Melbourne Days 3-5

DAY 3
It was Friday the 13th. The day went smoothly with no hiccups or disasters. The classes were informative and enjoyable. I went shopping at lunch time for an outfit for the banquet on Saturday night (forgot to bring something) and made it back in time for the afternoon events. I even won a prize at the general session. Sorry can't share because it is from the new catalogue not due out for a couple of months.

That evening we all went our separate ways for dinner. I was a little worried when one of the girls said she was going to the footy, in Melbourne, wearing her Eagles scarf, and the Eagles weren't even playing. I half expected to see her on the late news being loaded into a ambulance with a caption "Eagle gets lost!"

A small group of us had prearranged a lovely evening with a wonderful gentleman by the name of Count Dracula. He quite often had dinner parties so we arranged for VIP tickets. In order to get there, we had to take 4 taxis. Each taxi had a foreign driver. Ours could barely speak english and did not know Melbourne at all. He kept asking us where Dracula's place was and we could only give him the street name.

Ours was the last taxi to leave and we thought we would never get there. The first taxi left 5 minutes before us but arrived last. They had the same problem with their taxi driver. I am sure the Taxi company deliberately employs foreigners who do not know where they are or how to speak the language so that they can get more money out of us. I am never again complaining about the taxis in Perth!

Upon entering Dracula's via the red carpet, we were greeted with by a bald headed creepy looking little man who thought he was a comedian. We were specifically informed that cameras were not to be used. Something to do with melting the staff I believe.

We caught a train into the dining area. Really need to talk to the count about where is train goes. There were skeletons and cobwebs everywhere. I swear that is a broken air-conditioning pipe as well because we were blasted by a burst of air just before the train came to a stop. Scared the bejeezers out of me.

Dinner was lovely, our waitress, Absynth, refused to tell me where she bought her lovely sparkly green lipstick, and the stage show was hilarious. I would recommend to anyone going to Melbourne that they go visit Dracula's. The only disappointment was that the Count himself was not there.

This was my entree. The finger was so delicious.

My Devilish dessert

The darling Absynth showing of her gorgeous lipstick

This is our group shot. Some people thing that Bindi (in the middle in black and white) was part of the staff ... no.

DAY 4
Alas this was the final day of convention. No one wanted to leave. Here are a couple of photos of Bindi and myself with some of the SU staff. Oops just accidentally deleted. Sorry been having so many issues downloading photos to blogger tonight that I am not going to try. Will put it on tomorrow.

The yummy menu for our banquet

DAY 5
My cousin Tina came and picked me up at the short stay apartment in the morning and back to where she lives. I suppose for Melbourne it really was just around the corner. Luckily for me, it was a day when we could go to a VIP wharehouse sale. Nothing was over $6. I bought 16 items of clothing for around $50. The jeans alone, that I got, had a price tag of $60. There was so much there I would have bought if I was slimmer, but it was probably a good thing that I wasn't. My suitcase was already bulging and I still had a week to go.

That afternoon I was planning on some "me" time while Tina and Rowen went off to a birthday party. The next day was going to be a shopping day where we caught up with mum before I headed down south to see an old Primary School friend, Nicole. Luckily for me, Nicole messaged me for Tina and Rowan left, to confirm I would be arriving that evening. I quickly double checked my ticket and realised that, yes, I had to catch the train that night, and not the next. My "me" time ended up madly doing my washing time and packing a small bag for the next couple of days down south.

I really felt bad because I thought I had planned enough time with Tina and did not realise that I accidentally booked the train a day earlier than expected.

I caught the train to Warrnambool and met Nicole and her husband. They live out in the bush and I could not wait to see it in the daylight. I miss the bush. Especially the sort you get in the Eastern States. West Australian bush is scraggly and suited to desert. It is rare to see a rich green pasture with rich green trees.

CURRENTLY
Obviously Melbourne was a while ago now, and I am madly trying to catch up with my blog posts. I have had a week without the computer while it was getting a service. It could have been just one day, but I actually enjoyed not having it as it forced me to do other things than sit on facebook. :) Well it is back now. I will put further updates on tomorrow.

