First of all a BIG thank you to everyone who participated and donated last Sunday. We had an amazing turn out and so far have been delighted by how much we made by gold coin donations alone. This year we tried to maximise the donations by limiting the entry points to Wickham Park, and our efforts definitely paid off. While we are still collecting money from fundraising groups, we are proud to announce we managed to raise over $24,000 for the Brain Foundation of Australia this year!

We would also like to thank the Queensland Police Service for their hard work and continued support of the walk. This year they have estimated the total number of participants of the walk (including photographers and the tourists who met us in King George Square and along Adelaide Street) at 15,000 – 20,000. The best bit though, is that there were no incidents reported and they have told us that this was the most well behaved walk yet. Congratulations guys, you’re the most well-mannered zombies in the world!

We are in the middle of the long and complex process of gaining the Guinness World Record of “Largest gathering of Zombies”. The current record is 4,093 participants set at the New Jersey Zombie Walk (USA). We can confirm we had approximately 10,000 in Wickham Park during the official countdown period. While we did have many more than 8000 people participating, a vast number of people did not turn up until just before 3pm and therefore were unable to be counted. This is one of the reasons why we ask people to come early so that we can have everyone safely into the park before the walk commences. Anyone who turned up after 2.45pm were not included in the official tally.

We also wish to thank all of our sponsors Crazy Contacts, Bifrost Studios, Beserk Clothing, 24 Hour Wristbands and TUH, as well as the venues around the Valley who sponsored us to become zombie-friendly venues: RGs/Ric’s/Bank, Birdee Num Num’s and Kaliber. We are also extremely grateful to the Tempo Hotel for hosting the official After Party again this year and for allowing us to have an all-ages section for our younger fans.

Also a very special thanks to: 123SEO.com, Generator Place, Lady Lex, The Horizontal Limousine Club, UBCS Umbrella Corp Security, mX, City News, Channel Ten, 4BC Radio, ABC Radio Steve Boyle, Samantha Lyttle, MyCause fundraising teams (Pickled Brains, Decay High, Eat Pray Zombie, Zombie Wedding Team, Nom NOM Brainz , The X-rayted Zombies, Dead on Arrival, Parklake Zombies, Team Zombie, Cerebrum Seekers), all other individual fundraisers, all the DJs and bands who played at the after party and all our tireless and wonderful volunteers.

While the walk this year was overwhelmingly positive, the Brisbane Zombie Walk has grown to a point where it has become increasingly expensive and time consuming to organise, a fact we feel needs to be passed on to everyone who took part in this years walk. Our usual expenses, such a Public Liability Insurance and police presence, increased significantly this year and we now need to obtain a special Entertainment Event from the Brisbane City Council which also means we must conform to a number of strict requirements which are also costly. We can only assume our expenses will continue to rise next year which means we have a lot of work ahead of us to cover these costs, on top of trying to raise money for the Brain Foundation.

The QLD Police have also advised that we will need to change the route of the walk next year due to the length of the walk. Many motorists found themselves stuck for over 45 minutes at some intersections which many found very upsetting, and understandably so. So while we love walking right through the Brisbane CBD and attracting thousands of tourists and photographers along the way, it has become apparent that we need to find a quieter route where traffic and public transport can be easily diverted. We may also need to find larger parks for the start/end points are we are getting much too big for either Wickham Park or Centenary Place. We will keep everyone posted on any changes as they are decided and will endeavour to keep the walk as close to the CBD as possible.

We will not be making any announcements about the 2012 walk until approximately March next year. Our next public event will be Supanova in April 2012 where we will have a stall for you to pre-register and grab any leftover merch. In the meantime don’t forget to buy a t-shirt from our e-shop, as we have quite a few left over and all of the proceeds will help cover the rising costs of next years walk.

Z-Day is finally upon us! Please come to Wickham Park between 11am and 2.30pm so that you can enjoy everything on offer (including stalls, merchandise, music and a zombie dance performance). We will be making some important announcements at 2.30pm so we’d like everyone to be in the park by then.

Here are the rules for the day:

We’ll be signing off shortly to get the day started, so check the Facebook for any updates or if you have any questions. Otherwise we’ll see you at Wickham Park!

Well there’s officially less than one week to go before the 2011 Brisbane Zombie Walk! We have some links for you all to perfect your costumes and to help us raise more money for the Brain Foundation:

¤ If you’re looking for an alternative to our t-shirts, why not get one from talented Brisbane artist Lauren Carney. Her “I LikeYour Brains” shirt is very cute and half of the proceeds will be donated to us. They’re only $40 and this design is strictly limited!

¤ We’ve always said that you can turn a good costume into a GREAT one by wearing cool contacts. Crazy Contacts are one of our major sponsors and have a HUGE range of contacts that will add that extra element to your costume. You can get two pairs for $50 of a crazy SIX pairs for just $100! And if you use the code BRISZOMB to get free, express shipping. If you lave it too late to get them in time for the walk though, you can buy them on the day at the Crazy Contacts stall.

