Top Ten Tuesday: Weekend recap

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the theme is Things That Make Me Instantly NOT Want to Read a Book (what are your immediate turn-offs or dealbreakers when it comes to books?). However, this weekend I went to Rachael Johns Reader Retreat so my theme this week is ten things I liked about the retreat!

Location - The venue was in a small town called Hahndorf which is in the Adelaide hills. The town has a German heritage and is a great tourist destination. There is a strong foodie vibe in the town. I will say it was very rainy, particularly on Saturday night and during the day Sunday. I could have done with the flight changes on the flight home on Sunday but that was a minor inconvenience.

Venue - Luckily I managed to get to share accommodation with someone I hadn't met before so it was just a case of walking up the hill to the venue. Above is the view from the balcony. I can see this as a wedding venue

Car -  Because I was going to see my brother and mother before going to the venue I hired a car which was a Toyota Corolla.  It was a hybrid car which I have never driven before. It was a bit weird to not be able to hear the car when it started.

Merch - There was plenty of goodies in the goodie bag. This is just what we got on arrival and there was more during the weekend.

Pink - The theme for Friday night cocktail party was pink, but there was a whole lot of pink everywhere all weekend! I have realised I could wear something pink for a week and still not run out of clothes.

Food - The food was pretty good, especially the morning and afternoon teas and lunches although I forgot to take photos on Sunday. The Saturday night dinner was ...okay but it was another opportunity to dress up. I went the sparkles route.

The other attendees - Over the weekend I meant a load of new people, but also got to spend some time with people I have known for years!

Speed Dating - One of the sessions was author speed dating. The authors moved around from table to table. Some came bearing gifts of bookmarks or chocolate, others asked us questions. All of them were interesting!

Book club  - There were two book club sessions. I hadn't read one of the books, but the session for the book I had read was really interesting, which was The War Nurses by Anita Hodgson.

Hearing what's coming next - There were lots of conversations about what comes next with all of the authors. We got to see some upcoming covers. For example, this one by Meredith Appleyard which is so gorgeous. I know I want to read this book based only on the cover. There were many others.

I have already paid my deposit for next year!

Have you been to an author/reader retreat?