EDPCi Day Outings

Bendigo Bank, BSB 633 000, a/c 182681668; add a short description stating YOUR NAME and reason for paymenLike our Tours, our Day Outings schedule has been disrupted quite a tad by the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, as we adhere to government health guidelines. However, Outings Officer Russell Gough is organising for the following Future Day Outings: refer to our Newsletters for more details. 
Generally, the easiest way to book and pay is by Direct Deposit to Bendigo Bank, BSB 633 000, Account No. 182681668; add a short description stating YOUR NAME and reason for payment, with a short description stating YOUR NAME and the event [e.g. CRUISE Your Name (no hyphen, slashes, etc.)]

• >>>SATURDAY<<< 18 November 2023: our November Day Outing will be a ride on the newly refurbished Zig Zag Railway near Lithgow: we will meet for lunch (venue to be decided) and travel by car to Clarence Station, arriving by 14:00 (2.00 p.m.) to board the 2.30 p.m. Zig Zag train and travel to Bottom Points Station via Top Points Station and return to Clarence Station.
  The fare for seniors is $27.50. Your interest in this outing should have been registered at the July meeting.
  If not paying cash, please make a direct deposit to Probus Account BSB 633 000 A/C 182681668 stating YOUR NAME and reason for payment and also advise the Outings Co-ordinator, Russell Gough, by email to: Russell.Gough51@gmail.com.
• 16 October 2023: our October Day Outing will be a lunch at Club Palm Beach (formerly the Palm Beach RSL), 1087 Barrenjoey Rd, Palm Beach, NSW. This outing will be a veritable “Cooks tour” entailing travel on two trains, two busses and two ferries: further details will be in the September Newsletter.
• Monday 18 September 2023: our Annual Picnic will be at the Lake Parramatta Reserve at the end of Illawong Drive, North Parramatta. Leader: Russell Gough. Lake Parramatta was created as a result of the damming of Hunts Creek in 1856 and is now a recreational area with picnic areas, a café, a swimming precinct, boat hire facilities, and a great walking track.
  We will gather there at approximately 10.45–11.00 a.m. for morning tea with lunch to be served at about 12.30 p.m. Lunch will consist of barbecued sausages and rolls with a wide choice of salads. The charge for lunch is $20 per person and please bring your own drinks.
  Access to the site is by car only and there are plenty of parking spaces. The main entrance to the park is via Lackey Street off Bourke Street in North Parramatta.
  Please register your interest in attending the picnic, and pay the $20 cost, at or before the September General Meeting.
• Tuesday 22 August 2023: Ross Beattie and Rick Collins will lead a combined Rambles and Day Outing this month: a casual walk aroung central Maitland to view some of the town's amazing colonial architecture. A map (1997) will be provided which details some 35 properties (some now gone!) but there are many others such at the Maitland Court House and the Gaol: participants are also referred to other resources such as an article published in the Sydney Morning Herald (24nov2008).
  The walk, starting and ending at the Maitland Railway station, is nominally about 3 to 3.5 km, but can be shortened - or extended!
  Lunch is planned to be at Lavenders Cafe, 1/418 High Street, Maitland [menu]. "Centrally tucked away at the top of the The Levee, Lavenders Riverside Café is a quiet and peaceful riverside destination, providing alfresco dining, overlooking the Hunter River".
  
  Car-pooling is suggested to travel to and from Maitland, but the 11:30 start time at Maitland allows travel from Sydney by train.
  *** Driving? — consider car-sharing (journey ~1hr 45mins each way).
  *** Train? — catch the 08:40 from Epping (platform 3) train to Hamilton Station platform 2, arriving at 10:46, then cross quickly from to platform 1 for the 10:50 train to Maitland, arriving there at 11:26 (there is another train from Hamilton at 11:31, arriving Maitland at 12:00. Return by say the 15:39 train from Maitland, changing at Hamilton and arriving at Epping at 18:34.
  
