Feb 8 -10 Taupo, New Zealand 

Wow!  What a weekend.  It all kicked of with the informal dinner at Villino’s in Taupo on Friday night.  Werner’s mate Alex owns the place and we were greeted by him and his staff.  The food was good and the talk soon started on Jack Daniels.  10 of the 18 people made it to the dinner and most met Moz from Oz for the first time.  What a great bloke!  He has changed my thoughts on Australians.  After dinner we headed back to the venue of the weekend at the Taupo All Seasons holiday park.  The staff there were fantastic towards us giving us access to an exclusive area that we could call our own.  The JD started to be poured and the talk of Jack continued into the night.  A few unscrupulous people unlike me tried to trade outside of the trading zones.  Mike was the worst at doing this and had to be reminded throughout the night.

Saturday bought the remaining collectors to the campground for registration.  Mike was trying to trade again and had to be given a formal warning.  “No Trading” became a popular saying.  After the registration briefing which included the outline of events and rules for the day we jumped into cars and headed for the first activity which was The Great Lake challenge.  The task was to tee of New Zealand’s largest lake and land the ball onto a pontoon about 100m offshore.  The person who hit the pontoon the most won the prize.  If no one hit it then a prize for the craziest thing at the golf would be awarded.

Tiger Woods aka Steve Blocker was first up and he hit the pontoon 4 out of 12 times.  The rest of us jumped in the cars and went back home. Lol.  No, we did not; the challenge had been laid down.  Shane and Martyn managed to hit the pontoon once each, Moz’s technique was improving with each hit and he managed to con another ball out of the owner.  (Those Aussies should stick to cricket). Lol.  The rest of us did not fair to well. Sally was the only female entrant in the event and tried her best despite the heckling from her husband/partner Mike who did not have ago.

On the way back Steve admitted to hitting 500 balls 30 minutes before registration.  Next year it will be mini golf using Clint’s new 24k gold Jack Daniels putter.  The liquor shops took a hammering from the collectors trying to find bargains, Steve walked out the shop and cracked a JD and Dry and the store owner warned him it was a dry area so Steve being the good guy he is quickly got into the car and waited.

Back at the campsite, their was tension in the air as time was working closer to the Jack Daniels Taste off.  Collectors were asked to make something sweet or savoury with Jack in it.  My Dad also known as Camp Cook was assigned judging duties as he does have a cast iron stomach.  My wife did enter a dish on my behalf and my Dad was not told anything about it.  Next year I might tell him which one it is because I didn’t win.

There was a wide range of items to sample and the judge took his job seriously having to go back a second time to sample each item.  Sally was announced the winner of the bake off and this started a winning streak for the rest of the night.  Mike had to be given a written waning for trying to trade again.  Mike “No Trading”.  Shane was given a shirt that said “No trading with Shane when he is drunk….cause Ang said so”.  Prior to that you would always get a good deal out of him. Lol.

The mix and mingling between collectors carried on, Gavin and Tim looked through the photo albums that some of the other collectors had bought and were amazed at the collections.

The BBQ was ready and it was time to fill up on some yummy food for the long night ahead.  Everyone chipped in and we shared an afternoon feed that set us up for the night.  The cooks did a great job delivering food on time and in ample quantities.  During the feed Mike and Shane started to get rowdy and Clint joined in wanting to know when the Auction was going to start, so we cleared the tables and opened up the floor so that people could display their wares.  By the time I got back there was very little room left, a lot of stuff was put out for the auction.  The way it works is that the seller sets a reserve and passes the master list to the master list collator.  People can then place a bid on a bid sheet.  The person with the closest bid the to reserve is given the opportunity to pay the reserve price.  If the reserve is $100.  Person A bids $95 and Person B bids $130.  Person A gets the chance to pay $100.  This stops people with big wallets from getting everything.  The highlight for me on the night was a paper seal 1984 black label signed by Jimmy B.  It did not meet reserve but was a great item to see.

After the auction, private deals are allowed to take place and it is the time to pick up bargains.  After this we had prize giving.  Moz was thanked for making the effort and was presented with a couple of gifts.  The cooks were given a plaque for doing the BBQ.  Steve, Sally took prizes for the golf and bake off respectively.  Duane was thanked for assisting with the various jobs he was part of and Jak the JD boss in NZ was thanked for the sponsorship of product and merchandise for the event.  Jak is a good supporter of collectors in NZ and we are looking forward to the possibility of buying a barrel of SB for New Zealand.  We all chipped in for a gift to show our thanks and we will present it to Jak in the near future.  A big thanks to everyone for making this weekend a great event for New Zealand collectors.  A big thanks to Graheme and Moz for the goodies bag that was shared out amongst the NZ collectors.  Graheme should be getting a few things from us as thanks in return.  An empty GJ4 bottle was singed by all the collectors and everyone’s name went into a hat to be drawn out by Moz from Oz.  Mike was the winner.

Throughout the evening people names were drawn to win a hat or number plate surrounds sponsored by Hancock’s NZ.

It was time for the group photo and Martyn our resident photographer was onto it snapping shots throughout the weekend.  We look forward to his pics because we all love pics. Lol.  The final formal part of the evening was the JD quiz.  20 questions were asked under exam conditions and we ended up with a draw which meant a super quiz question had to be asked and Mike was the winner of the quiz picking up a SB with the date 7/09/07.  Yes, the next bottling day after the 07/07/07.

It was time to kick back and relax, a few people shot off and got changed, Clint had a 30 minute rest and came back 4 hours later.  As people headed off to bed it was Moz, Martyn and Tokboy still up and then Clint came out of the bushes to rejoin the party.

Sunday was about coffee, clean ups and farewells.  No trading Mike!  It is the downside of the weekend having to say good byes, but it was one hell of a weekend.

This is my own version of events and this may differ from other reports.  But it’s the way I see it and I welcome the others to fill in the gaps I may have missed.

You are a great group of people and it means so much getting together, we would go out of our way to help each other and that is a true testament of being a Jack collector.

Until next time, safe travels and keep well.  You all mean a lot to me, even you Mike. Lol.

Take care and all the best for 2008.

Tokboy Out!