No rest for the wicked as they say, only a few days after returning from our trip to the United Kingdom there was a Melbourne event to attend called Gate to the Sanctuary 2 and run by First Contact Conventions. As always Scotty and his team ran a great event, and it was a lot of fun although it was a hot day and on top of jetlag I had not climatized back to the warmer weather yet, I was wearing shorts and my Sanctuary 4 Kids t-shirt I’d brought in England.

The guests at this event were Ben Browder, Jennifer Spence and Jonathan Young. It was great seeing Ben at a convention again and because Jen and I like to stir up trouble we gave him a little bit of crap about not driving us home from Adelaide the previous year “We waited in the carpark for hours and you never showed up!” Ben is a champ though and it’s just fun to pick on him. It was my first-time meeting the other two guests and they were both lovely, I spent quite a bit of time talking to Jennifer Spence we also chatted about her work on Continuum.

I originally wasn’t going to buy anything at this event since, Jen and I had only come back from the UK earlier that week and I was a bit short with money from it, but then the guests are really amazing like these three sometimes you just can’t help it. Plus Scotty is an awesome friend and let me organise to pay it off over time, he knows I’m good for it. The photo and autographs were totally worth it though because it was such a great day with these three amazing guests and how can you not love how Ben signed this photo, Mr Smirky.

I love these smaller events with only a few guests, plus Scotty always does an amazing job and his team are all friends of mine so basically its just like having a good time with friends with some actors thrown in the mix. The biggest difference with the smaller events and the larger expo’s is that when there’s panels on there’s nothing else happening which makes complete sense and I don’t have an issue with it, I just get antsy so I’d rather be standing at the back or the room or outside listening in, which is what I did a fair amount of time at this even. It’s not that I have issues with the actors or their stories or the questions I love it all, I just don’t do well sitting still and quiet for long periods – it’s a flaw. But the intimacy of the smaller events is what I love the most, you’re not there with thousands of people just a few hundred or so which just makes it so much more relaxed, fun and personal.

At one point in the day Jonathan was on stage for his panel and I was standing outside with my mate Jodie and we were chatting with Jennifer Spence, suddenly Scotty comes running out and goes “Jonathan’s never tried Vegemite before!” that was all it took and Jodie and I were off down the street to find a shop to buy some Vegemite. We race back to the event Vegemite in hand and Scotty introduced us as the return of the Evil Vegemite Girls and up we went to give Jonathan the Vegemite to try. I love that even though the Vegemite Girls started back in 2005 we made a name for ourselves and were still remembered, we got cheered and everyone loves the entertainment of guests trying Vegemite for the first time.

What a great little event to finish off the year, I’m so glad to have attended this event and got to see so many of my amazing friends and some of my con family, there is nothing I love more than being around these people, people who understand me more than anyone else.

Complete Guest List: Jonathan Young, Jennifer Spence and Ben Browder.