Sydney Tourism News and Information: Aussie Surf Tops World Beaches

AUSTRALIA has the world's best surfing beaches, according to an international gathering of scientists, legislators, environmentalists and wave riders.

At the Global Wave Conference in France this week attendees from more than 20 nations gave a thumbs up to Australia's surfing beaches as they considered an increasing threat to surfing environments.

"Australia has long been regarded as having many great beaches," National Surfing Reserves chairman Brad Farmer said.

"Now this conference is recognising Australia's 10,000 plus beaches as the world's best."

Founder of the organisation he represents, Mr Farmer is lobbying for the establishment of a Ministry for Coasts in Australia to help protect beaches.

"The world is looking to Australia (for) how to manage and protect beaches. It's an honour for us to be leading the way forward," he said.

Aussie Surf Tops World Beaches

Royals Visit Australia: Queen Bids Farewell to Melbourne After Whirlwind Visit

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh left Melbourne's sunny skies and arrived to inclement weather in Perth.

A crowd of more than 400 people braved the wet weather to sneak a peek at the royal pair touching down at Perth International Airport at 4.20pm, five minutes ahead of schedule.

WA Premier Colin Barnett and his wife Lyn, as well as Defence Minister Stephen Smith, were on the tarmac waiting for the Queen to arrive.

As she emerged from the plane, the Queen was greeted by loud cheers from the waiting crowd who had been gathering all afternoon.

Earlier in the day during her whirlwind tour of Melbourne, the Duke of Edinburgh was every inch the exasperated commuter when he took a tram ride through the city with the Queen.

As soon as the royal couple stepped aboard the public transport vehicle he waved his hand and ordered driver Joyleen Smith to set off as they were running late.

It is the first time the monarch has travelled by tram since she boarded one during the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002.

In honour of the royal passengers the white Z3-Class vehicle had been transformed with a red, white and blue exterior colour scheme and inside it had been refurbished and restored.

A dot-matrix screen at its front displayed the words "royal tram" while a smaller one was lit up with the monarch's initials "ER''

Ms Smith, a tram driver for almost seven years, described today's event as an honour.

She added: "When they got on I said hello to the Queen, and Philip said 'come on driver lets go, were running late', so I thought we better go.

"He said it with a smile on his face and I know hes got a wicked sense of humour."

The pair boarded the tram at Stop 13 in Melbourne's Federation Square and travelled along St Kilda Road to a reception and lunch with local politicians at Government House, before flying to Perth late this afternoon.

Royals Visit Australia: Queen Bids Farewell to Melbourne After Whirlwind Visit

Queen Takes a Tram Ride in Melbourne

After opening the new Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, the Queen went for a short hop aboard the Royal Tram on the eighth day of her state visit to Australia.

Royals Visit Australia: Hail Victoria! Long May Melbourne's Royal Reminders Reign

Doing away with monarchy's monuments would be madness - even for a republic.

WHEN the Queen arrives this morning on her visit to the state named in honour of her great-great grandmother, it is worth recalling Queen Victoria's profound influence on a place she never visited, but probably thought of occasionally.

India may have been her jewel in the crown - this at a time when the crown was clustered with imperial gems - but I am sure little old Melbourne, tucked down among the garnets, below the diamonds and sapphires, warranted an occasional look through the royal loupe.

Melbourne is really Queen Victoria's town. Not perhaps as much personally - even if her majesty had visited, it would have been hard to imagine her taking the No. 8 tram down St Kilda Road - but more in terms of civic heritage and the very formation of this great city. Melbourne's beginnings were more or less contemporaneous with Queen Victoria's: our settlement began two years before she ascended the throne in 1837. Our inner-suburban terrace housing, along with the parks and gardens that allow the city breathing space, evolved with stately enterprise and care, providing grace and dignity.

The apogee of Victorian Melbourne was William Wardell's Government House, which surmounts the Royal Botanic Gardens like the topmost tier of a wedding cake. I think of William Delafield Cook's painting of the house's belvedere tower poking up through the foliage of the surrounding gardens - a view now destroyed, in modern actuality, by the Eureka building, whose erectile presence would not have amused Queen Victoria.

The present Queen will be at Government House today for lunch. Although the menu, fashion and guest list might have changed, the architecture itself remains absolutely of its period. Even though it is Italianate in style, the house is a prime example of mid-Victorian splendour, as outrageously dignified in its own sedate way as the Royal Albert Hall, in London's Kensington, is a monument to the more adventurous realm of arts and sciences. The difference is that while the hall is a public venue, frequently jammed up to the last letter on its rooftop frieze, Government House is still a vice-regal citadel; it should, as I have said before, be open more to the public.

