Hervey Bay Gossip

The Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology at 9.20am this morning issued a Severe Weather Warning for people in the Southeast Coast District, Fraser Island, the eastern Darling Downs and the Granite Belt.

For Fraser Island and Hervey Bay we can expect damaging wind gusts to 90km/h developing late today. These will be caused by a low pressure system that has developed to the southeast of Coolangatta and will spread to the north. Already severe wind gusts up to 109km/h have been recoreded at Byron Bay.

The State Emergency Service advised people to stay clear of the water, secure loose outdoor items and to beware of fallen trees and powerlines.

The Courier Mail is currently warning readers to be prepared for a storm with the intensity of a Category 1 Tropical Cyclone.

Individual water meters will be mandatory for all new units from next year as part of a wide-ranging package of water-saving measures, Deputy Premier Anna Bligh announced today.

Ms Bligh said Cabinet today approved a range of measures to ensure SEQ dam levels remained above 5% by late next year, when bulk supplies from the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project and the Gold Coast Desalination Plant enter the Water Grid. They include:

MORE POWER FOR ENFORCEMENT

• Giving council officers stronger powers to enter properties to investigate breaches of water restrictions. They will not be allowed inside homes.

• Giving the State Government the power to enforce permanent water conservation measures, even in non-drought areas.

• Broad restrictions on domestic bores, allowing them to be brought into line with other water restrictions in place.

• Suppliers across Queensland given the power to reduce water pressure for people who breach restrictions. “Water cheats will have their supply pressure lowered,” Ms Bligh said.

The rain might have stayed away for this year’s Hervey Bay Seafood Festival but so did the people. Reports that we’ve received suggest that numbers were well down on the crowd that attended last year and the queues in front of the food stalls that were common last year never even formed this year.

After two months with little or no rain here in Hervey Bay it was nice to hear the first drops on the roof last night and it was even better to wake up this morning and find that it’s still raining. And seeing people walking on the beach with their umbrellas up was wonderful.

While the rain tends to dampen things a bit at the best Hervey Bay cafe I’m sure the crew at Aquavue won’t mind the rain either.

Unfortunately the current showers are forecast to clear later in the day but return sometime tomorrow.

While

It’s hard to believe but Kentucky Fried Chicken in Hervey Bay will close at the end of trade on August 29. It will re-open in a new location on Boat Harbour Drive … but not until sometime next year.

Here in Hervey Bay many of us are sitting and watching the American sub-prime fiasco unfold and begin to have an impact on us. We see the rising cost of interest rates, the falling value of shares and investments and the possibility that it will soon impact on jobs and overall economic growth but in America others are seeing it all from a very different angle.

Over there people are walking away from their mortgages and their homes and that’s having an impact on their neighbours and neighbourhoods.

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There’s another big weekend on here in Hervey Bay and of course the highlight will be the Sea Food Festival down at Urangan on Sunday. It’s always very popular so be sure to come early.

If the thought of having to park a long way from the venue and then walking puts you off going then this year there’s a solution that will make life easy for you. Urangan Point Primary School is offering paid parking in the school grounds and a courtesy bus to take you down to the venue.

And if the weekend stays fine then there are plenty of places around Hervey Bay to do a little exercise out in the fresh air. Last weekend we walked Urangan Pier on both days and it was beautiful out there.

The tide was in so the Pier was a popular place to be but this weekend you can expect fewer people on the Pier of a morning because the tides will be quite low.

And if walking Urangan Pier is a bit much for you then why not head down to Aquavue Cafewatersports and enjoy the cafe with the best coffee and the best view in Hervey Bay.

It’s hard to beat the atmosphere there even in the middle of winter

We’ve all seen the usual photos from Fraser Island, the dingos, the beach, Eli Creek, the coloured sands and the Maheno but follow this link and you’ll find a very different photo taken by a tourist. It’s easy to imagine some prehistoric creature popping out of the ferns at any moment.

We all know that burgers and chips and other fatty fast foods aren’t good for us and I’m sure a lot of us were quite happy to see the fast food chains introduce their healthy alternatives. Not only could we still grab a fast meal but it was good for us wasn’t it?

Well maybe it wasn’t good for us after all. Researchers in Germany have found that the so-called healthy alternatives offered by fast food chains can have similar effects to other meals they serve.

You can read the full story here

Looking for a small car but want something that’s a little different, something that stands out from the gaggle of vanilla flavoured small cars that are out there?

Here’s and exotic and passionate small car featured at Information for Her Australia. In one of these you will definitely stand out in the crowd.