Diary
On this page, the Pioneers who traveled to Tunisia to Save the Lars Homestead, share with you their very own adventure.
Re-live the excitement of pulling off a restoration that has been one of the most anticipated projects in a galaxy far, far away.
Your guides are: Mark Dermul, Terry Cooper, Mark Cox, Robert Cunningham, Imanuel Dijk and Michel Verpoorten (more on our crew on this page). Oh, and lets not forget our 'caterer', Colin Kenworthy. After all, he supplied us with cool drinks and icecreams when we most needed them.
Day 7
Thursday 31st May 2012
Thursday was a big
day. The final day of work, so the Saviours had to finish up
no matter what. After all, they needed Friday to return to
Jerba for Saturday’s red-eye flight back to
No less than 300
blocks of wood were sawn to provide the decoration for the
arch entry to the igloo. While preparing those, the local
builders put a coat of plaster on the base of the homestead
and filled out the holes in the dome as well. Coxie, Imanuel
and Mark put up the plaque, creating a sturdy, cemented base
in the desert floor, while Michel and Robert documented the
whole thing. The QR code on the plaque will lead tourists
with a smartphone directly to the project’s website. With
the plaque and the plastering done, noon was again upon them
and the local crew said their goodbyes. But the clock kept
ticking and the Saviours still had to finish the decorations
of the door, screwing every block in place individually and
paint the whole building a pristine white. They kept at it
until 1.30pm, but again the desert heat forced them to get
indoors. They estimated at least two more hours would be
needed to finish the job, so they made plans to return at
4pm.
After a quick lunch
and a very much needed shower, they headed back out for the
finishing touch. On the way back, they purchased 6 brushes
in Nefta and 40kg of white paint, so that everybody could
help paint the igloo. Terry was back on his feet – not
totally recuperated, but there was no way he was going to
miss out on finishing the job – and even Colin, the
accidental tourist, joined in. Mark and Imanuel finished the
decorations on the door, just in time. Around 7pm, Terry
could at last take the plastic protection off of the entry
coder and everybody started cleaning up the site. The sun
(just the one) was already very low in the sky. Daylight was
fading fast. But with a big sigh of relief – and just a tad
of disbelief – the Saviours could take a step back and look
at the Lars Homestead.
‘We did it!’
In the fading light,
they quickly freshened up as best they could with the
remaining bottles of water and changed into their specially
made Crew T-shirts to pose for some pictures, providing them
with bragging rights to no end. But sooner than anticipated,
the sun dipped below the horizon and the desert sky turned
pitch black. The time had come to return to base.
After returning to
Tozeur, they were invited by the restaurant owner next door
to the hotel, for a celebratory barbecue in a nearby oasis.
They even purchased a two litre bottle of champagne from the
Palm Beach Hotel in Tozeur – incidentally the hotel were
Lucas and his crew stayed during the shooting of Attack of
the Clones – to celebrate their success… into the wee hours
of the night.
Return to Day 6 - Forward to Day 8
Crew & Saviours
Find out who who donated to make this restoration possible and meet the crew who traveled out to Tunisia to make it happen.
Book
We are currently hard at work creating a wonderful coffee table book, with loads of never before seen images. Stay tuned!