I wrote this log all throughout the weekend so I didn't miss anything. It had been typed into a Nokia 9110 Phone, the one with a computer mini-keyboard inside, neat uh? and has been transcribed onto my PC when I returned home.
My original QANTAS flight of 6:30am to Sydney was moved to 7am.
When I arrived in Sydney, I found out that I had fogotten to take the money I had been saving up since last TaScape. D'oh!! But I did have barely enough cash for Saturday, I had to rely on the credit card for the rest of the weekend. Good thing I didn't need to snurch.... correction, procure extra funds.
To make sure we got the hotel directly, Jenny, another Farscape fan from Brisbane, who arrived shortly before I did, shared a taxi with me.
At the Sands Hotel the Farscape Tour bus left 45 minutes later than scheduled, which is good since there was some unavoidable delays at the airport and didnt get to the hotel until 9:30am. Original take-off time of our Large size Transport Pod was 9am.
Out of the 57 people on the tour bus, only 3 were guys, which I was one of. LOL.
On our way to the first stop of the Auburn Botanical Gardens, the REAL location for the "Look at the Princess" episode trilogy, not Darling Harbour as once thought :) and frell it was HOT!! I tossed a coin into the wishing well, walked around, found the little bridge where Princess Katrala and Crichton did a scene.... I was hoping I wouldn't melt under this heat!, then we got back on the bus for the next stop of Homebush Studio were Farscape used to be made.
Once there we all took a photo of the directory board that still has Farscape located in Lot 14. We also saw briefly the jetty that was used in several episodes. It was just around the back of the studio lot.
We passed through the Olympic stadium grounds, where scenes from Won't get fooled again, John Quixote and Terra Firma where filmed.
For Lunch we went to Pizza Hut, The coach driver called ahead as a courtesy so the restuarant wouldn't be overwhelmed. FRELL, its still dam HOT!! A welcoming cool change is due in the evening. (wipes sweat of his brow)
Only once person missed the bus in the morning so it was arrange for her to meet us at the Pizza hut for Lunch. Around 1ish we stepped inside the restuarant for some much needed relief and sustainance.... We resumed our journey at around 2ish.
Crossing the famous 'Coat Hanger', Sydney Harbour bridge, the next stop was Manly dam where Jeremiah Crichton was filmed.
Getting to the dam was no problem, but we were soon stuck on the narrow driveway with no way to turn around because the bus turning area was clogged with cars. FRELL..... since there was no space to turn around in we not choice but go past the sign saying buses are not to go past this point to hopefully find another carpark big enough accomplish the task. Some scary, slow moving, tree scrapping, breath holding journey up the narrow road and yes, we did find one, thank goodness!! We did a 12 point turn and applauded the drive when he did manage to turn the bus around. Now lets have fun driving the wrong way the narrow drive way, very precariously.
Next time Manly Dam is off the list unless it can be arranged with the park ranger beforehand.
Last stop on the tour was Middle Head, where scenes from 4.02 & 4.03 - What was Lost Part 1 & 2 were filmed. Walked around the battlements. There were dark and dank tunnels which would of nice and cool from the blazing heat, but they were closed to the public :( Mostly for safety.... On the way back to the bus we came across some cliffside bunkers and got some great photos there too, including the spot where Sikozu 'changed her gavity center' while talking to D'Argo. The cool change mentioned in the weather reports hadn't arrived yet.
Back at the hotel, we took a well deserved rest, had a few drink, took a much needed shower and some of us showed each other our own collection of autographed photos. Down stairs in the basement a TV with DVD & VCR was setup to watch episodes and various other videos, not neccessarily about Farscape. Some ordered dinner at the hotel while some others got some from a Chinese take away. The Farscape music videos they showed were excellent, they had all sorts.... shippy, comical.... done to various pieces of music. All brilliantly made. A short trivia quiz was done on the Saturday night and since I was the one who provided the questions, I didn't answer any of them. Unfortunatly we couldn't go into the wee hours as the management wanted to close the Pub & Basement around 11ish :( but we could resume it the next evening.
For the BBQ in the morning, some people have to get up early to make sure we get the same spot as last year. I did wake up soon after 5am and wondered down the to the BBQ area, and met Jeanie, one of the two American Scapers that came along for TaScape. We were called the 'Dawn Patrol', staking our claim. LOL.
