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

Added to Calendar: 13-10-23, 14-10-23, 15-10-23

Tulpips NW Tas Oct 18-28.jpg

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.




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).




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.
 
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It's not far at all. have walked it from the CBD in less than 10 minutes many times.
 
Cool, just used the new VA upgrade system that I helped design (to my detriment). LST/BNE is 1,032 miles - that's 4 upgrade credits as it's over 1K miles :( Stuff it, I've got 4 and never confident using them by my year end. 2.5 hour flight so marginally worth the upgrade from EconX. At least dinner and a drink are sorted (it's a 9.10pm flight).
 
A call out to the wine tour attendees - the first stop on our wine tours is at the Jansz Wine Room - Jansz is a Sparkling wine house.

This tasting is optional as apparently some people don't like sparkling wines... :eek: so it was not included in the tour cost.

The tasting is $20, and includes 6 different sparkling wines, it is curated and takes ~45 minutes.

(I could only find a photo of mostly empty glasses post tasting on my phone but you get the idea.)
jansz.jpg

Now the attendees are confirmed and its getting close - I want to let Jansz know how many will be tasting, to avoid delays while waiting for the staff to set up more places etc and making us late to our next stop.

Can all wine tour attendees please post here with 'yes' or 'no' (or send me a DM)

@PrezRegan @QF WP @Bindibuys @Jacques Vert @Gem56 @Major @Flyrner @straitman @Sprucegoose @Doug_Westcott @zig
@WilsonM @Matt_01 @gwilli1 @admin @Mattg @Ade @meMEme

admin, Major & Bindibuys, please also advise for your +1's


Looking forward to meeting some new faces and catching up with familiar faces
 

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A call out to the wine tour attendees - the first stop on our wine tours is at the Jansz Wine Room - Jansz is a Sparkling wine house.

This tasting is optional as apparently some people don't like sparkling wines... :eek: so it was not included in the tour cost.

The tasting is $20, and includes 6 different sparkling wines, it is curated and takes ~45 minutes.

(I could only find a photo of mostly empty glasses post tasting on my phone but you get the idea.)
View attachment 349061

Now the attendees are confirmed and its getting close - I want to let Jansz know how many will be tasting, to avoid delays while waiting for the staff to set up more places etc and making us late to our next stop.

Can all wine tour attendees please post here with 'yes' or 'no' (or send me a DM)

@PrezRegan @QF WP @Bindibuys @Jacques Vert @Gem56 @Major @Flyrner @straitman @Sprucegoose @Doug_Westcott @zig
@WilsonM @Matt_01 @gwilli1 @admin @Mattg @Ade @meMEme

admin, Major & Bindibuys, please also advise for your +1's


Looking forward to meeting some new faces and catching up with familiar faces
Yes
 
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I had been trying to organise a visit from one of the winemakers from Pipers Brook/Kreglinger to talk and answer questions while we are enjoying lunch at the onsite Café Nadine's and tasting their wines. I can forward any requests or questions posted here or sent by DM

Hi Steady,

I hope you are well and looking forward to your visit this weekend.

Due to a public holiday this week, all of our winemaking team are unavailable so instead I have arranged for some complimentary magnums to be presented to your group once seated, to kick off your lunch with some complimentary Kreglinger bubbles.

Additionally, you’ll find a special offer to purchase these magnums which are usually only available to club members, and a free gift valued at $179 for anyone who joins the club on the day, via the forms that we’ll have set out for you.

I hope this helps add something special to the visit, and if there are any special requests or questions that I can help with, please do let me know!

Thanks so much!
 
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Hi Folks. I'll be interstate this weekend, so sadly I'm a no. I hope you all have a great time and enjoy the fabulous Tassie hospitality. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up with your next time.

DB
 
Woo triple upgrade!

Controversial opinion - I put in upgrades for all my flights, domestic and international, if I can't get a J award ticket. I don't remember all my J class experiences but I definitely remember the Y ones, particularly the red eyes...

In the immortal words of Leonardo da Vinci: "Once you have tasted J, you will forever seek to fly out from the front, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return"
(some poetic licence taken) :p
 

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