Hervey Bay Gossip

So Tourism Queensland brought a bunch of travel agents from the UK to Hervey Bay and showed them the sights … but did they get to see the stunning sunrises and sunsets?

Did they get to see the real Hervey Bay and meet the friendly local people … or did they just get to see it all from the rather sterile surroundings of the white monstrosity down at Urangan?

It’s when you get out and meet the real people and look at it from our point of view that you begin to see just what a great place Hervey Bay really is.

Here in Hervey Bay we’re creeping ever closer to winter … but even at this time of year the beach is a great place to be … and it’s a great spot for some exercise even when the tide’s in.

And the weather forecast for this weekend is for more of the same beautiful weather.

Although it certainly got very dry here in Hervey Bay we were never drought declared however parts of Tiaro area certainly were but things are looking up.

Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries Tim Mulherin said several shires now in the new Barcaldine, Fraser Coast and North Burnett Regional councils were now no longer drought declared.

Mr Mulherin said today that the drought declarations had been lifted on the recommendation of local drought committees in Longreach and Maryborough.

The revocations took affect from April 30, 2008 in the former Barcaldine and Aramac shires, and on April 13, 2008 in Biggenden Shire and a part of Tiaro Shire.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist … or have a degree in wildlife … to know that dingoes are smart animals. Just how smart they are has become obvious since the state government started building those wire fences around the villages over on Fraser Island.

Since the first fence went up we can now see that dingoes are smarter than your average Queensland state government because the fences aren’t keeping the dingoes out at all - the dingoes are simply walking over the cattle grids that have been put in place to allow vehicular access.

And if you want proof that dingoes are accessing the protected areas via the cattle grids you’ll find a photo right here.

It seems that it would have been just as effective and a hell of a lot cheaper … not to mention more environmentally friendly … if the Minister hadn’t gone round nailing up a few signs that said “Dingoes Keep Out”

I guess the government is just going to have to move to plan B to keep those pesky dingoes away from humans. Do we have a plan B? Or are we just going to start shooting dingoes that are smarter than your average state government.

If we do that there may not be any dingoes left pretty soon.

A combination of a less than stellar whale season followed by bad weather over the Christmas holidays has certainly placed quite a bit of pressure on some tourist related businesses in Hervey Bay and in the past month  we’ve seen two more local businesses shut up shop. The well-known Bayview Motel has closed and the Fighting Whiting is no longer available for fishing charters.

The Fighting Whiting is for sale but in these tough times it’s unlikely to attract much interest.