Law firm marketing: Making the most of what you’ve got!

2011 October 13
by squadron

Whether the marketing strategy for your law firm revolves around online marketing, niche marketing to particular industries, traditional advertising, or just retaining and growing a share of your stable of clients, you will need to create content.

Content is an essential dynamic of legal marketing, and without it you may as well not bother with a law firm marketing plan. However, producing content requires hard work, and you need to make the most of the writing that you can produce. Following are some ideas for making sure you use two of the most commonly produced types of legal marketing content as effectively as you can.

Law Firm Marketing – Written material (blogs, email alerts, brochures, guides, information sheets)
If you have created some worthwhile, interesting material in any of the forms above, don’t only send it off once or print it and leave it to stagnate in your office. You ought to distribute the content as much as is possible. For each piece of written material you produce, consider:

- Have I distributed it to as many, relevant, clients as I can?
- Is it loaded to my website?
- Have I sent it direct to referrers, associates and other professionals?
- Have I linked it with a post on Facebook and a tweet on Twitter?
- Has it been sent to media contacts?
- Are others in the firm aware of it and can they explain it in detail if a client has queries about it?
- Can I turn it into another type of content and distribute in a different forum?

Law Firm Marketing – Presentations
Presentations are usually created with a particular audience in mind, or because of a particular request. Therefore they are often presented once and then left to become stale. The large amount of effort and time required to prepare them gets just one presentation. If you want to get more out of your presentation consider:

- What other companies can I show it to?
- How can I let the most people know about it?
- Have I discussed it on our website, Facebook, Twitter, or suggested that I present it to others?
- Is it relevant to send the presentation in hard copy to people who couldn’t attend the seminar?
- Could I record an audio or video of the presentation and distribute it via email or directly?
- Is it viable to write an article or blog discussing topics that arose during the presentation?
- Have I sent additional content to all the people that attended the presentation?

While a lot of these suggestions may seem like additional work at a time when you’ve possibly created a dent in your monthly billings with the amount of time you spent preparing the first lot of material, it’s essential to consider that it’s far easier to use a small amount of time at the end to really maximise on what you’ve already produced than it is to produced a completely new piece of legal marketing material.

Increase the results of the time and effort you put into law firm marketing and you’ll find that the next time you create content you’ll feel more confident about how effective the results will be.

John Gray is a practising lawyer and the Senior Marketer at John Gray Marketing, an Australian specialist law firm and legal marketing consultancy. If you are interested in law marketing, legal marketing and marketing for lawyers, contact John Gray today.

Relationship Combatibility Factors

2011 October 12

Relationship and Marriage counseling can assist you discover how compatible you are.

The two most important factors that determine how similar you are as a couple are:

A similar degree of psychological health and maturity and a similar ranking of Instinctual Variants.

What are Instinctual Variants?
The 3 Instincts represent the inherant energies or drive that are essentially part of us as humans. Our actions are highly engaged with and is often dependent on these libidinal, instinctual energies to give it its spark.

Self Preservation Instinct.
People of this Instinctual variant are preoccupied with the basic survival needs as they translate into our modern society, for example, money, food, housing, health, safety and comfort.
Being secure and physically comfortable are essential, and they will often bring these supplies with them.
When entering a room, they will tend to notice bad lighting, uncomfortable chairs, the room temperature, when the lunch break will be, and whether they will like the food provided. They also tend to be the most practical in the sense of taking care of pressing necessities of life.
They are the most introverted of the types.

Sexual/ Intimate Instinct.
People of this kind have a intense desire for intensity of experience and intimacy. The forthright riveting gaze is the dead giveaway. When they enter a room they gravitate toward people they feel magnetized to, as if they are looking for the juice. These people can be intimacy addicts, often ignoring pressing obligations or even basic hygiene if they are swept up in something that has captivated them. This gives a expansive exploratory approach to life, but can also generate a lack of focus on one’s own priorities.

