Time Out

Volume 6 Issue 2 July 2007

Eastcoast Member Services

Manager: Anne Burns

Office Hours – Monday through Friday 9.00am to 5.00pm

Telephone: 03 5985 6166 Fax: 03 5985 6155

E-Mail: info@eastcoasttimeshare.com

Eastcoast Timeshare Group Website!

http://www.eastcoasttimeshare.com/

We are happy to announce the launch of the Eastcoast Timeshare Group website. Members who would like to receive newsletters and special offers via this means should simply send me an email to register for this service. Send email to info@eastcoasttimeshare.com.

Please note that the old email address eastcoastms@bigpond.com is still viable with all mail forwarded to the new address.

Bonus weeks

Call member services for bonus week availability at resorts around Australia, New Zealand and other locations throughout the world. Availability up to 3 months in advance of check-in date. Great last-minute value.

Jetport Security Parking

Don’t forget 10% saving on the cost of Jetport Security Parking (Melbourne Airport) if booked through member services. You can utilise this saving any time you travel – the offer is not restricted to when you are taking a timeshare holiday. Normal rate for 8 days $89.00 – discounted rate for Eastcoast members and guests $80.10.

I want more holidays

Add weeks and RCI accounts for $200 per week. There are a limited number of weeks available for transfer into your RCI account so that you can exchange them for a holiday just as you would use your ownership entitlement. The weeks available for transfer are all 1bdr and holidays against these special deposits will need to be booked within the next 12 months.Need more information? Give Anne a call at your member services – 03 5985 6166

Cruising with Timeshare

Thank you to Dennis Grimes (Eastcoast Timeshare Group Administration Manager) for this article.

My wife and I have utilised our timeshare over the years taking our family on our annual holiday to Queensland or somewhere else around the country while the kids were young. We have also made the odd trip overseas utilising our weeks to the maximum as our children grew older. Timeshare was sometimes a pain in the neck when we realised late in the year that we still hadn’t used it but overall I must say it has been a good investment for us as it forced me to take the holiday and spend some quality time with the family. It was so easy to get caught up in work that sometimes the important things were overlooked.

Now our kids have grown up and have left home we were faced with a quandary. What were we going to do with our holidays? Continue touring? What were our options? As it turned out we decided to do something completely different. Having come to Australia by boat in the 50′s I have often wanted to re-experience the feel of a large ship on the sea so I suggested to my wife that we should try a cruise. I am a reasonable sailor but my wife wasn’t so sure. Getting seasick could be a real turn off. After a couple of years of prodding she finally agreed when I assured her that not only would she be waited on, but that she also wouldn’t have to wash up, or even make the beds.

Eighteen months ago we banked our weeks with Ice Gallery and took our first cruise with P&O to the islands. I must say we had a ball. What’s more, my wife found out that a few ginger tablets over the first days of the cruise removed any queasiness and sea legs were quickly obtained. She even found clambering into the small tenders that ferried us to shore was an enjoyable experience. The scenery was certainly different as was the culture we found ourselves visiting. And, after a day exploring, what could be better than going back to the same bed in the same room. No more unpacking. A quick shower and off to pre dinner drinks in the piano bar, a nice four course meal in the restaurant, all followed by a floorshow. I was happy but my wife was even happier. No more chores. Now she could relax too.

Since then we have cruised again with Princess Lines to New Zealand and have just returned from a cruise in the Mediterranean with Carnival. The different countries we visited were a once in a lifetime experience and whether climbing in the snow or walking amongst thermal pools in New Zealand or exploring ancient ruins in Italy or Turkey it was nice to know that back there waiting for us was our own bed. The ships were bigger, newer and the hospitality of the staff was just as friendly but that first cruise will probably remain a favourite as it brought us into a new and memorable experience.

Our experiences on-board and ashore? Well, each cruise was different and I will hopefully have time to detail them in a future newsletter. There are some lessons to be learnt.

I’d like to take the opportunity to thank the staff at Ice Gallery for their assistance in making this happen; first for helping me convince my wife and secondly for assisting with the bookings to make it all happen.

As for the future; well we’re off cruising again later this year to see what Alaska and Hawaii have to offer.

If you want more information on I.C.E. Gallery and using your timeshare weeks for cruises go to www.icegallery.com.

The Burns Excellent Adventure (Part 2)

We left the South Island and the Marlborough region aboard the “Interislander” ferry (www.interislander.co.nz) – Picton to Wellington – on a windy but relatively calm morning. The trip takes 3 hours and is very picturesque. The 5 ½ hour car trip from Wellington to Taupo was uneventful. Highway 1 all the way to Turangi and on to Taupo on the other side of the lake. The lake itself was the result of the most violent volcanic eruption the world has seen in the past 5000 years – the ash affected the sunsets as far away as Europe and China. Australasia’s largest lake, Lake Taupo was created by a gigantic volcanic eruption in 181AD. At 616 square kilometres, it is as big as Singapore Island. The lake’s attractive pumice sand beaches give it the appearance of an inland ocean. Over thousands of years, volcanic action has created a landscape of simmering craters, boiling mud pools, fumaroles and steam vents.

Thermal Wonderland, Rotarua

Maori mythology is richly interwoven with the geothermal features of the region. Year-round trout fishing – Rainbow and brown trout were liberated in Lake Taupo more than 100 years ago. Open for fishing 12 months a year, the lake and its adjoining rivers represent one of the last true wild trout fisheries in the world.

Timeshare accommodation is plentiful in this area. Choose from Lake Edge Resort Taupo, Phoenix Resort, Retreat, Taupo Ika Nui, Village Resort Taupo and Lakeside Villas or Kaimanawa Lodge and Turangi Leisure Lodge in Turangi. We stayed at Lakeside Villas which was great. We had a double storey unit with it’s own private courtyard including BBQ and thermally heated outdoor spa. The resort was beautifully maintained and the location (within walking distance of the main township and over the road from the lake) is perfect. For details and pictures of all resorts go to www.daelive.com and click on the “Resorts” tab.

Taupo countryside

Lakeside Villas, Taupo

Our stay at Taupo was a chance to unwind after the constant travelling of the week before. We enjoyed walks into town and around the lake and took short drives to the local sights. We walked in “The Craters of the Moon” park and saw bubbling mud and boiling streams and our sense of smell was assaulted by the sulphur; we watched and listened to the torrent of water squeezing through the narrow opening at Huka Falls; and we swam in the local baths. The baths are thermally heated and we floated in the bath temperature water with cold rain splashing down. We ate at the local restaurants and took a day trip to Rotarua which included a visit to the Volcano Activity Centre. The Taupo Volcanic Zone stretches from Mt Ruapehu in the central plateau to White Island in the Bay of Plenty. It is one of the world’s largest and most actively volcanic and geothermal areas in the world today. Mt Ruapehu, which had it’s last major eruption in 1995-1996, provides great snow skiing at Phakapapa and Turoa resorts in the winter months.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Taupo and would happily holiday there again. There is so much more of the North Island that we want to explore we will have to go back soon!

Got some holiday tips or photo’s?

Share your holiday experiences with your fellow members. Send a short article and a few photo’s to Anne at member services for inclusion in newsletters. Email makes it so easy! Let us know where to take our next holiday!

Interchange Timeshare “Special Offer for Eastcoast members” – refer to enclosed flyer.

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Eastcoast News July 2010
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Eastcoast News November 2009
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