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Events

The Sydney Speleological Society hosts many events over the year, these include trips to local, national and overseas caving areas, meetings and other activities. SSS is a very socialy active group running between 50 to 100 activites each year including 12 Commitee meetings, 12 General meetings, 10 Talk nights, 2 Official BBQ's, 1 Annual Dinner and several caving trips each month!! See the Calendar page for details

Trips

Our society runs trips regularly to many of the caving areas in New South Wales. We also run occasional trips to other states along the East-Coast of Australia and infrequent expeditions to other countries.

The society's Committee generally plans trips a year in advance. However, some of these trips are not confirmed until all necessary permits are received from the cave management authorities. Trips might be cancelled or rescheduled on relatively short notice. On many trips the attendance numbers are limited due to safety and environmental protection considerations. Therefore all members should be aware of the RULE that no one is to attend ANY TRIP to ANY AREA unless they have CONTACTED the TRIP LEADER personally and advised them of your intention to attend the trip.

We ask all visitors attending an official trip of our society to complete a Visitors' Registration form and pay the visitors' fee (see below) applicable for the trip.

You can view and print a copy of our Visitor's Registration form HERE. You can also obtain a form from the trip leader at the time of the trip. We would like to ask you to complete this registration form and hand it to the trip leader before entering any caves!

One of our members has put together a great little check list for first timers. Have a look at this and it should give you some idea of what to bring on your first few trips. Please remember we where all beginners once and the only silly question is the one you dont ask!!! Download Visitor Caving List HERE

Visitors Trip Fee and Insurance

1st Trip All visitors	$A 30.00* - Includes latest JSSS
2nd and 3rd Trip All visitors	$A 10.00**

Weekend accommodation at the Cavers Cottage at Jenolan, NSW (In addition to the Visitors Trip Fees above)

Adults	$A 10.00 per 2 day weekend
Family	$A 20.00

Remember to contact the trip leader before attending any trips! You can get in touch with our Trip leaders using the General Information email in our Contact section

Meetings

Our society maintains a busy monthly meetings program over most of the calendar year.

All Talk Nights and General Meetings are held in Burwood, NSW.
Members and visitors are welcome to attend our Talk Nights, General Meetings, the two Barbeque-Party events each year and the Annual Dinner of the Sydney Speleological Society.

SSS Meeting Hall: Woodstock Street Community Centre The Renwick Room 22 Church Street Burwood NSW 2134

Before Meetings Dinner: Usually from 6 p.m. onwards several members usually eat pre-meetings meals at a local restaurant. Since the Kwok Doo Restaurant closed a new location has not been settled on please keep in touch with the mailing list to keep up to date with the latest venue. If you can recommend a new venue on Burwood Road let us know at a General Meeting

Meetings and talks commence at 8:00pm
Supper is provided at the end of all our meetings
A paltry charge of $5.00 is levied per person at the meetings to help defray supper & meeting hall costs.
Please pay at the door and sign the attendance book!
Members are encouraged to show their slides at the General Meetings on the projector that is usually provided

General Meetings

General Meetings usually cover society business, progress reports, trip planning, news, etc... New caving slides and videos are also presented from time to time. Members and visitors are welcome and encouraged to attend General Meetings.

Commitee Meetings

Commitee Meetings are held prior to the General Meetings and are attended by Commitee Members only (Unless prior arrangement made for special circumstances) society business is discussed at these meetigns. Commitee Meetings are held at Commitee Members houses each month.

Talk Nights

The Talk Nights are illustrated presentations from the World of Speleology. SSS members, distinguished representatives of other caving societys, members of regional caving area management authorities and scientists from tertiary educational institutes are among the speakers on these evenings. On odd occasions we also show caving videos, and anything that might be of interest to our members.

Other Events

Barbeques

Barbeques are usually held on Saturdays at member's homes in the West of Sydney at the foot of the Blue Mountains. The one in December is our "official" Christmas Party and the one in April or May is the Winter BBQ. Although some food, and soft drinks are served at these events visitors are expected to bring their own meat and drink. These evenings serve as purely social events but visitors usually show caving slides and videos. On the Sunday following the BBQ event some members alway go bush walking in The Blue Mountains. For details of these events please refer to the Society Calendar

Annual Dinner

The Annual Dinner of The Sydney Speleological Society is the most formal event in the society's calendar. This is an occasion when old members and friends of the society gather with the active membership to talk about caving, renew old acquaintances, hand out certificates of appreciation for exceptional work done within the Society and last but not least enjoy an interesting talk about one of the many specialist fields of speleology. A three-course dinner is served with soft drinks, tea and coffee. The society also arranges a raffle with great prizes! This event is usually held in September on a Friday night at the Burwood RSL in Burwood, NSW. Details of this event are published in the Journal of the Sydney Speleological Society.
For any inquiries about meetings and bookings for the Annual Dinner please E-mail the Society.

Training Days

These are held from time to time to give member the opportunity to hone their skills in rope work and other aspects of caving in a safe and supervised environment. These are usually lead by our safety and training officer and will be advertised on the SSS Calendar. If anyone has any specific training requirements please contact our training officer via the Contacts page.