Travel

My trip to Australia was amazeballs

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I am home from Australia, and only mostly dead exhausted. Go me!

I'm too tired for a proper post about the entire trip, but I'll offer a few memories and highlights:

I did not meet a single unkind person the entire time I was in Australia. I realize that my sample size was quite small, but it was still remarkable to me. Even the cranky old bus driver we encountered one day was more amusing than anything else. 

I snuggled a Koala. I have pictures that I'll share in the near future.

The show we did in Melbourne with the MSO was fantastic, and I'm very proud of the show we put on. Standing on the stage next to the orchestra while they played the theme to HALO is a memory I'll not soon forget.

Supanova was spectacular in both cities. Everyone involved in the show was kind and easygoing, and so were all the fans I met while I was there. If they invite me back for other shows in the future, I'm almost certainly going to say yes.

I spent a fair amount of time with Chandler Riggs (he plays Carl on Walking Dead) and his dad. We made a video together that makes me laugh so hard, I pee a little. I'll edit and upload it soon. He's a great kid, and I felt a certain kinship with him, on account of us both being kids on a popular TV show. He has a great sense of humour about staying in the house, too.

You know who are awesome? James and Oliver Phelps, who played the Weasley Twins in Harry Potter. Those guys are like the freaking Beatles at conventions, but they never act like it. I like them so much, I wish I was a bigger Potter fanboy.

If you ever go to Brisbane, make the effort to get out to Moreton Island. It's really worth it.

Okay, that's all for now. I have to get ready to go to Calgary this weekend.

34 thoughts on “My trip to Australia was amazeballs”

  3. Sounds like an awesome trip. Will be interesting to see the vids and photos. I’m in Calgary so looking forward to the con this weekend but alas, we have no celebs here to offer the calibre of Australia. I think there might be a busker or two here and of course 10,000 screaming fans of Star Trek. I keep repeating to myself “I will not be a dick this weekend, I will not be a dick this weekend…” so perhaps others will follow. We’re a tame crowd. Just throw out some twinkies and AOL floppy disks and the fans will calm themselves.

  6. Moreton Island is divine! I lived in Brisbane for many years and every year my whole family would get together, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents.. and pile onto one of my uncles boats and sail over there. These days I live north of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast (note to any planning to visit Australia, it is MUCH better than the Gold Coast). Also wanted to say I was so super ridiculously excited to meet you at Emerald City Comicon, even if I did have a massive brain fart and forget all the stuff I wanted to say about your book Just a Geek…

  8. Hey Wil, I saw lots of people asking, but no definite answer, but are you going to be at the Phoenix Comic-Con this year? I enjoyed seeing you there last year, and was hoping you’d host some more fun stuff again this year!

  9. Even though its home to the Flames the people in Calgary are great, unless they are playing your team. Hopefully they make as good an impression as Aussieland.
    Looking forward to meeting you and having you add to my autograph collection.
    You should wear a Kings Jersey :)

  10. Sounds like you had a grand time in my homeland. In the 25 years I lived in Brisbane (I looked out over Moreton Island just about every day of the first half of my life), I never made it out there. Maybe that’s something for my next trip back home. Closest thing I get to that lovely ocean view now is the Great Salt Lake, which just doesn’t compare!

  11. I’m geek girl excited about this weekend! I’m working my sister’s food booth, so if you want to try some yummy, yummy, gluten-free food goodness, stop by The Onigiri Company (http://www.theonigiricompany.com/) and I’ll pass over some “samples”. :D Actually, everyone is welcome to stop for some amazing food, but I only give out free food to people who make my inner dialog go “SQUEEEEEE!!!!!”

  13. Moreton Island really is beautiful – glad you had the chance to see it.
    Meeting you at Supanova on the Gold Coast added all sorts of happy to my world. Thank you so much for being there!!

  14. Hey Wil,
    It was awesome to meet you at Supanova on the Gold Coast and I’m glad that you made it up to Brisbane to check out some of our beautiful natural wonders.
    In my very first Supanova experience I too found everyone so kind and humbling. I mean I still think you were the most genuine and down to earth person there, and not because I got to meet you – still miffed that I missed out on getting a photo but hopefully there will be a next time! I just wish they had a Guild or TableTop photo for you to sign since that is my newfound favourite show/s. I’m a big Trekkie but that was then and this is now.
    Anyway – Thank you very much for popping my Supanova cherry and making my weekend filled with giddy fangirl squee.
    Regards,
    Lil Miss Norti (aka Kylii)

  15. I know you’re not a meat person, but if you ever want to see some of the seriously freakishly large lobsters in the world, visit the beaches on the southern tip of Australia. Swear to Kord, you could make faux larping Dragon Scale armor from their carapaces.
    Imeanwhat?

