Do Go On - 211 - The 1897 Arctic Balloon Expedition

Episode Date: November 6, 2019

In 1897 Swedish engineer S. A. Andree attempted to become the first to reach the North Pole, and he decided to try and get there in a giant hydrogen filled balloon. On this episode you'll hear why this is the first and only attempt to get to The North Pole in a balloon. Recorded live at the Comedy Lounge in Perth.Tickets are selling fast for our upcoming live shows in IRELAND AND THE UK, including our extra Stand Up Special in Dublin on December 1st. Grab tickets here: https://dogoonpod.com/events/Matt is also performing an hour of stand up comedy at the Bill Murray in London on December 7, find more details/get tickets here: https://mattstewartcomedy.com/gigsSupport the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: patreon.com/DoGoOnPodSubmit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/Submit-a-TopicTwitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasREFERENCES AND FURTHER READING: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serenji Amana, 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there. Canada, we are visiting you in September this year.

If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates. This episode of Do Go On is brought to you by our upcoming Irish and UK tour. Kicking off in less than a month, we are performing seven live podcasts,

and we've also just announced a one-off extra stand-up show in Dublin. Directly before our show at the Sugar Club on December 1st, this is the only stand-up show we were doing together on the tour, So we'll all do about 20 minutes of stand up each. All for one ticket price. Tickets are limited, even more limited than the podcast because we have less seats to sell. So if you want to come along, get in now at do go onpod.com. We can also get tickets for our shows in Glasgow, Leeds, Bristol, London and Birmingham.

We cannot wait. And also just a general note, thanks for downloading the show. This one was recorded this weekend just gone at the Comedy Lounge in Perth. It was our first ever show over in W.A. It was a lot of fun and thank you to all the legends that came out to see us. All right, I'll be back at the end of the show for the Patreon section. But until then, I'll see you on the other side. What are you all doing?

Oh, fantastic. Thank you so much for coming out to see a live do go on podcast. My name is Dave Warnocky and would you please welcome to the stage. My two esteemed colleagues, it's Jess Perkins and Matt Stewart. Matt diswisted in my ear, I just tripped over a lead. Dave, just before we came out, goes, Whatever you do, don't trip on that lead. I tripped and then I fell into the...

Anyway, you saw it. It's not important. It's just the lead that's connecting the thing recording the episode, so... Yeah, not a big deal. It's taking too long, so that's concerning. Yeah, we probably could have kept talking during that and I didn't think too.

I had a sip. Let's all wait for Dave together. Don't worry, I'll take it from here. Hi, guys. I already asked you, but tell these guys, How are you feeling? You're good? Excellent. Good to hear. That's great. Yeah, me too.

You're pretty good? That's the mic. It's say it loud enough. Very good. Thank you. I don't want to freak you out, but I've been listening in in your conversations for the last 20 minutes. Some pretty saucy stuff are going on over here. But that's nothing compared to what you guys are talking about.

My God. By the way, they're cancelled. Got it on tape. Oh, thank you so much for coming out, joining us here at the Comedy Lans. What a fantastic venue. We were here last night for the late show, and the crowd was extremely rowdy.

Jess, would you observe a girl sitting over there who was watching the show with only one eye like this? And on the way out, we were just waiting. The last act was still on, and a girl just walks past, and her friend speaks to her, and she just goes, eh. He couldn't talk anymore. Perth is crazy.

We like it here. The bar is open as well if anyone feels like a drink. No, all right, this is, when Dave said last night's crowd was rowdy, it was pretty similar vibe to this. Yeah, yeah, Perth is wild. You guys, whoa, stop it, we can't all hear you at once, all right, yeah. Someone's got one eye open there, but they're having a nap, so. Maybe she was too.

I should have checked that she was okay, rather than just being like, it's kind of funny. There's a kind of animal, this doesn't matter, but there's a kind of animal that closed one eye and rests that part of their brain. so that they can always be wary. Maybe she was one of those kinds of animals. A Perth Wild Cat? Yeah.

Andrew Vlah Hogg, anybody? He played for them in the 90s. I love your references. Thank you. Hey, give us a cheer if you have heard do go on before. We like that. Not bad. Not bad.

And a judgment-free zone. Give us a clap if you've never heard dogo on before. Front row, too. Well done. Thank you very much for being here. We appreciate it. She said, me. What you should have said was, man.

Well, thanks for coming along and sitting in the VIP seat. Yeah. The microphone is on you for all your confusing questions throughout the show. So it'll pick up every time you lean across and go, I don't get it. But don't worry, neither do we. But if you are unfamiliar with the show, or you just need a brief reminder. Basically, what we do on the show is report on a topic often suggested by a listener or more than one listener.

And tonight it is my turn to report on a topic. Thank you. And Jess and Matt don't know what I'm going to talk about. No, we don't. This is true? Even though I've shared this to your iPad, but you were doing this. One eye open. Yeah.

I don't have my glasses on. I can't see shit. Yeah. Well, I hope I can because I've got a few thousand words here to read. So let's crack into it, shall we? Now, I've got a question. That's how we start the show with a question. And Matt and Jess will give you first dibs.

but if they can't get it, then you and the audience can have a crack at it. My question is, in 1897. Yeah, I'm with you. I'm out. The AFL commenced that year. VFL AFL began that year. Is it about the VFL? You've already done a report on that. That's what I was going to say.

That's sort of going to be... Have you already done that topic? Oh, shit. In 1897, what method of transport did essay Andri used on his... His expedition to the North Pole. What mode of transport was it? Tram. Yeah, ding, ding.

One of those, one of those, fuck, it'd be good if I could remember the word I was looking for. That would have made that joke really good. Penny farthing. I mean, that's closer than a tram. That'd be sick. A bike. Donkey, camel.

Horse. Is it a living thing? Is it an animal? It's not a horse or an animal. Is it a dog sled? No. Harley Davidson. Oh, what are those shoes that have a wheel on the back?

Yeah, wheelies. A segue. Was it a segway? Yeah, it was a segue. That was the word I was looking for earlier. That was funny. That was funny. Do you need that table?

Yurt, sorry. Sorry, we're just going to do a bit of furniture removaling here. Oh, sick, yeah, I want that. Great. Yeah, go on, Dave, do your little report. Sorry, are you going to use that chair or? I don't have it back. It's very uncomfortable on a stool.

Please. Anyone have any idea what transport? Submarine. Submarine. I mean, that is the best answer we've had so far. And yet, it is wrong. It is a balloon. Yes.

