Independently Owned, Locally Grown, Community Loved
It’s been over 20 years since the last Airlie Beach Cricket Club played a game of cricket. Now, with a newly launched committee and a dedicated funding stream, the club has been re-formed and it is aiming to create better pathways for youngsters to get started in local cricket. Club President Brett Simpson said current juniors play in Proserpine, but once they surpass the under-15’s level, they are only able to participate socially. There is no access to higher levels of competition, and thi
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Returning to the region she loves to perform in, a single event in front of a crowd of just 100 people, Superjesus front woman Sarah McLeod, will blow up the stage at this intimate and scenic setting. Booked to play at Whisper Gin Bar and Restaurant, tickets are selling fast for this exclusive event which not only promises stunning views across the Coral Sea, but also the opportunity to get up close and mingle with Aussie rock royalty. This special show will feature stripped back versions of S
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Bowen youth are being asked to design their dream jetty as part of an art competition being held by North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation (NQBP). NQBP CEO Brendan Webb said the competition is a chance for children to create artwork to represent their ideas for a future Bowen Jetty. The Design Your Dream Jetty Competition is open to children living in Bowen with prizes available in three categories: High School Category · Winner – $150 EFTPOS card · Encouragement Award – $
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The Great Barrier Reef is amidst its fifth widespread coral bleaching event in just eight years, aerial surveys have revealed. The surveys, conducted by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), observed over 300 reefs between Cape Melville north of Cooktown to just north of Bundaberg and confirmed the event. Reef Authority Chief Scientist Dr Roger Beeden said the results of these surveys are consistent with the patterns of heat stress th
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Kylie Shepherd-Smith Administration Manager At Whitsunday Christian College Born and raised in the Adelaide foothills of South Australia Kylie was 21 years old when she went travelling and explored the world. Now Kylie works as Administration Manager at Whitsunday Christian College. As Administration Manager her and her team look after Administration, tuckshop and sickbay tasks. She is passionate about giving both students and families support and prides herself in her communication s
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This month’s Ask An Expert with Whitsundays Chamber of Commerce and Industry asks: What is the ideal mix of marketing and advertising activities to drive sales? Melinda Louise Hutchings from Melinda Louise Media, and Megan Taylor from Kapow Interactive, responded. “An ideal marketing and advertising campaign should align with the strategic focus of your business and is essential to achieving brand awareness and driving sales,” said Melinda. “The first step is to create a solid foundation by
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We would like to welcome the Whitsundays’ newest Cadet Journalist Daniel Heggie! Daniel is our newest recruit to the Whitsunday team and he brings to the table an impressive background of knowledge and experience, with not only a degree in Journalism, but a Sub-Major in Film, as well as a passion for writing. Although he was originally born in England, Daniel moved to Australia with his family when he was seven years old, calling Adelaide home since 2007. Daniel attended Urrbrae Agricultura
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Have you ever stopped to think what would happen if your family’s income stopped due to someone dying, getting sick or having an accident? The loss of wages might be manageable for retirees or people later in their working lives who have brought up their kids, paid down their debts and built up their super and passive assets. For families with younger kids, bigger debts and lower super balances, it may well be disastrous. Centrelink benefits don’t cover home loan payments and hungry mouths to f
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So, Tim (my husband) said, “What do you want for your birthday?” “Honestly” I said, “Other men!’ This took him by surprise until I added that what I really wanted was for the Whitpro crew to come to our property, I said, “I don’t want clothes, books, or even an adventure, I want our crew to get me back on track!” And today, that’s what happened, and I cannot tell you how ecstatic I am! “Thank you team!” What they have achieved in a single day would have taken me hours here and there for weeks
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The brand-new second floor of the Volunteer Marine Rescue (VMR) Whitsundays headquarters re-opened this week, delivering a vital new space for orchestrating emergency marine rescues. The building was closed temporarily in December last year when works began and has remained shut for the past four months. During this time significant renovations took place. The overall floor space of the room is now estimated to be 3.5 times larger than previously, and it will now offer far greater room for t
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The Whitsundays has secured a trophy sweep at the 2023 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards which were held in Darwin last Friday evening. The best tourism operators from across the Whitsundays have done the region proud, taking out gold, silver and bronze at the highly competitive national awards. These results come off the back of a stellar run of awards for the region after taking out seven gold, two silver and five bronze at the Queensland State Awards. Australian tourism’s ‘night of nights’, t
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The best of the Whitsundays was recognised at the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards in Darwin, with Ocean Rafting bringing home gold in the Adventure Tourism category and silver in the Major Tour and Transport Operators category. The Awards saw more than 180 of Australia’s quality tourism operators from each state and territory vying for top honours across 26 categories, with Ocean Rafting’s back-to-back wins on the night cementing its reputation as the Whitsundays’ original and most awarded tour