  16. I’m ready to completely embarrass my kids by getting all squeetastic about seeing you this weekend in Calgary. I hope you like Calgary, it’s my hometown and I’m incredibly proud of it.

  17. Was so good to hear you talk bout how much of a geek you truly are at the Gold Coast Supanova, would love for you to come back again as you are a great person. Seeing you made my fanship grow for you even more as I am a geek in my own right and now I have seen my master so now all is complete in my world well so far anyways. The next thing on my list is to move to the US and begin living my dreams. Thankyou so much for your inspiring talk of how geeks can make it in this world now. Mwah xxx

  19. I’m so excited you are coming to Calgary. I have never been to a convention before (not for lack on trying on my friends parts mind you) but when I found out you and TNG were coming I couldn’t resist. Calgary is a blast and Calgary Expo is going to be insane :-) Can’t wait to meet you.

  20. I’m glad you enjoyed your trip to Australia. Don’t leave it too long until you come back again :D It’s a surprise that you didn’t meet at least one person that wasn’t kind but I guess you were lucky.
    I haven’t cuddled a Koala yet. How was it?
    I enjoyed chatting with you and you were very good to my son. I hope you and Anne enjoyed your gift bags :D
    xxxx

  21. You should go ahead and allow yourself to be a bigger Potter fanboy; it is one of the more delightful fictional universes to inhabit. Right up there with Trek and Big Bang… ;) If I may suggest; listening to Jim Dale read the audiobooks is my favorite way to experience the Potter universe… The man is a god.
    By the way, I’m new to your blogosphere; I really adored your work on Big Bang and hope you return often… and the resultant reads of your prose have caused my admiration for you as a person to grow exponentially. Thanks for being a very cool human. May you enjoy the greatest of success and happiness.
    Cheers,
    Phil

  22. Oh my I’m glad it was good! Youve been gone so long, So much happened while you were away! My parents bought their first house, I found out I have cancer, then I found out its good-bad and I’ll be fine, and I painted my bedroom and Claire started talking in three word sentences! Whew! Now you go! Amazeballs.
    :)

  23. Kick ass to hear you enjoyed your time down in Australia. You are definately welcome back at any time. I was there at the Gold Cost Supanova and sadly missed out on meeting you. Ah well. Here’s hoping you visit again soon!

  26. Glad you had a good trip, Wil.
    And yes, James and Oliver are super cool. I’ve never heard anyone at a con say a cross word about them. Embrace the inner Potter fanboy. You know you want to. ;)

  27. I am so pumped for Friday night in Calgary!! I can’t wait to meet you! If you could see my diary’s from back in the Stand By Me days…hahahaha. Looking forward to an awesome weekend!

  28. I’m so glad you loved Australia. It’s my favorite place on Earth! I’m just getting ready to leave for Heathrow. See you in Calgary!

  30. Hope you enjoyed the land down under Wheaton!
    Didn’t realise Koala hugging was safe, have heard they can be very aggressive when not sedated by the effects of eucalyptus.
    Did you manage to see any of the theme parks? Moreton Island is a nice place too, glad you had a chance for the scenic experience here.
    Hope to see you here again in the future!
    (Gold coast fan)

  32. Glad to hear you had such an amazing time in our beautiful country.
    We’d LOVE to see you at Sydney Supanova sometime. We’re dying to see you.

  34. Dear Wil,
    I travelled to Melbourne from Brisbane purely for the MSO concert. For this travel, an internet friend of mine had insisted that I stay with him overnight since I could not afford accommodation elsewhere. When I arrived in Melbourne on Thursday afternoon, it was to commute to a sharehouse where he had one tiny room, a bathroom covered in non-animal hair, and only a double bed.
    It immediately rang alarm bells for me, but he swore he would arrange a couch for me to sleep on. The rest of the afternoon nwas spent following him around Melbourne and being generally ignored.
    We attended the concert together, and I was supposed to meet him afterwards to help me navigate back to his place. One hour went by, then two, and I was not able to find him or contact him. By this point I was understandably anxious and called my boyfriend back in Brisbane, who helped me find one of his friends in Melbourne who was nearby to pick me up and look after me.
    At 1am, I received a call from this guy. Apparently, the reason that he had left me in the middle of Melbourne all by myself was because he was chasing after you for an “interview”.
    TL;DR – THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was fanboying over you, I would have been stuck staying with this dirtbag.

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