The technologically advanced check-in solution, where Jetstar has partnered with IBM Global Business Services, will see three installed self-service kiosks to supplement existing customer check-in processes for the first time at Ballina/Byron Gateway Airport.

Airport Manager Neil Weatherson said the new self-service kiosks would further enhance the overall travelling experience at the airport, bringing it in line with major Australian airports which host this popular technology.

“This new facility at the airport takes us to next level of service. Jetstar passengers, whether regular or infrequent flyers, will have the choice to self-check themselves onto their flight, avoid queues and then relax in the terminal prior to travel,” Mr Weatherson said.
 
“I congratulate Jetstar on listening to their customers and introducing this easy-to-use technology here at the local airport.”

J”etstar’s fitout of self-service kiosks at Ballina/Byron Gateway Airport will suit all customers with the investment supportive of any projected growth in future flights by better leveraging existing terminal infrastructure.”

Jetstar Chief Executive Officer Bruce Buchanan said its self-service kiosks at Ballina/Byron Gateway Airport were part of Jetstar’s initiative to deliver a future 100 per cent customer self-service experience incorporating web check-in, processing via kiosk or future use of SMS Boarding Pass technology via people’s mobile phones.

The new Guides are the authority on all there is to see and do in the Ballina Coast & Hinterland.

It features stunning imagery from around the Shire and captures the essence of the beautiful hinterland and our magnificent waterways.

If you would like to get your hands on a copy, drop by the Ballina Visitor Information Centre at 6 River Street Ballina.

Both groups support the new sign at the base of Mt Warning as a step forward in recognising the importance of the mountain to the Bundjalung people, and in promoting the region’s cultural, as well as natural significance.

NPWS Regional Manager Mark Johnston said that the NPWS has been working with the local Aboriginal community for several years to increase Indigenous involvement and promote awareness of cultural issues.

“One agreed action that has come from this consultation has been to erect a sign at the base of the mountain asking people to consider not climbing to the summit as a mark of respect for Aboriginal traditional law and customs,” he said.

“This is the same message for visitors to Uluru National Park, where there has been an increase in visitors to the park since the Aboriginal significance began to be promoted.”

Commercial tourism operators and other tourism groups have been informed about the sign prior to its being erected.

Chairman of Tweed Tourism, Gary Matthews, said that he agrees wholeheartedly with the recognition of the significance of the site.

“The sign encourages people to respect the site and supports Tweed Tourism’s desire to promote the cultural heritage aspects of tourism in the Tweed,” Mr Matthews said.

Executive officer for the Rainforest Way, Robyn Rae, said that the touring route encourages visitors to the region to enjoy the splendid views of Wollumbin from the road, rather than sending more visitors to areas that are already close to capacity.

Mr Johnston said that there is no intention to ban climbing on the mountain.

“There is a plan of management in place for Mt Warning which states that a walking track will continue to be maintained,” Mr Johnston said.

“We have had a lot of positive feedback from visitors to the national park since the sign went up. People are pleased to be informed of the significance of the mountain.”

Ballina Shire Council entered two categories, one for significant festivals and events with Rivafest 2005. The other category was for media, where the Ballina Coast and Hinterland Visitor Guide was entered.

Both entries received Awards of Distinctions.

Tourism and Development Manager for Ballina Shire Council, Liz Shepherd, said: “The submissions were high-quality, and a lot of work was put into produce the products that were entered into the awards, being Rivafest 2005 and the Ballina Coast and Hinterland Visitor Guide.”

Kerry Greedy, council’s Event Co-ordinator, said: ” It’s great to receive recognition for all the hard work that was put into Rivafest last year. This year’s Rivafest is set to be even bigger and better than the one before, so mark your calendar for November 10, 11 and 12.”

Tourism Co-ordinator for Ballina Shire Council, Caroline Breen, said: “We would like to thank all the team members that put together such a great Visitor Guide last year and of course the North Coast Ad Agency for all their hard work.”

For more information on Rivafest 2006, contact Kerry Greedy on 6686 1437 or email kgreedy@ballina.nsw.gov.au

It’s the site where, on December 26, 2004, a tsunami struck in Galle in southern Sri Lanka. Naleem was in bed when it hit about 9.15am.

Naleem, his wife and four sons escaped death by fleeing to a nearby Buddhist temple. They never saw the one-month-old girl again.

Naleem spent eight days searching for her body, but she was never found.

That’s about all Naleem will say about his family’s experience that devastating morning which left an estimated 230,000 dead in south Asia, including around 35,000 Sri Lankans. Like many coastal Sri Lankans, tsunami left a despairing memory for Naleem’s family — one which is difficult to talk about.

