Conventions

Heading North

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

I’ll be heading out to the airport shortly and will be on planes and trains for the next day or so. Don’t expect anything from me until Thursday evening, UK time (Thursday morning US time). I’ll tweet when I can.

The trip has been great fun. It has, of course, been a financial disaster, but I hope I’ve managed to avoid wingeing too much about that. The last few weeks have also been very bruising psychologically, often for things not connected with the trip. And of course this amount of traveling is very tiring. However, I have got to meet, or re-connect with, a whole bunch of wonderful people, attended two good cons, and see a lot of two very beautiful countries. I have eaten too much good food, and got a fabulous new coat at a bargain price. I also, very unexpectedly, got to laugh at Australians about cricket. I can’t ask for more than that.

Hopefully the information I have been gathering about travel down here has proved useful, and will encourage more people to make the trip next year. There is a lot more to come, and it will appear slowly over the next week or so as I get time to write/edit/post it all. If you do find it useful, please link to it. There are lots of fans who don’t read my blog and who have no idea I’m doing this.

I’d like to give special thanks to Carolyn & Tasha, and Daniel & Kelly, for being so kind to me in NZ; to Terry, Sally & Alan and Medge & Bean for making me welcome in Melbourne & Adelaide respectively; to Donna, Russell and Julie & Roger for being great company at both conventions; and to both convention committees. Also a huge thanks to Hilton who gave me free upgrades for all four stays I had with them.

And now, it is time to finish packing and check out. After that: Sydney, Singapore, London.

Transport from Melbourne Airport

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

I have been over looking at Melbourne Airport. Please note that things I have seen may change by August 2010, but hopefully most of them will not.

Firstly, for the benefit of Kevin, the gaming area has four pinball machines: The Addams Family, Batman, Indianna Jones and The Simpsons.

For everyone else, the Vodafone cellphone rental shop in the International Arrivals area is still there. If you need a phone while you are in Australia you can rent one for the duration of your trip.

And now, transport. This is where you need to be clever, because Melbourne Airport is a trap for the unwary tourist.

If you come straight out of International Arrivals (Terminal 2) you will see no options for transport except a taxi. Do not take this option unless there are at least 3 of you. It costs AU$51 for a ride to the Hilton South Wharf, and there’s a AU$6 surcharge if you pay by credit card. Instead turn left and make your way to Terminal 1 (QANTAS Domestic), which is in the same building and a very short walk away. There you will find two additional options.

The VHA Airport Shuttle is a classic SuperShuttle-style service. It is AU$25 single or AU$40 return to the Hilton South Wharf (cheaper for some other hotels), and it will deliver you door-to-door. The first shuttle runs at 6:00am, which is just about right for flights from London.

And even cheaper option is Skybus. This is a bus service that runs between the airport and Southern Cross station in the city. It is AU$16 and AU$26 return. Southern Cross is around 15-20 minutes walk from the Hilton South Wharf, and isn’t an easy trip with heavy bags. In theory Skybus offers free transfers to hotels, but this is noted as “subject to availability” so you might have to wait a while, or you could get a cab which won’t cost nearly so much for that short trip. Service frequency is hourly through the night increasing every 10 minutes during the day. I would have used it to go shopping today if the weather hadn’t been so foul.

AussieCon 4 Masquerade

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

One of the things announced at yesterday’s Closing Ceremonies was that the convention-s co-Fan GoH, Catherine Scholz, has accepted the post of Masquerade Director at AussieCon 4. Catherine and her husband, Steve, have not traveled much, so they are unlikely to be well known to costumers outside Australia, but having seen them in action here I can assure people that they are very fine costumers. The announcement also means that the masquerade is going to be staged by members of the Australian Costumers’ Guild, which is excellent news.

By way of a statement of credentials, here’s a photo of Catherine I took this weekend (with apologies for not giving her time to steampunk the cellphone).

Catherine Scholz

Catherine and Steve can’t afford to go to Montreal, but two of their friends from Adelaide, who have also been good friends of mine for many years, Medge & Bean, will be there. Hopefully they can answer any questions that costumers have about the A4 Masquerade.

