Its just too bad, its not a swim across to the island... I would def do that!
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Its just too bad, its not a swim across to the island... I would def do that!
Yeah, just a bit too far for that. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mermaid Jaffa
But then how about our luggage? hahaha!
Yeah TBH guys it's not that much more expensive. The villas are WAY less expensive than the hotel rooms which are upwards of $80 per night per person for the cheapest 4-person room. A $43 villa is nearly half the price. If you include the ferry ride, the only extra cost is the taxi ride - and (so far) Selene and I are willing to taxi people from airports. Selene will be in Brisbane then and my BF and I are happy to pick people up from Gold Coast airport. If you play your cards right, the entire trip shouldn't cost any extra at all!
But the villas are sold out for the dates.
And the cheapest is the unserviced rooms that sleeps 4 in it.
Should be fine I think. Worked out you only pay $53 per person per night for them. So if can get groups of 4 to share a room, it would be ok.
Is there a mermaid discount for large groups? Lol!
float it on a surf board :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mermaid Jaffa
So the villas are sold out......they have holiday houses up there. are they worth looking into?
Mind you having actual numbers for how many people are actually going would be good to know
Are you sure? Everything is showing up as available for 2016 for me. From what I can tell there are holiday homes you can book for 4 nights which fit 12 and go for around $40 each.
http://www.tangalooma.com/booking_2/...ilability.aspx
There are no packages yet. I hoping maybe towards the middle of the year, they might have some deals up. But as you can see, all the good ones are taken.
Renee has done a few make a wish with her mermaids there so she knows the hotel owner and said she will put down a deposit for a few villas ;)
I suggest everyone that has any questions, concerns or ideas joins the page and all your questions will be answered :)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/313498175506800/
and there would be couches and a truckload of floor space too I imagine. The only thing would be someone would have to foot the bill for booking the dates and everyone would have to pay them back.
Attachment 26372
Villas are still available, as are holiday homes which are actually better value.
Not sure how much money packages saves but I'm sure we could inquire :)
And honestly if mers can't make it because of the extra cost I'll pay for the excess! I don't want anyone to miss out on account of a better venue!
I'm in between jobs so hopefully soon I'll have some work to go to and can start saving up. I really really want to go!
Middle of the year is not too late to book my spot, room etc right?
Attachment 26373
This is a layout of the villa, so there is the big bed, two singles, two trundles and a bunk bed. It's not to scale but I reckon you could potentially fit at least another 2 on the living area floor and have a short person on the couch. you could also probably stuff another person in the second bedroom on the floor and one-two in the first bedroom.
So maybe up to 12 or so people per villa. But then you have to look at if people are going to be bringing their significant other. which decreases the amount of room for mers
So I personally would want to bring my husband with me (for land transport and the rest if I come along)
We did discuss it briefly on the FB page, and most people seem happy to do a "lucky dip" type thing where couples/families are treated as one "piece of paper" and are drawn out of the hat as a group, so to speak. Then everyone else is also drawn out and we get assigned to villas etc :) that way people are kept with their SOs but we still are able to make new friends.
As far as fitting 12 or so into a villa goes, I'm happy to roll out a mattress on the floor but some hotels are very strict on the number of people you are allowed to have in the room after a certain time. Something to look into, though!
yeah, I only just saw that post (I only added the page a couple of hours ago) If I come out with my husband, we'll have to go a hotel room. seeing as there is the possibility of 3 of us because of his son.
3 isn't too many for a villa though, is it? We could make sure the three of you are in the same villa together and then all the individual mers can get worked out around the couples/families.
yeah, but there are people bringing their partners and things. A hotel room is designed for 2-4 so If push comes to shove that's what we'll do I think. I don't want to put someone out that is 100% sure when I'm only 65-70% sure I'll be making it
at the moment 25 people are going (according to facebook) and I don't know how many of them have partners or children, and for 3 villas with only 8 sleeping spots in each we've already gone over the amount of people who can fit.
