AFF Gathers: In RADelaide!! [28-30 November 2008]

[Keith009]

Thanks everyone for an awesome weekend. Thanks in particular to Flashware who did most of the organising, oz_mark for doing such a beautiful job with the b*s, sris for her fantastic recommendations, anat0l for the lovely name badges, and Virgin Blue for bothering to organise a rep. And of course, everyone else for coming and being such great company.

I look forward to AFF Gathers 3!
Suggestions thrown around were SYD, BNE, HBA, PER... and an 'away' Gathering in DPS, SIN or NZ but that's more of a 'somewhere in the not-too-distant future' idea.

For now, I await the pics from AFF Gathers 2.

 

[JohnK]

I think my post was misunderstood, but anyway....

Hey John, so it has to be Sydney or Brisbane ?

Not at all. Other good locations could be Surfers Paradise, Sunshine Coast, Coolangatta/Tweed Heads, Byron Bay, Canberra, Blue Mountains, Newcastle, Melbourne, Murray River, Townsville, Cairns.

How about Thailand ? i would not mind so much, not so far to fly for me

Works for me!

 

[anat0l]

Other good locations could be Surfers Paradise, Sunshine Coast, Coolangatta/Tweed Heads, Byron Bay, Canberra, Blue Mountains, Newcastle, Melbourne, Murray River, Townsville, Cairns.

My opinions:

• Surfers: trashy
• Sunshine Coast: interesting
• OOL: perhaps
• Byron Bay: what to do?
• CBR: boring (unless you're into politics)
• Blue Mountains: interesting (snow Gather?)
• NTL: boring, unless there's a "kick on" into SYD
• MEL: done it before - wouldn't mind it again (MEL has the most beautiful CBD in Australia IMHO); perhaps could include part Great Ocean Drive and/or Ballarat (although I have done both before as well)
• Murray River: where on the River? (ABX, MQL?)
• TSV: perhaps, unless it's storm season
• CNS: OzFest #6 will tell......

Moreover, going to the Gold Coast (any part of it) - and now the Sunshine Coast - at any time near or in November is practically suicide, since that's when Schoolies is on. (Not only that, but try getting a room during Schoolies - you'll split your head open sooner than you'll get a decent one). Other events in town will affect availability of rooms, which I think should be considered when thinking about the time and place. AFF Gather 1 wasn't too bad but the key was for people to book fairly early. Since I didn't jump onto the bandwagon early enough, I paid the price, figuratively and literally (and there are at least 2 puns in that sentence alone!).

Finally:

• BKK: when the siege dies down, maybe (I haven't been to BKK before). Of course, golfing is not the only thing that will be on the agenda, JohnK :mrgreen:

I like the idea of "get away" Gathers (i.e. international dos in AFF). However, participation may or may not be limited since there will be a somewhat greater commitment on the part of the attendees to book international tickets to get to and from the Gathers. Not to say this should stop us from thinking about it, however........

For those of us who have kids (in school or otherwise), is there a preference to have these dos in school time or out of school time (i.e. in school holidays)?

My preferences at the moment are MEL, SYD or PER. PER would be nice to coincide with the Red Bull Air Race (how many days is that?). SYD brings up some interesting possiblities for activities.

 

[Keith009]

When's Red Bull Air Race?

 

[oz_mark]

When's Red Bull Air Race?

Usually early November on a Sat and Sun, but have not seen any dates for 2009 yet.

 

[notzac]

At this stage I'm still trying to work out whether I can reasonably make it

As it turned out - I couldn't reasonably make it at such a late stage I wasn't able to secure airfares at anything even remotely resembling a reasonable price.

Sounds like a good time was had by all, I will have to make a point of being more organised for next time!

 

[straitman]

Red Bull Air Race details are at the attached link.

No details appear for 2009 as yet.

http://www.redbullairrace.com/races.php?id=10&subpage=10〈=en

 

[anat0l]

A trip report for this do from my perspective now complete and available for viewing by following this link.