Tim Minchin's Christmas Song

The bit that was cut out of the Jonathan Ross Christmas Special! Comments from Tim Minchin's Blog

VIDEO: outback Australia time lapse - Australian Geographic

VIDEO: outback Australia time lapse - Australian Geographic

Dunk Island Tourism Award 2011?

I read today that the luxury resort of Dunk Island has won an award for the best Australian resort for 2011 or something along those lines which I find quite amazing as it has been lying in ruins for the best part of this year thanks to the efforts of the  most powerful cyclone  ever recorded in Queensland, Cyclone Yasi. Obviously nobody had told them. The first part of this video shows the massive damage caused by Cyclone Yasi to the Dunk Island Resort in early February this year.

 Update: An explanation posted in the Cairns Post comments (Dec 21). "As World Travel Awards, our goal is to highlight and reward excellence in travel and tourism. For many years, Dunk Island has served as a beacon of these ideals, with its laid-back luxury amid a paradise setting, reflected by its core business of repeat guests.We were therefore deeply saddened last February when news emerged that the resort had been destroyed by Cyclone Yasi.Our awards programme operates on a “first past the post system”, and Dunk Island’s support from both its guests and the travel trade led to it gaining sufficient votes to win its category, even though it closed several months before the voting deadline.We therefore felt it only right that Dunk Island should still receive the award. We also maintain implicit confidence in the island’s future and its ability to bounce back from adversity in the long term. We also acknowledge that tourism remains the economic lifeblood of the region. Its star qualities will guarantee the on-going recovery. Posted by: World Travel Awards of London 3:23am today".

Cairns Flecker Botanic Gardens

Flecker Botanic Gardens Cairns

We are fortunate to have one of the most spectacular Botanic Gardens in Australia with a very interesting historical past as well.  (Read More)

It's going viral so why not?

Besides, I love my iPad apps!

A clip from Brisbane (a remote suburb of Cairns) band Hey Geronimo.

Apparently the clip cost less than $500 to make.

Hey Geronimo's clip for their song Why Don't We Do Something? has notched up nearly 700,000 views on YouTube in two weeks.
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Why Does Cairns Get all the Good Things?

Cairns has been very lucky today to have common sense prevailing (but only just) in the decision to go ahead with one of this city's biggest community projects - the Cairns Entertainment Precinct. The competition from other Queensland regions for funding from both state and federal governments has been pretty fierce judging by this article from local blog "The Rock News".

"CAIRNS has a population of about 160,000 – less than half that of the Coast – yet its council has just managed to score $57 million from the State Government to fund a massive performing arts centre. After two decades shooting for the same goal, the Sunshine Coast Council is still working on a study on how to complete such a project...." Read More

The Last Entry from Denis in Africa

The year has quickly raced by for Denis Walls, currently residing in Rwanda and soon to return to the humid climes of Far North Queensland. Here is a link to the final instalment to his blog covering his 12 month adventure.
http://deniswalls.blogspot.com/2011/12/rwandan-wrap-up.html