After years in the making, the Bushfire Flame Grill will offer a truly unique dining experience. From the outset this restaurant is different – it’s all atmosphere! Where the theatre of the kitchen is brought to your table and the chef’s culinary skills are in full view of the patrons; flames flare and dance creating a dramatic look of an Australian wild fire and capture the “Thrill of the Grill”. It is energetic and stylish.

Continuing in the bushfire theme are the exceptional meals created using a Brazilian-style barbecue, churrascaria grill, unlike anything seen in Cairns before. “Fire starter” entrees are prepared using the freshest regional ingredients from the Cairns Highlands and boutique Australian gourmet providers. “Fire dishes” are created on local ironbark coals infused with distinctive flavours of wood scented aromatic spices. Skewers of succulent marinated Australian beef, pork, lamb, ribs and chicken are sliced by wait staff directly onto the guest’s plate.

“Bushfire is such a unique and fantastic concept” states Owen Ealden, Executive Chef. “It’s about passion. Passion to entertain our patrons, explore new taste sensations and provide an exceptional experience. We want to do things differently.”

Whether is a romantic evening for two or a group setting to kick start a memorable evening, Bushfire Flame Grill and Sugarcane Rhumbar will impress. Thoughtfully designed, the restaurant and bar will set a benchmark for dining experiences in Cairns. It’s open daily from 5.30pm until late.

For more information see  www.bushfirecairns.com  

Current winner of the prestigious World’s Leading Eco Lodge, Daintree Eco Lodge & Spa for the second consecutive year been nominated in the prestigious World Travel Awards. This year, the Lodge is a finalist in two categories, the Australasian category of Australasia’s Leading Green Hotel and again in the “best of the best”, World Green category for “The World’s Leading Eco Lodge”.

Hailed by the Wall Street Journal, BBC World media and international media as the “Oscars of the travel industry” where over 1,000 categories are honoured by votes received by 167,000 travel agents world wide.

The awards run over several months around the world, starting in Australia, with the Australasian and Australian awards this month. The World’s Leading Eco Lodge Award is in Slovakia in September 2008.

“We are absolutely thrilled for the small independent business of Daintree Eco Lodge & Spa to be included with some of the world’s most incredible resort destinations and it is a privilege to be recognised amongst the large multi-national companies in global tourism”, said owner Terry Maloney.

Tangalooma’s Wild Dolphin Provisioning Program has achieved a 100 per cent survival rate of bottlenose dolphin calves.

Tangalooma Marine Education and Conservation Centre Director, Mr Trevor Hassard said he was pleased but not surprised with the results.

“From the inception of our program, Tangalooma Resort has been determined to create a sustainable dolphin feeding program and has strongly supported the scientific community and other experts to achieve this goal,” Mr Hassard said.

Co-author of the study and one time Dolphin Care Supervisor Bonnie Holmes said there had been much speculation over the years concerning the benefits of provisioning feeding programs. “Human intervention in the lives of wild animals should always be something we question,” Ms Holmes said.

“However, since working with the program and conducting additional research, I have come to understand that Tangalooma’s management arrangements for the program have been thoroughly researched over the past 16 years, and implemented accordingly.

"I have witnessed the feeding when a mother first brought in her calf, only two days after the birth. Given the bond between mother and calf is so strong, it was unbelievable to see them both so soon after the birth, indicating that the mother must have felt safe bringing her calf to the provisioning program.”

Tangalooma’s dolphin feeding provisioning program is conducted each evening with over eight regular dolphins participating in the program.

 
Melbourne-based day tour operator Go West Tours has been declared the best tourism operator in its field, winning the Best Tour & Transport Operators category at the 2007 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards.

After last year being inducted into the Victorian Tourism Awards Hall of Fame for winning this category at the state level three years in a row, Go West is now recognised of one of the Australian Tourism industry’s leading lights.

Operating small group tours from Melbourne to the Great Ocean Road and to Phillip Island for the famous Penguin Parade, Go West Tours was established in September 2000 and has stamped itself as one of the nation’s most innovative businesses.

Go West founder Terry Smit said “We’re absolutely thrilled to have been recognised in this way. After being runner-up for the last two years at the national level, to finally get across the line and take home the trophy is a fantastic reward for our amazing team and a real buzz for us as directors. There’s no higher honour in our industry and this caps off what is a truly exciting period for our business.”