Medge and Bean

Adelaide Has Awards

~ Cheryl ~ 4 Comments

The Ditmars were announced last night and the live blog of the ceremony can be found on SFAW. My particular thanks to Cat Sparks and Rob Hood for dropping by. It is always good have winners in the audience.

I was pleased to see that the Best Fan Production award went to an online book review zine: AS if!.

But what I most want to talk about now is a brand new award which was announced here and will have its first presentation at Aussiecon 4 next year. The Norma K Hemming Award is a diversity award for “exploration of themes of race, gender, class and sexuality”. It is named after Norma Kathleen Hemming, a feminist author and fan who was active in Australia in the 1950s and died tragically of lung cancer at the age of 33. You can find more about Norma, the award and early Australian feminist fandom at the Australian Science Fiction Foundation web site.

Precise details of how the award will work are still being ironed out, but it will be a juried award. Given that it is diversity-based, and not just feminist, I asked about disability issues. The ASFF folks promised to look into this, but someone else in the audience suggested that the Australian disability community might not be happy about being included. You do have to check these things.

Still, I am delighted to see Australian launch an award of this type. We already have the Tiptree and Carl Brandon Awards, and the feminist award in Japan. There may be others I’m not award of, but as far as I know the UK doesn’t have anything like this.

Adelaide – Lazy Sunday

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

The con is now in full swing, but to be honest that’s not a lot of action. The number of people here appear to be quite low – probably not a lot more than were in Auckland. Many of the big name Australian authors are not here. And the con is mostly strolling along on the “she’ll be right” principle (which is Australian for “no further effort required”). We are having a fun time anyway.

Lunch yesterday was courtesy of the Central Market. Medge & Bean, Paul Ewins and I bought some bread, cheese and olives and ate them. Adelaide really is a very good place to eat.

In the afternoon I was on a panel about SF awards, and attended the GoH presentation for Steve and Catherine Scholz. Both were quite good events, and both had very small audiences – less than 20 in both cases, I think.

The masked ball last night was rather better attended, but it did prove the point that if you have a “masked ball” rather than a formal masquerade then hardly anyone will actually come in costume – a mask is seen as being quite sufficient. Sean Williams is an excellent DJ. Sadly, having been up since 5:30am, I was not really in a fit state to dance the night away. However, I did mange to give the French dress an outing, and I got some very kind comments.

This evening, all being well, I will be covering the Ditmar Awards live at SF Awards Watch.

Talking of the Ditmars, quite a bit of the discussion on the awards panel revolved around lack of participation. If you have less than 100 people voting it becomes much easier for people to stuff the ballot. There is, I’m afraid, no solution to this other than getting more people to attend the convention. The Australians have tried some creative solutions, including once trying to shame people into participating by adding a character of Best Fannish Cat. The idea was that people would be so outraged at the awards being trivialized that they would all want to get involved, but I don’t think it worked. Given that I’m now wondering how I could win an award for Best Fannish Cat, I can see why.

Aboriginal Astronomy

~ Cheryl

As I’m in Australia at the moment it seems entirely appropriate to link to this post by Jennifer Ouellette which suggests that some Aboriginal people created a astronomical observatory at Wurdi Youang, a stone circle near to Melbourne. Obviously a lot can happen in an investigation in a year, and the whole thing may have been disproved by August 2010, but when I get back to the con today I shall seek out Sue Ann Barber and suggest to her that an email to the Melbourne Planetarium might be a good idea. I’d love to see some discussion of this at Worldcon.

Dudcon 3

~ Cheryl ~ 4 Comments

What do you do with your Natcon when Worldcon comes to town? Why, fold it in with the Worldcon, of course. Everyone but the UK does that. But Natcon things still have to be done. For Australia there are Ditmars to be given out, and site selection to be done. So the Aussies are having a con within a con. It will consist of a Business Meeting and the Ditmars Ceremony, and possibly a barbecue if it doesn’t rain (but this is Melbourne we are talking about). It will also raise money for the Ditmars by the time-honored fannish method of being silly.

