Janey

Cool photo I can't believe Mark hid behind Ira ! :evil: Dark and Interfecus it is great that you are both thinking of joining Kapi-Mana ! We would love to have you. Our next meeting is tomorrow night so I will email you both shortly with the details. Joze has also joined Kapi-Mana, now we just have to go to work on Ira

Awww Cees, did you not see this thread? Next time we have a social event I will let you know directly

It was also lovely to have Caryl and Grant up for the weekend, you guys are welcome anytime

It went very well thanks Andrew Thanks to all who came, we had a great turn out (34 was the final count I think), and everyone who said they were going to come turned up! We had members from Kapi-Mana (obviously), Marlborough, Hawkes Bay, Upper Hutt and Wellington clubs. It was lovely to meet Joze (& family), Dark (& Demi & Sean) and Interfecus, hopefully we will see you all again at future events. It was also good to see you again Ira. Warren did make it down, and I am hoping that he made it home again safely :-? Someone is bound to have some photos, and Caryl took one of the people who post in the Fishroom which she will no doubt post when she gets back to Blenheim tonight.

Hey guys, we are definately still on for today... Hope you can both make it We have some club members coming from Paraparaumu and they didn't seem to think they would have a problem getting down here.

oooh inter you are my best friend! I LOVE russian fudge I'm not sure if anyone is after guppies at the moment, I have never had much luck with them myself. I have managed to get 10 bristlenoses of my mums partner Richard for you and Ira to share

I wondered what you were talking about for a minute there, but have finally clicked

lol, I know what you mean... when I tell people I belong to a fish club they think I must be into fishing or something! Ira, a potato salad would be great, I'm not sure what others are bringing but it should just sort itself out on the day! Also, I got an email from someone called "Noah" asking for the address and I have tried replying but it keeps coming back to me saying failed delivery. Noah, can you please PM me on here or give me another email address to try? Cheers.

Hi all, due to all the yucky weather we have been having and since there is more forecast we are going to hold the BBQ at my mums place (who is also a FNZAS member) in Tawa. If you are planning on coming and need the address, please email me. Jane

Just a quick note people, if the weather isn't suitable for a BBQ at QEII park on Saturday, the BBQ will NOT be cancelled, it will be held at my mums house in Tawa. She has a garage with rumpus room attached which we can all stay cosy and dry in.

Nick, were you at our last meeting? If you were you mustn't have been listening! We agreed by general consensus that the BBQ would be on Saturday. Can you make it? I vote for cheesecake too, YUM!! Not sure of numbers yet, will do a ring around of our members this week. At this stage I would guess it will be somewhere between 20-30.

Andrew: We won't be going via Palmerston on our way up, but I will give you a ring on Sunday to see where you are and maybe we will cross paths somewhere ! Of course if you decide to come to our BBQ, that solves that problem anyway. Joze, what was the $25 for? To join our club maybe? Although that is only $20...

Of course Andrew, everyone is welcome ! The more the merrier Will you be able to make it Joze? Especially since you are so close! Dark, we look forward to meeting you, hopefully you will like us so much you decide to join our club! Anyone else keen? If it is raining on Saturday morning I will post a message on this thread with the address that it will be held at. Most likely in Tawa (but I better check with mum first! - lol)

Hi all Since there has been a bit of an interest in our clubs upcoming BBQ, I thought I would issue an official invite to everyone ! Here are the details: Saturday 21st February @ 1pm Queen Elizabeth Park, Paekakariki I have never been to the park before but apparently you go in at the Mackays crossing entrance and go right to the end of the road, then turn right (or is it left?) then there is picnic tables etc etc, so hopefully we will all find each other. If anyone gets lost call me on my cell 021 245 1456 If you are planning on coming (cool!) please let me know, we need to know numbers etc as our club will provide the meat. All we ask you to bring is some sort of salad or something for desert. (Again, it might be a good idea to let me know what you plan on bringing so we don't end up with 5 pasta salads or anything!) If it is raining on Saturday 21st, we will still have the BBQ but it will be moved to someones house, I will let you know where that is closer to the time. If anyone needs any further details, just ask! Jane

Hey cool, this is really exciting! Everyone wants to come! I am going to start a new thread with an official invite to everyone here. Warren, it would be an honour to have your presence at our BBQ or club meeting, whichever you prefer. Gosh I really hope the weather is good that weekend! If it is a crap day, we will have it at one of our club members houses.

ooh, I will be coming through Palmy on Sunday on my way back from the exec meeting in Turangi, THEN I will be seeing Caryl the following weekend. I could play messenger?

Hi Dark, good stuff ! Kapi-Mana club is having a BBQ on Saturday 21st February at Queen Elizabeth Park in Paekakariki. You and your family and any other hangers-on are most welcome to join us. Our next club meeting is on Wednesday 25th February, we meet at our presidents house in Plimmerton. Let me know if you want more details Jane

Because the FNZAS subsidises the cost of the Aquarium World magazine for members

The Wellington club meets in a hall just down the road from where I live in Ngaio, which is kind of Northern Wellington. We have a couple of members who also belong to the Wellington club. PS: Join Kapi-Mana!