Well done. Yeah. That doesn't sound like, that just sounds easy. You just fly over the top. Is that noteworthy enough for a story? I think we're going to find out. Okay. So this topic was suggested by a few people.

Orva Lorimer Olson from Lund in Sweden. All of those words are made up, including Sweden. Dan Leger from Farmington, Minnesota. We've got Joe Caudill from London and a guy, another one from a guy from Sweden, or girl from maybe, Therese. Therese from Sweden, no last name. So thank you those people suggesting this topic. Why two Swedes? Is it a Swedish topic? Yes, it is.

It is a Swedish topic. And in the late 19th century, Why two Swedes? I'm always sussed when you see two Swedes together. Why? Something's happening in here. Yeah. So to kick off the topic,

in the late 19th century, European explorers were obsessed with one thing. Porn. Yeah. I was going to say two things, but I would extend that to three things. I'm obsessed with making it to the North Pole, the South Pole, and porn.

Yeah. And it was particularly talked about in Norway and Sweden. Also known as the middle pole. There's some sort of pole joke there. That wasn't it, but there was some pole joke. It was already too much time to elaps. I just had, you don't need to know all the inner workings.

Middle pole sounds like someone who's struggling to get an erection. Yeah, I'm at semi-pole. Half-mast. Stop talking. Some try to reach the geographic North Pole via boat. some via dogs and sleds and others using a combination of both. We now know that unlike the South Pole

in Antarctica where there's land underneath the ice, the geographic North Pole is located in the middle of the Arctic Ocean and sometimes freezes over with ice. So it's very hard to get to. Yeah, as we all know, it was all common knowledge for everyone here. You said sometimes freezes over with ice,

that means sometimes the North Pole is liquid? Yeah. Is that true? Yeah. Yeah, I knew it. I was just double-checked. I'm glad you know. It's blown my mind, I would say,

if I was someone who didn't realize that already. And it was dangerous work. Author Alec Wilkinson told NPR that of the approximately 1,000 people that tried to reach the North Pole in the late 1800s, 751 died during their attempt. Which is over 75% of people. 751.

Yeah. Fucking hell. One of them couldn't have held on. Or 249 could have died. Yeah. At least I was wishing someone alive. That's a good change from you. Normally I'd be like, more people dead now.

The rest in peace of that one person. But these things are always about innovation, guys. And one man thought of an idea that no one else had. He decided that rather going through the freezing water and ice, how about you go over it? Specifically, how about using a lighter-than-air balloon filled with hydrogen to leisurely sail over the North Pole? That idea is the subject of today's report.

the first and so far only attempt to get to the North Pole using a balloon. It feels like seamless, you know? Absolutely. Can't imagine anything going wrong. Huh, it's going to be a short report.

Yeah, it's going to be... And then I guess we'll just have time for chat. Yeah. Just hang out. Any questions. Yeah. The ideas man I speak up is, of course, Swedish engineer

Solomon August Andri. His name is one letter away from salmon. Just imagine the word salmon with an extra O, and that is his name. I struggled to get past that. Which is why myself and history calls him essay Andrew. His name's too close to salmon. Anyway, Andrew was born in Greta, Sweden, on October 18th, 1854,

and by many accounts, he was a bit of a mother's boy growing up, and this only increased after the death of his father. He didn't really have the choice. I'm actually a lot closer with my mum. Yeah. Well, his mother remained the only real woman in his life. Andri chose to turn down. He had a few robot women, though.

Yeah, love those robot women. Well, he chose the turn down would-be girlfriends saying, quote, I don't want to run the risk of having a wife to ask me with tears to desist from my flights, which to me says no one was asking you, man. Well, you said would-be girlfriends, but I thought you said whoop-y girlfriends. I was like, saying, what? would be is a lot less fun. I'm so sorry.

He obtained a medical mechanical engineering degree from the Royal Institute of Technology at the age of 19 and he went on to conquer the world. Mechanical engineering, that's so he could build more women. I understand what mechanical engineering means. When I say conquer the world, I mean America where he worked as a janitor at the Swedish exhibit of the centennial exhibition in Philadelphia

which had on display an array of new inventions from around the world, which I can only imagine included many models of mechanical women. There he met early balloon innovator John Wise, whose claim to fame includes being responsible for being the first ever, delivering the first ever official airmail for the US post office. I'm impressed. The only two incorrect people were the people that clapped.

I'm so sorry. There was no real commitment from them either. I know. I appreciate the support. John Wise really influenced the young Solomon Salmon He was particularly impressed how Wise got himself out of sticky situations Whilst in the balloon This is what Salomon wrote in his diary about John Wise

Quote his balloons had world like tops Caught fire Exploded and fall into the ground like stones The old man himself however Had always escaped unhurt And counters his experiences as proof Of how safe the art of flying really was Yes

It sounds super safe to me So he was inspired by John Wise and Andre took his newfound enthusiasm for ballooning within back to Sweden where he campaigned to get his own balloon whilst paying the bills working as an engineer in the Swedish patent office. He got a grant to purchase his own balloon in 1893

and promptly made nine a cents. He was 38 when he made his first flight so there's still time people. Well, there's time for Jess and I, anyway. Yes, I'm very, very old. You're also assuming that no one in the audience is over 38. No, we're just talking about on stage. Oh, okay, sure.

You're 100 years old. Oh, thank you. Thanks so much. All up, Andre, spent 40 hours in the balloon. So 40 hours of flying experience. That doesn't feel like much. I don't think it... That's not very much at all, actually.

To be honest, it might turn out to be not quite enough. Okay. Bit of sizzle? But he wanted to be taken seriously as a scientist, whilst at the same time prove the potential of a lighter-than-air balloon. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he considered himself to be an engineer first and an explorer second. Lava, third.

He wanted to show that a balloon was a reliable form of transport and could be used for photographing and mapping new areas. He considered trying to prove that a balloon could be used across the Atlantic Ocean, but then decided that he'd be able to raise more interest and therefore more investment if you proposed to fly to the North Pole. After all, everyone was talking about who's going to be the first to make it, and he was right, because he made a proposal directly to the Swedish Academy of Sciences, asking for a shitload of money to fund his expedition.

He listed all of his challenges on the journey and how the balloon could easily overcome all of them. He claimed that it would be easily strong enough to lift him, two companions, photography, equipment, and four months of supplies. He said it would be a piece of piss, And the midnight sun... Direct quote there, guys. And he said that the midnight sun would mean it would never get dark and then they wouldn't have to anchor it all.

