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

2011 October 13
by squadron

If the legal marketing strategy for your law firm is based on online marketing, niche marketing to particular industries, traditional advertising, or just retaining and growing wallet share of a solid growth of clients, you will need to generate content.

Content is the lifeblood of legal marketing, and without it you may as well not have a law firm marketing plan. But producing content requires hard work, and you must make the most of the writing you manage to produce. Here are several ideas for making sure you use two of the most reliably produced types of legal marketing content as best you can.

Law Firm Marketing – Written material (blogs, email alerts, brochures, guides, information sheets)
If you’ve created some worthwhile, interesting material in any of the formats mentioned, don’t just send it off once or print it and let it stagnate in your reception. Distribute the content as much as possible. For every item of writing you produce, consider:

- Have I sent it to as many, relevant, clients as possible?
- Is it loaded to my website?
- Have I emailed it directly to referrers, associates and other professionals?
- Have I linked to 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 further if a client has queries about it?
- Can I turn it into another type of content and distribute in a different form?

Law Firm Marketing – Presentations
Presentations are usually written with a particular audience in mind, or because of a particular request. As a result they are often presented once and then left to stagnate. The large amount of time required to prepare them results in only a one time showing. If you want to get far more benefit from your presentation consider:

- Who else can I present it to?
- How could I let the most people know about it?
- Have I discussed it on our website, Facebook, Twitter, and suggested that I present it to others?
- Is it relevant to send a hard copy of the presentation to people who were unable to 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 to discuss questions that arose from the presentation?
- Have I followed up with additional content to all the people who attended the presentation?

Although some of these ideas might seem like more work just when you’ve probably damaged your monthly billings with the amount of time you spent preparing the first lot of material, it is important to remember that it’s far easier to add a tiny amount of time at the end to really impact on the impression you’ve already produced than to produce a whole new piece of legal marketing material.

Increase the benefits of the time and effort you put into law firm marketing and you’ll find that the next time you need to create some content you’ll feel more positive about how effective that content 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 help you discover how in harmony you are.

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

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

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

Self Preservation Instinct.
People of this Instinctual type are often with the essential existential needs as they translate into our contemporary society, for example, money, food, accomodation, health, safety and comfort.
Being safe 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 seating, the room temperature, when the coffee break will be, and whether they will enjoy 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 type have a strong desire for intensity of experience and affection. The direct riveting gaze is the dead giveaway. When they enter a situation they gravitate toward people they feel attracted to, as if they are looking for the juice. These people can turn into intimacy junkies, often neglecting pressing matters or even basic maintenance if they are swept up in something that has captivated them. This gives a expansive exploratory philosophy to life, but can also give a lack of focus on one’s own goals.

Social Instinct.
People of this type are preoccupied on their interactions with others and with the sense of value and self esteem they derive from their involvement in collective activities. These include occupation, family, side activities and clubs.
Upon entering a room, these people would immediately be aware of the relationships and subtle politics between different people and social circles. They are subconsciously focused on other’s reaction to them, particularly about whether they are being accepted or not.
They need to connect with others to feel safe, alive and energised. They seem to love interacting with others, but they avoid intimacy.
They are the most extroverted of the types.

Within each person, one of these Instincts will predominate. In fact the 3 instincts can be ordered liked 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 inherent instincts play an important role in our relationships because personalities of the same variant tend to share values and understand each other completely, 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 provides a stylish method adopted by architects to impart a dynamic look to a lifeless structure. This is mostly used for visual 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 innovative. Stone veneer is also efficiently used in gardening and complementing the natural beauty of the open spaces as well.

Stone Veneer acts as a ornamental and protective overlaying on outside as well interior walls and surfaces. The veneer is typically one inch heavy; it is lighter 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 subject stone. The stone is then sawn using huge diamond impregnated cutters equally spaced to get the slices of the stone in a consistent thickness and weight. This stone is also known as “thin stone veneer”.

Besides the natural stone veneer, manufacture stone veneer is also a decorative developing material. It is produced to imitate the appearance of natural stone. There are several names used for this type of veneer. The stacked stone veneer, artificial stone veneer, manufactured stone veneer and versatile 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 look like the real stone. yet another 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 distinctive good quality mortars for highest adhesion and strength. versatile stone veneer is manufactured by slicing a thin part of a stone. It is then backed by some composite material. It can be produced in a variety of designs and colors using different stones. The manufactured stone veneer is less costly 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. simply because 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 Thereby lessens the cost. There is a vast variety of designs, patterns and colors available on manufactured options as compared to the natural stone because the natural stone is generally used in the area around where it is extracted due to the huge transportation charges.

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 charges. Stone veneers are preferred these days for most of ornamental facing in makings 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 visibility on search engines. Websites that are highly ranked in search results have more website visitors. SEO targets many choices which include picture search, local search, video search and academic search. Today, there are many companies offering inexpensive SEO bundles~deals} for buyers~shoppers~buyers} who want their sites’ rankings to rise. SEO’s (acronym referring to search engine optimizers) use different methods to attain good search engine marketing on the purchaser’s website.