So, they are offering GoH positions to the highest bidder, possibly at auction if there is enough interest. And they have a variety of different membership categories, all of which gain you nothing but a warm glow for having done something good for fandom. I’m rather tempted by the AU$40 Protector of Kittens membership myself.

Paul Ewins and Dave Cake appear to be responsible for this. I shall report more as and when they have a web site. In the meantime I leave you with this important information:

If you have experience with registration, programming, masquerades, volunteer coordination, hotel liaison or security you probably have the wrong con. On the other hand if you have access to lots of free booze we may be able to use you.

Good to see that they have their priorities right.

Adelaide In Progress

~ Cheryl

So far so good. I have kindly allowed Jonathan Strahan to laugh at me over the cricket, and I have been shopping.

I have, of course, done other stuff too. I have talked to Perry Middlemiss and Rose Mitchell about the Melbourne convention center, and I now have a much better idea of which bits of the vast building we are going to use. There will be more later when I have had a chance to look at maps. In the meantime, for the benefit of Stephen Boucher, I’d like to confirm that the distance from the door of the Hilton to the door of the convention center is precisely zero Standlee units. (You do have to choose the right doors, but it is seriously convenient.)

The other good news is that the one thing that was lacking on site – additional places to eat besides the hotel – is exactly what is is going to get built in the area over the next year. It is looking like being a very good site indeed.

I’ve also been talking costuming with Fan GoH, Steve Scholz. I’m now looking forward to both tonight’s masked ball and the masquerade in Melbourne next year.

And finally the good news is that the convention has promised me Internet access for the Ditmar Awards coverage, so we will be going out live tomorrow night over on SF Awards Watch.

I’m on a panel about awards this afternoon, so I need to get back to the con. See you later.

Adelaide

~ Cheryl

As reported on Twitter, my flight to Adelaide was a little delayed, but nothing serious. I am now safely settled in to the Adelaide Hilton where I have once again been granted an upgrade to the Executive Club. More free breakfasts. Yay!

The convention hotel is the Holiday Inn. It is a few blocks walk away, but there is a tram service that is free within the city center that goes most of the way. That’s just as well as it has been raining fairly heavily here today and that is apparently set to continue throughout the weekend.

I have caught up with a number of Australian fans (including Janice Gelb who is now officially an Australian resident). Julie has made it here from New Zealand, as has Russell who has clearly got the taste for conventions. For this evening, however, I have returned to the Hilton where I plan to take things easy and try to get my body onto Adelaide time.

Trudy arrived after I did. She’s apparently in the middle of deadline hell at the moment and doesn’t have time to tour chocolate factories. I’ll therefore have to find someone else to steal samples from. In the meantime, however, I have discovered the Central Market. Just outside my hotel is a vast underground market. There are over 250 shops, most of which sell food. There are several butchers (several specializing in sausages), several fishmongers (one with a fine selection of fish heads), and more cheese shops that I could count. I found at least one chocolate shop, and also managed to invest in some new Tim Tam varieties. More on that after I have done some tasting.

Sydney

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

I am here, briefly.

The good news is that there is now a hotel shuttle from Sydney airport to the downtown hotels. It only cost me AU$24 for a return, which is about half what a single cab fare would have been. But it does mean I’ll have less time this morning as I have to fit with the shuttle’s schedule, not mine. I was hoping to get an hour or so in the QVB (that’s the Queen Victoria Building – Sydney’s splendid Victorian shopping mall), but I may not have time.

The Hilton here is very luxurious. Thank you again, reward points. As with Melbourne they have upgraded me to the executive floor. The Internet connection is fine (and indeed I could have had it for free in the executive lounge if I hadn’t needed to download all that email). I’d love to stay here for a few days and just relax, but I have a con to go to and the program officially starts this evening.

Sadly I’m missing the early-bird chocolate factory tours. I may have to mug Trudy Canavan when I get there to get some samples. I don’t appear to be listed on any program items as yet, so for the most part I expect you will find me in the bar with Sean Williams and Jonathan Strahan consuming those famous pink drinks and watching the Twenty20 World Cup. Thankfully England are only scheduled to lose two games while I am here, and neither of them to Australia.

