Sydney Biodiesel Christmas Picnic

[Robert Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Robert]

Well, since the forum crash, I'm scrambling to rebuild what I can of recent posts I'd made by searching google's cache.

This was the original post:

OK, I've just been out to Cameron's BBQ today in the Northern Beaches and I had a great time. I've also thoroughly enjoyed the time I had a little while ago at the event at Lake Gillawarna with the South West crew (as some other people from other areas of course).

Every time there is one of these events, everyone says that they were really great and we should all do it on a more regular basis. I couldn't agree more, so I thought to keep the momentum, how about suggesting one this side of Christmas?

Seeing as I'm the first to pick it, I'd like to nominate a venue a bit further out - the Cattai National Park. There is loads of space there. It's a bit further North West, but not so bad for a day trip.

I'd nominate the dates of December the 9th or the 16th.

What do you reckon?

I think we'd decided on the 9th of December and from memory, the following people had said they'd try to come - Sean, Colin, Wayne... (google's cache expired on the 18th, so I don't have all the replies).

I'll also post up an article advertising it on the Sydney Biodiesel site as well. I'll put it in the calendar too.

[Robert Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Robert]

Re: Sydney Biodiesel Christmas Picnic

A quick update....
I've been spending more time trying to get the forum available to all on the net than I have been in updating this thread, or drumming up more people to attend.

I drove out to Cattai National Park this morning with the kids to check it was all OK.

When I'd been there in the past, I'd managed to not pay entry and I was surprised by a ranger at the gate taking my $7 in return for a brochure, a map and a ticket. So, please be aware this is a National Park and you may have to pay entry if there is someone there to collect the money at the time you come in.

As for the park itself, loads of space, loads of trees and shade and a few wood burning BBQs scattered between lots of little gazebo areas. It looks like the areas can be reserved and paid for, but I'm not going to bother doing that this time around as there would probably be a cost and there were only 2 reservations out of more than 10 available.

I'd be suggesting that we simply go and claim an area as our own, providing someone else's name is not already on it. I'm 90% sure that we'll easily get a good spot. Failing that, there are many areas in between the gazebo spots that would still be suitable. I'll bring my big blue fold out gazebo and chairs etc and I'm sure others can bring similar too.

I've taken some photos of the place, but I'll have to post them up tomorrow as I need to get to bed now.

Only a week to go, so I'd like to see some more people say they'll come along. Remember this is not just for the biodieselers, but for SVO folks too. Please put your hand up if you are coming by posting in this thread. Perhaps we can hope to encourage some newcomers if enough experienced people are there to lend advice and possibly do demos. I know it may be a bit of a hike to get to for some (it was further than I remembered it), but hopefully we can still get a good spread of people from all over Sydney and maybe also a bit further out in the country too.

[pangit Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close pangit]

Re: Sydney Biodiesel Christmas Picnic

Yes I'm still planning on coming (I know you already had me on the list). I'll have to bring the Jackaroo instead of the Merc as it has an annual National Parks pass sticker.

I hope we get a good crowd, come on everyone!

[Guest Close David]

Re: Sydney Biodiesel Christmas Picnic

I'm probably missing something here Sean but.....

Isn't your Jackaroo Petrol? IF so and it costs $7 to get in the park, wouldn't it be cheaper to run the Merc up there on your Bio and pay the entry fee than saving the 7 bux to get in and paying for petrol In the Jackaroo?
$7 is like 5L these days?

Just Guessing figures and distances and engine types, I may well have them wrong.

[Robert Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Robert]

Re: Sydney Biodiesel Christmas Picnic

I thought I should post up some photos of the area.




As you can see, there are lots of trees for shade and lots of "sheds" for cover. You can see 3 of them among the trees in this shot, but there are many more as well.




I'm sure we'll be able to find ourselves a space to congregate, hopefully under one of these.




There is also a playground area for the kids, as well as a river with a wharf and a little beach area.

So, are there any more people coming? Any new people who want to learn about biodiesel? Wayne, any chance of your famous demo? Any SVO people?

I'll also post out some emails via sydneybiodiesel soon.

[pangit Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close pangit]

Re: Sydney Biodiesel Christmas Picnic

I'm probably missing something here Sean but.....

Isn't your Jackaroo Petrol?

No, it's a turbo diesel! I got it specifically when I first found out about biodiesel about 18 months ago. The Merc was a bit of an impulse buy when it came up for sale in these forums, but I already had a biodiesel plant by then.

