it outdated, and generally it’s a bit of a rabbit’s warren, but persevere. Check out the First timer’s guide set up to cater specifically for Burgins (first time Burners), especially the 10 principles. I can’t stress enough how important these are – no there is not going to be an exam, but if you are a Burgin, the best way to get your head around the ethos, the way the community of Black Rock City functions and how to deport your self while at Burning Man and beyond is to get a descent understanding of the principles.

A short note on gifting – People are often confused by the gifting concept and the gifting economy, and it can tend to stress Burgins out on what exactly gifting is and what their gift is – well it did me anyway. Black Rock City is not a barter economy as many in the

Cruising around the playa on a bike is one of the true joys of Burning Man.

default world wrongly equate. It is a gifting economy; in that you give your goods or services without the expectation of anything tangible in return. As for what your gift is to give on playa, that’s up to you. As a Burgin, you don’t have an obligation to be gifting at this early stage – you are the gift, your awe, your wide-eyed wonder add to the splendor of the event. However, if you’re a poet, a masseuse, an artist of any kind, if you make delicious desert treats, or can fashion cups out of dust (cups are king in Black Rock), that’s wonderful. Just remember, you don’t want to be adding to MOOP (Matter Out Of Place), so avoid anything that people might drop or could easily blow away, bits of plastic and paper and NO GLITTER!! Whatever you do, don’t be advertising your home business, if you’re an artist or something fine include a website I suppose, but not a business address to your home made bath bomb distillery.

I then decided to head over to YouTube, to get an idea of what I could expect to see on the ground. I kind-of-sort-of didn’t want to do this, I saw it as spoilers, but it was worth it to just see what it was like, and to get me excited when it seemed all too hard, too far away

I got to the man, knew I wanted to get some photos of me naked there but I got there and was like – ok but now what do I do?

or too impossible. Hug Nation in particular has a huge library of videos from past burns, how to’s, tips and tricks for burners of all experiences. YouTube also shows you what people bring, what people wear, the weather conditions and lifestyle on the playa. Choose your own adventure as far as costumes go, but never forget, goggles, headlamp, scarf/facemask or some kind of airway protection during dust storms, and a pair of sensible shoes. Now, wars have begun online when it comes to the definition of what a Burner’s sensible shoes should look like – some say heavy duty camping boots, some say you need at least a steel toe, yada yada. I brought some boots, I only wore them during set up as we had a lot of rebar in the ground and sharp things about, but once the festival was on the way I ditched them in place for my runners, and I was fine.

Now, I had to decide if I wanted to join a camp, and if so which one? I made my mind up fairly early that I definitely did want to join a camp, for a number of reasons. Firstly, I wasn’t going with anyone, which was my preference, but I still wanted a group of new compadres to come back to at the end of the day, or beginning of the day as it so often happened. Another consideration was logistical; just getting my costumes, tent and my back pack with my clothes for the rest of my journey to the playa was a pain in the ass, let alone my bike as well. A weeks worth of food, some way of storing it, cooking it, extra

Just after the best breakfast on playa, or in America I think I ever ate! But sadly just before I lost that little red dress…

shade cloth or protection for my tent from dust storms, any number of other bulky items that would not fit in to the overhead compartment traveling from Australia was not feasible for one individual on a budget, who was going traveling through two more countries for another two and a half months after The Burn. But how to choose a camp? Again start with Burningman.org, they have a list of camps, what the camps do, where they are based, and if they are open for new members. This may or may not be updated for whatever time of whatever year it is that you happen to be reading this, but at least you will have names of the camps and an idea of what they do. Do you know what kind of camp you would like to camp with? A camp with a spiritual focus? Maybe you want to join an Art Car? Do you want a camp that’s local to you? There are soooo many camps that you are bound to find something right up your alley. For me, I wanted to camp in a camp that was LGBTQI, took the spiritual side of Burning Man loosely seriously, friendly and fun. Next stop, Facebook.

