Let me just say - IB and Judy organise the absolute best cruizes !!!! From the roads to the places of interest ...... oh ...... and as for the food :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: We left Canberra on Friday, to Bungendore for bekky, but no pics 'cause I was hungry. Then we pushed on; to Braidwood, Batemans Bay and a stop at Moruya for an ice cream, so I took some pics of the cars as, because we were late, John and Marilyn from Sydney had caught up with us. then we soon arrived at our lodgings at Eden, It was good to catch up with Doug, Jack and Mikey from Melbourne over Chinese for dinner. Then next morning after a cooked brekky we joined up for a cruize to Tathra for lunch; Nice shirt Mikey, conservative but nice :biggrin: What a lovely site for a pub: Talking of pubs, the rest of the folk arrived over Saturday and we met for dinner at the local Eden bistro; Lookin' fine Dougie !!! Then it was the main course; Then an "IB and Judy gourmet BBQ" in the park. What a treat !!! Surprisingly an inpromptu Tech Day. And there was the local vacuum cleaner who popped in for a quick slurp. I don't think the amount of effort judy and Ian go to can be appreciated from these poor pics, but it really is a sensational weekend. Personally a very big thankyou from me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is so good, I hope there are many more. Thankyou to all who took part. Cheers, Peter
FANTASTIC WEEKEND Here we are, back in smelly Sydney after a truly stunning weekend in Eden. Judy and Ian thank you so very much for all your work you guys really are cruise organizers extraordinaire:biggrin: The places we went, the meals & the BBQ would have all made it a fantastic weekend but you then arranged for the beasties to literally pop up beside the boat on Sunday just fantastic. (great photos Pete) Thank you so much guys and to everyone else who helped make it a really fun weekend. Even the drive home was a thrill, while many people see the Zed as a racy sports machine (at which they excel) they are really are quite awesome when pointed at 500+ Klm's of highway. We arrived home about 10pm Sunday night still feeling quite fresh:zlove: Cheers to all Ellie & Tim
Great weekend >>> Many thanks to Judy and Ian for organising another fantastic Return to Eden cruise. As has already been said you certainly know how to pick the right weekend for the best weather. We couldn't make the actual cruise but Peter's photos show what we missed, must have been amazing seeing the Whales at such close quarters and having the sea so calm, not like the previous day when most people would have been looking for travel sickness tablets. Can't top Peter's photos, but a few of our own. Early morning over Twofold Bay The harbour at Eden. When looking for Whales I think you need a bigger boat!!! Now I wonder if that could be the early risers? Long shot of The Cat Ballou from the Motel balcony. Any of the gang recognise themselves? The early gang at Tathra pub after lunch. Hope to do it all again maybe next year
A BIG "THANKYOU" to Ian & Judy Another successful Z-Eden Cruise with some of the best people we have had the pleasure to meet as well as get to know over the years. :biggrin: Some great photo's there by Pete & John to be saved as memories of a fantastic time. To one & all I must apologize for our early departure on Sunday morning. As those of you who know, my PSA ( Diana) had cut short her holiday & flown for 27 plus hours from England, just to take part in this cruise, as it had left such an impression on her last cruise to Eden, she just wasn't going to miss this event at all costs. Alas, I'm afraid that Jet Lag finally got the better of her & she just couldn't keep her eyes open any longer & so we headed off home. One of the quitest trips I think I've ever taken, except for the odd chainsaw impression from the passenger seat. We look forward to next years event & the many close friends that we have made on these outings. It was also good to see Dick & Di Starling at this one. They have been missing in action since the "Snowy Cruise" of 2004 & we hope to see them more often in the future. To Ian & Judy, what can anyone say about you pair. You make such an effort to bring so many together for one of the years highlights & Judy puts on one of the best spreads that you will find. THANKYOU BOTH. And we hope to see you all again soon. Cheers Kerry & Diana. :zlove: zzzzzz.
