Photographing cosplayers wasn't on my bingo card for today

The backstory

Silkie, my seeing eye dog, is recovering from an ear infection so she’s banned from the beach. She’s not allowed to get wet for THREE WHOLE WEEKS. I can only imagine what she’ll be like – tearing up the beach – when we return. Also, I’ve been sick so we haven’t been much for a few weeks. We haven’t seen our doggo friends in weeks because we haven’t made it to the beach at the right time. But anyway… I’m here to talk about cosplay! I have a track record of posting cosplayers’ photos (see Pax Aus 2016 here and all the cosplay photos here.)

The minion and I decided to go Melbourne’s botanic gardens for a walk. Silkie and I have been twice with our walking book club but the minion hadn’t explored them yet, not even in the 7 years when we lived in Melbourne before moving to the wilderness. I mean Canberra.

We still have a lot to explore there but we’re enjoying exploring. Between walking from the train station and walking around, it’s easy to get in a 5km-8km walk.

The gondola

As we arrived close to lunch time, we went to the Terrace cafe to get a drink before the crowds ramped up. Too late. Oh well. We bought takeaway and sat near the lake when I spied the pictured gondola. I think someone had a parasol up when I first noticed it but, sadly, it disappeared by the time I took out my phone.

After lunch we wandered through the rainforest. Both the minion and I grew up in Tasmania so rainforests are part of our childhoods. And that dampness and greenery is so very refreshing.

The minion spotted this chair sculpture surrounded by half a “nest” wall. I sat in it first. It’s pretty secure but wobbles so be prepared! His phone emerged for photos while he tried and tried to get a good shot of Silkie. Not sure how that went: he hasn’t uploaded the photos to OneDrive. So I’m sharing my photo of my pair of besties.

The minion in a sculpture/seat in Melbourne's botanic gardens with Silkie (my seeing eye dog)

Minion and seeing eye dog Silkie

Finding the cosplayers

Then we continued our wandering. Minion pointed out cosplayers taking photos in a grotto. They offered to let us pass but I assured them I was interested in their cosplay. Cue photos!

Chloe, the group organizer, sent photos with labels. However, I’m pretty sure some of them were mixed up. I don’t know what would be worse: misnaming people or mis-gendering them based on getting their Instagram accounts confused. Anyhoo, after the Epic Pile On of 2021, I don’t dare make a mistake so I’m just posting these pics here.

Hopefully the cosplayers will identify themselves in the comments, and give links to the correct Instagram accounts. (Hint, hint.)