Royals Visit Australia: Hail Victoria! Long May Melbourne's Royal Reminders Reign

Royals Visit Australia: Melbourne prepares for the Queen

MELBOURNE will have a distinctly royal flavour tomorrow, when the Queen arrives in town.

Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh will start their public tour of Melbourne at 12.30pm.

Their walk will start from the Ian Potter Centre through Federation Square, and they will then board the Royal Tram.

The tram will travel south down Swanston St to Government House Drive.

The Queen and the Duke will then transfer to a car to make their way to Government House for a state reception.

Public viewing access will be at Federation Square, along the eastern side of Swanston St and the eastern side of Government House Drive.

The Royal Tram will run on Melbourne’s networks for a year after the Queen’s visit.

“Melburnians have always been proud of our tram network and the Queen’s tram ride in Melbourne will add to its rich history,” Premier Ted Baillieu said.

While there have been reports of Occupy Melbourne protesters disrupting the visit, their intentions will not be known until this evening.

The group claims on their Facebook page the Queen has never been discussed in its general assemblies.

But minutes posted on its website show her visit came up in discussion in its fourth and seventh meetings.

“Mitch (affiliated with Socialist Alliance, Resistance, Refugee Action Group, Climate Action…) proposed that we occupy a space before the Queen comes to Melbourne,” state minutes from the seventh meeting.

Group members did not reach a decision, but it is expected they will come up with one tonight.

Royals Visit Australia: Melbourne prepares for the Queen

Queensland Tourism News: Australian Domesic Intentions Fall as International Picks Up

More Aussies are taking advantage of the strong Aussie dollar and planning overseas trips, dropping the number of Australians intending to travel domestically down three percent over the year compared to the same time last year.

According to a Roy Morgan Research Holiday Tracking Survey, the number of Aussies intending to go on a domestic trip over the next 12 months has fallen to 55 percent while the number planning an international trip grew nine percent in August this year, up one percent on the same month last year.

Roy Morgan Research international director of tourism Jane Janniello said domestic travel may pick up if expert predictions that the Aussie dollar will weaken come to life.

“However, the long-term outlook for domestic tourism is not rosy, with the percentage of Australians saying they would like a domestic holiday at 76% in August 2011, down from 78% in August 2010 and 80% in August 2006,” she explained.

Of the Aussie 14 years and older, around 68 percent said they intend to take at least one holiday over next, down from 70 percent last year.

Ms Janniello added that the leading was for Aussies to plan a trip is online and through books, with 86 percent of holiday intenders access the net at least once a month, while 61 percent say internet is most useful media for travel and accommodation.
“Of those holiday intenders who booked their last holiday, 58% did so via the internet,” she concluded.

Australian Domesic Intentions Fall as International Picks Up

Global Creatures Sets Melbourne Premiere for 'King Kong Live'

The show will follow in the footsteps of 'Walking With Dinosaurs' and 'How To Train Your Dragon' arena shows

SYDNEY – Global Creatures’ new stage musical version of King Kong, will have its world premiere in Melbourne in 2013, Victorian events minister Louise Asher announced Wednesday.

Global Creatures has created a live arena show, Walking With Dinosaurs, and is working with Dreamworks on the upcoming live version of How to Train Your Dragon and Baz Luhrmann on a new stage version of Strictly Ballroom. Global Creatures is co-producing King Kong in co-operation with the estate of Kong creator Merian C. Cooper.

“This show continues the innovative direction of Global Creatures in creating world class productions in Australia and then taking them to the world. In this regard, King Kong is in a class all of its own in terms of scale, vision, ambition and technical advancement, and we can't wait to see it come to life in Melbourne's Regent Theatre,” producer Carmen Pavlovic said.

However King Kong will be a more intimate show than GC’s live arena spectaculars as its designed for a traditional proscenium theaters. Global is currently working on taking the show to Broadway also in 2013.

Directed by Daniel Kramer, and written by Craig Lucas, King Kong’s musical score, with several new songs, will be written by Marius de Vries. The creative team also includes production designer Peter England, creature designer Sonny Tilders, choreographer John O’Connell, costume designer Roger Kirk, lighting designer Peter Mumford, aerial/circus director Gavin Robins and projection by Frieder Weiss.

King Kong is currently auditioning for a cast of more than 40 onstage actors, singers, dancers and puppeteers and will feature projection, animatronics, puppetry and circus arts.