Social Instinct.
People of this variation are focused on their interactions with others and with the sense of value and esteem they receive from their involvement in collective activities. These include occupation, family, hobbies and clubs.
On entering a room, these people would immediately be aware of the power structures and subtle politics between the different people and social circles. They are subconsciously focused on other people’s reaction to them, particularly about whether they are being accepted or not.
They need to connect with others to feel secure, acknowledged and energised. They tend to love interacting with others, but they eschew intimacy.
They are the most extroverted of the types.

Within each person, one of these Instincts will predominate. In fact the 3 variants can be ranked like the sections of a cake, with the most dominant one at the top. The weakest one, at the bottom, is termed the blind spot.
These instincts play a pivotal role in our relationships because personalities of the same type tend to share values and to understand each other innately, and therefore feel very compatible.

In relationships between 2 different Instinctual types, each will struggle to convert the other.

For further information on discovering whether you and your partner are compatible, contact the Hart Centre Australia. We are Australia’s premier relationship and marriage counselling service with 53 locations Australia wide, and 8 relationship counselling centres in Brisbane, 3 marriage counselling centres in the Gold Coast, and 2 relationship counselling locations on the Sunshine Coast. Phone 1300 830 552 for appointments at all centres.

For relationship counselling Brisbane, marriage counselling gold coast and marriage counselling sunshine coast, contact your local Hart Centre.

Stone Veneer

2011 October 10
by squadron

Stone veneer is a modern way to decorate the walls of a building. The stone veneer cladding offers a stylish method adopted by architects to impart a dynamic look to a lifeless construction. This is mostly used for aesthetic purposes and has a long life. The elegance and simplicity of stone veneer provides homeowners, architects, builders and developers with a versatility and flexibility to be more to imaginative. Stone veneer is also properly used in landscaping and complementing the natural beauty of the open spaces as well.

Stone Veneer acts as a decorative and protective overlaying on outside as well inside walls and surfaces. The veneer is generally one inch thick; it is lighter in weight in weight and weighs about 15 lbs. / sq. ft. It does not need any extra structural support for its installation.

Stone Veneer is mostly made from natural stones. It can also be produced from manufactured stones. The natural stone veneer is manufactured from stone, which is collected from quarries or as field stone. The stone is then sawn utilizing huge diamond impregnated cutters equally spaced to get the slices of the stone in a consistent heavyness and weight. This stone is also known as “thin stone veneer”.

Besides the natural stone veneer, manufacture stone veneer is also a decorative making material. It is produced to imitate the appearance of natural stone. There are numerous names used for this type of veneer. The stacked stone veneer, artificial stone veneer, manufactured stone veneer and flexible stone veneer are various names used for stone veneer.

Stone veneer is produced by mixing a lightweight concrete mix to rubber molds of different type. These are painted with a coloring process to make them resemble the real stone. an additional method to make stone veneer is by casting and molding it from chemically modified lightweight concrete. Stone veneer is actually a replica of natural stone. It takes the finest details of the original stone. At a close look, the artificial stone veneers appear just like original stones.

The stone veneer is mostly used as a siding on the walls. It can be fixed on the walls utilizing special good quality mortars for highest adhesion and strength. flexible stone veneer is manufactured by slicing a thin level of a stone. It is then backed by some composite material. It can be produced in a variety of designs and colors working with different stones. The manufactured stone veneer is less expensive than natural stone veneer and there is the least amount of wastage in its use.

Manufactured stone veneer costs almost 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of using natural stone. due to the fact of the lightweight of the manufactured stone veneer, there is no need for wall ties or any footings. It can make the construction easier and And thus lowers the cost. There is a vast variety of designs, patterns and colors available on manufactured options as compared to the natural stone since the natural stone is generally used in the area around where it is extracted due to the huge transportation prices.

Manufactured stone veneer is relatively less strong as compared to natural stone rock walls, but many applications do not call for higher strength as visuals is a more important factor in many cases. Stone veneer is also not reusable like natural stones.

Stone veneer provides the natural look of the stones at inexpensive costs. Stone veneers are preferred these days for most of ornamental facing in creatings and open spaces.