Anyway are you (or anyone else) coming? I hope it's not just going to be Robert and me!

[geewizztoo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close geewizztoo]

Re: Sydney Biodiesel Christmas Picnic

I'll be there, and I think David and Westwinds are planning to be there too.
I can bring my box of tricks and do a small demo if there's sufficient interest.

[Robert Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Robert]

Re: Sydney Biodiesel Christmas Picnic

OK, great, well there will be a few of the usual suspects then! David, I know what you mean re the family obligation the guilt trips - In order to get my family there on the day, I've had to agree to take them to carols by candlelight that night.

[Viola Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Viola]

Re: Sydney Biodiesel Christmas Picnic

Hi everyone.

I would normally have loved to come and meet you all but I have my daughters birthday party on Sunday.

I hope you have a great time.

Viola

[Robert Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Robert]

Re: Sydney Biodiesel Christmas Picnic

I've just realised that I've not actually nominated a time.

Seeing as it's tomorrow, I guess I should confirm what everyone already assumed - about lunchtime.

I'll try and get there a little earlier, but I'll be struggling as I'll have the family in tow. My car is a white Mazda 6 diesel wagon, so if you don't see anyone you know, look out for that.

Hope to see some of you tomorrow.

Cheers,

[Guest Close David]

Re: Western Sydney Users

The picnic was a great day as usual.

No newcomers but I think we all enjoyed the company of the ladies and kids that came this time. They were great company, had some entertaining insights as to living with Veg nutters and the family aspect was nice as well.

Seans Wife Aurora was officially and unanimously appointed head caterer for all future events and secured her position after bribing us with Delicious Chocolate brownies and strawberries with some Kahlua and cream dip she made which no one could say no to! From now on she gets the invitation and Sean gets to Drive her.

Consensus seems to be that the ladies that have come before felt they were a bit left out with few if any other suffering females to relate their experiences to so if we all drag the women along by the hair kicking and screaming to future events, they will have other like minded company ( what a worry that is!) to chat to while they are there and us fellas won't have to worry about staying too long and getting into trouble.

One thing I certainly Remember from the day was having a great chat or 10 to Dave "Westwinds" who again came all the way from Dubbo, leaving at 6am to join us. ( Champion effort there mate!)

He said to me " Ya know, Bio makes you do funny things... You will drive 2000KM just to go to a picnic for 3 hours!"
Hmm, I think the rest of us can all relate to doing funnier things than that through Bio Dave but I'm sure I speak for everyone that came when I say it is great to have you at these days and your insight and way of doing things is an inspiration to us all and we appreciate the effort you make in joining us.

Of course other people ( who shall remain nameless for fear of the tax man ) showed great pictorials on their multi thousand litre reactor, drying and processing setups using solar and WVO heating all automatically controlled along with some other never heard or seen of electronic devices, also kept the rest of us enthralled and in awe of their efforts and engineering. Certainly made a 125L Appleseed look like a kids toy and I don't even have a reactor that small!

Our group also has a noudist who put on a great performance to keep us all entertained. As worrying as it may sound, the kids especially enjoyed his " recital" and the rest of us all agreed it was something we had never actually come across before. He says he performs his rather unique act for free ( and in public!) but I'm sure people would pay lots for entertainment like that although perhaps that's not what being a noudist is about?

One significant difference to the last day we had like this was the fact the Mercedes were outnumbered this time round..... by MAZDA'S! .
As one of the guilty who left their Merc at home ( But at least came in one) I hope the rest of us educated and enlightened drivers of superior conveniences have learned their lesson and won't be disgraced by such a shameful state of affairs in the future.

As these events are so enjoyable, should we at least try to preplan the dates for next year now so we know what we are doing and can keep the days free? As it's probable not everyone will be able to make all of them, why not make them every 3 months?

I nominate the following dates by approval by the rest of the oily picknicer community:

Sun 23 rd March

Sun 29 June

Sun14 Sept

Sun 7th Dec

These dates fall at different weeks in the month so may be beneficial to those that have regular fortnightly or whatever commitments.

As for locations, we can decide that sooner or later. Maybe something at a beach would be good for the march day to take advantage of the warmer weather? Mountains may be good for winter.... or not. We could call it a " Test the gel point of your fuel day" Or " How to come up with new ideas for starting in really cold weather through necessity".

