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

Monday October 22, 2001 37th Edition

Cairns continues to get back to business with life returning to normality. The first decent rain in over three months has been greeted with enthusiasm as has the convincing victory by the Cairns Taipans basketball team over the Adelaide 36'ers.

Cairns anticipates ANSETTS re-birth
Trucking mogul Lindsay Fox has joined forces with Solomon Lew to put forward a plan to take over ANSETT and give the airline a new lease on life. In what has been described by the receiver as a positive and realistic plan the two entrepreneurs have developed a plan that incorporates many aspects of the old ANSETT and combines them with features such as a new $2.5 billion fleet of aircraft to ensure lower operating costs. The end result is being described as ANSETT Mark 2 and Cairns is expected to feature on the "new" airlines routes.

Extended trading begins
Cairns and Port Douglas retailers have commenced extended trading on Sundays in a move to increase services offered to tourists holidaying in the region. The response to the first day of the extended hours has been minimal but it is expected to improve as awareness regarding the extended trading hours increases. Shops trading in designated tourist precincts can now open from 9am till 6.30pm on Sundays.

Tourist numbers holding their own
Cairns and Port Douglas continue to look uneasily towards forward tourism bookings for the coming three to six months. Despite the turmoil around the world and in Australia, bookings are looking strong and it appears that many Australians have decided to have their holidays in Australia rather than venture overseas. Port Douglas properties are showing very good bookings for December and January and Cairns hotels are starting to report similar strong bookings.

The Speedway to go on
The Cairns Speedway is a local icon attracting thousands of spectators every time an event is held. Insurance problems looked set to close the popular attraction after organisers appeared unable to fund dramatically increased public liability costs for the event. Public liability has increased by over 200 per cent, a cost which started to appear too prohibitive. Organisers decided to go ahead with the event despite the increased costs, with the admission cost of tickets being raised to accommodate the increased insurance cost.

Long awaited rain finally arrives
Cairns received its first decent rain in almost three months with over 20cm of rain falling in one 12 hour period. For locals the end to the long dry spell is definitely welcome.