Cheap SEO packages- what to look for in these services

2011 October 9
by squadron

The term SEO as we all know is an acronym of search engine optimization which is the process of improving a websites awareness on search engines. Websites that are highly ranked in search results have more site visitors. SEO targets many options together with image search, local search, video search and academic search. Today, there are many companies offering inexpensive SEO package deals~deals} for consumerss~shoppers~buyers} who want their sites’ rankings to rise. SEO’s (acronym referring to search engine optimizers) use different methods to achieve good search engine marketing on the client’s website.

Any company offering cheap SEO packages~deals} should be able to allow the clients site rise in the search engines fast. When many internet users search for a particular term(also referred to as ‘key phrase’), they perceive the ones at the top as having more relevance to the keyword. Whilst there are many components that add to a website finding to the top spot (or at least among the top ten), SEO comes in handy to make sure that this is accomplishd in a short period of time of time. becoming professional, SEO’s know what is best for a site and how to go about generating sure that it rises to the top. They use a variety of tactics that are all geared towards achieving the same.

A few of the methods they use include:

-Back links building and,
- LSI (Latent Semantic Index) content writing.

In back link building, inbound hyperlinks are used to improve a site’s visibility. Inbound links are from other sites and they are important due to the fact of their significance to search engine marketing. A site with a big number of back hyperlinks is one indication that it is popular and of significance to others too. Google and other web search engines determine the Page Rank of a website or webpage due to the number of back links it has. It is therefore worth noting that this SEO alternative is of great importance to any website owner who wants his site to get ranked fast.

LSI articles writing is among the most well-known SEO options. simply because search engines rely on the content on the website or webpage so that it gets ranked, having a website that is well taken care of in this area is very important to the owner. For example, Google is very stringent when it comes to content. They require a webpage to have keyword rich content so that it can get good rankings. In many cases, search engine optimizers jot down content for client}s observing key phrase density and also length. articles of considerable good length are better positioned to get ranked much much easier than short ones with crappy content. All posts have to be free from plagiarism. This means that they are authentic and written by the site owner and are not copied from other resources.

In most cases, buyer}s who consult these low-cost SEO package deals~deals} suppliers want companies so as to improve rankings to their money generating websites. They either have affiliate links on their sites, promote CPA, run Adsense or offer companies that people pay for. To them, it is an investment and Thus it makes perfect reason for obtaining good site rankings.

To get the best cheap SEO bundle, a buyer} demands to look for the following qualities:

- whether the company has been offering the services for a considerable period of time,

-no matter if the company charges reasonably,

-no matter if the company offers all the services that he/she desires and also,

-regardless of whether the company has reviews from previous successful projects.

Having found that all the above stages~factors} are well taken care of, he/she can from that point purchase their companies. The customer} should ensure that all instructions and details are meticulously tended to before giving them out to the SEO guys. utilizing low cost SEO bundles~deals} has proven to be the most efficient way that website owners use to make to the top of the web search engine results. mainly because of the ever growing internet using inhabitants globally, these services will continue to provide their providers to the ever hungry website owners who also want to get a item of the large chunk of money made from the internet. To sum up, we can say that this is two way traffic as both the buyer and the service provider need one other.

Looking for a cheap SEO packages? Try this new service from Search Tempo. These cheap SEO packages are just about the best value on the internet.

Things To Consider When Hiring A Spit Roast

2011 October 9
by squadron

If you are an avid party thrower and you want that extra special somefactor to add that element of glam to your party, spit roast hire is a great idea. Spits come in different sizes and relying on the number of folks at your party and the amount of space you have at your disposal, you can roast a few of chickens or even a whole pig or goat. When thinking of spit roast hire there are several easy ways to procure what you need through the yellow webpages and the internet. Nevertheless, before you go in for spit roast hire, there are some important factors you must take into consideration.

Do It your self v/s catering.
For a lot of individuals, do it on your own options are much better because they can save on lots of money. Setting up a spit and really cooking on it can be a time consuming and cumbersome task. When it comes to spit roast hire, there are businesses which will let you simply hire the spit roast and do everyissue your self, or give you a completely loaded bundle in which everything from setting up, cleaning up and serving is done by a team of professional caterers. So depending on whether you have enough time or not you can decide if you want to do it all by yourself or pay someone else to do it for you.

