Greetings from Down Under! We arrived in Australia on Monday. After taking an evening to acclimate a bit, we were off an running with experiencing the sights and sounds of Adelaide, Australia. Upon arrival, we were able to peek into some of the fun workshops offered to attendees of the Adelaide Hills Doll Guild Convention. The morning workshops included an amazing Mad Hatter hat workshop, making a French Sewing Table, and this fabulous Peddler Doll with all her wares which I loved. There were other fabulous workshops which we hope to catch up with everyone to hear how they went, and we look forward to filming more later this week.
The first event was a fabulous wine tasting tour by Stephen of Hand Picked Wine Tours. (Highly recommend!) You can follow our “Wine Tasting Tour Facebook Takeover” where Rachel went live on Stephen’s Facebook page at all four stops on the tour. Here is a fun wrap-up from our last stop on the tour. Watch out for snakes!
The next day, Michael and David ordered “The Big Breakfast” which looked delicious. I had smoked salmon benedict - yum! We definitely needed the furl for the safari we were about to go on!
After breakfast, we visited the Cleland Wildlife Park which was SO FUN! The animals are all rescued and most have been hand raised and they are entirely friendly. The park is huge and wonderful and the animals are happy and loved. Mandy the Koala was one of our favorite friends we made that day. Isn’t she just DARLING?! I seriously wanted to smooch her. The Koalas love their jobs and get upset on days when they don’t greet the adoring fans waiting for them. You can see the video on Facebook of the Koalas eating lunch, and get up close with some Kangaroos! Michael wished he bought some treats for this little guy. More pictures from the day are on the Virtual Doll Convention Facebook page.
The first of our evening “Lounge Shows’ started last night. (We are like lounge singers but for DOLLS!) We dressed up and gave two enlightening programs for all of the attendees of the Convention. I gave my first-ever TED Talk that focused on the Bigger Picture of Doll Collecting, and the Doll Uncles gave a fabulous slideshow tour of The Grovian Doll Museum. I think the attendees had a blast, we sure did! Our favorite part of the evening was meeting so many of the wonderful people in Australia. Michael and David met some new and familiar faces, and I was fortunate to finally meet so many of you that I chat with online daily.
We will be back with our nightly Lounge Shows every night this week from 7 to 9 PM at the Clubhouse. Do not worry, we will also be filming fun doll content for our friends back home, and filming a program special for the June Virtual Doll Convention attendees.
We want to thank the entire team from the Adelaide Hills Doll Guild for their hospitality, and for planning such a fun event for us all. Join their Facebook Group here. We have been treated so well and are very much enjoying our adventure. I will be back with more updates tomorrow!
Oh, and if you have not registered for the June Virtual Doll Convention, get on it, Mate! There is a link below.