I was also wondering about going a little further with what we do with these days and perhaps havening a rally of sorts where we meet at a certain point and then have a drive somewhere else for lunch. With a group of us driving along, we may have a lot more people showing up for lunch than what we expect!

Perhaps we could for instance, meet somewhere in the Sydney area and then cruise up to the central coast, down to Wollongong or out to the mountains? One or two of these through the year may be fun but its just an Idea for consideration/ approval/ rejection.

Thanks again to Robert for organizing the day and bringing so many people together through this forum in a common interest for valued, if even somewhat intermittent, gatherings and friendships which we all benefit from and enjoy immensely.

I'm sure I speak for all the guys there yesterday when I say we are all terrific, handsome blokes with not a pelican amongst us and apart from our good looks and intelligence, our modesty is our greatest asset!

[Robert Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Robert]

Re: Sydney Biodiesel Christmas Picnic

Well, I had a great time, it was good to see everyone again. No newcomers this time, but that just meant that we were free to sit and chat and Wayne didn't have to get out his kit and demonstrate making any biodiesel, which I'm sure he was grateful for in his under-exuberant state after his work party from the night before.



We pretty much had the whole park to ourselves and we were able to park our cars right next to our "shed", which was great for the various trips to look under bonnets etc.



Colin brought his PC and showed us all pictures of his impressive reactor setup. Dave (Westwinds) also brought out some various gadgets for us to look at. Everyone sat around and talked all things biodiesel and SVO. Then Sean arrived with his family in tow and my wife was glad that she was not the only rose amongst the thorns there. Aurora brought some lovely food for us all (many thanks) and as David mentioned, she's now officially in charge of catering.




Emad also entertained the kids with some music with his oud (an arabic lute, for those of you who had not heard of it before).



Overall, I think a good day was had by all and we seemed to miss the storms that struck the rest of Sydney.

(I returned home to find my roof had a few smashed tiles & broken whirlybird, my solar pool heater damaged and my pool cover full of punctures from the cricket-ball sized hailstones that had struck about 5 mins before we returned. Fortunately, my wife's car was under cover and mine was out of the area, so no damage there, unlike all of our neighbours who's cars will be write-offs.)

I agree with pre-setting dates for future picnics, and have no objection to any that are proposed.

[Fitian Was here Find all posts View Profile Close Fitian]

Re: Sydney Biodiesel Christmas Picnic

Robert.

I can not thank you enough for organising that wonderful day. I had a great time with all the guys.

I also had a great fun with all the kids. I will never forget how Stella danced for my music.

Thank you for explainning that I am an oudist "who plays an Oud".
I am sure David got everyone to believe that we had a nudist that day .

Aurora, Thank you so much for the lovely tastey food. Your time and effort are highly appreciated. Thank you Sean for comming and bringing the family mate.

Col. It was great to get to talk to you a little more. Thanks for sharing your setup with all of us mate. Great work indeed.

David Westwind. It is always great to see you mate. I did like your new mixer. Keep up the good work.

David and Wayne. Thanks for taking the risk of getting me to drive you to the picnic. I am surprised you got me to drive you back. I guess you had no choice. Much appreciated guys.

Thank you all.

Regards,

[Guest Close David]

Re: Sydney Biodiesel Christmas Picnic

Hi Fitian,

I am do apologise for any confusion, , slight typographical error in my previous post.

Instead of saying you were "a noudist", I meant to say you were "an oudist".
Amazing the difference just a space in some words makes "eh?
Thank you for taking us in your lovely car. I'm sure I heard you ask at one stage if it was your conversation that was boring. I can't be sure, I remember opening my eyes to realise I was staring at my feet and I think Wayne was still busy examining the inside of his eyelids for a while after. Dam good job one of us was awake!

Sorry to hear about your damage Robert. Might have been a good thing the kids were away from it. May have been very scary otherwise.
I think Fitian must have had a word to the big fella up there and he was looking after us.

I have been seeing the news and all the damaged caused by the weather but we were all just blissfully sitting there going " Geez, that thunder is loud" while people were being pelted with cricket balls. I'd have parked the Mrs petrol car at your place had I known there was a chance of it getting hammered. The insurance payout would have paved the way for a nice new, used diesel vehicle. I think a Musso may get the nod.

Perhaps we should have some nominations for the venues. I'm sure West winds will be all for the mountains, save the man an hour or more off his trip!

Once again a top day with great company.