Southern HiBEARnation 2000

Thursday

Stayed with Brett and Dom. Relaxed, and enjoyed the fact I was on the early days of my holiday.

In the evening was Bowling Bears - went bowling with about 50 bears at the Northcote Bowl. Had a great time, and was fun to see all the guys relaxing and enjoying themselves. I bowled a 69, 84 and a 137. Met a few of the other guys who had entered, and a couple of the judges.

Randall, David, Dale

Malcolm

Kevin, John, Wade
(The rest of the WA contingent)

Friday

Got up at about 9:30am, relaxed, got changed and so on, and headed to Dale's place in the city. Dale and Randall looked well after their holiday. The evening was the opening party for the Southern Hibearnation 2000.

Met the 16 other competitors this night, well should I say met the ones I did not know about :)

Part of the duties of the competitors was to sell raffle tickets to the bears who were there, as well as introduce yourself to people. This was damned hard, and I was so scared of the whole situation.

I know that I spoke to some of the judges, but not all of them, before the introduction of the competitors and the Spice Girls' "Stop" dance we had to do.

Up to this point I was a nervous wreck, but once off the stage I was able to relax and talk a bit more freely. Prior to this, Malcolm from SA, was an absolute gentleman and helped by introducing me to people.

Got home about 2:30am, and to sleep about 4:30am. Woke at 6:50 bright as a button.

The Cruise

Nicholas and Amagan

Randall and Shane

"Street Wear"
section of the competition

Yours truely in "Bear Minimum"

"Bear Minimum" before they
got us to bend over

Yours truely in
"Bear Minimum"
(Nick, we can see ya
checking out *GRIN*)

The winners and the comperes
Laurie, Amagan, Malcolm, Tim, Dale

Steve, just about to do
a check under my kilt...
"Fantasy" section.

And here he is under my kilt

Saturday

After waking I got myself ready for the interview stage. Randall took me to the judging place, where he was a member of the panel of judges. As it turned out I had a minor asthma attack as I was so nervous, but went through with the interview. Randall, Kevin, Tim, Ian and Tony were the judges, as was Shane.

The interview was not too difficult, but the fact was helped by the judges asking me a question that helped me to talk... "Tell us a bit about yourself." This went onto "Why kalgoorlie?" and then onto things like "What do you see as a bear?" and "If you won, how would you see the coming year?"

This turned out to be the question I had no idea on... and told the judges that.

I made the final twelve, and this was a relief. I felt so sorry for the guys who did not get to the 12. Yet there was a feeling of cameraderie all weekend, even from the non-finalists. Tony did not make it due to work, but he was there in spirit.

We left the interviews and the pre competition photoshoot at 12 noon, and headed for the river cruise. Dale popped up to the appartment and grabbed my bag which had my camera in it, so that I could do some photography.

Ran off two films on this cruise. Will need to get pictures from the other events from other people as I did not get the chance to take many.

There was one unfortunate incident on the cruise, but the group stuck together and helped as much as they could. I hope and pray that the person involved gets the help they need.

Went back to Randall's and got the last of my bits together for the final on the Saturday evening. Headed to the Laird at 8:15pm so we were there for 8:30pm. This was good as it meant we had plenty of time, and was able to hug each of the competitors as they arrived. Including the ones who were not in the 12.

For the final I decided to wear:

• Street Clothes: Black jeans, bear scout T-shirt, black boots, socks, cap, and a checked shirt.
• Bear Minimum: Black leather shorts, black and white jock, boots and socks, and a white t-shirt.
• Fantasy: Kilt, boots, and harness.

I got MancerBear to take the photos of the competition. And these have turned out well. He did concentrate upon me :)

Laurie lane and Dale were the comperes. They were superb, with laurie in fine form, with his fast and sarcastic wit, and Dale putting his two bobs worth in at the most innapropriate times (and having the crowd in stitches between them).

The street wear was easy, but my votes went to Adrian who wore a suit and tie... boy when he walked back into the back changing room area, I almost keeled over with amazement - he was simply that stunning!

Bear Minimum was basically how far would you go. I decided to go out and in my 45 seconds, rip a t-shirt off, and then strip the leather shorts off to reveal my little body in a black and white jock.

Fantasy was a little easier. I'd had a fantasy about a guy up under my kilt. And this gave me that chance. Admittedly I should have got Steve up on stage, and told him to stay under there as long as possible *GRIN*.

Got home about 2:45am, after the competition. Malcolm from Adelaide was Mr Grizzly (2nd year), Amagan from Sydney was Mr Bear and Tim from Melbourne was Mr Cub. Overall Mr Australian Bear was Malcolm.

Post competition I had all my perfomrance anxiety problems go, and was able to get a proper hard on for the 1st time all weekend. This culminated with the levitating sporran trick. You can ask Jeff and Michael (the fluffer) about this one... I am totally unresponsible for what happened.

Went to sleep, and slept like a log. Woke at about 9am.

Sunday

The BBQ... Competion was over. Now we could have fun.

Went to the BBQ in the park, and chatted, hugged and kissed. Had a few guys look under the kilt :) as well as a few photos of me in and with uplifted kilt. This was a giggle. I cannot wait to see the ones of Joe R having a laugh under my kilt :)

Popped back to Dales after this had finished to grab some jeans to change into later at the beer bust.

The final event... the Beer Bust

It was great to talk, hug and kiss so many lovely guys. Had loads of compliments, and this was quite hard to take at times. Sold 100 raffle tickets in no time at all. Think the kilt helped that one :)

Was taken to the toilet at one point by a bear called Joe (and he is a BIG woof). Hope to call him at some point this week.

I stayed till late and walked Stephen and Steve (BarBear) back to the Laird. Had a drink then walked Steve back to the Drummond where Steve was staying. Left from there after a cuppa, and got back to Dale's at 4:30am or so. Slept till 11am, woke, washed clothes, and relaxed.

Monday

Got my photos developed, and the ones that Gareth had taken in Esperance.

Chatted on the net to Gareth, Paul and company. I have been missing Gareth and Paul really bad when on this holiday.

Tuesday

Relaxed, had lunch with Adrian S (a very woofy furry Italian bear who was also in the competition).

Took the competition photos for developing, and then collected them.

Wednesday

The world turned upside down today... Wade rang me at about 1:30pm to tell me that Peter W had been killed the night before.

I met him in town for coffee and he told me again. This time it hit me hard.