ozstamps

There have been 12 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, Alice Springs and Ayers Rock/Uluru – “The Red Centre” in 2014, and New Zealand in 2015.

There are no other large annual FT Doos outside the USA that have chalked up 13 years running on the same weekend.

Polling of FT'ers who attended the Bay Of Islands in NZ in May, and via many private emails seems to have decided that the choice for 2016 will be -

"Coolangatta - Gold Coast Queensland" Australia.

The location of which, for the benefit of our overseas members is shown in the map above – an hour or so drive south of Brisbane, and the location of accommodation will be the city of Coolangatta – airline code OOL - and this general area was once upon a time widely known as “Surfers Paradise”. It is on the state border between NSW and Queensland and is in Queensland.







Democracy rules supreme with all OzFest’s, and after several group emails with Itsalongwaydown and serfty and Mwenenzi - and most important, the Gold Coast ground organisers Lindsay (QF WP) and Vicki (Mrs QF WP) and Sarah (ozbeachbabe) and their highly paid assistants and volunteers, I have started this thread today to officially kick off OzFest #12.

This year a common access account for the ad-hoc organising committee titled “OzFest (OzFest Organisers)” was approved by the Flyertalk Community Director, and the early informational posts here in this thread will show as that account, so they can be edited at will by those involved.

As always, we will get a very good roll-out of attendees, 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 .............."

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" show 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 here each have attracted between 35,000 and 57,000 page views - pretty outstanding records for any FT Doos anywhere. Each “OzFest” thread has ran to 750 to 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, and this year’s NZ OzFest #12 has had way over 50,000 page views.

"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.

OzFest #13 right up in the Bay Of Islands got a very respectable 39 attendees, after several last minute cancellations, and despite the rather remote location chosen for the event.

The Gold Coast will be the reverse, with many carriers flying in to OOL direct, and it is a very short drive from Brisbane - only a hour or so south.

MargoZ and I will certainly be among the first confirmed starters to post, 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 Australian OzFests, and certainly hope not to miss Number THIRTEEN.

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.

Our ad-hoc Committee will 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.

Serfty looks to be the “king of airline movements” for attendees to and from, and his most useful link to that aspect in past OzFests has 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 2016.

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 Hilton Surfers Paradise seems the universally popular choice as “Hotel Central” as it has an Executive Lounge on the 15th floor, that many will quality to access, or can be guested into etc. I am sure Lindsay will try and negotiate a decent group rate, and advise later of any Hilton code to use, for those wishing to stay Hilton. @:-)

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 30, 2015. Remember if you LEAVE Australia on afternoon of Monday May 30, you ARRIVE back in the USA also early morning on Monday May 30.

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.

As around 50% of attendees are American, TODAY actually sees the best $A/$US Exchange rate for SIX years – See for yourself! - http://ow.ly/Q1yj1


So pre-booking internal flights and hotels price in $A right NOW allows Americans to lock in that historic low rate. Any British attendees, the same advice applies – Sterling has strengthened near 10% in recent times. Depends if you are a gambler on it going lower - or not!

The weather for the past 12 "OzFests" has been in general, superb and sunny. Despite June 1 – the next day, 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 and Hobart would be a weather challenge for sure, but the Saturday and Sunday gave quite perfect weather. Even NZ offered pretty 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
.