GateWAy Blog

Albany Boatshed Fisherman & Farmer Market

Tuesday 22nd December 2011   5.00pm to 8.00pm

• Stock your pantry with local fresh & gourmet foods and premium wines.
• Browse talented local artisan stalls for a Christmas gift for someone special.
• Grab a bite to eat and enjoy the live music.
• Enter the free Christmas raffle to win over $200 worth of Boatshed Market vouchers.
• Enjoy relaxed Christmas shopping.
• Buy local and support you local producers.

Located at the Boatshed on Princess Royal Drive

Come and join in the fun!

http://www.albanygateway.com.au/details/albany-boatshed-sunday-market.html

With the retail industry experiencing tough times, many small retailers will be looking for clever marketing ideas to attract sales this Christmas.

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MEDIA RELEASE from Great Southern Development Commission

Weekend sport makes a strong contribution to sustaining regional towns, and Borden is ensuring that it is well placed to meet residents’ recreational needs.
Supported by $140,000 of Royalties for Regions funding through the Great Southern Development Commission (GSDC), the Borden Pavilion Committee is developing a $967,000 sporting precinct to encourage community building through recreation.

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Vicki Brown, Manager of the Small Business Centre Great Southern invites rural small businesses throughout their 11 Shires to contact them about the ‘Building resilience against future dry seasons grant’.

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Big prizes are on offer for photographers who can capture top pictures on the
theme of ‘Great Southern Life’.

The Great Southern Development Commission (GSDC), Albany Gateway and Albany Camera House (ACH) are offering a prize pool of more than $1500 for digital photos showing ‘why we like to live and work in the Great Southern’.

The Great Southern Life digital photography competition is the third in a series that has showcased outstanding photographic talent from the region over the past two years.

GSDC Chief Executive Officer Bruce Manning said it was a great time of the year to get out and about taking photos for the competition.
“Now is the Great Southern’s festival season, with PIAF events and others providing plenty of photo opportunities,” Mr Manning said. “Apart from that, it is a time for outdoor activities and enjoying the many reasons we like to live and workin the Great Southern.”

The prizes are a mix of cash and vouchers:

• First prize $400 (GSDC) plus $149 ACH voucher for framed canvas print
• Second prize $200 (GSDC) plus $99 ACH voucher for framed print
• Third prize $100 (GSDC) plus $100 ACH print voucher
• Fourth prize $60 (GSDC) plus $100 ACH print voucher
• Eight encouragement prizes of $30 (GSDC)
• Two people’s choice prizes of $50 (Albany Gateway)

The Terms and Conditions can be found on the following link:
http://www.albanygateway.com.au/legal/photo-competition.html

A Tree Top walk was first proposed in this area in 1994 to protect the tingle forest. Construction began a year later.  The construction consists of 60 metre lightweight bridge spans on seven pylons.  It reaches a maximum of 40 metres at the highest point.   It is a world most people never see.  The spans were especially designed to sway slightly as you walk to create the sensation of being in the canopy of the forest.  Well it certainly swayed brilliantly today.   The life of a Red Tingle is approx 400 years and they can reach a height of 75 metres.  They are some of most enormous trees in the world and can only be found in this region.  A distinctive feature of the Red Tingle is the large, hollowed out base.  These have been caused over a long period of time by fire, fungal and insect attack.  Most of the plant life is unique to this area and the tingle forest hosts an abundant food source for native animals such as quokkas, bandicoots, possums and the western grey kangaroo.  As most of these animals only come out at night we need to do a Forest by Night Tour.  Here you get to explore the forest by torchlight beneath a blanket of stars.  The Ancient Empire Walk meanders through a grove of veteran trees at ground level and gives another perspective of the magnificent giants
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As luxury accommodation providers, our aim is to give our guests the ultimate experience while in Albany.  We like to recommend places to eat, so we are trying the many restaurants in Albany.

Tonight we headed off to the ‘new’ Rustlers Steak House. The minute we walked through the door we were immediately impressed by the gorgeous surroundings. Rustlers have chosen their colours wisely and used the space well of what used to be a Health Club. (more…)

Mutton Bird Island

Yesterday I was educated that when the cows are lying down, the fish are not biting.  Well even the horses were laying down yesterday.  Did that mean that the whales were also not out? Mutton Bird Island is a favourite fishing spot approx 16km from Albany. Main species that can be caught here are herring, skippy, rock species, whiting, salmon, silverbream, pike, flathead, shark, queen snapper and sampson fish.

Awesome colours of the wild flowers

The Stirling Range National Park is about 80 kms north of Albany. The ranges rise abruptly from the lowlands which have been mostly cleared for farming. The ranges stretch for more than 65 kms, there are barren cliff faces, awesome views and brilliant coloured wildflowers. We walked along part of the Bluff Knoll Trail. (more…)