¤ Need ideas for your zombie costume? We suggest going for something simple, especially if it’s your first zombie walk. Rip and dirty up some old clothes (or check out your local op shop for some cheap clothes you won’t feel guilty about destroying) and concentrate more on your makeup. Don’t just resort to the tired old white-face and too-much-blood look. Get creative and look up zombie makeup tutorials on Youtube and start practicing now. In many cases, all you need is some liquid latex, tissues, red/black eyeshadow and some fake blood to make some gorey wounds. Check out HUB Makeup in the City for lots of cool makeup supplies such as latex, tooth colouring and fake blood/wounds and heaps more.

¤ We get a lot of people asking us for good fake blood recipes. There are so many out there but this is the one we have used for 4 years now and still think it’s the best. All you need is glucose syrup, cocoa powder, red food dye, cornflour and some warm water.

Step 1: Heat up the glucose syrup on the stove but don’t let it boil, just get it nice and warm and runny.
Step 2: Mix a tablespoon of cocoa powder with  bit of warm water to make a thick slurry and slowly add it to the glucose, stirring constantly.
Step 3: Add some red food dye, a few drops at a time until it turns into the desired red.

This makes nice runny blood that splatters and drips really well. We suggest making lots of this, but saving some of the mixture and completing this extra step:

Step 4: Make a slurry out of cornflour and warm water and add this to the blood mixture slowly until it thickens up. Keep adding more cornflour slurry until it reaches the desired thickness, bearing in mind it will thicken even further as it cools.

We suggest making this a day or so in advance as it looks better when it’s been allowed to set in the fridge.This recipe creates a super realistic blood that is edible (tastes like pudding!), dries like real blood, scabs up nicely AND washes out of most fabrics really easily. But it doesn’t keep very long even in the fridge, so don’t make it any more than three days before the walk and once the day is over, throw away any left overs as it gets nasty after a while.

The Brisbane Zombie Walk is proud to announce the details of this year’s ROTT N ROLL after party! We are very excited to reveal that this year it will be ALL AGES. Not since we took over the organisation back in 2008 have we been able to accommodate our younger participants and we can’t thank the Tempo Hotel enough for helping us out. Entry is $10 and the after party will run from 3:30pm til late. You will be given a special silicon souvenir wristband on entry.

There will be two separate areas in the venue. The Bowler Bar will be the all-ages section where we will have a range of local DJs to get the party going. We’ll have our merch stand here so you can pick up a t-shirt, bumper sticker etc as a momento. There will be NO alcohol served or allowed in the Bowler Bar which will make it a safe environment for all of our underage friends. It’s also great for those over 18 who forgot their IDs! if you are under 18, you need to have someone who is over 18 with you on entry (ie. a parent or sibling).

The upstairs area will be for our 18+ participants only so you MUST have a valid ID to gain entry to this part of the venue. This is where the live bands will be as well as a gore-tastic display from friends GOREgeous Portraits and some cheeky burlesque in between acts. There will be a security check up the top of the stairs between Bowler Bar and Tempo Bar, once you have been confirmed as 18+ we will give you a special wristband that will indicate you’ve been checked by security. Please keep this wristband on at all times as you will be asked to leave if you do not have one while upstairs.

You will be able to move between both parts of the venue BUT you must keep your ID on you at all times to re-enter the upstairs area. This is to prevent anyone under 18 from sneaking in. You can also not take any alcohol downstairs, which will be strictly enforced. Anyone found with alcohol in the Bowler bar will be immediately ejected from the venue (regardless of whether they’re patron, artist or BZW organiser).

There will be a best-dressed competition for each area so make sure you look your best and you could walk away with some cool zombie-related prizes!

The Essentials:

Where: Tempo Hotel, 388 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley (a 3 min walk fro the end point of the walk)
When: Sunday 23rd October from 4pm, immediately after the walk. Finishes late.
Cost: $10 entry which you can pre-purchase now at our store
Restrictions: All-ages in the Bowler Bar, 18+ only in the Tempo Bar. Anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied by someone who is over 18 on entry. No alcohol in the Bowler Bar. No entry to the Tempo Bar without showing valid ID.

Proudly stocking: Beserk Clothing . Demonia . Tripp NYC . Lip Service . Hell Bunny . Kreepsville 666 . Sin in Linen . Pleaser. Iron Fist . Bordello . Manic Panic . TUK . Sourpuss . Too Fast Apparel . Lux De Ville . Leg Avenue . Sugarpill . Lime Crime . Music Legs . Pin Up Couture . Jessica Louise . Accroutements . Liquorbrand . Six Bunnies . Hollywood Mirror . Avelina De Moray . Rock Rebel . Tentacle Threads . Sin in Linen . New Breed . Poizen Industries . Bloody Mary Costume Makeup . Leg Avenue Costumes.

They have some adorable zombie shirts and dresses on sale at the moment as well: