It's a campaign meant to show there's more to Australia than just "soaps, sport and sun" - but just what, it seems, the organisers weren't too sure.
So bleary-eyed Londoners woke to a re-creation of Bondi Beach on the banks of the Thames yesterday, complete with lifesavers and sunbathers.
Whether anyone would dare to take the plunge, however, wasn't clear.
State governments and the Federal Government's Austrade yesterday began their expensive campaign to convince Britain to invest more in Australia and rediscover its industries, technology and tourism.
So 80 tonnes of sand was trucked in from Kent, in England's southeast, to bring "a little bit of Down Under" to the British Isles.
To top off the cliche, cast members from the musical Priscilla Queen of the Desert were dropped in as props as well as token lifeguards, deck chairs and surfboards.
No one wants to say how much taxpayers have had to spend on the one-week celebration of all things Australian, which also includes food and wine tasting and a summit of leading Australian and British CEOs.
But G'day UK chairman Phil Aiken said the benefits would be significant. (Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Travel and Tourism
Bondi Beach
Bondi Beach News
Thursday, 25 June 2009
Re-creation of Bondi Beach in London to promote Australia, by Charles Miranda - Daily Telegraph - 25th June 2009
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Media Man Australia Director Joins and Presents at Bondi Chamber of Commerce
Today Media Man Australia director and founder, Greg Tingle, joined and presented at the Bondi Chamber of Commerce monthly event held at Easts Leagues Club.
Following the feature presentation by Matt Freedman (founder and director of Sticky Tickets and Redback Solutions), Adam Treharne from the chamber board spoke about business and the benefits of the Bondi Chamber of Commerce.
Sandra Lie from Infusion Networking moderated prize give aways from members to members!
Sonja van den Boshe from TwinLife was the lucky winner of the Media Man Australia publicity package including interview and profile.
It was a most worthwhile, interesting and positive occasion, and attendees learned and shared their knowledge on matters such as Emarketing, the internet, and couldn't help but to pick up some solid information about the how news media and publicity compliment the marketing components of business.
In the coming weeks and months the Bondi Chamber of Commerce will be facilitating more networking events and feature the matching up of business owners and operators in a strategic fashion which will set the stage for win - win outcomes for all.
Mr Freedman will be participating in the CEO Sleepout at Luna Park on the 18th June. The event is organised by St Vincent de Paul Society. Matt's efforts are well worth supporting, as are that of the numerous CEO's who will be participating.
Easts Leagues Club staff and management were most friendly and helpful, and the coffee and breakfasts were top notch.
If your a business person in the Bondi region the Bondi Chamber of Commerce is a fantastic place to network with fellow entrepreneurs.
Websites
Bondi Chamber of Commerce
Easts Leagues Club
Redback Solutions
Sticky Tickets
CEO Sleepout
Infusion Networking
TwinLife
Property News Media
Media Man Australia
Following the feature presentation by Matt Freedman (founder and director of Sticky Tickets and Redback Solutions), Adam Treharne from the chamber board spoke about business and the benefits of the Bondi Chamber of Commerce.
Sandra Lie from Infusion Networking moderated prize give aways from members to members!
Sonja van den Boshe from TwinLife was the lucky winner of the Media Man Australia publicity package including interview and profile.
It was a most worthwhile, interesting and positive occasion, and attendees learned and shared their knowledge on matters such as Emarketing, the internet, and couldn't help but to pick up some solid information about the how news media and publicity compliment the marketing components of business.
In the coming weeks and months the Bondi Chamber of Commerce will be facilitating more networking events and feature the matching up of business owners and operators in a strategic fashion which will set the stage for win - win outcomes for all.
Mr Freedman will be participating in the CEO Sleepout at Luna Park on the 18th June. The event is organised by St Vincent de Paul Society. Matt's efforts are well worth supporting, as are that of the numerous CEO's who will be participating.
Easts Leagues Club staff and management were most friendly and helpful, and the coffee and breakfasts were top notch.
If your a business person in the Bondi region the Bondi Chamber of Commerce is a fantastic place to network with fellow entrepreneurs.
Websites
Bondi Chamber of Commerce
Easts Leagues Club
Redback Solutions
Sticky Tickets
CEO Sleepout
Infusion Networking
TwinLife
Property News Media
Media Man Australia
Monday, 15 June 2009
Bondi Chamber of Commerce News
Media Man Australia News Report
Website
Bondi Chamber of Commerce
Media Man Australia Profiles
Media Man Australia
Property News Media
Travel Tourism Media
Bondi
Bondi Beach
Website
Bondi Chamber of Commerce
Media Man Australia Profiles
Media Man Australia
Property News Media
Travel Tourism Media
Bondi
Bondi Beach
Sunday, 17 May 2009
Sydney shark victim's brave return to Bondi beach, by David Barrett - Herald Sun - 13th May 2009
Just three months ago, Able Seaman Paul de Gelder lay in hospital fighting for his life.
His right hand had been torn off by a bull shark, and within days surgeons amputated his lower right leg.
He'd stared "eye-to-eye" with the monster shark, and cheated death.
Paddling through the waves at Sydney's North Bondi beach Tuesday, Mr de Gelder, 32, was a man determined to recover and live his life.
A keen surfer, he hit the waves with two mates for the first time since the shark attack in Sydney Harbour on February 11.
Emerging from the surf, he told the Herald Sun he felt good being back in the water.
"Mate, I've been falling off my surfboard," he said. "It was my first time back out there."
Mr de Gelder spent about 15 minutes lying on his board, swimming and catching waves. On the beach he did some push-ups and stood gazing out at the water.
"Surfing was a big part of my life before the attack," he said. "So I really wanted to get back out there again.
"I'm a beach boy now."
Mr de Gelder served in East Timor as a peacekeeper and spent four years as an army paratrooper.
He was mauled while testing the navy's counter-terrorism equipment off the RAN base at Garden Island.
In a TV interview on Sunday, Mr de Gelder said he stared "eye-to-eye" with the shark that attacked him.
"You don't even feel the teeth go in. I think the adrenaline, the panic, probably puts a numb on the pain and you don't feel it," he said.
Mr de Gelder said he was very happy to be back in the water: "It's . . . where I feel most comfortable of all, even with these big sharks around."
Mr de Gelder hopes to one day return to work as a navy clearance diver.
"It's gonna be a tough bridge to cross but you can't show weakness," he said.
"Not in my job."
Asked if he was planning more surfing, he said: "I'll be back for sure." (Credit: Herald Sun)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Surfing
Coastal Directory
Beaches Of Australia
Bondi Beach
His right hand had been torn off by a bull shark, and within days surgeons amputated his lower right leg.
He'd stared "eye-to-eye" with the monster shark, and cheated death.
Paddling through the waves at Sydney's North Bondi beach Tuesday, Mr de Gelder, 32, was a man determined to recover and live his life.
A keen surfer, he hit the waves with two mates for the first time since the shark attack in Sydney Harbour on February 11.
Emerging from the surf, he told the Herald Sun he felt good being back in the water.
"Mate, I've been falling off my surfboard," he said. "It was my first time back out there."
Mr de Gelder spent about 15 minutes lying on his board, swimming and catching waves. On the beach he did some push-ups and stood gazing out at the water.
"Surfing was a big part of my life before the attack," he said. "So I really wanted to get back out there again.
"I'm a beach boy now."
Mr de Gelder served in East Timor as a peacekeeper and spent four years as an army paratrooper.
He was mauled while testing the navy's counter-terrorism equipment off the RAN base at Garden Island.
In a TV interview on Sunday, Mr de Gelder said he stared "eye-to-eye" with the shark that attacked him.
"You don't even feel the teeth go in. I think the adrenaline, the panic, probably puts a numb on the pain and you don't feel it," he said.
Mr de Gelder said he was very happy to be back in the water: "It's . . . where I feel most comfortable of all, even with these big sharks around."
Mr de Gelder hopes to one day return to work as a navy clearance diver.
"It's gonna be a tough bridge to cross but you can't show weakness," he said.
"Not in my job."
Asked if he was planning more surfing, he said: "I'll be back for sure." (Credit: Herald Sun)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Surfing
Coastal Directory
Beaches Of Australia
Bondi Beach
Saturday, 4 April 2009
Lara checks out her Bondi pad - News.com.au - 3rd April 2009
It looks like Lara Bingle is one step closer to being a Bondi babe after being spotted checking out her and fiance Michael Clarke's new beachside home this week.
Looking casual in a way that only the beautiful Bingle can - dressed in thigh-high leather boots and a little black dress - she was spotted checking out the pad with another blonde, believed to be a lawyer involved in the property transaction.
The Shire girl is said to be jumping at the opportunity to move into the three-bedroom, two bathroom, sub-penthouse in the Cadigal, overlooking the famous beach in the heart of the fashionable suburb.
The purchase of the property, which is rumoured to have come with a $6 million price tag, has bypassed real estate agents with Clark buying the property from good mate and celebrity accountant Anthony Bell.
With Bell moving on this month to his new penthouse property in the Bondi, further along the beachfront, it is expected Bingle and Clark will soon move in and become permanent fixtures in the celebrity-laden area.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Lara Bingle
Bondi News
Bondi Beach
Looking casual in a way that only the beautiful Bingle can - dressed in thigh-high leather boots and a little black dress - she was spotted checking out the pad with another blonde, believed to be a lawyer involved in the property transaction.
The Shire girl is said to be jumping at the opportunity to move into the three-bedroom, two bathroom, sub-penthouse in the Cadigal, overlooking the famous beach in the heart of the fashionable suburb.
The purchase of the property, which is rumoured to have come with a $6 million price tag, has bypassed real estate agents with Clark buying the property from good mate and celebrity accountant Anthony Bell.
With Bell moving on this month to his new penthouse property in the Bondi, further along the beachfront, it is expected Bingle and Clark will soon move in and become permanent fixtures in the celebrity-laden area.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Lara Bingle
Bondi News
Bondi Beach
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Lights out? Let's party, everybody, by Jennie Curtin - The Sydney Morning Herald - 28th March 2009
As Sydney's ferries sound their horns at 8.30 tonight, they will trigger the start of many activities for Earth Hour.
At the Table Bar on the lower ground floor of the old GPO in Martin Place, the desperate and dateless will begin speed dating by candlelight.
At Sydney Observatory, amateur astronomers will look into a rare Sydney darkness.
And at Circular Quay, treasure hunters will begin to make sense of environmental clues.
Cockatoo Island is fully booked for 280 people to camp by candlelight. And at Taronga Zoo, the Environment Institute of Australia will host a green-tie ball.
A beach party at Avalon will begin an hour earlier, at 7.30pm, with fire-twirling and live music pumped through solar-powered amps. It will follow an eco-living expo, from 3pm to 6pm, at the Avalon Surf Life Saving Club.
At Bondi Beach, Kid Mac, an Earth Hour spokesman, will perform in a concert that also marks National Youth Week.
Mosmanites - notorious for having one of the largest carbon footprints in the world - can take food and candles to the Rotunda at Balmoral Beach and picnic to the tunes of a string quartet.
At Manly there will be music and scuba diving, a sausage sizzle and free candles.
Many local councils have arranged events. Among them, Willoughby will host a free evening of drumming, fire twirling and music at Naremburn Park, on the corner of Park Road and Station Street, from 5pm to 9.30pm. There will be recycling workshops, renewable energy information and sustainable living demonstrations. Jane Caro from The Gruen Transfer will be MC.
At Carss Bush Park, in the Kogarah Council area, people can watch an Aboriginal Dreaming story told through dance, didjeridoos and clapsticks. (Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Earth Hour
Bondi Beach
Green News Media
Environmentalists and the Environment
Events
At the Table Bar on the lower ground floor of the old GPO in Martin Place, the desperate and dateless will begin speed dating by candlelight.
At Sydney Observatory, amateur astronomers will look into a rare Sydney darkness.
And at Circular Quay, treasure hunters will begin to make sense of environmental clues.
Cockatoo Island is fully booked for 280 people to camp by candlelight. And at Taronga Zoo, the Environment Institute of Australia will host a green-tie ball.
A beach party at Avalon will begin an hour earlier, at 7.30pm, with fire-twirling and live music pumped through solar-powered amps. It will follow an eco-living expo, from 3pm to 6pm, at the Avalon Surf Life Saving Club.
At Bondi Beach, Kid Mac, an Earth Hour spokesman, will perform in a concert that also marks National Youth Week.
Mosmanites - notorious for having one of the largest carbon footprints in the world - can take food and candles to the Rotunda at Balmoral Beach and picnic to the tunes of a string quartet.
At Manly there will be music and scuba diving, a sausage sizzle and free candles.
Many local councils have arranged events. Among them, Willoughby will host a free evening of drumming, fire twirling and music at Naremburn Park, on the corner of Park Road and Station Street, from 5pm to 9.30pm. There will be recycling workshops, renewable energy information and sustainable living demonstrations. Jane Caro from The Gruen Transfer will be MC.
At Carss Bush Park, in the Kogarah Council area, people can watch an Aboriginal Dreaming story told through dance, didjeridoos and clapsticks. (Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Earth Hour
Bondi Beach
Green News Media
Environmentalists and the Environment
Events
Thursday, 12 March 2009
Beach Stunt - The Bondi View - March 2009
Bondi Beach local Greg Tingle and aviator Paul Bennet made a gutsy attempt to block out the sun at Bondi Beach last Saturday when Bennet took his Pitt's Special to the air, plastered in Aquasun signage, and circled Bondi Beach. Clouds lessened the effect but the stunt was incident free, and no sharks were spotted. Bennet is the Australian advanced aerobatic reigning champion and is now working on an air stunt for the world famous Crusty Demons.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Paul Bennet
Aquasun
Bondi Beach
Media Man Australia Profiles
Paul Bennet
Aquasun
Bondi Beach
Friday, 6 March 2009
Ravesi's launch hot new function space at Bondi SLSC, Bondi Beach - 5th March 2009
In an exciting new partnership that teams two Bondi institutions, iconic Ravesi’s and the internationally renowned Bondi Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club, join forces to offer a very special catering and venue option in 2009.
Ravesi’s General Manager Troy Graham says, “We’re excited about this new collaboration. Within Ravesi’s we offer the restaurant and Drift as function venues and our new catering agreement with Bondi SLSC gives us even further variety and a fresh new space to work within. The newly renovated Scenic Lounge above the surfclub has a more casual ambiance and its position right on Bondi Beach offers spectacular views and one of the best locations in Sydney.”
“Our close neighbour Ravesi’s were the obvious choice to manage the Scenic Lounge and catering. They have a fantastic food reputation and we share the same vision for the Scenic Lounge,” says Rod Harvey, President Bondi SLSC.
Long renowned as one of Sydney’s ultimate beachside dining destinations, Ravesi’s has a range of venue and tailored function packages available to cater for all tastes and occasions - from weddings to corporate functions, birthday parties, christenings and more.
The glamour and sophistication of Drift Nightclub and the stunningly elegant Ravesi’s restaurant on the bustling Campbell Parade strip compliment the casual but stylish Scenic Lounge right on the sands of Bondi Beach.
The stunning venue options, all offering a quintessential Bondi experience with breathtaking coastal views, are accentuated by the luxurious cuisine and specially tailored catering menus of Executive Chef Darren Elmes.
Elmes’ catering selections – which can be specially designed to fit event and function requirements - blend a sexy mix of Australasian flavours with influences from Latin America and the Mediterranean.
Bondi SLSC catering menus range from Barbeque canapés and grill selections to a Seafood Barbeque menu and Buffet with carving station options all accompanied by a variety of salads and desserts as well as tailored drinks packages served from the Scenic Lounge bar.
With views and location the main attraction, the Scenic Lounge at the Bondi SLSC also features a full catering kitchen, AV facilities including a ceiling mounted projector and screen, several large sized outdoor balconies and a large indoor function space for sit-down and cocktail events. Extensive parking is on offer in the surrounding beachside carpark and the hire fee is only $1,550 which includes cleaning and security.
Further menus and offerings are available for Ravesi’s Restaurant (including ala carte dining) and Drift Nightclub with cocktails and tapas as well as sit down dining.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Ravesi’s
Bondi Beach
Ravesi’s General Manager Troy Graham says, “We’re excited about this new collaboration. Within Ravesi’s we offer the restaurant and Drift as function venues and our new catering agreement with Bondi SLSC gives us even further variety and a fresh new space to work within. The newly renovated Scenic Lounge above the surfclub has a more casual ambiance and its position right on Bondi Beach offers spectacular views and one of the best locations in Sydney.”
“Our close neighbour Ravesi’s were the obvious choice to manage the Scenic Lounge and catering. They have a fantastic food reputation and we share the same vision for the Scenic Lounge,” says Rod Harvey, President Bondi SLSC.
Long renowned as one of Sydney’s ultimate beachside dining destinations, Ravesi’s has a range of venue and tailored function packages available to cater for all tastes and occasions - from weddings to corporate functions, birthday parties, christenings and more.
The glamour and sophistication of Drift Nightclub and the stunningly elegant Ravesi’s restaurant on the bustling Campbell Parade strip compliment the casual but stylish Scenic Lounge right on the sands of Bondi Beach.
The stunning venue options, all offering a quintessential Bondi experience with breathtaking coastal views, are accentuated by the luxurious cuisine and specially tailored catering menus of Executive Chef Darren Elmes.
Elmes’ catering selections – which can be specially designed to fit event and function requirements - blend a sexy mix of Australasian flavours with influences from Latin America and the Mediterranean.
Bondi SLSC catering menus range from Barbeque canapés and grill selections to a Seafood Barbeque menu and Buffet with carving station options all accompanied by a variety of salads and desserts as well as tailored drinks packages served from the Scenic Lounge bar.
With views and location the main attraction, the Scenic Lounge at the Bondi SLSC also features a full catering kitchen, AV facilities including a ceiling mounted projector and screen, several large sized outdoor balconies and a large indoor function space for sit-down and cocktail events. Extensive parking is on offer in the surrounding beachside carpark and the hire fee is only $1,550 which includes cleaning and security.
Further menus and offerings are available for Ravesi’s Restaurant (including ala carte dining) and Drift Nightclub with cocktails and tapas as well as sit down dining.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Ravesi’s
Bondi Beach
Thursday, 5 March 2009
Surfers spooked by shark sighting at Bondi, by Georgina Robinson - The Sydney Morning Herald - 4th March 2009
Eight people were forced to abandon their after-work surf at Bondi Beach yesterday after a two-metre shark swam under them.
Real-estate agent Karl Timms said he was in the water off Bondi about 7.30pm in a group of about eight surfers when he spotted a dark shape.
"I thought what I saw was a piece of seaweed but when I could actually see what it was ... and I looked out to another guy and said, 'Did you see what I saw' and he said, 'Yeah I saw it too,' " said Mr Timms, a surfer with 40 years' experience.
"It looked like it was very wide, very pointed, so I would say it was probably around the seven-foot [2.1-metre] mark.
"So it wasn't too big but seven foot is also too big, you know."
He said he asked another surfer, who also confirmed the sighting. They told the others and quickly made their way in to shore.
"There wasn't mass hysteria, there was a lot of tourists ... they were probably more excited and elated more than anything else that something like that was out there," Mr Timms said.
He did not surf this morning and would not go out tonight, he said.
"But only because the swell's dropped off. There's next to nothing," he said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Surfing
Bondi Beach
Real-estate agent Karl Timms said he was in the water off Bondi about 7.30pm in a group of about eight surfers when he spotted a dark shape.
"I thought what I saw was a piece of seaweed but when I could actually see what it was ... and I looked out to another guy and said, 'Did you see what I saw' and he said, 'Yeah I saw it too,' " said Mr Timms, a surfer with 40 years' experience.
"It looked like it was very wide, very pointed, so I would say it was probably around the seven-foot [2.1-metre] mark.
"So it wasn't too big but seven foot is also too big, you know."
He said he asked another surfer, who also confirmed the sighting. They told the others and quickly made their way in to shore.
"There wasn't mass hysteria, there was a lot of tourists ... they were probably more excited and elated more than anything else that something like that was out there," Mr Timms said.
He did not surf this morning and would not go out tonight, he said.
"But only because the swell's dropped off. There's next to nothing," he said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Surfing
Bondi Beach
Sunday, 1 March 2009
Publicity stunt at Bondi Beach blocks out the sun...almost
Bondi Beach media and marketing entrepreneur, Greg Tingle, and long time Media Man friend and associate, aviator, Paul Bennet, made a gutsy attempt to block out the Sun at Bondi Beach this past Saturday morning.
Bennet took his Pitt's Special to the air, plastered in Aqausun signage, and circled Bondi Beach at least half a dozen times to show beachgoers the reverse side of his wings which featured Aquasun, the iconic Australian sunscreen.
Due to strong and extremely thick cloud formations the visual effect was not quite as stunning as what Bennet, Tingle and Aquasun had hoped for, but the message cut through none the less.
The Bondi View can report that the Bondi Beach stunt was incident free, and no sharks or white pointers were spotted on Saturday.
Bennet is the Australian Advanced Aerobatic reigning champion and is currently putting together an air stunt component for the world famous Crusty Demons.
On the stunt Bennet advised, "These sort of performances are always tricky. We can control and influence many things, but not the appearance of clouds. It was an enjoyable and safe display and everyone was happy with the ultimate result".
Bennet's manager, Tingle joked, "Well, at least it didn't rain and thank God Malcolm Turnbull wasn't able to accept our invitation to this one. The cloud incident was embarrassing enough. We don't think anyone got sunburned for the first half of the day, and we're grateful The View was able to cover it anyway due to our unusual attempt to help raise sun protection awareness. The tourists seemed to enjoy the show, but I'm only half sure about the locals. We handed out hundreds of free sunscreen packs so that's only a good thing".
*photos
Bennet's Pitt's Special shows us its wings
Agent, Greg Tingle, and the Aquasun beach babes crew
Bennet took his Pitt's Special to the air, plastered in Aqausun signage, and circled Bondi Beach at least half a dozen times to show beachgoers the reverse side of his wings which featured Aquasun, the iconic Australian sunscreen.
Due to strong and extremely thick cloud formations the visual effect was not quite as stunning as what Bennet, Tingle and Aquasun had hoped for, but the message cut through none the less.
The Bondi View can report that the Bondi Beach stunt was incident free, and no sharks or white pointers were spotted on Saturday.
Bennet is the Australian Advanced Aerobatic reigning champion and is currently putting together an air stunt component for the world famous Crusty Demons.
On the stunt Bennet advised, "These sort of performances are always tricky. We can control and influence many things, but not the appearance of clouds. It was an enjoyable and safe display and everyone was happy with the ultimate result".
Bennet's manager, Tingle joked, "Well, at least it didn't rain and thank God Malcolm Turnbull wasn't able to accept our invitation to this one. The cloud incident was embarrassing enough. We don't think anyone got sunburned for the first half of the day, and we're grateful The View was able to cover it anyway due to our unusual attempt to help raise sun protection awareness. The tourists seemed to enjoy the show, but I'm only half sure about the locals. We handed out hundreds of free sunscreen packs so that's only a good thing".
*photos
Bennet's Pitt's Special shows us its wings
Agent, Greg Tingle, and the Aquasun beach babes crew
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Publicity stunt today at Bondi Beach
Publicity stunt today at Bondi Beach.
Approx 9.30am
More details to follow.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Approx 9.30am
More details to follow.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Great white attacked Bondi surfer - 23rd February 2009
A 2.5-metre great white shark was responsible for the attack on a surfer at Bondi Beach.
Government scientists confirmed a great white was involved after studying photos 33-year-old surfer Glenn Orgias' wounds, NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said.
"I can confirm a 2.5m great white shark was involved in the attack on the evening of Thursday, February 12 at Bondi,'' Mr Macdonald said.
Mr Orgias' hand was almost severed in the attack, which came a day after a bull shark in Sydney Harbour mauled navy diver Paul de Gelder, who has since lost his hand and leg.