They could just keep flying forever and ever. So, as you said, Matt, absolutely easy. It really does sound easy to me. Yeah. Four months' worth of supplies in a balloon, easy. Yeah. It's easy. Three people.

I imagine the camera equipment they have is just one of those little cannon, the pink ones, that we all took to clubs. in 2008? Yeah, we all did that. I still got mine. What are you picturing? What's happening in your head now?

You was an 18-year-old. You're looking out at a club and everyone's got the same camera. Talking about at each other. Yeah. That was my experience. Really? Yeah.

I didn't really go to many clubs. Can you believe that? Yes. American Export. Sorry. He's saying. a piece of miss, but he did have some critics. American explorer General Adolphus Greeley.

Great name. He questions Andrey and propose the possibility of getting lost in the balloon. He said, you could easily get lost out there. Andre, responded to the question by saying to the general, who had lost 18 of his 25 men on a previous journey, and he said, quote, I risk three lives in what you call a full-hearted attempt.

And you risked how many? A shipload. Drop the microphone. and apparently he was cheered from stage. He left to a rapturous applause and he was given approval for the mission. People cheered him celebrating 18 deaths. Yeah.

It's a different time. Yeah. No, got him. Got him. Got him. Cop that. Sucked in. Sad old man.

Dickhead. Oh no, we have to pad while he drinks. He's got a very small gullet for those who don't know. Scientifically speaking, they call it the Warnocky gullet. And, yeah. Oh, he's gone again. When I had my operation on my esophagus for the second time,

you know that it's weird when the surgeon comes over and he goes, this is my friend who's visiting from England. He just wants to watch. Because I was such a freak of science. You're following so far? Yeah. Oh, she's shaking her head. Which would you be confused about is the esophagus?

Great. He's got a weight esophagus. And you're up to date. Yeah, I got webs in there. That is the technical term. And what they did, they put a bogey down there, which is an inflatable balloon that you go on topic. And it's really called a bogey.

And I was being wheeled into the operating theatre. The nurse said to me, oh, what are you having done? I said, I've got blockages in my esophagus. She said, how do you get those? And I said, oh, it's congenital. And she goes, does that mean it's in your genitals? And then she goes, it's too early. I haven't had coffee yet.

And that was one of the last things I heard as I couldn't have left. I thought they were going to put a balloon down my dick. Terrified. Are you up to date now? Okay. So we're back. We're back. Congenital means you're born with it, by the way. So the Swedes were particularly keen on making this mission of success as Norway was making good progress

and they did not want to be beaten by their neighbours. So he raised the equivalent of $1 million US dollars for his journey. A lot of the money came from the King of Sweden himself, as well as the recently wealthy inventor of dynamite, Alfred Nobel, who I did a report on a few months ago. It was a big news story too, whilst papers saying that Andrew was like a Jules Verne novel, Come to Life, Jules Verne being the author of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea that I covered on bookcheat a few months ago.

Just a couple of plugs for earlier podcasts that I've done. And Jules Verne were the name of the dogs. No, the Sun's in the third Back to the Future film, which I did a report on. Oh, fantastic. Matt also does a podcast about monkeys. It's a little broader than that, mate. We talk about apes as well, so.

So Andrew's got his money, the $1 million. And the balloon he ordered was called the Ornan, which means eagle. The what was it? The Ornan. Don't like it. The eagle. Better.

Great. Go with that. Just does not like that. language stuff. I'll cut that out. What was it mean? I don't get it. Why are they talking like that? At over 100

feet tall, it was one of the largest ever produced, one of the largest balloons they've ever made. It was made of varnish silk with rubberized seams, designed to hold in the enormous amount of hydrogen that it would be filled with. Is that an explosive thing? Yep. Oh yeah.

Yep, yep. Is it a hydrogen bomber thing? That's not this, is it? All right, this is going to get pretty exciting. Do you remember a previous report, the Hindenberg? Yeah. Also filled with the same stuff. And I believe that ended very well.

Yeah. But at least this one's got a sassy pilot, so... I can't decide how I feel about him. You know, so I don't know if I want him to succeed. He sounds like you. It sounds like you in the past. Ambitious, yeah. Me and the what?

Sounds like salmon. Yeah, true. I do, okay. I don't know how to yes and you with that one. What am he's contemporary? I'm just saying the other thing I could remember from the report. Yep, I sound like salmon. Should I move on?

Yeah. No, let's wallow in this for a little longer. Yeah, that should have been the name of the podcast. Should I move on? Just move on. No, no, let's call it, let's wallow. Do wallow on. One of his contemporaries' biggest criticisms of the proposal at the time, and it's only a minor criticism, admittedly,

it was that it was impossible to steer a lighter than air balloon. Minor, minor. Yeah, I mean, you're nitpicking at that stage, really, aren't you? It was at the mercy of the winds, But Andre's big claim was that he'd worked out how to steer a balloon. His plan was to steer the balloon using drag ropes. These are giant ropes that would hang from the back of the balloon and then drag along the ground. The theory is that the vehicles travel at the same speed as the wind and just get blown wherever

the wind is going. But the ropes slow the ship down so it's slower than the wind so you'll be able to steer it like a sail. That was his claim. And he said he'd worked out how to do it in his 40 hours. except that he hadn't. No, he hadn't. Remember the nine flights I mentioned earlier that he undertook?

Yes. Well, it turns out that these didn't actually go so well. But he wasn't telling people though. He would take off in Sweden but had a habit of losing control and being carried out to sea, dunking him into the water or onto the rocky islands in the Baltic. One time his attempt was so bad that he was blown clear across the Baltic Sea to Finland.

Hundreds of miles in the wrong direction and he landed in a different country. And yet this man had just secured a million dollars in investment, what could go wrong? And it also turns out that the use of drag ropes has been debunked by modern balloonists as absolute horseshit.

And if modern balloonists have debunked it, you know it's bullshit. What is, his main mistake I reckon, is he said where he's trying to get to. What I would do is say, yes, I'm going to do a big old balloon flight, mystery location. And then when I arrive, they go, this is where I intended. The rope's got me here. I've been imagining, you know what playgrounds, when they have, like, at the top of the playground,

there's just, like, a steering wheel that doesn't... That's what I'm imagining. Someone driving in a 1960s movie? Yeah. They're going nowhere. But he was Sweden's first and only ballooner. So no one had any reason to question him. He would say something and people would go, oh, okay.