Gas Spit v/s Charcoal Spit
When thinking about spit roast hire, you must first decide what kind of a spit you will need. There are spits that work on charcoal and those that work on gas. Weigh the pros and cons of each type and decide which one you want. The good point about charcoal spits is the fact that the meat you cook on it will retain the delicious substancey flavor of the charcoal. Gas spits will not let for that. Nonetheless, charcoal spits are messy, they create a lot of burn and can be dangerous if not attended to. Gas spits are scanner, make less of a mess and don’t create as much substance. Another disadvantage of charcoal spits is that you can’t use them in closed spaces because they create a lot of heat and burn. If you plan to cook insides, a gas spit makes much more sense. However, with gas spits you have to make sure the enclosed area is well ventilated.

Size Does Matter
Another important aspect of spit roast hire you must consider is the size of spit you need. What kind of meat are you planning to cook? A spit roast is a very versatile technique of cooking and everymatter from cow, venison, bull, goat and pig can be cooked on it. relying on the type of and amount of meat you want to cook, you have to choose an appropriately sized spit . For example if you wish to cook a full grown goat, you will need a spit that allows for 25kgs. Of course, the bigger the spit size you choose, the more expensive the affair will be. speaking about spit roast hire, gas spits come in a restricted number of sizes while charcoal spits are accessible in a greater wide variety of sizes.

Cost Of Charcoal v/s Gas Spit
One of the most important matters that you must keep in mind when going in for spit roast hire, is the cost. You have to first figure out how much you can afford and how much you are willing to spend to hire a spit roast. A lot of people feel that charcoal spits are cheaper which in fact is not the case. Technically if you go to see, charcoal and gas spits cost virtually the same if you take the total cost of cooking into consideration. The fee to hire a charcoal spit is much less than that of a gas spit but what you must take into consideration is the fact that charcoal spits require additional fuel whereas gas spits don’t.

So depending on whether you are having an indoor or outdoor party or if you want to be extravagant or minimalistic, put some time into research, figure out what you need and then go in for the right spit roast hire. For more information about spit roast hire Brisbane, visit http://spitroasthire.brisbaneoz.com/

The Importance of Proofing Designs

2011 October 7
by squadron

You’ve concluded it’s time for a new site or image. For most, the first step is to choose the right organization. However, the first thing you need to do is develop at least a vague concept of what you expect from the completed product. Not only is this step often ignored in the initial phase of project development, but also during the creative briefing stage after recruiting a design company.

Everyone wants to send off a concept to the professionals and let them handle it all. If you’re having your car washed, then nothing is really required of you. For other projects, you need to be more directly involved. Website design and graphic design are two areas where getting involved yourself is necessary to the perfect design for you and your business.

When you first meet with a website and graphic design company, you should supply them with your ideas and goals. This gives the company something of a starting point. This doesn’t mean that you are finished. No one is a mind reader. In order to make absolutely certain you get the best design possible, you must take the creative briefing stage extremely.

This is the part of the project where you work one on one with the designers to ensure they completely comprehend what you desire. The more they understand, the quicker that can deliver the finished project. It also reduces the number of initial design changes.

The next step before the designer can work on your project is proofing your design. You should never just quickly glimpse the design and give your approval. Look over the design plans as thoroughly as you would any important document. If the design isn’t exactly as you envisioned it and doesn’t provide the features you discussed, now is the time to make changes.

Waiting until the final project is delivered means time consuming revisions for both you and the designer. By involving yourself in both the creative briefing and design proofing stages, you save both time and money. You also get the perfect website or graphic design the first time around. The sooner your project is in place, the sooner your customers and visitors will see it.

You should never take this responsibility lightly. It’s your design, your website. Take the time to ensure the design company you choose fully understands your vision. By communicating your needs, the company is able to provide suggestions. With thorough communication between both parties, the best designs and sites are created.

For graphic design Brisbane or logo design Brisbane visit The Creative Noise. The Creative Noise is also a website designer. Brisbane is where their head office is located.