Life is slowly returning to some form of normalcy — yesterday, Naleem says, he moved into his new house, which was built using Australian aid dollars. All around are signs telling of ‘tsunami reconctruction work’ courtesy of French aid, Australian aid, Austrian aid, and many other countries.

But all along the south-west and southern coastline are ‘monuments’ to the tragedy that was tsunami.

Lasantha, who is driving me to Yala National Park — one of the worst-hit areas — tells how bodies were still being recovered in Galle two weeks after the tsunami.

The road to Yala passes through Weligama, Mirissa, Matara, Tangalla, Ambalantota and Hambantota — exotic and beautiful by name and nature. The road hugs the coast for much of the journey; it’s tropical-island paradise scenery.

But all the way to Yala are the signs: Wrecked houses, heavy wooden boats — 10m or more in length — flipped on their sides, sections of concrete reinforced walls smashed to pieces and strewn about as if they were balsa wood.

It’s an eerie feeling as you ponder the power and the horror that was tsunami. At Yala, this feeling is overwhelming.

One of Sri Lanka’s best-known parks, Yala’s elephants, leopards, birdlife, crocodiles, snakes, water buffalo (complete with stalking jackals), deer and so on attract many tourists. On the beach — one of the most picturesque I’ve seen — is a monument to the 47 people who lost their lives at 9.20am on December 26, 2004.

It was a poya (full moon) day, a day of celebration for predominantly Buddhist Sri Lanka; a day when government offices close and Many Sri Lankans head to places such as Yala. The majority of those 47 were Sri Lankans. They and the others, Japanese and German tourists, were doing just what I had come to do — marvel at the wildlife and scenic beauty — when they were swept away.

On the beachfront are two concrete slabs, all that remain of two bungalows. They were obliterated, and the two park employees in them were killed. Surrounding the bungalows are sections of concrete-reinforced brick walls, broken up and, again, tossed around like balsa. Hundreds of metres from the beach is what remains of a boat, left where tsunami deposited it as a grim reminder of the power of nature.

Later on, Lasantha shows me the site, near the park entrance, where a hotel was destroyed. He says that about 300 people lost their lives there.

I ask what effect tsunami had on the wildlife numbers.

“Nothing,” Lasantha tells me, explaining that all animals except the water buffalo left the park for higher ground. They could read the warning signs.

“Didn’t the tour guides suspect that something was wrong?” I ask.

Lasantha’s simple answer — no — was delivered with a quizzical expression which asked ‘how were they to know?’. Tsunami was not something experienced in living memory in Sri Lanka.

* * * *

I’VE left the beauty and horror of Yala behind and I’m heading from Hikkaduwa to Bentota.

My driver, Sarath, tells me his tsunami story:

He was married on December 25, 1987. Each year on December 25 and 26, he takes the days off and celebrates his anniversary with his wife.

On December 25, 2004, an Australian couple staying at a Hikkaduwa resort asked him to drive them to Yala on the following day.

Sarath says no, explaining his anniversary circumstances. He offers to take them on December 27.

“They argued with me for 45 minutes and the lady became quite angry,” he says.

Eventually they agreed. Sarath would drive them to Yala on December 27. It was a decision which most probably saved their lives, and that of Sarath.

The couple never got to Yala. They lost their belongings when the tsunami struck their resort, but they escaped with their lives.

Sarath saw them before they left Sri Lanka.

“Sarath,” they told him, “you are a god.”

The project is being run by the Australian Regional Tourism Research Centre (ARTRC), a partnership between Southern Cross University and the Sustainable Tourism Co-operative Research Centre.

The centre was launched today by the Federal Minister for Tourism, Fran Bailey, in the Yarra Valley. The Minister is also announcing two significant projects – the Sustainable Regional Tourism Destination Project and the Farm and Country Tourism on your Property.

South Cross University says the ARTRC is supported by the Australian Regional Tourism Network (ARTN) and Tourism Australia. It is a dedicated research centre, based at SCU’s Lismore campus, focusing on sustainable tourism and industry development in regional Australia. It has conducted more than $2 million worth of research, much of which has been focused on industry development and extension programs.

The Sustainable Regional Tourism Destination Project is a nationwide study being co-ordinated by the Deputy Director of the ARTRC, Meredith Lawrence, in partnership with eight researchers from four university partners from the Sustainable Tourism Co-operative Research Centre (STCRC).

The three-year project will include case studies of up to 23 individual destinations covering all States and Territories including places such as Byron Bay, Shark Bay in WA, Alice Springs and the Murray River.

“The Sustainable Regional Tourism Destination Project will provide government, industry and community stakeholders with practical guidance on best practice principles for the sustainable development, marketing and management of regional tourism destinations,” Ms Lawrence said.