I don't think we can know for sure how many people we'll have until closer to the date. I guess we will have to try to budget for every outcome and hope it turns out for the best! Everything will not work for everyone but I hope we can have as many mers there as possible :)
i'm a maybe for coming and I have two other mers who will be coming with me if I go
our attendance will come down to whether or not we can save for it. Full time uni-student and an adult apprentice receiving half the amount he's supposed to be getting because of a loop hole. the odds are kind of against us.
The goldie while it would've been a struggle, we probably could've managed it (we actually started planning it).
It will be my fiance and i and we are going to try to make it to go, and as long as we can get a double or two singles to push together we are more then happy to be in a villa
See I feel like the island is working out cheaper isn't it? I mean $40 a head (Per night? Or total? Not sure?) And even a full priced return ferry ticket ($80) is still WAY cheaper than the $300-$350 or so they were planning to charge a NIGHT for a room at the Marriot which would have only slept 4 people max. Flights will be fairly similar to either Gold Coast or Brisbane I assume?
but if we have more people than beds some of us may have to stay in the hotel rooms, so it works out the same. Personally, I feel people wouldn't have a great time sharing space with me because my husband snores like a freight train. Also his boss is a dick so getting time off in the middle of a week is very difficult for us.
I get what you're saying and for 1 person it definitely works out cheaper. But for our family it works out at a higher rate.
I'm not saying we should've stuck with the Marriott, it just doesn't feel like a lot of research went into this.
Ill be coming and seriously Id sleep on the floor if need be! Looks like my partner will be there attending too, and we can easily squeeze into a single bed. Have done it before! Totally worth it for MerQuest if you ask me!! =D I do think it needs to be worked out in advance though so everyone knows whats happening and can book accordingly
about 2 hours ago there was a post that it might be getting held down the gold coast after all https://www.facebook.com/groups/3134...3868278803123/
yes, I did see.
They've changed it back to the Marriot! As much as I love Moreton Island, when they came out with how much all the activities cost, it really was getting way too expensive. Yay! Now everyone can (hopefully) come!
hopefully all can come now
even if they can't stay at the Marriott (pricing is still an issue I saw) they'll be able to stay nearby, because they'll be able to come use the pool and visit those staying there
Hopefully we can get a bulk discount! It seems for the cheapest room it's about $75 each (4 person) per night for a room with 2 double beds. Apparently "Connecting rooms are available (for some rooms)" so we might even be able to share a larger space? If that's what that means haha.
It's going to take a miracle for me to be able to attend this, but I'm not giving up yet. A year may be enough time to save up, but my husband's mum's 60th bday is in March of next year, and I know how important it is for both of them that we go visit her then. So that would make it REALLY difficult for us to also be there in January, as we couldn't fly to Australia from the US twice in two months (airfare costs around 1300-1600 USD per person on a good day), and neither of us would get enough leave to be able to stay in QLD for two months. I was really hoping we'd be able to plan a trip so the two events coincided but it doesn't look like I got that lucky. I'm still hopeful, but at the end of the day family is more important. However, that means that if I can't go to MerQuest I will at least be in TSV in March...maybe we could arrange a smaller meetup then or something. I'll at least have to catch up with Nixe the Tropical Mermaid, I'd love to meet some more of you as well!
If I have enough money left I'd love to travel up north to meet you, if it works out!
Oh me too! I'd come to that mer met up, given that I have the money.
They're currently taking a list of those attending on the FB page so that we can attempt the world record for most mermaids in a pod.
But they are re-doing the list closer to the date, so we can finalise numbers so don't feel you need to rush over there and get your name down
The location has been changed to The Marriot on the Gold Coast because the island got a bit pricey :)
The first Annual Mermaid gathering for all Australian Mermaids and Mermaids across the oceans world wide to experience our gorgeous Australian waters. We will have plenty of activities to choose from as well as a gala Marquee dinner by the pool :)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Marri...13682162015968
So what is the latest date we can RSVP to this event? I feel like things are moving along really quickly even though it's a year out, and it will be a while before I can be sure if I can make it or not.
Bookings for the Marriott cannot be made until mid year so you have time :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Theobromine
Plus you do not have to stay at the Marriott as long as some of us our there you can join us as a guest :D
I wonder how much it would be to fly to australia.... *she thinks idly, while going over her credit card bills from this january...*