It was a superb weekend for the ACA Cartoon Conference in Melbourne.

I cycled in via St Kilda seafront

Biked over the bridge that shows where Australians have immigrated from

Jason Seiler gave a great presentation on how he does his caricatures

He does a lot of preparatory sketches from posed photographs and good reference

Jason Seiler used some of the ACA guys to show how he observes people to do their portraits

Leigh Hobbs gave one of the best presentations, talking about how he ended up doing his marvellous children's books

Michael Jantze was another of the guests from America (also Stan Goldberg) and we would have loved to have seen more of his work - great animation

The last photo is from the ACA web site and you can see more here.

It was fantastic to meet more great cartoonists this year, including the multi-talented and charming Michael Jantze, who wasn’t able to come last year due to a bit of a plane ticket snafu…

I didn’t take my camera to the Stanleys, but Table 4 was the best crowd. David Pope got the award for Cartoonist of the Year and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer chap. We were surrounded by talented Melbourne cartonists – Oslo Davis, Andrew Weldon (who is resisting the siren call of the internet), Matt Golding, Leigh Hobbs and Judy Horacek (who has scandalously never been nominated, but whose book is getting rave reviews). I was chuffed to get nominated again in the comic strip category, even though I lost out to my nemesis, Tony Lopes (please, Tony – enter Insanity Streak in the single panel division and give me a chance!).  At the end of the evening, we were hand-drawing business cards to give to each other. Considering that a fair few of us were tired and emotional, I’m surprised how well these turned out.

recycling the Stanleys brochure at the dinner

The 25th Stanley Awards were held overlooking Darling Harbour, Sydney

As a celebration of my 40th birthday, Duncan and I tacked on a Big Trip to our Sydney visit for the Stanley Awards. The trip started well – it was fun to catch up with fellow cartoonists, as always, and the Awards night was a cracker. It was also the 25th birthday of the Awards, so most people made an effort to dress up (I confess though that I bought my dress in an op shop and altered it!).

The first time I have seen Duncan in a tux.

Cartoonists of many talents

Tom and Anna Richmond on the harbour cruise

It was great to make a few new acquaintances. Tom Richmond (MAD magazine and much more) and Pat Oliphant were guests of honour from the US. Tom and Anna confessed to being fellow foodies, so Duncan gave them some good tips on places to go in Sydney (we had so much good food, coffee and wine there, it would be boring to detail it).

A penguin pops up in Glebe

Milsons Point Pool

I turned 40 the Wednesday after the awards and started my mid-life as I mean to go on, with a swim. The Milsons Point pool is one of my favourites – 50metres, outdoors and with a stunning view of Sydney Harbour.

The boyf and I at Fix St James

Fortunately, the swim gave me a huge appetite for the lunch that the boyf treated me to at Fix St James.

We then got on the train to Perth - the Indian Pacific

mid-trip

Admiring presents in our tiny but marvelous little sleeper cabin

This trip was a lot more stylish than the train trip I did up to Coffs Harbour (sleeping in the seat…) last year and the views were superb. Thank you, boyfriend!

Good to see a big long windfarm just out of Adelaide

Loved the souvenir stalls at Broken Hill station

The view at Cook, Nullabor Plain