“Once the research is complete, practical tools and resources such as tool-kits, best practice guidelines or manuals will be developed to assist operators, local government and communities to better plan and market their region as a tourism destination.”

The second major project, Farm and Country Tourism on your Property (FACT), has been developed by the Sustainable Tourism CRC to assist existing rural landholders and farmers to successfully assess the viability of diversifying into agri or nature-based tourism.

Rose Wright, Extension Officer for the ARTRC, will be holding workshops in partnership with local and regional agencies throughout 2006 to introduce participating rural landholders to the tourism industry and how it works.

“This business development program will assist participants to develop their tourism concepts, introduce them to the tourism industry and assist them to research and develop their business plan to provide them with a greater chance of success and a smoother path in their transition from traditional agriculture into the new world of agri-tourism,” Mrs Wright said.

Both projects are being funded through the Sustainable Tourism CRC.

Ballina Info’s comment: This project should have a spin-off for Ballina Shire. Byron Bay might have the nightlife and the party-town reputation, but our shire can provide other alternatives such as great fishing, a bigger range of surf spots, the Richmond River, and we’ll soon have an international class hotel with the development of the Ramada site. And of course, we have the means of getting the tourists here — the airport.

Quiksilver says Australian surf stars Ry Craike and Julian Wilson will be joined by international bands and thousands of fans for a ‘Big Day Out’ style celebration.

The surfers will be strutting their stuff on the largest man-made beach in the world, the Sunway Lagoon surf pool.

Six thousand tons of sand, palm trees and huts surround the surf pool.

Quiksilver has joined with Australian Ramp Designs to add a customised skate park for the event.

Craike and Wilson will be joined by American Dane Reynolds in a head-to-head contest in the pool. They will be towed in to waves by a 1200cc jet ski.

The skate team will include two-time German half-pipe champion Sascha Mueller, France’s Jean Postec and Australians James Kennedy, Josh Roullion and Shane O’Neill.

The good news for those who can’t be there is that there will be a live webcast.

The second stop on the tour will be on Sentosa Island, Singapore, at a date to be announced.

I haven’t walked the Kokoda Track, but I’ve spent time in the north of PNG. It was the experience of a lifetime.

Arriving in Madang on the northern coast, you are struck by the beauty of this coastal paradise. It’s a scuba diver’s heaven, with many sunken wrecks, especially aircraft, remnants of World War II.

You’re also struck by the culture. A boat trip over to Kranket Island, specifically to go snorkelling, ends with you sitting on the wharf watching men, women and children fishing from outrigger canoes, silhouetted as the sun sets. The expensive chartered fishing boat anchored nearby looks well out of place.

That night, in the open-sided restaurant, cool sea breezes and a local island band complete a day in paradise.

Thoughts of a restful holiday come to an end the next day. The trip along the northern coast and inland was idyllic.

But then the walk to Salemben Village started. It was tough at the start, and it got tougher. Almost four hours of steep climbing let you know that you’re not as fit as you thought you were.

This evaluation is confirmed by the fact that 10-year-old Nelson is your guide. He’s helping carry the backpacks, and hardly draws a breath. You are panting for breath, asking for rest breaks more frequently. Nelson can only wonder!

In places the track narrows to less than a metre; on one side is impenetrable forest; on the other, a near vertical drop to a valley floor a hundred metres below. Never one for heights, you ask yourself if this is really a smart thing to do!

But any doubts end with arrival at Salemben. There is no electricity, no running water, and every hut is made from local natural materials. There’s a pit toilet, and you shower with the aid of a length of bamboo which gushes water tapped from a mountain spring.

The accommodation isn’t five-star, but who cares? This is a mountain paradise.

The next day you’re treated to an hour-long dance performance by men and women of the village. It’s good — so good that the Salemben people had recently won the big sing-sing at Mt Hagen in the Highlands.

I spent three days at Salemben, and despite the arduous trek up the mountain range, it was, as I said, the experience of a lifetime. 

Of course, Papua New Guinea has many problems. Corruption is rife; there’s an AIDS epidemic on our doorstep; around every corner you expect to be confronted by Rascals who will steal all your belongings — they’ll even kill you if you resist.

There are natural dangers, too. On the walk down the mountain I went within centimetres of stepping on a death adder. With still two hours to walk and a 90-minute drive to the nearest hospital, at Madang, you think of the dire consequences if Ruth, the wife of your guide Moyang, had not spotted the snake.

You thank your lucky stars that she did.

Later, back home in comfortable Australia, the experiences wash over you. Again, you thank your lucky stars, this time for the fact that you’ve had the chance to experience this land of contrasts.

Those police officers will have similar experiences, but will be further enriched by trekking along a jungle track which holds a special place in our nation’s history.

I envy them.