Destinations Queensland May 2008

Newcastle Herald

Tuesday May 6, 2008

CHRIS WATSON

The long, tall and odd of it

Queensland sets a few records when it comes to the biggest,

longest, highest and oddest facts of the matter.When it comes to

largest, Fraser is the world's largest sand island; the Great Barrier

Reef is part of the world?s largest marine park, the largest reef of its

kind and the largest structure made by living organisms;Mon Repos

is the largest loggerhead sea turtle nesting area in the South Pacific;

the School of Distance Education in Mt Isa, Longreach or Charleville

is one of the largest "classrooms" in the world; the Mt Isa Rodeo is

the largest in the southern hemisphere; and the fossil of Australia's

biggest dinosaur, dubbed Elliot, was found nearWinton.Elliot would

have stretched the length of five cars, weighed as much as five

African elephants and would have been able to look in the window

of a second-floor apartment.The long of it includes Wallaman Falls,

the nation's largest single drop waterfall; King Fern, with possibly

the longest fern fronds in the world; the world's longest mail run in

a single day (the flying postman from Cairns to CapeYork); and the

world's longest lava tubes at Undara.

Down to the sea

One of the best of the

Whitsunday sailing and bareboat

charter companies, Queensland

Yacht Charters (QYC), will soon

be expanding its fleet with the

arrival of their new Fountaine

Pajot Cumberland 46 power cat

- very luxurious and the only one

of it?s kind in theWhitsundays - a Lavezzi 40 sailing cat and a luxury

Bavaria 50.The new boats will join the present fleet of yachts and

sailing catamarans which include Bavarias, Beneteaus, Catalinas

and Seawind cats.They also have a range of flybridge cruisers and

power cats, including Fairway cruisers, a Sundecker and Scimitar

power cats.QYC are based at Airlie Beach but charters can also

start from Hamilton Island.

Penguins in Queensland

SeaWorld opened its new state-of-the-art Fairy Penguin exhibit,

Penguin Point, in March.The new exhibit, located at the northern

end of SeaWorld near Dolphin Cove, is home to an initial 11 fairy

penguins, from SeaWorld as well as Perth Zoo, but it has a capacity

of 60 birds.The director of SeaWorld marine sciences, Trevor Long,

says Penguin Point is a wonderful exhibit with a very natural feel to it,

much larger than the previous exhibit and containing 100,000 litres

of filtered water in a large pool system.

Island jazz

The sounds and rhythms of the next generation of jazz musicians

will fill the air at Hamilton Island this May, June and September.The

sub-tropical festivals of cool jazz will see students from the Central

Queensland Conservatorium of Music entertain with free indoor and

outdoor concerts on May 6 and 9, June 13 and 16 and September

16 and 19.

A cockroach and a beer

The current holder of Queensland's best

overall hotel title, the Story Bridge Hotel,

is famous for two of Australia's "special

events" - the Australia Day cockroach

races and September's National Festival

of Beers.The cockroach races have

been running for more than 25 years,

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where punters buy a roach (or bring their own) and enter it to race.

The roaches are numbered - tricky in itself - and released from

an upturned bucket in the middle of a circular track, and the first

to the edge is the winner.There are also steeplechase (jumping a

garden hose) events.Previous winners include Waltzing Mat Cocky,

Cow Cocky, Soft Cocky, Cocky Balboa and Guns `n?Roaches.The

National Festival Of Beers is an annual five-day event with more than

120 Australian beers on tap, all served in glass. It attracts more than

20,000 people each year.

Sunsail?s new yachts

The world?s leading sailing holiday company recently welcomed

six new boats to its Australian fleet.Sunsail Yacht Charters, based

on Hamilton Island, is one of the largest charter companies in the

Whitsundays, a sailor?s paradise with good winds, safe anchorages,

line-of-site navigation, clear water and plenty of sunshine.Now

the company, which operates 40 high-specification yachts from its

Whitsunday base, has added more luxury and comfort with the

arrival of six additions: two Sunsail 36is, two Sunsail 39is, one sunsail

49i and one Sunsail 464 catamaran.

Top sailor for Hamilton Island

Glenn Bourke, the internationally recognised CEO for the Volvo

Round TheWorld Ocean Race and a man credited with making a

significant contribution to the success of the Sydney 2000 Olympics,

is the new chief executive officer for Hamilton Island.The island is

going through an impressive phase of development that includes the

ultra-luxury destination Qualia, a new 18-hole golf course which is

nearing completion, and major upgrades to existing accommodation.

The new Hamilton IslandYacht Club and associated villa precinct is

also well advanced.

Sky high tai chi

Brisbane?s Story Bridge Adventure Climb has launched the world?s

first tai chi lessons on top of a bridge.At the launch, adventure

climb?s chief executive officer Paul Lewin said the climb was one of

only three bridge climbs in the world and the only one to offer tai chi

lessons.

Helping the environment

Rooms at Couran Cove Island Resort on South Stradbroke Island

use 25 per cent of the energy of a standard hotel room, helping it

earn its reputation as one of the state's most eco-sensitive resorts.

Since 1998, staff at the resort have also supported scientific

research in partnership with the University of Queensland, Griffith

University and Gold Coast City Council to catalogue and understand

the island's flora and wildlife species.

Turtle release

SeaWorld's Research and

Rescue Foundation last

month released 13 green

turtles into Moreton Bay

following rehabilitation at

SeaWorld's Turtle Hospital.

The rehabilitation program

has been operating at Sea

World for almost 20 years

and to date has taken in 353

individuals with 175 successful releases, now helping an average of

34 turtles a year.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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