Hervey Bay Gossip

Construction signs have gone up along Boat Harbour Drive and it seems that most of the work will be between Bideford Street and Elizabeth Street with road being widened. Detours will be in place from March 2.

The work is being undertaken by Bellero Constructions on behalf of Queensland Roads so perhaps we’ll see it finished in a reasonable period - unlike the roadwork that Hervey Bay Council does.

I was driving along The Esplanade the other day and saw this sign outside a motel between Torquay and Urangan:

The last days of summer are upon us … thank goodness

This certainly has been a warm and humid summer but when you have perfect days like today would you really want to live anywhere else?

Where else could you enjoy this at 7.30am on a Sunday morning?

After living and working in Sydney, Tamworth, Lithgow, Bathurst, Orange and Hobart there’s no doubt where I would rather be.

There are many people in Hervey Bay who believe that more should have been done to establish an industrial base in this town.

Total reliance on tourism is fraught with danger and leaves us at mercy of too many outside influences while having an established industrial base would provide some stability for the Hervey Bay economy.

We certainly do have the seeds of an industrial base growing here but perhaps we should have been working harder to attract industry here because now it might be too late. The Courier Mail recently reported in an article that places like Townsville and other towns north of Brisbane are desperate for workers and just can’t find enough.

Some employers have been forced to look overseas for labour with little success. The article describes the lack of workers as “the greatest impediment to growth”.

And that is not good news for Hervey Bay.

It may be too early just yet to proclaim it as good news but as of last night Cyclone Kate had been downgraded to an intense low.

Still, the season has some time to run and the forecasters suggest that Cyclone Kate could reform so be prepared.

It’s fairly obvious as you drive around Hervey Bay that house sales continue to rise. Even houses that have been very slow to move are beginning to sprout ‘Sold’ signs.

At the same time the number of vacant rental properties seems to be increasing too as does the cost of renting them.

Yesterday the water mains out around the Hervey Bay airport were turned off while work was carried out on the pipes but none of the businesses were advised that the water would be off.

When the water was turned back on the pressure caused some nasty problems for the Airport Bayaroma where the sudden return of pressure blew the water filter for their coffee machine right off the wall.

Plumbers who were called to repair the mess suggested that the crew at the cafe were lucky the pressure did not get through to the coffee machine because if it had the boiler in the machine would have exploded and caused serious injury to anyone operating the machine.

Complaints to Wide Bay Water by cafe management were brushed aside.

A spokesman for the Tweed Economic Development Corporation has suggested that by 2021 31% of Australia’s population will live in what has been dubbed the East Coast Growth Corridor.

This region stretches from Hervey Bay in the north to Coffs Harbour in the south.

Phone companies in America were facing the prospect of a saturated market when it came to mobile phones but not anymore. Now they’re selling the concept of two mobile phones per person.

You have one for business and one for personal use and if they both happen to ring at the same time … well why do you think God gave us two ears?

As you may be aware when it’s low tide at Urangan there is a quite a long sandbar exposed to the “north” of the Urangan Pier. That sandbar becomes a magnet for people who are out for a pleasant stroll. Late afternoon and early evening is a particularly attractive time for a stroll along that bar when the tide is out.

Last night your scribe and his wife spent a very pleasant hour or so sitting on the deck at Viva Italia watching one couple who thought a stroll along that bar would be nice.

They, like plenty of others, were fooled by seemingly attractiveness of the spot because it’s hard to believe that the bar could be covered so quickly when the tide starts to rise. While we watched the tide begin to turn the couple kept walking out along the bar.

By the time they realised that they were in some bother they were over a kilometre from the Urangan Pier and that was a long way for them to run.

Fortunately they made it in time but others may not be so lucky. Don’t be fooled by that sandbar - it really is not a very safe place to walk. The tide comes in quickly and covers it completely and it is so easy to get into trouble a long way from help.

Sales of new cars are up 2.6% in January according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Falling car prices and increases in wages have helped to boost sales despite an increase in petrol prices.

However, the type of vehicle Australians are now buying has changed. Sales of 4×4s have declined while sales of small cars have boomed. The trend towards smaller cars does not look good for Mitsubishi as sales on their new 380 sedan remain flat.

It may have been significant that here in Hervey Bay last weekend the local Mitsubishi dealer was offering a 380 sedan at a discount price along with many other vehicles in the Mitsubishi range.

For more on the drop in 4×4 sales read ‘Is Subaru Killing the Romance’ over at Aussie Motoring