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And what’s more, conferencing in regional NSW won’t cost the earth. In fact, if you’re new to the meeting planning game you just might find that compared to the cost of events in some of Sydney’s big city hotels, you could very well be saving yourself some money by heading out of town.
The Coffs Coast, centred around the city of Coffs Harbour, about halfway between Sydney and Brisbane, offers plenty for convention groups in terms of accommodation, facilities, and things to do “beyond the ballroom”.
To make it easier for meeting planners there is an organisation called Coffs Coast Conferences (www.coffscoastconferences.com.au) that can take the hassle out of your event by doing all the ground work for you – sourcing venues and accommodation that suit your criteria to a tee.
And there are certainly plenty of great venues to choose from. The Novotel Coffs Harbour Pacific Bay Resort is one of the more popular, offering a large level of accommodation, excellent meetings facilities, and plenty of recreational pursuits to boot. It even has a team of in-house team-building specialists who can help create group experiences that should have your delegates inspired and on the go throughout their stay.
Novotel Pacific Bay Resort’s director of sales and marketing, Jodie Evans, says the resort has invested heavily in its people and resources to provide an inspiring conference environment where delegates walk away with more than new knowledge but a new confidence in themselves and their colleagues.
The most renowned team-building facility at Novotel Pacific Bay Resort is the custom designed Elite Training Centre. Located on-site, this is the place that a variety of Australia’s strongest sporting teams regularly come to train. On offer at the Elite Training Centre is a diverse range of activities suitable to all levels of fitness. These activities take advantage of the specifically developed training field, line out field, agility sandpit, and grass volleyball field. In addition the facility has a gymnasium, meeting rooms, showers and spas, toilets and a covered pergola area.
Beyond the borders of the training centre and within the grounds of the Novotel Pacific Bay Resort is plenty more opportunity for themed challenges. The Charlesworth Beach Challenge not only gets delegates’ feet wet but indulges in some light-hearted surf rescue methods of training.
To learn more email meet@pacificbayresort.com.au or download a complete conference kit online at www.pacificbayresort.com.au.
The nearby Opal Cove Resort is another Coffs Coast winner for meetings and events. The four-star resort offers families, couples and conference delegates a chance to unwind amidst the sub tropical surroundings of banana plantations and rainforest covered hills.
Guests can unwind in the sun by the heated swimming pool doing nothing but sipping cocktails and working on their tan, play a leisurely round of golf on the resort’s nine hole golf course, have a hit of tennis on the day/night floodlit courts, be pampered in the day spa, or wander on the secluded beach right in front of the resort.
With a range of accommodation including hotel style rooms and self contained villas there is something to suit every taste or budget. Brand new to the accommodation options are exclusive beachfront four bedroom units set just metres from the Pacific Ocean. All units enjoy a private nature reserve setting stretching only 20 metres to the ocean. Guests can relax and enjoy generous living areas including four bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, full kitchen and dining facilities, double garage with secure internal access, i-pod docking stations, large flat screen televisions with Austar channels, private balconies from all bedrooms, and laundry facilities.
To learn more visit www.opalcove.com.au.
Another hot property on the Coffs Coast, Bonville Golf Resort was recently recognised as one of Australia’s best golf resorts for the second year in a row by Luxury Travel and Style magazine.
Bonville was recognised as Australia’s second best golf resort for its deluxe accommodation, fine dining, beauty, premium service, and challenging golf course.
Bonville improved on its fourth place ranking in last year’s list to be just behind the highly regarded Hyatt Regency Coolum in QLD, which again was listed as Australia’s best.
Bonville’s general manager, Brad Daymond, said the ranking reflects the ongoing improvements to both the property and the ‘Bonville Experience’.
“In the last 12 months we have completed a refurbishment of our accommodation rooms, upgraded our Flooded Gums Restaurant, refurbished our federation style clubhouse and completed many golf course improvement works including our bunker replacement program,” he said.
“It is pleasing to note we were only one of a few to improve their rankings and that we are now the highest ranked golf resort in New South Wales.”
If you can’t get to the Coffs Coast, or are seeking a destination a little closer to home, particularly the Sydney CBD, then it’s hard to go past the beauty of the NSW Southern Highlands, about one-and-a-half hours from Sydney by road.
Already offering a number of first-rate meetings facilities the Southern Highlands will soon have a new kid on the block when the Gibraltar Hotel Bowral opens in September this year.
Surrounded by century old pine trees, acres of bushland reserve, and a picturesque 18-hole golf course, the Gibraltar Hotel Bowral is being described as a new masterpiece of architectural balance and eclectic interior design.
Right now the construction site is buzzing with workmen, machines and the typical sounds of hard work.
Luxuriously appointed, the hotel’s 76 rooms provide the ideal setting for an executive retreat, meeting, or the larger intricacies of a conference or production. All guest rooms have views and comprise 40 square metres of modern furnishings. The Gibraltar Ballroom is showered in daylight and framed by inspiring vistas of Mount Gibraltar. In addition to multiple break-out rooms, the hotel’s gallery with its seven metre ceilings can serve as a white canvas to the most lavish event, entertaining up to 150 guests for a cocktail or show.
Innovative, gourmet, unique, and sophisticated, Gibraltar Hotel Bowral is the Southern Highlands’ place to be for meetings, incentives, conferences and events.
To learn more about this cutting edge venue contact the team on 02 4861 4200 or via email on mice@gibraltarbowral.com.au .
One of the fastest and most effective ways to learn more about conferencing in New South Wales is to take a look at the website www.eventconnect.com.
eventconnect.com allows users to search the dozen or more dedicated regions of New South Wales for venues and facilities, with many offering hot deals for conference groups. Users can click on multiple destinations such as the Blue Mountains or Wollongong, or drill down to just one region.
Users put in their criteria, usually how many conference delegates they are catering for, and the system then matches their preferences with properties on the website.
Many listings have their websites included, or you can simply send off a quote direct to the property that matches your criteria. Then you can sit back, relax and wait for all the hard work to be done for you.
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