Auckland to Wellington

~ Cheryl ~ 3 Comments

Much of yesterday was spent buzzing around the hills around Auckland looking at absolutely amazing views. For the benefit of Australians, it was very like the Dandenongs, only much closer to the city (and without the wildlife); for the benefit of Californians it was very like the road from Willetts to Fort Bragg, except with vegetation out of The Lost World. And then there were the sea views. Fans of Xena and Hercules may remember this beach, which got filmed lots because Lion Rock is so photogenic.

After that it was back on a plane. Huge thanks to Auckland airport for being the only place I have found in NZ so far with a decent Internet connection. Sadly I wasn’t there long enough to clear my backlog and still have some 200+ messages to download.

I’m now in Wellington, in a small Mercure which is very nice except for the cost of Internet access. The city is build on the side of a cliff – in fact it may be inside a giant caldera. As a consequence the harbor is fabulous but there airport runway is very short and once you get a few streets away from the sea things get a bit steep. My hotel is on a street called The Terrace: the front door and reception is on the 5th floor, and my room is on the 3rd. This is normal for Wellington.

Last night Daniel and Kelly took me to nearby Cuba Street where the hotel where next year’s NZ Natcon is being held can be found. This is down on the flat, you will be pleased to hear. It is also crammed with interesting restaurants, bars and shops. We had a great meal last night, and there are lots of other interesting places I’d love to try. It really is a fabulous location for a convention, and I’ll get some photos and video today.

You will note the occasional sex shop and brothel in the area, and over the weekend one concerned NZ fan cornered me and told me that foreign visitors might find the area a bit scary. However, you should also note that prostitution is legal in NZ, which makes the whole process much safer, and also NZ is apparently the safest country in the world in which to live. As long as you don’t do anything silly like wear an Australian rugby shirt or insult a large and muscular drunk (of whom there may be quite a few) you’ll be fine.

Auckland – Day 3

~ Cheryl

Progress with the jet lag – I almost slept through the night, just one brief period awake, and then the alarm went off at 7:00am because I need to be up and packed. My friends in Auckland have escaped their work-imposed quarantine and are able to pick me up, thereby allowing me to see some of the local area and saving me a night of hotel bills (yay!).

Yesterday seemed to go well. I don’t suppose we had a lot of people watching the live Sir Julius Vogel Awards webcast, but some people clearly did watch it. Many thanks to Lynne Jamneck for keeping me company through the ceremony. Congratulations to all of the winners, especially my new pal Russell whose books I clearly need to read.

I also bagged three more interviews – the promised ones with Nalini Singh and Norman Cates, plus a bonus interview with Helen Lowe who picked up two SJVs last night. Helen has a YA book out from Knopf and a 4-volume fantasy series due from Eos starting next year. It is great to see all of these NZ-based writers having success. All of them have mentioned the Internet as having helped them work easily with US publishers despite the physical distance.

I’m going to try to find some free wi-fi today so that I can download my email, but I am not sure how much I’ll be able to be online between now and getting to my hotel in Wellington tomorrow night. If you need to talk to me urgently, use Twitter because I can check that from the iPhone without incurring too much in the way of roaming charges.

Auckland – Day 2

~ Cheryl

It has been a pretty quiet day at the con, not helped by the fact that I’m very tired from not having had a proper night’s sleep in 4 days, and my head is still stuffed with phlegm. Thankfully I don’t have a lot to do. Indeed, most people here appear to have never heard of me, which is a pleasant change from being super-busy or the hated fannish antichrist. There are only about 100 people here, but that’s quite normal for NZ.

The morning saw a bunch of sword-fighting demonstrations, in particular from a local group of Roman legionary re-enactors. That’s not what I expected to find in New Zealand, but they looked pretty good. There were some excellent medieval costumes around too.

In the afternoon I succumbed to a nap, which proved to be a mistake because I missed a fascinating talk by local author, Russell Kirkpatrick. It apparently chronicled the decline of science fiction and rise of fantasy through an examination of themes in popular music. Russell is turning out to be a very interesting guy, and I hope to interview him about his real world job tomorrow. I may also read his books, because apparently he has a habit of causing his hero to have body parts chopped off. Yes, those body parts.

