The online presence and DVD video shows visitors the Hinterland’s beautiful countryside, amazing destinations and country hospitality.

This unique project was initiated by local tourism cinematographer, Mike Middleton who says, “there are four regional drive areas featured and 100 Hinterland businesses who have had the faith and patience to be part of this totally entrepreneural production which showcases the entire Hinterland region, from Glass House Mountains (Drive 1), Blackall Range (Drive 2), Mary Valley (Drive 3) and Yandina-Eumundi (Drive 4) as one unified but very diverse destination.”

The presentation has been designed to help discerning visitors find the very best B&Bs, art galleries, retail outlets, cafes, restaurants, pubs and outdoor activities that even some locals don’t know about.

Mike says it is a first for the region to be promoted as one package and is a totally new vertically integrated strategy for the entire Sunshine Coast Hinterland’s benefit.

The DVD at $19.95 also includes a four colour 112 page Traveller’s Companion with maps and contacts that all fits neatly into the glovebox for easy reference.

Filmed by Mike Middleton, over 12 months, he estimates the budget at more than one million dollars.

“This package can be used by all tourism organisations,” says Mike. “Also we are currently talking with TV stations and have been approached by hotel chains to place hundreds of these DVDs in the rooms as a benefit to their visitors.”

Scenic D

rives of Australia has independently produced this package without any government assistance or any help from the tourism groups. Mike Middleton hopes the package will lead the recovery of the Hinterland tourism industry.

Go on line to view the Scenic Drives of Australia DVD and purchase copies of this highly attractive tourism promotional tool: http://www.scenicdrivesofaustralia.com.au/

Matilda has energy to burn – she runs the African Cottage and The Rondawel – a charming South African cottage and self contained accommodation for one. She’s also just produced her second easy recipes cook book called Cooking for pleasure, and her product range of chutneys, spices, marinades and sauces are sold Australia- wide under the Figtree Cottage label.

After the Hinterland’s Real Food Festival in September, Matilda takes off on her Gourmet Culinary Tour around South Africa.

The tour starts with a bang at the Pilanesberg Game Reserve where you’ll experience lions, buffalo, rhino, hippo and leopards before retiring back each night to your rondawel (hut) to experience a Boma (pronounced Borma) – traditional cooking over open fires in large black pots. Over the three weeks Matilda takes her guests through the wine regions of Stellenbosh, Franschhoek and Montague, where many of the vineyards are over 400 years old. Guests can prepare food at an African cooking school built to help local underprivileged children gain the skills needed to get a cooking job.

There’s a day of bliss listening to the “Maggie Beer of French South African food, Topsy Venter. Matilda says you can listen to this 85 year-old for days. “She loves to tell stories and often forgets what she is cooking as she gets engrossed in her wonderful tales to the hilarity of her guests and staff, who take over the cooking as the stories continue.”

Following the food trail of the many South African cultures, the next stop is a Malay cooking class in the BoKaap before heading on to Cape Point and Table Mountain.

The West Coast is a highlight as guests wait for local fishermen jammed into a very very small boat to bring back lobsters for Matilda and her guests. They can take them up to their house on the beach where Niel, the tour guide, cooks them alongside “snoek” (a local fish) on an open fire.

Before heading back to Cape Town for the final three days, there’s a stay in the Kagga Kamma nature reserve. Sleeping in caves, this is the Bushmen area and where, says Matilda, “you are so high up in the mountains you can just about touch the milky way, bright overhead.”

Matilda has two spots left for this year’s trip and if you want to get a pre-taste of her cooking visit her at the upcoming Real Food Festival at the Sunshine Coast Hinterland in September.

“I will be selling my cook books and some of my more popular products,” says Matilda. “People can take them home and make dishes with simple, local products that will give a great taste of Africa here on the hinterland.”

Matilda says that the main stay of all South African meals is a combination of spices and dried fruits. Aromatics like cardomon, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and garlic marry alongside locally dried apricots and peaches to name a few.

One of the most traditional meals is Bobotie – A mince dish with onion, turmeric, ginger, bread soaked in milk and drained, tomatoes and dried raisins. It’s all poured into a lasagna dish, baked and then a glaze of apricot jam put over the top.

Another simple, but tasty dish is Lamb Skewers – lamb and baby onions marinated in a mix of apricot jam, curry, garlic, ginger, turmeric and vinegar, then skewered alternating with dried apricots and grilled.

“Simple, aromatic and tasty, rather than hot” is how Matilda would describe South African Food from locally grown or produced ingredients.