In 2006 Go West Tours introduced the world’s first on-tour personal translation service for non-English speaking customers, and this year continued its pioneering use of technology by providing the world’s first in-coach personal video service.

For more information please visit  www.gowest.com.au

AWARD-WINNING RESTAURANT RE-BRANDS IN SOLID COLOUR

Just four weeks shy of its 14th birthday, one of Cairns’ local dining institutions is gearing for change. In a re-branding campaign introduced this week, Red Ochre Grill will become “Ochre Restaurant and Catering”.

Red Ochre Grill is a name everyone knows –as well known for its award-winning restaurant as its prestigious off-site catering.  However, a long and tedious battle to win the right to trademark his restaurant’s name inspired owner, Director and Executive Chef Craig Squire, to create a new identity.

In Cairns, Queensland and indeed Australia, Craig is a well-known and admired chef who has enjoyed a long term association with the name.

“We have worked very hard to establish ourselves as one of the region’s leading restaurants in and have gained a reputation for quality and service - locally, nationally and internationally.  Naturally we have wanted to own our own business name and determine our own destiny.

According to Craig, “Ochre Restaurant and Catering” is a brand he wants people to associate with freshness and modernism. 

“We were certainly bored with our old logo and felt the word ‘gill’ no longer applied to the style of food we were cooking.  We are satisfied Ochre Restaurant and Catering has a look and feel that achieves all our objectives.  The design is progressive while the name reflects our current business model where catering accounts for 30 per cent of annual revenue.

Red Ochre Grill is a multi-award winning restaurant with accolades that include:

• Mietta’s “Top 100 Australian Restaurants”      
• TTNQ Tourism Awards – Hall of Fame
• RCQ restaurant awards – best modern Australian 2006, best tourism 2007
• Caterer of the year – 2004 – 2005 – 2006 - 2007

Australian Tourism visionary Keith Williams has revealed spectacular plans for the expansion of his Port Hinchinbrook development at Cardwell, in North Queensland.

The resort and spa will be the largest commercial building sited between two of North Queensland’s major centers, Townsville and Cairns - a 220-room resort hotel and spa that will cover five hectares and take in expansive views of Port Hinchinbrook impressive 250 berth marina.

The development also includes two exclusive waterfront apartment buildings overlooking the marina. The eight apartments in the southern block will have private marina berths for vessels measuring up to 16 meters in length.

"This is the start of an exciting new era in the development of Port Hinchinbrook" said Keith Williams. "These wonderful drawings reveal how Port Hinchinbrook will look within two years. The resort and spa will bring first class facilities to the region while the owners of the residential apartments will be able to enjoy an exceptional waterfront lifestyle."

For more information go to: www.porthinchinbrook.com.au

Cairns. Friday 16 November 2007.  The managing director of Parker Travel Collection, Todd Parker is delighted to announce the appointment of Skye Collie as sales executive whose key responsibilities will be retail agent training in the UK and Australia, on-line support and Tourism Business Development.

A self-confessed ‘travel bug’, Skye Collie recently returned to Australia after six years working in the UK travel industry; spending two years with Lunn Poly (now Thomson holidays) before moving to Quest Travel where she spent four years creating tailor-made, long-haul holidays.

According to Mr Parker, Skye will be a valuable member of his team.  “She has extensive knowledge of product in Australia and New Zealand and vast experience of directional selling. 

“In retail sales she developed a thorough understanding of airline contracts and routings and enjoys an excellent reputation for delivering superb customer service.”

While Skye is a born and bred Queenslander – growing up on the Sunshine Coast - she will now call Cairns home - however her new sales executive role will see her returning to the UK for several months at a time to conduct and oversee retail agent training of Parker Travel Collection’s tourism product portfolio.

Parker Travel Collection is a Tourism Business Development Company that has offices in Cairns, the Gold Coast and Melbourne.

22 October 2007 - Pictured from left, Rob Giason - CEO TTNQ, Todd Parker - Managing Director Parker Travel Collection, Kevin Byrne - Mayor of Cairns.

