Partner activities

[Maco]

Hello,

Can the organising committee please advise what activities will be available for our lady partners (i e wine tours, shows, etc) whilst at the Nationals next year.

Cheers
John

[minifcvan]

IM LUCKY, MINE LIKES CAR SHOWS....CHEERS MARK

[NES304]

IM LUCKY, MINE LIKES CAR SHOWS....CHEERS MARK

Where'd you score her? She should have a chat with mine!

[TAYZ]

I'm REAL LUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  mine doesnt want to come!!!!!!!!!!!  HHOOOORRAAYYYYYYY

                                                  tayz

[surferboy]

We've got a SPA room at the hotel

[JB]

Getting food, drinks, polishing all the hard to get to bits... There is plenty for them to do!!  

Jason.  

[fccool59]

my wife likes getting drunk while i watch the kids and drive.
Anyway partner activities are important, the more she gets interested in the events the easier it is on us when we want to spend some time or money on the car.
Also kids activities are important, its the easter holidays and we also get more fun if the kids are occupied.
Phillip island worked out well for us apart from the rain, my wife had fun drinking and socailising at the fire and the kids loved the activities.
I didnt have my car there but we got driven around by Tayz, GOA350 and FEhotrod, she also enjoyed that effort chucked in by those guys, especailly the lap around lang lang in the grand champion car.
The nights around the fire was a good way for everyone around the country to get to know each other.

[Hotlips]

 ???Cough Cough Cough (sorry, cough, just choking here).  Cheers Hotlips

[weddo]

If we bring two cars does that meen that Judi and I have to bring a partner as well
weddo

[Ed]

I leave the speed alert and drink counter at home  

[GREGD]

Hi to all

sadly, if you are not a car person the nats is not a good place, however in Mt Gambier the show'n'shine is a short walk to the main street and that has a collection of activities that can be enjoyed.

you cant please all the people all the time.

Greg

[fe hotrod]

 ;)Im with you Ed leave the handbrake at home,as she is not a old car fan.....they say opposites attract!!hehehe..jamie

[minifcvan]

hi all. i dont what is up with you guys.
if you dont take you wife who else is going to tell you when youve had enough to drink/spent too much money/when youve had too much fun/when your driving too fast and when its time for you to go to bed...
IM GLAD karen is coming with me :-/ :-/ :-/ i think
cheers mark ....

[Phantom]

Geez im going on my own as well, does this mean i have to drink all weekend and talk and look at cars?god how boring (heheheheheh) lookout MT Gambier here i come
                                 Cheers Rusty

[Maco]

Hi

Has any activities been added.
 
Cheers
John

[Hotlips]

 :)As stated before all activities are car related.  It is a bit hard to organise so much in one long weekend but all the states that have participated so far have managed to do it.  Extracurricular activities are done on the Easter Monday when all "official" duties have been performed.  We are looking into wine tours etc on that Monday.  During the Show N Shine on Easter Saturday the shops are only a short walk away.  We try to cater for a lot of things but please remember this is a CAR NATIONALS.  Cheers Hotlips

[Johns]

Hotlips,

I think what John is alluding to is that it's a bit difficult to involve partners in car stuff on any sort of ongoing basis, if all there is nothing but cars on offer.

Not specifically referrable to the next Nats , irrespective of what may or may not have been on offer previously, it would be great if there were NON CAR related activities available for partners - be they male or female.

This obsession of ours involves significant sacrifice, both financial and non financial from our partners and it would be nice to think we cared enough about that to at least offer them some small encouragement to join us in it.

Other clever national car club events cater for non car activities for partners, why should we be different? I think its worth some thought, but what do others think?

Cheers
John

[Glenn 'Stinky' Stankevicius]

In my opinion a tough task, what activities do we put on?
The whole idea of the Nationals is to unite all FE/FC owners in a social event, the common thread being the ownership of an FE/FC Holden. I think I can safely say the interests of the entrants partners is going to be fairly diverse and almost impossible to cover in one or two activities.
As Hotlips mentioned the Show and Shine is well within walking distance of the local shops and a couple of the local caves (Garden Cave is one).
A quick call to the Lady Nelson Tourist Centre and we could list possible activities for partners, coincidently the Centre is just across the road from the Show and Shine venue and an "activity" in itself.
http://www.mountgambiertourism.com.au/discoverycentre.htm

[RET]

I don't think anyone is suggesting that a complete alternative itinerary for partners needs to be arranged. You're right, we are going to Mount Gambier for the Nationals, and the cars are the focal point, for us.

However, John is also right. If we want to get the family involved, we have to involve them. Without putting too fine a point on it, they'll act like handbrakes if we treat them like handbrakes.

Thanks Glenn for putting up the link to Mt G Tourism. It's the first time I've seen it (although a quick check shows it does appear on the http://Nats page). But if I haven't noticed it before (and I'm the web admin ), then there's a good chance plenty of others won't be aware of it either. Even a quick perusal of it suggests there is a fair variety of things that might appeal to the partners.

So there's an opportunity here. I certainly appreciate you guys in SA have your work cut out getting the Nats organised, but maybe someone on the committee (or perhaps a partner not otherwise involved?) could go through the Tourist Info available and provide us with a short-list of what there is to see and do? What's going to be open over Easter and when? Put some polls up here to see what interests the punters? It's all good promotion. If something garners a lot of interest, maybe take it to the next level. You guys know what you're planning for the enthusiasts, so you're better placed than we are to know what's already covered in the cruises and other events.

The Fairy Penguin tour at Phillip Island is a classic example. A commercially run tour, you pay if you want to go. But it was good to know "hey, this is available if you want it". I see from the Mt G site there are wineries in the vicinity; there might be quite a few wives who'd be keen to run around them in some organised fashion, since that's definitely not going to be practical for 100 old cars. There's also a fair variety of kid-friendly options suggested - but we don't know what we don't know...

Please accept these comments in the constructive manner of their intent. After all, we all want the partners to feel encouraged to come along and be part of the event.

cheers
RET

[GMB-58FC]

If we bring two cars does that meen that Judi and I have to bring a partner as well
weddo

Room for me in the boot

No way my car will be ready in time for it