Cool. Right. He's the first and only balloonist, meaning no one else has thought of this was a good idea. Yet he's like, I'm going to do it, and they go, all right, sure. Apparently, though, ballooning was bigger in France, and people were from over there questioning him in the community. But to the general public, they were like, yeah.

Cool. Have a good time. You've worked out the rope thing. Bon voyage. And how would they be investing in such an endeavour? Let me explain how they filled the balloon. Andre had a five-story balloon house built on Danes Island in Norway, just to fill it up in peace.

This is a quote from the New York. You want to go to balloon house? Let me describe it. The front wall of the house could quickly be pulled down when the balloon was ready to lift off. The floor, as well as every part of the house that might touch the balloon, was covered with heavy felt, end quote. So he built a house with a collapsible wall,

just for the project. So big money is being spent. But he couldn't go alone on the mission. He contracted two other men to travel with him. Nils Echholm, a 47-year-old meteorologist, and Nils Stringberg. Two Nils.

Two Nils. Sounds like a buddy soccer game. Definitely worth it. I reckon you got some of that in your mouth. He's like a dog with peanut. butter. Whoa. Where are you

put in the peanut butter? Who, if you hear dog and peanut butter, okay, just me and Dave. No, no, but you're thinking it too? Yeah. I see you've also been a 13 year old boy. I never did it, come on.

Guys. I like that idea, though, of saying it to an adult male. Oh, I see you've been a 13 year old boy. Ah. I know a lot of people skip that age, not you and me. So we got Nils 1,

the meteorologist, and Nils 2, the 23-year-old, that's Nils Strindberg, 23-year-old assistant professor of physics, and who, fun fact, and no one will find this fun except me, was the cousin of the writer August Strindberg. Whoa. The Auguste Stringberg!

Who wrote The Red Room? We all... Don't, none. We've all read it. You learnt last time not to pity him. That's a fun fact and totally worth putting him there. Thank you so much. So he's got Nils and Nils to hang out with him on the journey.

The balloon basket was set up for the three men in their supplies. They would sleep on the floor of the basket. But cooking was a problem as the balloon was filled with hydrogen and as I've written here was later discovered with the Hindenburg, that shit is flammable. The solution was to dangle a modified primus stove eight meters below the basket where they could safely light it at a distance. All of a sudden those dangle ropes are starting to sound like fuses.

And they would use a mirror to work out if they'd lit it on them. I can only imagine they had like 8 metre long barbecue tongsh trying to flip burgers. The plan was to... Pack sandwiches. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Think of that. Like, ah.

I can't cook a roast. What do I do? I'll dangle a stove. The plan was to leave and float continuously, where they would reach the North Pole in just 36 hours. That means it's within his, you know, experience of 40. Smart. He is qualified.

Yeah. They would then continue on and let the after party begin. According to NPR, Andre had a tuxedo with him in the balloon. so that he could at the end meet the dignitaries that he imagined would be waiting for him. He was that confident. Oh my God. Okay, I hate this guy. So the three men in their stove

went to Dane's Island and attempted to leave. But for weeks, the winds were unsuitable. So it was an ominous start as they just hung out in the balloon house. Imagine standing there for three weeks in a tuxedo waiting for the wind to change. That's so embarrassing. It turns out that we now know, and Jess, we all know this as well,

that the wind is expected to blow in this direction from Danes Island all the time, and that Andre had just miscalculated. He was going, it's blowing the wrong way. We'll wait, we'll wait, and it just never blows the right way. He was planning for a type of wind that was extremely rare and wondering why it took so long. It took so long that he had to return to Sweden to raise more money, and whilst there, his beloved mother died unexpectedly.

Oh, no. This deeply affected the engineer who privately wrote, and now I'm revealing to an audience, quote, the only thread which bound me to the wish to live is cut off. It's a dangle rope. A dangle rope which was also keeping my mother alive. Sadly, so now he doesn't feel like he's got any real reason to live, which is kind of scary.

During their time off, Echolm, the meteorologist, this is Nils 1, had time to think about what they, were actually about to attempt. And he quit the mission. Yes, yes, Nils. He calculated that the hydrogen balloon was losing too much hydrogen through the holes in the seams of the balloon's material. There were millions of these little holes all around it. He ran his own calculations based on the hydrogen loss and realized that the balloon could only stay aloft for 17 days and not the planned 30.

He also speculated upon that Andri was secretly filling up the balloon with more hydrogen to make it appear more solid every day. But once they got going, this would of course be impossible, so he was just cheating the results. Hickholm demanded a better balloon. Andre refused, and Nils won, left the mission for good. I reckon that's going to turn out to be a good call. You know? I reckon, too.

Yeah. Do you know why I reckon? Why's that? Because I've read ahead. Ooh. Nils was replaced by Nutt-Frankel. Oh, that's good. That's good.

Noot. Nunt Frankel, yeah, that's great. A 27-year-old civil engineer, younger and more athletic than Nils won. He was seen as a good injection of youth into the trip. And finally, you're looking at me like, that's weird to say. No, I just zoned out. Oh, cool. You know something about Nunt.

He was a 13-year-old boy once. You know what I mean? They had peanut butter back then. And dogs. Go again. That's great. Emu bitter. Export, fuck, sorry.

Sorry, local. Okay, now I definitely know there's a difference between those two. Why, though? You export... All right, this is the one you don't export it, but it's called export. You fucking wacky perthots. Amazing stuff. Taste fine as well.

That's something I don't tell you back home. This is fine. Hmm, okay. And that honestly might be the nicest thing anyone's ever said about EmuExpo. It's fine. I'd take it over V-B any day. It's pretty fine beer. Anyway, let's not wallow any further.

Well, finally the day came that they were able to leave. They finally got the win right July 11th, 1897. And I know you're all thinking, I bet it started well and went perfectly to plan. Yep. Quoting from the New Yorker here, quote, as it left the balloon house the balloon struck something and the last thing Andri was heard to say was

what's that I mean he was there's two words that really sum up the mission what's that I have so much faith in him this is going to go really well but don't worry guys because he got the balloon

to rapidly ascend before rapidly descended until it crashed into the water below. To raise it, Andre and the others had to throw out 460 pounds or 210 kilos of sand which they had later hoped to use as a ballast. So they're up, then they're down, then they're back up again

because they threw stuff out of the basket, so now they're lighter. But also the much-hyped drag ropes that Andre claimed made him able to steer got instantly tangled and were ripped off. So they lost five. 130 kilos or 1170 pounds of rope. This was most of their rope.