Mr Macdonald said Bondi Beach was netted at the time of the attack, but added the nets were designed to break up habitat rather than prevent sharks from entering beach areas.
"Sharks of the size that was involved in the attack on the Bondi surfer are starting to change their diet from being primarily fish-based to feeding on marine mammals such as seals and dolphins,'' he said.
"Note that in almost all cases, great whites tend to release the person after biting - probably as they don't recognise the taste.''
Mr Macdonald said 21 great white sharks had been caught in nets off south Sydney since 1990.
"Two great white sharks of about 2 metres have previously been caught off Bondi, one in December 2005 and one in November 2008,'' he said.
Before the shark meshing program began in 1937, there were 24 fatalities in Sydney waters alone between 1900 and 1937.
"Of the ocean beaches at that time, Bondi had the highest number of attacks in the Sydney region with six, then Coogee and Maroubra both with five each,'' he said.
The risk of shark attack can be lessened by not swimming at dawn or dusk, avoiding waters with known effluents or sewage and areas that are used by recreational or commercial fishers, as well as not swimming in areas with signs of baitfish or fish feeding activity.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Government scientists confirmed a great white was involved after studying photos 33-year-old surfer Glenn Orgias' wounds, NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said.
"I can confirm a 2.5m great white shark was involved in the attack on the evening of Thursday, February 12 at Bondi,'' Mr Macdonald said.
Mr Orgias' hand was almost severed in the attack, which came a day after a bull shark in Sydney Harbour mauled navy diver Paul de Gelder, who has since lost his hand and leg.
Mr Macdonald said Bondi Beach was netted at the time of the attack, but added the nets were designed to break up habitat rather than prevent sharks from entering beach areas.
"Sharks of the size that was involved in the attack on the Bondi surfer are starting to change their diet from being primarily fish-based to feeding on marine mammals such as seals and dolphins,'' he said.
"Note that in almost all cases, great whites tend to release the person after biting - probably as they don't recognise the taste.''
Mr Macdonald said 21 great white sharks had been caught in nets off south Sydney since 1990.
"Two great white sharks of about 2 metres have previously been caught off Bondi, one in December 2005 and one in November 2008,'' he said.
Before the shark meshing program began in 1937, there were 24 fatalities in Sydney waters alone between 1900 and 1937.
"Of the ocean beaches at that time, Bondi had the highest number of attacks in the Sydney region with six, then Coogee and Maroubra both with five each,'' he said.
The risk of shark attack can be lessened by not swimming at dawn or dusk, avoiding waters with known effluents or sewage and areas that are used by recreational or commercial fishers, as well as not swimming in areas with signs of baitfish or fish feeding activity.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Friday, 13 February 2009
Bondi Beach closed after second Sydney shark attack, by Evelyn Yamine and Steve Gee - The Daily Telegraph 13th February 2009
Bondi Beach is closed this morning after a bloody shark attack there last night - the second such incident in Sydney in two days.
The 33-year-old surfer - known, it is believed, as Glenn - was still undergoing emergency surgery early today after his hand was partially severed.
Do you know Glenn or were you there? Call us in confidence on 02 9288 3413
He was surfing off the southern end of the beach when he was grabbed on the left arm by a shark in murky waters about 7.30pm.
It followed Wednesday's savage Sydney Harbour attack on navy diver Paul de Gelders, who lost a hand - now doctors fear he may also lose a leg.
As the Bondi surfer struggled with the predator about 50m from the shore, he screamed for help, shouting "shark" to warn others in the water.
Lifeguards believe the man was attacked by what they suspect was a "bronze whaler about 2m long".
The victim was in a serious condition in St Vincent's Hospital early today and it was not known if his hand could be saved.
Meanwhile three surfers were in the water at Bondi this morning - although they were soon ordered out.
"It was a bit of a shock to hear about the attack," said one. "But people won't stay out of the water for long."
Witness Sebastien Le Bail told The Daily Telegraph he and his friend Mikael Thomas heard the scream as they were surfing about 20m away.
The injured man was helped back to the shore by bodyboarders and off-duty doctors, and other surfers helped stem the bleeding until paramedics arrived on scene.
"We heard a guy scream out 'shark, shark'," Mr Le Bail, a French tourist, said.
"We just got out of the water and we ran to the guy and his hand was hanging off, and he had a big cut on his arm,".
Mr Le Bail and Mr Thomas helped tie the leash of a surf board around his arm and packed ice on the wound. Mr Le Bail said the man - who lives in Dover Heights and is believed to be named Glen - was conscious and aware of his severe injuries but was losing a lot of blood.
"It was chaos. We carried him to the street and we got ice and towels and we just kept talking to him and kept telling him he was going to be fine," Mr Le Bail, 21, said.
"When I first saw his hand I had to turn my head and look away. It was very bad."
Mr Thomas, also 21, said the victim looked like he had been "cut with a big knife".
"He was very, very shocked but he was very brave and he was trying to keep his mind from going to sleep," he said.
An ambulance service spokeswoman said the man's arm was partially severed. Police said the victim and the other surfers in the water did not see the shark so could not confirm the breed.
This is the second shark attack in Sydney this week. Navy diver Able Seaman Paul de Gelder lost his hand after he was savaged at Woolloomooloo on Wednesday.
Last night was believed to be the first shark attack at Bondi Beach since February 8, 1929. (Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
The 33-year-old surfer - known, it is believed, as Glenn - was still undergoing emergency surgery early today after his hand was partially severed.
Do you know Glenn or were you there? Call us in confidence on 02 9288 3413
He was surfing off the southern end of the beach when he was grabbed on the left arm by a shark in murky waters about 7.30pm.
It followed Wednesday's savage Sydney Harbour attack on navy diver Paul de Gelders, who lost a hand - now doctors fear he may also lose a leg.
As the Bondi surfer struggled with the predator about 50m from the shore, he screamed for help, shouting "shark" to warn others in the water.
Lifeguards believe the man was attacked by what they suspect was a "bronze whaler about 2m long".
The victim was in a serious condition in St Vincent's Hospital early today and it was not known if his hand could be saved.
Meanwhile three surfers were in the water at Bondi this morning - although they were soon ordered out.
"It was a bit of a shock to hear about the attack," said one. "But people won't stay out of the water for long."
Witness Sebastien Le Bail told The Daily Telegraph he and his friend Mikael Thomas heard the scream as they were surfing about 20m away.
The injured man was helped back to the shore by bodyboarders and off-duty doctors, and other surfers helped stem the bleeding until paramedics arrived on scene.
"We heard a guy scream out 'shark, shark'," Mr Le Bail, a French tourist, said.
"We just got out of the water and we ran to the guy and his hand was hanging off, and he had a big cut on his arm,".
Mr Le Bail and Mr Thomas helped tie the leash of a surf board around his arm and packed ice on the wound. Mr Le Bail said the man - who lives in Dover Heights and is believed to be named Glen - was conscious and aware of his severe injuries but was losing a lot of blood.
"It was chaos. We carried him to the street and we got ice and towels and we just kept talking to him and kept telling him he was going to be fine," Mr Le Bail, 21, said.
"When I first saw his hand I had to turn my head and look away. It was very bad."
Mr Thomas, also 21, said the victim looked like he had been "cut with a big knife".
"He was very, very shocked but he was very brave and he was trying to keep his mind from going to sleep," he said.
An ambulance service spokeswoman said the man's arm was partially severed. Police said the victim and the other surfers in the water did not see the shark so could not confirm the breed.
This is the second shark attack in Sydney this week. Navy diver Able Seaman Paul de Gelder lost his hand after he was savaged at Woolloomooloo on Wednesday.
Last night was believed to be the first shark attack at Bondi Beach since February 8, 1929. (Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Surfer injured in second Sydney shark attack - 12th February 2009
SYDNEY — A surfer was seriously injured today in Sydney’s second shark attack in two days, police said.
Shark attacks are rare off Australia’s largest city, although fishermen report the number of fish — including sharks — in Sydney Harbour is increasing as government policies and industrial changes reduce water pollution.
A 33-year-old man, whose name was not released, was taken to a hospital with "severe injuries" to his left arm after the attack off Sydney’s central Bondi Beach, a state police statement said.
Others surfers helped him to shore. His condition was serious, police said.
A Navy diver fought off a shark Wednesday in the harbor, but his hand and a leg were badly mauled.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Shark attacks are rare off Australia’s largest city, although fishermen report the number of fish — including sharks — in Sydney Harbour is increasing as government policies and industrial changes reduce water pollution.
A 33-year-old man, whose name was not released, was taken to a hospital with "severe injuries" to his left arm after the attack off Sydney’s central Bondi Beach, a state police statement said.
Others surfers helped him to shore. His condition was serious, police said.
A Navy diver fought off a shark Wednesday in the harbor, but his hand and a leg were badly mauled.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Shops can't survive at Bondi, by Brenden Hills - The Sunday Telegraph - 1st February 2009
It's the gateway to Australia's busiest tourist beach, but Bondi's Campbell Pde has been called a "jinxed'' business black hole.
Many businesses are struggling to survive on the beachside strip with owners blaming Bondi's chronic lack of parking, overzealous council rangers and exorbitant rents.
Despite attempts to improve the fortunes of local businesses - including a free parking trial in 2007 - Campbell Pde is littered with empty shops and "for lease'' signs.
The Sunday Telegraph counted 10 empty, abandoned or up-for-lease properties on Campbell Pde.
In August, vacancy rates on the strip hit 11 per cent. Tenants are being slugged with rents as high as $1900 per square metre, the second highest average rent in Sydney.
Bondi Chamber of Commerce vice-president Max Sian said the massive rents and a lack of parking were killing businesses.
"Everyone thinks the streets are paved with gold, but they are really just covered in sand,'' he said.
"It's that expensive to park that people just head up to Westfield Bondi where they can get two hours for free and won't get fined.''
George Svetlov, whose gelato bar has been on the strip since 1958, said restaurants and shops struggled to make the adjustment from summer to the slower winter period.
"When people are paying $4000 to $5000 a week for rent they can keep their heads above water over summer but they struggle in the winter,'' he said.
"They go into debt over the winter periods and try to cover their losses in the summer. Some can keep it up for five years, but most only last for two to three.''
British burger baron David Michaels' Bite Me burger outlet recently closed down after failing to keep pace with the high cost of occupying a spot on Campbell Pde.
When asked what he would have done differently if he could, the 39-year-old said: ``Avoid Bondi.''
"We went down there all big-eyed, saw billions of people and thought, `How could we go wrong?' But it didn't even hit 30 per cent of the figures we thought we'd forecast. I wish I'd had a crystal ball because I wouldn't have even opened there in the first place,'' Mr Michaels said.
"We were the fourth tenant (at our location) in about five years.
"If you walk down the street there's boarded up shops everywhere. The whole strip is jinxed.''
Jerry Leis, managing director of Metro Commercial, which manages commercial properties in Bondi, said there was still high demand for premises on Campbell Pde, but Mr Michaels' business wasn't suitable for the strip.
"If he's paying $7000 to $8000 for rent and then charging $30 for a hamburger he has to ask himself whether that's the right sort of business for Bondi Beach.''
Waverley Mayor Sally Betts said parking had always been an issue and the council had introduced a parking review which would be discussed on February 13. (Credit: The Sunday Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Many businesses are struggling to survive on the beachside strip with owners blaming Bondi's chronic lack of parking, overzealous council rangers and exorbitant rents.
Despite attempts to improve the fortunes of local businesses - including a free parking trial in 2007 - Campbell Pde is littered with empty shops and "for lease'' signs.
The Sunday Telegraph counted 10 empty, abandoned or up-for-lease properties on Campbell Pde.
In August, vacancy rates on the strip hit 11 per cent. Tenants are being slugged with rents as high as $1900 per square metre, the second highest average rent in Sydney.
Bondi Chamber of Commerce vice-president Max Sian said the massive rents and a lack of parking were killing businesses.
"Everyone thinks the streets are paved with gold, but they are really just covered in sand,'' he said.
"It's that expensive to park that people just head up to Westfield Bondi where they can get two hours for free and won't get fined.''
George Svetlov, whose gelato bar has been on the strip since 1958, said restaurants and shops struggled to make the adjustment from summer to the slower winter period.
"When people are paying $4000 to $5000 a week for rent they can keep their heads above water over summer but they struggle in the winter,'' he said.
"They go into debt over the winter periods and try to cover their losses in the summer. Some can keep it up for five years, but most only last for two to three.''
British burger baron David Michaels' Bite Me burger outlet recently closed down after failing to keep pace with the high cost of occupying a spot on Campbell Pde.
When asked what he would have done differently if he could, the 39-year-old said: ``Avoid Bondi.''
"We went down there all big-eyed, saw billions of people and thought, `How could we go wrong?' But it didn't even hit 30 per cent of the figures we thought we'd forecast. I wish I'd had a crystal ball because I wouldn't have even opened there in the first place,'' Mr Michaels said.
"We were the fourth tenant (at our location) in about five years.
"If you walk down the street there's boarded up shops everywhere. The whole strip is jinxed.''
Jerry Leis, managing director of Metro Commercial, which manages commercial properties in Bondi, said there was still high demand for premises on Campbell Pde, but Mr Michaels' business wasn't suitable for the strip.
"If he's paying $7000 to $8000 for rent and then charging $30 for a hamburger he has to ask himself whether that's the right sort of business for Bondi Beach.''
Waverley Mayor Sally Betts said parking had always been an issue and the council had introduced a parking review which would be discussed on February 13. (Credit: The Sunday Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Throng celebrates Aussie thong culture - 26th January 2009
Thousands of people have swarmed onto Sydney's Bondi Beach to celebrate Australia Day and that quintessential part of the national costume - thongs.
About 500 patriots snapped up giant green and gold inflatable thongs and assembled at the northern end of the country's most famous beach to take part in the Havaianas Thong Challenge.
They took to the surf at 11.15am (AEDT) in an attempt to break the record for the most number of blow-up thongs on the water at any given time.
The challenge, now in its fourth year, managed to get 863 people into the ocean at nearby Coogee Beach on Australia Day in 2006.
On Monday, the record looked safe for another year, but it wasn't for want of trying.
Those without a giant thong strapped to their backs had a pair on their feet.
Paul Baxter, 46, from Wattle Grove, said his double-pluggers were superior to the more common single-plug variety.
A recent British immigrant, Mr Baxter said he was celebrating Australia Day at Bondi for the first time.
"We don't do this kind of thing in the UK, it just doesn't happen," he said.
"It's great, just a really great time."
Mr Baxter said light rain had not affected the mood.
"It doesn't take away from this, Australia Day at Bondi, it doesn't get much better than that." (Credit: AAP)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
About 500 patriots snapped up giant green and gold inflatable thongs and assembled at the northern end of the country's most famous beach to take part in the Havaianas Thong Challenge.
They took to the surf at 11.15am (AEDT) in an attempt to break the record for the most number of blow-up thongs on the water at any given time.
The challenge, now in its fourth year, managed to get 863 people into the ocean at nearby Coogee Beach on Australia Day in 2006.
On Monday, the record looked safe for another year, but it wasn't for want of trying.
Those without a giant thong strapped to their backs had a pair on their feet.
Paul Baxter, 46, from Wattle Grove, said his double-pluggers were superior to the more common single-plug variety.
A recent British immigrant, Mr Baxter said he was celebrating Australia Day at Bondi for the first time.
"We don't do this kind of thing in the UK, it just doesn't happen," he said.
"It's great, just a really great time."
Mr Baxter said light rain had not affected the mood.
"It doesn't take away from this, Australia Day at Bondi, it doesn't get much better than that." (Credit: AAP)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Monday, 26 January 2009
He's seen plenty, now May wins his own gold medal, by Rick Feneley - The Sydney Morning Herald - 26th January 2009
Norman May recalls the day he was arrested at gunpoint. He was an 11-year-old scallywag with one glass eye, the real one having been sacrificed in a game of bows and arrows when he was six.
"I was in a gang of kids robbing shops at Randwick," Mr May says. They were a gang of seven or eight, and mostly they stole cigarettes. "I still remember the cops coming and holding a gun at us. They threw me in the shelter for a week. You learned very quickly … My life of crime finished in a week."
Mr May, of course, is better known for his life of passion for sport. At 80, he looks back on almost 50 years of broadcasting - on cricket, rugby, 12 Olympic Games and another 12 Commonwealth Games. He has covered half of those games since his "retirement" from the ABC in 1984.
"The thing is, don't retire," Mr May told the Herald at his flat overlooking Bondi Beach.
Today Mr May becomes a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the community through his fund-raising and promotional roles with the Australian Olympic and Commonwealth Games team appeals and for his support for cultural and seniors organisations. In 1983, Mr May was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the Queen's birthday honours for his service to the media.
He will not be resting on his laurels today. Norman May, AM, OAM, will be fulfilling his duties as an Australia Day ambassador in Lithgow, home town of Marjorie "Lithgow Flash" Jackson.
It is his 10th year as an ambassador and he rattles off the towns where he has officiated - Campbelltown, Warialda, Cobar, Dubbo, Nyngan, Bega, Merriwa, Narrabri, Cowra - with the same instant recall that resurrects his favourite moments at the microphone: the first Australian Olympic gold medal he called, Dawn Fraser's 100m freestyle triumph at the 1964 Games; a 15-year-old Shane Gould's three gold medals in the pool at the 1972 Olympics; and his perpetually misquoted "'gold, gold, gold" description of the Australian men's surprise 4 x 100m medley victory at the 1980 Games in Moscow. In fact, Mr May howled: "Gold! Gold to Australia! Gold!"
He makes no apology for his nationalistic fervour as a commentator. It is a career that chose him. "It was a fluke."
In his 20s he worked as an insurance clerk, at which he was "terrible". But Mr May was also a surf lifesaver and ABC radio recruited him to help with a Christmas Day broadcast of a competition in 1954. Then, on February 9, 1957, three months after the advent of television in Australia, Mr May joined the first telecast of a surf carnival at Dee Why. In April that year he was part of the broadcast team in the first telecast of a rugby game in Australia, at Chatswood. At 29, a late starter, he became an ABC trainee on paltry wages.
Mr May never married. Rather, until he was 54, he was his mother's sole carer. As a 14-year-old girl she had been given two years to live, so sick was she with scarlet fever and typhoid.
Despite a stint in her 20s with the Sunshine Girls, a song-and-dance troupe that travelled the state to raise money for the defence forces, she had a weak heart and became an invalid. Her son cared for her until she died at 86.
It had made courting difficult. "And once you get to 54, most women have had their kids."
Is it a matter of regret? Mr May smiles: "You take it as it comes." He has "lady friends" and has been making up for lost time.
Overall, he says, he has been very fortunate. "I've been to a Games - Commonwealth or Olympic - every two years since 1964." He has been fund-raising since 1963, "a small repayment."
Now he contributes to an ageing and memory study with the University of NSW and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He makes a good case study.
He is ageing very well. He will be 81 on Valentine's Day and he hopes to make the London Olympics in 2012. And his memories are sharp - and happy. (Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Sports News
Bondi Beach
"I was in a gang of kids robbing shops at Randwick," Mr May says. They were a gang of seven or eight, and mostly they stole cigarettes. "I still remember the cops coming and holding a gun at us. They threw me in the shelter for a week. You learned very quickly … My life of crime finished in a week."
Mr May, of course, is better known for his life of passion for sport. At 80, he looks back on almost 50 years of broadcasting - on cricket, rugby, 12 Olympic Games and another 12 Commonwealth Games. He has covered half of those games since his "retirement" from the ABC in 1984.
"The thing is, don't retire," Mr May told the Herald at his flat overlooking Bondi Beach.
Today Mr May becomes a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the community through his fund-raising and promotional roles with the Australian Olympic and Commonwealth Games team appeals and for his support for cultural and seniors organisations. In 1983, Mr May was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the Queen's birthday honours for his service to the media.
He will not be resting on his laurels today. Norman May, AM, OAM, will be fulfilling his duties as an Australia Day ambassador in Lithgow, home town of Marjorie "Lithgow Flash" Jackson.
It is his 10th year as an ambassador and he rattles off the towns where he has officiated - Campbelltown, Warialda, Cobar, Dubbo, Nyngan, Bega, Merriwa, Narrabri, Cowra - with the same instant recall that resurrects his favourite moments at the microphone: the first Australian Olympic gold medal he called, Dawn Fraser's 100m freestyle triumph at the 1964 Games; a 15-year-old Shane Gould's three gold medals in the pool at the 1972 Olympics; and his perpetually misquoted "'gold, gold, gold" description of the Australian men's surprise 4 x 100m medley victory at the 1980 Games in Moscow. In fact, Mr May howled: "Gold! Gold to Australia! Gold!"
He makes no apology for his nationalistic fervour as a commentator. It is a career that chose him. "It was a fluke."
In his 20s he worked as an insurance clerk, at which he was "terrible". But Mr May was also a surf lifesaver and ABC radio recruited him to help with a Christmas Day broadcast of a competition in 1954. Then, on February 9, 1957, three months after the advent of television in Australia, Mr May joined the first telecast of a surf carnival at Dee Why. In April that year he was part of the broadcast team in the first telecast of a rugby game in Australia, at Chatswood. At 29, a late starter, he became an ABC trainee on paltry wages.
Mr May never married. Rather, until he was 54, he was his mother's sole carer. As a 14-year-old girl she had been given two years to live, so sick was she with scarlet fever and typhoid.
Despite a stint in her 20s with the Sunshine Girls, a song-and-dance troupe that travelled the state to raise money for the defence forces, she had a weak heart and became an invalid. Her son cared for her until she died at 86.
It had made courting difficult. "And once you get to 54, most women have had their kids."
Is it a matter of regret? Mr May smiles: "You take it as it comes." He has "lady friends" and has been making up for lost time.
Overall, he says, he has been very fortunate. "I've been to a Games - Commonwealth or Olympic - every two years since 1964." He has been fund-raising since 1963, "a small repayment."
Now he contributes to an ageing and memory study with the University of NSW and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He makes a good case study.
He is ageing very well. He will be 81 on Valentine's Day and he hopes to make the London Olympics in 2012. And his memories are sharp - and happy. (Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Sports News
Bondi Beach
Future of newspapers in hands of young, publisher says - The Canberra Times - 26th January 2009
John B.Fairfax has good reason to celebrate over breakfast on Bondi Beach this morning.
Mr Fairfax has been made an Officer in the General Division for service to the print media industry, particularly the development of news services in rural and remote areas, and to the community through executive roles with agricultural, youth and charitable organisations.
His thoughts may well turn to youngsters out enjoying the waves, as he believes the future of newspapers is in their hands.
He said others were more deserving of the award, a higher accolade than the Order of Australia in 1994 in recognition of his services to the media and community.
He's touched and grateful and says this honour should be shared among people in rural and regional Australia, particularly the younger ones, whose enthusiasm and thinking have been a stimulating part of his life.
He hopes young people will begin reading newspapers at some stage.
''It's often forgotten young people have never actually been great newspaper readers,'' he said. ''We say now that the young are using the internet and their mobile phones and so on to get information and that is true.
''But we still don't really know, when they settle down with their family, as was the case in the past, whether they will then progress to newspapers.'' John Thistleton (Credit: The Canberra Times)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Fairfax
Bondi Beach
Mr Fairfax has been made an Officer in the General Division for service to the print media industry, particularly the development of news services in rural and remote areas, and to the community through executive roles with agricultural, youth and charitable organisations.
His thoughts may well turn to youngsters out enjoying the waves, as he believes the future of newspapers is in their hands.
He said others were more deserving of the award, a higher accolade than the Order of Australia in 1994 in recognition of his services to the media and community.
He's touched and grateful and says this honour should be shared among people in rural and regional Australia, particularly the younger ones, whose enthusiasm and thinking have been a stimulating part of his life.
He hopes young people will begin reading newspapers at some stage.
''It's often forgotten young people have never actually been great newspaper readers,'' he said. ''We say now that the young are using the internet and their mobile phones and so on to get information and that is true.
