Stretch goal 1: $6000

• Hey all, so a huge thanks to all my supporters so far! I'm nearly at my goal! Now let's see if in the last week we can make it to $6000 so I can hire some awesome filming equipment to take with me on my trip to Lord Howe.

Hey I'm Asher, an independent documentary filmmaker based in Melbourne, Australia and I love making films about our complex interactions with the natural world. (You can view the last film I made here to get an idea of the kind of stories I like to tell: https://vimeo.com/55560603). 

The idea for this film came while I was volunteering in the Live Animals Exhibits section of the Melbourne Museum. One of the animal keepers happened to mention something about the extremely rare Lord Howe Island stick insect and how they have a captive colony at the museum. He also mentioned that the man who ran the Live Animals Exhibits section of the museum was the first to breed these remarkable insects in captivity - Patrick Honan. Intrigued, I looked this insect up when I got home and was blown away by its incredible story and even more blown away that no one had done a documentary on it before! So I arranged to talk with Patrick and was absolutely captivated by his tale of the insects history and the challenges he went through to breed these unusual insects in captivity. 

So it is that I'm currently making a documentary on the almost Homeric saga of the Lord Howe Island stick insect, one of the rarest species of insects on the planet. It was exterminated on Lord Howe Island by rats that were accidentally introduced in a shipwreck in the early 1900s and was thought extinct. BUT a series of incredible discoveries led to its re-emergence on one of the most remote and beautiful places on earth, about 20km south east of Lord Howe - Balls Pyramid.

Since then it has been an epic journey to prevent this unique species of insect (dubbed the thylacine of the insect world) from disappearing again. This humble insect has become a symbol of the struggle to preserve what we have left and to mitigate our impact on the natural world.

I'm supremely lucky to be doing a project I'm really passionate about and have, up until now, tried to be self-funded so I can keep the story as true to my vision as possible. So far I've shot a bunch of interviews with climbers, entomologists and even Dick Smith (who climbed the Pyramid along with Rick and Dave in the 60s) but the bulk of the filming will need to be done on Lord Howe Island, which is where I need your help. 

I believe that this is a story that needs to be told and with your support I can bring the adventure, wonder and passion of this grand adventure to life for all to see.

The bulk of the money raised will go to travel to and from Lord Howe as this is not a cheap place to get to. Qantas is the only airline that flys out there and flights must go from Sydney. The rest of the money will be used to pay for filming fees on the island and other misc. expenses.

Filming on Ball's Pyramid is going to be my greatest challenge as even if I make it to Lord Howe, getting to the Pyramid requires just the right weather conditions. Then there is filming the insects at night, which requires me spending a night at least on the exposed tooth of rock. All this, plus I'm not very good with heights... wish me luck!