Ooooh, I will jump in first here! Where in Wellington to you live? I belong to the Kapi-Mana club which is a very cool wee friendly club! We have a meeting once a month in Plimmerton, and also try to get together at least once a month for some sort of social event. i.e. dinner, go-karting etc... We have just 13 members at the moment, but are always keen to welcome new people along. We are kicking 2004 off with a BBQ which is either on the 24th or 25th (can't remember) and will be at QEII park in Paraparaumu. Let me know if you are interested in coming along to meet the troops, family and friends all welcome of course There are also 2 other clubs in Wellington, the Upper Hutt club and the Wellington club, but I'm sure someone else will be able to tell you about them. Hope to see you soon! Jane

Sorry, have just re-read this thread and have a couple more things to add! :-? I think the people complaining are forgetting that it wasn't just a few people who wanted a holiday that decided to have conference 2004 offshore, it was decided by a majority vote at the 2002 conference in Napier and each club had the opportunity to have their say then. It is too late to be complaining about it now, the decision has already been made. The snorkelling at Hideaway Island in Vanuatu was good, but we were staying on the island so could walk out of our room and into the water It is a 15 minute bus ride from Port Vila and then 5 minutes by ferry to the island, it costs 500 vatu (approx $7.50) to gain access to the island. There was a lady with her 3 young daughers staying there at the same time as us who were very disappointed with the snorkelling. If you are a 'hard-core' snorkeller like myself and Mark it is great, you can get out past all the broken trodden-on dead coral to the good stuff. But we were at least a few hundred metres off-shore and were duck-diving down to probably about 5 metres so not really good for kids, oh yeah and some of our snorkelling sessions lasted for over 1.5 hours! Also they had a bad cyclone through there in January last year so a lot of the coral is just rubble. There are still some great fish to see though. The logistics of giving everyone a choice of venue made it just not possible. The pricing for June has only just become available from travel agents - yes, it's true, all the current specials were only released after Christmas. As for getting someone to look after your pets.. surely that is a small consideration? It sure isn't going to stop us going, and we have a marine tank that needs daily maintenance, two cats, and a (very cute) house rabbit who needs daily attentions also. Where there is a will there is a way and if you really want to go you will overcome all these problems. Look at me, I have written another novel, oh dear

I have had a quote from my travel agent today for $1449, this is EX WELLINGTON, and includes 7 nights accommodation on plantation island and all fijian taxes, it also includes the airfare from Nadi to Plantation Island. I think that's pretty good! Also, people are saying that they were told the trip would only cost $1000, well obviously that didn't include spending money!! So the difference between $1000 and $1449 isn't totally horrendous like it is being made out to be. I really can't understand everyones agro about this, if you want to come, come! If you don't want to or can't afford it - don't! Please stop making those of us who are going and really looking forward to it feel guilty. Mark and I are so looking forward to it, we are going to spend an extra week there after conference because 7 days just isn't long enough!

Hi markc, fins'n'fangs closed about a year ago. I believe they ran out of money, but could be wrong!

PS Mark just told me to add: we would both be happy to go back to Vanuatu, we really loved our holiday there. We are lucky enough to be able to afford it though, whereas some people might not. Ultimately, we both like John and trust his judgement

Vanuatu vs Fiji OK, I would prefer Fiji over Vanuatu but that's only because I went to Vanuatu last month ) To give you an idea, Mark and I paid $1733 ex Auckland for 10 nights in Vanuatu, that included all taxes, travel insurance and airport/hotel transfers. We then spent AT LEAST $3000 while we were there on food and entertainment. Admittedly we did a lot of scuba-diving which was probably about $1200 of that. An average main course in Vanuatu is between $20-$30 NZD which doesn't sound too bad, but when you are eating out for lunch AND dinner every day it adds up pretty quickly. To go for a day trip out on a boat was about $110 per person. There are definately ways to save yourself some money, going to the supermarket and buying your own food (which was also quite expensive), but then who wants to worry about that while you are supposed to be relaxing on holiday! We ended up just doing whatever we wanted, and decided to worry about the money when we got home! As for stuff to do there, we personally didn't think there was terribly much! We are really into our scuba-diving so did that every day, plus heaps of snorkelling, but if we hadn't been in the water I think we would have been scratching for things to keep ourselves entertained. Another thing to consider is there are very few snorkelling beaches in Vanuatu, none in Port Vila at all I don't think (although I'm not sure if there is good snorkelling in Erakor Lagoon where Le Meridien is). The best snorkelling was on Hideaway Island where we stayed which was just excellent! Probably much like Plantation Island in Fiji (except much much smaller). It is excellent to be able to walk out of your room onto the beach and into the water. Le Meridien is about 3km out of Port Vila so you need to catch buses etc, which are really cheap ($3 each way). But it would be kind of nice to be able to walk everywhere. There is definately more to consider than just the cost of the airfare. Admittedly Vanuatu looks cheaper at the moment but the cost of actually BEING there is probably more. I have never been to Fiji so I'm really not sure of the prices of food etc, but I have heard from numerous sources that it is cheaper than Vanuatu. Also, I talked to my travel agent on Friday and she said to wait a couple of months. At the moment the cost of the airfare alone to Fiji is $1200, she said wait till Jan/Feb and the airfare will come down to about $899 and you can save about $300-$400! John has done a great job investigating all the venue options, we caught up with him in Vanuatu and he was taking his quest very seriously. Wherever we end up holding conference I will definately be going!