Choosing a Mackay Lawyer, Solicitor or Law Firm

2011 October 6
by squadron

As a popular and growing area, there are many new residents now living in the Mackay region that need to choose a Mackay solicitor* or law firm for the first time. Finding a lawyer to do the conveyancing required to help you purchase a house, to give advice about starting a business or to prepare important documents like wills or enduring powers-of-attorney, can be a daunting and stressful time.

If you are trying to choose a Mackay lawyer, solicitor or law firm you should consider looking for these attributes:

Satisfied Customers
For most people it is almost impossible to compare the quality of legal services that is provided by one Mackay solicitor/lawyer or another. Unless you are a regular user of the same sort of legal service you won’t really be able to compare various law firms. Look for a Mackay solicitor who is proud of their past performance and offers a number of references from previous or existing clients. If they offer quite a number of testimonials it tells you two things. First, that they have plenty of happy clients and secondly, that they take the time and trouble to find out what their clients think of their service. They understand that they are a service-oriented business.

Local knowledge
Your Mackay lawyer or solicitor should have good local knowledge and experience in aiding other people in the region. Look for firms that have worked on local developments or firms with established conveyancing sections that will have developed a valuable source of “inside knowledge” about the property market, local agents and banks that can make a big difference to the way your transaction will be dealt with.

Breadth of Services
While most people only need a lawyer occasionally, it is wise to choose a Mackay solicitor, lawyer or law firm which can provide a full range of services without you having to move around to additional lawyers. Finding a firm that can provide conveyancing, estate planning, disputes, business services and even workplace or employment issues, means you can be confident that the one firm to meet all your legal requirements. Law firms value clients that use several services, and will often provide services more cheaply and efficiently when they have provided other services for you in the past.

*In Queensland a person with legal qualifications was traditionally referred to as a solicitor while a person who “had standing” to represent you in court was called a barrister. More recently the general term lawyer has become more widespread and can be used to describe either of these types of legal practitioner. In some other states of Australia the conveyancing process (the legal process required to transfer ownership of house) can be undertaken by licenced conveyancers. This is not the case in Queensland where conveyancing must be undertaken by a solicitor/lawyer.

John Gray is a practising solicitor and marketing consultant who has worked with leading Mackay law firms. If you need a Mackay solicitor or Mackay lawyer contact John Gray for a recommendation.

Relationship Counselling can help you discover more about yourself.

2011 October 2
by squadron

If you really want to examine in depth at why the two of you have the unique relationship and issues that you have, look no further than the Enneagram.

One of the most useful ways to discover yourself and just as importantly, how you contribute to your relationship problems, is to look at your Enneagram profile.

The modern Enneagram is based on ancient Eastern wisdom combined with modern Psychological thought. There are 9 personality types each with different modes of thinking, feeling and acting. Each style has its own natural strengths, limitations, and blind spots.

When you know your Enneagram number, you can then be aware of the unconscious assumptions that drive the way you see yourself, do your work, and relate in your relationships.

And you can also understand why your partner seems to act in the strange, selfish, intrusive, self-interested, seductive or charming ways that he or she does.

Once you know how he or she see things from within, you can see why they do the things they do which makes perfect sense to them.

There are no types that are better than any other. Each is effective in their own way, but from a very different point of view.

• Ones want to make things right.
• Twos need to be of help.
• Threes are driven to succeed.
• Fours yearn to be special.
• Fives want to be left alone to think.
• Sixes seek safety and support.
• Sevens are connoisseurs of life’s pleasures.
• Eights are driven to dominate others.
• Nines don’t want to make waves.

For more information on how your and your partner’s Enneagram types interact, call us at the Hart Centre. We are a group of Psychologists around Australia who are passionate about relationships and specialise in relationship counselling.

With 15 relationship counselling centres in Sydney, and 12 relationship counselling centres in Melbourne, you will more than likely find one near you. Phone 1300830552 for more details.

Remember, for relationship counselling Sydney or relationship counselling Melbourne contact the Hart Centre.

Stradbroke Island Queensland – Travel Guide

2011 September 28

Located on Brisbane’s eastern doorstep, North Stradbroke Island (’Straddie’ to the initiated) is another of Australia’s natrual treasures and a perfect escape destination. Something of a secret, it is only recently that Stradbroke Island has started to show up on the tourism and property radar.

