Whovention, 6 of March 2011, Novotel Sydney Olympic Park run by Doctor Who Club of Australia
Whovention, Sydney, Who would of thought this simple country girl from Kempsey would make the 6 hour drive to Sydney just so she could meet Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Turlough (Mark Strickson) at a Fancy hotel in Hombush on a Sunday Morning? Hmm anyone???
Well that's just what I did on the 6 of March, Being my first convention of any kind I tried to turn up early but alas I went out partying for Mardi Gras in the city the night before and since I barely drink Alcohol or Caffeine anymore I was awake until 5.30am, the worst part of this is that I got home at about 10.30 that night slightly drunk and not able to sleep, I tried my hardest, but no avail, so I drank water and was quiet because I was sharing a room with 5 other girls in the Glebe YHA. Then when I did fall asleep I didn't get up until 9.35 am on Sunday morning, I had a shower, got dressed and set my hair in rollers then went down to the local cafe for brekky, I couldn't get anything except a chai latte after wating for 30mins for my food, so I got my money back and drove to Homebush, it was 11 am by now and I was feeling sick and believe it or not, very hungover, I only had about 8 drinks the night before (Which isn't much for me) Unfortunately the 20 min drive from Glebe to Homebush resulted in yours truely to be very sick at the traffic lights twice before feeling better. So I made it to Homebush and the Novotel Hotel at about 11.30 am. Nice.
Now all I had to do was park, I went inside and paid for my parking ($15 for the day which is cheap I'm told) then I went to the underground carpark, parked and caught the lift. When I stepped out of the lift and walked around the corner I realised that I wasn't in the Novotel, but the Hotel accross the road, I tell you this was a bit of a mind bender that's for sure, given the state I was in!
So I hurried accross the road in my black high heels which were giving me hell and made my way to the Convention, when I got there I got a few looks from people, (I don't know why haven't they seen a Fangirl in a dress before?) Then I got my official name tag and goodies pack, which was nice considering that I wasn't expecting it!, There was only 3 stalls of sellers, mostly sonic screwdrivers (I brought a 11th Dr one with that turns into a real screwdriver), figurines, DVD's, Audio CD adventures, posters(Yes I got one of those too) and TARDIS Mugs and cookie Jars ( I snapped up 1 of each), T shirts (yes I got one of those too), badges(I brought 4 of those as well).
It turns out I hadn't missed anything so I was only there for 15mins or so when they called us all into the meeting room for a interview with Janet Fielding, She was lovely, very funny, warm and very strong about her opinions of her time with Doctor Who and the sexism that reigned supreme throughout the 80's. Her hatred of wearing High Heels for her whole time on Who was voiced as well as women's rights as actors back then. It was most interesting and entertaining.
We then had Mark Stickson interview, he was great, very warm and funny, a softly spoken man who now is heading to Qatar to help set up 2 television channels containing local content after his success making documentaries in the Qatar desert. His experience as a Actor was about the same as Janet's, just that he was asked how he would like to make his exit from the show, unlike Janet who was just told. It turns out that they gave them no guidance on what scene they were up to or where they were in the story, and the budget was crap according to both Mark and Janet. The only conselation was that Mark, Janet and Peter Davison got on so well that made working in the awful conditions enjoyable.
We then broke up for lunch. I met some lovely cosplayers, DW fans that had been watching since they were children in the 70's and 80's and a few girls. It was 1pm by this point and I was feeling alot better, so we all went to Maccas downstairs and I learnt about the Supanova and Armageddon Conventions that are coming up in June and October that I will be going to.
After lunch we all returned and lined up for our Autographs, I got my Black Guardian trilogy signed and it turned out that Mark went to the same University that my father was a manager of the Catering Department at the time in Armidale, when we lived there, Coincidence or what??? Then I ended up talking to the club presiden he thanked me for travelling so far and to come back again! I then talked to a few other fans while we took photo's of ourselves with Daleks and drooled over the T Shirts and Goodies at the stalls while they went through the history of Whovention which is 21 years old this year! I did catch some of it and to be frank it was a bit well dull, but interesting none the less.
We then had Make a monster comp and judging as well as a Charity Auction for QLD Flood Victims, Janet and Mark ran the Auction and it was a hoot, I kept trying to snare a few things but to no avail, 3 Sarah Sutton photos went for at least $40 and over, well Janet was not too happy with that!! She called the respective owners "Saddo's" and "You've got to be joking" in all good fun.
The most expensive Item was a plush K -9, it was a hot contest but the David Tennant 10th Doctor cosplayer got it in the end for an amazing $190, that was awesome, Mark and Janet insisted on signing it for that price, good on them.
I ended up telling Janet off in a nice way when she got shitty about my style of Bidding, I kept going for 50cent and $1 over the said price, as I said "Your not the only loud mouth Aussie in the room you know!" Janet laughed at this and kept going, like I said they were good sports.
We then judged the Cosplayers, there was only about 10 but they all looked awesome, including an old guy who said he was the 12th Doctor, Hilarious, you can see them in my pics by following the link to my Facebook page at the end of this.
We then had a Happy Birthday cake with Daleks and Q & A again with Janet and Mark, it was great, but the only thing that bugged me with all the DW fans at the convention was instead of talking about the Actor's by referring to there Character's Name they used the Actor's real name, I was quite confused at times and kept asking other people who they were talking about, talk about a bunch of Nerds, and that's rich coming from me!!!
We then came to a close and Mark was the only one left about 5 of us ending up chatting to him, it turns out that he discovered Steve Irwin of all people! Well I never!! Amazing what you learn eh? We talked about America and it's poverty, Turlough and how he was perceived by the public and many other things, I didn't end up leaving until 6.30 pm , it was a great day had by all, I met new people and had a laugh, I will be coming back to Whovention for Many years to come!! But next time I will be in costume....................
