Aussie Bloggers

I recently went to Perth for a holiday (and a tiny bit of work). I don’t know anyone in Perth so put the word out via the Aussie Bloggers forum to see if any bloggers wanted to meet up. It just so happened that a bloggers meetup was happening on the Wednesday I was there and as it was close to where I stayed in Northbridge I went along.

This was the first blogger meetup I’ve attended. There have been Adelaide blogger meetups organised and I’ve never been able to make one for various reasons which makes me feel a bit guilty.

The cold and wet weather kept a lot of people home but there were about eight of us and it was good to meet some other bloggers face-to-face. There was a familiar face as I’d met one of the bloggers at Web Directions South last year. A big crew of Perth people go all the way to Sydney for this conference, and it sounds like they will do so again this year – with a couple of them to present.

But, back to the blogger meetup.

I felt a bit awkward at first because I wasn’t sure what to say and the others knew each other so I initially felt like I’d joined in on a conversation that had already started at a party. But once I got over my initial shyness and once I asked if anyone watches Dexter the conversation went from there. At that stage I’d nearly finished watching season 2 and now I have. I’ve finished the rollercoaster ride Gary! Anyone who’s watches season 2 of Dexter will know what this means.

Just before I had to leave (to put my boy to bed) I passed around a piece of paper to get the URLs of the blogger’s blogs to have a look. They were, Gary Barber – Man with No Blog, Al – My name is Al, Simone – Enjoy Perth, Bret – Free beer, Teresa – ChiBits, and a couple of people left before I got their blog addresses.

The above crew weren’t the only bloggers I met during my week in Perth. Cellobella from Red Sultana met us on Saturday morning, also in Northbridge. It was lovely to meet her, have a coffee, watch my son (the photographer) take a heap of photos of us and everyone else in the establishment, and talk blogging and other things. I haven’t yet tried the no-knead bread but I want to give it a go.

If I had the money, it would be great to travel and incorporate blogger meetups around Australia and the rest of the world into part of the travelling. It would be good fun, provide blog fodder, and you could find out the good shopping spots from a local before you arrived rather than on your last day.