charleville
18-05-2006, 08:42 PM
Went to the Sanctuary Cove boat show today. #:-/
It is a very large display of a lot of boats, especially some very large ones, floating gin palaces or even hotels in some cases. #Lots of marine stuff catering from the very largest to the very smallest. Lots of interstate representation - when I was looking at the Arvor 25, the sales rep lamented that you cannot fish in the harbour any more - I said "What Manly harbour?" and he replied, "No, #Sydney Harbour" #;D ;D
Plenty of fishing boats, electronics etc to be seen but it lacks the fishing-ness or fishing coherence of the Brisbane Boat Show or the Tackle & Tinnie Show for the average recreation fisho. eg no fishing expo or the like to sit in and listen to experts. #:( #I did not think that it was especially well laid out insofar as in such a large show, there may have been some sense in defining precincts or areas of common displays or interest than there was. #Similarly, once you found the toilets, you knew where they were but there was not a lot of signage about such. #:'( The displays in little tents scattered around the site really suffered when there was a rain downpour early in the day as all the patrons stayed in the large marquees where a lot of displays were. #I only saw one tackle seller - just one of those business selling miscellaneous tackle - $10 fishing rods etc. #:(
I did enjoy looking at the restored WW2 army hospital boat (gold coin donation to board and view). # 8-) This was one of five Tassie built Huon Pine boats built to carry 12 crew and 30 patients (which would have been fairly crowded.) #It was an Army ship rather than a Red Cross ship so it used to carry guns fore and aft but being wood, it cannot have been much fun to get into a fire-fight in if it ever had to do that. #The people in attendance are restoration enthusiasts and gave a good description of the boat and its history etc. :)
I last went to the Sanctuary Cove boat show about five years ago. #I suspect that today will be my last visit there - not because it is a bad show - but really because it lacks any particular focus of interest to me#like the Brissy boating and fishing shows have.
As always, the logistics in getting in and out are pretty good. #You cannot park there so it is a choice of parking at the Showgrounds in Smith Street at Southport and taking a shuttle bus there #or taking the train to Helensvale and taking a shuttle bus from there. #I chose the latter and enjoyed the train and shuttle trips - although if you come from the suburbs, you need to give yourself a couple of hours travelling time all up in each direction.
There was a pretty large crowd there today so I reckon that it will be packed on Saturday and Sunday. #Very noticeably an older demographic attending today but I guess that is because it was a weekday and most of the young blood is at work. #;D ;D
It is not a cheap day out. $21 for entry and shuttle bus. $15.60 for the return train trip that I took from the suburbs. Add in lunch - well ok, I did have pork spare ribs and a couple of large glasses of plonk #;D ;D - and it does mount up.
It is a very large display of a lot of boats, especially some very large ones, floating gin palaces or even hotels in some cases. #Lots of marine stuff catering from the very largest to the very smallest. Lots of interstate representation - when I was looking at the Arvor 25, the sales rep lamented that you cannot fish in the harbour any more - I said "What Manly harbour?" and he replied, "No, #Sydney Harbour" #;D ;D
Plenty of fishing boats, electronics etc to be seen but it lacks the fishing-ness or fishing coherence of the Brisbane Boat Show or the Tackle & Tinnie Show for the average recreation fisho. eg no fishing expo or the like to sit in and listen to experts. #:( #I did not think that it was especially well laid out insofar as in such a large show, there may have been some sense in defining precincts or areas of common displays or interest than there was. #Similarly, once you found the toilets, you knew where they were but there was not a lot of signage about such. #:'( The displays in little tents scattered around the site really suffered when there was a rain downpour early in the day as all the patrons stayed in the large marquees where a lot of displays were. #I only saw one tackle seller - just one of those business selling miscellaneous tackle - $10 fishing rods etc. #:(
I did enjoy looking at the restored WW2 army hospital boat (gold coin donation to board and view). # 8-) This was one of five Tassie built Huon Pine boats built to carry 12 crew and 30 patients (which would have been fairly crowded.) #It was an Army ship rather than a Red Cross ship so it used to carry guns fore and aft but being wood, it cannot have been much fun to get into a fire-fight in if it ever had to do that. #The people in attendance are restoration enthusiasts and gave a good description of the boat and its history etc. :)
I last went to the Sanctuary Cove boat show about five years ago. #I suspect that today will be my last visit there - not because it is a bad show - but really because it lacks any particular focus of interest to me#like the Brissy boating and fishing shows have.
As always, the logistics in getting in and out are pretty good. #You cannot park there so it is a choice of parking at the Showgrounds in Smith Street at Southport and taking a shuttle bus there #or taking the train to Helensvale and taking a shuttle bus from there. #I chose the latter and enjoyed the train and shuttle trips - although if you come from the suburbs, you need to give yourself a couple of hours travelling time all up in each direction.
There was a pretty large crowd there today so I reckon that it will be packed on Saturday and Sunday. #Very noticeably an older demographic attending today but I guess that is because it was a weekday and most of the young blood is at work. #;D ;D
It is not a cheap day out. $21 for entry and shuttle bus. $15.60 for the return train trip that I took from the suburbs. Add in lunch - well ok, I did have pork spare ribs and a couple of large glasses of plonk #;D ;D - and it does mount up.