Decisions decisions! You should have a list by now of camps you’re interested in, most camps have a page or group or both on Facebook, so go on, go Face-stalk a bit, they won’t mind. During this extended research phase, you might discover that they have their own website, with application forms, pictures and information from this year or previous years – this in itself is a good sign; a camp that has the where-with-all to have a website clearly has some organisational skills. Organisational skills are important for all things relating to Burning Man; you have no idea how many .XL spreadsheets it takes to dance naked in the desert. When you find a camp or camps you really like the look of, reach out, contact the moderator of the group, e-mail the website, or just say ‘Hi!’ on the page and introduce yourself and your shtick.

I decided to join the Sun Guardians, they’re a LGBTQI+ camp with plenty of straight alleys, they specialise in providing yoga, tea and ramen – all things I enjoy! I applied in April 2016 online, had my Skype interview and that was that – I was in! All I had to do was pay my dues and I was an official Sun Guardian, which I did. This covered getting all the kitchen gear, the shower, shade clothes, decorations and much more. So now I was a part of a Burning Man camp, sans a Burning Man Ticket.

Sun Guardians Camp – 2016

In 2016, there was a bit of a screw around with the release of tickets, they ended up being released pretty late due to the Nevada live entertainment tax and Burning Man’s fight against that. I already had bought my flights, booked hotels and everything else basically, aside from the ticket itself. Finally, the day of the individual releases came! I woke up at 4 A.M. in plenty of time for when they would go on sale at 5. I made my coffee and waited. I logged in about 5 minutes before 5, and already I was in the cue! But how, it was supposed to be at the crack of 5!? This would go on to be a thing, that I’m not going to get in to here. Suffice to say, Burning Man or Ticketfly or someone somewhere stuffed up and let some people in early, so the tickets were all gone in minutes, and I didn’t get one.

You can imagine at this time, I am somewhat stressed. The very reason for my epic journey, is the very last thing to be secured and paid for, and it’s eluded me. However my very supportive camp mates reminded me that if I really want one, I will get one, somehow, some way. There are some options if you find yourself without a ticket, there

The View from the Sun Guardian’s front ‘patio’

are a few more rounds, with very limited tickets, and an official resale program, though I’ve heard there is usually quite the backlog. So, how did I do it? It was a Sun Guardian miracle! Because I had joined a camp, I was in this community of wonderful people who were aware of my plight and had their ears to the ground, should they hear of someone selling their ticket – and that’s exactly what happened! Not only that, I received early entry and late access passes, so I was able to see Black Rock City rise from the dust and then disappear.

The last thing I really had to organise was my gear and my bike. As far as costumes, I had been getting ready for this my entire life. I used ebay to make sure I had the essentials – dust mask, goggles, utility belt, headlamp, more costumes. All my camping gear and heavy boots would come from Walmart in Reno, which I tried to order to pick up online, but it is the most diabolical website known to human kind. I decided to get my bike

I so wish I could have shipped this baby back to Australia, or burried him, somewhere in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada to await my return, but it’s better to pass on my good fortune to the next rider!

through Kiwanis Bikes in Reno, that was advertised in the official Burning Man Newsletter, The Jack Rabbit Speaks. The way it works is you donate $50US to reserve a bike, (do this WELL in advance – I think I did so in February or March 2016) then once you arrive you have a whole stable of lovingly restored bikes to choose from. Since it was that or Walmart, and Kiwanis seemed like a better cause than Walmart, I went with them.