I did catch Nalini Singh, who was very good talking about how to have a successful career as a writer. She has come into writing paranormal romance via an early career with Harlequin and I’m hoping to get to interview her a bit about the differences between the two communities.

Norman Cates was his usual entertaining self. He wasn’t allowed to talk about any of the movies that WETA is currently working on (which apparently includes Tintin, yay!), but he showed us quite a few “work in progress” demos that showed how actual shots in movies such as King Kong were built up from the original footage (often in studio) by adding CGI elements. Some of the commitment to accuracy is astounding. Very little of the New York you see in King Kong is the actual city, because it looks very different today than it did in the 1930s. Wide shots were done just with the software that generates cityscapes, but some of the close-up work such as Times Square was all based on original photos from the time (save for one billboard where the company who had the ad there at the time declined to appear in the movie).

After Norm’s talk a lot of us decamped next door to a nice little Indian restaurant. For those of you who missed the tweeting, there really was a conversation on the neighboring table in which some fans were arguing over the precise definition of “pedant”. Not to be outdone, in the bar afterward we decided to argue about how the word should be pronounced.

And now, sleep time. Or not, as the case may be. Tonight I wouldn’t waking mind up early as it would mean I could watch the Super 14 final. That probably means I will sleep all the way through.

To keep you busy while I snooze, here is an example of Norm’s recent work. The original footage was shot in San Francisco, but the rubbish ball was added by Norm and his colleagues at the WETA studios in Wellington.

Yes, I will be asking Norm about his plans for Melbourne next year.

Auckland – Early Morning

~ Cheryl

The sun is now coming up over Auckland and I can hear birdsong outside of my window. I’ve been composing blog posts and editing video offline because I’m worried about Internet costs here. I have paid NZ$40 for a “monthly” account, but that had a maximum free usage of 200 Mb, after which you pay by the Mb, and looking at my email via the webmail interface I would burn through that in a day or so just checking mail. And that’s just the start. Because we are used to un-metered access we now have software that does automatic updates and web sites with embedded animated ads that chew up the Mbs in no time. Even opening Facebook is liable to use a fair amount of bandwidth. I’m sticking mainly to Twitter and the webmail interface for my email while I am here.

The convention got started last night with opening ceremonies and an ice cream social. The former featured a very nice Samoan dance troupe from a local school that gave us a real sense of being in Polynesia. After the entertainment a bunch of us decamped to the bar, but I didn’t survive there long on account of the jet lag. I did, however, shoot a video interview with two ladies from the committee of Au Contraire, the 2010 New Zealand Natcon (thank you, Kelly & Daphne). This event is taking place the weekend before Worldcon, so it is very much feasible to take in both convention in your trip. From the US you would fly into Auckland, travel down to Wellington (the train is recommended) for the con and then fly out to Melbourne.

The interview covers a range of topics from Lord of the Rings to Lordi, and I was delighted to hear Kelly and Daphne tell me that most of their committee is in their 20s and they are keen to get lots of young people to the convention. I intend to talk to them some more about their plans through the weekend, but thus far it all sounds very promising.

Wellington is, of course, also home to WETA, and Norm Cates is here to give a presentation. Apparently we will be getting previews of what the studio is working on, so I may have to surrender my iPhone at the door, but I’m hoping I can get an interview with Norm while I am here.

Talking of Norm, yesterday he was busy setting up a display of materials for the Sir Julius Vogel Awards. New Zealand is, you may remember, the only country with a science fiction award named after a famous local writer who also happened to be Prime Minister. The award banquet takes place on Sunday night and I am going to look into the possibilities of a live webcast. The CoverItLive software doesn’t seem to use much bandwidth so hopefully I’ll be OK with that.

I shall report back again as and when I can, but right now it is time to get this lot online, have a shower and check out the breakfast. As my hotel booking includes a full cooked breakfast I am going to make the best of it.

Melbourne Convention Center

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

I haven’t said much yet about the convention facilities in Melbourne that I had promised to survey, so as I’m awake in the middle of the night with jet lag it is time to put that right.