Travel to Stradbroke Island via the Brisbane suburb of Cleveland takes approx. fifty minutes using the vehicle ferry. Cleveland is only a half-hour drive from Brisbane International Airport or Brisbane central, and an drive from the Gold Coast. The boat ride across Moreton Bay is the first of a series of experiences that make Stradbroke Island such a great experience.

Stradbroke Island covers 27,530 hectares, and therefore is the world’s second largest sand island. The elongated sand island shields much of the southern part of Moreton Bay and the smaller islands from the ocean swells. It’s beaches are accessible by four-wheel drive, bicycle or tramping, with numerous great camping sites dotted all the way down Main Beach, and views appear visible from almost everywhere on the island.

Thirty-five kilometres of white sandy beaches fringe the island’s eastern side, from Point Lookout at the north to Jumpin Pin in the south. From the Point lookout headland, the buildings of the Gold Coast can be clearly visible, and is a constant reminder of the contrast to the slower pace of Straddie.

North Stradbroke (or Minjerriba to the indigenous Noonuccal people) was home to celebrated Aboriginal poet Kath Walker, or Oodgeroo Noonuccal. There is a great deal of Aboriginal and European history surrounding Dunwich where the water taxis and vehicular barges berth.

The waters of Moreton Bay ripple against the shores of the island’s western fishing towns. With a lack of agriculture and the filtering effects of the sand provides pure water that sea-life, and particularly Stradbroke Rock Oysters thrive in.

North Stradbroke attracts 4WDers, fishers, surfies and beach-lovers to the expansive lengths of accessible coast and rugged granite headlands, and the Island also has a range of accommodation, restaurants, cafes and holiday infrastructure. With a diversity of attractions to offer and stunningly beautiful places to discover, North Stradbroke is a fabulous holiday location for families, couples and adventure-seekers alike. The ideal way to see the Island is by Four Wheel Drive, but there are many stunning coastal walks and a mountain bike and whale watching map are an easier and more environmentally sound alternative.

Point Lookout is the main tourist hub, only a thirty kilometre drive on a sealed road from Dunwich. The North Gorge Headland is 40 metres above sea level and known as a leading land-based whale-watch area throughout winter, and world-class surfing and fishing throughout the year.

Point Lookout’s unspoilt beaches and headlands are safe for swimming, surfing and fishing year round. Whales, dolphins, turtles and manta rays can often be spotted from the spectacular North Gorge at the northern part of the island. The island has been listed as one of the world’s most ecologically important wetlands and has several freshwater lakes, waterways and lagoons that are accessible by 4WD or on a tour with one of Straddie’s tour operators.

One of the greatest features of the island is the fresh seafood available direct from local fishermen. Just look for signs at Amity Point and Point Lookout which direct you to their homes and the freshest, most delicious catch-of-the-day around. For those who would rather the work be done for them, Straddie’s restaurants and cafes all make use of this delicious resource on their menus.

“The Point” offers several alfresco style cafes, a bakery, chemist, post office, newsagent, corner store and supermarket. The island also has a bus service linking all three towns to the ferries and water taxis.

North Stradbroke Island is the ultimate paradise for the many enthusiasts who visit each year. On a good day it’s possible to surf right past the pub, along the evocatively named Cylinders Beach, on waves that peel dreamily for hundreds of metres. Stick ten bucks in the back pocket of your boardies and drop in for a beer on your way back around -you may even bump into world ranked surfer and local Bede Durbidge! Stradbroke also boasts what is perhaps the last truly old-school surf shop in the country, that focusses on selling surfing equipment rather than fashion.

The jewels in the Straddie’s crown is Point Lookout and the natural wonder of the North Gorge Walk, along with the surf, the choice of beaches, all sheltered in different winds, the whale watching, and the spectacular coastal walk around the gorges. If you are looking for Stradbroke Island Accommodation, make sure you visit: http://www.discoverstradbroke.com.au/

The Attractions of Stradbroke Island

2011 September 24

Right on Brisbane’s eastern doorstep, North Stradbroke Island (”Straddie” to those familiar) is another of Australia’s east coast natural treasures and a perfect escape destination. Something of a secret, it is only recently that Straddie has started to shine on the tourism and real-estate radar.

