There are many people here in Hervey Bay who often check the local weather radar image provided by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. If you haven’t looked at it before you will find it here.

Earlier this month the Bureau updated it’s weather radar site and now you’ll find links to a 512km radar and a national radar image. The 512km radar will let you see the rainfall beyond St Lawrence in the north and Woolgoolga in the south while the national radar … which only updates every hour … shows you the cloud cover right across the country.

With storm season just around the corner and tropical cyclone season not too far away the new radar images will be useful.

This past week saw two more businesses in Hervey Bay take their business to the Web as websites for Hervey Bay builder, Daly Classic Homes, and another beachfront cafe in Hervey Bay, Enzo’s on the Beach were launched by Total Website Management.

Visit the Daly Classic Homes site and see the innovative designs that this award winning Hervey Bay home builder is producing or wander over to Enzo’s on the Beach and enjoy the scenery from one of the most beautiful spots right on the beach in Hervey Bay.

A very pleasant evening was had by all who attended the wine and cheese evening at Mary Ryan’s in Hervey Bay last Wednesday night. The featured author was Peter Meyer the well-known Fraser Island photographer.

50% of the proceeds of the evening were donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Peter Meyer signs copies of his latest book at Mary Ryan’s bookstore

You only have to look around the streets of Hervey Bay to see that neither our public schools … nor our expensive private schools … seem to be doing much to prepare our kids for life in the real world.

Here’s a rather thought-provoking article from the head of The King’s School in Sydney … if a prestigious school like that isn’t educating its pupils then what school is?

What a great weekend it was in Hervey Bay this weekend. The weather was absolutely stunning and it sure brought plenty of people out.

The Esplanade was an absolute hive of activity and cafes along the strip were packed all weekend. The outdoor leisure show at the Sea Front Oval was a very popular attraction this weekend and there were always plenty of people in front of every display.

This was about as quiet as it got all weekend in front of the Hervey Bay Jet Ski display.

A little experimenting before we tackle a job for a client came up with this little trip along the beachfront at Hervey Bay.

The first of two major upgrades to improve Maryborough-Hervey Bay Road will start construction this month.

The $11.5 million State Government-funded project will include widening and strengthening of a 6.9km section of road between north of Dundowran Road intersection and Pialba-Burrum Heads Road.

Main Roads Minister Warren Pitt said there were currently about 7000 vehicles using the Maryborough-Hervey Bay Road each day.

“Hervey Bay is currently experiencing a rapid growth in its population, which will increase the amount of road users in the area,” Mr Pitt said.

“The boost in tourists heading to the town, along with commuter traffic to Maryborough, has also highlighted the need for improvements along this key link in the Wide Bay region.”

“This 6.9km section of road widening will include a new bitumen surface at least 10m wide. Existing bitumen widths in this area range from 6.5m to 9m.”

Member for Hervey Bay Andrew McNamara sa id the road would be strengthened to minimise surface failures and to reduce the number of potholes, while also providing a smoother driving surface.

“The work is expected to be completed in April 2009, weather permitting and will also include upgrades to five intersections,” Mr McNamara said.

“We will be improving bus stop areas, private property accesses and signage, as well as installing new overhead lighting,” he said.

Civil Mining and Construction has been awarded the contract for this project and will start work this month.

The second stage of the project, expected to start next year, will upgrade a section between Dundowran Road and Torbanlea-Pialba Road, including intersection improvements. The $18 million project is expected to be completed by June 2010.

When people think of Hervey Bay they automatically think of this as a boom town and for quite some time now Hervey Bay has been amongst the top five growth areas in the country … but it’s not necessarily booming for the real estate industry.

Things are actually quite tough if you’re selling houses in Hervey Bay at the moment and rumour has it that one large real estate agency has already folded it’s tents and gone and another that changed hands not that long ago is about to follow.

The Queensland Transport Minister today announced $29 million in new funding in 2008-09 for boating infrastructure in Queensland.

Hervey Bay will benefit from part of that funding as money is allocated to the building of a new two lane boat ramp at Gatakers Landing and maintenance dredging will be carried out in common-use areas of Urangan Boat Harbour.

The Queensland Premier has announced that flouridation will come to the Fraser Coast … and Hervey Bay … during 2010.

Some parts of the state will have to wait until 2012 before flouride is added to their water supply.