Collecting in Australia

[Sebby6]

Any Aussie willing to exchange their precious Tim Tams for ponies should totally give me a call

[hathorcat]

Any Aussie willing to exchange their precious Tim Tams for ponies should totally give me a call

Ditto

Alas I have never had any fantastic finds either - a handful of G1s in all these years of searching. Just keep in mind that Aus and NZ did get one of the best mixes of G1s so if you do find something you have increased odds of it being very cool and a harder to find pony.

[xeevee]

Ok, so I have the tip of all tips for Australian collectors, hit up school fetes whenever you can.  I have found some fantastic stuff at school fetes. 

And here's the thing about them,
 a) they almost always have ponies.  The only time I've ever been to a school fete and not found a pony, was if they didn't have a white elephant stall at all.  Most do.  When they do, you'll find them especially if you get there early because it's just a bunch of toys parents have gone through at home and then donated to the school.  At one school fete I found so many I couldn't carry all the bags of ponies in one go, I had to have them hold them for me and come back. 
and
b) they are sooo cheap.  The fete is only on for one day, so they are almost giving stuff away because other wise they have to pay to have everything taken away. 

Some of my finds have included giant G3 plushes, a MIB Sweet Dreams crib which also had a bunch of other accessories stuffed in the box.  Collectors pose Bow Tie.  Usually what you'll find will be a lot of g3s and g4s, but I would regularly find g1s too, it was always worth the trip.

[Nilenna]

I feel your pain, $50 for a pony doesn't even sound shocking to me because I'm so used to seeing it xD I don't want to think about the amount I've spent on ponies over ebay.
The only G1 I've found at an op shop in recent years is a tailess parasol and I was very surprised! There are often g4s and 3s about, but practically nothing earlier.
I DEFINITELY have better luck at flea markets though, and even school fetes, so don't forget to try them!!

I'm just curious... did you get the tailess parasol? 

[sweetapple]

Nope, I feel a little bad for leaving her behind 
She was in one of those bags full of other toys. I hope she found a nice home!

[Starfall]

Skeen - I went to the little op shop in the Tanunda Foodland car park looking for ponies when I had a weekend in the Barossa!

I visit the op shops on my travels, on a roadtrip my partner goes looking for a bakery and me for the op shop!

[Princess-Sparkles]

I find there are a ridiculous amount of fakies here! I've found a couple of g1s out in the wild, and lots of g3s (though I won't pay more than $2.50 for them).

We don't have a huge amount of flea markets in Adelaide - the main collectables one at Port Adelaide is full of some really strange characters - and not many collectables!

I would love to see some sales figures for g1s in Australia - I really am puzzled as to where they have all gone!

Also, sun damage. Guh.

Are you in Adelaide??? So am I! Let's do a trade or pony catch up sometime!!

[miss_skaife]

I know it's so difficult here in Australia. I'm in Queensland and see G3 ponies at opp shops all the time. I don't really collect them though so unless my daughter wants them they get left behind In all my collecting years (9 years) I have only seen a G1 pony once and they were so highly priced that they got left behind too ($15 for a peachy). I used to buy large lots of ponies from the US or UK and keep what I needed then sell the rest here or on Aussie ebay. That worked well but now days It's hard to find big lots that include ponies I don't have. I have 3 lots arriving from the US soon so watch this space Aussie collectors

[frizzycat]

I live in Port Lincoln (about 8 hour's drive from Adelaide). I've found only about 8 G1's over the past two years at local garage sales, but got them for $0.50 each. I've also seen a couple of G1 plushies. I've seen see the occasional G3 at OP shops, including a couple of styling size ones, but I've never picked them up because I don't collect G3 (hey, gotta draw the line some where!). I've made an exception for the Minty my husband found at the dump a few days ago though. School fetes and car boot sales tend to have G3's too.