I had a wonderful trip, and got to spend a lot of time with my fellow time travelling friends. Apart from the rain on the Friday, which cancelled the annual Garden Party, and some rain on the Wednesday morning we had good weather – I was mad enough to take photos in the rain (and wind), out on the wharf and fortunately got some good shots out of it.
Despite the rain on the Friday, there was still plenty to do indoors to keep ourselves entertained. We had quite a bit of fun at Whitestone City, riding the Penny Farthing carousel and taking fun photos.
The Fashion Show went well (still feels like a blur to me). Everyone looked amazing and I had people coming up to me afterwards and the following day to tell me that I had done a great job putting it all together and presenting it. I found out afterwards that people were being turned away at the door because we had reached maximum occupancy! I’m glad I didn’t know that at the time because that would have made me even more nervous than normal.
The fashion show photos are credited to Martyn:
I went to see the show That Bloody Woman at the Opera House – twice! It was absolutely fantastic, and just brilliant. So well put together and performed – and they only had 3 months of rehearsals! There was a Suffragette Soiree before the show on opening night and I got to meet some of the cast who were all lovely. And I got to talk to Gary Kircher about it before the parade too (he is the mayor and was in the show too).
I really enjoyed the ball and got to dance for most of the evening as well as spend time with lots of my lovely friends.
The most random encounter this year was with a cat riding his human’s shoulder in the Grand Parade, who I got to meet once it was over. He really did look like he was plotting revenge on his human, but was just sitting there, no leash or anything.
My group, Historical Costuming NZ (which I founded 9 years ago) was in the Parade again as well, and we were all very grateful that it was not raining like the previous year.
And my Mum and Dad came to Oamaru on the Saturday. Dad didn’t dress up, but Mum wore the outfit I made her but she made her own accessories this time. And we were colour coordinated too – which was completely unplanned!
The week wrapped up with the Fete in the Victorian Precinct, followed by a dance, and then I went out for dessert with friends at The Criterion. We all took our time saying goodbye because none of us wanted the time to end and we were not in a hurry to re-join the 21st century.