Any company offering low cost SEO packages~deals} should be able to enable the buyers 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 key phrase. Though there are many aspects that lead to a website obtaining to the top spot (or at least amongst the top ten), SEO comes in handy to make sure that this is obtaind in a short period of time. being 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 links are used to improve a site’s awareness. Inbound links are from other sites and they are important since of their significance to search engine marketing. A site with a big number of back links is one indication that it is well-liked 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 possibility is of great importance to any website owner who wants his site to get ranked fast.

LSI articles or blog posts writing is amongst the most well-liked SEO selections. since 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 illustration, Google is very rigid when it comes to content. They need a webpage to have keyword rich content so that it can get good rankings. In many cases, search engine optimizers create content for client}s observing keyword density and also length. content articles of considerable good length are better positioned to get ranked 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 sources.

In most cases, customer}s who consult these inexpensive SEO packages~deals} providers want services so as to improve rankings to their money making websites. They either have affiliate links on their sites, promote CPA, run Adsense or offer solutions that people pay for. To them, it is an investment and Therefore it makes perfect reason for finding good site rankings.

To get the best inexpensive SEO package deal, a purchaser} demands to look for the following qualities:

- whether or not the company has been offering the solutions for a considerable interval of time,

-no matter whether the company charges reasonably,

-whether the company offers all the solutions that he/she needs and also,

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

Having located that all the above stages~factors} are well taken care of, he/she can from that level sequence their services. The buyer} should ensure that all instructions and details are meticulously tended to before giving them out to the SEO guys. utilizing cheap SEO package deals~deals} has confirmed to be the most efficient way that website owners use to make to the top of the web search engine results. simply because of the ever growing internet working with population globally, these services will continue to provide their solutions to the ever hungry website owners who also want to get a piece 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 client 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 people at your party and the amount of space you have at your disposal, you can roast a couple 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. Even so, before you go in for spit roast hire, there are some important factors you must take into consideration.

Do It by yourself v/s catering.
For a lot of men and women, do it by yourself options are much better because they can save on lots of money. Setting up a spit and basically cooking on it can be a time consuming and cumbersome task. When it can come to spit roast hire, there are organizations which will let you simply hire the spit roast and do everything on your own, or give you a totally loaded package deal in which everymatter from setting up, cleaning up and helping 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 issue about charcoal spits is the fact that the meat you cook on it will retain the delicious smoke a cigarettey flavor of the charcoal. Gas spits will not let for that. Even so, charcoal spits are messy, they create a lot of substance and can be dangerous if not attended to. Gas spits are scraper, make less of a mess and don’t create as much smoke a cigarette. Another disadvantage of charcoal spits is that you cannot use them in closed spaces because they create a lot of heat and burn. If you plan to cook interiors, a gas spit makes much more sense. Having said that, 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 strategy of cooking and everything from cow, venison, bull, goat and pig can be cooked on it. depending on the type of and amount of meat you want to cook, you have to choose an appropriately sized spit . For instance if you wish to cook a full grown goat, you will need a spit that permits for 25kgs. Of course, the larger the spit size you choose, the more expensive the affair will be. speaking about spit roast hire, gas spits come in a constrained number of sizes while charcoal spits are readily available in a greater wide variety of sizes.

Cost Of Charcoal v/s Gas Spit
One of the most important things that you must keep in mind when heading 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 folks feel that charcoal spits are cheaper which in fact is not the case. Technically if you go to see, charcoal and gas spits cost practically 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 while 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 website or image. For many, the first step is to choose the right company. However, the first thing you should do is develop at least a basic idea of what you expect from the finished product. Not only is this step often ignored in the starting phase of project development, but also during the creative briefing stage after hiring a design company.

Everyone wants to dump 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 design briefs, you need to be more directly involved. Website design and graphic design are two areas where getting involved yourself is necessary to the ideal design for you and your organization.

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

This is the stage of the project where you work one on one with the designers to ensure they completely understand what you want. The more they understand, the faster they 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 city, there are many new families and people now living in the Mackay region that require the services of a Mackay lawyer or law firm for the first time. Finding a solicitor to do the conveyancing to help you purchase a home, to give advice about starting a business or to prepare legal documents such as wills or enduring powers-of-attorney, can be a daunting and worrying process.

If you are looking for a Mackay lawyer, solicitor or law firm you should seek these attributes:

Happy Customers
For most individuals it is impossible to compare the quality of legal services that is provided by one Mackay solicitor/lawyer or another. Unless you regularly use a similar type of legal service you are unlikely to be able to compare different law firms. What you can do is look for a Mackay lawyer who is proud of their past performance with generous use of references from previous clients. If they provide plenty of testimonials it tells you two things. Firstly, that they have plenty of happy clients and secondly, that they take time and trouble to find out what clients think of their service. They understand that theirs is a service-oriented business.

Local knowledge
A Mackay lawyer or solicitor ought to have good local knowledge and experience in aiding others in the town. Find out if the firm has worked on major local developments or firms with established conveyancing specialists who will have developed a valuable source of “inside knowledge” about the property market, local agents and banks which can make a huge difference to the ease and efficiency of your transaction.

