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

Monday March 18, 2002 57th Edition

An unusual week in Cairns with a visit from Libyan leader Colonel Gadaffi's son, celebrations for St Patrick's Day and the start of an ambitious projects to bring back the "Jewelled Finch". All in all, a good week for Cairns.

First stage of Cityport opens to the public
Cairns residents were out in force on the weekend, to inspect the first stage of the new waterfront redevelopment known as Cityport. Celebrations were held over several hours on Sunday morning, at the site of the works. The Australian Volunteer Coast Guard held a sausage sizzle for the event, a low-key opening for a $37 million project. The completion of the roadwork's at the end of Spence St is expected to be followed by an intense construction period which will take at least 12 months and include the extension and widening of the Marlin Marina, the development of a Great Barrier Reef Cruise terminal similar to a small airport and the building of a 4000sq metre swimming lagoon.

Gadaffi family visits Cairns
Libyan leader, Colonel Gadaffi's son visited Cairns and The Great Barrier late last week. The low-key visit was not incident free, with a firearm situation being reported on board a charter boat carrying Gadaffi's son and his security team. The group came into Cairns incognito, amidst concern from local tourism operators stating that they should have been made aware of the group and the possible security measures that would be required to meet the groups needs.

St Patrick's Day as popular as ever
Far Northerners celebrated St Patrick's Day with a string of festivities throughout the region. The main Irish Bars were popular, but many other local businesses offered St Patrick's Day specials and costumes to match. Cairns and the rest of Australia has a strong Irish background and the popularity of this annual event continues to grow.

Jewel finches fly in Cairns again
Gouldian finches have not been spotted in the skies around Cairns for over 25 years. As a result of a world first breeding project, 20 of the spectacular birds were released into the wild in the Mareeba Tropical Wetland on Saturday afternoon. It is hoped that these twenty birds will be able to survive and breed with the few remaining birds left in the wild. It is has been estimated that there are only 2500 "jewel" finches left in the wild, fewer than the worlds tiger population. Although the "jewel" finch is relatively common in captivity, the genetic pool is becoming smaller, resulting in biological defects.

General Property Trust expands into the rainforest
General Property Trust, one of Australia's largest property companies, has continued its expansion into ecotourism based resorts with the acquisition of three large ecotourism lodges near Cape Tribulation. Bruce Morris, the Trust Hotel -Tourism Portfolio Manager said that the Coconut Beach Resort, Ferntree Rainforest Resort and the Jungle Village had been purchased for $10.92 million. The General Property Trust focuses on the upper end of the ecotourism market with properties in Kakadu and Uluru in the Northern Territory.

World navigation experts head to Cairns
Next week 120 of the world's leading maritime navigation experts will be heading to Cairns as part of an annual conference being held later in the month in Sydney. This is the first time that the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigations and Lighthouse Authorities conference will be held outside of the northern hemisphere. The significance of the Great Barrier as a major shipping route, the use of lasers as a navigation aid and the introduction of new navigations routes though The Great Barrier Reef are all topics open to discussion during the workshops and conference.

Big domestic tourism push
The annual domestic tourism marketing has begun early this year in an attempt to attract tourists from other Australian states to visit north Queensland earlier than usual. The campaign has been brought forward in an attempt to overcome some of the tourism downturn associated with September 11th and the collapse of Ansett Airlines. The overall campaign has a budget of $1 million.

Cairns Taipans flogged by Brisbane Bullets
The Taipans came crashing to earth on Saturday night, following a 111-81 defeat at the hands of the Brisbane Bullets. The game was one sided from the start and there was considerable physical contact. After the game both coaches commented on the heated and physical nature of the game.