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Besides the Mini Meets at Birdy's every Saturday morning there is not much on the calendar for Sydney untill the Aniversary weekend in August.

This just won't do!!!!!

Is anyone interested in attending a meet one weekend soon where we get out and about?

Some initial suggestions:

- Spit to Manly Walk (or just Spit if we are lazy)
- Royal National Park
- Bobbin Head
- Balmoral (not sure if there is much around here other than the beach?)

Just thought it would be nice to get together again for some more photography (had such a blast at the caves)

What do the Sydney siders think?

Maybe answer with which weekend and which location (feel free to suggest more) you would prefer and then we can poll the results.

W00DY

Woody
Good idea! I'll watch this thread for awhile and see what others think...meanwhile, I'll see if I can come up with some good ideas.

W00DY wrote:Besides the Mini Meets at Birdy's every Saturday morning there is not much on the calendar for Sydney untill the Aniversary weekend in August.

This just won't do!!!!!

Is anyone interested in attending a meet one weekend soon where we get out and about?

Some initial suggestions:

- Spit to Manly Walk (or just Spit if we are lazy)
- Royal National Park
- Bobbin Head
- Balmoral (not sure if there is much around here other than the beach?)

Just thought it would be nice to get together again for some more photography (had such a blast at the caves)

What do the Sydney siders think?

Maybe answer with which weekend and which location (feel free to suggest more) you would prefer and then we can poll the results.

W00DY

Great idea Woody!! Can I just say the Spit to Manly walk isn't a particularly easy walk, Bel and I did it in about 2hrs last year and we had a very restricted time limit - however I took about 100 or more shots along the way with the D70!! I think your last choice of Balmoral couldn't be better..and there's way more than the beach, including some amazing trees, rock formations, a walk-over bridge over sand, a swimming section with a funky net that's suspended by a long piece of steel/wire, sailing boats, swimmers, joggers, cafe yuppies, a sports field, sailing boats pulled up on the beach to name just a few images that could be of interest...there is also a bottle shop nearby too for a few coldies hahaha. I think this would be a great spot and there is the rotunda there too so there is some protection if we got there early enough we could possibly 'reserve' it but it's a common spot for bridal parties to have wedding shots..another potential opportunity for us. I'd be keen to know what others think of this location - HTH.

Geoff.

Woody,

Spit to Manly sounds great to me! Question is - when?

Count me in. It would be great to do Muogamurra/Marramarra National Park as well some wonderful views of Brooklyn and up to the Blue Mountains. However I am not sure of the dates that this Park is open

W00DY wrote:Besides the Mini Meets at Birdy's every Saturday morning there is not much on the calendar for Sydney untill the Aniversary weekend in August.

This just won't do!!!!!

Is anyone interested in attending a meet one weekend soon where we get out and about?

Some initial suggestions:

- Spit to Manly Walk (or just Spit if we are lazy)
- Royal National Park
- Bobbin Head
- Balmoral (not sure if there is much around here other than the beach?)

Just thought it would be nice to get together again for some more photography (had such a blast at the caves)

What do the Sydney siders think?

Maybe answer with which weekend and which location (feel free to suggest more) you would prefer and then we can poll the results.

W00DY

How about a Canberra trip

I seem to recall birddog mentioned something about the Blue Mountains somewhere - can't remember where - I may be imagining!

In any case I'll attend whatever the consenus is if possible (petrol prices notwithstanding grrrr).

Also Canberra in Autumn sounds good, but not really a day trip! Can we all crash at your place MHD?

stubbsy wrote:In any case I'll attend whatever the consenus is if possible (petrol prices notwithstanding grrrr).

Don't try telling me about it, I spend more on petrol than I do on food, and I eat well.

pippin88 wrote:

stubbsy wrote:In any case I'll attend whatever the consenus is if possible (petrol prices notwithstanding grrrr).

Don't try telling me about it, I spend more on petrol than I do on food, and I eat well.

Catch the train

Birddog114 wrote:

pippin88 wrote:

stubbsy wrote:In any case I'll attend whatever the consenus is if possible (petrol prices notwithstanding grrrr).

Don't try telling me about it, I spend more on petrol than I do on food, and I eat well.

Catch the train

Or car pool

Mal wrote:
Count me in. It would be great to do Muogamurra/Marramarra National Park as well some wonderful views of Brooklyn and up to the Blue Mountains. However I am not sure of the dates that this Park is open

I have never heard of these National Parks??? Are they easy to get to (ie: car accesable). Is there a few bush walks we could do?

Geoff wrote:
I think your last choice of Balmoral couldn't be better

So that's one (big) vote for Balmoral. It is a nice place down there so maybe this could be the go for this time.

Hlop wrote:
Spit to Manly sounds great to me! Question is - when?

We might have to see what the interest is as it is a long walk. I have done it once in Summer and having a swim on the way was nice, obviously we couldn't do that this time of year (well maybe last Sunday!!!).

Ok so how does Balmoral sound?

Should we try and make it an early start so we get the morning light, thinking of breakfast at the beach here

If anyone from Newcastle does want to get the train down I can pick people up from either Hornsby or Chatswood station and drop them off again. Might be easier than driving?

Also next question is when?

Sundays are probably better for me and this way we can all still go to Birdy's on Saturday if we wish.