  People may want to stay overnight: there is much more to see both in Maitland and also in East Maitland, Lorn, Morpeth and other nearby towns.
• Monday 17 July 2023: our Day Outing saw 13 members and 6 guests again celebrate Christmas in July at The Fiddler Hotel (off Commercial Road, Rouse Hill): good food, good companionship. Leader: Michael Brinsden. The Fiddler a heritage building fronting Windsor Road designed by Francis Greenway in 1826 as a half-way house for Cobb & Co. to service the Parramatta to Windsor run. The Hotel is within walking distance from the Rouse Hill Metro Station and Town Centre.
• Monday 19 June 2023: our Day Outing was a train trip to Leura to visit to the Bygone Beauties Teapot Museum, cnr Grose & Megalong Street, 20-22 Grose Street, Leura, where we saw a fascinating collection of tea-related china and silver-ware - including a teapot dating from c1740 - and enjoyed a sumpyuous devonshire tea. Cost was $10 p.p. We lunched afterwards in a café in Leura Mall before returning home by a relaxing train trip. NN attendees. Leader: Jane Jones.
• Thursday 1 June 2023: our May Day Outing was a 3-hour Naval Harbour Cruise (operated by the Naval Historical Society of Australia) to the east of the Sydney Harbour Bridge to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the attack on Sydney Harbour by the Japanese
  midget submarines: commentary was supported by a complimentary booklet of photos to bring the story to life. Cost $65 p,p. for a group of 10 or more. The cruise started at 10 a.m. from King Street wharf and finished at the same place at 1 p.m. Leader: Russell Gough. Again, lunch followed at the Cargo Bar café near King Street Wharf.
• Monday 20 March 2023: our Day Outing was an excellent  guided tour of the fascinating Parramatta Female Factory Precinct. Dating back to 1821, this national heritage precinct covers an area of 7.3 hectares where the adjacent historic institutions of the Roman Catholic Orphan School and later Parramatta Girls Home and the convict built Parramatta Female Factory and later Parramatta Invalid & Lunatic Asylum are situated. Cost was $10 p.p. Leader: Russell Gough. NN attendees
• Monday 20 February 2023: we met at Epping Station and entrained to Town Hall thence bus to the Art Gallery of NSW for our February Day Outing, a guided tour the Art Gallery’s new Sydney Modern galleries (an refurbished abandoned oil tank) and explored the art and architecture of the building: $32 p.p.. We then had lunch at one of the cafés in the Art Gallery before returning home. Leader: Russell Gough.
• Wednesday 8 December 2022: our annual "Christmas Luncheon" was held [in lieu of our December General Meeting and Day Outing] at North Ryde RSL, Magdala Rd., North Ryde. 38 members and spouses attended a most enjoyable occassion with good company and good food.
• Monday 21 November 2022: our Day Outing was a visit to the Kokoda Track Memorial Walkway, Rhodes Park, Rhodes and The Ralph Honner Kokoda Education Centre.
• Thursday 27 October 2022: our Day Outing for March was a luncheon cruise on Nepean Belle paddlewheeler, Penrith to Nepean River Gorge, from the Jetty at Tench Reserve, Tench Avenue, Jamisontown, meeting at the dock 11:30 to board for a departure at noon. $53 p.p. for cruise and lunch, drinks extra.
• Monday 26 September 2022: our Annual Picnic was held at the Lake Parramatta Reserve at the end of Illawong Drive, North Parramatta.
• Friday 26 August 2022: our Day Outing (rescheduled from April) was a 3-hour Naval Harbour Cruise (operated by the Naval Historical Society of Australia) to the west of the Sydney Harbour Bridge: the sites we saw and learnt about include HMAS Waterhen, Cockatoo Island, Spectacle Island and Snapper Island; commentary on the cruise was supported by a complimentary booklet of photos to bring the story to life. During the cruise we also learnt about some of the RAN customs and traditions. Cost $65 p,p. for a group of 10 or more. The cruise started at 10 a.m. from King Street wharf and finished at the same place at 1 p.m. Leader: Brian Haywood. Lunch followed at the Cargo Bar café near King Street Wharf.
• Monday 25 July 2022: we celebrated Christmas in July with a lunch at The Fiddler Hotel, off Commercial Road, Rouse Hill.
• Monday 20 June 2022: our June Day Outing for 2022 was a visit to the new Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney [which draws on Nicholson and Macleay Museums and the University Art collection]: lunched afterwards at the Sounds Sydney café on the Chau Chak Wing Museum terrace. [Rescheduled from February].
• Wednesday 11 May 2022, noon: our May Day Outing was a lunch at the West Pennant Hills Sports Club, 103 New Line Road, West Pennant Hills, NSW, organised by Ray Palmer.
• Friday 29 April 2022: our April Day Outing was a cruise on the Hawkesbury Mail Boat. The first Riverboat Postman started the run in 1910. You will enjoy the magnificent scenery of the lower Hawkesbury River as the boat delivers the mail and other essentials to the river-access-only settlements upriver from Brooklyn. The cost was $49 per person. Morning tea was served on departure, with percolated coffee, hot tea, and home-made ANZAC biscuits. Lunch was served around midday and consisted of a very Aussie Ploughman's-style plate with shaved ham, tasty cheese, tomato, zucchini, carrot, mixed lettuce, pickled onions, fresh Turkish Bread roll, pickles, fruit chutney, butter & Italian dressing. The boat leaves the wharf at 10am each weekday.
