I was in Melbourne in January, and enjoyed the Toytopia sand sculpture display in Frankston again. I made several quick trips to Sydney, including in Nov to see Sculpture by the Sea, which I really do enjoy. And the Enlighten festival again did amazing things to Canberra landmarks, such as Questacon here.
Also in Jan I enjoyed visiting Hanging Rock and admiring the views. In Mar we had massive flooding that overwhelmed the new Cotter Dam construction site. And late Oct I did a lovely walk in the Snowies.
It was great to get to 3 SF cons this year. I do enjoy catching up with friends from years past, and just enjoying the fannish activities. Continuum in June had a "marine" themed masquerade. Then the wonderful old-style Con 9 From Outer Space in July featured some great robots and lots of discussion of B-grade movies. Both were in Melbourne. Then of course was Conflux in Canberra late Sept, where Fildenstar entertained us with some quirky SF themed songs.
I kept a pretty busy schedule of dancing through the year. Earthly Delights as always had some amazing costumes: seen here performing for the Italian Renaissance exhibition at the National Gallery in Feb. The Jane Austin Festival in Apr was good fun, I even tried archery (badly!) Most of my time though is spent on various forms of swing dancing, and I had a great time at the packed Canberrang weekend of social dances. I get to quite a few swing socials, and also very much enjoy the west coast swing classes, and the guest teachers we had this year - however I tend not to photograph these as we're not in costume, and I'm too busy dancing!
I only got to a couple of folk festivals this year. Liz Frencham is performing her magic at Cobargo in Feb; and Lindsay Pollack shows how to make instruments from just about anything (such as a carrot) at the National at Easter. In May I did a quick trip to Griffith for Luke & Brooke's wedding.
Thats about it for now, hope it gives some idea of my many and various activities over the year. I hope you're keeping well, and look forward to hearing your news. May your life be filled with peace and joy this Christmas and New Year Lawrie - 3 Dec 2012.
And a few more photos that I didn't get room to squeeze into the printed letter.
Bel in a gorgeous Italian Renaissance style costume from the Earthly Delights displays at the NGA; me enjoying a tethered hot-air balloon ride during the Balloon Spectacular in Mar; with Nicola at the Jane Austen festival in Apr; with a robot at Con9 in July; and my head on a plate at the Illusions display in the Townsville museum in Nov.
Another photo from Enlighten illuminating the National Library; several balloons launching at the Balloon Spectacular in Mar; and Eddie & Christie by the Eagle sculpture on Dairy Farmers Hill in the Arboretum for their Festival of the Forests in early Apr.
Lastly, this was a good year from my astronomy interests, as I also got to see the Transit of Venus in June - here a photo of the heliostat projection at Mt Stromlo (only just made operational again after the fires years back!) And I had a lovely couple of days skiing at Perisher with Roni & Linda in Sept. Finally one of the wonderful coral reef displays from the acquarium in Townsville in Nov.
Thats all folks!