So in their eyes, they now had no way of steering. I mean, we now know that they never had any oversteering. But at least, I mean, it's like being on the playground and someone's taken the wheel away. It's a placebo. Does that mean the barbecue went in the water as well? No, the barbecue, when they needed it, they'd lower it down. They had it in with, okay. They didn't lose.

Well, that's good. Also because they lost all of their ballast Which is the weight keeping them down The sand that weighed them down So the balloon shot up to an unexpected And unprecedented height Suddenly there were 700 metres or 2300 feet in the air Which also had the unintended side effect

Of allowing the lower air pressure at that altitude Let the hydrogen escape quicker through the holes So now they're losing hydrogen quicker It took an hour for the balloon to disappear from view Believe it or not, that would be the last time people would see them for a long, long time. Oh, they see them again. That's hopeful. Yeah. I mean, we have all this information.

Yeah, that's true. We, Dave, has this. I sent him a text. Boy, not... Well, if they did need to communicate, if something went wrong, they had two means of contact in the outside world. Yelling and screaming. Well, both of those would be probably more reliable than what they had. The first was dropping messages in steel boys.

13-year-old steel boys. You can't remember peanut butter and go throw them off the edge. So they'd put a message inside these steel boys, seal it up, throw them off into the ice and hope that they'd reach the ocean and then float towards civilisation. They're basically messages in bottles. That's one method. The other method of communication was homing pigeons

supplied by a newspaper to communicate with the newspaper. Andre's released four of these and only one was ever found. And that one had landed on a ship and was promptly shot. What a time. Pigeon meat. Who's an enemy pigeon? Put your hands up. He didn't shoot.

The message attached gave their coordinates and read, All goes well on board. This is the third message sent by pigeon. Andre. And they shot it. So after disappearing into the horizon, the men continued on their journey travelling through near freezing mist.

That afternoon, the balloon again lost altitude and hit the ice before again rising, something it would continue to do, repeatedly. It crashed into the ground eight times in half an hour. And from there, the crashing only increased. Andre's wrote in his diary, paid visits to the surface, and stamped it about every 50 metres.

Nevertheless, humour good. He's like the biggest optimist in the world. They're bouncing along. It sounds like basketball. Someone's dribbling them. The crashing and taking off continued for 40 hours and caused Niels 2, Strenberg, relative of the other Strenberg,

to get motion sickness. The only way to keep afloat was to keep throwing sand and supplies overboard to reduce their weight. And this is how beaches got sand. Well, people don't know that. The more you know. So it's taken them 40 hours so far.

So that means they've got there and they're four hours on the way back. Yeah, because he said it would only take 36. Sadly, it's taking slightly longer than they expect it. Only slightly, though, so that's good. They're still, you know... They must be nearly there. They're not far off.

But sadly, all good things must come to an end. Oh, no. No. That's what he says when someone's about to die. That's how he says he's a psycho. He told me about my Nana dying. Why would they get me to do it? It was messed up.

That's the bad news. All good things must come. Not Nana. No, not just Nana. Oh no. Real bleak. No, all good things must come to an end. And eventually they crash landed for good.

Luckily, the crash landing was actually quite. soft and they weren't injured at all. Is there a word for that? Because crash landing really implies at least badly injured. So it's just an emergency landing? That's nice, yeah. They emergency landed.

Softly. Softly. They'd been flying for 65 hours and it travelled 517 miles but were still 300 miles away from the South Pole. North Pole? North Pole. I've written South Pole.

They were still many thousands of miles from the South Pole. They'd really blown off course, he doesn't know the difference? But he'd be so annoyed. We nearly got to the South Pole. They decided to continue on foot, not to the South Pole.

Importantly, their equipment, including cameras, was left unscathed. The pink. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, nothing could kill that thing. Cybershot. Cybershot, that's what it was. You did have one.

I won't tell you why. Anyway, whatever. Has anyone seen unbelievable? Yeah. Yeah, there's a pink subbershot in that. Anyway. I feel a story coming on. No.

For another time. Oh, God. It's really not on brand. Small talk, small talk. For those people listening to home, Dave, just try to squeeze a little water in it. And he was gullet. You got three droplets. That's a big one.

And he choked. I'll keep you going. All good things must come to an end, though. Yeah. Like my ability to swallow. Not peanut butter, guys. I've legit had peanut butter get stuck in myself, because of all.

Wow. Who put it there? Not bloody little ruffles. The first dog now I thought it was ruffles? Is that a dog? Anyway, whatever. Not senor wolf. So they've got to be a dog. Other cameras, that's important, because Stringbird will continue to take photos as they lived

on the ice, taking over 200 and all, including of the crashed balloon, which is a spectacular photo, probably the cover image of this podcast when it comes out. They were stocked with survival equipment, including guns, snow shoes, sleds, skis, a tent, and even a small boat, which sounds like they were really prepared, but really they had all of the wrong equipment. The sleds weren't in the same style as what local Inuits used and were not really built for the ice in this area. Their clothes weren't made of furs.

which is what every other explorer used at the time, but instead they used woolen coats and supposedly waterproof oil skins, but they were apparently always cold and always wet. They really took their time packing their sleds, spending a week choosing supplies before leaving the balloon for good. They overpacked the sleds too, which weighed between 3 and 450 pounds, making them very difficult and sometimes impossible to pull. The food they had wasn't really designed to be taken on a sled,

either. Should have had sandwiches. And it was more suitable for a balloon journey. After a week of pulling these stupidly big sleds, they ditched a lot of the food, meaning they had to rely on hunting. As they went on, they shot and ate seals, walruses and polar bears. Whoa. Uh-oh. Their goal was not to continue into the pole,

but to instead reach one of two food depots where they'd stay there and wait for help. Initially, they went for one, only to find that the moving ice meant they were actually moving further away from the depot no matter how fast they travelled on foot. They couldn't outrun the eyes. So they headed off for the other one in seven islands in a southwest direction.

The going was tough and sometimes they had to crawl on their hands and feet. When they didn't have any meat, they just... How the fuck do you crawl? That's not how... Can you show us how you crawl quickly? What, you just did? That doesn't make sense. No.

I mean, what part of their journey does make sense so far? Good point. That's a good point. He shook his head. I was going to try and get someone to help me there, but... I know, body language. His body language said, fuck off, cunt. So did his mouth. That's all right lips.

