Wow, Good Morning Fellow Single Parents Active Kids how are we and those superbly talented youngsters? Why is this lunatic advertising a holiday that is more then 20 months away?? Great question, simple answer is to maximise numbers and make it as affordable as possible by having a long instalment structure as you will see below.Members you are more then welcome to start putting away some $$$$ from now if you like, 20 months of $50 per month is $1000 which is a good start.

WHEN:
Arrival date: Friday 28th of October 2016 2pm, but can work something out about our luggage and so on if want to arrive earlier!! You are more then welcome to get there Friday night, Saturday or even Sunday, your call (have a look at the proposed itinerary below as a guide), as long as you let me know in your initial E-mail that would be great, my intent is to get there Friday night after work.
Departure date: Saturday 5^th November 2016, 10 am as per everywhere you go!! Again you are more then welcome to leave Sunday if you choose, but this is all about communication.
Have chosen this period for a couple of reasons, it isn’t QLD holidays, and the kids will really miss only 3-4 days of school, depending on time you leave on the Friday to get there as well as Wednesday through to Friday, no-one seems to go to school Melbourne Cup Eve. Guaranteed warmer weather (in 09,11 and 13 we were blessed with the weather)!! We come back on the Saturday to give ourselves a chance to wined down, and give ourselves a days rest before school and work kicks in again!!

ACCOMMODATION:
http://www.surfersbeachside.com.au/ , we stayed there in 09,11 and 13 and loved it. Very close to everything, 7 short blocks from Caval Avenue, across the road from the beach, Lifesaving also across the road, I would recommend getting extra toilet paper and coffee/tea on your first day to make sure your right for what will be an amazing 8 days.
The younger kids will be in the lower apartments!!

All apartments at Surfers Beachside offer a fully equipped kitchen with Dishwasher, Microwave, full conventional oven with stove. All kitchen utilities, cutlery, crockery and linen are included in the tariff. Each apartment also offers a washing machine & dryer, iron and ironing board, direct dial telephones & clock radio. All of our apartments offer cable Foxtel and Air-conditioning.

Room configurations are as follows:

ONE BEDROOM apartments are available with one queen size bed with 1 bathroom for 2 guests with a foldaway max 3 guests.
TWO BEDROOM apartments comprise of 1 queen and 2 single beds with 2 bathrooms – for 4 guests with a foldaway max 5 guests.

HOW MUCH:

We are pleased to offer you more than a 20% discount from our rates for this period and this is more than a 10% better deal than offered to Entertainment Card members. I have offered you a special rate for 7 nights and also 8 nights and also listed our rate to normal guests and the saving to your members. The rates have increased from your 2009 and 2011 visit however we have endeavoured to keep the increase to a minimum and I have listed this below..
Also the prices below will stay the same if we as a group pay a deposit before 1/2/16, if we get a great response exactly what is going to happen.
Please add $10 per family for camp administration/host fees.

SHARING OPTION:As you can tell from above we can fit up to 5 in one room, which opens up the sharing option which keeps prices right down. This worked a treat on our trip in 09,11 and 13. If you can tell me who you want to share with that would be great, otherwise I can help in getting a families to share, it does really keep the cost down!!!!!!

INSTALMENT STRUCTURE:
I just need to mention please always deal through me for any extra nights or anything like that, last time we had a previous member deal with the hotel without mine or our contact’s knowledge, caused a load of work for all involved, none of which was constructive, any issues deal with me asap!!

The following dates need to be followed please, if you can’t pay by a certain date please communicate this to me via E-mail, I am going to have to be very strict with payments, this is a huge amount of work, I will not be chasing people up for money!!!!!

First instalment Wednesday 24th of June
Second instalment Wednesday 26th of August
Third Instalment Wednesday 14th of October
Fourth instalment Wednesday 16th of December
Fifth instalment Wednesday 17th of February
sixth instalment Wednesday 13th of April
Seventh instalment Wednesday 8th of June
eight instalment Wednesday 3rd of August
ninth and final instalment must be in by Wednesday 26th of October.
You can obviously set up a weekly payment if you like, what-ever works for you, but that final date is very important to follow.

Description/ACCOUNT DETAILS:
Your Own Name, GC16.Single Parents Active Kids bsb 033073 acc 412883 ,  Please ensure your name and reason is with all payments Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!!

FREE BREAKFAST, MARCUS WROTE:
We would also like to offer you and all your members a complimentary sausage sizzle and pancakes with maple syrup breakfast one morning in our pool area during your stay, please advise what morning you would prefer to have this!! I’m thinking perhaps the Sunday morning.