''But we still don't really know, when they settle down with their family, as was the case in the past, whether they will then progress to newspapers.'' John Thistleton (Credit: The Canberra Times)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Fairfax
Bondi Beach
Sunday, 18 January 2009
A sunburnt country, by Claire Buckis - The Sydney Morning Herald - 14th January 2009
On a sunny afternoon at Sydney's Bondi Beach, a group of lily-white British backpackers are turning pink under the Australian sun. The regulars are here, too: copper-skinned sun-lovers in the surf and lazing on the sand, and girls in bikinis baking topless.
At first glance, it doesn't seem much has changed since a nation of beach-loving Aussies became world leaders in contracting melanoma. "About 1600 people die from skin cancer in Australia each year and about 400,000 people get skin cancer," says Professor Ian Olver, CEO of Cancer Council Australia. But it seems the statistics aren't stopping the sun worship.
"You won't keep people away from the sun," says furniture removalist Jarrah Darling, 26, who visits the beach at least weekly for one to two hours of surf and sun. He never wears sunscreen - he says he doesn't burn - but he does get his moles checked. For him, being bronze is essential.
"Gotta have that tan," says Darling. "Especially on the girls. I love a nice brown girl." Spray tans don't cut it. "I was at the races at Randwick and all the girls had fake tans and, nah, it's no good," he says. "It's orangey, it's blotchy, it smells bad. And if you've kissed a girl on the neck who's wearing it, it doesn't taste good, either."
Tans have always been about status, according to British sun-worshipper Robert Mighall. In his book Sunshine: One Man's Search For Happiness, which is part memoir and part history of sunbaking, Mighall says tanned skin became prized around 1900, when more people started working indoors and a tan meant you could afford a beach holiday.
Australia's love affair with tanning was epitomised in Max Dupain's classic 1937 photo Sunbaker, which captured the tanned torso of a man sunbathing. In the '80s, Elle Macpherson and Paul Hogan embodied the bronzed Aussie ideal. Now pale has made a comeback and it's the ladies leading the way to alabaster: think Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman and model Gemma Ward. (Our blokes aren't so concerned about sun-induced wrinkles: take a look at Hugh Jackman's weathered drover in Australia.)
Sunbaking makes us feel good. Sunlight on skin produces the "happy" brain chemical serotonin, which might explain why a study published last year in the American Journal Of Health Behaviour found 27 per cent of college students surveyed were "tanning dependent"; that is, obsessed by sun and solariums. Indeed, a lack of sunlight in winter can cause a type of depression called seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Sufferers can be treated with light therapy to boost serotonin levels.
Back on Sydney's beaches, Gunter Kitzler, 72, a Bondi lifesaver for 35 years, recalls that back in the 1970s (when lying in the sun dipped in coconut oil was a sign you love life) people had to be warned off the beach. "You would see people burning themselves to blisters," he says. "We'd say, 'Sorry, you'd better cover up.' A few times they had babies lying next to them, uncovered; that was heartbreaking."
Kitzler spends hours outside most days, usually just in his speedos. He never wears sunscreen - even though he's had moles removed - and says he doesn't burn.
Kitzler might not suffer from sunburn, but he is still at risk of melanoma. Anyone - fair, olive, black, young or old - can get skin cancer, although fair-skinned people are more prone to it. The pigment in dark skin provides some protection from UV, but "it doesn't matter if you do it slowly or quickly; there's no way of getting a safe tan by exposure to ultraviolet light," says Professor Olver from Cancer Council Australia. Deliberate or otherwise, tanned skin is a sign the sun has damaged your
skin enough to put you at risk of cancer.
Not everyone at Bondi is baking: there are plenty of hats and sleeves. "Australians are more conscious of sunscreen," says Canadian backpacker Caroline Boyd, 26. "My mom was always in the sun and she is prematurely aged. You'd think I would have learned from that, but I haven't."
Eric and Jean Jones, both 69, are tourists from Warrington, in England's north-west. Jean has covered up, while her husband catches some rays. "This is the first sun we've had," says Eric, who isn't wearing sunscreen. "We arrived in Melbourne and thought the Aussies were kidding us."
Sydney has stronger UV radiation and Melbourne has more cloud cover, so Victorians get less sun. Ellina Shikhman, 29, from Tan-Trum Tanning Complex in Melbourne's Balwyn, gets a weekly solarium tan - "I prefer a bit of colour" - because she doesn't want to get burnt at the beach. "A solarium is a controlled environment, so ideally a person shouldn't burn," she says.
In 2007, 26-year-old Melburnian Clare Oliver lost a three-year battle with melanoma after tanning in solariums. In Victoria, solariums must carry health warnings and under-16s are banned, while in NSW, legislation came into force on January 1 banning under-18s and those with very fair "type 1" skin.
The official line from Cancer Council Australia is that you should never use solariums, avoid the sun between 10am and 3pm, apply sunscreen and cover up. While we do need sun to produce vitamin D to lower the risk of multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis and breast, colon and prostate cancers, "you need only a few minutes' sunlight a day in summer to generate your requirement of vitamin D," says Professor Olver. "You get that walking to the shops. In winter, you need two or three hours' exposure a week."
You would be hard-pressed to find an Aussie who doesn't know about the dangers of tanning, so why do we do it? "I love just sitting on the beach," says Jarrah Darling. "It makes you feel good." (Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
At first glance, it doesn't seem much has changed since a nation of beach-loving Aussies became world leaders in contracting melanoma. "About 1600 people die from skin cancer in Australia each year and about 400,000 people get skin cancer," says Professor Ian Olver, CEO of Cancer Council Australia. But it seems the statistics aren't stopping the sun worship.
"You won't keep people away from the sun," says furniture removalist Jarrah Darling, 26, who visits the beach at least weekly for one to two hours of surf and sun. He never wears sunscreen - he says he doesn't burn - but he does get his moles checked. For him, being bronze is essential.
"Gotta have that tan," says Darling. "Especially on the girls. I love a nice brown girl." Spray tans don't cut it. "I was at the races at Randwick and all the girls had fake tans and, nah, it's no good," he says. "It's orangey, it's blotchy, it smells bad. And if you've kissed a girl on the neck who's wearing it, it doesn't taste good, either."
Tans have always been about status, according to British sun-worshipper Robert Mighall. In his book Sunshine: One Man's Search For Happiness, which is part memoir and part history of sunbaking, Mighall says tanned skin became prized around 1900, when more people started working indoors and a tan meant you could afford a beach holiday.
Australia's love affair with tanning was epitomised in Max Dupain's classic 1937 photo Sunbaker, which captured the tanned torso of a man sunbathing. In the '80s, Elle Macpherson and Paul Hogan embodied the bronzed Aussie ideal. Now pale has made a comeback and it's the ladies leading the way to alabaster: think Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman and model Gemma Ward. (Our blokes aren't so concerned about sun-induced wrinkles: take a look at Hugh Jackman's weathered drover in Australia.)
Sunbaking makes us feel good. Sunlight on skin produces the "happy" brain chemical serotonin, which might explain why a study published last year in the American Journal Of Health Behaviour found 27 per cent of college students surveyed were "tanning dependent"; that is, obsessed by sun and solariums. Indeed, a lack of sunlight in winter can cause a type of depression called seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Sufferers can be treated with light therapy to boost serotonin levels.
Back on Sydney's beaches, Gunter Kitzler, 72, a Bondi lifesaver for 35 years, recalls that back in the 1970s (when lying in the sun dipped in coconut oil was a sign you love life) people had to be warned off the beach. "You would see people burning themselves to blisters," he says. "We'd say, 'Sorry, you'd better cover up.' A few times they had babies lying next to them, uncovered; that was heartbreaking."
Kitzler spends hours outside most days, usually just in his speedos. He never wears sunscreen - even though he's had moles removed - and says he doesn't burn.
Kitzler might not suffer from sunburn, but he is still at risk of melanoma. Anyone - fair, olive, black, young or old - can get skin cancer, although fair-skinned people are more prone to it. The pigment in dark skin provides some protection from UV, but "it doesn't matter if you do it slowly or quickly; there's no way of getting a safe tan by exposure to ultraviolet light," says Professor Olver from Cancer Council Australia. Deliberate or otherwise, tanned skin is a sign the sun has damaged your
skin enough to put you at risk of cancer.
Not everyone at Bondi is baking: there are plenty of hats and sleeves. "Australians are more conscious of sunscreen," says Canadian backpacker Caroline Boyd, 26. "My mom was always in the sun and she is prematurely aged. You'd think I would have learned from that, but I haven't."
Eric and Jean Jones, both 69, are tourists from Warrington, in England's north-west. Jean has covered up, while her husband catches some rays. "This is the first sun we've had," says Eric, who isn't wearing sunscreen. "We arrived in Melbourne and thought the Aussies were kidding us."
Sydney has stronger UV radiation and Melbourne has more cloud cover, so Victorians get less sun. Ellina Shikhman, 29, from Tan-Trum Tanning Complex in Melbourne's Balwyn, gets a weekly solarium tan - "I prefer a bit of colour" - because she doesn't want to get burnt at the beach. "A solarium is a controlled environment, so ideally a person shouldn't burn," she says.
In 2007, 26-year-old Melburnian Clare Oliver lost a three-year battle with melanoma after tanning in solariums. In Victoria, solariums must carry health warnings and under-16s are banned, while in NSW, legislation came into force on January 1 banning under-18s and those with very fair "type 1" skin.
The official line from Cancer Council Australia is that you should never use solariums, avoid the sun between 10am and 3pm, apply sunscreen and cover up. While we do need sun to produce vitamin D to lower the risk of multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis and breast, colon and prostate cancers, "you need only a few minutes' sunlight a day in summer to generate your requirement of vitamin D," says Professor Olver. "You get that walking to the shops. In winter, you need two or three hours' exposure a week."
You would be hard-pressed to find an Aussie who doesn't know about the dangers of tanning, so why do we do it? "I love just sitting on the beach," says Jarrah Darling. "It makes you feel good." (Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Sunday, 11 January 2009
Cigarette beach ban goes up in smoke in Sydney - The Australian - 11th January 2009
Councils responsible for Sydney's popular beaches have not fined one smoker, four years after the bans were introduced.
Smokers at Bondi, Australia's busiest beach, are ignoring Waverley Council signs that clearly prohibit the habit.
They are also lighting up without fear of fines on Waverley's other major beaches, Bronte and Tamarama, although anti-smoking regulations have been in effect since December 2004.
Warringah Council, responsible for northern beaches including Collaroy and Dee Why, is also yet to issue a fine. Nor has Manly Council.
A Waverley spokeswoman said the smoking ban was more about education and self-regulation than fines.
"Rangers and lifeguards tell smokers nicely to move away from the sand," she said.
"Most people are happy to go to the promenade when told they cannot smoke on the beach. It's not about money, it's more about the environment."
A Manly Council spokeswoman said smokers were constantly warned against lighting up through public broadcast over microphones at Manly, North Steyne and Queenscliff beaches.
The only council to have utilised its power to fine is Mosman, which last year fined three people $110 for smoking on the foreshore reserve at Balmoral beach.
Action on Smoking and Health Australia CEO Anne Jones said councils "have a blind spot on this issue".
"It does make a mockery of laws if there is no intention to enforce them," Ms Jones said.
"Waverley needs to be more proactive given that Bondi is such a popular beach."
Clean Up Australia lists cigarette butts as one of the most common items littering our beaches. "It can be a health issue when beaches are crowded with families and small children can put cigarette butts in their mouths," Ms Jones said.
Randwick Council is considering introducing smoking fines after 11-year-old Adam Fahy-Majeed started a community campaign to ban the habit on Coogee beach last year. (Credit: The Australian)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Smokers at Bondi, Australia's busiest beach, are ignoring Waverley Council signs that clearly prohibit the habit.
They are also lighting up without fear of fines on Waverley's other major beaches, Bronte and Tamarama, although anti-smoking regulations have been in effect since December 2004.
Warringah Council, responsible for northern beaches including Collaroy and Dee Why, is also yet to issue a fine. Nor has Manly Council.
A Waverley spokeswoman said the smoking ban was more about education and self-regulation than fines.
"Rangers and lifeguards tell smokers nicely to move away from the sand," she said.
"Most people are happy to go to the promenade when told they cannot smoke on the beach. It's not about money, it's more about the environment."
A Manly Council spokeswoman said smokers were constantly warned against lighting up through public broadcast over microphones at Manly, North Steyne and Queenscliff beaches.
The only council to have utilised its power to fine is Mosman, which last year fined three people $110 for smoking on the foreshore reserve at Balmoral beach.
Action on Smoking and Health Australia CEO Anne Jones said councils "have a blind spot on this issue".
"It does make a mockery of laws if there is no intention to enforce them," Ms Jones said.
"Waverley needs to be more proactive given that Bondi is such a popular beach."
Clean Up Australia lists cigarette butts as one of the most common items littering our beaches. "It can be a health issue when beaches are crowded with families and small children can put cigarette butts in their mouths," Ms Jones said.
Randwick Council is considering introducing smoking fines after 11-year-old Adam Fahy-Majeed started a community campaign to ban the habit on Coogee beach last year. (Credit: The Australian)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Friday, 9 January 2009
Muscle beach party, by Steve Meacham - The Sydney Morning Herald - 8th January 2009
Long before it became the preserve of buffed bodybuilders and flimsily clad beach volleyball players, the sands of Bondi played host to another sporting discipline that simply oozed sex: "beachobatics".
For a few short years, immediately before and during World War II, a group of muscle-bound men and agile young women would gather at the southern end of the beach. There they'd strip off into the most daring costumes of the day and contort their sun-browned bodies into the most complex human pyramids. Everyday thoughts of economic depression and global warfare were - like the girl held horizontally aloft by an outstretched arm - temporarily suspended.
Yet the exploits of these Bondi beachobats were lost to history until the chance discovery of a cardboard box full of 290 medium-format negatives taken by a man now belatedly acknowledged as one of Australia's most outstanding photographers, George Caddy.
Caddy's talent itself had been forgotten until last year when Alan Davies, curator of photography at the State Library of NSW, received an email from photographer Jon Lewis. "You've got to see these. They're of Bondi and they're sensational. Do you know anything about this bloke George Caddy?"
Davies, who prides himself on his encyclopedic knowledge of NSW photographers, had never heard of him. "Nor had any of my colleagues. There were a lot of people taking photographs in the 1930s and '40s but very few taking interesting photographs. And still less taking pictures which transcended their time."
Caddy, it later emerged, had been a well-known dancing champion, nicknamed The Bondi Jitterbug, in the late 1930s. He was one of the first to shock the staid ballrooms of Sydney with the unashamedly erotic steps of the dance craze that had swept America - a combination of charleston, lindy hop and truckin' whose origins lay in the jazz clubs of Harlem.
But Caddy, who had moved with his family to Sydney from Melbourne in 1929 when he was 15, also was a keen amateur photographer whose work was well-known within camera club circles. Like his professional contemporary Max Dupain, Caddy was influenced heavily by the modernist style he'd seen in the New York-based Popular Photography magazine.
And, from 1936 until 1941 when he was enlisted in the Army, he spent most weekends down at the beach, photographing his friends who were members of a local gym.
Davies, however, knew none of this. The only information on the negatives were the dates each photograph had been taken.
Even Caddy's son, Paul, who had found the box when he was clearing out his father's flat in Maroubra after George's death in 1983, had not appreciated how precious the photographs were. He'd taken them with him to Tasmania and forgotten about them for two decades. Davies could see that George Caddy had been "an exceptional photographer, jaw-droppingly good". But who were his subjects? Where had they learned their acrobatic skills? What equipment had Caddy used? And why was there no record of any of Caddy's photographs after he went into the Army?
For example, there's one photograph showing two perfectly focused, somersaulting gymnasts frozen mid-air, with grains of sand glistening in the sun. Even today, using digital cameras, automatic flash and auto speed, it would be difficult to replicate. So how did Caddy manage it on October 4, 1936?
Davies and his colleagues began searching, detective-like, for clues. Fortunately the State Library was the best place to start.
Regina Sutton, the State Librarian, says Caddy's short but brilliant burst of creativity "would have remained unknown were it not for the Library's resources . . . Books, magazines, electoral rolls, telephone directories and [our] online catalogue all contributed."
The first breakthrough came when Davies found one of Caddy's photographs - a group tableau of seven men lifting five women - in the library's copy of Health And Physical Culture magazine, published on February 1, 1939 (three years after Caddy had taken it).
It illustrated an article by Wal Balmus, a professional strongman and keen beachobat. Balmus recommended sand gymnastics because it brings "young couples together to enjoy each other's company . . . minus mock modesty". Crucially, it identified the people as members of the Graham Gymnasium.
Colleagues at Waverley Library soon established that "Graham Men's Gymnastic Club" had been formed in Waverley in 1921. A story in the local paper, appealing for more information, struck gold - a reader who had kept an album of Caddy's beachobatic pictures, with the names of the gymnasts on the back of one print.
Bit by bit, the story of Caddy and his extraordinary record of Bondi beach life unfolded. A favourite subject was Valmae Maher, a North Bondi beauty who regularly appeared as a pinup in Truth magazine. On February 3, 1940 she posed provocatively for Caddy, lying in the sand wearing what locals called "a swoon suit" because of its peek-a-boo cut and lace-up panels.
Davies points out the swoon suit was born of wartime necessity: rubberised fabrics were scarce and rationed and the laces allowed one size to fit most.
Another 1940 photograph shows Caddy posing with the camera he used to take his beachobatic shots. To an expert like Davies, it's fascinating: a Voigtlander Bergheil plate camera with a wire frame viewfinder, flashlight attachment and roll-film back, producing 6x6 centimetre negatives.
Further research revealed details of Caddy's life even his son didn't know. Born in Melbourne in 1914, he was only 17 when his unemployed father walked out on his mother while they were living in Bennett Street, Bondi. In 1936, George found a job as a paper-pattern cutter for the Australian Home Journal, spending his spare time dancing and taking photographs.
One of his finest tableau pictures, taken on October 8, 1939 just after the outbreak of World War II, shows no less than eight members of the gym, with the white-capped Alf Stanbrough in the key position of bearer. At the apex is Charlie Lusty - the only member of the group still alive. Within two years, beachobatics had disappeared from Bondi. One by one, the men went off to war - except for Lusty, who was in a protected profession.
Caddy himself was stationed near Brisbane as a gunner in an anti-aircraft battery. When he returned to civilian life in 1946, he seems to have abandoned dancing and photography. The reasons aren't entirely clear, though he married Betty York in 1943, becoming a father when Paul was born the following year. "Home duties probably won out," Davies says.
As well, beachobatics - influenced by the health and fitness philosophies of pre-Nazi Germany - had been born in a more carefree age. Of the seven men in the tableau picture who went to war, "two never came back", Davies says. "Others came back completely shattered."
As for George Caddy, he packed away his cameras, stored his negatives in a cardboard box and put his days as "The Bondi Jitterbug" behind him.
Fortunately, his photographs have survived.
Bondi Jitterbug: George Caddy And His Camera opens today at the State Library of NSW and runs until February 22. (Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald).
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
For a few short years, immediately before and during World War II, a group of muscle-bound men and agile young women would gather at the southern end of the beach. There they'd strip off into the most daring costumes of the day and contort their sun-browned bodies into the most complex human pyramids. Everyday thoughts of economic depression and global warfare were - like the girl held horizontally aloft by an outstretched arm - temporarily suspended.
Yet the exploits of these Bondi beachobats were lost to history until the chance discovery of a cardboard box full of 290 medium-format negatives taken by a man now belatedly acknowledged as one of Australia's most outstanding photographers, George Caddy.
Caddy's talent itself had been forgotten until last year when Alan Davies, curator of photography at the State Library of NSW, received an email from photographer Jon Lewis. "You've got to see these. They're of Bondi and they're sensational. Do you know anything about this bloke George Caddy?"
Davies, who prides himself on his encyclopedic knowledge of NSW photographers, had never heard of him. "Nor had any of my colleagues. There were a lot of people taking photographs in the 1930s and '40s but very few taking interesting photographs. And still less taking pictures which transcended their time."
Caddy, it later emerged, had been a well-known dancing champion, nicknamed The Bondi Jitterbug, in the late 1930s. He was one of the first to shock the staid ballrooms of Sydney with the unashamedly erotic steps of the dance craze that had swept America - a combination of charleston, lindy hop and truckin' whose origins lay in the jazz clubs of Harlem.
But Caddy, who had moved with his family to Sydney from Melbourne in 1929 when he was 15, also was a keen amateur photographer whose work was well-known within camera club circles. Like his professional contemporary Max Dupain, Caddy was influenced heavily by the modernist style he'd seen in the New York-based Popular Photography magazine.
And, from 1936 until 1941 when he was enlisted in the Army, he spent most weekends down at the beach, photographing his friends who were members of a local gym.
Davies, however, knew none of this. The only information on the negatives were the dates each photograph had been taken.
Even Caddy's son, Paul, who had found the box when he was clearing out his father's flat in Maroubra after George's death in 1983, had not appreciated how precious the photographs were. He'd taken them with him to Tasmania and forgotten about them for two decades. Davies could see that George Caddy had been "an exceptional photographer, jaw-droppingly good". But who were his subjects? Where had they learned their acrobatic skills? What equipment had Caddy used? And why was there no record of any of Caddy's photographs after he went into the Army?
For example, there's one photograph showing two perfectly focused, somersaulting gymnasts frozen mid-air, with grains of sand glistening in the sun. Even today, using digital cameras, automatic flash and auto speed, it would be difficult to replicate. So how did Caddy manage it on October 4, 1936?
Davies and his colleagues began searching, detective-like, for clues. Fortunately the State Library was the best place to start.
Regina Sutton, the State Librarian, says Caddy's short but brilliant burst of creativity "would have remained unknown were it not for the Library's resources . . . Books, magazines, electoral rolls, telephone directories and [our] online catalogue all contributed."
The first breakthrough came when Davies found one of Caddy's photographs - a group tableau of seven men lifting five women - in the library's copy of Health And Physical Culture magazine, published on February 1, 1939 (three years after Caddy had taken it).
It illustrated an article by Wal Balmus, a professional strongman and keen beachobat. Balmus recommended sand gymnastics because it brings "young couples together to enjoy each other's company . . . minus mock modesty". Crucially, it identified the people as members of the Graham Gymnasium.
Colleagues at Waverley Library soon established that "Graham Men's Gymnastic Club" had been formed in Waverley in 1921. A story in the local paper, appealing for more information, struck gold - a reader who had kept an album of Caddy's beachobatic pictures, with the names of the gymnasts on the back of one print.
Bit by bit, the story of Caddy and his extraordinary record of Bondi beach life unfolded. A favourite subject was Valmae Maher, a North Bondi beauty who regularly appeared as a pinup in Truth magazine. On February 3, 1940 she posed provocatively for Caddy, lying in the sand wearing what locals called "a swoon suit" because of its peek-a-boo cut and lace-up panels.
Davies points out the swoon suit was born of wartime necessity: rubberised fabrics were scarce and rationed and the laces allowed one size to fit most.
Another 1940 photograph shows Caddy posing with the camera he used to take his beachobatic shots. To an expert like Davies, it's fascinating: a Voigtlander Bergheil plate camera with a wire frame viewfinder, flashlight attachment and roll-film back, producing 6x6 centimetre negatives.
Further research revealed details of Caddy's life even his son didn't know. Born in Melbourne in 1914, he was only 17 when his unemployed father walked out on his mother while they were living in Bennett Street, Bondi. In 1936, George found a job as a paper-pattern cutter for the Australian Home Journal, spending his spare time dancing and taking photographs.
One of his finest tableau pictures, taken on October 8, 1939 just after the outbreak of World War II, shows no less than eight members of the gym, with the white-capped Alf Stanbrough in the key position of bearer. At the apex is Charlie Lusty - the only member of the group still alive. Within two years, beachobatics had disappeared from Bondi. One by one, the men went off to war - except for Lusty, who was in a protected profession.