When they didn't have any meat, they just ate bread and butter, and frequently had diarrhea, which Andri is treated with opium and morphine. That's my mind. I can't a buddy chemist. All right, let's... I got diarrhea, opium. I got a little Tommy egg.

OPM. Here's some heroin. In the first four days, they had traveled less than a thousand meters all up. That's not good. They continued on, struggled on, I should say. And on September 4th, it was Stringberg's birthday. And as a present, Andre gave him letters

that Stringberg's fiancé had written him. What, he'd been holding on to them? Which I think it sounds lovely, then you think, hang on, you've had these for like a month? Can I? Why were he holding on to them? Yeah, but I knew your best name is coming. And why are they smothered in peanut butter? Apparently they were all very festive on this day despite their struggles.

So they're trying to keep the positivity going. Less than a week later, the men admitted they weren't going to make it to the food depot. In the six weeks previous, the ice had carried them approximately 81 miles south-south-east when they had been trying to travel the same distance south-southwest. So they're actually further away than when they started. The young man, Frankel, had developed a large painful blister and could not pull his sled any longer, and snow had fallen, making it even harder for them to move.

They decided to camp on the ice and stay put for the winter. Andre wrote, our humour is pretty good, although joking and smiling are not at an ordinary occurrence. But our humour is good. We're not joking or smiling or wanting to live, but our humour is top-notch. It's pretty good. It's really good.

Oh, boy. So they're just going to stay there for the winter. Camp out of an Arctic winter, you know. Sure. Okay. That sounds like a good... Actually, you're right. This whole thing's been a very good plan.

Yeah. I feel this is going to work out for them. Do you think so? Matt, any predictions at this stage? Yeah, well, I'm wondering why we know about it if they didn't survive, but you have said he's keeping a diary. Maybe one of them dies. That blister boy sounds like he's a goner.

Poor old blister boy But you know what they're how they treated blisters? Opium. So he feels great. I think that's all they have. Yeah, that's all you need. Andre shot three seals before they went into essential hibernation,

meaning they in theory should have enough food for the winter. They build a hut out of ice, but sadly the feeling of having a home was short-lived as it soon collapsed as water broke through the ice beneath them. They had to scramble and get all their supplies. out. Did they have any knowledge of building ice huts? To be honest, no.

Thank you for being honest. He thought I'll just float over it. Why do I even... I don't even need these supplies. I'm just going to float over it. I've never even seen snow. Who cares? I'm just going to be looking at it from above. But sadly they are now there.

They decided to move their camp to the nearby deserted island of Kivatoria or White Island. It is the easternmost part of the kingdom of Norway. They settled on the only part of the island that is free from ice, and it took two days to transport their equipment and set up a camp. They set up a camp in a tent, and the last entry that Andrews wrote in his diary was dated Friday, October 8th, where he wrote that bad weather had trapped them in their tent all day. And then nothing. For over three

decades, people back home in Sweden speculated about what had happened to the three men and their balloon. You've got us all on the edge of our seats now. Newspapers often mentioned them because they became sort of folk heroes back home, but no real evidence was ever found of the journey

until August 5th, 1930. Yeah! Have you been waiting the whole time? Yeah. Have you heard a word I've said? Fair enough. I appreciate that.

August 5th, 1930 What was that? It's one of the things they said before. Thanks so much. What a guy. I think I misquoted though. It was what's that? He's back.

August 5th, 1930. Thank you so much. A Norwegian expedition called the Bratwag. Yes. We're studying the glaciers and happened upon the remains of the three men. Oh, Remains, you know everyone was thinking they might have survived.

They ate three seals over 30 years. The reason it, or he'd been keeping a diary up until that point, then he got writer's block for 30 years. I'm not going to bother writing this down anymore. I'll remember. Day 6,000 still living in a tent. I got a beard now, so that's fun. Same as Dave.

Thanks so much. The reason it had taken so long for anyone to discover them is that the island of Kivatoia or one island is usually surrounded by ice and fog and impossible for even hardy whaling ships to access however that year was very warm and the sea was free of ice the crew were very keen to explore what was usually an inaccessible island so they'd got onto the island and then found the three men's remains

and they found that they'd been disturbed by polar bears and not much but skeletons remained Polar bears got their revenge. It was the son of the polar bear they ate. You killed my father. Prepetal died. I like the idea that I were disturbed by the polar bears. Like they were in there with their dog and some peanut butter.

Oh, no, don't look at me. Also discovered was the men's diaries, which were very detailed. And also, amazingly, many of Nils' photos survived and were able to... to be developed. Whoa. Giving a good account of the journey. He took over 200 photos in total and 93 survived. Shit.

And they're really, really, really cool photos. The three men's bodies were taken back to Sweden and led through the centre of Stockholm given a solemn hero's welcome. Thousands of people came out to salute their bodies. They were seen... Say again? For skeletons.

Yeah, I mean, not everyone on the parade knew that. But it was like a weekend of Bernie style It was beautiful Yeah Beautiful parade Also I love the idea of someone like You're like Oh they've been

You know We had to burn their body So there's not much left So not really Not much point And going to the funeral really There's no much left They still had to

Give them their heroes Not Nana Dave Not just Nana Yeah not just Nana Dave killed a lot of people that day Hey good things You never said that part Dave

So they were seen as heroes of the nation. They've got a real low bar for heroism in Sweden. These guys got real lost. Their coffins were... Good on you, boys. The coffins were laid at the feet of the country's then King King Gustav V, who said, quote, in the name of the Swedish nation, I hear greet the dust of the polar explorers who,

more than three decades ago, left their native land to find an answer to the questions of unparalleled difficulty. But what happened to the men? How did they die? How did they die? Their detailed... Well, we'll get to that.

Their detailed diaries were found, meaning that we know a lot about their journey. But in terms of their deaths, I'm sorry to say that this is a mystery rapport. The whole time. There aren't that many options. froze to death, murdered each other, eaten by polar bear, shat themselves to death. Well, people have debated for nearly 90 years as what happened to the man.

Their bodies were cremated as soon as they returned to Sweden, ruling out further forensic studies. But these are some of the theories. Are you thinking of cover up from the government? Yeah. This goes all the way to the top, King Gustav V. These are some of the theories. They may have developed lead poisoning from eating. food from metal cans.

