Hi everyone,

I'm completely brand new to the world of fountain pens. About two months ago I got a promotion at work and decided I'd buy myself a nice pen to celebrate, knowing nothing about pens I bought myself a Waterman Expert 2 ballpoint as it looked nice and was suitably expensive. After I bought the pen I decided to do a bit of research on pens and see what's what and it was then that I started reading about fountain pens. Well I had experienced a fountain pen before, when I was very young and my experience was that they were scratchy, leaky and generally not very good...but I'm sure the ones I was given back then were el cheapo throw away rubbish. I decided that I ought to give them another go and went out a couple of weeks ago and bought a medium nib Lamy Safari...and I love it, it's so different to what my impression of fountains pens was. It's a real joy to write with and I do admit I like the idea that I'm using a fountain pen and not a biro like almost everyone else I work with. Then last week I was given a bonus at work....so I just had to buy myself something just a little better than the Lamy and I settled on a Waterman Carene delux in Prussian Blue. I'm still waiting for it to arrive and I can't wait....though the Mont Blanc Meisterstuck 149 is also looking really tempting to me now and there's the Parker 51 that I'm bidding on ebay for.......damn I think I'm addicted.

Steve.

Welcome! If you are already addicted, then you are in the right place! Those that are not addicted to Fountain Pens are enablers!

Welcome to FPN. You chose a couple of nice starter pens. I'm sure your collection will grow. I hope you keep getting bonuses so you can keep feeding your addiction.

Welcome to the slippery slope!

Hey, welcome to FPN. There are a few other Melburnians hanging around this forum.

I'm another Melbourne FPN member. Welcome aboard SteveH.

Welcome to FPN Steve, and greetings from someone about 2 hours drive east-ish from the Melbourne CBD.

Melbourne is a good city for fountain pen addicts.

There are at least 5 "new pen" stores
Pen City (great range of stock, Noodler's Inks available)
The Pen Place
Tafts (4 outlets)
The Pen Store (Ferntree Gully)
Melbourne Pen Depot (Chadstone Shopping Centre)

and at least one good vintage/restored pen source
Melbourne Vintage Pens

There are also some good paper stores
MyOffice in Collins Street (Kokuyo Campus paper, similar to Apica)
The Source in Queen Street (Crown Mill paper, laid and cotton - I haven't yet tried these myself)
(Thanks to InkyPete and Phthalo for those.)

Add to this the other Australian stores (both online-only and bricks-and-mortar), fountain pens in newsagents and stores such as Myer, unexpected Lamy and Inoxcrom pens in unlikely stores, and there are a whole lot of fountain pens around.
Add to that all the international online stores and they're nearly inescapable.

An open offer to Australian residents - I'm currently circulating a set of small pads and a few loose papers from various paper makers showing a variety of written ink samples - let me know by PM if you'd like to be on the list. Paper samples from companies Clairefontaine, Rhodia, Apica, Kokuyo, and more readily available papers such as Pukka, Tudor (Spicer), and Spirax (Esselte) - more added as I find them (again, credits and thanks to InkyPete for contributions making up the bulk of this selection). Add your own ink samples, try out the paper. Samples of excellent papers and one really bad example as a contrast (smooth surface but bad feathering and bleedthrough).

Regards, Myles.

Oh God, not another one...

WE HAVE ENOUGH MELBOURNIANS HERE! ENOUGH, I TELL THEE!!

I'm kidding...I think we have...perhaps a dozen of us in this forum. It's weird how many there actually are. Welcome, Steve, and have a nice time. As Myles has pointed out, Melbourne is a city singularly rich in pen-purchasing permises. Take your time and visit each one in turn. I have, and I think they're all great

If you guys ever want advice on the best places to source some of the stationery not available here (Rhodia, Clairefontaine and Apica in particular) don't hesitate to contact me. I have bought a small supply of each from US suppliers and happy to share my experiences.

The Parker '51' and the Montblanc 149 are two extremely famous pens and they would indeed be worthy additions to your collection. The best of luck to you in acquiring them!

G'day, Steve!!!! Welcome to FPN.
This is a great forum, with sub-forums ( or should that be "sub-fora"? ) , chockful of information about all aspects of fountain pens. pen reviews, paper, inks, penmanship, pen-repair etc.
-Sid

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome. Nice to know Melbourne has a good choice of pen purveyors. I'll check them out, I may have to leave my wallet at home though, my credit card has a nasty habit of jumping out at retailers.

The more I read this forum, the more pens I'm attracted too...I feel like I'm already being unfaithful to my Carene and that hasn't even arrived yet.

Welcome to FPN.

This website has a lot to answer for!

Since joining this fraternity of fountian pen admirers my collection has grown considerably....not as quick as others no doubt, but enough to make me admit I may have a problem.

Since joining my collection has grown to:

Two Lamy Safari's
Waterman Carene deluxe prussian blue
two Parker 51 aero's
a Parker 45
two Parker Vacumatics.

8 pens since April. Next on the hitlist is a Pelikan M800.

HI there!

Addicted?

No problem. Wer'e all addicted.

Mike