The choice of venues was deliberate. The guy organising it all (Mal Wright) got heartily sick of the usual "sausage sizzle and soft drinks" at the various conventions around the nation and vowed to do something better with this one. McLaren Vale is a beautiful region, produces some of the greatest wines in the country and is very close to the best beaches in South Australia.
Plus, it's only about half an hour from his home
The location itself has proven to be a major draw card for many interstate and overseas visitors, and some of the local wine producers are getting behind the whole thing in a big way. We told some of the 1st and 2nd generation Italian winemakers that we were running a game based on the Battle of Madonna del Olmo and they were amazed that we knew so much about Italian history. As a result, we have a stack of wine bottles to give away on the day!
I'll be building a game table while I'm there (I think I may have mentioned it somewhere). Here's what it's looking like at the moment:
Click to biggify the images