AFF Gathering #16 in LST on 13 – 15 October 2023

Launceston has been chosen as the AFF Annual Gathering destination for 2023, occurring over the weekend of the 13 to 15 October. The average temperature range for October is 7ºC – 18.2ºC (November is 9.1ºC to 20.5ºC). The average rainfall is 48mm with 7.5 rainy days. It is Tasmania's second most populous city following Hobart – which held AFF#7 in 2013 – and Australia's 21st most populous overall.

In addition to the usual dinners, planned activities (all subject to confirmation) for Saturday include a visit to the Table Cape tulip farm in full bloom, Ashgrove cheese and/or Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm and/or Anvers chocolate, and a separate wine excursion along the Tamar River, perhaps including the Beaconsfield Mine (disaster) museum. On Sunday, a visit to Cataract Gorge and/or a cruise on the Tamar and if possible, a visit to the National Automobile Museum and the Boags brewery.

Costs are expected to be inline with past AFF Meet-ups, subject to fuel price increases!

However, the organisers have noted that wineries in the area who will take groups of more than 10 are limited. An alternative to the usual style of AFF-organised bus may be an externally-organised paid tour, but this would be more expensive - perhaps $170 including transport, lunch and tastings but this could take a bigger group. Those who may consider themselves 'Platinum' or 'Gold' may wish to express their willingness to pay for the second option if the usual style tour is not possible, to assist with planning.

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Please make it known what activities you would be interested in (generally) when indicating attendance, so the organisers can gauge numbers before announcing final plans and itineraries. For example:

• interested/not interested in alcohol-based activities (vineyard/distillery/brewery),
• interested/not interested in food based activities (cheese/chocolate/fruit),
• interested/not interested in general activities (museums/flowers/cruise)., etc.

The usual schedule includes two dinners, a Friday welcome dinner that is more casual and a Saturday "guest speaker" dinner that could be considered more formal. While people generally mingle at both, you may find the space chosen on Saturday makes it harder to do so, but is regarded as the main event as well.

The lead organisers this year are @RooFlyer & @Steady , however they encourage all members local to Launceston (or surrounding areas) to raise their hands on helping coordinate the weekend.

The AFF Leadership Team can provide support in terms of money collection and distribution, and editing this thread as needed. If something needs to be updated, please simply report the post with the update so anyone on the team can action it (starting a conversation only alerts one person).

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Links:

Tulips: VDQ Bulbs | Van Diemen Quality Bulbs
Ashgrove: Ashgrove Cheese, Tasmania, Australia
Christmas Hills: Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm Cafe
House of Anvers: https://www.anvers-chocolate.com.au/
Beaconsfield: Beaconsfield Mine & Heritage Centre
National Automobile Museum: N.A.M.T.

 

[Matt_01]

I will most likely be at the Sebel.

 

[Major]

MrsMajor and I are now platinum. Flights sorted for a 1200 arrival Friday and 1015 departure Monday.
Accommodation at the Grand Chancellor.
Apparently a visit to the chocolate joint is non negotiable.

 

[gwilli1]

QF DSC Offer now on ...looks like I'll be going LST-SYD via MEL now . Already have SYD-LST booked

 

[RooFlyer]

A reminder that activities on Sunday will be such that anyone who needs to fly out almost any time will be OK, as Sunday activities will be ad-hoc around Launceston. Best to fly out after lunch on Sunday though.

At the moment we are PLANNING to have the tulip tour depart Launceston at 8am Saturday and the wine tour depart Launceston at 10am Saturday. There will be no pick-ups from the airport, only CBD Launceston. So if you plan to fly into L'ton Saturday morning, it should be arriving at least an hour prior to those times. But we reserve the right to alter these departure times, so best to fly in Friday to avoid any snafus.

 

[love_the_life]

Sorry to say I will not be able to attend - change of work/leave plans. Maybe next year.

 

[Ade]

I'm Platinum now. Tickets booked. Flying in Friday around mid-day, flying out Monday arvo. Working from LST on Friday. Happy to catch up with any AFFers in LST Friday. Working from LST on Monday before I head back to CBR.

Accommodation - not booked yet. Will do so soon and update.

 

[RooFlyer]

I'm Platinum now. Tickets booked. Flying in Friday around mid-day, flying out Monday arvo. Working from LST on Friday. Happy to catch up with any AFFers in LST Friday. Working from LST on Monday before I head back to CBR.

Accommodation - not booked yet. Will do so soon and update.

There will be an icebreaker function on the Friday night (informal).

The Grand Chancellor and the Sebel (Accor) will be popular accommodation choices.

All should note that the "Country Club" - which has pretty good accom, is well out of town and not convenient for our events.

 

[RooFlyer]

The itinerary has firmed up, and now we need your help to finalise it. Please re-state your preferences so we can get the transport right.

Registration with payment will be available soon.


Friday: Icebreaker drinks and informal dinner (pay your own) at a venue to be decided. We know some will be arriving late and may not make this.

Saturday. Currently considering two tours, max 22 each via minibuses. However, if there are insufficient on one or both to make busses economical (which is a possibility), we will downsize to vans driven by organisers. In the latter case, places may be limited. If numbers are very restricted, we may just offer the one, ‘hybrid’ tour.

Tour 1 Tamar Valley Wines
Depart mid-morning and visit Jansz (sparkling tasting), then Pipers Brook for lunch and a tasting of whites and pinot noirs, with Lunch at Nadines restaurant. After lunch, to another vineyard for some nice Tasmanian reds.