If you want to see the pics from the convention, Just follow this link to my Facebook Album,
www.facebook.com/album.php
Well that's just what I did on the 6 of March, Being my first convention of any kind I tried to turn up early but alas I went out partying for Mardi Gras in the city the night before and since I barely drink Alcohol or Caffeine anymore I was awake until 5.30am, the worst part of this is that I got home at about 10.30 that night slightly drunk and not able to sleep, I tried my hardest, but no avail, so I drank water and was quiet because I was sharing a room with 5 other girls in the Glebe YHA. Then when I did fall asleep I didn't get up until 9.35 am on Sunday morning, I had a shower, got dressed and set my hair in rollers then went down to the local cafe for brekky, I couldn't get anything except a chai latte after wating for 30mins for my food, so I got my money back and drove to Homebush, it was 11 am by now and I was feeling sick and believe it or not, very hungover, I only had about 8 drinks the night before (Which isn't much for me) Unfortunately the 20 min drive from Glebe to Homebush resulted in yours truely to be very sick at the traffic lights twice before feeling better. So I made it to Homebush and the Novotel Hotel at about 11.30 am. Nice.
Now all I had to do was park, I went inside and paid for my parking ($15 for the day which is cheap I'm told) then I went to the underground carpark, parked and caught the lift. When I stepped out of the lift and walked around the corner I realised that I wasn't in the Novotel, but the Hotel accross the road, I tell you this was a bit of a mind bender that's for sure, given the state I was in!
So I hurried accross the road in my black high heels which were giving me hell and made my way to the Convention, when I got there I got a few looks from people, (I don't know why haven't they seen a Fangirl in a dress before?) Then I got my official name tag and goodies pack, which was nice considering that I wasn't expecting it!, There was only 3 stalls of sellers, mostly sonic screwdrivers (I brought a 11th Dr one with that turns into a real screwdriver), figurines, DVD's, Audio CD adventures, posters(Yes I got one of those too) and TARDIS Mugs and cookie Jars ( I snapped up 1 of each), T shirts (yes I got one of those too), badges(I brought 4 of those as well).
It turns out I hadn't missed anything so I was only there for 15mins or so when they called us all into the meeting room for a interview with Janet Fielding, She was lovely, very funny, warm and very strong about her opinions of her time with Doctor Who and the sexism that reigned supreme throughout the 80's. Her hatred of wearing High Heels for her whole time on Who was voiced as well as women's rights as actors back then. It was most interesting and entertaining.
We then had Mark Stickson interview, he was great, very warm and funny, a softly spoken man who now is heading to Qatar to help set up 2 television channels containing local content after his success making documentaries in the Qatar desert. His experience as a Actor was about the same as Janet's, just that he was asked how he would like to make his exit from the show, unlike Janet who was just told. It turns out that they gave them no guidance on what scene they were up to or where they were in the story, and the budget was crap according to both Mark and Janet. The only conselation was that Mark, Janet and Peter Davison got on so well that made working in the awful conditions enjoyable.
We then broke up for lunch. I met some lovely cosplayers, DW fans that had been watching since they were children in the 70's and 80's and a few girls. It was 1pm by this point and I was feeling alot better, so we all went to Maccas downstairs and I learnt about the Supanova and Armageddon Conventions that are coming up in June and October that I will be going to.
After lunch we all returned and lined up for our Autographs, I got my Black Guardian trilogy signed and it turned out that Mark went to the same University that my father was a manager of the Catering Department at the time in Armidale, when we lived there, Coincidence or what??? Then I ended up talking to the club presiden he thanked me for travelling so far and to come back again! I then talked to a few other fans while we took photo's of ourselves with Daleks and drooled over the T Shirts and Goodies at the stalls while they went through the history of Whovention which is 21 years old this year! I did catch some of it and to be frank it was a bit well dull, but interesting none the less.
We then had Make a monster comp and judging as well as a Charity Auction for QLD Flood Victims, Janet and Mark ran the Auction and it was a hoot, I kept trying to snare a few things but to no avail, 3 Sarah Sutton photos went for at least $40 and over, well Janet was not too happy with that!! She called the respective owners "Saddo's" and "You've got to be joking" in all good fun.
The most expensive Item was a plush K -9, it was a hot contest but the David Tennant 10th Doctor cosplayer got it in the end for an amazing $190, that was awesome, Mark and Janet insisted on signing it for that price, good on them.
I ended up telling Janet off in a nice way when she got shitty about my style of Bidding, I kept going for 50cent and $1 over the said price, as I said "Your not the only loud mouth Aussie in the room you know!" Janet laughed at this and kept going, like I said they were good sports.
We then judged the Cosplayers, there was only about 10 but they all looked awesome, including an old guy who said he was the 12th Doctor, Hilarious, you can see them in my pics by following the link to my Facebook page at the end of this.
We then had a Happy Birthday cake with Daleks and Q & A again with Janet and Mark, it was great, but the only thing that bugged me with all the DW fans at the convention was instead of talking about the Actor's by referring to there Character's Name they used the Actor's real name, I was quite confused at times and kept asking other people who they were talking about, talk about a bunch of Nerds, and that's rich coming from me!!!
We then came to a close and Mark was the only one left about 5 of us ending up chatting to him, it turns out that he discovered Steve Irwin of all people! Well I never!! Amazing what you learn eh? We talked about America and it's poverty, Turlough and how he was perceived by the public and many other things, I didn't end up leaving until 6.30 pm , it was a great day had by all, I met new people and had a laugh, I will be coming back to Whovention for Many years to come!! But next time I will be in costume....................
If you want to see the pics from the convention, Just follow this link to my Facebook Album,
www.facebook.com/album.php