Tugun is a bubbling and vibrant community village and is currently undergoing a facelift with the Tugun Centre Improvement Project starting to take shape!

The new works will include:

• Centre parking in Golden Four Drive between Elizabeth and Wyberba Streets;
• Existing fountain converted to timber deck platform with up-lit central sculpture “Minneta”;
• Upgrade and extensions to the existing rotunda and construction of a new nearby shelter;
• New footpaths along the western alignment of Golden Four Drive from Wagawn to Wyberba Street, and around into Wyberba Street;
• Enlarged and landscaped build out opposite the fountain and rotunda;
• Incorporation of street trees in the western section of Wyberba Street and also in Golden Four Drive between Wagawn and Wyberba Streets;
• New centre planting in Golden Four Drive between Wagawn and Toolona Streets;
• Street printing at street thresholds throughout the centre; and
• New median landscaped centre island in western section of Wyberba Street

Promoting Tugun is a new group of business owners, headed by local business and property owner, Alan Blenkins. They are out and about speaking to Tugun business owners and seeking feedback, ideas and input into how this area can be better marketed with a view to reducing commercial vacancies. As the name implies, Promoting Tugun, focus on promoting the village and looking at ways of advertising and creating events & workshops for local business owners!

If you own a business in Tugun, and have not yet received a survey to provide your feedback, you can download the survey here and return to Maris Dirx either by email or you can contact Maris on 0421 215 596!

Tugun has also had an influx of new businesses arriving in the area in past months, with Groove Cafe, Found Furniture, Trilogy Hair & Psychics and Toolona St Food Store all being welcomed to the village.

The Patch is Coolangatta’s premier new venue, presenting an unparalleled commitment to sophistication, modesty and elegance. Our mature and relaxed lounge bar is purpose-built to provide a stylish setting for the enjoyment of jazz and soul music – a vibrant culture otherwise absent from the southern Gold Coast region.

Finally there is a nook in Coolangatta, where wine lovers and foodies can lounge over Moroccan inspired cuisine and choose from a dynamic selection of wines by the glass and bottle. Our wine list alters week by week, anchored by a passion for providing wines with purity of flavour that express something unique about variety, region or style. From tried and true favourites to boutique and cult producers, we are sourcing not only good wine, but good food wine. Keep an eye out for the latest Spanish introductions and a range of biodynamic wines from leaders of our local industry. Most importantly, every wine we pour is terrifically slurpable.

Our inspired team of mixologists has put together a creative cocktail menu featuring an impressive combination of century-old classics and quirky originals. From the first tentative sip of our signature Beetroot and Vanilla Mojito to the last drop of our indulgent Rocky Road Martini dessert, the Patch promises to entertain and delight any palate.

Check out The Patch’s Facebook page to find out more!

In the last month the Cooly Rocks On team has been hard at it making sure the first Cooly Rocks On festival is the best Rock N Roll nostalgia festival on the east coast of Australia. The team has been hard at it ensuring all of the draft permits were in place by the end of September.

The Car Club and Entertainment committees have been elected and held their first meetings, with an emphasis on quality [we want this festival to shine].

The interest levels from Exhibitors, Entertainers, Dance & Car Clubs has been tremendous, so much so, that we have had to put our hand up to be the first festival or event to use the new Jack Evans Boat Harbour facility, as well as requesting a section of Wharf Street to be closed, to ensure we have enough room for everyone who wants to be part of this great new beginning. We have also applied to the authorities to have Griffith Street closed for the second weekend of the festival to enable us to have one large precinct in the Coolangatta – Tweed area.

Bob Newman has had several very positive meetings with the GCCC, Police, Translink and Surfside Bus-lines and all are working toward having a park and ride system in place for the festival similar to others on the Gold Coast which are embraced by the general public.

Our new office in the Showcase building in Coolangatta is nearly ready for the team to move into at which time we will have a landline you can contact us on.

Lastly if you would like to volunteer to be a part of Cooly Rocks On, go to our website and look under the News tab for Jobs, to see what is available. If there is nothing there to suit you, just put your name down and what you would like to do and we’ll see how we can help.

GCCC projects are currently being undertaken in the Tugun and Currumbin area on the southern end of the Gold Coast, with the focus on weed management and native vegetation re-establishment.

• Dune vegetation contract – Tugun SLSC north to Kropp park
• Dune vegetation contract – Len Wort park north to Currumbin Rock
• Aquatic and terrestrial weed control clean -up – Flat Rock Creek and adjoining lake area.
• Fencing construction throughout sites from Kropp park area north to Currumbin Alley –  being assessed next week

Click here for the full update on the programs being undertaken to protect and care for our beaches!

November is all about Kirra!

A brand new festival, Kirra Kite Festival, will take to the skies on November 20-21st, 2010. This new event is a free outdoor event celebrating multiculturalism, wind sports and local cuisine with the ocean as the backdrop. Festivities include street performers, circus acts, chalk art, live music, camel rides, kite-making workshops, market stalls, pyrotechnic skydiving and kite flying.

Kirra Surfstock is a non-profit, community-based project that celebrates surfing & beach culture, while raising awareness of coastal management issues, and on Australia Day 2009, over 4000 of you paddled out at Kirra to help us highlight those issues.