Tour 2 NW Coast Tulip farm, chocolate and cheese.
Depart about 8:30am with first stop at Anvers chocolate factory for coffee, chocolates and factory viewing. Lunch at Communion Brewery in Burnie (this is a lunch venue, not necessarily a beer one!). Onto the Table Cape Tulip farm to see the crop in full bloom. Return via the Ashgrove Cheese Dairy Door.

Dinner at a Launceston Grill. We have two lined up, both very good. Which one will depend on numbers, as their private rooms have different capacities. At both, you will be able to select off the full menu and pay your own meal and drinks. We are currently asking a aviation-related local to be our speaker.

Sunday
On Sunday morning, the organisers will lead participants around Launceston to places of interest, which may include Cataract Gorge and chair lift, Boags Brewery tour and tasting etc.

Some may wish to take Uber/taxi to the National Automobile Museum of Australia in the suburbs.
We would expect most participants to wish to fly out during the afternoon, but for those leaving late, or on Monday, in the afternoon we might offer some small group visits to places around Launceston/wineries.

COST
Cost will be heavily dependent on how many participate and therefore share the cost of hire busses. We are also trying to only include essential items, so that if you don’t want to participate in something, you won’t have to pay for it. At the moment, if we get 20 per bus on Saturday, then we will be asking for about $125/head for either tour, which includes busses, lunch on Saturday, Tulip admissions for Tour 1 and at least one tasting in the Tamar Valley for Tour 2.

If we have to downsize to vans, then the cost will come down. If we ask for the higher fee at registration, but end up using the vans, the balance will be refunded to you. All funds are held by AFF, not the organisers.

So - it is very important to us that you indicate your Platinum intention to come AND if so, which of the tours is your first preference. Managing the correct size transport will be our biggest challenge and we will have to commit our own funds up-front to make a deposit on the larger busses.

A registration page will appear shortly and will be tailored as to the response we get.

If you have already indicated your Platinum intention to come earlier in this thread, please repeat it now, with your tour preference.

Recommended hotels: Grand Chancellor and the Sebel are central and walking distance to either of the proposed dinner venues, and will at least be on the bus pick-up route.

 

[Doug_Westcott]

Confirm Platinum
Friday drinks/dinner
Saturday Tour 1 and Dinner
Sunday morning - depends on the amount of walking on the “places of interest” tour - if only minimal would prefer this, otherwise the museum. I will won’t be leaving until Monday, so would be up for something Sunday afternoon/dinner

 

[serfty]

Confirm Platinum for:

Friday Dinner and Drinks

Saturday Dinner

(No Saturday tour)

Sunday tour, maybe AM /Lunch only.

 

[Lynda2475]

National Automobile Museum of Australia

Is this is the one across the road from Peppers Silos? If so it is not really in the suburbs, just an easy 15 min stroll from the Grand Chancelor (no uber necessary).

For Tour #2 i would highly recommend adding a quick 15 min stop at Van Diemen's Ice Creamery and Christmas Hills Raspberry farm, 5 mins down the road from Ashgrove Cheese and well worth it. No bookings needed just stop in.

 

[Matt_01]

Confirm Platinum
Friday - drinks/dinner
Saturday - Tour 1 and Dinner
Sunday morning - will go with what is planned providing it works in with my flight out.

 

[RooFlyer]

Is this is the one across the road from Peppers Silos? If so it is not really in the suburbs, just an easy 15 min stroll from the Grand Chancelor (no uber necessary).

For Tour #2 i would highly recommend adding a quick 15 min stop at Van Diemen's Ice Creamery and Christmas Hills Raspberry farm, 5 mins down the road from Ashgrove Cheese and well worth it. No bookings needed just stop in.

No, the one in Invermay. Considered the Raspberry farm cafe but didn't work for us.

 

[Lynda2475]

No, the one in Invermay.

Peppers Silo is in Invermay and I could see the Automobile museum from my hotel window (its directly across the road, next door to office works).



It is definitely no more than 15mins walk from centre of Launceston.

 

[Mattg]

Confirming my attendance also, and a preference for Tour 1 (winery).

(BTW based on past experience with organising one of these weekends, 8.30am is probably a bit too early to plan a tour departure time - unless you need it to be that early for operational reasons.)

 

[zig]

Confirm Platinum
Friday drinks and dinner
Saturday Tour 1 and dinner
Sunday - local wander

 

[RooFlyer]

(BTW based on past experience with organising one of these weekends, 8.30am is probably a bit too early to plan a tour departure time - unless you need it to be that early for operational reasons.)

Yes, ‘fraid that’s the case. Bit of a haul out to the tulips and need to fit in the other stops. If it’s the smaller van, it’ll be later

 

[Bindibuys]

BINDIBUYS: Platinum
Friday night dinner and drinks
Tour 2 on Saturday
Dinner Saturday night
Sunday activities - (departing Monday)

CONGEWAI: Platinum
Friday night dinner and drinks
Tour 1 on Saturday
Dinner Saturday night
Sunday activiteis - (departing Monday)

Accommodation booked at Grand Chancellor, in Friday out Monday.

 

[drron]

No, the one in Invermay. Considered the Raspberry farm cafe but didn't work for us.

View attachment 326665

That address is next to Bunnings and across the road from the Silo hotel. It was relocated from opposite City Park.

 

[RooFlyer]

Folks, we know where the Auto Museum is . If anyone attending wants to visit it, they can Uber/taxi or walk, depending where they are staying (Sebel and Grand Chancellor will have most, I expect) or where they happen to be when they get the urge to visit Autos.