Melbourne Day 2

Registration! What can I say. There were 4-5 lines based on the first letter of your last name. Queues were kind of there, sometimes. Between the hustle and bustle of 500 people (mainly women) lining up, greeting old friends, making new ones, swapping creations, waving at the video cameras, posing for photos, and the occasional cheer from the SU staff at the registration desks when someone had a reward pin, I actually got to breath. In fact it was a lot of fun.

I must admit that I did feel out of my depth there though. I was still tired and really didn't know that many people. In fact the few people I knew were three lines away and moving a lot faster than mine. LOL

I had in fact dressed warmly ... too warmly, as the convention centre had the heating cranked up. I ended up not only carrying my jacket, bag and swap box, but my scarf and vest as well and I was still hot. Once through registration I ended up with a lovely free hand bag full of our convention goodies.

With my arms full, I headed straight for Memento Hall. This is where you can buy SU stuff that will never be available in the catalogue, a convention perk. Again, you were never just sure what was the line for buying and what was the line for moving around the room. After standing in the same spot for 5 minutes I realised I was in the purchase line and yet I hadn't seen anything. You kinda had to push your way through.

I was amongst the first into the Memento Hall so the staff were still getting things kinda sorted. Eventually someone stood at the door stopping people from coming in until some left (it was a small room) and a proper payment line was organised so you could tell where you were exactly in the room. Of course you had your odd computer decide to not work but things started to work very smoothly.

Now lets see, I was already loaded up with things but walked out with additional bags: a gorgeous Tote and matching laptop bag (great for paper cartage), a T-shirt and a denim shirt, collapsible rubbish bin (this is great, went back for more later when the limit of one was lifted), a couple of stamps and a lovely shopping bag. Think I needed more arms. Can't believe I managed. Though I did end up with a massive headache thanks to my neck being pulled in all directions from straps. This is in no way meant to sound negative. I was having a ball.

When convention was over for the day, a small group of us went out for dinner at the Blue Room. It was a nice little restaurant with great food. We had all pretty much finished our meals when we realised there was a celebrity at the next table to us. It was Emelia Rusciano, or those of you from WA who used to listen to 92.5 would know her as Em. To my international friends, Em was on the second season of Australian Idol, she is now in Melbourne with her own stage show, but still doing radio and the odd TV appearance.

Linda was too scared to go as for a photo, so Pat went over and did the asking:
P: Hi are you Em?
E: Yes I am
P: We are all from Perth and we miss you greatly ...
From their it was easy to ask for group photo.

Photo of the stage for the General Session

Me looking better than a photo further down. I was back in my apartment and you kinda get the view behind.

Melbourne Trams.

Here we are with Em. I felt so under dressed, but I was cool (as in, not stinking hot for once).

Jen came back to the flames with me so that I could try my other camera. We had to wait a while so we sat down and ate desert. I had a scrumptious mint ice cream. It was so refreshing.Finally, this is the view from my apartment at night. I am so proud of this photo. The convention centre is to the left and out of the photo.

Can't believe it is midnight already. Where did the time go? Catch you tomorrow with Day 3.

Melbourne Day 1

First day in Melbourne I pretty much spent in bed. I had worked all the day before, rushed home to pack and then caught the midnight horror flight over. It was stinking hot on the plane so I was glad to get to chilly Melbourne with a balmy 5 degrees C at 5:30 in the morning.

The address I had for our short stay was the wrong address. It was a Short stay but one of the older ones. The staff were just arriving by the time we got there so they directed us to where we were meant to be. "It's only 10 minutes walk," he said. My mother was with me and there was no way we were walking after a sleepless night and with all our luggage. We caught a cab, who went the opposite direction, only to loop back, do an illeagal u-turn and drop us off. Luckily someone in my apartment was awake and they came down and let us in.

The others had got there the night before and managed to get a good sleep so why they were off in Marysville for the day, enjoying the first snowfall of the year; their first time in the snow; snow angels and snow fights, I slept and mum just rested.