Check to see if Matilda has places left on her 2011 South African Gourmet Tour. Email: africancottage@optusnet.com.au or go to www.malenyqueensland.com/africancottage

The award for excellence in woodworking creativity and professional skill is one of the high points of Maleny’s Wood Expo. The box theme – the first Wootha Prize – was jointly won in 2004 by John Hennessy and Don Powell with his classical Out of Pandora’s Box carving. The winner of the Wootha Prize receives $1000 cash, a trophy and the option of a free site at the 2012 Maleny Wood Expo. The runner up will receive $300 and third $200.

There’s no theme this year but all entries must have been made within the past two years, and must fit within a one metre square footprint with a maximum height of 2500mm. This year’s Maleny Wood Expo will be held on April 30 and May 1 at the beautiful Maleny Showgrounds in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. Expressions of interest for the Wootha Prize must be received by Barung Landcare no later than 1 March 2011.

Entry forms are available on the Maleny Wood Expo website, address is: www.malenywoodexpo.org.au or by contacting Steve McLeish on 0428 674 335.

Karen Doane is the Destination Manager for the newly formed Sunshine Coast Destination Ltd – the company formed to run tourism marketing for the region.

A Californian by birth, Karen has experience in tourism and marketing in Hawaii, Europe and Australia. Before taking up her new role on the Sunshine Coast, Karen was the media, brand and consumer marketing manager for Tourism Tropical North Queensland.

In her first Coast media interview Karen spoke to HT editor Michael Berry about her early impressions of the place she has come to market.

DESTINATION:

Hinterland

Do you have a fixed marketing role or will it evolve over time?

Well, I know what it is now and I know what I would like it to evolve into. My role is to represent the Hinterland – in all areas – in trade, consumer marketing, online, communications, media – to get the word out that the Hinterland is a key part of the Sunshine Coast regional brand. Anything west of the highway is the Hinterland now, and that includes the Ginger Factory, Australia Zoo, Aussie World and Big Kart track. I also have to work within the budget, and within the parameters of the structure of the organisation. I am new here and that brings advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantages are that I have to spend a lot of time learning. The advantages are largely seeing exploring the Hinterland, and finding things out the way a visitor sees it. So the role is very broad and I have to maximise the budget and my time efficiently. Some of it I have to put to a regional branding – regional exercises or tactical campaigns with the trade.

Will you be lobbying for more infrastructure support from all levels of government?

I won’t myself. We have two industry development officers whodothatfortheregionasawhole. Oneofthestatistics that they have given me is that 92% of the people who come and holiday on the Coast want to come to the Hinterland. But only 15% of the people who come to holiday on the Hinterland want to go to the Coast. So, everyone sees that there is huge potential, and this is the drawcard.

We’re fortunate that the Sunshine Coast already has some established brand equity. So, my role in that is to extend the Hinterland attributes with my colleagues.

Is it too early to ask if you have a sense of a brand for the Hinterland. What is it we represent to the outside world?

I couldn’t give it a tagline because that’s not a brand. But it fits well with our new regional brand which is “Naturally Refreshing” – there’s a refreshing natural attitude up here. I would like people to understand that the Hinterland is not that far away … 15-20 minutes from the highway and you’re in another space. We need to translate that into the consumer’s mind.

Are there any specific Hinterland themes that you think we should focus on?

One of the things people want to do is get away, shut down, turn off and get back to natural and authentic experiences on holiday. Further to this, we want them to stay overnight to really understand how incredible the Hinterland is as a destination. Everyone is time poor and they want to go to one space or website to find everything. So we need to make it easy for the consumer. One of the most powerful online tools is wotif.com for the domestic market and they’ve offered to show us how to draw those B & Bs and cottages that are five rooms or under, that don’t currently qualify for the wotif program, and get them to participate. Then we can do a Hinterland specific awareness campaign that can start to show a unity and variety of product in one space. That’s one of my immediate goals.

We need to develop those things for people to do – those connectors for families – the kayaking, the bike riding, the walks, horse-back riding, the camping, the slow food , art trail, etc.

92% of the people who come and holiday on the Coast want to come to the Hinterland.

But only

15% of the people who come and holiday on the Coast want to come to the Hinterland.

Do you see any disadvantages?

The Hinterland is young and the development of the experiences that you can have here are not really cohesive or connected. You have to make that connectivity easy for consumers. For example, hot air ballooning around the Glasshouse Mountains looks very attractive but how easy is it to get to that hot-air balloon.? Well, it took me some time to find it on the internet. And it was very expensive compared to what the Gold Coast offers, and compared to what Cairns offers in a hot air balloon experience. That ‘s not the fault of the operators. But we need to have it as part of a package deal where, for example, they have a sunrise breakfast and a suggested itinerary.

How important are events to the tourism mix?

Well, I have a background in events, so I am working with the Queensland Events Corporation to have a conference callwiththeHinterlandAdvisoryGroup.Wewanttotalk about applications for events like the Festival of the Walks, Slow Food, or anything that’s going on here to see how we can qualify for seed funding from Queensland Events. Perhaps there’s one day of the year for example, when people could do a run on the National Park walks, or an adventure race. There are different things you can package to attract people.