• Thursday 24 March 2022: our Day Outing for March was to have been a luncheon cruise on Nepean Belle paddlewheeler, Penrith to Nepean River Gorge, from the Jetty at Tench Reserve, Tench Avenue, Jamisontown: it was CANCELLED due to the river running too fast after heavy rains and local flooding, and has been rescheduled to 27 October 2022. Due to the late cancellation no alternative Outing could be organised
• Monday 21 February 2022: CANCELLED due to sudden Train Strike - our first Day Outing for 2022 was to have been a visit to the new Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney.
• Tuesday 7 December 2021: our annual "Christmas Luncheon" went ahead at North Ryde RSL, Magdala Rd., North Ryde. 51 attendees enjoyed a great occassion while keeping within Covid-19 health guidelines.
• Monday 15 November 2021: CANCELLED due to COVID: a luncheon cruise on Nepean Belle paddlewheeler, from the Jetty at Tench Reserve, Tench Avenue, Jamisontown.
• Monday 16 August 2021: CANCELLED due to COVID: a guided tour of the new Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney [which draws on Nicholson and Macleay Museums and the University Art collection]: lunch afterwards.
• Monday 19 July 2021: CANCELLED due to COVID: a "Christmas in July" day out, at Camden Valley Inn, 290 Remembrance Drive, Cawdor.
• Monday 21 June 2021: a visit to Fort Scratchley in Newcastle, NSW.  In 1876, with fears of Russian attack, the British Government sent Major General Sir William Jervois and Lieutenant Colonel Peter Scratchley to advise on naval defences. The Fort was designed around a battery of three guns facing eastward in an arc to the ocean, with other guns covering the harbour to north and west.
  The visit to the site, including the museum rooms was free, but we were able to join a 1-hour guided tour ($10.00 p.p.) of the defence’s tunnels starting at 11:30 a.m. The tunnel tour was reasonably accessible, but included about 20 steps. We caught an express train to Newcastle from Epping and then the light rail to the Newcastle Beach stop for a short (about 800 metres) walk up a slope to Fort Scratchley. A table was reserved at Scratchleys-on-the-Wharf for lunch.
• Monday 17 May 2021: a guided tour of ANSTO [Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation], New Illawarra Rd, Lucas Heights NSW. The ANSTO site is a secure site. The ANSTO Visitor Information Fact Sheet outlined information that visitors need to provide prior to the visit. If you wish to join the tour.
  The ANSTO Visitor Information Fact Sheet can be viewed at: https://cpb-ap-se2.wpmucdn.com/www.aurora.nsw.edu.au/dist/c/1/files/2018/02/ANSTO_VisitorInformationFactSheet_2017-1vy8r5y.pdf
  and the ANSTO Visitor Terms and Conditions at: https://www.ansto.gov.au/visitor-terms-and-conditions .
• Thursday 22 April 2021, 11:30: an “audio-led” guided tour [$20 p.p.] of the recently updated Hyde Park Barracks: the 11:30 tour takes ~1½ hours. Option to lunch at the City Tattersalls Club (194-204 Pitt St.) after the tour. Assemble on Epping Station concourse at 10:00 to travel to Museum Station. For details see the March Newsletter. As bookings can only be made by purchasing tickets, if you would like to join the outing, please advise the outings organiser (or by email to Russell.Gough51@gmail.com ) and pay ON or BEFORE Monday, April 12, 2021, (preferably by Direct Deposit to Bendigo Bank, BSB 633 000, a/c 182681668; add a short description stating YOUR NAME and the event). It would be appreciated if you could email the meetings organiser, copy to the treasurer ( sueleohart@gmail.com ), to advise that a Direct Deposit has been made.
• Monday 15 March 2021, 11:45: a St. Patrick’s celebration lunch at The Fiddler hotel [$50 p.p. includes a welcome drink, a 2-course Irish lunch and live entertainment]. The Fiddler, at the corner of Commercial and Windsor Roads, Rouse Hill, includes a heritage building fronting Windsor Road designed by Francis Greenway in 1826 as a half-way house for Cobb & Co. to service the Parramatta to Windsor run. The Hotel is within walking distance from the Rouse Hill Metro Station and Town Centre; otherwise travel by car.
• Wednesday 17 February 2021: 11 members and 5 guests met at Epping Station and travelled by train and ferry for a two-course lunch at the heritage Manly Pavilion, enjoying views of Sydney's iconic harbour from both the ferry and the Pavilion.
• Thursday 10 December 2020: sadly, our Christmas Lunch, held in lieu of our December General Meeting, had to be cancelled due to the limitations of the extant COVID-19 pandemic health guidelines. Our Dining Group held two informal lunches at local sports clubs instead.
• Monday 16 November 2020, 10:00: our 'monthly' Day Outings recommenced post-Pandemic with a 2½ hour "Journey Beyond Cruises" lunch cruise around Sydney Harbour: thirteen members/partners from our club enjoyed an excellent 3-course lunch and drinks [$99 p.p.] - COVID-19 health guideline limited the cruise to 34 places.

Past Tours have included:

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