Qld

The Cairns Tropical Writers Festival was established in 2008 and is a biennial event. It brings together our regional community of writers and readers with Australian and internationally revered authors and celebrities, who inspire us and feed our literary minds.

Livingstone Shire Council and leading e-scooter operator, Neuron Mobility, have announced the city’s first e-scooter programme is due to start on Thursday, 10 November. The 12 month trial will see the gradual roll-out of up to 150 of Neuron’s distinctive orange e-scooters throughout the city, including central Yeppoon, Farnborough Beach and Rosslyn Bay Harbour.

Ricky Ludwig will now weigh up whether to send Lord of Light to Brisbane for a $200,000 race after the Tolga trainer added another Cup to his record at Cooktown. Given a “10 out of 10” ride by jockey Frank Edwards, the even money favourite was an easy winner of the 1760m feature event on Saturday, even if the margin was only a quarter of a length.

The Scenic Rim's reputation as a leading destination for food tourism was reaffirmed at the 2022 Queensland Tourism Awards on the Gold Coast. Winning a silver award for Excellence in Food Tourism, the region has added to this year's accolades after being named as Best in Travel 2022 by the Lonely Planet guide and the Scenic Rim's Tamborine Mountain taking the title of Top Tourism Town in Queensland in June.  

The future of two iconic tourism destinations is unclear as the state government fumbles over deals to keep them running beyond the end of the month ... “I have no idea who is taking over and I’m not even sure they do,” Ms Kozicka told Cape York Weekly on Sunday.

Tropical retreat Cape York Peninsula Lodge has won gold at the annual 2022 Queensland Tourism Awards. The Bamaga-based business also earned silver for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tourism category ... the Lodge had a record-breaking year in 2021-22 with a 92 per cent increase in visitors and a 54 per cent rise in group bookings.

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Winners of the annual Gomaren & Doctor’s Creek Focus on Farms photography competition will be announced at the Jacaranda Day festival in Goombungee this Saturday, 5 November. “No matter where you live, the connection to farming is an important part of our identity as Australians”: competition coordinator Jean Gundry ... the primary school category within the competition has a focus on insects.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a grassroots community group or a land manager wanting to roll out a landcare project on private property, how you put that project together is essential if you want to get funding, engage other people and ensure outcomes on the ground. Following the success of its workshop in Clifton last week, Condamine Catchment Management Association (CCMA) will be holding another free workshop at the Harvest New Life Church Hall in Pittsworth on Wednesday, 16 November.

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This Funnel-web was found in a Goomburra Valley garden - so a word to the wise - watch out while pulling weeds ... The jury is still out - is it a Monteith funnel-web, found near Killarney or a Toowoomba Funnel-web, the most common species in South-east Queensland?

October has been a busy month with a Disaster Big Map Exercise, CPR courses taking responsibility of a Defibrillator machine to completing our new roof ... Disaster preparedness is one of the GTH committee’s aims for the Goomburra Valley as there is only one road in and out.

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More than 8,200 hectares of former sheep station in Queensland’s south west will become a protected area, the Palaszczuk Government has announced. Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon said in an agreement struck between the Palaszczuk Government and Paniri Ventures, the addition of Ardgour Station Nature Refuge, 120km south of Charleville would protect important wetlands and ecosystems that form part of the Wyandra-Cunnamulla Claypans Aggregation.

148th Annual Cooktown Race Day, 5 November 2022

A major miscalculation has put the Archer River bridge project back a year and there are fears that Cape residents could face at least two more wet seasons without it. What’s worse, there is also some concern that unfinished civil works on the roads around the Archer River Roadhouse could cut off motorists for months when the rain arrives.

Sarah Martin. It was a hot and frustrating week for Cape York residents and Ergon Energy crews, with record temperatures and multiple power outages impacting the region. At Weipa, the mercury hit 40 degrees on Saturday for the first time in recorded history, with gauges measuring 40.4 at both the airport and RAAF Scherger.

Tablelands trainer Ricky Ludwig says he’s not coming to Cooktown to run second with his leading Cup hope Lord of Light, who he expects to win this Saturday. “It’s a bit hard to say without seeing the fields but I think he’ll be good enough to win,” he said on Monday afternoon.

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Cook Shire Council is pleased to announce that with repairs to the approach ramps of the Marton Swing Bridge coming to completion, the bridge is scheduled to reopen in coming days – ahead of the approaching wet season.