The view from my apartment (15 floors up and across from the convention centre) was spectacular. I will have a photo in day twos blog.

After mum left with my cousin Alida and the others had all returned from their snow adventure, we got dressed up and hopped on the Resteraunt Tram. It is very old worldly and seriously cramped. This photo is of me sitting as far back from the table as I could. This is the roomiest seat. I had to swap with someone, other wise my chest would have been wearing my food and not reaching my mouth. For $70 though the meal is not really worth it, and they don't tell you where in Melbourne you are so that you could go back to the interesting looking shop you saw on the corner of whatever street.



After the tram ride we all went over to the Crown Casino Complex. Being Melbourne, the shops were still open this late at night. The Casino also has a great hourly fire display outside along the river and a massive fibre optic display in the complex itself.

The flame tours were huge and you could really feel the heat. Great place to be on the hour of a cold night. They go on and off for 5 minutes. I could even see them from my apartment even though we were on the other side.

This is just a tiny portion of the fibre optic light display. The are is gi normous and the lights are timed with music, lasers on the wall and water fountains on the floor.

Technical Issues

I had managed to write one of the most interesting blog posts the other day. In fact I would go as far as to say it was the best one ever written in the history of blogging and would have been the talk of the internet world for months. Alas though, you will never know. Damn blogger chose the minute I hit publish, to crash. All my hard work to thrill and educate you, went up in one split second of techno fire and fizzled out leaving not even a draft behind.

"What now," you ask? Well you get the mediocre, quick, let me tell you what has been happening version.

I have been back in Perth for a week now, after spending 2 lovely weeks in Melbourne. Can't believe it has taken me this long to get there. The shopping is great! I went over mainly for the Stampin Up Convention, which was just great. I had a ball and made so many new friends.

I also caught up with family (and went SHOPPING) and a friend from my Primary School days. It was great to catch up with her. I have many photos that I will post at a later date.

Mum came with me, so the dogs were left in the capable hands of a friend who house sat for us. When we got home, Bo was the most excited of the 2. She only gets excited when it involves food, but this particular evening she would not leave either of us alone. It was so funny. Now she is back to her usual self though, and makes us come to her to say hello when we get home from work.

Speaking of work, it is still the same ol' same ol'. Nothing much happening there. Better get back to it though.

Swaps

One more day at work (YES) and then tomorrow night I am flying out to cold, chilly Melbourne, leaving the heat behind. Yes Perth is still kinda warm. In fact last night I literally ... actually no that would give you horrible visual images.

In Melbourne I plan to be at the Stampin Up convention for the first few days, then literally flittering all over the city and countryside, catching up with friends and family. I can't wait.

This however has meant lots of preparation. I have made 60 butterfly pins for the swap at convention. I have about 5 different colours but the below are my favourite ones.

Speaking of swaps, the doll for the Artistic doll swap that I am in, has changed rather dramatically since I first made the head. You see, it was initially going to be a flat doll with 3D embellishments, but then I saw what others were making and thought I would give a go with a 3D one, hence the head doesn't quite go any more.

Here is the original head. I have it sitting on an ATC I started Ages ago, but wasn't quite sure how to finish ... I think the head is a great finishing touch. :) One problem solved.

I wanted my doll to represent a tree fairy/nymph, so why not start making a 3D body with dowel, chipboard, string and paper like corrugated cardboard. This is the torso and one leg. Ok so what to do about the hands and feet? Bring out the sculpy. Luckily I had some porcelain coloured one left. I wanted the feet and hands to look stick like, though they look kinda spooky on their own.
Here it is with legs, arms, torso, feet and hands all joined together. All I need now is a head. Back to the drawing board on that one. I have an idea but not sure how good my sculpting skills are. If only I had the time and know how to dry an apple. LOL
When I finally have a head on the poor thing I will start adding colour etc to it. Hmmm I may not want to give it away. It's my first one, and probably my last cause you can never replica the same kind of achievement.

Well I best be off to bed. Have to work tomorrow before flying out at later and I still have to pack and register the seats and God knows what else. Lucky I don't stress about these things hey!