(Formerly known as the Torquay Twilight Markets)

The Torquay Markets are now being held the second and fourth Saturday of every month and the fifth Saturday if there is one.  The markets are now being held during the day from 9am.  Until the end of March we have a promotion running with some great prizes including a trip for two people to Lady Elliot Island.  There is a a lot of interest from potential stall holders making the market bigger and better.  Make a date to visit the Torquay Markets and spend the day exploring beautiful Torquay.

Someone suggested to me that I should refrain from being too politically motivated. I appreciate the advice as I think that it was given in good faith, however, I, as a Seagull of course, make comments based on no political leaning, just on what is right. So if I offend anyone then I apologise in advance.

Now is the time to really pick up our pace with as much enthusiasm as we can muster to really push the Fraser Coast to the rest of Australia and the world. Such as direct flights from Melbourne and telling the world why this region is the premier location to experience whale watching in Australia. All Fraser Coast residents need to get behind local tourism operators and the Fraser Coast South Burnett Tourism Board to support their drive to encourage visitors to the Fraser Coast, thereby ensuring that our community can grow both culturally and financially to ensure the viability of our region into the future.

Recent talk of throwing out our council and putting in alternative people do nothing to enhance our community to visitors and nearby communities generally. Those that do not feel positive about our great region should perhaps let those that are more positive do the talking. We also realise that it is sometimes hard to be positive when things are not going our way, but we must.
We believe that most of our council representatives do genuinely try to do the right thing. As is the case with each of us in real life, we sometimes fail to perform at the levels that we would like, but most of us “get up off the floor” and try, try again. It never fails to amaze me how a lot of people seem to think that people with little, or no, academic qualifications are inferior to those that have. More often than not, if we had a choice, it would seem preferable to have someone with actual knowledge and experience and “runs on the board” to someone that does not.
It may be appropriate at this time, to support and, where possible, assist our council and councillors to achieve their goals, and thereby help us achieve our own goals in the months and years ahead.

It’s that time of year again, when we welcome the whales back to the Bay. We are all looking forward to a bumper year to erase some of the recent disappointments.

It is pleasing to see some operators preparing packages with other operators to further enhance their operations and the experience that visitors will have on the Fraser Coast. We believe this will be the future in tourism.
Something of concern to all of us that occurred this week. We had some visitors at Aquavue on Tuesday who were ecstatic that they had found somewhere in the Bay to hire a sailing Catamaran. Upon speaking to them later that day we were informed that they had been told by a booking office in the Bay that they could not hire a Catamaran here and that they would have to go to Rainbow beach to do so. If you take this to another level, then what other activities and tours are being compromised by some with their sights only focused on commissions and not on growing Fraser Coast tourism generally.

On a slightly lighter note I would like to share the following with you. This is a letter that I sent to an advertising organisation who wouldn’t take no for an answer a couple of years ago when I was “over” their constant badgering.  That was the last I heard from them.

Why I cling to life

For the following reasons I am unable to do business with you. I have been held up, held down, sandbagged, walked upon, sat upon, flattened out and squeezed by the Income Tax, the Super Tax, the Tobacco Tax, the Beer Tax, the Spirits Tax, the Motor Tax, the Sales Tax, and by every Society, Organisation and Club that the inventive mind of man can think of to extract what I may or may not have in my possession – for the Red Cross, the Black Cross, the Ivory Cross and the Double Cross and for every Hospital in Town and Country.

The Government has governed my business till I don’t know who runs it. I am inspected, suspected, examined and re-examined, informed, required and commanded so that I don’t know who I am, where I am, or why I am here at all.

All that I know is that I am supposed to be an inexhaustible supply of money for every need, desire or hope of the human race, and because I will not go out and beg, borrow or steal money to give away, I am cussed, discussed, boycotted, talked to, talked about, lied to, lied about, held up, hung up, rung up, robbed and darn-near ruined. The only reason why I am clinging to Life at all is to see what the devil is going to happennext.

It should be remembered that this segment is NOT necessarily the view of Aquavue or Aquavue staff, but is my view, as a seagull of course… Even us Seagulls have faults y’know.

My last months view hit a few nerves I think.  The idea is not to ostracise or demean anybody in particular but everybody in general if the cap fits.

What I am attempting to do is not be personal but be objective to “pick up the pace” amongst all Tourism Operators in our region and push our Regional Branding as the Fraser Coast, and not support any advertisement or activity that is in conflict with that end.

I believe that to gain the recognition that we require to ensure that we become known nationally and internationally as the Fraser Coast we must all work as a cohesive unit to ensure the thrust is in the right direction to attain maximum exposure over an extended period. If we ever hope to compete with the Gold and Sunshine Coasts this mentality MUST become second nature.

Hervey Bay is just one of the towns/cities on the Fraser Coast that weshould support. The practice of referring to our region as Hervey Bay is, I believe, contrary to what we need to achieve. The Fraser Coast includes Maryborough, Hervey Bay, Rainbow Beach, Howard, Tiaro,  Burrum Heads, Toogoom, Dundowran , Boonooroo, Bauple, Maroom, Poona, Tinnanbar, Tin Can Bay, Tuan, Toogoom.

I am certainly not saying that the Fraser Coast as a destination will occur overnight but over time and with our persistence, it will happen

Aquavue Beach Volleyball teams (A and B) are keen to take on other local business Beach Volleyball teams that think that they would like to be involved in a local (mixed sex) business competition. So we thought we would challenge any business on the Fraser Coast that is interested to email us with their team name and contact phone number.