After three consecutive wins in the field of Tourism Product Marketing, the Parker Travel Collection was admitted to the prestigious Hall of Fame on Saturday night’s glittering tourism awards hosted by Tourism Tropical North Queensland.


In front of over 600 guests, Parker Travel Collection’s Managing Director, Todd Parker paid tribute to his General Manager and brother, Brock Parker as well as Domestic Retail Sales Manager Justin Berger for the enormous success of the Hot Deals to Cool Places domestic retail campaign run over the past three years.

“It really is a credit to Brock and his domestic sales team - that this retail package campaign now generates more than $7 million for Tropical North Queensland Tourism businesses.”

Mr Parker also thanked the 22 TNQ tourism businesses that have supported domestic tourism marketing over the last 11 years and remarked that he looks forward to creating more exciting campaigns in the future.

The Parker Travel Collection is regarded as Australia’s leading tourism marketing company offering a wide range of tourism services.

The Hall of Fame Awards comes hot on the heels of Mr Parker’s announcement that his company is expanding into the lucrative Eastern markets of China, India, Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong.

20 October 2007 :

Competing against a line-up of international hotel brands, The Lakes Cairns Resort and Spa proved once again that professional independently owned operations can have the final say when it took home the gong for both awards categories it entered winning Deluxe Accommodation and Tourism Education & Training at Tropical North Queensland’s Tourism Awards in Cairns on Saturday night.

General Manager for the resort, Craig Biber was in attendance to accept the award that he says, is a real coup for an independently owned and operated property.

This is the second year running The Lakes Cairns Resort and Spa has won the Deluxe Accommodation category at TNQ’s Tourism Awards and comes hot on the heels of bagging HMAA’s ‘Best 4-5 Star Resort’, ‘Training’ and ‘Operator of the Year’ awards (Qld) as well as its signature restaurant, Lago, winning ‘Best Hotel / Resort Restaurant’ at the Restaurant and Caterer’s Awards.

“These awards are testament to the hard work and commitment of our entire team whose day-to-day mission is to provide guests with world-class accommodation and a memorable experience.

“On a bigger picture level, this acknowledgement from industry underscores the value of independent operators who are becoming less and less with the increase of global hotel operators who posses bigger brand power and bigger marketing budgets.

“As an independent, we work hard to make up the shortfall in brand and dollars by providing a unique product that responds quickly to changing market trends, along with creating a culture that supports and encourages staff to provide very personal service. Our success relies heavily on the guest experience so it’s critical to ensure the product and the service operate hand in hand.”

29 October 2007 - Last week the 8th annual ‘North Queensland ATEC – Inbound Up North’ Mega famil tour took place, this year aptly named the Magical Mystery Tour. The program showcased the Port Douglas, Daintree and Cape Tribulation areas where 50 Inbound Tour Operators (ITO’s) from all over Australia, and 50 suppliers from the region, engaged in workshop and networking activities. The event was organized by the local ATEC committee with assistance from local suppliers and was haled as the most successful event yet. Local Tourism Organizations from around the region also had the chance to showcase their various attributes during the ‘Change your Latitude’ treasure hunt held at Rainforest Habitat. ITO’s followed a series of clues to find each destination, each clue designed to educate ITO’s along the way.

Andrew Dineen (Project Manager – Parker Travel Collection & Vice Chairman for the NQ ATEC branch) said about the tour; ‘Inbound Up North has become a permanent fixture on many ITO’s calendars, and following last years successful event, the aim was to take ITO’s to areas they had not seen for a while, and create an environment away from the daily grind to solidify relationships.’ A goal definitely achieved, testament to the fact was the favorable response to the inaugural ‘Gala Awards’ night held at Coconut Beach Resort on the final day of the itinerary.

Next years itinerary has already taken shape and will involve a swag of new regions and experiences for ITO’s, and suppliers alike. When asked to comment on possible inclusions in next years itinerary, a spokesman from the committee declined to comment.

Pictured Above: Liz Crowley – General Manager Operations, AAT Kings, Andrew Dineen – Project Manager, Parker Travel Collection & Vice Chair of NQ ATEC Branch, Gabrielle McCarthy - Manager, Operations and Program Services, Grand Circle Travel Australia, Doug Ryan – Executive Officer, PDDT.