Caddy himself was stationed near Brisbane as a gunner in an anti-aircraft battery. When he returned to civilian life in 1946, he seems to have abandoned dancing and photography. The reasons aren't entirely clear, though he married Betty York in 1943, becoming a father when Paul was born the following year. "Home duties probably won out," Davies says.
As well, beachobatics - influenced by the health and fitness philosophies of pre-Nazi Germany - had been born in a more carefree age. Of the seven men in the tableau picture who went to war, "two never came back", Davies says. "Others came back completely shattered."
As for George Caddy, he packed away his cameras, stored his negatives in a cardboard box and put his days as "The Bondi Jitterbug" behind him.
Fortunately, his photographs have survived.
Bondi Jitterbug: George Caddy And His Camera opens today at the State Library of NSW and runs until February 22. (Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald).
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Sunday, 4 January 2009
Bondi Beach Record Crowds In Past Week
The largely beautiful weather, annual holidays and world class acts, and sprinkle of celebs, have help see Bondi Beach attract records crowds in the past few weeks.
Many locals are thanking their lucky stars that there was a alcohol ban enforced at Bondi Beach to help keep problems to a minimum.
Some Bondi Beach residents have been seen at Bronte Beach to escape the massive crowds, with some success, and to grab a bit of shade under the more greener Bronte Beach parks.
Whether your a Bondi Beach or Bronte Beach lover, or both, there's no denying that Aussie beach lovers have it pretty good in Waverley.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bronte Beach
Bondi Beach
Many locals are thanking their lucky stars that there was a alcohol ban enforced at Bondi Beach to help keep problems to a minimum.
Some Bondi Beach residents have been seen at Bronte Beach to escape the massive crowds, with some success, and to grab a bit of shade under the more greener Bronte Beach parks.
Whether your a Bondi Beach or Bronte Beach lover, or both, there's no denying that Aussie beach lovers have it pretty good in Waverley.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bronte Beach
Bondi Beach
Bondi girl dies in car crash, by Geesche Jacobsen - The Sun-Herald - 4th January 2009
A 15-year-old Bondi girl has died in a car crash, in which the P-plate driver and another girl were injured.
The 15-year-old, who was a passenger in the front seat of the Honda Integra, died when the car driven by an 18-year-old Bankstown man hit a power pole on Newbridge Road at Chipping Norton about 7.30pm last night.
A 16-year-old girl, also from Bondi, who was sitting in the back was trapped and sustained serious leg injuries.
She was taken to Liverpool Hospital for treatment, as was the driver who sustained cuts and abrasions.
The car appeared to be travelling westbound on Newbridge Road when it lost control, crossed the median strip and stuck the power poll on the eastbound side of the road.
The police crash investigations unit is investigating the crash and preparing a report for the coroner.
The girl was the state's third casualty for the new year and the 13th for the Christmas-new year holiday period.
AAP reports: Less than three hours later police were called to Freemans Drive, Freemans Waterhole, in the Hunter region where a 21-year-old man died after his car struck a tree.
It is believed the Newcastle driver of the Holden Commodore failed to take a bend in the road and lost control.
Meanwhile, a crash this morning has left a man in a critical condition in hospital.
Witnesses told police that a Honda overtook a pink Hyundai sedan while travelling east along Cooper Street at Strathfield, about 6.30am.
A short time later both cars failed to negotiate a bend in the road.
The Honda smashed into a power pole, critically injuring a back-seat passenger.
"The P-plate driver - an 18-year-old man from Enfield - and the male front-seat passenger were also taken to hospital," police said in a statement.
The Hyundai driver was treated for minor injuries.
NSW Police traffic commander Chief Superintendent John Hartley told Macquarie Radio it was of concern that young males had been the drivers in each of the crashes.
"Young males on P-plates are causing more grief than they should," he said.
"After this spate of deaths I'll be speaking to my counterparts at the RTA this next week or so and we'll work out what other strategies we can put in place to get tougher on P-platers.
"We do target them throughout the year but it's just ludicrous the crashes involved are not accidents, they're ones where people have been stupid and as a result someone has died.
"I think we need to just try and get some common sense into these young males."
Chief Superintendent Hartley said confiscation of vehicles needed to be looked at in cases such as serious speeding offences.
In 2008 the NSW annual road toll was 395, which was 40 fewer than 2007 and the first time the toll had fallen below 400 since 1944. (Credit: The Sun-Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
The 15-year-old, who was a passenger in the front seat of the Honda Integra, died when the car driven by an 18-year-old Bankstown man hit a power pole on Newbridge Road at Chipping Norton about 7.30pm last night.
A 16-year-old girl, also from Bondi, who was sitting in the back was trapped and sustained serious leg injuries.
She was taken to Liverpool Hospital for treatment, as was the driver who sustained cuts and abrasions.
The car appeared to be travelling westbound on Newbridge Road when it lost control, crossed the median strip and stuck the power poll on the eastbound side of the road.
The police crash investigations unit is investigating the crash and preparing a report for the coroner.
The girl was the state's third casualty for the new year and the 13th for the Christmas-new year holiday period.
AAP reports: Less than three hours later police were called to Freemans Drive, Freemans Waterhole, in the Hunter region where a 21-year-old man died after his car struck a tree.
It is believed the Newcastle driver of the Holden Commodore failed to take a bend in the road and lost control.
Meanwhile, a crash this morning has left a man in a critical condition in hospital.
Witnesses told police that a Honda overtook a pink Hyundai sedan while travelling east along Cooper Street at Strathfield, about 6.30am.
A short time later both cars failed to negotiate a bend in the road.
The Honda smashed into a power pole, critically injuring a back-seat passenger.
"The P-plate driver - an 18-year-old man from Enfield - and the male front-seat passenger were also taken to hospital," police said in a statement.
The Hyundai driver was treated for minor injuries.
NSW Police traffic commander Chief Superintendent John Hartley told Macquarie Radio it was of concern that young males had been the drivers in each of the crashes.
"Young males on P-plates are causing more grief than they should," he said.
"After this spate of deaths I'll be speaking to my counterparts at the RTA this next week or so and we'll work out what other strategies we can put in place to get tougher on P-platers.
"We do target them throughout the year but it's just ludicrous the crashes involved are not accidents, they're ones where people have been stupid and as a result someone has died.
"I think we need to just try and get some common sense into these young males."
Chief Superintendent Hartley said confiscation of vehicles needed to be looked at in cases such as serious speeding offences.
In 2008 the NSW annual road toll was 395, which was 40 fewer than 2007 and the first time the toll had fallen below 400 since 1944. (Credit: The Sun-Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Wayne Cooper's Bondi blow-up, by Nick Leys - The Sunday Telegraph - 4th January 2009
Despite publicly declaring a new chapter in his life following a domestic violence conviction, fashion designer Wayne Cooper almost came to blows with his new lover's ex-boyfriend during a casual summer stroll at Bondi Beach.
Cooper, 44, became involved in an verbal altercation with TV sports presenter David Murdoch last Sunday as the founder of the Brave label walked along the promenade in the middle of the day at Bondi with model Heidi Houghting, his current squeeze.
Gallery: Wayne Cooper's confrontation in pictures
Cooper's confrontation with Murdoch was caught on camera.
The designer is currently on a two-year good-behaviour bond following a conviction for assaulting his de facto wife, Sarah Marsh, last June.
Cooper repeatedly pushed his wife in an emotional rage just two weeks after the former model had undergone surgery for gall bladder cancer.
The Sunday Telegraph understands words were spoken between Cooper and Murdoch - who dated Houghting for two years until recently - and tempers quickly flared.
Acting more like a geezer on holiday than an international designer, a shirtless Cooper, in white sunglasses, board shorts and thongs, snarled and squared up to Murdoch, a larger and fitter looking man, before Murdoch walked away up the promenade.
Houghting then had to drag her beau away as he kept up the verbal tirade in front of hundreds of holiday beachgoers at a packed Bondi.
Despite the personal dramas, Cooper has maintained a highly visible presence on the Sydney social circuit. He also remains in a close professional relationship with retail chain Myer.
Early on June 19, police were called to the Tamarama home Cooper shared with Marsh and their two children.
Cooper was taken to Bondi police station and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault and intimidation.
In October, he was convicted of assaulting Marsh. The designer received a two-year good behaviour bond and apprehended violence order for the assault on Marsh.
Charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, stalking and intimidating were dropped.
Cooper has been the subject of an online petition, pressuring Myer to dump him as a profiled designer.
The petition, "Wayne Cooper should not profit from women'', has 175 signatories.
(Credit: The Sunday Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Cooper, 44, became involved in an verbal altercation with TV sports presenter David Murdoch last Sunday as the founder of the Brave label walked along the promenade in the middle of the day at Bondi with model Heidi Houghting, his current squeeze.
Gallery: Wayne Cooper's confrontation in pictures
Cooper's confrontation with Murdoch was caught on camera.
The designer is currently on a two-year good-behaviour bond following a conviction for assaulting his de facto wife, Sarah Marsh, last June.
Cooper repeatedly pushed his wife in an emotional rage just two weeks after the former model had undergone surgery for gall bladder cancer.
The Sunday Telegraph understands words were spoken between Cooper and Murdoch - who dated Houghting for two years until recently - and tempers quickly flared.
Acting more like a geezer on holiday than an international designer, a shirtless Cooper, in white sunglasses, board shorts and thongs, snarled and squared up to Murdoch, a larger and fitter looking man, before Murdoch walked away up the promenade.
Houghting then had to drag her beau away as he kept up the verbal tirade in front of hundreds of holiday beachgoers at a packed Bondi.
Despite the personal dramas, Cooper has maintained a highly visible presence on the Sydney social circuit. He also remains in a close professional relationship with retail chain Myer.
Early on June 19, police were called to the Tamarama home Cooper shared with Marsh and their two children.
Cooper was taken to Bondi police station and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault and intimidation.
In October, he was convicted of assaulting Marsh. The designer received a two-year good behaviour bond and apprehended violence order for the assault on Marsh.
Charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, stalking and intimidating were dropped.
Cooper has been the subject of an online petition, pressuring Myer to dump him as a profiled designer.
The petition, "Wayne Cooper should not profit from women'', has 175 signatories.
(Credit: The Sunday Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Friday, 2 January 2009
Bondi man charged over child porn - 2nd January 2009
Police have seized thousands of DVDs from the home of a Sydney man charged with possessing child pornography.
An examination of the material revealed more than 80 videos and 150 photos allegedly depicting girls between the ages of five and 15, police said.
A 36-year-old man was charged on Friday with eight counts of child pornography.
The investigation began when the Australian Customs Service alerted police, who seized all the material from a home at Bondi Beach on November 27.
The man was due to appear in Sydney's Central Local Court today.
An examination of the material revealed more than 80 videos and 150 photos allegedly depicting girls between the ages of five and 15, police said.
A 36-year-old man was charged on Friday with eight counts of child pornography.
The investigation began when the Australian Customs Service alerted police, who seized all the material from a home at Bondi Beach on November 27.
The man was due to appear in Sydney's Central Local Court today.
Paris, Hinze, chill at Icebergs - The Daily Telegraph - 1st January 2009
By mid-afternoon, the traditional Icebergs New Year's Day party was a seething crush of fake-tanned glamazons, sinister musclemen and babbling ingenues as a heavy dance backbeat set the tone for a somewhat ominous celebration.
Now in its seventh year, the Bondi Icebergs Dining Room New Year's Day party raises big bucks for charity.
And in the midst of it all was Paris Hilton, busy texting on her mobile phone and doing her little dance as the 35C humidity hit her manicured curls and left her looking, in her billowing white gown, like a fallen angel.
Gallery: Paris Hilton does her thing in Sydney - and gets mobbed.
And she wasn't the only one.
Model Kristy Hinze finally took the opportunity to show off her billionaire fiance Jim Clark in their first public appearance together since he arrived in Australia 10 days ago and they celebrated their engagement here.
Gallery: Kristy Hinze and her model mates.
But the 29-year-old Australian beauty and her 64-year-old US beau paid only a fleeting visit to the celeb-studded event.
THEY'RE the kings of the Sydney night - and Icebergs host Maurice Terzini looked happy when his rivals, Ivy owner Justin Hemmes and Kings Cross nightclub promoter John Ibrahim, paid him the professional compliment of showing up at his door yesterday.
Terzini spent much of the day mingling and managing while the devilishly good looking Ibrahim attracted plenty of attention when he moved on to the dancefloor, accompanied by one large buddy, clearly not such a keen dancer. Ibrahim had earlier caused jaws to drop when he pulled up in a convoy of cars and emerged from his Bentley with a host of male friends.
And despite having to host his own pool party at the Ivy yesterday, Hemmes still found time to stop in at the beachside venue with girlfriend Amber L'Estrange.
WHILE the paparazzi were searching for the diminutive Hilton, outside Icebergs yesterday afternoon another Hollywood heavyweight slipped in quietly and almost unnoticed.
US actress Diane Kruger, best known for her starring role alongside Brad Pitt in Troy, dropped into the party with partner Joshua Jackson. The pair are here on holiday.
SASS & bide's Sarah Jane Clark has been a regular at the Icebergs New Year bash but this year the designer had good reason to miss the party - she gave birth on New Year's Eve.
Clark and her husband Daniel Baffsky welcomed their third son just before 10pm on the final day of 2008.
FORMER actor turned fashion agent Kym Wilson was certainly making a fashion statement in her white terry towelling jumpsuit at Icebergs. Wilson, who among other clients represents Australian designer Leona Edmiston in LA, is visiting her home town.
THE love has not waned for former Shire babe and now LA-based acting student Tahyna Tozzi and Bra Boy Koby Abberton, just home after a stint in jail in Hawaii after an altercation with Honolulu immigration officers. The pair only had eyes and arms for each other in the packed party venue.
Gallery: Cheyenne Tozzi in a cossie
Gallery: The two gorgeous Tozzis.
US oil heir Brandon Davis has been linked with everyone from Hilton to that other Tozzi sister, Cheyenne, but yesterday he was flying solo and in Paris's wake at the Icebergs party. (Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Icebergs
Bondi Beach
Now in its seventh year, the Bondi Icebergs Dining Room New Year's Day party raises big bucks for charity.
And in the midst of it all was Paris Hilton, busy texting on her mobile phone and doing her little dance as the 35C humidity hit her manicured curls and left her looking, in her billowing white gown, like a fallen angel.
Gallery: Paris Hilton does her thing in Sydney - and gets mobbed.
And she wasn't the only one.
Model Kristy Hinze finally took the opportunity to show off her billionaire fiance Jim Clark in their first public appearance together since he arrived in Australia 10 days ago and they celebrated their engagement here.
Gallery: Kristy Hinze and her model mates.
But the 29-year-old Australian beauty and her 64-year-old US beau paid only a fleeting visit to the celeb-studded event.
THEY'RE the kings of the Sydney night - and Icebergs host Maurice Terzini looked happy when his rivals, Ivy owner Justin Hemmes and Kings Cross nightclub promoter John Ibrahim, paid him the professional compliment of showing up at his door yesterday.
Terzini spent much of the day mingling and managing while the devilishly good looking Ibrahim attracted plenty of attention when he moved on to the dancefloor, accompanied by one large buddy, clearly not such a keen dancer. Ibrahim had earlier caused jaws to drop when he pulled up in a convoy of cars and emerged from his Bentley with a host of male friends.
And despite having to host his own pool party at the Ivy yesterday, Hemmes still found time to stop in at the beachside venue with girlfriend Amber L'Estrange.
WHILE the paparazzi were searching for the diminutive Hilton, outside Icebergs yesterday afternoon another Hollywood heavyweight slipped in quietly and almost unnoticed.
US actress Diane Kruger, best known for her starring role alongside Brad Pitt in Troy, dropped into the party with partner Joshua Jackson. The pair are here on holiday.
SASS & bide's Sarah Jane Clark has been a regular at the Icebergs New Year bash but this year the designer had good reason to miss the party - she gave birth on New Year's Eve.
Clark and her husband Daniel Baffsky welcomed their third son just before 10pm on the final day of 2008.
FORMER actor turned fashion agent Kym Wilson was certainly making a fashion statement in her white terry towelling jumpsuit at Icebergs. Wilson, who among other clients represents Australian designer Leona Edmiston in LA, is visiting her home town.
THE love has not waned for former Shire babe and now LA-based acting student Tahyna Tozzi and Bra Boy Koby Abberton, just home after a stint in jail in Hawaii after an altercation with Honolulu immigration officers. The pair only had eyes and arms for each other in the packed party venue.
Gallery: Cheyenne Tozzi in a cossie
Gallery: The two gorgeous Tozzis.
US oil heir Brandon Davis has been linked with everyone from Hilton to that other Tozzi sister, Cheyenne, but yesterday he was flying solo and in Paris's wake at the Icebergs party. (Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Icebergs
Bondi Beach
Thursday, 1 January 2009
Party girl Paris keeps crowd waiting, by Katherine Field and Aletha McHalick - The Australian - 1st January 2009
Guests waited for hours in Sydney for international party princess Paris Hilton to arrive for a New's Year Eve party.
Hilton, believed to have pocketed about $100,000 to attend the party at Sydney's Piano Room, arrived shortly before midnight (AEDT) in a short, sparkling metallic dress.
She sat in a private VIP room with selected guests including her sister Nicky Hilton and Nicky's boyfriend David Katzenberg.
Hilton hob-nobbed with Australian singer Amy Pearson as punters who had hoped to catch a glimpse of the US socialite missed out.
More than 800 people turned out at the eastern Sydney venue and its neighbouring nightclub Trademark in the hope of meeting the hotel heiress.
She spent the day at Bondi Beach before dining with Aussie DJ Kaz James and friends at Otto's restaurant at Woolloomooloo.
Other guests at the party hosted by online social networking site The Bongo Virus included designer Wayne Cooper, MTV host Ruby Rose, Cheyenne Tozzi and boyfriend Koby Abberton, Olympian Stephanie Rice, radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands and his wife Tamara Jaber, actor Nick Giannopolis and the Chaser's Chris Taylor.
Pop twins The Veronicas attracted attention wearing black and flanked by two burly security guards as police also roamed the party.
At a press conference earlier on Wednesday, Hilton said she was enjoying her trip.
"I am very excited to be Down Under. I love it here in Australia," she said.
While the leggy blonde will be partying, she was adamant she wasn't courting any male admirers while in town.
"No, I'm just single. I'm here on a girl's trip," she said.
The 27-year-old has already made an impression on Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who said she supported Ms Hilton's $5560 shopping splurge in Melbourne earlier this week.
"I think that Ms Hilton is onto something very important, which is whether or not you want to have a holiday that's about fashion or a big night out, Australia's a great place to do it," Ms Gillard told said.
"I heard that a politician said that," Ms Hilton responded. "I thought that was very sweet and it's true.
"I'm in Australia, I think it's important to help out, you know, the economy out here, everywhere in the world.
"And what's wrong with a doing a little shopping?
"It's New Year's. I need a New Year's dress."
But Ms Hilton, who favours Australian designers Sass & Bide and Ksubi, said she would be wearing Italian glad rags on Wednesday night.
"Tonight, I'm going to change a couple of times, but I'm going to be wearing this really beautiful vintage gown by Versace," she said.
Hilton will party into the wee hour of the new year before attending a function on Thursday at Bondi Icebergs Club.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Paris Hilton
Bondi Beach
Hilton, believed to have pocketed about $100,000 to attend the party at Sydney's Piano Room, arrived shortly before midnight (AEDT) in a short, sparkling metallic dress.
She sat in a private VIP room with selected guests including her sister Nicky Hilton and Nicky's boyfriend David Katzenberg.
Hilton hob-nobbed with Australian singer Amy Pearson as punters who had hoped to catch a glimpse of the US socialite missed out.
More than 800 people turned out at the eastern Sydney venue and its neighbouring nightclub Trademark in the hope of meeting the hotel heiress.
She spent the day at Bondi Beach before dining with Aussie DJ Kaz James and friends at Otto's restaurant at Woolloomooloo.
Other guests at the party hosted by online social networking site The Bongo Virus included designer Wayne Cooper, MTV host Ruby Rose, Cheyenne Tozzi and boyfriend Koby Abberton, Olympian Stephanie Rice, radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands and his wife Tamara Jaber, actor Nick Giannopolis and the Chaser's Chris Taylor.
Pop twins The Veronicas attracted attention wearing black and flanked by two burly security guards as police also roamed the party.
At a press conference earlier on Wednesday, Hilton said she was enjoying her trip.
"I am very excited to be Down Under. I love it here in Australia," she said.
While the leggy blonde will be partying, she was adamant she wasn't courting any male admirers while in town.
"No, I'm just single. I'm here on a girl's trip," she said.
The 27-year-old has already made an impression on Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who said she supported Ms Hilton's $5560 shopping splurge in Melbourne earlier this week.
"I think that Ms Hilton is onto something very important, which is whether or not you want to have a holiday that's about fashion or a big night out, Australia's a great place to do it," Ms Gillard told said.
"I heard that a politician said that," Ms Hilton responded. "I thought that was very sweet and it's true.
"I'm in Australia, I think it's important to help out, you know, the economy out here, everywhere in the world.
"And what's wrong with a doing a little shopping?
"It's New Year's. I need a New Year's dress."
But Ms Hilton, who favours Australian designers Sass & Bide and Ksubi, said she would be wearing Italian glad rags on Wednesday night.
"Tonight, I'm going to change a couple of times, but I'm going to be wearing this really beautiful vintage gown by Versace," she said.
Hilton will party into the wee hour of the new year before attending a function on Thursday at Bondi Icebergs Club.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Paris Hilton
Bondi Beach
Paris Hilton hits Bondi Beach - Herald Sun - 1st January 2009
Paris Hilton rolled out an old trick in Sydney yesterday.
As she did when last in Australia two years ago, Hilton made an "impromptu" visit to Bondi Beach.
While she did not repeat her now-famous Bondi swim and shower at the famous strip, the heiress still managed to create a ruckus as she walked along the sand with her "best friend forever", reality show starlet Brittany Flickinger, and her public relations boss, several minders and her tour "co-ordinator".
Hundreds of swimmers, sunbakers and even shoppers dropped everything to clamour around the social princess, which was no problem for Aussie security guard Adrian Gaudy, who is her personal minder.
He has worked for Hilton on numerous occasions, the first time being her visit for the 2003 Melbourne Cup.
But even he couldn't stop a few handfuls of sand being hurled in Hilton's direction from some beachgoers. (Credit: Herald Sun)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Paris Hilton
Bondi Beach
As she did when last in Australia two years ago, Hilton made an "impromptu" visit to Bondi Beach.
While she did not repeat her now-famous Bondi swim and shower at the famous strip, the heiress still managed to create a ruckus as she walked along the sand with her "best friend forever", reality show starlet Brittany Flickinger, and her public relations boss, several minders and her tour "co-ordinator".
Hundreds of swimmers, sunbakers and even shoppers dropped everything to clamour around the social princess, which was no problem for Aussie security guard Adrian Gaudy, who is her personal minder.
He has worked for Hilton on numerous occasions, the first time being her visit for the 2003 Melbourne Cup.
But even he couldn't stop a few handfuls of sand being hurled in Hilton's direction from some beachgoers. (Credit: Herald Sun)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Paris Hilton
Bondi Beach
Faithful flock to the Bondi Hilton - The Daily Telegraph - 31st December 2008
She isn't exactly Moses and there was no parting of the Red Sea, but when Paris Hilton touched down on the promised land of Bondi Beach yesterday, there was definitely a religious following.
Although far from her now-infamous swim and shower at the iconic strip this time two years ago, the heiress looked every bit the holy figure - complete with a headband and sandals - as she walked along the sand with the winner of the yet-to-be-released MTV reality show Paris Hilton's My New BFF, Brittany Flickinger.
See more photographs from the beach.
Hundreds of swimmers, sunbakers and even shoppers dropped everything to clamour around the social princess, which was no problem for Aussie security guard Adrian Gaudy, who was on hand during the crazy 2006 visit, too.