Oh. Yeah, it's boring. Yeah, cheer for your favourite theory. They may have been poisoned from eating polar bear's liver. Maybe, yeah. That's revenge. I like that from the polar bear. Some say they could have developed

deadly botulism from the seal meat. Yeah, let's hear it for botulism. You don't hear enough about it anymore. Cook your meat, people. They could have just died from the cold. Meat people. Cook your meat people Cook them

Cook those meat people They could have just died From the cold and hypothermia Others contend that they were attacked by Polar Bears Yeah that is sick Although I will Most agree now that their bodies were disturbed by polar bears

After they died And And Andri had died with his gun next to him So would he have shot a polar bear? Probably He's done it before Apparently The most dramatic suggestion is that it was a psychotic murder

suicide with one of them killing the others before taking their own life although their diaries look as they were optimistic right up until the end yeah dear diary thinking about killing the others tomorrow none of them no no I'd

but probably the most plausible theory in my opinion is of course mole people yeah it's really the only thing that makes sense just to wrap this up Some people look at Andre as a delusional man who risked his and his friends, his two young friends' lives. He should have known how dangerous it was, and if he was lying about how far the balloon would travel, well, that's basically criminal.

But other seem as someone who backed himself into a corner with his claims and aspirations and had to follow through no matter what. I think both of those are the same thing. Yeah, that both true. Once he'd made the pledge to do it, there was no backing out. So I think some people feel more sorry for him and other people are like, nah. He killed two young men. Yeah. Appreciation for Neil Strindberg, the photographer's efforts have only grown over time, however.

He was an untrained student and managed to keep photographing and documenting what was happening around him, despite being in some of the toughest conditions imaginable. And the photos that survived are stunning, and I'll be sure to post some of them online. But that is the 1897 Polar Balloon North Pole Expedition. Day Morning, everybody. Well done. Do you have any theories? Yeah, what are your thoughts, guys?

No, yeah, I think it was... I like the idea that the polar bear's liver is what did it. Yeah, revenge from inside. Yeah, well, revenge is a best served cold and I imagine that would have been the case, thank you. None of that went in my mouth that time. How about you, just any thoughts, feelings, or at the end of that?

I was definitely thinking that one of them killed the others. But I was imagining it a very strong. stoic way, you know, in the Titanic when the string quartet keep playing. I was imagining a little bit like that, but instead of playing a beautiful song, he was like, you know, killing his friends. Do you think the quartet on the Titanic killed everyone? Yes. Is that not how that movie, you guys?

The string quartet went on a mooterspray. Yeah, the bass player was an iceberg. No, you'll know it when you see it. That's confused by myself face Regret face it usually sort of turns mostly away from people I felt no regret about anything I've done today Not yet

Yeah don't worry there is a second show to come That just brings to the end of the podcast part of the show Thank you so much for coming out today We appreciate you being easy Yeah give yourself around applause What we're going to do now for the people in the room Is I have about a half hourish break Yeah

The bar will be open in that time you'd love to get a drink or we'll probably make the second half a lot crazier. Which we try to cultivate on a Sunday afternoon. And I believe we'll be we're going to have some t-shirts

for sale up the back if you are interested in buying one of those. And yeah, we'll be back in about half an hour's time. What are we looking? Bang on three. About 3.34 hours second show which I've got to run a quiz where you guys as an audience

if you want to stick around we'll compete against Jess and Matt for quiz glory. It's a lot of fun. We've done it a few different cities, and it's always so much fun. So stick around if you can. Go get drinks, get some snacks. There's $15 espresso martini.

Hello. If anyone wants to get me one, is what I was saying. Yeah, if anyone wants to get us one, just do that. Don't get me a martini, but there are $10 ice cream sunda. So that would be... And popcorn. God damn, I love this place. I live here now.

All right, well, because this is the end of the podcast, for people at home, can we have a big round of applause for the... The Comedy Lounge for hosting us here today. It's a fantastic venue here in Perth, running comedy many nights a week. So please do support the Comedy Lounge. Thank you so much for coming out. And until next week on the podcast, I'll say thank you and goodbye. Later.

Bye. And there you have it. Podcasting in W.A. for the first ever time. Thank you again to everyone that came out to see us. Thanks to everyone at the Comedy Lounge for having a great comedy venue. We can go and see Comedy Many Nights. week over in Perth. We appreciate them having us over. It's Dave here, by the way. I'm just hanging out in my bedroom recording this Patreon section late at night before it comes out, so I appreciate

you sticking with us to the end. Now, the Patreon section, if you're not familiar, this is funded by the people that basically fund the show at patreon.com slash do go on pod where you can chip in a few bucks or as much as you like every single month in exchange for some rewards where we give out bonus episodes, tickets to see our shows that people get to buy, is before anyone else. Pre-sale, it's probably the word that I'm looking for, but you know, I struggled. And you can also get shoutouts, which we're about to do, and you get to be part of the Facebook group, which is very active, the Patreon-only Facebook group. If any of this sounds appealing, and at the same time, you want to support the show, you can go to patreon.com slash do-go-on

pod. But the first thing we do at the end of the show is, of course, our patented fact, quote, or question. If Jess was here, she'd say, fact-quote or question. Bing. Thank you, yes, I should do musicals. Anyway, thank you so much to this week's fact, quote or questioner, which if you're not familiar, this is an ingenious section of the Patreon that Matt thought up. He thought we want to give people more of an opportunity to voice their opinions, their facts, all their quotes on our show. And if you can do that at a certain level, the Sydney-Schenberg deluxe package, rest in peace level. If you commit to that level, we let you read out a fact quote or question, or we'll read it out, but you get to write it,

and also give yourself a job title. Now, this week's fact quote a question, the job title is the not so quite red herring of the Doogel One podcast. Maybe we're about to find out what that means, and this week it comes from the great man himself, a great supporter of the show, and thank you, as always, to Kevin Ulysses or Ulysses Packrad. Damn, that's a good name. Thank you, the not so quite red herring, who this week has given us a fact. Oh man, music to my ears. I love a fact.

Matt and Jess are missing out here because, well, maybe they're not. Maybe they don't love facts as much as I do. Maybe Jess loves questions and Matt loves quotes. Who knows? But this week, the fact comes from Kevin Ulysses Packrad, and in the spirit of Matt, who doesn't usually read them beforehand, neither have I. So, Kevin, don't stitch me up here with a fact. Kevin writes, this is a bit of a personal fact.

