A weekly re-cap of the events that have made news in Cairns over the past week.

Monday June 10, 2001 118th Edition

The main news locally around the Cairns area has been the public outcry relating to increases in parking fees and fines. Like many regional cities Cairns struggles to attract people to the inner city area, with visitors and local residents preferring to congregate on the waterfront. The latest move has been condemned by business groups as the final blow for inner city traders. Apart from this there is hope that Cairns will be announced as the city that will be chosen for a $500 million defence force contract to build a new fleet of Navy Patrol vessels. As always a week of extremes in the city of Cairns.

Casino’s wildlife park takes shape
About 25,000 Japanese tourists are expected to participate in a unique tree planting project at the Mareeba Wetlands over the next four years. The Conservation Volunteers Project for the Mareeba Wetlands is being run in conjunction with the Nature Trust Japan. The aim is to bring the tourists to the site where they will plant trees and learn about the local ecosystem. It is expected that the tourists will plant over 75,000 trees in the four year project. This type of holiday is growing in popularity as Japan undergoes a period of environmental awareness.

Tableland businesses adopt strategy for success
Tableland businesses are cashing in on the new Cairns Highlands marketing name introduced by Tropical Tablelands Tourism. Mareeba’s Coffee Works , Trek North Safaris and Day tours and Nerada Tea have all adopted the ‘highlands’ brand name into their businesses. Mareeba’s Coffee Works proprietors Rob and annie Webber have registered trademarks for Cairns Highlands Coffee and Cairns Highlands Coffee Liqueur. “The name fits well with coffee and matches well with our great Australian product,” Mr Webber said.”The Cairns Highlands immediately gives the Atherton Tablelands a location on the map, close to Cairns, in the mountains and portrays an image of cool, green and tropical.”

School aids arts in community
Trinity Bay State High School recently opened a $1.2 million state of the art Visual Art building expected to re-energise arts education in Far North Queensland. Education Minister Anna Bligh officially opened the new block designed by local architects in conjunction with school staff. Principal Stephen Savvakis said the block would benefit not just the school, but the Far Northern arts community as a whole. The block features four studios suitable for painting, screen printing, ceramics and multimedia. Other features include an external courtyard for each studio, kiln and pottery wheel and three editing suites.

Bartenders have the right mix
About 30 of the state’s finest bartenders showed their skills at the Met Bar in Spence Street recently for the North Queensland Cocktail and Flair Championships.This year the event drew a record number of competitors and a strong local representation. Cairns bartender Wes Morgan won the flair competion while fellow Cairns bartender Ingram Jung took out the pre-dinner event. Australian Bartenders Guild Cairns representative Michael Johnson said both winners would compete at the national titles in Sydney next month. Winner of the nationals will then represent Australia at the World Cocktail Mixing Championships in Seville, Spain in October.

Field day fun for all
Thousands of people from across North Queensland turned out for the Rotary Walkamin Field Day held last week. With over 135 exhibitors, star attractions and perfect weather, the biennial event was a great success. The field day was a joint effort of Atherton and Mareeba Rotary clubs. Tolga’s Trevor McLeod won the section for inventions over $1000 for his portable loo while world silver medallist ice carver Tony Hermann carved a 1.7m statue of an angel fish within half and hour with a chainsaw. The field day also featured world champion axeman David Foster.