Favourite local media snap over the holidays

Photo by Adam Hourigan, The Daily Examiner

A feisty bull tells Chris Williamson 'bollocks' at the 27th annual Maclean Twilight Rodeo on 27 December 2008.

Further delays for the Big Billabong

Tourists waiting to flock to the Clarence Valley's newest tourist attraction have been told to be patient.

The word around the traps was that Angourie's Big Billabong, which was estimated to be costing its proprietor about $10million to construct, would open for day trippers' viewing early in 2009.

However, the latest goss is that the owner Gordon Merchant won't be moving into his Angourie premises anytime soon. Furthermore, the cost of the project is now said to be close to the $16million mark.

The Gold Coast Bulletin reports that plans for the massive beach shack were lodged with the Clarence Valley Council in 2002 and when The Bulletin first visited the building site in October, 2007, it had already been under construction for three years.

At that time a builder on the site said the house would be finished in three to six months.

Well, those deadlines have come and gone and as our latest pictures show, there is still plenty of work to be done.

A member of the nearby Yamba Rugby Club, who wished to remain anonymous, said there were rumours the cost had blown out from $10 million or $12 million to $16 million.

"It's taken a long time generally because if he (Mr Merchant) is not happy with something he just gets it changed as it goes along," he said.

"It's taken a while, so everyone is looking forward to being invited to the opening party."

Mr Merchant can afford to be picky.

The man who founded the international clothing and accessories company Billabong on the Gold Coast in 1973 is worth an estimated $805 million.

He has long been a fan of Angourie, 5km south of Yamba in northern NSW, which boasts some of the best waves in Australia.

Another Angourie local said Mr Merchant was often seen about town.

"I was surfing the other day prior to Christmas and he was in this perfect Billabong wetsuit," he said.

"Their family is often seen around town. The house is taking a long time because he includes nothing but the best.

"The local tradies aren't complaining."

The mansion has totem poles sitting in gardens, five garages and a pool that spills over as a fountain between the garage doors.

It is built on four house-blocks and will be one of the biggest homes in Australia.

The mansion has a copper roof, which already has a tinge of green due to exposure to the elements, and is built from sandstone.

Besides the mansion at Angourie, Mr Merchant is believed to be investing heavily in and around Yamba.

His helicopter is often heard flying the divorced father of four into the town.

Mr Merchant recently won approval to build a helipad at the house to transport his young son interstate for medical treatment.

He also offered to make the helipad available to the Yamba community for emergency services. It has landing lights that can be activated by telephone.

That sort of community spirit has helped to win over Angourie locals.

"There are those with a little envy, but despite his obvious wealth and helicopter there is no real showiness about him," said a resident.

Snail-paced travel reform in NSW

At long last pensioners living in the Clarence Valley and other parts of rural and regional NSW are about to receive some sort of equity with their counterparts who reside in Sydney and its hinterland.

The Daily Examiner (3/1/2008) reports:

North Coast Busways customers will be able to buy $2.50 Regional Excursion Daily (RED) tickets from tomorrow.

RED tickets will provide pensioners with unlimited travel within the local route bus network. They will be sold by bus drivers.

People with a valid Australian Government Pensioner Concession Card, NSW Seniors card or a War Widowers card are eligible for the tickets.

Contact South Grafton Busways depot on 6642 2954 for more details.


Why, one must ask, has it taken the NSW Government so long to extend to the pensioners of rural and regional NSW bus travel concessions that have been available for what seems like donkey's years in the Sydney metropolitan area and more recently in the area that stretches from the Hunter, via the Blue Mountains, to the Illawarra?

A new year on the digital highway throws up an old friend; Daniel Minton

While browsing the Internet for references to Tai Chi, I stumbled across a rather familiar face from long, long ago.

Hello from Australia to Daniel Charles Minton - glad to see life is treating you well!

When making your New Year's resolutions please remember..............

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Here's Figure SPM-4 from the IPCC's Fourth Assessment report. The blue bands show temperatures if you just include natural forcings and natural variability. The red bands include the effects of human activities. The black lines shows actual temperature averages.

Deltoid posted an easy to understand graph which I intend to keep in mind as I draw up my To Do list for 2009.

What about you?

Quick, Kev, do something! The media cycle is slipping through your spin

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Google Trends shows that Team Kev didn't quite manage to hold the attention of the national electorate over the last 30 days.
Despite Rudders Christmas 'bonus' to so many households, Santa Claus trounced the PM everywhere it mattered for most of December 2008.
It's obviously time for another media release.
Announcing funding in 2009 to save Aussies from athlete's foot perhaps?

Ah, the memories: Fraser Government cabinet papers

Image from Wired.com

How well I remember those salad days when a rumour went around that disgraced former US president Richard Milhous Nixon was likely to make a formal visit to Australia.

Long before the Internet and instantaneous communication, on a rural exchange where you could still 'phone in your telegrams, I fired off a stern word or two to then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser telling him that in my opinion Nixon should not be allowed into the country in any capacity.

I eventually received a letter in reply (marred by the fact that the Prime Minister assumed that he was writing to one of the men in the family) which was carefully diplomatic about the possibility that Nixon might visit and, if memory serves me correctly, pointed out that his government was not in the business of barring people from visiting Australia.

Cabinet papers released this week show that behind the scenes, the Fraser Cabinet was working hard on 22 August 1978 to make sure Tricky Dicky did not publicly express a desire to visit down under and that he stayed well away from our shores.

See digital copy of the cabinet minute here.