This years festival promises to be another cracker, with some new events, some old favourites, plus a couple of surprises! Perhaps the best thing about Kirra Surfstock though is that it’s FREE.

So tell your friends, your family (inter and intra-state), your neighbours, work colleagues, clients, acquaintances… tell a random stranger even, that Kirra is THE place to be this November!

Click on the images above to check out the websites!

Promoting your business can be as easy as pie these days, especially when you employ tactics such as Social Media.

Though sometimes it takes time and effort to build your fan base before you can begin to really notice a difference in the custom walking through your door.

Why not take advantage of the hard work of others, like CSGC, and consider the offer we would like to make to you!

Simply put, we need prizes to offer our fan base for a series of competitions we are planning over the coming year. You need some low-cost, but effective promotion. So here’s an opportunity for us both to win!

A dinner for two, some free accommodation (only one or two nights), free entry or tour, voucher or service may not cost you much other than your overheads and we can provide you with promotion to over 1000 social media users (which is growing every day), special mentions and suggestions for friends to “like” your page which builds your fan base, and an opportunity for you to create more loyal repeat business. Even further to that, we can include some additional free advertising space on www.southerngoldcoast.com.au , as well as a featured listing for your business in our online directory for the period of the competition!

The competitions we are planning to run, will require those entering the competitions to also do some promotion of your social media pages as well, the better the prizes we can put together for the competitions, the more entries and the more promotion, exposure and attention your business will get, and all without you lifting a finger!

All you need to do is email us at admin@southerngoldcoast.com.au and outline the prize you wish to donate. Rachael will then be in touch with you to discuss how and when your prize will be used! That way you may also like to consider additional promotions that you would like to run in conjunction with our competition to really give your business a boost!

As the saying goes… Many hands make light work!

Tugun welcomes two new exciting businesses to the fold this month!

Trilogy Hair Salon & Psychics Shop 1/ 5 Toloona St Tugun Ph (07)5534 7998 Opening Hours – Tuesday – Saturday (Thursday Night by Appointment)

A hair salon with more than just colours & cuts! The philosophy at Trilogy Hair Salon & Psychics is a new concept in modern hairdressing, where the blending of the ancient arts of Tarot, Astrology, Meditation & Psychic Readings are available for those seeking spiritual guidance. Trilogy has created a meeting place, for like minded souls to connect & expand their knowledge, while getting the latest looks & revamping their image.

Workshops & classes on topics such as Astrology, Tarot, Meditation, Crystals & other esoteric disciplines will be run on weekends – come in & express your interest. Trilogy offers reasonable prices on haircuts for the whole family along with crystals, incense & books.

Toolona St Food Store

A fresh and exciting new convenor of Fine Foods! Sourcing and preparing organic and free range and other fine ingredients is a passion for Toolona St Food Store proprietors!

Visit this lovely bright and breezy street-side cafe for breakfast or lunch and enjoy freshly prepared healthy delicious food today!

QTIC Business Barometer Survey and Educational Workshops on business improvement for tourism operators.

QTIC’s Business Barometer is an online self evaluation system designed to help Queensland tourism businesses assess the strength of their operations.

Connecting Southern Gold Coast has entered into an arrangement with Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC), your State industry representative body, for it to make available to our local tourism businesses certain key elements of its tourism industry education programme.

This involves, firstly, completing a free, confidential QTIC Business Barometer survey of your business online which takes approximately an hour. You are able to complete the survey in as many sittings as required. Once you have completed the survey, you will be able to print out  your own copy of the report for future use. QTIC will then assess the results of all the surveys and reports and come up with a suggestion of what training is needed by tourism businesses in the Southern Gold Coast. We plan to have QTIC then conduct a workshop in the Southern Gold Coast on Tuesday 9 November 2010 from 10.00 am -2.00pm, so put this date in your diary now!

I encourage you to go on line at www.businessbarometer.com.au and complete the free survey – it could be the best thing you ever did, to help you improve your business for years to come!

Tugun Business Precinct: I am currently working as part of a Committee to look at ways of having business operators in the Tugun precinct give their ideas and input into how this area can be better marketed with a view to reducing commercial vacancies. This is a worthwhile, business precinct, self-help project and If you would like to make a contribution, please contact Maris Dirx on 0421 215 596 or email her on marisdirkx@optusnet.com.au

Medical Tourism: Please find attached a recent article that explains the potential for our region to support the aspirations of John Flynn Hospital and Southern Cross University in the fly-in/fly-out surgery, or Medical Tourism, as it is known. In due course, we may need to galvanize interest from accommodation houses in providing support for pre and post operative stays for patients.

Music Industry Hub: we are working with Southern Cross University and Palm Beach Youth Music Project to look at ways we can develop local musical talent on the Southern Gold Coast. Our region has 13 licensed community clubs, 4 hotels, a specialist, late-night venue and many restaurants that are looking for quality music acts. We are indeed blessed with these venues and we aim to put in place a strategy of having more local music talent available to work them. I encourage any local readers with ideas or suggestions to contact me on 55343500.

Pure Green Discovery: this involves 15 Southern Gold Coast providers of environmental and cultural education. It has its own website www.puregreendiscovery.com which is managed by our office. I encourage readers to visit the website and to tell all their friends and family about it, with a view to their schools organsising excursions to our wonderful region. The website is already attracting interest from overseas.

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

Double your Business