But even he couldn't stop a few handfuls of sand being hurled in Hilton's direction from some beachgoers, who couldn't understand what the fuss was about.
While saying the amount she was paid to pop into the Bongo Virus launch party last night was "a lot'' - $600,000 according to Sky News - the "it'' girl's all-important appearance fees are reportedly the latest victim of the global credit crunch.
In her hey-day (around the time of her last visit Down Under) she could reportedly bag $1million for showing her face. Plans to try to offset some of the party costs in Melbourne failed to take off after the Southern Star Observation Wheel made an 11th-hour withdrawal from a sponsorship deal on Monday. No other appearances have since been established.
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Paris Hilton
Bondi Beach
Although far from her now-infamous swim and shower at the iconic strip this time two years ago, the heiress looked every bit the holy figure - complete with a headband and sandals - as she walked along the sand with the winner of the yet-to-be-released MTV reality show Paris Hilton's My New BFF, Brittany Flickinger.
See more photographs from the beach.
Hundreds of swimmers, sunbakers and even shoppers dropped everything to clamour around the social princess, which was no problem for Aussie security guard Adrian Gaudy, who was on hand during the crazy 2006 visit, too.
But even he couldn't stop a few handfuls of sand being hurled in Hilton's direction from some beachgoers, who couldn't understand what the fuss was about.
While saying the amount she was paid to pop into the Bongo Virus launch party last night was "a lot'' - $600,000 according to Sky News - the "it'' girl's all-important appearance fees are reportedly the latest victim of the global credit crunch.
In her hey-day (around the time of her last visit Down Under) she could reportedly bag $1million for showing her face. Plans to try to offset some of the party costs in Melbourne failed to take off after the Southern Star Observation Wheel made an 11th-hour withdrawal from a sponsorship deal on Monday. No other appearances have since been established.
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Paris Hilton
Bondi Beach
Wednesday, 31 December 2008
Topless tanning sparks Aussie beach row
SYDNEY (AFP) — Topless tanning on Australia's iconic beaches could soon be outlawed if a conservative lawmaker wins a battle to force women to keep their breasts under wraps.
Fred Nile, an ordained reverend, has launched a bill which would ban topless sunbathing in the eastern state of New South Wales, which is home to Sydney's renowned Bondi beach.
Nile says women baring their breasts on the beach, a common practice among Australian sunworshippers, is offensive and should be banned.
"The law should be clear. It must say exposure of women's breasts on beaches will be prohibited," Nile told Tuesday's Daily Telegraph.
"If we don't, we could have people saying 'I'm not nude. I can walk (topless) down (Sydney's main street)," he said.
Nile, leader of the Christian Democrats, has won backing for his crusade from some members of both the major Labour and Liberal parties in the state parliament, the newspaper said.
But Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said topless sunbathing was a private issue.
"People want to go to the beach and use the beach in a variety of ways," Gillard told reporters.
"As long as people know what the rules are and know what to expect, I think it's a matter for the individuals involved."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Fred Nile, an ordained reverend, has launched a bill which would ban topless sunbathing in the eastern state of New South Wales, which is home to Sydney's renowned Bondi beach.
Nile says women baring their breasts on the beach, a common practice among Australian sunworshippers, is offensive and should be banned.
"The law should be clear. It must say exposure of women's breasts on beaches will be prohibited," Nile told Tuesday's Daily Telegraph.
"If we don't, we could have people saying 'I'm not nude. I can walk (topless) down (Sydney's main street)," he said.
Nile, leader of the Christian Democrats, has won backing for his crusade from some members of both the major Labour and Liberal parties in the state parliament, the newspaper said.
But Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said topless sunbathing was a private issue.
"People want to go to the beach and use the beach in a variety of ways," Gillard told reporters.
"As long as people know what the rules are and know what to expect, I think it's a matter for the individuals involved."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
Topless bathing not an issue: Bondi mayor, by Georgina Robinson - The Sydney Morning Herald - 30th December 2008
Waverley Council Mayor Sally Betts says she is aghast at moves by state politicians to outlaw women from sunbathing topless on NSW beaches.
"We've got alcohol-related violence, we've got under-age drinking and anti-social behaviour in the public domain - those are really important issues," Ms Betts told Fairfax Radio Network.
"If the Reverend Nile really wants to help people he should focus on those issues."
Ms Betts said she was at the beach on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and did not notice any topless women.
But if it was a problem, she would have heard about it, she said.
"In Waverley, we have a very involved community. They complain about everything," she said.
"But nobody has complained to me about topless [women]."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
"We've got alcohol-related violence, we've got under-age drinking and anti-social behaviour in the public domain - those are really important issues," Ms Betts told Fairfax Radio Network.
"If the Reverend Nile really wants to help people he should focus on those issues."
Ms Betts said she was at the beach on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and did not notice any topless women.
But if it was a problem, she would have heard about it, she said.
"In Waverley, we have a very involved community. They complain about everything," she said.
"But nobody has complained to me about topless [women]."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Topless sunbathing has long been tolerated on most beaches - The Daily Telegraph - 30th December 2008
In the days of Aub Laidlaw, the legendary Bondi Beach inspector, up to 50 female sunbathers a week would be escorted from the sands for wearing immodest dress.
We have not quite returned to Aub's era, which ran from 1929 until the late 1960s, but we may be on the verge of a modern equivalent.
Topless sunbaking has long been tolerated on most Sydney beaches. For the overwhelming majority of beachgoers, toplessness is no big deal. Yet now there is a bipartisan political push to ban this harmless and inoffensive practice.
No ban is needed.
Circumstances such as these demonstrate a kind of self-policing behaviour, whereby assembled communities decide for themselves where appropriate limits may be.
Toplessness is therefore accepted on many of our beaches, but would be frowned upon in George St.
This isn't hypocrisy. It's simply a recognition that different situations require different standards. And the standards on our beaches are entirely within the acceptable range - to everyone except, perhaps, Aub Laidlaw's ghost.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
We have not quite returned to Aub's era, which ran from 1929 until the late 1960s, but we may be on the verge of a modern equivalent.
Topless sunbaking has long been tolerated on most Sydney beaches. For the overwhelming majority of beachgoers, toplessness is no big deal. Yet now there is a bipartisan political push to ban this harmless and inoffensive practice.
No ban is needed.
Circumstances such as these demonstrate a kind of self-policing behaviour, whereby assembled communities decide for themselves where appropriate limits may be.
Toplessness is therefore accepted on many of our beaches, but would be frowned upon in George St.
This isn't hypocrisy. It's simply a recognition that different situations require different standards. And the standards on our beaches are entirely within the acceptable range - to everyone except, perhaps, Aub Laidlaw's ghost.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Saturday, 27 December 2008
Bondi Beach shark alarm on Boxing Day, by Kara Lawrence - The Daily Telegraph - 27th December 2008
About 1000 bathers and surfers celebrating Boxing Day at Bondi Beach were ordered from the water after an off-duty lifeguard spotted a two-metre shark.
Bondi lifeguard Anthony Carroll was surfing with his girlfriend Rebecca Irwin before going on duty when they spotted the shark snacking on fish.
Gallery: Sharks, jaws of the deep
Mr Carroll said he saw the shark about 50m from where they were paddling, in the middle of the bay off Bondi.
"I saw the dorsal fins and the side fins," he said. "It looked like a jet-ski coming through a wave."
He said the shark was almost black, had a thick girth and was between 2m and 2.5m.
The shark alarm sounded about 10.40am and bathers were kept from the water for almost 30 minutes as lifeguards, surf lifesavers and helicopters combed the area for further signs. But the shark was not seen again, a lifeguard said. (Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Bondi lifeguard Anthony Carroll was surfing with his girlfriend Rebecca Irwin before going on duty when they spotted the shark snacking on fish.
Gallery: Sharks, jaws of the deep
Mr Carroll said he saw the shark about 50m from where they were paddling, in the middle of the bay off Bondi.
"I saw the dorsal fins and the side fins," he said. "It looked like a jet-ski coming through a wave."
He said the shark was almost black, had a thick girth and was between 2m and 2.5m.
The shark alarm sounded about 10.40am and bathers were kept from the water for almost 30 minutes as lifeguards, surf lifesavers and helicopters combed the area for further signs. But the shark was not seen again, a lifeguard said. (Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Friday, 26 December 2008
Beach grog ban makes life a breeze for lifeguards, by Erik Jensen - The Sydney Morning Herald - 26th December 2008
It was a Christmas tradition, weakened by a booze ban, and snubbed out by an overcast morning.
On Bondi Beach, a Waverley Council sign showed a stick figure with a martini glass and a Santa hat. He was being drowned, then arrested. "Alcohol strictly prohibited on Bondi Beach on Christmas Day," it read.
Attendance was down to about 10,000 on the beach yesterday. There were big men in small swimmers, backpackers boiled an angry red with sunburn.
In a good year, before the 2004 alcohol ban, the beach would take closer to 50,000 on Christmas Day.
"When they stopped the alcohol on the beach, so did the crowds, said Kris Yates, a lifeguard in the beach's tower. "In my opinion, if the public could drink, the beach would be packed. [But] it's a good idea. There's a lot more work when there's drink on the beach."
Road signs spread the message from the top of Bondi Road: alcohol was prohibited as far back as Blair Street.
"I was expecting more people," said Alessandro Bentivedo, one of many on the beach spending their first Christmas far away from home. "This rule about alcohol, for me it's strange. In Italy you can smoke, you can drink. I don't like it but I respect this rule."
Most people did respect the rule - or at least abided by it. Private security checked bags before their owners reached the sand. Only a handful of swimmers needed to be pulled from the long flat surf.
"I was expecting only to find a spot of sand to lay on," said Chris Hall, a British backpacker in his second week in Sydney. "It's busy, but there's quite a bit of space isn't there?".
(Credit: Fairfax)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
On Bondi Beach, a Waverley Council sign showed a stick figure with a martini glass and a Santa hat. He was being drowned, then arrested. "Alcohol strictly prohibited on Bondi Beach on Christmas Day," it read.
Attendance was down to about 10,000 on the beach yesterday. There were big men in small swimmers, backpackers boiled an angry red with sunburn.
In a good year, before the 2004 alcohol ban, the beach would take closer to 50,000 on Christmas Day.
"When they stopped the alcohol on the beach, so did the crowds, said Kris Yates, a lifeguard in the beach's tower. "In my opinion, if the public could drink, the beach would be packed. [But] it's a good idea. There's a lot more work when there's drink on the beach."
Road signs spread the message from the top of Bondi Road: alcohol was prohibited as far back as Blair Street.
"I was expecting more people," said Alessandro Bentivedo, one of many on the beach spending their first Christmas far away from home. "This rule about alcohol, for me it's strange. In Italy you can smoke, you can drink. I don't like it but I respect this rule."
Most people did respect the rule - or at least abided by it. Private security checked bags before their owners reached the sand. Only a handful of swimmers needed to be pulled from the long flat surf.
"I was expecting only to find a spot of sand to lay on," said Chris Hall, a British backpacker in his second week in Sydney. "It's busy, but there's quite a bit of space isn't there?".
(Credit: Fairfax)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Monday, 22 December 2008
Friday, 19 December 2008
Greenpeace commissions video art by Keith Loutit to shift perspective on whaling - News.com.au - 16th December 2008
Video of anti-whaling protest
Thousands of images used
Highlights cause of the "Tokyo Two"
It looks like a miniature scale model of Bondi Beach, with tiny people and animated that look like a surreal children's cartoon.
But it's all real - even the Tibetan monks standing in front of a giant whale made out of sand.
Thousands of images, put together in a time-lapse video, were taken by photographer Keith Loutit as part of an artwork documenting an anti-whaling protest.
Greenpeace coordinated the protest and artworks to highlight the cause of the "Tokyo Two", a pair of activists who were arrested after investigating corruption in the Japanese whaling industry.
The environmental organisation commissioned Loutit to capture the event as sand sculptors created a 17-metre long whale on Sydney's iconic beach.
The images have a dream-like, miniaturised quality due to a photographic method known as tilt-shift photography, which involves a special camera lens that focuses on very specific areas in the frame.
Loutit said he used 4000-6000 images for the five-minute video, titled Beached II.
The artist became well-known a few months ago when he debuted his unique combination of time-lapse and tilt-shift photography online.
Greenpeace, which held simultaneous protests at Japanese embassies around the world, left the large sand whale on Bondi Beach for over a week.
(Credit: News.com.au)
Media Man Australia
Greenpeace
Bondi Beach
Thousands of images used
Highlights cause of the "Tokyo Two"
It looks like a miniature scale model of Bondi Beach, with tiny people and animated that look like a surreal children's cartoon.
But it's all real - even the Tibetan monks standing in front of a giant whale made out of sand.
Thousands of images, put together in a time-lapse video, were taken by photographer Keith Loutit as part of an artwork documenting an anti-whaling protest.
Greenpeace coordinated the protest and artworks to highlight the cause of the "Tokyo Two", a pair of activists who were arrested after investigating corruption in the Japanese whaling industry.
The environmental organisation commissioned Loutit to capture the event as sand sculptors created a 17-metre long whale on Sydney's iconic beach.
The images have a dream-like, miniaturised quality due to a photographic method known as tilt-shift photography, which involves a special camera lens that focuses on very specific areas in the frame.
Loutit said he used 4000-6000 images for the five-minute video, titled Beached II.
The artist became well-known a few months ago when he debuted his unique combination of time-lapse and tilt-shift photography online.
Greenpeace, which held simultaneous protests at Japanese embassies around the world, left the large sand whale on Bondi Beach for over a week.
(Credit: News.com.au)
Media Man Australia
Greenpeace
Bondi Beach
Saturday, 13 December 2008
Long lost Bondi photos focus of exhibition - ABC - The 7.30 Report
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 12/12/2008
Reporter: Rebecca Baillie
An old shoebox of photographs has shed new light on a long lost aspect of Australian beach culture in the 1930s. The photographs of Paul Caddy document the life and times of Bondi Beach from 1936 to 1941. His son George Caddy stumbled across a box of negatives which are now the focus of an exhibition at the New South Wales State Library.
Transcript
KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: With its 1.5 kilometre strip of sand and surf, Sydney's Bondi is one of the world's most famous beaches, and as Environment Minister Peter Garrett says, you can't get more Aussie than Bondi. Now, an old shoe box of photographs has shed fascinating new light on a long, lost aspect of Australian beach culture in the '30s. Rebecca Baillie reports.
VOICEOVER (archive footage): Framed by stately pines, silent guardians of a multitude of cars, conveyances of the sun loving sons and daughters of Australia, we get our first glimpse of beautiful Bondi.
REBECCA BAILLIE, REPORTER: It's the most famous stretch of sand in Australia. Dubbed "The Playground of the Pacific", in the 1930s, Bondi Beach attracted 15 million visitors every year.
VOICEOVER (archive footage): Leaving the cares of office and factory behind, these people revel in playgrounds of unrivalled beauty.
PAUL CADDY, SON OF GEORGE CADDY: It's iconic. It's one of the first beaches that people in the history of Sydney actually frequented. It was easy to get to - trams ran to it. It has the whole history of beach culture unrolling.
VOICEOVER (archive footage): This pageant brings us a parade of virile manhood.
REBECCA BAILLIE: With Bondi Surf Club established more than 100 years ago, the beach's surf life saving tradition is well known. But one slice of unknown Bondi culture could have been lost to history if it weren't for the discovery of hundreds of photographic negatives which have lain forgotten for decades in a shoe box.
PAUL CADDY: And lo and behold: extraordinary, stunning. I didn't know I'd been holding on to such fabulous photographs. And I thought to myself, "People have got to see these. I've got to share these."
REBECCA BAILLIE: Paul Caddy, son of the photographer George Caddy, found the box of photos soon after his father died. Years later, he got in touch with the NSW State Library to reveal what he'd found.
ALAN DAVIES, STATE LIBRARY OF NSW: We see many collections that have been stored in shoe boxes, but most of them simply aren't this interesting. Something of our beach culture which we've never seen before. When I saw these images, my jaw dropped to the ground. They were great.
REBECCA BAILLIE: The photos document the life and times of Bondi Beach between 1936 and 1941. They showcased the long, lost art of beachobatics, which was popular at the time, but disappeared after the Second World War.
PAUL CADDY: Beachobatics is gymnasts or acrobats forming large pyramids, complex ways and what was interesting: it just wasn't men, it was women, and they were wearing modern costumes and some of the shots are actually making fun of the camera, of what they're doing. It was very entertaining.
VOICEOVER (archive footage): What a picture they make: colourful costumes, gay umbrellas and wigwams, or to give them their real Australian name, my-mys.
REBECCA BAILLIE: The pre-war period was a time of great change at Bondi, particularly in fashion. George Caddy captured it all.
ALAN DAVIES: For the men of course it was away with sort of Eric Spooner's dreadful costumes covering the chest and little modesty flaps at the front. For the women, suddenly it was two-piece costumes, the brazier style costume. And also the Canadian costume: a lace-up version which was quite daring.
VOICEOVER (archive footage): Carefree and happy. Everywhere one can see these splendid types of Australian girlhood.
PAUL CADDY: In those days people worked five days a week. Sunday, they headed to the beach. And the photographs show people parading on Bondi promenade, the cement part, in suits, in formal wear, as if they'd just come from church. There was a lot going on Bondi Beach in the '30s.
REBECCA BAILLIE: While the photos reveal much about Bondi Beach, little was known about the photographer, George Caddy.
ALAN DAVIES: Zero. We knew nothing about him whatsoever. I asked all my colleagues. No-one had ever heard of him. So, we had to start from scratch.
REBECCA BAILLIE: What was obvious, though, was a similarity to the work of the celebrated Australian photographer Max Dupain.
ALAN DAVIES: But everyone knows probably the most famous Australian photograph is 'The Sunbaker', 1937. The same year, in February, 1937, George took a photograph almost the same except there's a man standing on top of the sun baker. There's several photographs, if we could just sign the name on the bottom, yes, people would think it was precisely the same person.
REBECCA BAILLIE: Now living in Tasmania, Paul Caddy has returned to Bondi where he grew up and has encountered some modern beach culture. The process of uncovering the secret treasure in the shoe box has taught Paul Caddy much about his father's life before the war.
PAUL CADDY: I grew up in a background of photography, chemicals, enlargers and I was George's subject, of course, when I was young. So, I was familiar with his photography. I knew he loved dancing, but I didn't know he was a champion jitterbug dancer.
ALAN DAVIES: He's written up in two newspapers as a leading Australian jitterbug dancer and we have several photographs of him. We found footage of him. It's interesting seeing George in action on the dance floor.
REBECCA BAILLIE: The negatives in the shoe box are now the focus of an exhibition at the NSW State Library. For Paul Caddy, it's a fitting tribute to his father, who was an amateur photographer with a professional eye for the joys of life.
PAUL CADDY: He shot from what he felt, and to see him recognised in this way, I'm really pleased. I'm pleased that people can see this.
VOICEOVER (archive footage): And so ends another day of delight in The Playground of the Pacific.
KERRY O'BRIEN: Fantastic slice of early life on the beach in Australia. Rebecca Baillie with that report.
(Credit: ABC 7.30 Report)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Broadcast: 12/12/2008
Reporter: Rebecca Baillie
An old shoebox of photographs has shed new light on a long lost aspect of Australian beach culture in the 1930s. The photographs of Paul Caddy document the life and times of Bondi Beach from 1936 to 1941. His son George Caddy stumbled across a box of negatives which are now the focus of an exhibition at the New South Wales State Library.
Transcript
KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: With its 1.5 kilometre strip of sand and surf, Sydney's Bondi is one of the world's most famous beaches, and as Environment Minister Peter Garrett says, you can't get more Aussie than Bondi. Now, an old shoe box of photographs has shed fascinating new light on a long, lost aspect of Australian beach culture in the '30s. Rebecca Baillie reports.
VOICEOVER (archive footage): Framed by stately pines, silent guardians of a multitude of cars, conveyances of the sun loving sons and daughters of Australia, we get our first glimpse of beautiful Bondi.
REBECCA BAILLIE, REPORTER: It's the most famous stretch of sand in Australia. Dubbed "The Playground of the Pacific", in the 1930s, Bondi Beach attracted 15 million visitors every year.
VOICEOVER (archive footage): Leaving the cares of office and factory behind, these people revel in playgrounds of unrivalled beauty.
PAUL CADDY, SON OF GEORGE CADDY: It's iconic. It's one of the first beaches that people in the history of Sydney actually frequented. It was easy to get to - trams ran to it. It has the whole history of beach culture unrolling.
VOICEOVER (archive footage): This pageant brings us a parade of virile manhood.
REBECCA BAILLIE: With Bondi Surf Club established more than 100 years ago, the beach's surf life saving tradition is well known. But one slice of unknown Bondi culture could have been lost to history if it weren't for the discovery of hundreds of photographic negatives which have lain forgotten for decades in a shoe box.
PAUL CADDY: And lo and behold: extraordinary, stunning. I didn't know I'd been holding on to such fabulous photographs. And I thought to myself, "People have got to see these. I've got to share these."
REBECCA BAILLIE: Paul Caddy, son of the photographer George Caddy, found the box of photos soon after his father died. Years later, he got in touch with the NSW State Library to reveal what he'd found.
ALAN DAVIES, STATE LIBRARY OF NSW: We see many collections that have been stored in shoe boxes, but most of them simply aren't this interesting. Something of our beach culture which we've never seen before. When I saw these images, my jaw dropped to the ground. They were great.
REBECCA BAILLIE: The photos document the life and times of Bondi Beach between 1936 and 1941. They showcased the long, lost art of beachobatics, which was popular at the time, but disappeared after the Second World War.
PAUL CADDY: Beachobatics is gymnasts or acrobats forming large pyramids, complex ways and what was interesting: it just wasn't men, it was women, and they were wearing modern costumes and some of the shots are actually making fun of the camera, of what they're doing. It was very entertaining.
VOICEOVER (archive footage): What a picture they make: colourful costumes, gay umbrellas and wigwams, or to give them their real Australian name, my-mys.
REBECCA BAILLIE: The pre-war period was a time of great change at Bondi, particularly in fashion. George Caddy captured it all.
ALAN DAVIES: For the men of course it was away with sort of Eric Spooner's dreadful costumes covering the chest and little modesty flaps at the front. For the women, suddenly it was two-piece costumes, the brazier style costume. And also the Canadian costume: a lace-up version which was quite daring.
VOICEOVER (archive footage): Carefree and happy. Everywhere one can see these splendid types of Australian girlhood.
PAUL CADDY: In those days people worked five days a week. Sunday, they headed to the beach. And the photographs show people parading on Bondi promenade, the cement part, in suits, in formal wear, as if they'd just come from church. There was a lot going on Bondi Beach in the '30s.
REBECCA BAILLIE: While the photos reveal much about Bondi Beach, little was known about the photographer, George Caddy.
ALAN DAVIES: Zero. We knew nothing about him whatsoever. I asked all my colleagues. No-one had ever heard of him. So, we had to start from scratch.
REBECCA BAILLIE: What was obvious, though, was a similarity to the work of the celebrated Australian photographer Max Dupain.
ALAN DAVIES: But everyone knows probably the most famous Australian photograph is 'The Sunbaker', 1937. The same year, in February, 1937, George took a photograph almost the same except there's a man standing on top of the sun baker. There's several photographs, if we could just sign the name on the bottom, yes, people would think it was precisely the same person.
REBECCA BAILLIE: Now living in Tasmania, Paul Caddy has returned to Bondi where he grew up and has encountered some modern beach culture. The process of uncovering the secret treasure in the shoe box has taught Paul Caddy much about his father's life before the war.
PAUL CADDY: I grew up in a background of photography, chemicals, enlargers and I was George's subject, of course, when I was young. So, I was familiar with his photography. I knew he loved dancing, but I didn't know he was a champion jitterbug dancer.
