Hervey Bay Gossip

If you want to buy, swap, sell or give away something here in Hervey Bay there’s a new group to help you do it online and free of charge.

Herveybayguyswapsellfreebies started last weekend and it certainly seems to be rocking along so why not join in and have some fun as well as getting rid of all those things you don’t really need?

Follow the link and you’ll find yourself at the group’s homepage on Yahoo!. Joining is simple, the instructions on how to get active on the group are easy to follow and there’s already some good gear exchanged hands through the group’s activities.

The long-awaited Ramada development at Urangan got underway last Friday with the delivery of three truckloads of steel. Yesterday the on-site sales office was delivered too so we can expect to see the building begin to take shape over the coming weeks.

It certainly could be but whether or not such a sale will occur may well depend on how much pressure Centro’s creditors can apply to the company. The Sydney Morning Herald has published an interesting article on the status of the Centro Properties Group here

By now, if you’re a resident of Hervey Bay or the area covered by the new Fraser Coast Regional Council, you will know that The Chronicle’s favourite man Mick Kruger will be the Mayor for the next few years.

What may not be quite so apparent is that Mick really does not have much of a mandate from the people. It seems that poor Mick couldn’t even get close to getting 50% of the vote - a point that’s not lost on yet another local blog - the Fraser Coast Free Clarion.

It’s a local news blog that certainly is worth reading.

Here in Hervey Bay we get lots of backpackers coming through and sometimes I have to wonder what they think of us and our way of life. You may not think that we’re all that different to the people in other western countries but I think there certainly is a level of culture shock for some people when they visit us.

Here is a little snippet from one German visitor’s blog where he tells some friends what he thinks of us.

The Aussies: yes, they are laid-back. yes, they are friendly and helpful. What you will hear most of the time is: “no worries” that phrase pretty much IS  aussie-mentality. another one is :beautiful, no dramas (I love that one). They have an interesting sense of humor which obviously is delighting for the German non-humor: I had it several times that I was buying something when I was told something like: “oh, this book has a hole, I will have to charge you 5 dollars more then” which lead to the German reaction:”WHAT?YOU WANT TO CHARGE ME MORE??!!ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? oh, you ARE kidding me. how funny.

You can read more of his thoughts on Australia and Australians here

And for those of you who haven’t yet made it to Hervey Bay here is what you’re missing out on

An autumn Saturday on the beach at Hervey Bay. Other bloggers sometimes complain that Hervey Bay has no nightlife and that it’s dull and boring but give me the beach over a nightlife any day of the week.

Tomorrow it’s election day here in Hervey Bay. We’re faced with the task of electing councillors to the Fraser Coast Regional Council who will truly represent us instead of merely rubberstamping every development application that appears before them.

I suppose like a few other Hervey Bay bloggers I should be giving some clues on who to vote for but I’m not even going to touch that today. Instead I’m boing to give you a to something that is completely unrelated to elections, councillors, and crappy newspapers that as one-eyed as Lord Nelson.

What you will find at the other end of this link will really amaze you.

The opening of Big W in Hervey Bay on Monday was certainly a big event and drew lots of happy shoppers to snap up the bargains but not everyone was happy.

It seems that many of those happy shoppers took up car parking spaces that belong to the RSL and the RSL suffered quite a drop in patronage.

I wonder how many times that’s going to happen throughout the year and I wonder if the number of car parking spaces that the developers were required to provide was reduced by Council. It’s not the first time that the number of parking spots required in that general area has been reduced to keep a developer happy.

Sometimes it’s a wise thing not to crow too loudly when you score a victory - especially when you confuse winning a single battle with winning the entire war. The Chronicle certainly made a lot of noise on Saturday about the demise of Strewth but perhaps all that noise might have been just a little premature.

Strewth may have gone but in it’s place there are now two more and a well-established blog from Maryborough has also taken up the cudgels in the fight for a little transparency in local government in Hervey Bay and the Fraser Coast.

Not only do we have Strewth Reloaded as was mentioned here on Saturday but we also have Bring Back Strewth and Perspective so Nancy (and your mates) if you can’t beat ‘em why not be bold … be brave … even be a just a little fair dinkum and join in the conversation. Start adding your comments to those blogs and be prepared to defend what you seem to consider to be your god-given right to develop Hervey Bay any way you see fit!

Now that shouldn’t be too hard should it Nancy? After all you are a professional journalist so you should be able to run rings round the riff-raff who post on those blogs that you dislike with such intensity.

Sadly, if the blaring headlines on today’s Fraser Coast Chronicle is anything to go by Strewth definitely has gone … but perhaps not quite as far as the Chronicle would have you believe.

You see nothing goes away for ever on the Internet and someone has take the time to resurrect much of Strewth from the various pages of Strewth that Google cached and you can find it at Strewth Reloaded according to an anonymous email we received overnight.

It was interesting to watch the impact that Strewth had on various aspects of life here in Hervey Bay. Those who were opposed to it were very careful to rubbish it without actually pointing people to it and some of those suggested that Strewth was nothing for them to worry about at all.

However if Strewth was so insignificant then why is the front page of today’s Chronicle emblazoned with the message that Strewth has gone for good? I’ve seen smaller headlines announcing a war that what the Chronicle used to announce the demise of Strewth.

Strewth might be gone but I doubt that that’s the last we’ll see of real citizen journalism here in Hervey Bay and on the Fraser Coast.

If your one of the many people here in Hervey Bay - and in the surrounding districts - who stop by to read Strewth then this is what you may have seen this morning:

Strewth was certainly online late yesterday afternoon and had even posted some new moderated comments but now it seems to have gone. Hopefully this is only a technical glitch because there’s no doubt that we need Strewth to help us make informed decisions about which candidates to vote for in the upcoming elections for the new Fraser Coast Regional Council.