Jeanie and I discovered the BBQ site covered in half empty stubbies of VB and tinnies of JB & cola. we cleaned up some of the mess when the councill cleaners came along to help remove the rest, so all the broken glass from the inconsiderate ravers wouldn't cause injury to anyone else. The only thing left behind was some bottle caps.
As the morning trickled on, a few more of the girls came down. Some still half asleep :) Beth and Ronnie had some brief fun running after the seaguls and shooting at them with the water pistols they brought.
As the morning progressed around 8:30, Mark turned up with some "Shake 'n' Pour" pancake mix to fry up on the electric hotplate/BBQ for brekky.... it was tasty, specially with the blackberry jam, yummo.
Lots of people by 11am.... 2 Farscape fairies flittered about making fairy bread for the growing gathering.... The morning continues.... The salad brigade started on chopping up the carrots, lettuce and cucumber for the salads..... and the sausages were being cooked up for the masses.
Mario, one of the puppeteers came along for a beer and friendly chat. Among his work on Farscape he did the eye movements for our favorite Hynerian and I got him to sign my Rygel figure and BOBW Farscape convention program for the raffle later on. He also agreed to do an interview with Sue "WITGOB" Barret for the TaScape2003 Video which will be created in the following months.
There was heaps of food, like a buffet... plenty of sausages, salad, bread rolls, sauce, or what the Americans would call ketchup.
One of the construction crew came along for a while.... he was identified as "Smithy"
Passing 2pm and none of the cast has made an apperance, but we can't have everything :(
Ben, no no, not Browder.... This one is also from the construction crew, and Mark from the pyrotechnic division came along with his wife a little bundle of joy :) All three guys signed my convention book for the raffle too. I also donated 6 Beanie Bears and a special prize of a Zhaan photo signed by Virginia herself. Since she was unable to meet her beloved Aussie fans in person, she instead sent me the photo to first put on the virtual visitors post before being raffled off. I wasn't dissapointed by not winning the photo as Virigina sent me another photo personally signed for me.
The raffle was a lot of fun.... I won a John Crichton Tshirt, some photos and some Season 2 trading cards. Some of the items sent by some of the Brits were won by the Brits as they didn't want to miss out on the fun. LOL.
While we were packing up to go back to the hotel around 5:30, Wayne came along which was great, since we thought he had to take a plane earlier in the afternoon.... It was so cool. I got him to sign my Scorpy figure, and someone got their Mambo Scorpy figure signed too. He did come back the hotel with us to do an interview with Sue in the basement. After the interview was over, he signed a few more autographs, posed for photos and we wished him well as he had to leave.... Ten minutes later he came back as he had forgotten his satchel and the group burst out laughing because on the TV at that moment was playing a Farscape music video portraying Scorpius as the evil "Mr. Grinch" LOL....
We were all suprised when Johnathan "Rygel" Hardy finally made an appearance around 9:30pm and he certainly loves to talk. He also did an interview for the TaScape2003 video. It's going to quite long, as Jonathan's interview alone will probally go for 2 arns!! The first arn of Jonathan's interview was done in the basement where Wayne did his, the second part was done in Sue's room since we had clear out around 11ish again. Several of us sat around Jonathan listening to every word talking about his experiences in the theatre, Great Expectations and Ned Kelly.
On monday, the day I had to leave, Mark, myself and the two American girls went to find Froony's favorite eatery, "Bill's Cafe" at 433 Liverpool St. Darlinghurst. It was a excellent breakfast, extremely tasty, well worth it! The Ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter were heavenly!
We returned to the hotel to check out and thanked Deb, one of our fantastic hosts of this fantastic event. She was busy organzing movements for the groups that were staying for the Star Wars exhibit and the other that had to leave for their respective States. She was going to Bill's when she was done there.
I got a lift to the Airport, so I wouldn't get lost and sunburnt trying to find the right bus. Arriving 3 arns early, because Mark wouldn't be available later. I had heaps of time to add more to this log and correct any spelling mistakes. It's better to early than late!
Thank you to everyone!!! Deb and Sue, the faboo hosts that have put so much effort into these fantastic events, and without them, this wouldn't of been possible. Wayne, Johnathon, Mario, Matt, and the construction guys for giving their time for comming along to chat with the fans in a very relaxed atmosphere, and lastly to Mark for driving me to the Airport.
VIVA LA FARSCAPE!!!
I WILL BE THERE NEXT YEAR!!!