W00DY

W00DY wrote:

Mal wrote:
Count me in. It would be great to do Muogamurra/Marramarra National Park as well some wonderful views of Brooklyn and up to the Blue Mountains. However I am not sure of the dates that this Park is open

I have never heard of these National Parks??? Are they easy to get to (ie: car accesable). Is there a few bush walks we could do?

Marramarra National Park is intentionally not promoted by the NWPS, but some tracks are open to the public. Muogamarra Nature Reserve on the other hand is one of the most fiercely protected parks in the National Parks system... It is only open for a couple of weeks a year (I think in August) so that people can see the wild flowers, but is only accessible with a guide...

See Marramarra and Muogamarra for further information...

leek wrote:

Marramarra National Park is intentionally not promoted by the NWPS, but some tracks are open to the public. Muogamarra Nature Reserve on the other hand is one of the most fiercely protected parks in the National Parks system... It is only open for a couple of weeks a year (I think in August) so that people can see the wild flowers, but is only accessible with a guide...

Thanks for the info Leek...

I will have to check out Marramarra National Park , sounds nice.

W00DY

Do we have to start a new thread if we want to include a poll or can we add a poll to an existing thread?

If we can add one I can't seem to work out how to do it ???

W00DY

Birddog114 wrote:Catch the train

Unfortunately slow and I couldn't bring all my gear, and then I couldn't get to the Mini Meets easily.

huynhie wrote:Or car pool

I actually do drive about 2 or 3 people back with me, I'm virtually a mini taxi service.

I'm not really complaining, I do get a fair bit out of my use of petrol, I just like to have a bit of a grumble.

pippin88 wrote:

Birddog114 wrote:Catch the train

Unfortunately slow and I couldn't bring all my gear, and then I couldn't get to the Mini Meets easily.

huynhie wrote:Or car pool

I actually do drive about 2 or 3 people back with me, I'm virtually a mini taxi service.

I'm not really complaining, I do get a fair bit out of my use of petrol, I just like to have a bit of a grumble.

Last options:
- Convert to LPG or Charcoal

Any more Sydeny siders keen to catch up one Sunday, possibly at Balmoral?

Maybe we should just start a poll for dates?

A Sunday at Balmoral may work for me, but probably not till May.

-

Spit to Manly Walk (or just Spit if we are lazy)
- Royal National Park
- Bobbin Head
- Balmoral (not sure if there is much around here other than the beach?)

yawn (IMAO)

How about a Canberra trip

yeah - perfect time of year for it .
even bowral /mittagong/jervis bay looks beaut in Autumn.
or
anyone from the Hunter Valley? How are the vineyards looking - have the vines turned yet? Then we can do a taste tour as well- mmm mmm

Im thinking that we should be looking at events were our collective $$ can get us better deals ie accomodation,airfare etc , then we can shoot some really scenic locations . PS - Anyone had a go of the see-through floored carriage up at the Blue mountains yet ? ide love to see us all in that one ! LOL

what about Western Plains (Dubbo) zoo?
even Taronga for the sydney ppl...

lejazzcat wrote:
even bowral /mittagong/jervis bay looks beaut in Autumn.
or
anyone from the Hunter Valley? How are the vineyards looking - have the vines turned yet? Then we can do a taste tour as well- mmm mmm

Im thinking that we should be looking at events were our collective $$ can get us better deals ie accomodation,airfare etc , then we can shoot some really scenic locations . PS - Anyone had a go of the see-through floored carriage up at the Blue mountains yet ? ide love to see us all in that one ! LOL

Hi lejazzcat,

All great ideas and ones which I am sure lot's of members (including myself) would be happy with.

The idea of the Sunday meet was more just for people to get together and take some photos rather than travelling a long way for a weekend or full day.

The saturday meets are fantastic (if any Sydney members have not been to them, you should...) but not everyone can make Saturdays due to work or other commitments so this was just an alternative for a weekend.

I think we would have to do this in May as April is flying past

W00DY

lejazzcat wrote:anyone from the Hunter Valley? How are the vineyards looking - have the vines turned yet? Then we can do a taste tour as well- mmm mmm

Harvest complete. Picking finsihed late Feb.

I'm organising a trip for us next Jan or Feb for something like you propose. I have contacts in the HV wine industry (as does at least one other forum member) and we should be able to organise good access to grapes and processing when it's happening. More on this next year

Hey Peter - we should get our heads together and make this a MAXI-meet (ie: a couple of days!)
Let's make sure we include Draytons on the list - some of the nicest Ports up there IMHO

sheepie wrote:Hey Peter - we should get our heads together and make this a MAXI-meet (ie: a couple of days!)
Let's make sure we include Draytons on the list - some of the nicest Ports up there IMHO

Agreed! should consider an overnight somewhere in the HV, cos, we can't drive home after a long day at the wineries.

Should avoid very long or rugged walks if everybody is packing cameras, lenses, tripods etc. I don't want to embarress myself by conking out at the 57 kilometre mark.

Eh... one of us will be there to pick you up, Matt.

Or at least your gear.

sheepie wrote:Let's make sure we include Draytons on the list - some of the nicest Ports up there IMHO

Any port in a storm. HV Maxi-meet sounds fantastic!

I'm organising a trip for us next Jan or Feb for something like you propose. I have contacts in the HV wine industry (as does at least one other forum member) and we should be able to organise good access to grapes and processing when it's happening. More on this next year

Peter Perfect! - but what a pity we have to wait till then though .

Peter,
We can call it half year Maxi Meet!