I would also like to see how we could package Hinterland tours and stays for the time pre and post events that are happening on the Coast. So if someone’s coming to the Noosa Triathlon, or to surfing and iron man events, we could package with them so participants or their partners can spend time up here.

What do you want to achieve in your first twelve months?

I’d love to see our organisation be able to showcase the diversity of experiences of the Sunshine Coast as a region on the map, highlighting the sub regions within it. It’s the collective attributes that make our region more appealing and make the visitor want to stay longer and tell their friends to visit. That’s the biggest challenge in the next twelve months. I would like us to extend the promotional visibility of the Festival of the Walks because it is now well established and has been run well over the past three years.

The challenge too is to upskill operators and create a cohesive group packaging. We need to get more operators domestically and internationally ready. For example, coming from overseas I had never heard of the Glasshouse Mountains. I didn’t know there’s a strong cultural significance to the Indigenous people. This will create enormous interest in Europe and in North America because more and more people are interested in the multicultural mix. But first, you’ve got to generate the awareness and the curiosity for people to seek a holiday here on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.

As a newcomer to the region, is there one thing that has impressed you about the Hinterland?

It’s the views to the ocean. They are extraordinary. I had no idea the ocean was that close, and that you could see it from up here. I have always loved the beach. I don’t live on the water’s edge, but on the Hinterland I never feel I’m that far away from it.

He is charged with taking tourism on the Coast to a new level following its 12 month restructure.

Mr Denton was previously the chief executive of Queensland Events Corporation for 11 years before moving to the Department of the Premier and Cabinet to establish the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games bid directorate. He sits on the Griffith University, Industry Advisory Committee for its Department of Tourism, Leisure, Hotel and Sport Management.

Also this week the Sunshine Coast Regional Council approved funding to support the business plan for the Sunshine Coast Destination Ltd and Destination Desks that will ensure tourism activities continue from the start of the new financial year.

Mayor Bob Abbot commented on the new tourism organisation for the Hinterland Times. He believes the new Destination Management Organisation (DMO) will provide opportunities for each of the four regions to leverage off each other’s marketing programs, without detracting from
the overall product. He also thinks Council should stay out of tourism marketing.

“For example, let’s take the Glasshouse Mountains. This area is a significant product in itself, but in the past it hasn’t had the capacity, or the ability to leverage off anything else. It has had to go it alone, with only a limited amount of money allocated to tourism. The Glasshouse product just hasn’t had the opportunity to target markets. but now there is a chance to jump on board with the ‘Montvilles’ and ‘Malenys’ that have are well known brands.

I believe the Sunshine Coast Council is the biggest investor in tourism in the region. This Council invests millions of dollars in developing the tourism product – we provide parks, streetscapes, beach showers, accesses, toilets and roads. That’s our commitment to the tourism industry, because the things we do every day affect the business community’s ability to market the product.
You have to remember with this Council’s tourism investment, it’s not the Council’s money we’re investing, it’s the community’s money. I think you’ll find that the community is willing to invest in developing that product because they can share in that investment. What they’re not willing to do is to spend large amounts of ratepayers’ money on marketing when that should be going into services.

The aim of these reforms is to give the industry control of its own destiny and deliver a truly regional approach, that also recognises and supports recognises and celebrates the region’s diversity.

When the new structure is implemented from July 1, we will have a more strategic approach that will deliver a bigger slice of the tourism pie for the Sunshine Coast and ultimately, a stronger, more resilient local economy.”

After twelve months of industry consultation the new Destination Management Organisation (DMO) should be operational by July 2010 and will replace Tourism Sunshine Coast. It will work primarily in a strategic marketing, research and developmental role with four, ‘destination desks’ charged with marketing and developing specific geographic areas as part of the greater Sunshine Coast brand.

The destination desks in the new tourism authority are: North (Noosa, Coolum, Eumundi, Cooloola), South (Caloundra), Central (Marcoola, Maroochydore, Mooloolaba, Kawana), Hinterland (Glasshouse Mountains, Nambour, Maleny, Montville, Mary Valley, Gympie).
Managers of the ‘destination desks’ are responsible for the local tactical marketing programs, local industry liaison, membership support and brand development. They will also liaise with state and federal governments.

Desk managers will report to a Chief Operating Officer who in turn, will report to a DMO board of seven skill-based directors. No councillor or council officer will be on the board.
In light of the new structure, Caloundra Tourism and discover maroochy.com have opted to disband to make way for the new destination desks with Tourism Noosa continuing to operate but now forming the new, expanded Northern region destination desk. Both regions have positively endorsed the new structure.

