Vivien: Before leaving Australia to join the team I was working with Luca and Simon along with our sponsors to establish a landscaping plan for the Desert Rose House. The biggest hurdle is trying to coordinate plants that won’t die during the two weeks of competition. This was further highlighted on my first shopping trip today with Luca to see what plants we could source. The majority of the store operators we met were surprised that we were looking for plants that will have to survive without water for the next two weeks, therefore the plants need to have been grown outside to be able to survive in the harsh conditions. I was surprised to see so many plants you would typically think of as outdoor plants like succulents and Bromeliads are grown in air-conditioned green houses.

Walking onto site for the first time today I am incredibly proud how much the team has accomplished in only 12 days. I was a key member of the second skin wall team and seeing this installed on the house for the first time was pretty special. I haven’t had the time to digest the competition site as a whole as we walked straight onto site but I look forward to taking in all the other teams, and the moment of realisation that after 2 years of work we are finally here.

Simon: The funniest part of the trip so far was on day eight, when I missed the bus by half an hour because the bus pick up schedule changed to a 1.30pm departure and I missed the message that told us all. This has now been coined by the team as ‘pulling a Simo’ so anyone running late or subsequently missing the bus they are just trying to be me! I was hassled pretty extensively for the first 24 hours and felt pretty guilty but it is just a funny story now.

Two days ago Luca and I were scouting out landscaping centres one of which was amazing, they had everything and the indoor component was huge. While walking around we asked questions of a staff member and were escalated to one of the supervisors. Ingrid was very generous with her time and drove us between multiple garden centres in her personal car, a gorgeous red mustang, teaching us about all the local plants that we may be able to substitute into the design. At one point in time we had to stop for a caravan of camels to finish crossing the road. This trip is the highlight of my experience in Dubai so far, I could never have foreseen or imagined this incredible experience in Dubai.

We are currently await the delivery of the plants, mulch and sand to commence the landscaping… so watch this space.