THEME PARKS:
There are specials going on at the moment especially with the consortium that runs Wet and Wild, Movie World and Sea-World, we will be according to Marcus who I have copied and pasted plenty of the info from, be able to perhaps purchase our tickets at a percentage off if we do so in  group booking format. We need to look at what prices they are offering, because the Entertainment book saves you plenty of $$$, also now you can pre-purchase your tickets for DreamWorld and White Waterworld with the EB!!

GETTING AROUND:
This worked a treat for us last time, we were able to book a bus to pick us up at say 9.30 am take us to a theme park and then drop us of once we had our enjoyment at closing time,  http://www.racv.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/Internet/Primary/travel/theme+parks%2C+attractions+%26+shows/Queensland/fun+pass. I will add it was wonderful experience going to and coming back from the theme parks, the camaraderie on the trips was something to behold, highly recommend this method of travel, convenience plus!!

FLIGHTS:
We have now built rapport with a travel agent, so once we get a much clearer idea on numbers we can use that travel agent to try and get group tickets. As a guide for Renae and I it cost just over $200 return!!
Another part of this is, we have plenty of eyes looking for cheap flights, different airlines have cheap deals on different nights, if we see something cheap we will let all going know asap via E-mail or in some cases phone calls, this has worked really well for the first 3 Gold Coast trips we have thoroughly enjoyed.

ITINERARY GUIDE:
ARRIVE FRIDAY:
SATURDAY WET + WILD,
SUNDAY BEACH DAY
MONDAY DREAMWORLD,
TUESDAY SEAWORLD
WEDNESDAY JET SKI/PARASAILING DAY,
THURSDAY MOVIE WORLD
FRIDAY WHITE WATERWORLD:

MORE OPTIONS:
If we can get between 10 and twenty people then we can get a 10% discount on those prices. The link for info on the night tour is http://www.cws.org.au/getcloser/tickets_and_bookings/wildnight_adventure/information/, the Hinterlands have also been mentioned as well as http://www.dolphinwild.com.au/cruise_information.php !! A few of us had the unbelievable pleasure of enjoying Jet-Skiing (Don’t need a license in QLD) Para-Sailing, Slingshot, Bungee Jump and so much more on our days off. There is so much to do, what I do ask of everyone is if your going to go to say SeaWorld, please go when the rest of the group is going the fun part of this is going together. I know for sure not all will do the 5 theme parks, some will do just 2, it is a choice, but let’s enjoy this holiday as much as possible together!!

MEMBERS ONLY:
This is definitely a members only event. You must be a member when you put your name down for GC16, and you must be a member when the holiday takes place. By the time we go 20 months of work (as a guide GC09 I received 467, GC11 729 E-mails about the trip, as well as phone calls, meetings, and so on) would have gone into this trip for our members.

SUMMARY:
GC09, GC11, GC13 were absolutely amazing, so much looking forward to GC16 already. We will have more options available to our members, we will definitely be having more dinners at the local Life-Saving Club where our contact Marcus has get a contact in there.
The itinerary is only a guide, it worked well in GC11 and 13. What I do ask is your going to go to a theme park make sure you go when the group goes, that’s the whole idea of the trip.
The beauty for those with younger kids is they can also enjoy the more thrilling rides by rotating who looks after the younger kids, there is no reason what so ever to miss out on the Superman Ride for instance.

TESTIMONIAL: Here is a testimonial form one of the very satisfied parents after GC09: 

The week we all spent in the Gold Coast has got to be one of the best weeks I can recall in my 47 years.   Not only was the planning, coordination and all the other aspects that went with this magnificent holiday impeccable, but the way you held yourself with all the other day to day issues was nothing short of inspiring.  Your choice of motel was excellent with both price and location.  You were consultative with ideas and happy to listen to other ideas.  My son and I made friends whilst enjoying the wonderful experiences of the theme parks.  You organised a schedule which allowed everyone to join in and encouraged people to be independent (if they wanted to).   Your passion and commitment with sourcing discounts for the members prior to the holiday has allowed me to come along (and everyone else) to the GC which would otherwise be only a dream.  You made this dream possible mate and I cannot thank you enough.
I cannot fault you in any way with all aspects with the holiday.  You can “hold your head high” and have certainly exceeded yourself with this one my friend.
I was really impressed with all the single Mums and Dads in the way that we all worked as a team in looking after each others kids whist at the theme parks.  The way everyone looked out for each other whilst at the pool and the way everyone treated and respected each other.  I wanted to thank each one of you for making this holiday a huge success.