Love the photos J & M, the group shot is great particularly 'cause it's a pic of who was there !!! Cheers, Peter
looks to have been a fabulous cruise .. those pics are brilliant ..really beautiful zed shots with the "godfather" looking smick as ... .. it seems that this annual event is one of the best on the zed calendar .. .. top marks to IB and spouse for what must have been heaps of organising and food gathering ... real :zlove: :zlove: :zlove: :zlove:
Had a fantastic time.... Judith and I arrived on the saturday with the WYKKED clan, but it was great to see the old faces and meet some new ones.. The weekend was awesome, and even though I got a little sea sick, seeing the whales so close was worth it!!! They were practically only meters away, big majestic creatures that took a curiosity to us human folk.. Big thanks to Ian and Judy for the organisation and the awesome BBQ on sunday.. And also a big thankyou to Pete and Jen for giving us a lift in their trusty 4x4 to eden.. Jen, you're a trooper for driving for as long as you did.. Cheers
GREAT shots of the big fat whales! They did really come up close by the looks of things. Someone must have told Doug that the dinner was a formal event
Ian and Judy, you're CHAMPS! The Eden trip should be at the top of your list of annual MUST-ATTEND events. And it's nicely central to Sydney(544km) and Melbourne(560km). Anyway, to the discussion and piccies (sorry, "dial-up" people). Left Melbourne at 8:30am and caught up with Jack on the A1, arriving at Traralgon at 10:50 to meet up with Mikey. He was delayed, so Jack and I continued sedately on, RZM finally catching us at Lakes Entrance. Arrived at Eden at 5:20pm (Gotta love that final 160km twisty run). An essential for this type of weekend is to bring your own knife & fork and a bib! IB and Judy guarantee gourmet cuisine! Friday night, dinner at the local Chinese, socialize, and then off to the various motels. Saturday morning, down to the docks for breakfast (3-egg omelet with tomatoes, bacon and mushrooms for me and Jack (Jack: hold the mushrooms!), Eggs Benedict for Mikey! Yum!). Walk off brekky around the docks. While we were there, I heard a plane going overhead and thought that this would be a good test of the new telephoto lens. Raw image: Showed it to a couple of folks, I thought it may have been a Lockheed C-27 Spartan, someone suggested it may have been headed for Antarctica. . . . good call, cause the zoomed image shows skis fitted to the undercarriage - Anyone know what it is? Continued our walk, and came across this stool-pigeon - Saturday lunch was at the Tathra pub, great seafood and steaks, on the balcony overlooking the oggin. Whale activity from the Tathra Hotel - Different variety of whale - '65 Cadillac De Ville... sweeet! Back to Eden via the cheese factory at Bega... disappointing, they only had the usual Bega products available, at the usual supermarket prices. Saturday night, dinner at the Great Southern Hotel... I decided to go "formal" rather than the usual jeans and T-shirt (Ngoc)! Sunday morning, up at sparrow-fart to get to the "Cat Ballou" by 7:00am. I am sure these are made-up times, they don't really exist! The whales are better organised... "too early, let's just roll over and go back to sleep!" Then, there's the pic of John and Marilyn taking a pic of me taking a pic of John and Marilyn taking a pic of me taking a pic ... etc, etc, Our motels... Heritage House on the left, Whale Fisher in the middle, and Twofold Bay on the right, with the Fisherman's Club behind that. According to the experts on the cruise, this is a very rare sight... two females and their calf's, together - This is what we were looking at when J&M took their pic. This is where your computer paper comes from... Australian pine and wood chips, shipped to Japan for processing, then brought back for sale... the economics of this seem somehow wrong to me! This pic goes to show that you can find hitch-hikers almost anywhere (Australian fur-seal) On the Saturday cruise, the "Cat Ballou" had an unfortunate encounter with this fishing vessel... it ran across one of the trailing long-lines and finished up with over 200 metres of rope around their starboard (right side for all the ignoramii) prop-shaft. Had to call for a diver and head back to port to get it all cleared. Anyway, here we are, swanning around the great pacific oggin, with not a lot of fishy action happening, when we receive a "Mayday" call! Apparently there's a local out on the water being harassed by a couple of bull humpbacks. "Rubber Ducky, I love you..." Off we go to their rescue (Jeez, the "Cat Ballou" can motor... Catamaran with twin 300hp Cummins deisels and a top speed of 25knots) And our great day began... We get to where to rubber ducky is, and the two whales decide that the "Cat" would be more fun to play with... Close-up of a whale propulsion unit... These beasties are seriously BIG... Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum... (sinister "Jaws"-type music) This is called a "footprint"... I'd hate to meet the elephant that made that.. They reckon cats have "fish-breath"... Do not breath these vapours "Smile! You're on 'Candid Camera'" These two whales had a great time chasing each other up and down the tunnel between the catamaran hulls and their curiousity was incredible. "Here, fishy!" "Hey, Fred! Let's go play with the rubber ducky again!" The last sighting for the day was of the incredibly rare "Wykked bill-beaked hat-fish" Having seen all that, it was back to port. The next cruise left about half an hour later, and didn't see a damn thing! How lucky were we?
Great record Pete Thanks 4 the pix. And I want to add my thanks to Judy and Ian also for a great weekend. Will be there next time too. I've also got some pix and will get them up asap. I'm just not as quick as Peter
Looks like you guys had a great time ..With heaps of fantastic photos, loved the whale photos and the zed photos in front of the water.. P.S Love your shirt Doug :biggrin:
Good friends, good food and then there was Sunday morning. What a weekend. Lotsa thanks to Ian and Judy for the organisation, sensational as usual. How the heck you get all that grub etc in the Zed is still a mystery to me. Anyway - a good trip up and a good trip back, even tho my temp gauge was playing funny buggers. Nothing like a Zed in highway trim to make you realise all is well with the world. The whales cooperated again this year, as I told the Cat crew later on that they'd better get their act together for next year because so far it's gettin better all the time. Good pics from the usual gang and more to come when I figure out how to to it. So thanks for all for a very congenial time, never had so much steak in my life. :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:
great write up, doug .. and more great pics .... fun to read and look at .... overall a brilliant historic record of a wonderful zed cruise ...
Top write up with excellent pics. Looks like a top cruise with great views and a good time of year for t. Was good to see some familiar faces in the group, including you too Pete ya dickhead!
Thanks for the compliment will.i.am. I expect just about any car would look good with a backdrop like that. Cheers, Peter
LOL Karl. I wonder what we'll take away from easter 2008 ...... YA DICKHEAD !!!!!! :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin: Cheers, Peter
Annual event? I didn't know we were going to Eden again Are you volunteering to organise a trip for next year?
No way am I trying to presume anything, Ian , or to "step on your toes"! Apologies if you feel that is the case. Maybe the rush I got from this years experience has carried over into to my comment. But I, for one, would continue to go. However, anything I could organize would only be a shadow of what you and Judy have come up with over the last three years.