The new convention center is on the South Bank of the Yarra river, almost opposite the old facilities. When we were in Melbourne in 1999 it was just a giant shed, but now it has been transformed into a fully-fledged convention center complete with meeting rooms, auditorium and an on-site Hilton. Some building work is still going on, and according to the local newspaper, The Age, there is an opening ceremony of some sort happening this weekend for the new buildings, but conventions are already happening in the older parts of the site.

I stayed for one night in the Hilton and it is very nice indeed. I admit to having been swayed by a free upgrade to the executive floor, but the whole hotel looked good and the only problem I had with it was the AU$30/day Internet access charge – something that seems ridiculously cheap now that I am in New Zealand. There is direct access from the hotel to the convention center from the 1st floor (US numbering). I didn’t do a Standlee Unit measurement but I shot video and I don’t think it can be more than about 30 Standlees (yards, metres, whatever) or so from the elevator exit in the Hilton to the convention center entrance.

What is less clear is how far it will be from there to the parts of the convention center that we are using, because it is a vast building. I shot some video of the shed and it took me the best part of 10 minutes to walk from one end to the other. Admittedly I was stopping to look at things along the way, but that should give you an idea of just how big it is. And as far as I can make out, that whole ground floor area is one huge hall. You could park a cruise liner in there.

The one part of the facilities I know that we will be using is the hotel bar. Unlike in Montréal, I had no trouble finding this. The Hilton has a collection of Spanish-themed eateries on the ground floor including a wine/tapas bar that is only about 20 yards from an entrance to the convention center. It could hardly be more convenient if it tried. I haven’t actually checked out the beer there, but I trust my Australian friends to produce something very drinkable; wine too.

Aside from the hotel, restaurant facilities are little sparse in the convention center, but from the city end of the shed (that is the opposite end from the Hilton) you cross the road directly onto the south bank river walk that leads all the way from the Crown Casino to the far end of the city center and is lined with restaurants all the way. There will be no shortage of places to eat. If you need shopping instead, there is a tram stop outside of the city end entrance to the shed, and that takes you right down Collins Street where the best of Melbourne’s shops can be found. For the more adventurous the 112 tram actually continues on to Brunswick Street where there are lots of small, alternative shops and cheap restaurants. It is about half an hour’s journey, but worth doing.

One thing I didn’t get a good handle on was where you would stay if the Hilton was outside of your price range. Obviously all of the hotels we used in 1999 are still there. They are just a little bit further away from the facilities. There may be some new hotels as well. I’ll be talking to some of the Aussiecon 4 people while I’m in Adelaide to see if I can get a better handle on that.

Auckland – Day 1

~ Cheryl ~ 2 Comments

Another plane flight over, another immigration process successfully negotiated. And score one for New Zealand for not having any stupid questions on their forms. People coming here don’t have to lie in order to get into the country.

On the other hand, things here are very expensive. $36 for a 5-minute cab ride from the airport to an airport hotel (and no shuttle bus). Internet access is metered, and is so expensive I’m reluctant to open my email just in case I have messages with attachments. I think I’ll be covering this event mainly on Twitter.

The con is open and I have my registration packet. We’ve been allowed to pick our own membership numbers, so I am #666. I also have a badge that says I am a biohazard, which after all of the nonsense I have been through in the past few days is entirely appropriate. No sign of Julie Czerneda yet, but there are opening ceremonies and an ice cream social later today so I’m sure I’ll find her.

The con program is full of the usual stuff. I suspect that the panel you folks will be most interested in is Norm Cates talking about what is happening at WETA these days. In the program it says that we’ll be required to eat our notes and have our brains wiped on the way out, but Norm doesn’t know that I have an iPhone and Twitter. Stay tuned.

The good news for you folks is that the Super 14 final is in South Africa and will take place at 3:30am, NZ time – and yes that’s despite there being an NZ team in the game, UK TV schedules are much more important than local fans here – so the only part of the con I’ll be missing for that will be the 24 hour bad movies track. Having jet lag may prove useful for watching it.

Farewell Melbourne, I’ll Be Back

~ Cheryl ~ 3 Comments

Well, that’s my day in Melbourne done. Many thanks to Terry and Sal for recommending a great restaurant in Brunswick Street (which is actually very easy to get to by tram from the convention center), and to Alan Stewart whose presence was a lovely surprise.

I’d happily stay here another week, but tomorrow morning I’m flying out to Auckland. I shall have to be very careful not to pick up any sniffles there, because given the level of swine flu paranoia around here I doubt that I’d get back in. Let’s see, I’m going to a convention and I somehow have to avoid getting a cold…

Oh dear.

Worldcon Bloggers Wanted

~ Cheryl ~ 1 Comment

The Montreal Worldcon is looking for people who are going to be blogging, tweeting or whatever from the convention. They don’t say why in the post, but as this is coming from their press room people I’m pretty sure they want to know who’ll be pestering them for things and what they can do to help. Sign up here (and hopefully we’ll get several folks blogging in French too).

Unsurprisingly the #1 question is about wi-fi, which I am still working on.

Greetings from Melbourne

~ Cheryl ~ 3 Comments

Well, here I am on the other side of the world.

The flight from London to Melbourne is interestingly managed. You leave Heathrow late in the evening and spend much of the trip to Singapore asleep. (Or at least you do if you have my amazing “fall asleep in moving vehicles” superpower.) There is then a very short “day” that comprises breakfast on the plane, a short walk around Changi and supper on the plane. After that there is a short “night”, and you get dumped out in Melbourne at around 5:00am. I’m surprisingly awake.

For the benefit of those of you planning a trip next year, there is an ANZ bank ATM right opposite the customs exit at Melbourne airport. I put my US card in it and got AU$, no problem at all, though obviously there will be a fee.

One thing I hope people won’t have to cope with next year is flu panics. Australia is still deep in medical paranoia and there is an extra form you have to fill out. Like most such forms, it is stupid. You are supposed to tick “yes” if you have had any cold-like symptoms recently, including a headache or sniffles or a cough. I talked to the cabin crew in case this was like the stupid question on the immigration form about “animal products” (why yes, I am wearing a leather jacket and a woolen sweater, but those don’t count). Their advice was to confess to “symptoms” even though they were due to pollen allergies and recycled air, and I took their advice because I figured I had no chance of making it through immigration without coughing or sneezing.

So I spent 10 minutes or so talking to the nice doctor and nurse on duty. They were fine, and very sympathetic. I suspect I probably made their morning because I actually gave them something to do, which made it seem less bad having to be up and about for a 5:00am arrival.

A cab from the airport to the convention center is AU$51. You have been warned. There are no trains or trams.

The new Hilton is gorgeous. I admit to being biased as they gave me a room and a free upgrade to the executive floor despite the fact that I was arriving at 6:00am, but it is a very nice hotel. I’m not entirely happy with the AU$30/day for Internet access, but as I got a free breakfast I’m not going to complain.

My job for today is to explore the convention facilities. Hopefully that won’t take too long as I also want to visit my bank and go shopping. After that I’ll be having dinner with Terry.

If you have any questions about Melbourne as a Worldcon venue, please ask in the comments. I’ll do my best to answer them.

The Geeks Speak

~ Cheryl

I have finally got a chance to listen to the Geek Syndicate guys talking about how they saw the Bristol Comics Expo. Their podcast, which you can find here, went online just as I was heading off for France. It is worth a listen.

I wasn’t aware, until I found from Dave & Barry, that the Small Press Expo in the Mercure had been put together in just 3 months. I also agree with them that the Mercure has rather good function space.

There is a short interview with Dan Dido of DC towards the end of the podcast. Dan, of course, is a regular at events like San Diego, which are huge in comparison to Bristol. Interestingly he says that one reason he comes to Bristol is because in a big convention you are always being rushed from here to there, whereas in a smaller event you get time to actually talk to the fans. PR people who hold that there’s no point in a publisher attending an event that draws less than 10,000 people might want to think about that.

And finally the boys talk about being interviewed by me (about half way through). I had no idea what sort of duress they were under at the time, because I had my back to what was going on and because they were very professional throughout. Thanks again, guys!