However, I think it is quite fun. To be honest, that's good news for me. because it means maybe it's hard to fact check. Anyway, this is Kevin again, on my father's side of my family, my grandfather's father, grandfather's father, okay, MISOK, MISOK, came to America from Syria to escape the Armenian genocide. Wow, so sorry to hear that. He came out with his brother whose name was Nishan,

and was also part of the Armenian mob, but that's unrelated. Okay, cool though. Anyway, a few years before my grandfather was born, his sister was being bullied in school because of her last name, which at the time was, wait for it, Pacradunian. That is terrific. Packradunian. My great-grandfather took it upon himself to change the name to Packrad as you see it today.

I personally think that name is even better than Packrad. Imagine Kevin Packradunian. Pretty flipping great, am I right? Yeah, you're a damn rat. You'd be, damn rat. you be and damn rad. Kevin Ulysses, Pacradunian. Man, that should be your job title for the podcast, the official Pacradunian of the Dooguan poet. Thank you, Kevin, too, for writing in. What a ripper of a name. So that's the end of the fact quote or question section of the podcast. And the only other

thing left to do is, of course, shout out to a few people that support the show on Patreon. And I'm going to do that now. We try to get everyone in order. We are trying to catch up. We missed a couple of people just because, you know, over time that does happen. And Matt's trying to reorder it a bit, so a few people have let us know if we've missed you. And do let us know if you think we have. I think, but only if you've been on there for over a year, because it does take a little while at the moment to get through everyone. But I would like to thank some beautiful people. I'm going to go to three.

Usually we thank two each, and that's six. I'm going to only do three, just so this doesn't go on too long with just one man talking at the end of the podcast. But I'm going to thank three people. Usually we'd come up with a game. And we just talked about S.A. Andrea and his story. travels to the Arctic in a balloon. How about I suggest your mode of transport, these people's mode of transport,

to get to the Arctic? Did I just say balloon or moon? Man, I zoned out on a one-man podcast. And then I came back and I was still talking. Well, here we go. Let's do some shout-outs anyway, and I'll try and stay in the room with you guys. Thank you so much all the way from Fort Lauderdale in Florida.

Actually, we've got three Americans coming. up here today. Still definitely our dream to get over to North America at some stage. Maybe we'll get to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Beautiful weather. Fantastic art deco architecture in Miami. I'd like to go there just for that. A bit of an art deco nerd. But thank you too. From Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Ross Carter. Ross Carter. Well, I like to think that you traveled Ross Carter to the North Pole using a DeLorean. How about that? You could travel back in time to beat SA Andri, even though he never made it.

Maybe you could travel back in time to meet him on the ice to save him as his balloon crashed into the snow for the 57th time. I don't know. Well, we're going, we don't need roads. Thank you, Ross Carter. Do I remember the Back to the Future report we did many years ago? Who knows? Thank you so much to support the show over in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. All right, I'm going to stop with that voice now.

I would like to thank now also from the night. States from Locust Grove, Virginia. Not West Virginia. Virginia. I would like to thank Ben Pererea, Pereira, P-E-R-E-I-R-A. I don't know why I read them out to make me sound less stupid than I am for saying them wrong. Ben Pereira from Locust Grove in Virginia. I would like to think that you traveled to the Arctic, to the North Pole, on the inevitable train that they will build to it all aboard, which I was inspired because when we came back from Perth yesterday, we were driving back from the airport together.

Yeah, we travel together. It's funny, Carl Chandler from the Little Dunham Club that we did the Coastomeree podcast festival with earlier in the year, commented on our photo of us traveling to Perth at 6am after getting up at 3 a.m. Or sitting on the plane and he said, oh, sitting together on a plane to Perth is a brave chore. boys. We've traveled all the way to the UK to get to sit next to each other. And that is how we know that Matt likes to hug a pillow whilst watching The Incredibles two, three times because he kept

falling asleep during it. And he hates that we keep bringing that up all the time. But on the way back, we saw, we were dropping Matt home and there was a statue for a Burke and a Wills, I don't know, thing, because they'd visited there on their ill-fated journey that Matt talked about in episode, what, episode five, I think it was, so, so long ago. And I started laughing because I'd forgotten until that moment that do you remember when we did the Birken wheels episodes that they were Australian explorers and they were travelling to an unknown part of Australia and it took them weeks and weeks to get to a certain point and then it just mentions in their diary that the post truck you know people with a horse and cart just went past and also came back just the idea that they

were travelling to this place where a post office is easily already going there anyway why I just hitch a ride and then go as far as the... Anyway, so stupid. And that made me think that maybe I like the idea that S.A. Andrew wants to get to the North Pole. And there's a train going there, driven by Tutu-2 Ben Pereira from Lurus Grove in Virginia. And finally, I would like to thank, from Holiday, Utah, in the United States, I would like to thank Preston Hands. Preston Hans. Is this the same Preston who traveled with his mom, Gail, to support us at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival this year all the way from Utah?

The Beehive State, which I know from Gail, gave me that fact. Thank you so much, Preston, for supporting the show. We absolutely appreciate that. So, yeah, they came out for the first couple of weeks of the Comedy Festival on their annual holiday. They like to travel summer in the world, and Preston said, I want to go to the Comedy Festival in Melbourne, see the Doogel on podcast, and that really blew our minds that you would come all that way. So thank you so much, and it was fantastic to meet you.

And in honour of being from Utah, the nickname given in Point Break, as in Utah, get me too. which is a quote from Gary Busey I would like to get and that movie is in some way about surfing I would like to say that you would like to surf Preston all the way to the North Pole which as I said at the start of the episode we now

know which just made fun of people that it's made of water and sometimes ice so actually more possible probably than driving or training Preston I give you the best odds of actually making it to the North Pole thank you to everyone that does support the show on Patreon especially this week to

Ross Carter, Ben Barreira and Preston Hands, all fantastic people spread out across the United States of America. And if you want to join the ranks of those fantastic people, just remember to go to patreon.com slash do-go-on pod. All right, that does bring us to the end of the episode. It's late here. Maybe it's late where you are as well. I'm going to give you permission to go to sleep unless you are driving a train, a tram or a car. In that state, I think you should stay awake. But everyone else, give my permission to go to bed, even if you are listening at work, which some people tell me they do.

If you want to get in contact with us, all our contact details are on do go on pod.com. We can also buy tickets to our website and also merchandise t-shirts and the like that we will mail directly to you wherever you are in the world. Thanks again for supporting the show, listening to the show, spreading it around. We always appreciate that. Until next week, I'll say thank you again for listening. And until then, I will say goodbye. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates.

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