ALAN DAVIES: He's written up in two newspapers as a leading Australian jitterbug dancer and we have several photographs of him. We found footage of him. It's interesting seeing George in action on the dance floor.
REBECCA BAILLIE: The negatives in the shoe box are now the focus of an exhibition at the NSW State Library. For Paul Caddy, it's a fitting tribute to his father, who was an amateur photographer with a professional eye for the joys of life.
PAUL CADDY: He shot from what he felt, and to see him recognised in this way, I'm really pleased. I'm pleased that people can see this.
VOICEOVER (archive footage): And so ends another day of delight in The Playground of the Pacific.
KERRY O'BRIEN: Fantastic slice of early life on the beach in Australia. Rebecca Baillie with that report.
(Credit: ABC 7.30 Report)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Friday, 12 December 2008
Maurice Terzini's Bondi Icebergs New Year's party banned - The Daily Telegraph - 11th December 2008
The A-list won't be walking on water this New Year's Day at Bondi Icebergs after plans to hold a 2000-strong dance party - complete with perspex dance floor over the complex's two pools - was knocked back by Waverley Council.
Icebergs restaurateur Maurice Terzini developed the ambitious plans in association with Future Entertainment, but concerns that the event could be dangerous if waves swept over the dance floor wiped out the plans.
"We were going to build the perspex deck 1.5m above the pool level and would obviously not have it go ahead if there was by some chance king tides but it was rejected," said Future Tour's Brett Robinson.
"It's disappointing but it was always a sensitive development," he said.
The knockback on the outdoor party won't stop the celebrity filled party that kicks off the year at Terzini's Icebergs restaurant - that is this year expected to see the presence of international party princess Paris Hilton.
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Icebergs
Bondi Beach
Icebergs restaurateur Maurice Terzini developed the ambitious plans in association with Future Entertainment, but concerns that the event could be dangerous if waves swept over the dance floor wiped out the plans.
"We were going to build the perspex deck 1.5m above the pool level and would obviously not have it go ahead if there was by some chance king tides but it was rejected," said Future Tour's Brett Robinson.
"It's disappointing but it was always a sensitive development," he said.
The knockback on the outdoor party won't stop the celebrity filled party that kicks off the year at Terzini's Icebergs restaurant - that is this year expected to see the presence of international party princess Paris Hilton.
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Icebergs
Bondi Beach
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Ravesi's revs up, by Ros Reines - The Sunday Telegraph - 7th December 2008
Move over Justin Hemmes - your celebrity hangouts might soon be challenged by a luxury palace slated for fashionable Bondi Beach.
Ravesi's Hotel on Campbell Pde, Bondi Beach has now been given the go ahead to expand.
On the drawing board are plans for extra boutique hotel accommodation, including a VIP day spa, private VIP suites for rock stars and wannabe rock stars and two large Penthouse suites for regulars including Miranda Kerr.
A new hotel reception is also being added to the ground floor along with three levels of 30 hotel suites.
(Credit: The Sunday Telegraph)
Media Man Australia
Ravesi's
Bondi Beach
Ravesi's Hotel on Campbell Pde, Bondi Beach has now been given the go ahead to expand.
On the drawing board are plans for extra boutique hotel accommodation, including a VIP day spa, private VIP suites for rock stars and wannabe rock stars and two large Penthouse suites for regulars including Miranda Kerr.
A new hotel reception is also being added to the ground floor along with three levels of 30 hotel suites.
(Credit: The Sunday Telegraph)
Media Man Australia
Ravesi's
Bondi Beach
Blonde ambitions, by Ros Reines - The Sunday Telegraph - 7th December 2008
The Bondi Blonde beer will be flowing at the Icebergs Dining Room and Bar traditional New Year's Day party when Paris and Nicky Hilton, maybe even Stavros Niarchos will be honoured guests.
Adman Jack Singleton is already rubbing his hands together in glee at the chance of continuing the relationship between Paris and the amber fluid. She was last spruiked the beer here a couple of years ago, judging a Bondi Blonde bikini quest also on New Year's Day.
His dad, John Singleton became so smitten with her and the tragic Tara Reid that he organised lunch in The Ivy, in LA.
Heaven's knows how much the duo will have to kick in to lure Paris to Icebergs on New Year's Day but it won't be cheap.
No word yet whether Justin Hemmes is planning a rival New Year's Day party at the other Ivy. But with Paris at Bondi, his usual C list models lounging around at the Pool Bar just won't cut it.
Credit: The Sunday Telegraph)
Adman Jack Singleton is already rubbing his hands together in glee at the chance of continuing the relationship between Paris and the amber fluid. She was last spruiked the beer here a couple of years ago, judging a Bondi Blonde bikini quest also on New Year's Day.
His dad, John Singleton became so smitten with her and the tragic Tara Reid that he organised lunch in The Ivy, in LA.
Heaven's knows how much the duo will have to kick in to lure Paris to Icebergs on New Year's Day but it won't be cheap.
No word yet whether Justin Hemmes is planning a rival New Year's Day party at the other Ivy. But with Paris at Bondi, his usual C list models lounging around at the Pool Bar just won't cut it.
Credit: The Sunday Telegraph)
Saturday, 29 November 2008
'Tramp stamps' now mainstream, by Caroline Marcus - The Sun-Herald - 23rd November 2008
They were once referred to as "tramp stamps" but tattoos on women are more popular than ever, thanks to the cult of celebrity.
Tattoo parlours are reporting more young women are asking for designs inspired by their favourite stars.
A new tattoo parlour will open in Bondi Beach, Sydney, next month to cater for the growing market, offering complimentary champagne after a session and macchiato to help take the sting out of the procedure.
One of the industry's most famous businesses, the Illustrated Man Tattoo Studio of Fine Art, on Elizabeth Street in Sydney, confirmed that more young women were asking for "bigger and bolder" designs.
"The 18-to-25 generation is seriously getting tattooed because of the people that they are influenced by, because of the movies or video clips," Brett Cohen, a tattooist for two decades, said.
"They look up to those people.
"The younger generation are getting into that old-school tattooing, that bold colour and strong lines, rather than the fairies.
"I have not done a dolphin for a long time."
Matthew Passaro, 26, the marketeer behind the soon-to-open Bondi Ink, said inspiration came after listening to complaints from friends that they did not know where to get tattooed.
"There are lots of different people getting tattoos now - it is not just bikies - and there is really no one catering to them," Mr Passaro said.
"I think we are going to get a lot of the eastern suburbs crowd."
Customers will be able to get tattooed sitting in the parlour's window fronting Campbell Parade.
Mr Passaro said he was not worried about being targeted by bikie gangs that reportedly monopolise the industry, despite reports of competitors being firebombed.
"It is not a problem at all because we are going to be quite heavily in the media and we are right in the middle of Bondi Beach," he said.
"They would have to take a couple of civilians with them and that would be pretty bad press. And I've got fire insurance."
Dermatologist Michelle Hunt warned those contemplating a tattoo that a decision to remove them down the track would be painful and expensive.
Her clinic, Inner Sydney Dermatology, in Rhodes, Sydney, has had a 30 per cent increase in those asking for tattoo removal in the past 10 years.
Many clients were women who got tattoos 10 to 20 years ago but rethought their decision upon entering the workforce or getting married, she said.
"It is probably about eight to 10 years later where they will often have that removed," Dr Hunt said.
A minimum of six treatments spaced two months apart are required, starting at about $300 each.
"It is not cheap by the time you add six treatments," Dr Hunt said. "A lot of patients tell me it is as painful as getting the tattoo."
(Credit: The Sun-Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Tattoo parlours are reporting more young women are asking for designs inspired by their favourite stars.
A new tattoo parlour will open in Bondi Beach, Sydney, next month to cater for the growing market, offering complimentary champagne after a session and macchiato to help take the sting out of the procedure.
One of the industry's most famous businesses, the Illustrated Man Tattoo Studio of Fine Art, on Elizabeth Street in Sydney, confirmed that more young women were asking for "bigger and bolder" designs.
"The 18-to-25 generation is seriously getting tattooed because of the people that they are influenced by, because of the movies or video clips," Brett Cohen, a tattooist for two decades, said.
"They look up to those people.
"The younger generation are getting into that old-school tattooing, that bold colour and strong lines, rather than the fairies.
"I have not done a dolphin for a long time."
Matthew Passaro, 26, the marketeer behind the soon-to-open Bondi Ink, said inspiration came after listening to complaints from friends that they did not know where to get tattooed.
"There are lots of different people getting tattoos now - it is not just bikies - and there is really no one catering to them," Mr Passaro said.
"I think we are going to get a lot of the eastern suburbs crowd."
Customers will be able to get tattooed sitting in the parlour's window fronting Campbell Parade.
Mr Passaro said he was not worried about being targeted by bikie gangs that reportedly monopolise the industry, despite reports of competitors being firebombed.
"It is not a problem at all because we are going to be quite heavily in the media and we are right in the middle of Bondi Beach," he said.
"They would have to take a couple of civilians with them and that would be pretty bad press. And I've got fire insurance."
Dermatologist Michelle Hunt warned those contemplating a tattoo that a decision to remove them down the track would be painful and expensive.
Her clinic, Inner Sydney Dermatology, in Rhodes, Sydney, has had a 30 per cent increase in those asking for tattoo removal in the past 10 years.
Many clients were women who got tattoos 10 to 20 years ago but rethought their decision upon entering the workforce or getting married, she said.
"It is probably about eight to 10 years later where they will often have that removed," Dr Hunt said.
A minimum of six treatments spaced two months apart are required, starting at about $300 each.
"It is not cheap by the time you add six treatments," Dr Hunt said. "A lot of patients tell me it is as painful as getting the tattoo."
(Credit: The Sun-Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Saturday, 22 November 2008
Bondi, that's where she bloody well is, by Lex Hall - The Australian - 22nd November 2008
Australia's hottest body and its most famous stretch of sand -- it's a bikini salesman's dream.
Treated to a perfect Sydney day, Speedo, the Australian swimwear brand born at Bondi 80 years ago, has again relied on the country's favourite curvy covergirl, Lara Bingle, to sell its swimwear.
"It is amazing to be shooting such an iconic brand on one of Australia's favourite beaches," the 21-year-old told The Australian after the photo shoot to launch Speedo's Back to the Beach 2009 collection.
Recently voted the hottest body in an online poll, finishing well ahead of Newcastle's former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins, Bingle, the sultry blonde from Sydney's Sutherland Shire, epitomises what Speedo is banking on to sell its swimwear -- Australian beauty. Bingle shot to fame in 2006 in the "Where the bloody hell are you?" campaign.
Speedo's national marketing manager, Tiffany Scott-Maher, said of the model: "She's very beach-oriented and epitomises what Australian beauty is. She's great for the brand."
Bought by British-owned Pentland Group in 1990, Speedo is one of several Australian brands acquired by overseas interests. As for the swimwear, Bingle approves.
"This my second campaign with Speedo and the range just keeps getting better and better," she said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Lara Bingle
Bondi Beach
Treated to a perfect Sydney day, Speedo, the Australian swimwear brand born at Bondi 80 years ago, has again relied on the country's favourite curvy covergirl, Lara Bingle, to sell its swimwear.
"It is amazing to be shooting such an iconic brand on one of Australia's favourite beaches," the 21-year-old told The Australian after the photo shoot to launch Speedo's Back to the Beach 2009 collection.
Recently voted the hottest body in an online poll, finishing well ahead of Newcastle's former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins, Bingle, the sultry blonde from Sydney's Sutherland Shire, epitomises what Speedo is banking on to sell its swimwear -- Australian beauty. Bingle shot to fame in 2006 in the "Where the bloody hell are you?" campaign.
Speedo's national marketing manager, Tiffany Scott-Maher, said of the model: "She's very beach-oriented and epitomises what Australian beauty is. She's great for the brand."
Bought by British-owned Pentland Group in 1990, Speedo is one of several Australian brands acquired by overseas interests. As for the swimwear, Bingle approves.
"This my second campaign with Speedo and the range just keeps getting better and better," she said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Lara Bingle
Bondi Beach
Monday, 17 November 2008
Hugh little beauty: time for a quick dip before work, by John Mangan Louise Hall - The Age - 16th November 2008
What could be more evocative of Australia than actor Hugh Jackman, who is from Australia, taking a 6am dip at Bondi Beach, which is in Australia, before steeling himself for the world premiere this week of the highly-anticipated epic film Australia?
Yesterday Jackman was chilling out at Bondi ahead of the red-carpet launch of director Baz Luhrmann's latest offering, which co-stars another Australian, Nicole Kidman, in Sydney on Tuesday night.
Jackman has just returned from the US, where he has been promoting the epic film — the most expensive ever made in this country. Between spruiking engagements — including on a special Australia-themed edition of Oprah, complete with red dusty backdrop — he found time to attend the Country Music Awards, where he presented a gong with Kidman, whose hubby Keith Urban performed at the event.
Kidman is due to touch down in Sydney late tomorrow night from her Nashville base.
While reports have circulated that the $US130 million ($A200 million) movie is in trouble, with 20th Century Fox wanting the ending reshot, Oprah was in no doubt about its emotional kick.
"Was that a movie?" she asked rhetorically. "Oh, my goodness. I mean, they just don't make movies like that any more, they really don't!"
Lest we forget, Winfrey's track record on endorsements is impressive. Her reading recommendation can skyrocket a book to the top of The New York Times best-seller list, while her declaration early in the year that Barack Obama was The One is regarded as a watershed in his campaign for the White House.
In the film, which hits cinemas on November 26, Kidman plays an English aristocrat who journeys to northern Australia and an outback station she has inherited. To keep the property, she must drive 2000 cattle across spectacular landscapes. She enlists the help of a rough-hewn drover, played by Jackman, and the pair fall in love.
Luhrmann, meanwhile, has categorically denied reports about problems with the film's ending, telling the Los Angeles Times he wrote six endings and shot three.
"I ended up concluding the film in a way in which I — probably more than anyone — least expected," he said.
(Credit: The Age)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Australia the movie
Bondi Beach
Yesterday Jackman was chilling out at Bondi ahead of the red-carpet launch of director Baz Luhrmann's latest offering, which co-stars another Australian, Nicole Kidman, in Sydney on Tuesday night.
Jackman has just returned from the US, where he has been promoting the epic film — the most expensive ever made in this country. Between spruiking engagements — including on a special Australia-themed edition of Oprah, complete with red dusty backdrop — he found time to attend the Country Music Awards, where he presented a gong with Kidman, whose hubby Keith Urban performed at the event.
Kidman is due to touch down in Sydney late tomorrow night from her Nashville base.
While reports have circulated that the $US130 million ($A200 million) movie is in trouble, with 20th Century Fox wanting the ending reshot, Oprah was in no doubt about its emotional kick.
"Was that a movie?" she asked rhetorically. "Oh, my goodness. I mean, they just don't make movies like that any more, they really don't!"
Lest we forget, Winfrey's track record on endorsements is impressive. Her reading recommendation can skyrocket a book to the top of The New York Times best-seller list, while her declaration early in the year that Barack Obama was The One is regarded as a watershed in his campaign for the White House.
In the film, which hits cinemas on November 26, Kidman plays an English aristocrat who journeys to northern Australia and an outback station she has inherited. To keep the property, she must drive 2000 cattle across spectacular landscapes. She enlists the help of a rough-hewn drover, played by Jackman, and the pair fall in love.
Luhrmann, meanwhile, has categorically denied reports about problems with the film's ending, telling the Los Angeles Times he wrote six endings and shot three.
"I ended up concluding the film in a way in which I — probably more than anyone — least expected," he said.
(Credit: The Age)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Australia the movie
Bondi Beach
Sunday, 9 November 2008
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Bondi Short Film Festival's judges Bruce Beresford, Nell Scofield, Josh Pomeranz - The Daily Telegraph - 4th November 2008
The backdrop was cinematic sunshine but there wasn't a camera among the A-list panel of filmmakers who gathered ahead of the Bondi Short Film Festival.
Friday's deadline for entries is tipped to pull a roll-call of who's hot in the local shorts industry to be judged by a a stellar line-up which will include film director Bruce Beresford, Puberty Blues representative Nell Schofield and Josh Pomeranz, son of movie critic Margaret Pomeranz.
Joining the judging panel yesterday and coming full circle was filmmaker Serhart Caradee who won the inaugural BSFF eight years ago and is now in post-production for his first feature film, Cedar Boys.
Beresford is already a fan, telling Confidential Caradee is one to watch. As will be the short films on November 29.
The sun and sand festival will farewell its Bondi Pavilion setting - but not the beach suburb entirely - when it moves to bigger premises next year.
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Friday's deadline for entries is tipped to pull a roll-call of who's hot in the local shorts industry to be judged by a a stellar line-up which will include film director Bruce Beresford, Puberty Blues representative Nell Schofield and Josh Pomeranz, son of movie critic Margaret Pomeranz.
Joining the judging panel yesterday and coming full circle was filmmaker Serhart Caradee who won the inaugural BSFF eight years ago and is now in post-production for his first feature film, Cedar Boys.
Beresford is already a fan, telling Confidential Caradee is one to watch. As will be the short films on November 29.
The sun and sand festival will farewell its Bondi Pavilion setting - but not the beach suburb entirely - when it moves to bigger premises next year.
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Friday, 31 October 2008
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Monday, 27 October 2008
Irish rugby league players struggle in the sun, by Christian Nicolussi - The Daily Telegraph - 21st October 2008
A few of Ireland's rugby league players have literally been left red-faced ahead of their World Cup campaign after soaking up too much sun.
Ireland coach Andy Kelly revealed a couple of his players had paid the price for too much Aussie sunshine since arriving Down Under last week.
The squad took extra pre-caution yesterday as they frolicked in the crystal clear waters at North Bondi Beach.
Interestingly, one of the players who had been exposed to too many UV rays was Aussie-born winger Pat Richards.
Kelly, whose Ireland side clash with Tonga next Monday - and are $501 outsiders to win the Cup - noticed a few of his players looked worse for wear after they had started a training camp in Narrabeen late last week.
"One or two of our players learned their lesson pretty quickly and they had red patches come up on their faces and shoulders," said Kelly, whose squad set up camp in Parramatta yesterday.
"It's now a case of using factor-30 cream and zinc.
"We've got fair skin and we're not used to the sun so we know we have to have a sensible attitude towards (the weather)."
Kelly said it was hard to get a better training backdrop than the popular North Bondi, keeping in mind Dublin was a rainy and miserable 13 degrees yesterday.
The Irish players attracted plenty of looks from beach-goers and, said Kelly, were just as keen to turn heads for their efforts on the football field.
Tonga were belted 56-8 by New Zealand on the weekend and the lop-sided result gave Kelly heart.
"It proves there is a vulnerability there, but Tonga will no doubt look at the game and try to strengthen the areas where they were exploited," Kelly said.
"Were not New Zealand, we're Ireland, and while I'm sure Tonga will have their weaknesses, we'll have to play the right game to beat them. As we've said all along, we're not here to make up the numbers."
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Ireland coach Andy Kelly revealed a couple of his players had paid the price for too much Aussie sunshine since arriving Down Under last week.
The squad took extra pre-caution yesterday as they frolicked in the crystal clear waters at North Bondi Beach.
Interestingly, one of the players who had been exposed to too many UV rays was Aussie-born winger Pat Richards.
Kelly, whose Ireland side clash with Tonga next Monday - and are $501 outsiders to win the Cup - noticed a few of his players looked worse for wear after they had started a training camp in Narrabeen late last week.
"One or two of our players learned their lesson pretty quickly and they had red patches come up on their faces and shoulders," said Kelly, whose squad set up camp in Parramatta yesterday.
"It's now a case of using factor-30 cream and zinc.
"We've got fair skin and we're not used to the sun so we know we have to have a sensible attitude towards (the weather)."
Kelly said it was hard to get a better training backdrop than the popular North Bondi, keeping in mind Dublin was a rainy and miserable 13 degrees yesterday.
The Irish players attracted plenty of looks from beach-goers and, said Kelly, were just as keen to turn heads for their efforts on the football field.
Tonga were belted 56-8 by New Zealand on the weekend and the lop-sided result gave Kelly heart.
"It proves there is a vulnerability there, but Tonga will no doubt look at the game and try to strengthen the areas where they were exploited," Kelly said.
"Were not New Zealand, we're Ireland, and while I'm sure Tonga will have their weaknesses, we'll have to play the right game to beat them. As we've said all along, we're not here to make up the numbers."
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Flickerfest 2009 - 18th International Australian Short Film Festival
Press Release
18th International Australian Short Film Festival
Bondi Pavilion 9th – 18th January 2009
Touring Nationally January – March 2009
In 2009 Flickerfest will come of age and celebrate its 18th anniversary as Australia’s premier International Short Film Festival. Flickerfest is Australia’s only Academy® Award accredited Short Film festival and as such, attracts a high calibre of films entering each year.
In January 2009 Flickerfest will showcase for ten days on the shores of Bondi Beach before heading off on a nationwide tour. The Festival boasts three competitive programs - International, Australian and Documentary. This year the Australian shorts competition has increased and an extra programme has been added to reflect the high standard of Australian films.
The competitive programs will be joined by a number of special programs and forums.
Celebrity shorts - showcases celebrities flexing their creativity and taking risks from either behind the camera or on screen as they embrace the short film form.
Love bites - examining life love and the idiosyncracies of all types of relationships in a saucy line up of sexy shorts with an international twist
This year Flickerfest has received a significant number of entries from Australia and beyond, exceeding 2008.. The increase in entries is yet further testimony to Flickerfest’s renowned profile as the most illustrious short film competition in Australia.
With a record 1350 entries from around the globe this year, “Flickerfest continues to attract the latest in cutting-edge and award-winning shorts from the world’s most exciting new filmmakers” said Festival Director, Bronwyn Kidd. “This guarantees that the festival presents our Australian audiences with a short film competition amongst the best in the world.’
The 10-day short film exhibition kicks off on Friday 9th January at Bondi Beach with a screenings and a glamorous Opening Night party and closes on 18th of January. After concluding, the festival hits the road for a 19-venue national tour from January to March. The tour encompasses capital centres and key regional areas in NSW, VIC, ACT, SA, QLD, NT and TAS.
Each year Flickerfest is pleased to celebrate an array of diverse short films from the many cultural backgrounds that make up the festival programmes and 2009 will be no exception.
Flickerfest is supported by key industry leaders including festival patrons Baz Luhrmann, Gillian Armstrong, Claudia Karvan, Deborra-lee Furness, Hugh Jackman and John Palermo from the Australian production company ‘Seed’. Their patronage is testimony to the quality of the event and its significance in nurturing future generations of Australian film making talent.