By the time I got to Reno, I decided I would pick up all my gear before checking out the ‘sights’ and ‘enjoying’ the ‘city’ of Reno. I decided to pick up my bike first, so went off to Kiwanis – it was amazing! All these bikes donated by past Burner’s, lovingly restored to working order, most still decorated from last year!! I found my Bucephalus – they adjusted the seat, handle bars, and made sure everything was working – amazing! It gets

Robot Heart – Deep Playa at Sunrise – one of the best experiences of my life, in the middle of a giant best experience of my life.

better; there’s a little room with a whole bunch of stuff that burners had donated over the years – costumes, tents, sleeping bags, kitchenware, suit cases, boots, anything and everything you might, and I did, need. You get to pick 5 items, I chose a suitcase, sleeping bag, and some decorations for my bike. After I opened the suitcase properly, it turned out there was a camp cutlery set in there as well as someones MOOP bag – Score! I hung around Kiwanis for about three hours just talking with the volunteers there about their job, Burning Man, Australia, the oncoming election (Hilary was in town). Definitely my favorite people and place in Reno. The rest, which was just my cup, (VERY IMPORTANT – GET 2 or 3, with a handle, and carabiners so you can clip them to your belt, pants necklace, piercings, what-have-you) my tent, boots, snacks and water and colour job on my hair came from Walmart, which I started off loving but ended up hating, though it’s less painful than an Australian Westfield. Even if you are part of a camp, it is YOUR responsibility to take YOUR share of water – at the end of the day, it is still about radical self reliance, and that is a very basic way that shows you are not a glamour pony. (Glamour Pony sounds like a good thing but it is not. It is essentially someone who rocks up to play costumes, with no concept of the environment or the people around them and what it actually takes to survive.)

‘The Man – 2016’ Da Vinci’s Workshop

My last key points of advice:

• Take photos, but remember the concept of Immediacy – take it all in with all your senses. Anyway, you will look at the photos while you are on playa and think ‘What’s the point?’ but when you get home you will look at them and realise they are some of the best photos you have ever taken! Still, be judicious with the snaps.
• Bring water everywhere – you never know what random strangeness might find you along way from camp, in any kind of state. You will need water.
• Don’t bring anything with glitter – it is the mother of all MOOP and a pestilence upon the playa. Leave it to sparkle up the default world where it belongs.
• Bring a personal zip lock MOOP bag like the one I found in the suitcase.
• Anything you don’t need when you get back or won’t use again another year, give to your camp mates or fellow burners, donate it, find it a good home. Kiwanis will take bikes and literally any other burner gear, that’s where all my costumes, my bike, my tent, everything is, I hope someone enjoys them in 2017 as much as I did in 2016… You might want to turn the sleeping bag inside out.
• Remember, YOU are burning man, YOU are the main event, YOU are what everyone is there to see! Make the most of your time, see and do as much as you can, because you won’t be able to do it all. Don’t get too fucked up, too much of the time.
• If you are feeling out of it, overwhelmed and that it’s just too much, talk to someone, other Burner’s in your camp that have done it all before, visit one of the chill spaces for a while, or if you are in a really bad way don’t hesitate to visit one of the med tents, they will sort you out.

There’s no doubt so much I’ve forgotten to mention, but I’ll leave a list of links that I used that I found useful below. I just want to say Burgin, that I love you, I’m sorry that I’ll miss you in 2017, but I hope I see you in the dust soon. Welcome home.

Helpful videos:
Official Burning Man Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfVAyiqfH6gUq5FwzfoP2YA
Hug Nation: https://www.youtube.com/user/halcyonstyn

Helpful Links:
Official Burning Man Website: https://www.burningman.org/
Kiwanis Bikes: https://www.kiwanisbikes.org
Queer Burners (for LGBTQ Burning Man Participants): https://www.queerburners.com
Time To Burn App: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/time-…
Burner Map – A Facebook App that let’s you see where your friends are camped on Playa: https://www.burnermap.com

Facebook Groups:
Queer Burners Global Social Network: https://www.facebook.com/groups/250295325089174/
Sydney Burners: https://www.facebook.com/groups/287660834668414/
Aussie Queer Burners: https://www.facebook.com/groups/327480927453161/
Burning SEED Australia: https://facebook.com/groups/314821065195149/

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