Breadth of services
Because most people only need a lawyer rarely, it is wise to find a Mackay lawyer, solicitor or law firm which can provide a full range of services without you having to move around to other law firms. Finding a firm that can assist with your conveyancing, estate planning, disputes, business services and even workplace or employment issues, means you can stick with the one firm that will meet all your legal requirements. Law firms value clients who use a range of services, and are often able to provide services more cheaply and efficiently when they have provided other work 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 look in depth at why the two of you have the unique relationship and problems that you have, look no further than the Enneagram.

One of the most helpful ways to examine yourself and just as importantly, how you contribute to your relationship issues, 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 gifts, 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 the inside out, 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 familiar) is one of Australia’s natrual treasures and a perfect escape destination. Somehow, the secret has been well kept and it is only in recent years that Straddie has started to show up on the tourism and real-estate radar.

To travel to Straddie through the bayside village of Cleveland takes approx. 50 minutes on the vehicle ferry. Cleveland is a half-hour drive from Brisbane International Airport and Brisbane central, and an drive from the Gold Coast. The boat ride across Moreton Bay is the first step that makes visiting Stradbroke Island such a fabulous trip.

Stradbroke Island is 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. The beaches are able to be accessed by four-wheel drive, bicycle or on foot, with numerous great camp sites placed all the way down Main Beach, and beautiful views are visible from almost everywhere on Straddie.

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 is often clearly visible, being a reminder of the stark contrast to the slower pace of Straddie.

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

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 unpolluted water that fish, and particularly Stradbroke Rock Oysters thrive in.

North Stradbroke attracts four-wheel drivers, fishermen, surfies and beach-lovers to its free stretches of accessible coast and rugged granite headlands, and the Island also offers a good range of accommodation, restaurants, cafes and holiday infrastructure. With an incredible diversity of attractions on offer and stunningly beautiful spots to discover, North Stradbroke is a fantastic 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 tourist hub, and only a thirty kilometre drive on a sealed road from Dunwich. The North Gorge Headland is 40m above sea level and known as a leading land-based whale watching area in the colder months, and world-class surfing and fishing throughout the year.

Point Lookout’s beautiful beaches and headlands are perfect for swimming, surfing and fishing all 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 is 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 tour with one of Straddie’s tour operators.

One of the great features of the island is the fresh seafood directly from local fishermen. Just look for the signs at Amity Point and Point Lookout which will direct you to their homes and the freshest, most delicious catch-of-the-day around. For those that would rather the work be done for them, Straddie’s restaurants and cafes all make use of this amazing island resource in the 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 3 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 you can drop in for a beer on your way back around -you may even bump into world ranked surfer and local Bede Durbidge! Straddie also boasts what is perhaps the last truly old-school surf shop in the country, that makes it’s business selling surf equipment rather than fashion.

The jewels in Stradbroke’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 differing 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 the initiated) is one of Australia’s natrual treasures -a perfect escape destination. Something of a secret, it is only recently that Stradbroke Island has begun to show up on the tourism and property radar.

Travel to Stradbroke Island via the Brisbane suburb of Cleveland will take you approx. fifty minutes using the vehicle ferry. Cleveland is only a 30 minute drive from Brisbane International Airport and Brisbane central, and one hour’s 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 worthwhile destination.

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. The beaches are able to be accessed by four-wheel drive, bicycle or tramping, with a number of great camp sites placed down Main Beach, and fabulous views are visible from almost everywhere on Straddie.

The 35 kilometres of white sandy beaches fringing the island’s eastern side runs from Point Lookout in the north to Jumpin Pin in the south. From the Point lookout headland, the towering jungle of the Gold Coast is often clearly visible, being a reminder of the contrast to the more relaxed lifestyle 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 great deal of Aboriginal and European history surrounding Dunwich where water taxis and barges land.

The waters of Moreton Bay swish 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 creatures, and particularly Stradbroke Rock Oysters thrive upon.

North Stradbroke attracts four-wheel drivers, fishermen, surfies and beach-lovers to its expansive stretches of accessible coast and rugged granite headlands, and the Island also has a range of accommodation, restaurants, cafes and holiday attractions. With a wonderful diversity of experiences to offer and beautiful spots to explore, 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, only a thirty kilometre drive on a sealed road from Dunwich. The North Gorge Headland is forty metres above sea level and recognised as a leading land-based whale-watch area throughout winter, and world-class surfing and fishing throughout the year.

Point Lookout’s beautiful beaches and headlands are safe for swimming, surfing and fishing all year round. Whales, dolphins, turtles and manta rays are regularly 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 with 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 best features of the island is being able to purchase fresh seafood available direct from local fishermen. 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 prefer the work be done for them, Straddie’s restaurants and cafes all make use of this fabulous island resource in the menus.

“The Point” offers a number of alfresco style cafes, a bakery, chemist, post office, newsagent, corner store and supermarket. The island also has its own bus service which links the 3 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 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 also boasts what is perhaps the last truly old-school surf shop in the country, that focusses on selling surf gear rather than fashion.

The jewels in Stradbroke’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 various 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/