Southern Gold Coast News

The Southern Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce has released details of the next meeting being held on the 11th May 2010 at Oculous Financial Services Meeting Room, Level 2 Showcase on the Beach Marine Pde Coolangatta at 5.30pm.

Agenda items include updates from GCCC Division 14 Councillor Chris Robbins, Honourable Jann Stuckey MP, Wintersun President Barry McNamara and Jim Wilson of Connecting Southern Gold Coast! Also on the agenda is the hot topic of Daylight Savings!

See the invite here!

Currumbin Rock as seen from Currumbin Hill Lookout!

There’s nothing like the new campaign from Tourism Australia to showcase our beautiful country to the world!

Just like “there’s nothing like the Southern Gold Coast!”.  So if you have an amazing photo of the SGC, why not enter the competition and complete the sentence ‘There’s nothing like…’ in 25words or less about the Southern Gold Coast!

Whether you consider yourself lucky to be able to watch world-class surfers from your own balcony, experience the amazing open spaces of our white sandy beaches, having Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary on your door step or a myriad of other treats, Tourism Australia is asking you to share your Australia experience with the world!

And they’re also putting a $25,000 holiday up for grabs as a carrot!

So  get along to this website and enter your Southern Gold Coast Pure Gold moment, for not only a chance to win, but to also showcase your backyard or favourite holiday spot to the rest of the world!

Queensland is driving change.

Queensland motorists can now reduce their vehicles’ carbon footprint by getting involved with Reverse the Effect.

Reverse the Effect is a new initiative of the Queensland Government to encourage Queensland motorists to help balance the impact of their vehicle emissions on the environment.

The Queensland Government is committed to reducing the states greenhouse gas emissions and aims to expand protected natural areas in Queensland to 20 million hectares by 2020.

Queensland is one of the most beautiful and naturally diverse places on earth. It has some of the world’s most unique ecosystems and its protected natural areas play a vital role in maintaining a sustainable and healthy environment now and for the future.

Reverse the Effect was established to offer Queenslanders an opportunity to give back to the environment by making a voluntary donation towards planting trees. By planting trees, carbon is captured from the atmosphere to help reduce the impact of vehicle emissions, and to protect the lifestyle that Queenslanders and others love to enjoy.

Queensland motorists can make a tax deductible donation at www.reversetheeffect.com.au. Donation amounts are calculated on an estimated carbon footprint of Queensland’s average use of different vehicle sizes as reported by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, over a period of time.

The types of vehicles that can be donated against include: moped, motorbike, small, medium and large car, hybrid, light commercial vehicle and rigid truck.

Donation amounts can be as little as $8 a year to balance a moped, while an average size family car will cost $59.

The Queensland Government will match dollar-for-dollar all contributions made to the program up to a total of $4.5 million over the next 5 years.

By working together Queenslanders can better understand climate change and its impacts on the environment and our people. It doesn’t matter how small a donation is, every bit counts and will contribute to protecting Queensland’s natural assets.

Reverse the Effect has been launched by Ecofund Queensland, an innovative carbon management, environmental offset and renewable energy advice and trading provider.  Ecofund partners with individuals, businesses and government to deliver solutions that help to minimise the impact of climate change and protect Queensland’s natural environment for the future.

Ecofund’s activities champion environmental outcomes in Queensland and are focused on expanding protected natural areas and national parks to 20 million hectares by 2020. All forestry projects will be strategically located to buffer, expand or enhance existing areas to provide maximum environmental benefits.

Although Ecofund works with its clients to deliver environmental management solutions, its main aim is to inspire people, business and government to think about how their actions impact the environment, change their behaviours to reduce emissions and balance the earth.

Ecofund’s think, change, balance principles guide every project and relationship developed, and promote awareness and empowerment of new behaviours that minimise greenhouse gas emissions and help to protect Queensland’s environment and lifestyle now and in the future.

For more information about Ecofund Queensland visit www.ecofund.net.au

Queensland motorists can now reduce their vehicles’ carbon footprint by getting involved with Reverse the Effect.

Reverse the Effect is a new initiative of the Queensland Government to encourage Queensland motorists to help balance the impact of their vehicle emissions on the environment.

Motorists can make a tax deductible donation at www.reversetheeffect.com.au which will go towards planting trees.  By planting trees, carbon is captured from the atmosphere to help reduce the impact of vehicle emissions, and to protect the lifestyle that Queenslanders and others love to enjoy.

The Queensland Government will match dollar-for-dollar all contributions made to the program up to a total of $4.5 million over the next 5 years.

The program aims to reduce the states greenhouse gas emissions and expand protected natural areas in Queensland to 20 million hectares by 2020.

Click the link below to read Graham’s latest tip!

Quiet time to busy time

Pure Green Discovery: we have developed a website (referred to elsewhere) specifically to acknowledge and promote those commercial and not-for-profit organizations which operate in the Southern Gold Coast and provide education services in cultural and environmental aspects to visiting students. We believe that this, along with our emphasis of the “Walks and Lookouts of the Southern Gold Coast” on our main website will further emphasize our beautiful region for its commitment to keeping the environment front of mind.

