The Brass Harpies

28/07/2024

Because, you know - Paris.

01/07/2024

Ah - the wonderful MC-ing prowess of Patrick Boucher from Yarra Ranges Life TV shone yet again as he interviewed many of the wonderful Hills locals wandering past him at the Belgrave Lantern Parade, including us. Thanks gang! Great fun!
🎩🎩🎩

23/06/2024

What a wonderful night we had (yet again) at the Belgrave Lantern Festival - we shamelessly confess that we love parading round in our finery - this year was all about Ricoco! Some fabulous people came along and steampunked it up and walked with us as well which is always wonderful! A splendid event indeed! 🎩🎩🎩

22/06/2024

This is us! Come find us!

21/06/2024

My pretties! Milly is calling to remind you that the Belgrave Lantern Festival is on again tomorrow night!

Dress up in your finest (and warmest - it’s a cold one!) steampunk or other cosplay best and come and join us as we walk the parade again this year.

Lantern holders must be at the commencement car park (you’ll see it, you can’t miss a massive gaggle of paper lantern holders!) at 4:30pm. We will post a picture of ourselves before this time so you know what we look like and who to look out for. Come and find us so we can all walk together 🤎🎩🎩🎩🤎

We are very much looking forward to catching up with friends old and new. We hope to see you there!

14/06/2024

Happy International Steampunk Day, 2024!

Featuring a selection of pics of The Harpies over the years, dumped into a trending reel on Instagram, and edited using their delightfully glitchy and super unreliable in-app editor!

The whole thing would probably work a lot better if it was powered by aether and steam 😆🤎🎩🎩🎩

Have a splendid day dear friends - we hope to see some of you at the Belgrave Lantern Parade on 22nd June.

03/06/2024

Will you be bringing this level of sass and energy (and costumery!) to the Belgrave Lantern Festival? We sure will be!

The countdown to the 22nd of June begins now!

19/02/2024

It's all about the hat. Always.

10/02/2024

And one more picture of our Abs looking ABS-olutely amazing… 🎪♥️🎩

09/02/2024

And now for something completely different… a photo dump of all our adventures in Christchurch, in somewhat chronological order, as a photo essay of everything we managed to cram in to the few days we were in Christchurch. ‘A photo essay is not enough!’ I hear you say? Never fear - there is an ESSAY essay below! 😆

THURSDAY
After landing, we started at our wee Deco cottage in St Martins, headed to the best New World in town for supplies (you know what I’m talkin’ bout), then went to Gin Gin for a GnT and Soul Quarter for dinner. KNACKERED by the end of the day!

FRIDAY
Up early the next morning to head to Akaroa via Governors Bay for brunch. Our Abs in a Francophile so it was an essential stop! Coffee, pastries, shopping and a tour of the museum (it was raining with much vigour in Akaroa) and we headed back to town to go to The Tannery for afternoon tea at Penny Black. Some of you may know that Milly was a CHCH local of 10 years, and the last time she saw the Tannery building it did NOT look like that! Spectacular!!!! Everything in Cosi Fan Tutte was !!!! Also the staff at The Fabric House were familiar with Steampunk courtesy of the frequent visits from the local steampunk group 😆 The evening was spent whiling away many hours catching up with good friends of Milly’s, who she had not seen in 10+ years ♥️

SATURDAY
As it was Ab’s first visit to NZ, and Milly’s first visit back to CHCH since 2012, we went SIGHTSEEING. Riccarton Bush Market! The Riverside Market! The Cashel St Mall! Ballantynes! A bit of a late start due to Milly sleeping in until 10:15am (!!!) but we got there in the end. Then back to the cottage to spend the next 2.5hrs getting ready before heading to Milly’s fabulous friends place for pre-event GnT’s and nibbles, then on to the Masquerade Ball we four went…

SUNDAY
Up early again after a late night to head to the Fantasizers Festival with Milly’s wonderful friends, and to meet up with another old friend whose daughter was playing in the band. Lots of chatting and pictures and teapot racing and purchases. But we forgot to Toss the Maher!!! Terrible oversight!! We then went to the Shabby Chic market in Woolston for a browse, and then headed back to the cottage for a costume change and makeup freshen-up for the Carnivale Ball… another big day!

MONDAY
Getting a little tired now (😆) we emerge from slumber to get ready for the Mad Hatters Brunch. We arrive 10 minutes late and are chastised by Carl but hey it was on theme to be late for this very important date!!! 😆. After the brunch for some inexplicable reason Milly suggests going walking in the Botanic Gardens in costumes in 30 degree heat in the most uncomfortable shoes she owns… but the Rose Garden and Dahlias were worth it, as was hugging the limbs of Milly’s favourite Sequoia tree. A quick stop at New World on the way back to the cottage to pick up champagne and cake, and we’re off again to Milly’s friends place for afternoon tea. Then it’s off to Ferrymead for dinner (Milly’s old work haunt was Settlers Cres) and at Carl’s earlier insistence we made the effort to go to the Light Show Extravaganza, and were blown away! The more amazing part is that we managed to stay awake until 11pm 😆

TUESDAY
Hello airports and AirNZ. Hello screaming kiddy on the flight back from Auckers to Melbs. He was not happy the poor wee chap. I managed to read North and South from cover to cover. Abs watched The Great and napped. We ate bad airport food, drank average coffee, and got home at 10pm NZ time for me, and 12pm NZ time for Abs!

I honestly dont think we could have fit another thing in if we tried. Thanks CHCH! 🤎🎩 🎩 🤎

08/02/2024

At the beginning of February, Abigail and Millicent journeyed across the ditch to celebrate all things steampunk with our delightful Kiwi cousins in Christchurch.

The inaugural ‘Fantasizers Festival” was a HUGE success!! So many events! So many costumes! SO MUCH FUN! We managed to get FOUR costumes into our respective steamer trunks and made full use of every minute whilst in New Zealand. We are both now officially all steamed out 😆

We would also like to extend a huge thank you to organisers Carl Yates and Yvonne Yates and their festival committee, all of whom made us feel incredibly welcome the minute we arrived. What an amazing, kind, friendly and inspiring group of people - and CONGRATULATIONS on such a successful first event!

There were many, many, many more amazing costumes than this. Milly was just too busy chatting and socialising to remember to take many photos. The official photos by ‘Image Artisan’ Martin will be coming sometime in the future!

Highly recommended for those who want to attend an international event that’s not too far away!

29/12/2023

24/12/2023

Do have a splendid Christmas one and all, and we shall no doubt see you somewhere gadding about in the Steampunk Universe in 2024. 🎩🎩🎩