Nath,
        I'm relatively new to the area as well but when I have expressed an interest in a property for auction, I have always been rung before the auction with encouragement to the point of just asking me along anyway even when I have stated that I'm not interested. My reasoning for this would be that
1. It looks good for the realtor in front of the vendors that they've been doing their job.
2. The more people= increased chance of competition and offers.

Fingers crossed for you, sounds a bit ridicuous though!!

Mark