LostCarPark's Journal

Originally published at James's GUFF Trip. Please leave any comments there.

I really meant to do this months ago, but got distracted.

Thanks to the miracle of the Internet the video of the full Hugo ceremony is just a click away.

In case it should cease to be available in the future, I though it would be a good idea to transcribe what I said when presenting the best fanzine award.

"I think one of the traditions which is unique to science fiction fandom is fanzines. I know there are fanzines in other fields, bit I think our ones are quite different and unique to us. I think it's something that has really defined us over the years. I think it's got easier with technology, but our standards have got higher. We enjoy each other's fanzines from other parts of the world, so for me it's a great honour to be presenting this year's best fanzine award. The nominees are..."

Originally published at James's GUFF Trip. Please leave any comments there.

After a fun breakfast barbecue organised by Sue Ann and Trevor, we headed to Melbourne airport.

I had perhaps been a little ambitious in my packing, and the various souvenirs, and all the fan fund auction stuff put both my main bag and my carry on luggage over their limits. Oops. I slip away to remove a lot of books. I establish that I am allowed a laptop bag, so I get away with a couple of extra kilos that way.

I manage to get checked in on the second attempt, and head for a coffee with Sue'n'Trev. Soon it's time to say goodbye and go to find my plane.

After the security check I make my way to the gate. There she stands, the A380, huge and supreme in the afternoon sun.

It's quite an experience, even in economy class. There are a few neat features like a usb port for charging phones and things, and a network port that suggested internet might be available one day, through I couldn't find anything saying it could be used or what it would cost.

Originally published at James's GUFF Trip. Please leave any comments there.

Rottnest Island is a small island 19km off the west coast of Perth (Perth doesn't really have any other ocast). It's 11km by 4.5km at the widest point. And it's populated by Quokkas - a sort of giant marsupial rat (the name rottnest comes from the Dutch explorer who discovered it, and mistook the Quokkas for rats).

Originally published at James's GUFF Trip. Please leave any comments there.

When I heard about the New Zealand NatCon, Au Contraire, a week before Aussiecon 4, this year's Worldcon, I thought it was a fantastic idea. I thought it was such a good idea that we should do something similar in Dublin for the London Worldcon bid in 2014.

I mentioned this idea to a few people back home before leaving, and got a very positive response. I then mentioned it to some people at conventions down under, and they all said they'd love to come to Ireland. So I guess I was committed to running it.

Then another idea came to light.

For both Glasgow Worldcons, the Eurocon was incorporated into the Worldcon, and I assumed this would also be the case for London. However, since 2005, Worldcon has moved to a 2-year bidding cycle, and at the time when the Eurocon bidding takes place in Zagreb, London won't yet have won the Worldcon bid, so it won't be a convention, and without a convention it can't bid for Eurocon.

Originally published at James's GUFF Trip. Please leave any comments there.

After a most excellent party at Damien and Juliette's, I find myself back in Adelaide airport at an uncivil hour, waiting to board the flight back to Melbourne.

Today I'll be going to MUGS, the Melbourne LEGO Users Group. It should be a lot of fun, but perhaps staying up past midnight was not the best combination with a 06:50 flight.

Originally published at James's GUFF Trip. Please leave any comments there.

For the second time I find myself at Zuma cafe in Adelaide. It'sa really nice cafe in the middle of Adelaide market. I'm having pancake with banana and bacon.

Today I'm going to the train museum, which should be an interesting counterpoint to the last two days of WINE tasting and penguin seeking.

Proper report later.

Note: when I originally said wife tasting, I got it wrong.

Originally published at James's GUFF Trip. Please leave any comments there.

One of the great honours of being Fan Fund Delegate was being invited to present one of the Hugo Awards.  I've been very excited about it all weekend.

I popped into the rehearsal during the afternoon, where I was briefed on what to do. I made sure I knew how to pronounce all of the names of the nominees.

I was in a programme item until 6, after which I had to rush back to my room to get changed (I wore a black suit, which was fairly formal, but matched it with a tie covered in LEGO minifigs in an effort to not be too serious), and then rush back to the convention centre for the pre-Hugo reception. This was already in full flow, so I had a drink to make sure I was composed (but only one, so I wasn't too composed), and chatted with nominees and presenters (and others lucky enough to have an invite).

Originally published at James's GUFF Trip. Please leave any comments there.

Aussiecon day 1 was excellent. A more detailed report will follow soon, but here are the highlights.

In the morning I bump into some people who are panicking over the Hugo award ceremony preparations, so offer to give them a hand. We get that sorted, then collect membership pack from the reg desk and head for breakfast.

I also give a hand in the Fan room setup. I have three tables to work there - the Fan Fund table, the London 2014 table and the New Zealand 2020 table, so stop by there and there's a good chance you'll find me.

Soon it's time for the opening ceremony. I was intending to slip into the back of the room, but I get grabbed and told to sit in the reserved seats in the front row. Then during the ceremony, after the guests of honour are introduced, the fan fund delegates get introduced and asked to sit on the stage, which is a completely unexpected honour - sitting beside Robin Johnson, Shaun Tan and the legendary Kim Stanley Robinson. Chuffed.

Originally published at James's GUFF Trip. Please leave any comments there.

I've some blogging to catch up on from Au Contraire, which will follow shortly, with full details of all that happened (or at least all that I witnessed), but I'm interrupting the flow of cronology to deliver some exciting news.

Following some gentle persuasion, Norman Cates (former DUFF delegate and all rouuund good guy) has stepped up to chair a bit to bring the 2020 Worldcon to New Zealand.

There was much jubilation at this development, and many people have stepped forward to lend a hand. As a consequence I am now webmaster for the bid, as well as European agent.

So without further fanfare, I give you New Zealand in 2020, a bid for the 78th World Science Fiction Convention.

Originally published at James's GUFF Trip. Please leave any comments there.

Wednesday, I was catching up with stuff during the morning, so didn't get moving till after lunch. I got the bus into central Wellington, and as it goes to the railway station, I stayed on it till there. Being a little bit of a train nerd, I popped in to have a look at some New Zealand trains.

All the trains present were what I would call EMUs (electrical multiple units). The most interesting was one called "The Cyclops", which is apparently the last single headlight train in New Zealand, and has been repainted in its original 1950s livery. I got chatting with one of the train workers, who took my photo in front of it.

Walking back towards town, I passed the parliament building and had a look. There are three main buildings, but the most recent one is an interesting round structure known as the Bee-hive.