Travel to Straddie via the bayside village of Cleveland takes approximately fifty minutes using the vehicle ferry. Cleveland is a half-hour drive from Brisbane International Airport or the centre of Brisbane, and an drive from the Gold Coast. The ferry ride across Moreton Bay is the first step that makes visiting Stradbroke Island such a worthwhile trip.

Stradbroke Island covers 27,530 hectares, which makes the world’s second largest sand island. The elongated sand island shields much of the southern part of Moreton Bay and the smaller islands from the ocean swells. The beaches are accessible by four-wheel drive, bicycle or tramping, with many good camping sites placed all the way down Main Beach, and beautiful views appear visible from almost everywhere on Straddie.

Thirty-five kilometres of white sandy beaches fringe the island’s eastern side, from Point Lookout in the north to Jumpin Pin in the south. From the Point lookout headland, the buildings of the Gold Coast is often clearly visible, and is a constant reminder of the stark contrast to the slower pace of Straddie.

North Stradbroke (or Minjerriba to the indigenous Noonuccal tribe) was the home of renowned Aboriginal poet Kath Walker, or Oodgeroo Noonuccal. There is a large amount of Aboriginal and European history surrounding Dunwich where the water taxis and vehicular barges land.

The waters of Moreton Bay ripple against the shores of the island’s western fishing towns. With a lack of agriculture and the filtering effects of the sand results in pure water that sea-life, and particularly Stradbroke Rock Oysters thrive in.

North Stradbroke attracts four-wheel drivers, fishers, surfers and beach-lovers to its wide lengths of beach and rugged granite headlands, and the Island also offers a range of accommodation, restaurants, cafes and holiday attractions. With an incredible diversity of experiences on offer and beautiful areas to discover, North Stradbroke is a great holiday destination for families, couples and adventure-seekers alike. The ideal way to see the Island is by Four Wheel Drive, but there are many stunning coastal walks and a mountain bike and whale watching map are an easier and more environmentally sound alternative.

Point Lookout is a popular destination, and only a 30km drive on a sealed road from Dunwich. The North Gorge Headland is 40 metres above sea level and recognised as a leading land-based whale-watch site during from May-November, and world-class surfing and fishing throughout the year.

Point Lookout’s beautiful beaches and headlands are safe for swimming, surfing and fishing year round. Whales, dolphins, turtles and manta rays are regularly viewed from the spectacular North Gorge at the northern part of the island. The island has been listed as one of the world’s most ecologically important wetlands with several freshwater lakes, waterways and lagoons that are accessible by 4WD or on a guided tour with one of Straddie’s friendly tour operators.

One of the great features on the island is the fresh seafood available direct from local fishermen. Just look for signs at Amity Point and Point Lookout to direct you to their homes and the freshest catch-of-the-day around. For those who would rather the work be done for them, Straddie’s restaurants and cafes all make use of this perfect island resource in their menu.

“The Point” offers a number of alfresco style cafes, a bakery, chemist, post office, newsagent, corner store and supermarket. The island also has a bus service which links the 3 towns to ferries and water taxis.

North Stradbroke Island is the ultimate paradise for the many enthusiasts who visit each year. On a good day it’s possible to surf right past the pub, along the evocatively named Cylinders Beach, on waves that peel dreamily for hundreds of metres. Stick ten bucks in the back pocket of your boardies and you can drop in for a quick beer on your way back around -you may even bump into world ranked surfer and local Bede Durbidge! Straddie boasts what is perhaps the last truly old-school surf shop in the country, that focusses on selling surfing gear rather than fashion.

The jewels in the Straddie’s crown is Point Lookout and the natural wonder of the North Gorge Walk, along with the surf, the choice of beaches, all sheltered in different winds, the whale watching, and the spectacular coastal walk around the gorges. If you are looking for Stradbroke Island Accommodation, make sure you visit: http://www.discoverstradbroke.com.au/