Venues Decade Do's

10. Paragraphs 1 to 9 are found on 'Era Decade Branch' page, separate to this page.

General

11. The venues below have been selected to be either equidistant between Auckland and Wellington to attract the most North Island attendees or lower North Island or upper South Island to attract the most New Zealand wide attendees. There's a bit on voting for venues in paragraph 8. Consideration has been given to:

  (a)  The Sappers Association is affiliated to the Royal New Zealand Returned Services Association [RNZRSA] head office. Supporting RSA club venues is part of this affiliation. Generally, true RSA clubs don't charge corporate booking fees from kindred organisations, they just want money over the bar and through their restaurant.

 (b)  The available accomodation in the venue's area. Army Leave Centres book on army.leavecentre@nzdf.mil.nz phone 0800111823. Also try using www.booking.com for world wide accomodation.

 (c)  Public transport available to avoid drink driving.

Taupo RSA

12.  The original Taupo RSA in Horomatangi Street ran into financial problems and closed down circa 2019. A new RSA venue has been established within the Taupo Bowling Club premisis at 4 Ferry Road. The President is Phil Greene phone 0274938168 who is also a member of the Sappers Association. The following bar, food, accomodation and public transport information is:

 (a)  The bar opening club evening for both RSA and Bowling Club members is Thursday. No kitchen available, perhaps order in pizzas. Saturday evenings may require corporate hire fee to the Bowling Club.

 (b)  The Army Leave Centre is at Acacia Bay, about 15 minutes by car away. The six units each have six bunk beds. Each unit costs $95 per night. There is also plenty of accomodation in Taupo including back packers and timeshares.

 (c)  On Thursday there is Beecard Number 34 bus leaving Acacia Bay 1630hrs and arriving in Taupo 1645hrs, then about 300m walk to RSA. Uber back to Acacia Bay.

Turangi RSA

13. The Turangi RSA seems to be financially viable and well used. The following bar, food, accomodation and public transport information is:

 (a)  The bar seems to be open most evenings. The restaurant is open some evenings. 6 photos below.

 (b)  There is some accomodation in the area, including one timeshare. There is room for motorhomes although the RSA policy on overnight stays is not known.

 (c)  There is a Intercity bus leaving Taupo ETD 1430hrs and 1515hrs ETA Turangi ETD 0035hrs and 0120hrs ETA Taupo for those booked in Taupo.

Porirua RSA

14.  The Porirua RSA has a large local patronage. The following bar, food, accomodation and public transport information is:

 (a)  The bar is open all evenings. The restaurant is open most evenings. 11 photos below.

 (b)  There is some accomodation in the area. There is room for motorhomes although the RSA policy on overnight stays is not known. With frequent suburban trains available from Wellington to Waikanae up to 2300hrs, accomodation can be almost anywhere. There is a army leave centre at Waikanae, but many kilometres from the railway station.

 (c)  The railway station is about 600m walk away from the RSA. Beecards don't work in Wellington, so pay cash on public transport.

Picton RSA

15. The Picton RSA may have been redeveloped since photos were taken. The following bar, food, accomodation and public transport information is:

 (a)  Bar is open most days. Restaurant open some days. 2 photos below.

 (b)  There is a lot of accomodation in the area. There is room for motorhomes although the RSA policy on overnight stays is not known.

 (c)  There is no public transport in Picton.

Dormitory

16.  If patronage builds up, perhaps a dormitory solution might be considered. An idea is shown in Attachments 'Dormitory' and next a Design Web Format movable solid model. To view DWFx or DWF files, download the free Autodesk(R) DWF(TM) Viewer from http://www.autodesk.com/designreview-download. Autodesk Design Review - Free viewing, measure and markup!

Recon

17. Attending Taupo Recon 22Jan25: Vail Hubner

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30 Dec 2024 last updated.