On Thursday 23rd of November 2017 – ANZEC members and guests enjoyed another incredible ‘Evening of Adventure’ in Sydney, facilitated at our HQ “The Boat House” in Balmoral. And for the first time the professional staff at The Boathouse were there to handle all the catering, and as such the ANZEC team were able to handle our 70 members and guests with ease.
Two of our most treasured members, Valerie Taylor and Mike McDowell were there to share their stories as our guest presenters. Valerie Talyor presented “Surviving Blue Water White Death”, the story of the filming of the greatest pioneering Shark documentary ever made, and Mike McDowell presented “Adventurers Behaving Badly, the untold stories from the edge of the world”.
This event also capped off the biggest year ever for ANZEC. In total we held five events, including our first ever events in Melbourne. Melbourne events were made possible as the club has gained the valuable support of The Sun Theatre – Thank you Michael G Smith. Our Secretary Steve Trewavas is now working towards organising an on-going series of exciting presentations in Melbourne for the benefit of our Victorian members.
In Sydney our programme co-ordinators Jayne Jenkins, Sophie Hollingsworth and I have further perfected our systems and we now have the ability to produce four high quality “Evenings of Adventure” a year. And a big thank you to John and Ann Leece for their on-going support with providing club access to the stunning Boat House at Balmoral venue.
Earlier this year our website manager Damien Siviero took the initiative and created a new ANZEC Website. Thank you Damien.
Many new members have joined this year, with many more new membership applications pending, thanks to our new Membership Manager David Strike, who personally managers each applicant through every step of the complex process.
This year we finally sorted our club insurance, thanks to the assistance of Laurence Bate and John Leece.
I am proud to say that we recently launched our new range of ANZEC t-shirts and polo shirts which were sold by Grant Dwyer and Dana Trebar for the first time at our merchandise shop at the last event in Sydney. They will be available to all members from an online shop very soon.
We have strived to make our ANZEC “Evenings of Adventure” accessible to our all members, especially members who could not attend the Sydney and Melbourne Nights. To this end we now have all of our presentations as full-length videos, available to members for free on our website. So as an ANZEC Member, no matter where you are, you can enjoy the superb presentations from our Evenings of Adventure. I would like to acknowledge efforts of Kasimir Zierl, who has his membership application pending. Even before being an official member he has proven his worth and will soon be enthusiastically fulfilling the role of Chapter Video Editor.
You can view our latest ANZEC video presentations here.
Valerie Taylor “Surviving Blue Water White Death”… Click here to view video
Mike McDowell “Adventurers Behaving Badly, the untold stories from the edge of the world”… Click here to view video
In the field our members are forging ahead most notably with an Expedition to explore the wreck site of the World War II Japanese Mini Sub, off Sydney’s Northern beaches. This flagged expedition is led by ANZEC Club member and past Our World Rolex Underwater Scholarship Society Scholar Matt Carter. We look forward to Matt’s presentation at the conclusion of the expedition.
All of this activity has not gone un-noticed at The Explorers Club Head Quarters in New York. The Explorers Club President Ted Janulis, in his latest Video report, made special mention of our active little Chapter. You can view The President’s Video Report here.
https://explorers.org//news/news_detail/presidents_video_report_october_2017
So its been a very big year for ANZEC. This has only been made possible by the combined efforts of members of our club, all contributing in their own way, towards a common goal of pulling our little adventure community together to share each other’s stories and company. I would like to thank all who helped and make this year possible. If I have not mentioned you by name, you know who you are.
So as I sit here on the beach of San Cristobal in The Galapagos Islands, about to embark on a two week diving adventure, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and thank you each and everyone one of you for making 2017 the most successful year ever for The Australia and New Zealand Chapter of The Explorers Club.
Todd Tai
Chair – The Explorers Club, Australia and New Zealand