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The much-celebrated Queens Beach Tourist Village (QBTV) has finally reached its goal this week, receiving the third consecutive gold accolade for the Best Large Caravan Park at the Grey Nomads Awards. Not only do they receive the acclaim of being considered the best caravan park in Australia for Grey Nomads, they also enter into the award’s Hall of Fame, an ambition they’ve been driving towards since they began. Gerry Tomsett said the park’s owners, Jennie and Peter Greer, were thrilled with t
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The team at Whitsunday Coast Airport proudly represented the region at the 2024 Australian Tourism Awards in Darwin last Friday night. This is the first time our local airport has progressed to the national awards and Director of Commercial Businesses for Whitsunday Regional Council, Craig Turner, said he was thrilled to attend the event. “When you look at the quality of businesses that went to the awards you can see the incredible standard we have right here in the Whitsundays,” he said. “We
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The tourism industry’s night of nights brought gold for the BIG4 Adventure Whitsunday Resort team as they scooped up Gold in the Caravan and Holiday Parks category at the Qantas Australian Tourism Awards, held in tropical Darwin. Eight operators from across Australia were nominated in the Caravan and Holiday Parks category while more than 180 of the country’s premier tourism operators from each state came together across 26 categories. Owner Greg McKinnon, who attended the gala ceremony with his
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This years’ Whitsunday Multicultural Festival is being held in Bowen and organisers are excited to welcome everyone back for another action-packed event this weekend. The Multicultural Festival is a free event that encourages the community to come together, to celebrate and learn about other cultures within the region. Cultural groups share their culture and heritage with visitors through storytelling, entertainment, arts and music. In addition to the arts and music people are encouraged to t
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A prominent Bowen business advocate has urged all parties involved in the redevelopment of the town's deteriorating jetty to respect the rich history of the structure. Chairman of the town's Chamber of Commerce, Bruce Hedditch, made the comments following appointments by North Queensland Bulk Ports of a project director and lead design consultant for the multimillion-dollar project. Nawar Spear will be project director, while global consultancy firm Arup Australia under its own project directo
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Meet Mark Richards Operations Manager It has been a whirlwind of 13 years for Mark Richards, acting as Operations Manager of Whitsunday Foodservice with confidence, pride, and tenacity. With a logistics and warehousing portfolio background, Mark transitioned seamlessly into this role, and has not looked back once. His greatest pride has been watching the gradual evolution of Whitsunday Foodservice, originally operating out of a cold storage warehouse with 25 staff and a fleet of six trucks, wh
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What began as a light-hearted conversation between some long-term entrepreneurial locals during the Christmas of 1983, has since blossomed into one of the Whitsundays’ most successful and long-standing businesses. Originally the milk depot in Proserpine, this humble and fledgling company has constantly diversified and expanded over the years, its name now synonymous within the foodservice industry. In 2024 Whitsunday Foodservice celebrates 40 years in business, an impressive milestone, steeped i
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This Easter long weekend, head to Airlie Beach Hotel to catch some X Factor action with Andrew Wishart, star of the 2011 series. Against the odds and as the crowd favourite, Andrew made it to the Grand Final of X-Factor Australia; to be placed runner-up in the series, missing out on winning by 1 per cent of the national vote. Before his X Factor success Andrew worked as a sales manager for 30 years but that all changed when his children made him audition for X Factor Australia. Despite being
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The line-up for the 2024 Whitsundays Writers Festival continues to generate excitement with the addition of three highly-acclaimed authors. The Whitsundays Writers Festival proudly expands its schedule of literary luminaries with the addition of three authors: Karina Kilmore, Melissa Ashley, and Jack Roney. President Karen Jacobsen expressed her delight and excitement. "We have built a substantial list of authors this year as we are focused on writing excellence," Karen commented. "This Fe
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Highly hilarious and extremely popular English comedian Ross Noble is coming to the Proserpine Entertainment Centre this August. Marking his 21st solo stand up tour, Noble is launching a bunch of fresh comedy with the ‘Jibber Jabber Jamboree’. Audiences can expect Noble to display his expertise in improv and audience participation, guaranteed to get the audiences laughing in hysterics. Noble’s Jibber Jabber Jamboree is taking him all around Australia, from Alice Springs, to Wollongong, Mackay
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Saturday saw cracking AFL matches return to Airlie Beach with 2024 AFLQ Mackay Senior Preseason Carnival hosted by Whitsunday Sea Eagles at home. AFL players from across Mackay, Townsville, Moranbah and Whitsundays put on a show in the competition for the Preseason Carnival Shields. Whitsunday Sea Eagles Senior Men took out the Men’s Preseason Carnival Shield in their first hit out of the year after some tight contests throughout the day saw them finish in the final. Sea Eagles were looking f
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The Celtic Cup was held on St Patrick’s Day this year which was nice for a change and 15 contestants took part in the competition. In the round of 16 we saw early exits for Reef Peel, Naomi Mitchell, Jodie Collins, Hawkeye Rick, Jayden Lloyd, Josh Fraser and Guy Graham. Kevin Brown had a bye into the quarterfinals where he defeated Kam Reason 5/1. Art McMinn beat Gary Robbie 5/2. Jamie Maher secured a 5/1 win over Steve Lloyd and Joe Wilson managed to just edge out Andy Peel in a close 5/4 e
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