Having only just arrived I had to get straight to work as my first class was the very next day, but with the help of some of Australia's finest balloon artists, we made light work of it! So a huge thank you to Mala, Amanda (Griffiths) and Mad Dave (Taylor)... what a team!! The day was concluded with a CBA gathering and a wonderful opportunity to catch-up and socialise!
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| CBA social evening in Sydney, fun evening with great friends! |
Our next stop was Perth! Now I am not adverse to doing a bit of celebrity spotting on my travels and was delighted that we were sharing our flight with 'Captain James T Kirk' (William Shatner) of Star Trek fame - "beam me up Scotty!"
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| John & Bronwyn Brew |
Our first port of call was to visit John Brew, CBA and his lovely wife Bronwyn at their great party store - 'We Like to Party', WA. John took his CBA accreditation at WBC 2012, after what can only be described as a very 'challenging' journey to WBC! It was so great to meet up with him and his wife and see his beautiful balloon displays and how he uses the designs and skills that he has learn't from attending balloon events!
Then off to Important Items, Australia's longest serving Balloon and Partyware company to meet the very charming Brian Gray!
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| Team Perth! With Kirsty & Fiona Neil centre front. |
Once again I was offered help before, during and after the class from the amazing Mum & Daughter team, Kirsty & Fiona Neil, who run 'The Bush Fairy' party store, who had travelled over 400 km from Albany to come to the class! I had in fact first met Kirsty in the UK! Kirsty is an avid traveller and during her European tour she decided to attend as many balloon courses as possible in the UK! Kirsty's next world venture includes a trip to The World Balloon Convention in Denver next year!
Thank you Brian Gray of Important Items and also to Mitesh and Nilesh Bhakta of Dormar Indents, our supporting distributors.
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| Mala Salakas teaching her - Air Filled extravaganza class in Brisbane! |
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| I love this design by Mala! |
My next stop was to Brisbane, where once again I had the opportunity to meet up with the lovely Mala Salakas and also the crazy Matt Russell - 'Twisted Mr', Matt Russell Designz QLD, who helped me during my class... thank you Matt!! Mala class was awesome, she and her group spent the whole day creating some super air-filled designs! After Mala's class a group of us headed off to a local restaurant where we had a the opportunity to talk about the benefits of QBN and QBN chapters!
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| Matt Russell aka Twisted Mr in action in Brisbane. |
I also the pleasure to meet up with the delightful Steve & Nikki Mawby and their great team from Balloon Agencies, thank you for your support and your uplifting speech at the evening gathering!
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| Brisbane |
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| Brisbane delegates |
My final stop took me to Melbourne, the unofficial sporting capital of Australia and food lovers haven! My visit to Melbourne had a wonderful added bonus... a day at the F1 practice sessions, standing next to the circuit track was an amazing experience, but trying to get a photograph of a F1 car travelling at high speed with a finger stuck in one of your ears was a tricky thing, note to self, take earplugs next time and a decent camera... I think I deleted 99% of the photo's that I took as I never actually managed to get a picture that had a car in it -lol! I also got to meet up with my 'old Buddy', the loveable Sean O'Kelly, who seems to be getting younger not older!
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| Team work in Melbourne! |
Like all of the previous classes, I met some truly great people in Melbourne, all willing to learn and having fun along the way! Again I had some great help from Tina Giunta of Shivoo Balloons and support from Lesley & David Heslop - Parties and More and Paul Maker of Hayden Agencies.
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| Tina and friends at work! |
Melbourne are excited to be hosting the 2013 Qualatex Oz Jam! Monday 26th & Tuesday 27th August, these are 2 days of not to be missed Education, Competitions, Presentations and Awards, with an incredible line-up of instructors including Robbie Furman, Jeff "The Uncanny" Hayes, Brendon Ord - Mr Balloon Man, Amanda Griffiths "Mizz Mandee", Nicole Brusic, Matt Russell "Twisted Mr", Tina Giunta, Mala Salakas and David Taylor "Mad Dave", this is certainly NOT an event to be missed! Visit www.facebook.com/groups/Ozjam for up to date information and more!
Thank you Australia for your amazing friendship and hospitality and I look forward to returning again one day soon!
Here are just a few more pictures...
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| With a Twist - Fashionable Fish Arch! |
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| With a Twist - Damask & Pearls |
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| Matt and his birthday bonnet! |
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| With a Twist - One of my favourite combinations! |
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| Topiary & Flowers Centrepiece |
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| Bruce & Rachelle Fraser |
Happy Ballooning!
Sue
www.suebowler.com
Comments
Great blog post and thanks for coming down to play with us. Everyone I spoke to had a great time in your classes. You always hit the right notes with your designs and teaching style...and your tips and techniques were brilliant. I dunno how you keep coming up with such awesome ideas. See you at the next one - probably Denver
Love your work!
Mad Dave