Hervey Bay Gossip

While it may be winter down south this is the perfect time to visit Hervey Bay and the Fraser Coast. If you’re looking for some great holiday deals on the Fraser Coast then check out the Queensland Holidays website here or visit the best site for Hervey Bay accommodation

One unwanted side-effect of global financial crises here in Hervey Bay was the number of empty shops that seemed to litter the town after developers moved tenants out and then found they couldn’t proceed with the planned developments.

Unfortunatley some rather unpleasant eyesores were created on the corner of Main and Hillyard Street in Pialba and The Esplanade and Fraser Street in Torquay but now businesses are beginning to return.

In Pialba a backpacker’s employment agency has opened and now presents a rather bright face to the street … although at the other end of the row there’s still a vacant shop.

In Torquay several businesses, including a restaurant have opend in the corner block that had been vacant for so long.

If you’re looking for somewhere to dine in Hervey Bay then there’s no better place to go … even in winter … than Cafe Balaena down at the Fraser Island Boat Terminal at the marina.

The food is great all year round and even in the middle of winter it’s warm and very pleasant. There were plenty of people dining at Cafe Balaena on Saturday night and the only empty table when this photo was taken was the one we had just vacated so be sure to book well in advance.

In these tough financial times it’s more common to see businesses closing rather than opening but here’s one Hervey Bay business that opened it’s doors in the last week.

Jeff and Tiff Barratt have decided to take their very successful online lawn bowls equipment shop out into the real world and have opened for business at Shop 3 564 The Esplanade3 Urangan (behind Viva Italia).

Fraser Coast Lawn Bowls is open Monday to Saturday and if you’re a bowler then you should check out the range and prices … you will be pleasantly surprised.

Not a great deal in Hervey Bay or anywhere else by the looks of it.

Over here (opens in a new window)on Bring Back Strewth several people are reporting that there’s a great deal of unhappiness in the ranks of the staff of the Fraser Coast Regional Council and people are being shown the door. Yet, as Jim McKellar reports below, the council is claiming that it can’t spend it’s capital works budget because it lacks the staff.

How can you not have the staff when three councils were amalgamated to for the Fraser Coast Regional Council? Maybe it’s time that our elected representatives who supposedly run the council actually started earning the exhorbitant salaries we’re paying them!

FCRC Capital Non-Works Budget
A major plank in the FCRC response to the global economic crisis was the bringing forward of over $70 million of capital works to provide its own stimulus to our local economy. With the financial year drawing to a close it is timely to examine the Councils performance in delivering these works.

The latest figures available are for Year To Date (YTD) at the end of April and they do not make encouraging reading. The financial report shows a Capital Works YTD budget of $70.2 million but actual expenditure of only $22.5 million.

The reason the FCRC has given for the massive shortfall in expenditure is the lack of availability of specialist engineering support. But closer examination of the budget does not bear this out as a reasonable excuse. Let me explain.

Organizational Services, one department in the FCRC, had a YTD Capital budget of $5.8 million but has only used $1.3 million. Their Capital Works program consists of administration building upgrades, computer network equipment and the consolidation of the former councils’ records into one homogenous set of administration systems. It should be noted that Hervey Bay and Maryborough are still not using the same computer systems for financial recording despite this being a priority. How has this budget been effected by the shortage of engineers.

Community Services are responsible for things that directly effect the quality of life in the Fraser Coast. These include our parks, libraries, community buildings and boat ramps. The Community Service Capital Works budget YTD was $13.7 million but they have managed only $3.2 million of improvements to our community infrastructure. It would be fair to assume that most of the engineering work required for work in our parks should be able to be completed by ‘in house’ engineering staff. If they are still there.

Which leaves external services with a YTD Capital budget of $52 million and an expenditure of $17.5 million. It is safe to assume that this is the area hardest hit by the engineer shortage. But only $20 million of the $52 million was for road projects that require specialist engineers. The remainder is for buildings, risk management studies, waste transfer stations and similar projects.

While it is true that most of these projects can and will be rolled over into next year it leaves two major problems. Firstly, we are now one more year behind in our program of Capital Asset renewal. If we were unable to complete more than one third of the program this year how is the FCRC going to do it all next year as well as complete that year’s program as well. It won’t be done and our community assets will continue to deteriorate.

Secondly, the FCRC still has $47.5 million in its coffers that was supposed to have been injected into the local economy generating a much greater flow-on through the community. A stimulus that would have benefited many people in these difficult times. Are our Councillors really doing the best job they can or are some along for the free ride.

Jim MacKellar
15.06.09

While most tourism operators in Hervey Bay would like to see the start of the whale watching season let’s face some facts … the spotting of two whales off Kingfisher Bay does not mean that the whale watching season has come early.

Whales seldom come this far down into the bay and when they do it’s more likely to be much later in the season. Add to that the fact that it’s not unknown for whales to come across the bar at the southern end of the Fraser Island and swim up the bay on their northward migration. So let’s not get too excited just yet, the whales will come to Hervey Bay as they do every year … in their own good time.

Let’s just hope that the tourists come too … there’s certainly plenty great things to see and do in Hervey Bay even without the whales.

Yesterday’s sunrise from the beachfront at Torquay

Hervey Bay is never lacking in spectacular sunsets and Monday’s sunset was a fitting end to a great weekend.

Several years ago the Commonwealth Bank decided to close it’s branch in Torquay and centralise it’s banking services in Hervey Bay at it’s branch in Pialba.

It appears that the bank has now reversed that decision and re-opened the Torquay branch in it’s old location on the corner of Bedeford and Campbell Streets. It’s bright, colourful and you really can’t miss it

Jetstar will no longer fly into Hervey Bay from July 30. Currently Jetstar flies the Sydney/Hervey Bay route four times a week and provides 56,000 seats a year.

The Fraser Coast Chronicle quotes Councillor Nioa – who holds the tourism and marketing portfolio on the Fraser Coast Regional Council – as saying “… the fly market was a developing but not yet crucial part of tourism on the Fraser Coast.”

Yeah right! It may not be as big as the drive market is but to say that it’s “not crucial” is just wishful thinking.

The weather has been great the last couple of days and the Hervey Bay forecast for tomorrow is certainly looking good too. It seems that we might be looking at a warm and sunny day tomorrow but Sunday could bring some rain.

While this is the quiet time of year for most tourist related businesses in town Dean down at Cafe Balena is expecting a big weekend with some pretty solid bookings at Mantra and with a view like this from the cafe late this afternoon …

… it’s no wonder that it’s going to be a popular spot this weekend

If you can’t make it down to the boat harbour at Urangan at least try and spend some time on the beach or at the best beachside Hervey Bay cafe because this is winter and you really shouldn’t spend great days like this anywhere else.