Furdu!
Hi Guys, I’m back from FurDu in the Gold Coast!
Had a really good time, was my first FurDu Convention so I was pretty excited to see a different convention format and meet up with some of my good friends in the Gold Coast!
So we flew down on Thursday morning, the day before the convention started to get settled into the hotel and take a look around Surfer’s Paradise.
Much to my dismay after spending an hour on the phone to Jetstar the night before to confirm that Seer, Kyle and I were seated together. Kyle missed the plane. I was quite saddened and enraged by this fact however when kyle did arrive at the hotel 5 hours later he informed me he was late because he walked his puppies. *grumb* I can’t be annoyed at him them because their puppies and we all know anything fluffy or cute can get away with murder in my books. Your dogs saved you this time kyle *shakes fist*
(The view from our room)
FurDu was held at the Vibe Hotel on the Gold Coast. I was pleasantly surprised with the standard of the hotel considering the price we paid for the room. Seer and I shared a room with the wonderful Kyle Evans from Canned Geek and for a 3 person room it was $179 a night with FREE buffet breakfast!
So we caught up with friends on Thursday night for dinner at a nice Japanese restaurant and had an early-ish night.
On Friday morning Seer, Kyle and I enjoyed our free buffet breakfast before catching up with people and waiting for the convention to open its doors.
(Rego desk)
After registration opened and I got my convention bag with a cute panda hat, I found that there was nothing really to do. We sat at round tables and talked or played Smash Bro’s Melee until we pulled a group together and headed out to the Friday night markets at surfers paradise.
To put it in better context, I have attended a lot of the conventions over the years. As soon as the doors open there is a constant list of things going on. However I found Furdu was lacking in entertainment on the first day. The convention goers were left to their own devices for almost 3 hours. The dance party was nice but no announcement was made about the convention starting.
(Kiba, Shaz and Mel (Miss Pixie) reading the Conbook)
Saturday had a bit more meat to it. We went to Putt Putt Golf and Laser Skirmish while those who didn’t wish to attend those had the Fursuit games and an Art Jam. I was disappointed I was not able to attend the art jam as I went to Putt Putt Golf. However if they had nothing going on at the same time people would complain about there being no choice.
Sadly I missed the Furry Game Show on Saturday as I met up with my brother who lives in Brisbane however stories of it filled my ears when I returned. Must find video of Sekular singing opera!
(Macrocelli in his new Fursuit of his fursona)
Sunday morning we dragged ourselves out of bed to breakfast and up to the convention space. As Seer went off to compete in the Poker Tournament I managed to get a good seat for the Iron Artist competition. I had volunteered Kyle without his knowledge and to my surprise and his, his name was drawn out of the hat as the competitor against macrocelli. The medium was cakes and the participants were given 15mins to make them as furry as possible. Kyle butchered his to make a furry face. Mistystriker did a beautiful portrait of Macrocelli and Macrocelli himself drew a cat with the most glitter I have ever seen on a cake.
The judges instead of using their own voices were silent and mimed as Sekular and KazDragon did voices for them.
Although the performance was a bit rough as they had added the idea to the table late I found it most enjoyable and with a bit more polishing would make a great regular addition to the convention.
After the Iron Artist competition we headed out to a place called infinity.
“INFINITY is a mind-blowing journey into spectacular, futuristic maze like worlds of wonder – an extraordinary series of around 20 multi-sensual environments filled with unique special effects, atmospheric sound fields, ultra groovy music and illusions that appear to go all the way to infinity!” taken the Infinity Gold Coast website
It had a few cool rooms. The strobe room with giant bouncing balls to throw at each other was a quite notable however it was over way too quickly. Infinity is apparently very short lived.
We headed back to the hotel for the final dance party and the closing announcements. After some dancing and rejoicing we attended a few room parties to commemorate the end of the convention and retired for the night.
(Nya Jen!)
On the final day of our trip it bucketed down rain. So after checking out of our hotel room we milled around the lounge area before we headed to the airport and back to our home states. Although when the convention started I felt it to be lacking in some respects due to my convention experiences being very full on in the past, after relaxing into the flow of the convention I had a very enjoyable time. For veteran con goers, be prepared for a smaller laid back event. For me, even though it’s at a central location and events are planned out it still felt very much like a big meet. Which I will add, is not a bad thing at all. After the stress of life it’s nice to just relax with friends rather than rush around at a convention.
I really hope to attend next year and to drag Kraden and Carnival along. Although they are already planning on attending as next year’s theme will be Carnival, not the person the theme.
All in all I had a great time and can’t wait for next years! Thanks for reading guys!
<3 Jen
Links!
Mel – Miss Pixie
Kyle Evans – Canned Geek