A member of the new Hinterland region destination desk and Chairman of Tourism Sunshine Coast, John Atkin said that he was ecstatic about the hinterland now being recognised as a destination in its own right, one that offered distinctly different experiences to that of the sea and sand coast culture.

The proposed first year budget of $2.6m for the DMO gives $1.01m to the Northern Desk, $0.80m to the Central Desk, $0.67 to the Caloundra Desk and $0.10m to the Hinterland Desk.
President of Hinterland Tourism Sunshine Coast, Bob Morrow told the Hinterland Times that this was the most significant advance for local tourism, and there was finally recognition that the Hinterland was a major contributor in its own right to tourist income.

“We would have liked a bigger slice of the cake”, said Bob, “but we have at last got a seat at the table and we will make good use of what we have been given”.

It is likely that the Hinterland Desk manager will be a full-time employee of the DMO, based in Nambour.

14 Wonderful Days – Paris to Paris
Fully Inclusive!

Guaranteed Departures:
May 22, June 12, July 24, Aug 28 & Sept 18

IMAGINE… A tour designed not only to take in the great sights of regional France, but one that will also immerse you in those wonderfully preserved medieval villages, sleepy chateaux, vineyards and local fresh produce markets bursting with ripe cheeses, pate and crusty French baguettes.
This ‘French Affaire’ enjoys leisurely three night stays in the Loire Valley and Bordeaux plus two night stays in the Delightful Dordogne and Burgundy.
Yes, we taste wine in a number of classic vineyards…but this is not a ‘fancy’ wine tour.Yes, we enjoy
delightful French cuisine…but this is not a ‘gastronomique’ tour.
We think the tour we have designed is simply the best way to enjoy these enchanting regions and to bring to life the genuine simple pleasures of the ‘real’ France. This unique tour is packed with many unusual visits and highlights, yet we have set aside quality leisure time to truly relax and savour the French way of doing things.
Enjoy the ambience, culture, magnificent sights, food and wine this country is so famous for.
Let’s face it, isn’t that why you are traveling to France? To sip champagne in Champagne?  Dine in a Bouchon in Lyon?
 Ahhh…C’est la vie.
This tour will be fully escorted and includes all sightseeing, scenic drives, excursions, tours & tasting through the vineyards, entrance fees into castles, chateaux and gardens. Buffet breakfast daily plus eight dinners. All gratuities for the tour manager, drivers and guides are pre-paid. Yes… everything as described in the itinerary is included.
No optional excursions lists or hidden, later charged extras.
Land only – $5579.00 P/person twin share.
PS: $25  per/person discount if you mention how you heard about this tour.
Maleny Cruise & Travel 39 Maple St Maleny Phone: 5499 9111

Tourism operators on the Sunshine Coast hinterland increasingly voice their concerns over lack of financial and marketing support for a region that is growing in importance as a recreational  destination. 

Elsewhere in this edition of the Hinterland Times we hear from the Blackall Range Business and Tourism Association and its wish for a slice of the tourism marketing dollar. Hinterland councillor Jenny McKay is also eager to see the hinterland better represented on tourism marketing bodies.

“We have told the various tourism bodies on the Sunshine Coast that they must come back to tell us what they want. Personally, I believe strongly that we need one tourism body, and I am not saying it should be Sunshine Coast Tourism. But we can’t go on having all these small tourism organisations. What is important though is that the board of any new body should have the hinterland equally represented on it alongside the Coast, because we need each other. 

So the tourism boards have been sent away to come back with a model  that they think is sustainable, in which each sector is represented equitably around the table, and how they would like support from local government. 

I will support those people who know what is best for hinterland tourism because I believe we need a partnership, or at least a seat around the big board table”.

One of the sensitive areas in the past has been the issue of tourism levies. Councillor McKay says in the past, a tourism levy was not popular in the Maroochy Shire.

“I think we need a public debate on this because in Maroochy Shire people were very vocal about not having a levy. But I think we might well come up with a model that supports levies because it has worked well in the northern and southern parts of the Coast”.

A concern associated with tourism is the quality of our paths and walking tracks.  Last week for example, Mapleton parents expressed their concern to this magazine about the danger  to their children from having to walk to school along narrow road edges without any protection.

“I totally understand the concern of these parents and I support more walkways. But take the proposed Mapleton to Montville walkway, it was costed at more than $3m with parts of it having to be suspended as a boardwalk off the side of the roadway on the hillside. This is very expensive. Unfortunately, some pathways already built on the hinterland are under utilised. So, it’s a matter of priorities but also of cost.

I hear very clearly from the people from Montville to Mapleton that this is a high priority and it’s very much in my thoughts. We will obviously get some state government input but it’s still going to take a lot of ratepayers money to bring such walkways to fruition. The point is that all these requests are very valid, but we are constantly asking ourselves as a Council, where is the money going to come from?