Seafood Discovery Trail: In conjunction with Southern Cross University, we have been successful in securing the services of a visiting international student from Austria, Mr. Danilo (Dan) Sennewald, whose brief will be to determine methods by which we can make the Seafood Discovery Trail become a real and increasing destination feature of the combined Currumbin to Cabarita Region. Dan, who is a 3 rd year student in International Tourism Management,  will work under the tutelage of Prof Kerry Brown, Mulpha Chair in Tourism Asset Management, Southern Cross University at Bilinga. We expect a report on this initiative before September.

Gold Coast BEC (Business Enterprise Centre): We have assisted this new business come to our region. It offers pro bono advice on a wide range of business issues from strategy, to operations to planning. If you would like to make an appointment to see Mr Paul Rimington, Director of Gold Coast BEC, please call him on  0418 249800 to make your appointment.

Kirra SurfStock Festival has been Carbon Balanced

Climate Wave Enterprises would like to announce that the Kirra SurfStock Festival and Surfrider Foundation National Conference has been carbon balanced with Greenhouse Friendly accredited carbon offsets. All the carbon footprint data was collected and the calculations made by Climate Wave Enterprises (CWE) with the assistance and sponsorship from Ecofund Queensland and Connecting Southern Gold Coast.

Climate Wave Enterprises spokesperson said,” The calculation took a bit longer than we’d planned but finally all the figures were tallied and we now have a successful carbon balanced event.

Jim Wilson, General Manager, Connecting Southern Gold Coast Ltd, who sponsored the event, said “ We would like to congratulate the organisers of Kirra SurfStock for being the first major surf industry event that we know of, to successfully address this issue. There would appear to be no reason for all events on the Gold Coast not to carbon balance their footprints. Climate Wave Enterprises is a local Southern Gold Coast company and has proven what a good job it can do, so I urge promoters of events to work with them and Ecofund Queensland.”

To help balance the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the 2009 Kirra SurfStock Festival, Ecofund Queensland on behalf of Kirra SurfStock Festival will purchase and retire 10 tonnes of Australian Government accredited (and Queensland generated) carbon offsets. Based on available data, the festival’s 2009 carbon footprint included direct and indirect emission sources such as electricity consumption, the production of marketing material, organic waste being directed to landfill and the consumption of fuels in associated vehicles and small-generators.

“Climate Wave Enterprises have committed to making progressive improvements in capturing more emission source data, and, subsequently reducing the carbon footprint of future festivals. ”

“Ecofund is an exciting initiative set up to expand Queensland’s protected areas to 20 million hectares by 2020 through the provision of innovative carbon, renewable energy and environmental offset products and services,” said Colin Forker, Chief Executive Officer, Ecofund Queensland.

For more information please contact Greg Howell on 0414 939 942 or email Greg@climatewave.com or Guil Araujo 0438 708 899 or email Guil@climatewave.com

On 25th March 2010, a group of SGC tourism operators and traders met at Greenmount Resort. They decided to form the nucleus of a SGC Tourism Working Group, the brief of which would be to meet 3-4 times per year, to work with us to achieve mutual objectives for improving tourism and tourism businesses on the SGC.

We would like to thank all of the attendee’s to the last meeting for their support and enthusiasm for what we are doing.

Connecting Southern Gold Coast is now committed to making the TWG relevant and effective.

The next meeting is being held on the 18th May 2010 from 5.30pm to 8pm at the Currumbin RSL.

If you have not received an invitation and wish to contribute to the meeting, please email rsvp@southerngoldcoast.com.au with your name, organisation and number of attendee’s!

Pure Green Discovery recognizes the many Southern Gold Coast businesses and not-for profit organizations that celebrate our natural environment, culture and history.

Connecting Southern Gold Coast, in partnership with these various educators have created a one-stop Southern Gold Coast Education shop!

When we looked at all of these educators, located in the SGC, we realised that this was a very special group of businesses and indeed an exceptional offering of environmental and cultural education options, all located within an 9km stretch of coastline! Too exceptional to ignore so, after meeting with the providers, we set sail to create a means of showcasing this special offering to the world at large!

And this is it! Visit www.puregreendiscovery.com today and see for yourself the rich history, learning opportunities and adventures that our beautiful region has to offer which can be passed on to the next generation!

Mount Warning as seen from Razorback Lookout Coolangatta

The Southern Gold Coast is brimming with amazing vantage points, walking trails and lookouts. As a vistior to the area, exploring these points of difference can shed new light on the Gold Coast and give an insight to the abundance of natural beauty the area has to offer!

So we’ve put together a little showcase of these magnificent walks and lookouts for all to explore and enjoy!

You can download the PDF guide to SGC Walks & Lookouts here!

Slip into some comfy shoes, grab the dog, the kids and pack a bite to eat or even a drop of your favourite vino and enjoy our beautiful region by exploring these amazing treasures of the Southern Gold Coast!