ozstamps

There have been 11 successful OzFests so far - in Sydney, (twice) Brisbane, Melbourne, Hobart Tasmania, Cairns Queensland, Adelaide South Australia, Darwin Northern Territory, Canberra in the ACT, Perth Western Australia, and lastly, Alice Springs and Ayers Rock/Uluru – “The Red Centre” in 2014.

There are near no other large annual FT Doos outside the USA that have chalked up 12 years running AFAIK.

Polling of FT'ers who attended “The Red Centre”, and via many private emails seems to have decided that the choice for 2015 will be -

"Bay Of Islands" - New Zealand

The location of which, for the benefit of our overseas members is shown below – north of Auckland and the location of accommodation will be the city of Paihia







Some overseas Flyertalkers may not realise it, but 2015 marks the Centenary of Gallipoli, and the long and hard fought WWI Campaign at Anzac Cove in 1915, where large numbers of Australian and New Zealand servicemen gave their lives. So having it in NZ was a logical choice.

ANZAC stood for "Australia and New Zealand Army Corps" which comprised the First Australian Imperial Force, and the First New Zealand Expeditionary Force who fought alongside each other, as a single entity.

To many, Gallipoli marked the occasion when both young new Nations truly 'became of age', and became real countries in their own right. Both saw a high % of their male population volunteer to fight in a foreign war, 10,000 miles away, with an equally high casualty rate.

Australia and New Zealand had tiny populations - a total of 5.6 million people. In both countries approximately 40% of eligible males enlisted for WW1, for a total of 670,000 enlistments. The death toll they incurred was near what the huge USA lost, in all of WWI.

This bitter campaign against the Turks formed strong and permanent bonds between the 2 “young” Commonwealth countries, and both have an annual “Anzac Day” Public Holiday, where solemn Dawn Memorial Services take place across both countries. Indeed it is somewhat akin to the USA “Memorial Day” that this event takes places over.

Democracy rules supreme with all OzFest’s, and after very many group emails with Itsalongwaydown and serfty and Mwenenzi - and most important, the NZ ground organisers Glenys - chchkiwi, and Will wijomas and Christy crankychick, I have started this thread today to officially kick off OzFest #12.

As always we will get a very good roll-out, made up as always, as history assures us, of a fair % of folks who stated early on they will "absolutely 100% not be coming to that location because .............."

The very strong feeling prevailing among those we spoke to in The Red Centre was that Anzac Centenary 2015 was a perfect year to spread our wings a little, and aim for a NEW ZEALAND location. @:-)

Hobart had 40 members signed up - pretty amazing seeing only one attending was a local, Cairns saw 59 turning up – just beating out by 1 the then previous record attendance of any OzFest - number #2 in Sydney - 58 attendees.

Adelaide was a little too big, with 75 attendees, but not all of whom were active FT'ers, causing some issues. The slightly less accessible Darwin kept numbers down to previous sorts of levels - 44. Canberra had 51 "Platinums" sign up. Perth had a surprisingly large number of Platinums - 59 - an equal record number of attendees - pretty amazing given the cost and distance of attending for most.

The "OzFest" threads each attract between 35,000 and 57,000 page views - pretty outstanding records for any FT Doos anywhere. Each thread runs to near or over 1000 posts.

OzFest Perth 2013 had near 50,000 page views, and 825 posts, so interest stayed high. The Red Centre had even more posts – about 900 of them.

"The Red Centre" attracted a few less ‘Platinums’, as airline access was VERY limited, and costs very high, but the 37 FT'ers that took this reality on board - lots of them Americans - enjoyed the weekend, and were true OzFesters, to get there and back.

The NZ organisers have already spent a good deal of time behind the scenes, and have set some plans, timetables, and costs in place, that they will I am sure share with us later on down this thread, so all can make flight plans.

Some overseas folks have indicated they would like to spend a few days before or after the Bay Of Islands (North Part Of North Island) in the SOUTH ISLAND, and maybe a side schedule can be worked out, so flights can be co-ordinated for those interested as a sub-OzFest?

MargoZ and I will certainly be among the first confirmed starters to attend, barring any calamities, and as with all the other Oz Fests, I'll be pleased to assist where I can, and if required.

I have attended all OzFests, and will certainly not miss Number TWELVE.

I've been to the Bay Of Islands a couple of times, and had New Year’s Eve there once, so it will be an interesting location. There are no USA style chain motels as far as I know – just a ton of mainly smaller apartment type places mainly along the harbour, so maybe an attractive group rate deal can be secured for our group at one, as late May will not be high season there?

Regrettably I do not have as much free time as I once did, and can't add very much to the mix, but the NZ based folks have it well in hand already.

Mwenenzi is in fact in NZ as this is typed, but with limited access to computer at this time of evening. He has as always, helped out readily behind the scenes, and given some great tips to our NZ member organisers, and we are in great hands I feel sure.

They have agreed, along with serfty to "place-marker" several early posts to add and expand on later, as is our usual policy, and that makes keeping abreast of things a cinch for all!

They will hopefully be tracking attendees, and hotels, and flights, and activity sign ups etc in these early posts. These are incredibly time consuming to keep updated, and all attendees owe them a huge vote of thanks.

If anyone is good with detail, and is happy to volunteer to co-ordinate the payment website with the NZ members, please by all means put up your hand! Not my scene, as small detail is not my forte, but getting that side of things under control early on, will ensure a smooth event.

Serfty looks to be the “king of airline movements” for attendees to and from, and his most useful link to that aspect for Cairns, Adelaide, Darwin, Canberra and Perth and Alice Springs helped lots of members buddy up for Cabs etc, and book seats together, and cut costs etc, and he has offered to do that again in 2015.

And hopefully we can once again call on the falconea’s to be name tag/table tag supremos, and we are well on our way! :d

Having ONE central hotel location that most folks use, is a VERY large plus I always feel. And it gives the organisers some leverage to extract a great group booking deal, instead of 50 FT’ers being like Brown’s cows, and all doing their own thing.

The May "Memorial Day" weekend seems very popular with USA based Flyer-talkers, and that is the weekend that was most favoured by far. We have bowed to that request, and again chosen that weekend - as we have for all other 12 x OzFests. Around half the attendees are US based at each OzFest.

That public holiday in the USA is Monday May 25, 2015. Remember if you LEAVE NZ on afternoon of Monday May 25, you ARRIVE back in the USA also on Monday May 25.

Tons of time no matter where you live in the USA, to get back home, unpack, have an early night and get organised for a day at the office next day etc.

The weather for the past 11 "OzFests" has been in general, superb and sunny. Despite June 1 - a few days later, being our official Winter start date. Even in Tasmania our most southern city, we were truly blessed with unusually nice weather.

We all thought Canberra would be a weather challenge for sure, but the Saturday and Sunday gave quite perfect weather. NZ will I hope, offer us equally amenable weather.

I get the feeling this as usual, may also turn out to be a very long thread.


Gentlemen ... please start your Engines .....................

Glen