Too Busy For Words - the PaulWay Blog

In 2011 I ran an event called CodeCave, which saw nine intrepid coders and three intrepid family go to Yarrangobilly Caves to spend a cool, wet winter weekend coding, eating, exploring in caves, coding, playing Werewolf, taking photos, coding, swimming (!), talking, flying planes and helicopters, and coding. Being an extrovert, I love those opportunities to see friends doing cool things with code, and my impression is everyone enjoyed the weekend.

I had a hiatus in 2012 for various reasons, but this year I've decided to run another similar event. But, as lovely as Yarrangobilly is and as comfortable as the Caves House was to stay in, it's a fair old five hour drive for people in Sydney, and even Canberrans have to spend the best part of two hours driving to get there. And Peter Miller, who runs the fabulous CodeCon (on which CodeCave was styled) every year, is going to be a lot better off near his health care and preferred hospital. Where to have such an event, then?

One idea that I'd toyed with was the Pittwater YHA: close to Sydney (where many of the attendees of CodeCave and CodeCon come from), still within a reasonable driving distance from Canberra (from where much of the remainder of the attendees hail), and close to Peter's base in Gosford. But there's no road up to it, you literally have to catch the ferry and walk 15 minutes to get there - while this suits the internet-free aesthetic of previous events, for Peter it's probably less practical. I discussed it on Google+ a couple of weeks ago without a firm, obvious answer (Peter is, obviously, reserving his say until he knows what his health will be like, which will probably be somewhere about two to three weeks out I imagine :-) ).

And then Tridge calls me up and says "as it happens, my family has a house up on the Pittwater". To me it sounds brilliant - a house all to ourselves, with several bedrooms, a good kitchen, and best of all on the roads and transport side of the bay; close to local shops, close to public transport, and still within a reasonable drive via ambulance to Gosford Hospital (or, who knows, a helicopter). Tridge was enthusiastic, I was overjoyed, and after a week or so to reify some of my calendar that far out, I picked from Friday 26th July to Sunday 28th July 2013.

So it's now called CodeBeach 2013, and it also has a snazzy Google Form to take bookings on. Please drop me an email if you've got any questions. We'd love to have you there!