FLICKERFEST FESTIVAL AND TOUR DATES FOR 2009
SYDNEY - BONDI BEACH
Venue: Bondi Pavilion
Dates: 9th - 18th Jan
Bookings: 02 9365 6877
www.flickerfest.com.au
BYRON BAY
Venue: A&I Hall Bangalow
Dates: Fri 23rd - Sun 25th Jan
Bookings: 02 6685 9999
www.iQ.org.au
DARWIN
Venue: Flix in the Wet - BCC Cinema 5
Dates: Sun 25th Jan
Bookings: 08 8981 0700
www.deckchaircinema.com
KATHERINE
Venue: Katherine Cinemas
Dates: Thur 29th Jan
Bookings: 08 8971 2522
www.katherinecinemas.com.au
ALICE SPRINGS
Venue: Araluen Arts Centre
Dates: Fri 30th Jan - Sun 1st Feb
Bookings: 08 8951 1122
www.araluenartscentre.com.au
ADELAIDE
Venue: Mercury Cinema
Dates: Fri 6th Feb
Bookings: 08 8410 0979
www.mercurycinema.org.au
AVOCA
Venue: Avoca Beach Picture Theatre
Dates: Fri 6th - Sat 7th Feb
Bookings: 02 4382 1777
www.avocabeachpicturetheatre.com.au
NARRABRI
Venue: Crossing Theatre
Dates: Sat 14th Feb
Bookings: 02 6792 4654
www.crossingtheatre.com.au
GUNNEDAH
Venue: Civic Theatre
Dates: Sun 15th Feb
Bookings: 02 6740 2271
www.infogunnedah.com.au
KEMPSEY
Venue: Bandbox Cinema
Dates: Wed 18th – Thur 19th Feb
Bookings: 02 6561 7116
www.events.macleayvalleycoast.com.au
NOOSA
Venue: Noosa Junction - The J
Dates: Fri 20th Feb
Bookings: 07 5455 4455
www.theJ.com.au
SAWTELL
Venue: First Avenue Cinema
Dates: Fri 20th - Sat 21st Feb
Bookings: 02 6653 3119
www.firstavecinemas.com.au
BRISBANE
Venue: Dendy Cinema Portside
Dates: Thur 26th Feb - Sun 1st Mar
Bookings: 07 3137 6000
www.dendy.com.au
PERTH
Venue: Camelot Outdoor Cinema
Dates: Thur 5th - Sun 8th Mar
Bookings: 08 9227 1771
www.lunapalace.com.au
BROOME
Venue: Sun Picture Theatre
Dates: Fri 13th - Sat 14th Mar
Bookings: 08 9192 1077
www.sunpictures.com.au
BATHURST
Venue: Metro Cinema
Dates: Fri 13th - Sat 14th Mar
Bookings: 02 6331 6737
www.metrocinemas.com.au
KATOOMBA
Venue: The Edge Cinema
Dates: Thur 19th - Fri 20th Mar
Bookings: 02 4782 8900
www.edgecinema.com.au
HOBART
Venue: The State Cinema
Dates: Thur 19th - Fri 20th Mar
Bookings: 03 6234 6318
www.statecinema.com.au
CANBERRA
Venue: Dendy Cinema
Dates: Sat 21st - Sun 22nd Mar
Bookings: 02 6221 8900
www.dendy.com.au
MELBOURNE
Venue: Kino Cinemas
Dates: Thur 26th - Fri 27th Mar
Bookings: 03 9650 2100
www.kinocineas.com.au
Media Man Australia Profiles
Flickerfest
Bondi Beach
18th International Australian Short Film Festival
Bondi Pavilion 9th – 18th January 2009
Touring Nationally January – March 2009
In 2009 Flickerfest will come of age and celebrate its 18th anniversary as Australia’s premier International Short Film Festival. Flickerfest is Australia’s only Academy® Award accredited Short Film festival and as such, attracts a high calibre of films entering each year.
In January 2009 Flickerfest will showcase for ten days on the shores of Bondi Beach before heading off on a nationwide tour. The Festival boasts three competitive programs - International, Australian and Documentary. This year the Australian shorts competition has increased and an extra programme has been added to reflect the high standard of Australian films.
The competitive programs will be joined by a number of special programs and forums.
Celebrity shorts - showcases celebrities flexing their creativity and taking risks from either behind the camera or on screen as they embrace the short film form.
Love bites - examining life love and the idiosyncracies of all types of relationships in a saucy line up of sexy shorts with an international twist
This year Flickerfest has received a significant number of entries from Australia and beyond, exceeding 2008.. The increase in entries is yet further testimony to Flickerfest’s renowned profile as the most illustrious short film competition in Australia.
With a record 1350 entries from around the globe this year, “Flickerfest continues to attract the latest in cutting-edge and award-winning shorts from the world’s most exciting new filmmakers” said Festival Director, Bronwyn Kidd. “This guarantees that the festival presents our Australian audiences with a short film competition amongst the best in the world.’
The 10-day short film exhibition kicks off on Friday 9th January at Bondi Beach with a screenings and a glamorous Opening Night party and closes on 18th of January. After concluding, the festival hits the road for a 19-venue national tour from January to March. The tour encompasses capital centres and key regional areas in NSW, VIC, ACT, SA, QLD, NT and TAS.
Each year Flickerfest is pleased to celebrate an array of diverse short films from the many cultural backgrounds that make up the festival programmes and 2009 will be no exception.
Flickerfest is supported by key industry leaders including festival patrons Baz Luhrmann, Gillian Armstrong, Claudia Karvan, Deborra-lee Furness, Hugh Jackman and John Palermo from the Australian production company ‘Seed’. Their patronage is testimony to the quality of the event and its significance in nurturing future generations of Australian film making talent.
FLICKERFEST FESTIVAL AND TOUR DATES FOR 2009
SYDNEY - BONDI BEACH
Venue: Bondi Pavilion
Dates: 9th - 18th Jan
Bookings: 02 9365 6877
www.flickerfest.com.au
BYRON BAY
Venue: A&I Hall Bangalow
Dates: Fri 23rd - Sun 25th Jan
Bookings: 02 6685 9999
www.iQ.org.au
DARWIN
Venue: Flix in the Wet - BCC Cinema 5
Dates: Sun 25th Jan
Bookings: 08 8981 0700
www.deckchaircinema.com
KATHERINE
Venue: Katherine Cinemas
Dates: Thur 29th Jan
Bookings: 08 8971 2522
www.katherinecinemas.com.au
ALICE SPRINGS
Venue: Araluen Arts Centre
Dates: Fri 30th Jan - Sun 1st Feb
Bookings: 08 8951 1122
www.araluenartscentre.com.au
ADELAIDE
Venue: Mercury Cinema
Dates: Fri 6th Feb
Bookings: 08 8410 0979
www.mercurycinema.org.au
AVOCA
Venue: Avoca Beach Picture Theatre
Dates: Fri 6th - Sat 7th Feb
Bookings: 02 4382 1777
www.avocabeachpicturetheatre.com.au
NARRABRI
Venue: Crossing Theatre
Dates: Sat 14th Feb
Bookings: 02 6792 4654
www.crossingtheatre.com.au
GUNNEDAH
Venue: Civic Theatre
Dates: Sun 15th Feb
Bookings: 02 6740 2271
www.infogunnedah.com.au
KEMPSEY
Venue: Bandbox Cinema
Dates: Wed 18th – Thur 19th Feb
Bookings: 02 6561 7116
www.events.macleayvalleycoast.com.au
NOOSA
Venue: Noosa Junction - The J
Dates: Fri 20th Feb
Bookings: 07 5455 4455
www.theJ.com.au
SAWTELL
Venue: First Avenue Cinema
Dates: Fri 20th - Sat 21st Feb
Bookings: 02 6653 3119
www.firstavecinemas.com.au
BRISBANE
Venue: Dendy Cinema Portside
Dates: Thur 26th Feb - Sun 1st Mar
Bookings: 07 3137 6000
www.dendy.com.au
PERTH
Venue: Camelot Outdoor Cinema
Dates: Thur 5th - Sun 8th Mar
Bookings: 08 9227 1771
www.lunapalace.com.au
BROOME
Venue: Sun Picture Theatre
Dates: Fri 13th - Sat 14th Mar
Bookings: 08 9192 1077
www.sunpictures.com.au
BATHURST
Venue: Metro Cinema
Dates: Fri 13th - Sat 14th Mar
Bookings: 02 6331 6737
www.metrocinemas.com.au
KATOOMBA
Venue: The Edge Cinema
Dates: Thur 19th - Fri 20th Mar
Bookings: 02 4782 8900
www.edgecinema.com.au
HOBART
Venue: The State Cinema
Dates: Thur 19th - Fri 20th Mar
Bookings: 03 6234 6318
www.statecinema.com.au
CANBERRA
Venue: Dendy Cinema
Dates: Sat 21st - Sun 22nd Mar
Bookings: 02 6221 8900
www.dendy.com.au
MELBOURNE
Venue: Kino Cinemas
Dates: Thur 26th - Fri 27th Mar
Bookings: 03 9650 2100
www.kinocineas.com.au
Media Man Australia Profiles
Flickerfest
Bondi Beach
Tomato soup for the soul as art meets the great unwashed, by Caroline Overington - The Australian - 27th October 2008
It's October, so there are sculptures at Sydney's Bondi. They are set up on cliffs and rock shelves, overlooking the sea. They stay two weeks, then get taken away. Some pieces, such as the plywood "Bondi Beach" in tall letters, like the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, are beloved and lamented.
Others, including the sharp thing made of crushed tin cans, are inscrutable and confusing, and when they are gone nobody says: where did that thing go?
From a distance, the crowd looks like a caterpillar edging its way up the coast.
It has many pairs of walking boots on its many feet.
Up close it's people shuffling single-file along the track, looking and making remarks, but their words get caught on the wind and blown towards the sea.
What's left behind are bits of phrases, snippets of the odd idea.
Here, then, verbatim, are fragments of conversations, as recorded by a reporter stationed by the chicken-wire sculpture depicting Andy Warhol's head emerging from a can of Campbell's tomato soup, on the path near Tamarama between 10.30am and 11.15am on the first Sunday of the annual art exhibition known as Sculptures by the Sea:
"Hey, look at that."
"Don't touch it, Riley."
"That one looks rusty."
"A lot of them last year were rusty."
"Where's Louise?"
"You still need a licence for a moped."
"Do you want to go on? I'll wait here with Riley."
"Did you bring water?"
"It's only because I saw the number that I saw it."
"Does it move?"
"Hi, Simone."
"Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, down from 400."
"It's tomato soup."
"It's made of wire."
"Look at how exquisitely everything is done."
"The can of soup. It's an oil drum."
"That's really good, isn't it."
"It's chicken wire."
"Look, Emma. That's a famous artist who painted cans of soup."
"What's it made of?"
"It's Andy Warhol."
"It's made of wire."
"It looks like Keith Richards."
"Should we walk back?"
"I drop the kids at school, I go to work, I come home."
"Did you buy the sculpture book? It tells you what it is."
"He was an artist and he invented like the soup-can art thing."
"Stand next to it."
"It's made of chicken wire."
"It's Andy Warhol and his can of soup."
"There's Hugh Jackman."
"Where?"
"No, for real. There. Look. There. With his wife. White hair."
"Oh, right."
"My sister saw him in Greece once."
"It's wire. Galvanised wire."
"Is there a people's choice? That should win the people's choice."
"Do you need the toilet?"
"It's quite clever how they've made it out of wire."
"You said I could take the picture, Dad."
"Did you see that? It was Hugh Jackman."
"Must be awful: can't go anywhere without people saying: look, Hugh Jackman."
"Look, Ruby, a man in a can."
"Is that my phone?"
"Where's your hat, Dylan?"
"You can't vote on the ones you like. They should let you vote."
"They should have kept the Bondi sign. One year they had a Bondi sign."
"Zach, darling, come back this way."
"It's wire."
"Andy Warhol was an artist and he painted, like, these soup cans."
"Is that your phone?"
"Don't put your finger over the lens."
"Hey, it's Andy Warhol. Is he dead?"
"He's dead."
"When did he die?"
"How much are the books?"
"Look, Hugh Jackman."
"Did this one win? The people's choice last year I voted for."
"Is it chicken wire?"
"What's it got to do with Bondi?"
"'Is this 70? What does it say in the book?"
"It's for sale. 21,000."
"It's made out of chicken wire."
"It's Campbell's soup."
"It's Andy Warhol."
"Is that my phone?"
"Where's your hat, Dylan?"
"Some of it's good. You go, wow. Like, is that wool? Is that glass?"
"Did you see the Imagine? There's an Imagine up there."
"It's got no I."
"It's like, put the I in Imagine."
"It mean, like, put yourself, your I, in imagine."
"It's interesting, isn't it?"
"Look at this one."
"Don't go down there, Zach."
"Come on. There's a light bulb one I want to see."
"Your bag's ringing."
(Credit: The Australian)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Sculptures By The Sea
Bondi Beach
Bronte Beach
Art and the creatives
Others, including the sharp thing made of crushed tin cans, are inscrutable and confusing, and when they are gone nobody says: where did that thing go?
From a distance, the crowd looks like a caterpillar edging its way up the coast.
It has many pairs of walking boots on its many feet.
Up close it's people shuffling single-file along the track, looking and making remarks, but their words get caught on the wind and blown towards the sea.
What's left behind are bits of phrases, snippets of the odd idea.
Here, then, verbatim, are fragments of conversations, as recorded by a reporter stationed by the chicken-wire sculpture depicting Andy Warhol's head emerging from a can of Campbell's tomato soup, on the path near Tamarama between 10.30am and 11.15am on the first Sunday of the annual art exhibition known as Sculptures by the Sea:
"Hey, look at that."
"Don't touch it, Riley."
"That one looks rusty."
"A lot of them last year were rusty."
"Where's Louise?"
"You still need a licence for a moped."
"Do you want to go on? I'll wait here with Riley."
"Did you bring water?"
"It's only because I saw the number that I saw it."
"Does it move?"
"Hi, Simone."
"Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, down from 400."
"It's tomato soup."
"It's made of wire."
"Look at how exquisitely everything is done."
"The can of soup. It's an oil drum."
"That's really good, isn't it."
"It's chicken wire."
"Look, Emma. That's a famous artist who painted cans of soup."
"What's it made of?"
"It's Andy Warhol."
"It's made of wire."
"It looks like Keith Richards."
"Should we walk back?"
"I drop the kids at school, I go to work, I come home."
"Did you buy the sculpture book? It tells you what it is."
"He was an artist and he invented like the soup-can art thing."
"Stand next to it."
"It's made of chicken wire."
"It's Andy Warhol and his can of soup."
"There's Hugh Jackman."
"Where?"
"No, for real. There. Look. There. With his wife. White hair."
"Oh, right."
"My sister saw him in Greece once."
"It's wire. Galvanised wire."
"Is there a people's choice? That should win the people's choice."
"Do you need the toilet?"
"It's quite clever how they've made it out of wire."
"You said I could take the picture, Dad."
"Did you see that? It was Hugh Jackman."
"Must be awful: can't go anywhere without people saying: look, Hugh Jackman."
"Look, Ruby, a man in a can."
"Is that my phone?"
"Where's your hat, Dylan?"
"You can't vote on the ones you like. They should let you vote."
"They should have kept the Bondi sign. One year they had a Bondi sign."
"Zach, darling, come back this way."
"It's wire."
"Andy Warhol was an artist and he painted, like, these soup cans."
"Is that your phone?"
"Don't put your finger over the lens."
"Hey, it's Andy Warhol. Is he dead?"
"He's dead."
"When did he die?"
"How much are the books?"
"Look, Hugh Jackman."
"Did this one win? The people's choice last year I voted for."
"Is it chicken wire?"
"What's it got to do with Bondi?"
"'Is this 70? What does it say in the book?"
"It's for sale. 21,000."
"It's made out of chicken wire."
"It's Campbell's soup."
"It's Andy Warhol."
"Is that my phone?"
"Where's your hat, Dylan?"
"Some of it's good. You go, wow. Like, is that wool? Is that glass?"
"Did you see the Imagine? There's an Imagine up there."
"It's got no I."
"It's like, put the I in Imagine."
"It mean, like, put yourself, your I, in imagine."
"It's interesting, isn't it?"
"Look at this one."
"Don't go down there, Zach."
"Come on. There's a light bulb one I want to see."
"Your bag's ringing."
(Credit: The Australian)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Sculptures By The Sea
Bondi Beach
Bronte Beach
Art and the creatives
Saturday, 25 October 2008
Monday, 20 October 2008
Bondi a world-class parking rort, by Justin Vallejo - The Daily Telegraph - 20th October 2008
It is a world famous sea-side strip - now Bondi has the unwanted honour of being Sydney's most expensive beach to visit.
No other city beach costs as much as Bondi where the Waverley Council car park charges $5 an hour, leaving visitors at least $30 worse off for a full day at the beach.
A Daily Telegraph survey found hundreds of cheap - or even free - parking spaces at beaches from Cronulla in the city's south to Palm Beach in the north.
Is it un-Australian to have to pay for parking at the beach?
But finding one near the heart of Sydney is like spotting an empty patch of sand at Bondi yesterday, where crowds flocked to the water as temperatures passed 30C.
"It's a rort," said Eddie Galayini, who visited Bondi yesterday.
"We already pay $30 in petrol driving here from Parramatta. And when you're paying $20 for parking and another $20 for lunch it becomes an expensive day."
Bondi's parking meters are also among the most expensive, charging $4.50 an hour behind the Pavilion and $3/hr elsewhere.
Bondi Chamber of Commerce vice-president Max Siano said the outrageous prices were killing the famous beach strip.
"People will find places to go where it costs nothing rather than come to Bondi, pay $10 for two hours or take a chance at being booked for $81," Mr Siano said.
On the Northern Beaches, Manly Council has introduced a licence plate recognition system that prevents drivers from hopping from one car park to another to take advantage of a "first two hours free" deal. After that, parking is charged on a sliding scale from $6 to $16 for between three and five hours parking.
But there are bargains to be found.
In long-term parking stations near Palm Beach, it costs only $6.50 for the first four hours and 60c for every hour after.
In the Sutherland Shire, all of the 1425 car parking spaces at Cronulla and North Cronulla beaches are free.
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
No other city beach costs as much as Bondi where the Waverley Council car park charges $5 an hour, leaving visitors at least $30 worse off for a full day at the beach.
A Daily Telegraph survey found hundreds of cheap - or even free - parking spaces at beaches from Cronulla in the city's south to Palm Beach in the north.
Is it un-Australian to have to pay for parking at the beach?
But finding one near the heart of Sydney is like spotting an empty patch of sand at Bondi yesterday, where crowds flocked to the water as temperatures passed 30C.
"It's a rort," said Eddie Galayini, who visited Bondi yesterday.
"We already pay $30 in petrol driving here from Parramatta. And when you're paying $20 for parking and another $20 for lunch it becomes an expensive day."
Bondi's parking meters are also among the most expensive, charging $4.50 an hour behind the Pavilion and $3/hr elsewhere.
Bondi Chamber of Commerce vice-president Max Siano said the outrageous prices were killing the famous beach strip.
"People will find places to go where it costs nothing rather than come to Bondi, pay $10 for two hours or take a chance at being booked for $81," Mr Siano said.
On the Northern Beaches, Manly Council has introduced a licence plate recognition system that prevents drivers from hopping from one car park to another to take advantage of a "first two hours free" deal. After that, parking is charged on a sliding scale from $6 to $16 for between three and five hours parking.
But there are bargains to be found.
In long-term parking stations near Palm Beach, it costs only $6.50 for the first four hours and 60c for every hour after.
In the Sutherland Shire, all of the 1425 car parking spaces at Cronulla and North Cronulla beaches are free.
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Promise of new life eases pain of Bali, by Brendan Shanahan - The Australian - 18th October 2008
In the glittering sun of a spring morning on Bondi Beach, 24-year-old Rae Milton is radiantly pregnant. "Rae's baby is due in three weeks and that's brought a lot of love to our family," says Tia Byron on the imminent birth of her first grandchild.
Tia's husband, David Byron, adds: "She's brought an energy into our family that we need."
Mr Byron is a founding member of the Bondi Longboard Club. To him, the Sydney beachside suburb is more than a glamorous icon, it's a neighbourhood and a community. It's where he grew up and where he taught his son, Jared (Rae's partner), and his daughter, Chloe, to surf.
"Chloe was a great little surfer," Mr Byron said yesterday. "We were all inaugural members (of the club): Jared, Chloe and myself. It's a lot easier for kids to ride longboards, isn't it?" He pauses and the words dry in his throat.
Chloe died in the 2002 Bali bombings, with the tragedy of her loss only heightened by the painful twist of fate in the events: Chloe and her friends, finding their flight home overbooked, were given a free night in a Kuta hotel, allowing Chloe to celebrate a friend's birthday that evening at the Sari Club. She was 15 years old.
In an attempt to help reconcile their loss, Mr Byron has for the past four years organised the Chloe Byron Memorial Longboard Championship, a surf contest, family day and fundraiser for the Homicide Victims Support Group. It will be held tomorrow from 7am at Bondi Beach.
Such charities have proved an invaluable lifeline to the Byron family, especially David, who admits to having been suicidal after his daughter's death. He is currently attending group therapy sessions, sponsored by the South Sydney Juniors Rugby League Club, together with local Bali survivors and others close to victims of homicide.
"As good as that is, it's a bit distressing that the Government or the Health Department don't weigh in with anything," Mr Byron said.
"It's as if they've all of a sudden forgotten us and people who suffer from the trauma of homicide. Without it (therapy) I'd be dead, mate. That's honest."
Mr Byron is keen to emphasise that the longboard championship is "a day of peace and love, a day of Aloha". But the imminent executions of the bombers responsible for his daughter's death cast an inevitable cloud.
After six years, what are Mr Byron's feelings towards the men who await death by firing squad?
"The Australian, Christian side of me says, 'Forgive them because they've been used as a tool'. But the father in me says, 'I'd take their life in a blink of an eye'. I'm a father and I haven't grown that much internally to forgive. I wish I could but they murdered my little girl and that's intolerable."
It's a difficult subject for Tia Byron, too, but she lacks her husband's still-palpable rage. "Honestly, it makes no difference to me. I don't think about them any more and it will make no difference to our life now, whatever happens to them."
(Credit: The Australian)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Tia's husband, David Byron, adds: "She's brought an energy into our family that we need."
Mr Byron is a founding member of the Bondi Longboard Club. To him, the Sydney beachside suburb is more than a glamorous icon, it's a neighbourhood and a community. It's where he grew up and where he taught his son, Jared (Rae's partner), and his daughter, Chloe, to surf.
"Chloe was a great little surfer," Mr Byron said yesterday. "We were all inaugural members (of the club): Jared, Chloe and myself. It's a lot easier for kids to ride longboards, isn't it?" He pauses and the words dry in his throat.
Chloe died in the 2002 Bali bombings, with the tragedy of her loss only heightened by the painful twist of fate in the events: Chloe and her friends, finding their flight home overbooked, were given a free night in a Kuta hotel, allowing Chloe to celebrate a friend's birthday that evening at the Sari Club. She was 15 years old.
In an attempt to help reconcile their loss, Mr Byron has for the past four years organised the Chloe Byron Memorial Longboard Championship, a surf contest, family day and fundraiser for the Homicide Victims Support Group. It will be held tomorrow from 7am at Bondi Beach.
Such charities have proved an invaluable lifeline to the Byron family, especially David, who admits to having been suicidal after his daughter's death. He is currently attending group therapy sessions, sponsored by the South Sydney Juniors Rugby League Club, together with local Bali survivors and others close to victims of homicide.
"As good as that is, it's a bit distressing that the Government or the Health Department don't weigh in with anything," Mr Byron said.
"It's as if they've all of a sudden forgotten us and people who suffer from the trauma of homicide. Without it (therapy) I'd be dead, mate. That's honest."
Mr Byron is keen to emphasise that the longboard championship is "a day of peace and love, a day of Aloha". But the imminent executions of the bombers responsible for his daughter's death cast an inevitable cloud.
After six years, what are Mr Byron's feelings towards the men who await death by firing squad?
"The Australian, Christian side of me says, 'Forgive them because they've been used as a tool'. But the father in me says, 'I'd take their life in a blink of an eye'. I'm a father and I haven't grown that much internally to forgive. I wish I could but they murdered my little girl and that's intolerable."
It's a difficult subject for Tia Byron, too, but she lacks her husband's still-palpable rage. "Honestly, it makes no difference to me. I don't think about them any more and it will make no difference to our life now, whatever happens to them."
(Credit: The Australian)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Saturday, 18 October 2008
Bondi surfers to pay respect on 'day of light' - ABC News - 17th October 2008
Longboarders will converge on Sydney's Bondi Beach this Sunday to compete in a surfing tournament founded to honour a young girl killed in the Bali bombings.
Chloe Byron was 15 when she died in the blast which destroyed the Sari Club in Kuta in October 2002 and killed 87 other Australians.
Dave Byron and his mate Lizard survey the waves at Bondi Beach in Sydney.
It's a well-honed ritual and as committed longboard surfers it's something they try to do every morning they can.
"Any day in the water is a good day for a surfer, particularly a longboarder. It's good for mind, body and spirit, particularly spirit," Mr Byron said.
