This year we took our annual family trip to a place called Elizabeth Beach which is in northern NSW, roughly between Newcastle and Port Macquarie.

 

Our home for the week – Pacific Palms resort.

 

This area is known as the Booti Booti national park.

 

We’ve wandered around looking at the sights near and far.  Took a cruise on the lake, ate a curry at Tuncurry (with a name like that how could you not!) and just generally relaxed.

 

Went whale spotting for a while – and saw a quite active one. Lots of tail waves and spouting (not sure of the official term).

 

We even spotted a G60! Actually, Mum spotted this one - as well as the dolphins on the cruize - well done Mum! I think this G60 has a slight rust problem though.

 

Yet another Lego event – this time it is was return of Brixhibition Devonport.

Last year we had tried the Devonport show to test the waters, and it had gone off massively. We’d had a small venue and only a single day – and there had been queues out the door and up the road.

 

This year we had a much bigger hall – and two days. In fact, as far as venues go, it was the biggest we’ve done in Tassie thus far. We didn’t cram things in as much as we have in the past, to make sure that things flow easily. This meant lots of space to move, but some people said it felt a bit empty.

Unfortunately the numbers were down as far as crowds go. It certainly wasn’t dead (the photo was before we opened to the public) but not as busy as we’ve seen in the past. I still enjoyed it – but I think there was a little disappointment.

 

I’d offered to bring as much or as little as needed to fill the room (as this one is only a few minutes from my place). In the end I was given 6 tables, so I didn’t have as much as I have had in the past – but that makes it much easier to set and pack up.

I recruited Mike to come down from Victoria for the weekend to give me a hand too – which was awesome. Would have been brilliant even if there wasn’t a lego show.

 

Although largely things we’ve seen before – the pirate display from a local family really impressed me. These guys know how to display Lego!

 

Check out the dolphins playing in the bow wave.

 

And this brilliant submerged crocodile.

 

And because they didn’t have enough masts and sails – this ship is still under construction.

 

We also saw the return of what is probably the most complete collection of Lego fire sets anywhere outside of Billund. This display covers tables…

 

I was also thrilled to see a great collection of Classic Space sets lovingly arranged and displayed.

 

The Advocate photographer took a photo of me with my Game of Thrones figs. Thankfully I stayed out of the paper this time.

 

He also took some killer photos of my Veylesian Swarm Fighters. These are custome spaceships that I knocked up about 5 years ago. They’ve rarely looked this awesome though.

 

So that’s another Brixhibition over. Thanks to everyone who came for a look – and special thanks to Mike for coming down to give me a hand.

 

When I was at a Brixhibition show in Launceston earlier in the year, I was approached by a member of the public who had some old 1980s Lego that he was interested in selling and was wondering if I’d be interested in taking a look. Of course I was!

The piece that most interested me was the Black Monarch’s Castle from 1988. This is one of the castles I grew up dreaming about. It’s obtainable second hand fairly easily for a reasonable price – but this one was something special.

You see – the guy who approached me was the son of a Post Master.

Back in the 80s, somehow a few Lego sets had ended up at the Post Office in the dead letter section.

We’re not sure why they were there exactly, but they didn’t have an address so they couldn’t be posted, and no return address. After hanging around the post office for a while uncollected, they eventually made it into a stripy bag and into the Post Master’s shed.

Fast forward almost 25 years or so – they were rediscovered by the son when cleaning out his father’s shed. As he had no personal desire for Lego, he wanted to see them go to a collector. He had an idea what they were worth – but wasn’t out to make top dollar – just a fair price.

As it was really the castle that I was interested in – that was the first one I looked at. More to come on that in a separate post – but it was an impressive find. It had been opened and there were a few pieces missing – but the rare parts (the shields and minifigs etc) were all there and in perfect condition. You almost always have faded or scratched logos after this long – but these were in basically mint condition.

I offered him the going rate on Bricklink for a second-hand castle. He accepted happily – and I was happy with the deal. Not only did it save international postage, but as I mentioned earlier, the condition of this one was fantastic.

The castle wasn’t the only set he had though – there were 3 space sets and a box of trees.

 

I looked these up online – and made an offer. I knew it was on the low side, and so did the seller – but it was all I could offer. After thinking about it for a while he agreed.

 

The big set is an old Blacktron space base. Like the castle, it has been opened – and I’m not 100% sure it’s all there – but once again, the condition is the kicker.
 
 

 

After almost 30 years – those clears pieces still have no scratches! It’s unbelievable.

 

This is a smaller Blacktron set – and it’s still sealed!

 

Those plastic bags have not been opened!

I can still remember the smell of freshly opened Lego bags. The new ones just don’t measure up. I’m half tempted to open it just for the smell!

In theory, I could sell this to the right buyer for the price I paid for the entire collection. That would require finding the right buyer in the first place – but it should mean I got a good deal.

The small classic space set has been opened, but as always it’s in great nick.

The trees are still sealed. The box has been damaged, but not opened.

Sometimes you can still find old treasures – and it’s even better when they come looking for you :)

 

Anyway – because both Jason and Amy are somewhat rather odd, they decided to hold a costume engagement party – a Disney costume party.

Basically the rules were to come as anything Disney owns (traditional Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Muppets etc).

Jason is the guy in the middle dressed as Flynn Rider from Tangled.

Jason’s best man is Thor (Grant) and the rest of us are Jason’s Good-Enough guys: Joe (Robin Hood), Ben (Lone Ranger), and myself (Animal from the Muppets).

 

This is Tim as Emperor Kuzco  from the Emperor’s new Groove.