FTO Drivers Club, Western Australia

[RichardH]

Emailed to all registered members...
------------------------------------------

Hi All.

Fancy a weekend away? Need to escape from the city for a day or two? Then
have I got a cruise for you...!

We are planning an overnight stay on Saturday April 5th at the Bunbury
Motel.

We would leave Perth shortly before lunch (in convoy, of course), have a
pitstop in Mandurah and book in at the motel in the afternoon.

From there, we could head out for a late afternoon cruise before returning
to Bunbury for dinner/drinks.

On the Sunday, we would be able to head off for a good cruise to Donnybrook,
Collie and Wellington Dam, before returning via the SW Highway.

Rooms at the hotel look like they cost about $70-$80, depending on whether
it's a twinshare, whether there's an extra person, etc. Families/other
halves welcome, of course! For those of you travelling on your own, you
should be able to arrange shared rooms amongst yourselves (eg. queensize bed
+ single bed) and keep per-head costs down.

We should get an idea of numbers interested this week. I won't be trying to
book in everyone as a club... better for us to confirm when the trip is a
"definite", then let everyone arrange their own bookings at the motel.
Assuming enough people express their interest upon receiving this, I'll be
able to confirm whether the trip is on by say this Friday March 14. You can
then plan any room shares and bookings via the forum at www.ftowa.com and
call the hotel yourselves.

A final itinerary will be posted in due course. Big thanks to Jeff C for
posting up the original trip plan, finding the hotel details, etc. Great
work!

So please let me know if you would like to join us. The way this mad year
has been so far, Karen and I could certainly do with a weekend break!!!

Cheers,

- Rich

PS. If anybody has a PS2, XBox, etc., why not add them to the list of
"things to take"? Wouldn't say no to a late-night gaming session in the
motel, hehe.

[RichardH]

Emailed to registered members...
---------------------------------------

We may have better luck on the weekend of April 12th/13th, as some people
will be out the weekend before on the Rollaboyz "Size Does Matter" Cruise
(see http://www.rollaboyz.org.au for details).

As far as I understand, this later date is still a week before
Easter/end-of-school-term. With any luck, we won't have any problems
booking accommodation. And hopefully, this won't clash with anything else.


So let's aim for staying over in Bunbury the night of Saturday April 12th!

Cheers,

- Rich

[RichardH]

Okay, so who's interested in the Bunbury trip on April 12/13...?

So far, we've got:

- Me, hopefully with Karen and Katrina coming down (in the other car)
- Rosemary & Liam (Bunbury locals, as it turns out!)
- Kym
- Fred

Mark, you up for it, now it's a week later than the RB cruise?

Anyone else on here interested? I'll be doing another mailout in a day or two, and gauge interest a bit more closely...

...but so far, it looks like a goer to me.

- Rich

[BASSULA]

we should be able to get there.. I had planned a compitition that weekend but my host fell thru so its been pushed back a few.. so that weekend is now FREE!! YAY

cheers

[RichardH]

I've talked to the manager of the Bunbury motel.

He's offered us a 10% discount for the booking, seeing as we'll be taking a decent old number of rooms.

We don't have to pay a deposit.

We can book individually too.

...but we do need to book fairly rapidly, as Saturday nights fill up pretty regularly.

I'll email and post this weekend with a final plan, and we can then all ring and book our required accomodation.

- Rich

[RichardH]

Emailed to those people who are
confirmed/probable on this trip:

--------------------------------------

It's time for everyone to book a room at the Bunbury Motel for the night of
Saturday April 12th. The motel details are as follows:

45 Forrest Ave, Bunbury, WA 6230
9721 7333
Toll Free 1800 017 333

I've talked to the manager (Gilbert), and he's offered us a group discount
of 10%. Just mention you're with the FTO car club.

You can all book individually, and you shouldn't need a deposit.

They have a variety of rooms. Just ask what they have, mention the number
and type of beds you need (double vs. twin share, etc.) and book whatever
you wish. Don't leave it too long though, as Saturdays "tend to fill up".

The list of people going looks like this...

- Rosemary and Liam
- Kym and friend
- Fred
- Graeme and Fay
- Richard - maybe Karen and Katrina too
- Jeff (probably)
- Rowan and Yvonne (probably)
- Mark? And Sarah?

If you're a "probably", and won't know for a while, why not give the motel a
ring and discuss booking a room even though your plans aren't 100% settled.
I'm sure that they won't mind the possibility of a cancellation as long as
you give them enough notice.

If anyone is interested in going halves in a room with anyone else, why not
sort it out between yourselves via the forum at www.ftowa.com ?

Please email me ([email protected]) to let me know how you're getting on with your individual
bookings. I'm trying to keep track of everything to ensure nobody turns up
to find an absence of a roof over their heads that night! I'd hate for
anyone to sleep in the carpark!!

Cheers,

- Rich

[RichardH]

Okay, I've booked.

Got a double room, and asked for a cot as well. Karen and Katrina are expecting to come down.

- Rich

[Kym]

Hello all. I have already booked and paid for my room in Bunbury. The rooms for twinshare are about $67.50, but we need to give a time as to when we will be arriving in Bunbury to check in so our rooms are ready.

Dol

[Fred]

Hmm.... not much luck in pulling some other FTOs for the cruise hey...

So we only have 7 or 8 cars?

[RichardH]

Ah, 3 cars, 8 cars... The vehicle count doesn't make or break it... Some of the best convoy drives I've ever had have been only 3-4 vehicles.

Like a rather enthusiastic run we did up Chittering Rd near RAAF Pearce. Magic.

I should note that all of the Bunbury driving will be relaxed cruising, and not some insane dash about the countryside!

- Rich

PS. I'll be putting the final routes/times together asap, so we know when we're leaving, checking in, etc.

[BASSULA]

I will have a chat to faye bout this and prolly book a room in the next day or 2!!

cheers

[Fred]

Would somebody like to share an accommodation with me?

Email me if you're interested or just leave a note here.

Cheers

Fred

[RichardH]

Itinerary just posted to www.ftowa.com 'Events' page:

--------------------------------------------------------------

Weekend Itinerary:

- Meet for departure Saturday April 12th, 11:30am at Gateway Shopping Centre, Success (cnr Kwinana Fwy and Beeliar Drive). Leave at 12:00 noon sharp. Drive to Mandurah, stop for lunch. Drive to Bunbury, arriving around 4pm. Check in.

- Saturday night: we will arrange dinner at a local restaurant. Details soon!

- Sunday morning: A cruise around Donnybrook, Collie and Wellington Dam.

- Return to Perth late Sunday afternoon (ie. lunch plus a leisurely return run).

Of course, we can tailor our regional plans once we're down there, depending on weather, enthusiasm for long drives, etc.

--------------------------------------------------------

- Rich

[RichardH]

More details on what's lined up for our night in Bunbury...

- Saturday evening: Watch the sun set from Hungry Hollow tavern (overlooking the beach). Then off to dinner at Hog's Breath Cafe at 7:30pm.

Thanks to Bunbury locals Liam & Rosemary for the recommendation!

- Rich

[BASSULA]

we are finally booked!!

will be a good weekend.

looking foreward to it.

cheers