Mr Byron's spirit has taken a few hits. In 2002 his 15-year-old daughter Chloe was killed in the Sari Club blast.
He rushed to the scene minutes after the explosion.
"It was like a giant pillar of dark, orange, intense flame shooting into the sky and there was black smoke coming off it, and it was like something, I can only describe it as hell. You look at it and you think - that's what hell must look like," he said.
Initially he convinced himself Chloe had survived - but several days later reality sunk in.
Mr Byron says not a moment goes by where he doesn't think of Chloe.
"I'm never going to comb my girl's hair again, never going to touch her cheek, never going to kiss her, I'm never going to hug her," he said.
Chloe's Contest
He established Chloe's Contest, one of the biggest longboard surfing tournaments in the world, to honour his daughter.
"Chloe's Contest - it's a day of aloha, with aloha spirit. Just have a day of aloha, day of light if you like, you know, it's a day of love. That's how we see it," he said.
Mr Byron's surfing mates make it a point to compete every year.
"Everybody was devastated at the time," Mr Bryon's friend Troll says.
"Everybody knows Dave. Everybody knew Chloe. We were just all in shock and I think it will continue to stay with us forever."
Another friend, known as Butt, says everyone was devastated.
"We just couldn't believe when it came out that was something that you just can't comprehend," he said.
"We're still a bit shocked and this is one way of remembering everyone in there and especially Chloe because we were that close to Chloe."
But this year's event is being held amid speculation the execution of three of the men convicted of the Bali bombings could be close at hand.
Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra are imprisoned at Nusakambangan Island off Java awaiting their fate.
Mr Byron says he finds it difficult to try and find forgiveness.
"We're from a society that doesn't believe in capital punishment and to a degree you live your life thinking that's the right thing," he said.
"And then something will happen, whether it's this or whether it's something else, and then you think they should be put to death."
But he says no matter what, it will be surfing and not vengeance dominating his thoughts on Sunday.
"Sunday is a day of light," he added.
"No darkness will be allowed to come in at all."
Adapted from an AM report by Michael Edwards.
(Credit: ABC)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Chloe Byron was 15 when she died in the blast which destroyed the Sari Club in Kuta in October 2002 and killed 87 other Australians.
Dave Byron and his mate Lizard survey the waves at Bondi Beach in Sydney.
It's a well-honed ritual and as committed longboard surfers it's something they try to do every morning they can.
"Any day in the water is a good day for a surfer, particularly a longboarder. It's good for mind, body and spirit, particularly spirit," Mr Byron said.
Mr Byron's spirit has taken a few hits. In 2002 his 15-year-old daughter Chloe was killed in the Sari Club blast.
He rushed to the scene minutes after the explosion.
"It was like a giant pillar of dark, orange, intense flame shooting into the sky and there was black smoke coming off it, and it was like something, I can only describe it as hell. You look at it and you think - that's what hell must look like," he said.
Initially he convinced himself Chloe had survived - but several days later reality sunk in.
Mr Byron says not a moment goes by where he doesn't think of Chloe.
"I'm never going to comb my girl's hair again, never going to touch her cheek, never going to kiss her, I'm never going to hug her," he said.
Chloe's Contest
He established Chloe's Contest, one of the biggest longboard surfing tournaments in the world, to honour his daughter.
"Chloe's Contest - it's a day of aloha, with aloha spirit. Just have a day of aloha, day of light if you like, you know, it's a day of love. That's how we see it," he said.
Mr Byron's surfing mates make it a point to compete every year.
"Everybody was devastated at the time," Mr Bryon's friend Troll says.
"Everybody knows Dave. Everybody knew Chloe. We were just all in shock and I think it will continue to stay with us forever."
Another friend, known as Butt, says everyone was devastated.
"We just couldn't believe when it came out that was something that you just can't comprehend," he said.
"We're still a bit shocked and this is one way of remembering everyone in there and especially Chloe because we were that close to Chloe."
But this year's event is being held amid speculation the execution of three of the men convicted of the Bali bombings could be close at hand.
Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra are imprisoned at Nusakambangan Island off Java awaiting their fate.
Mr Byron says he finds it difficult to try and find forgiveness.
"We're from a society that doesn't believe in capital punishment and to a degree you live your life thinking that's the right thing," he said.
"And then something will happen, whether it's this or whether it's something else, and then you think they should be put to death."
But he says no matter what, it will be surfing and not vengeance dominating his thoughts on Sunday.
"Sunday is a day of light," he added.
"No darkness will be allowed to come in at all."
Adapted from an AM report by Michael Edwards.
(Credit: ABC)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Monday, 13 October 2008
Friday, 10 October 2008
Days of sunshine and grace, by John Pilger - New Statesman - 9th October 2008
Sep was tall, handsome and languid, with a laconic half-smile like Errol Flynn's. On Saturdays he would show us slick dives off a Bondi bogie hole. John Pilger on a star that the world never knew
The great American athlete John Carlos once described "those people of grace who raise sport to something more than a game". Carlos and Tommie Smith had stood with their black-gloved fists held high on the winners' podium at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, damning racism and poverty. They were men of grace. Sep was very different, but he had the grace.
Sep died the other day. He was 88, but I imagine him only as a dashing figure. Tall and languid, with a laconic half-smile like Errol Flynn's, he would appear on Bondi Beach dressed in fashionable white bathing trunks and navigator sunglasses and surrounded by bikini-clad beauties, one of whom (usually Lexie) would apply his favourite coconut oil. And when the moment was right, he would dive from the perilous bogie hole into the fist of a wave as it raced towards the cliffs, then crest it before it struck the rocks. An accredited legend of North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club, he was one of the greatest surf swimmers and swimming coaches Australia has produced. As someone wrote, he was "Don Bradman's equivalent in the water".
I knew about Sep from a very early age because we had both attended Wellington Street School. He and other Bondi lifesavers had taken part in a courageous mass rescue of a kind that happened when the first non-swimming immigrants arrived in Australia and embraced the surf and its dangers. My headmaster had pinned up newspaper pictures in which Sep wore his signature shades. He looked good.
To appreciate Sep, you need to glimpse Australia in the 1940s and 1950s. Apart from enclaves of old money, Sydney was a poor city and Bondi, where I grew up, had faithful copies of the back-to-back houses of northern England which ensured that the diamond light of the great south land seldom intruded. In the long, hot, humid summers men wore serge suits, and an evangelical primness was upheld. But the beach was different. An English visitor, one Egbert T Russell, noted in 1910 that "one of the strangest features of Sydney surf bathing to the stranger is the casualness of the sexes on the beaches. They are partially naked, but not so unashamed as to notice the fact." Swimming up and down the green pyramids of the South Pacific, eyes half closed from the salt spray, was the greatest fun of all.
On Saturday mornings, Sep would sit on his coach's throne on whitewashed rocks overlooking Bondi's ocean baths. His female entourage would strap kerosene cans to the backs of the youngest kids - water wings had yet to be invented - and put the rest of us into flippers. Sep was the first to do this. He later said that the great American coach Bob Kiphuth, who reputedly could not swim a stroke, had told him his secret: "Ninety per cent personality and 10 per cent ability." What I remember was patience and kindness, the antithesis of the brutality that was to consume so much of sport in the years ahead. In 1952, Sep was appointed an Olympic coach and in the same year he married Lexie, who was famous for wearing one of the first ultra-brief bikinis, which she made herself out of towelling. She was also brave, diving with Sep off the bogie hole. Four years later, at the Melbourne Olympics, Australian swimmers won eight gold medals. You could spot the freestyle that Sep taught or inspired. When the elbow lifted, the fingers skimmed over the surface of the water. The result was shoulder power rather than arm movement. "Get that right and you'll swim like a dolphin," he said to me. The day I got it right, I managed a second to Murray Rose, who would go on to become an Olympian. We were 11 years old at the time, and Murray finished almost a pool length ahead, but it gave me a story for life. Thereafter I graduated to any pool I could find all over the world.
My Michelin-starred best pool on earth, as regular readers will know, is the North Sydney wonder pool, which lies spectacularly beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge across from the other-worldly Opera House. Built in the 1930s and adorned with art-deco dolphins and frogs, it is known as the wonder pool because no fewer than 86 world records have been broken there, itself a world record. Once, a sculler and a swimmer raced over its 50 metres and the swimmer won. Those who knew about swimming cleaned out the bookies.
Speaking of bookies, Sep was also celebrated as an illegal SP bookie. SP meant starting price and in horse-race-crazed Australia, the pre-Tote bookie was as important as your mother. He received supplicants with bad watches and silver cufflinks, he knew secrets and he even paid out. I suspect my father dealt with Sep on urgent non-swimming matters during the racing season. They both drank at Billy the Pig's and might have stepped out of Damon Runyon - my dad in his snap brim hat, Sep with his shades and dolls. I would say they both had the grace.
(Credit: New Statesman)
Greg Tingle comment
John makes one want to meet Sep so I think the article does its job. Some of Pilger's writing reminds me of that from Captain Paul Watson from Sea Shepherd infamy. It's fair to say that both are world class writers, at least most of the time. It's hard work writing and flogging books, at least for most of us I suspect. I'm based at Bondi Beach and one of my old mates was a surf star, who may have even known Sep...the late, great, Big Tim Bristow. My grandfather, Eric Fraser Cameron Tingle, was also a SP bookmaker and the front was a barber shop at Newport Beach, Sydney, right next door to where Tim and I used to enjoy a punt on the races. There's a history lesson. I'm flying the flag for Eric and Tim, as I do the odd spot of writing and am involved in the online casino and tourism business. Now to finish my book, From Newport Boy To Media Man. I think Sep, Eric and Tim would have enjoyed John's article, and maybe even this peg on. Comon boys, surfs up!
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
The great American athlete John Carlos once described "those people of grace who raise sport to something more than a game". Carlos and Tommie Smith had stood with their black-gloved fists held high on the winners' podium at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, damning racism and poverty. They were men of grace. Sep was very different, but he had the grace.
Sep died the other day. He was 88, but I imagine him only as a dashing figure. Tall and languid, with a laconic half-smile like Errol Flynn's, he would appear on Bondi Beach dressed in fashionable white bathing trunks and navigator sunglasses and surrounded by bikini-clad beauties, one of whom (usually Lexie) would apply his favourite coconut oil. And when the moment was right, he would dive from the perilous bogie hole into the fist of a wave as it raced towards the cliffs, then crest it before it struck the rocks. An accredited legend of North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club, he was one of the greatest surf swimmers and swimming coaches Australia has produced. As someone wrote, he was "Don Bradman's equivalent in the water".
I knew about Sep from a very early age because we had both attended Wellington Street School. He and other Bondi lifesavers had taken part in a courageous mass rescue of a kind that happened when the first non-swimming immigrants arrived in Australia and embraced the surf and its dangers. My headmaster had pinned up newspaper pictures in which Sep wore his signature shades. He looked good.
To appreciate Sep, you need to glimpse Australia in the 1940s and 1950s. Apart from enclaves of old money, Sydney was a poor city and Bondi, where I grew up, had faithful copies of the back-to-back houses of northern England which ensured that the diamond light of the great south land seldom intruded. In the long, hot, humid summers men wore serge suits, and an evangelical primness was upheld. But the beach was different. An English visitor, one Egbert T Russell, noted in 1910 that "one of the strangest features of Sydney surf bathing to the stranger is the casualness of the sexes on the beaches. They are partially naked, but not so unashamed as to notice the fact." Swimming up and down the green pyramids of the South Pacific, eyes half closed from the salt spray, was the greatest fun of all.
On Saturday mornings, Sep would sit on his coach's throne on whitewashed rocks overlooking Bondi's ocean baths. His female entourage would strap kerosene cans to the backs of the youngest kids - water wings had yet to be invented - and put the rest of us into flippers. Sep was the first to do this. He later said that the great American coach Bob Kiphuth, who reputedly could not swim a stroke, had told him his secret: "Ninety per cent personality and 10 per cent ability." What I remember was patience and kindness, the antithesis of the brutality that was to consume so much of sport in the years ahead. In 1952, Sep was appointed an Olympic coach and in the same year he married Lexie, who was famous for wearing one of the first ultra-brief bikinis, which she made herself out of towelling. She was also brave, diving with Sep off the bogie hole. Four years later, at the Melbourne Olympics, Australian swimmers won eight gold medals. You could spot the freestyle that Sep taught or inspired. When the elbow lifted, the fingers skimmed over the surface of the water. The result was shoulder power rather than arm movement. "Get that right and you'll swim like a dolphin," he said to me. The day I got it right, I managed a second to Murray Rose, who would go on to become an Olympian. We were 11 years old at the time, and Murray finished almost a pool length ahead, but it gave me a story for life. Thereafter I graduated to any pool I could find all over the world.
My Michelin-starred best pool on earth, as regular readers will know, is the North Sydney wonder pool, which lies spectacularly beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge across from the other-worldly Opera House. Built in the 1930s and adorned with art-deco dolphins and frogs, it is known as the wonder pool because no fewer than 86 world records have been broken there, itself a world record. Once, a sculler and a swimmer raced over its 50 metres and the swimmer won. Those who knew about swimming cleaned out the bookies.
Speaking of bookies, Sep was also celebrated as an illegal SP bookie. SP meant starting price and in horse-race-crazed Australia, the pre-Tote bookie was as important as your mother. He received supplicants with bad watches and silver cufflinks, he knew secrets and he even paid out. I suspect my father dealt with Sep on urgent non-swimming matters during the racing season. They both drank at Billy the Pig's and might have stepped out of Damon Runyon - my dad in his snap brim hat, Sep with his shades and dolls. I would say they both had the grace.
(Credit: New Statesman)
Greg Tingle comment
John makes one want to meet Sep so I think the article does its job. Some of Pilger's writing reminds me of that from Captain Paul Watson from Sea Shepherd infamy. It's fair to say that both are world class writers, at least most of the time. It's hard work writing and flogging books, at least for most of us I suspect. I'm based at Bondi Beach and one of my old mates was a surf star, who may have even known Sep...the late, great, Big Tim Bristow. My grandfather, Eric Fraser Cameron Tingle, was also a SP bookmaker and the front was a barber shop at Newport Beach, Sydney, right next door to where Tim and I used to enjoy a punt on the races. There's a history lesson. I'm flying the flag for Eric and Tim, as I do the odd spot of writing and am involved in the online casino and tourism business. Now to finish my book, From Newport Boy To Media Man. I think Sep, Eric and Tim would have enjoyed John's article, and maybe even this peg on. Comon boys, surfs up!
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Thursday, 9 October 2008
Swiss-Grand Resort & Spa, Bondi Beach
Perfectly positioned alongside Sydney's World famous Bondi Beach, the Swiss-Grand is a great hotel, packed with uniqueness and extras. At the hotel entrance we were greeted by a porter who took our bags and directed us to Reception. Entering the lobby for the first time was an experience to remember. The overly spacious lobby lounge, decked out with classic era furniture of days gone by gave way to a huge atrium surrounded by the hotel's 3 floors of accommodation. Check-in was handled promptly, and we then proceeded to take the car to the separately run car park on the other side of the building. The car park was easily accessable and was spacious and near to the lift. On arrival on the third floor, which is the first floor of rooms we moved down hallways decorated with prints of Bondi Beach in in the 1880s, 1900s, 1930s and 1940s. These maginificent prints in gold frames take you back to the very earliest days of this colossal beach. Our room, as all rooms are at the Swiss-Grand, was in fact a suite. The entrance took us into a lounge room with a sofa (which can convert to a bed) a TV, mini-bar, a small dining table and two chairs and a full length kitchen sink. There were no cooking facilities but it appeared the hotel could easily convert to apartment style studio accommodation simply by adding a microwave or small stove. In the centre of the suite was the bathroom, which was quite servicable but could be improved. The wash basin taps and the shower recess smacked of an economical construction. The shower panels were not sturdy. The shower rose emitted water as though there was a water saving device fitted and was quite sharp. The usual guest amentities were not provided. In their place was a large shampoo and conditioning lotion pack actually in the shower recess. This was a welcomed novelty as often the guest amentities provided are in very small bottles and are often very thick and a little hard to use.
There was a three quarter size bath in the bathrooms, adequate bench space and plenty of lighting. In fact lighting throughout the suite, unlike many hotel rooms these days, was excellent. The next room was the bedroom which comprises two twin beds. There was no option given at reception, however this did not present a problem. The beds however were quite small, though relatively comfortable. The colour scheme of the soft furnishings was blue and gold, intended to match the colours of the sea. A reasonably substantial wardrobe was provided, two wide drawers and plenty of additional cupboard space and shelving. A second TV was provided, an in-room and even a bedroom wash-basin. A writing desk and chair was included with an Internet keyboard, which seemingly, for a charge, could be used in conjunction with the TV for Internet connection. You could also connect to the Net by dial-up, using the telephone hand-set which had a data port. There were in fact three telephones, one in the living room, one in the bathroom and one in the bedroom.
The room booked through Metrostar.com was labelled a partial ocean view room and it was exactly that. There were views off to the side from an in-step balcony which was of a triangular shape, and because of the width could not be used other than for standing and looking out. There was no furniture on the balcony, nor was there any space for any. The rooms, freshly painted in primrose yellow and with the blue and gold bedspreads, drapes and upholstery were a terrific back-drop to the setting. Bondi Beach is just a few miles east of the city (Sydney) and is surrounded by sidewalk cafes, restaurants and specialty shops. The promenade alongside the beach is littered with tables and chairs serviced by the adjacent restaurants and eateries. The hotel itself has a garden restaurant, the Epic Brasserie, where we feasted on a sumptious buffet. The cost was $35 a head which was a little over the top. The variety was not stretched however. The salads and seafood appetisers were somewhat limited as were the main dishes, which consisted of a meat and fish offering and roast lamb. The desserts were also somewhat limiting and there was no fresh or whipped cream provided. The hotel also provided a buffet breakfast at around $20 a head, however we did not partake of this during our stay.
The hotel also has a cocktail bar adjoining the main restaurant and on the lower floor there's the Blue Chip Bar and Gaming roon. This is open from 11am until late each dayand there is a Happy Hour every day from 4pm to 7pm. At this time "schooners" of beer (15 oz) are $2.80. Bands, local talents (Thursdays) and DJs provide entertainment on Thursdays through Saturdays.
Parking at the hotel was included in our tariff, however when we went to take the car out we were told we needed our 'charge card' given to us at reception. Unforrtunately this wasn't told to us so it was back to our room from the car park to retrieve it. Other than that the parking was spacious and easy to access.
On the Sunday morning we tried the outdoor spa on the roof however it was cold. Even after waiting for it to warm up the temperature remained the same. The 25 metre pool alongside was equally as cold so instead we made our way to the beach and an early surf. The weather was brilliant, warm for Winter and this added to the quality of the stay.
The Swiss-Grand Hotel on Bondi Beach is a good standard 4 star hotel with excellent facilities. There is also a lower ground floor gym which is fully equipped. It is run separately and although some tariffs include the charge, some do not.
The hotel is a wonderful way to experience Bondi Beach and to track it's history with it's walls-lined prints.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Swiss-Grand Resort & Spa
Bondi Beach
There was a three quarter size bath in the bathrooms, adequate bench space and plenty of lighting. In fact lighting throughout the suite, unlike many hotel rooms these days, was excellent. The next room was the bedroom which comprises two twin beds. There was no option given at reception, however this did not present a problem. The beds however were quite small, though relatively comfortable. The colour scheme of the soft furnishings was blue and gold, intended to match the colours of the sea. A reasonably substantial wardrobe was provided, two wide drawers and plenty of additional cupboard space and shelving. A second TV was provided, an in-room and even a bedroom wash-basin. A writing desk and chair was included with an Internet keyboard, which seemingly, for a charge, could be used in conjunction with the TV for Internet connection. You could also connect to the Net by dial-up, using the telephone hand-set which had a data port. There were in fact three telephones, one in the living room, one in the bathroom and one in the bedroom.
The room booked through Metrostar.com was labelled a partial ocean view room and it was exactly that. There were views off to the side from an in-step balcony which was of a triangular shape, and because of the width could not be used other than for standing and looking out. There was no furniture on the balcony, nor was there any space for any. The rooms, freshly painted in primrose yellow and with the blue and gold bedspreads, drapes and upholstery were a terrific back-drop to the setting. Bondi Beach is just a few miles east of the city (Sydney) and is surrounded by sidewalk cafes, restaurants and specialty shops. The promenade alongside the beach is littered with tables and chairs serviced by the adjacent restaurants and eateries. The hotel itself has a garden restaurant, the Epic Brasserie, where we feasted on a sumptious buffet. The cost was $35 a head which was a little over the top. The variety was not stretched however. The salads and seafood appetisers were somewhat limited as were the main dishes, which consisted of a meat and fish offering and roast lamb. The desserts were also somewhat limiting and there was no fresh or whipped cream provided. The hotel also provided a buffet breakfast at around $20 a head, however we did not partake of this during our stay.
The hotel also has a cocktail bar adjoining the main restaurant and on the lower floor there's the Blue Chip Bar and Gaming roon. This is open from 11am until late each dayand there is a Happy Hour every day from 4pm to 7pm. At this time "schooners" of beer (15 oz) are $2.80. Bands, local talents (Thursdays) and DJs provide entertainment on Thursdays through Saturdays.
Parking at the hotel was included in our tariff, however when we went to take the car out we were told we needed our 'charge card' given to us at reception. Unforrtunately this wasn't told to us so it was back to our room from the car park to retrieve it. Other than that the parking was spacious and easy to access.
On the Sunday morning we tried the outdoor spa on the roof however it was cold. Even after waiting for it to warm up the temperature remained the same. The 25 metre pool alongside was equally as cold so instead we made our way to the beach and an early surf. The weather was brilliant, warm for Winter and this added to the quality of the stay.
The Swiss-Grand Hotel on Bondi Beach is a good standard 4 star hotel with excellent facilities. There is also a lower ground floor gym which is fully equipped. It is run separately and although some tariffs include the charge, some do not.
The hotel is a wonderful way to experience Bondi Beach and to track it's history with it's walls-lined prints.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Swiss-Grand Resort & Spa
Bondi Beach
Bondi banks scam: ATM alert, by Georgina Robinson - The Sydney Morning Herald - 9th October 2008
Police are warning Sydney ATM users to be vigilant following a spate of "brazen robberies" in the Bondi area this month.
Two men fleeced unsuspecting customers of $1800 in cash within half an hour of stealing their ATM cards in the middle of a transaction.
In one of three known robberies this month, police believe the thieves walked less than two metres to a neighbouring ATM and withdrew $900 in three separate transactions, all before the victim made it into the bank to cancel their card.
On another occasion, the pair stole $900 through credit card transactions and cash withdrawals within half an hour of stealing a bank card.
Police believe the first offender watches a bank customer enter their PIN into the machine and keys it into a mobile phone.
The second offender then distracts the customer by dropping a $20 note at their feet and tapping their shoulder, while the first offender steals their card as it is ejected from the ATM.
The stolen card is used in another machine, leaving the ATM customer to wonder why the machine has not spat out their card.
Eastern Suburbs police say the robberies are brazen and unlike anything they have seen before in the area.
Three known incidents have so far occurred in the Bondi and Bondi Junction areas this month.
But in the latest incident, on Tuesday, a bank employee thwarted the robbery when he recognised the duo from a successful robbery on October 2.
Detective Inspector Peter Glynn, from Eastern Suburbs Local Area Command, said the confrontational nature of these robberies had alarmed police.
"This is a new trend we haven't seen before," he said.
Police said ATM users should take extra care.
"You should also be aware of who is around you and whether they might be watching you or acting suspiciously," Detective Inspector Glynn said.
The first offender has been described as being aged in his mid-20s, about 170 centimetres tall, with medium to dark skin, a medium build and dark brown curly hair, which is short at the sides and longer at the back.
The second offender has been described as being aged in his mid-20s, also about 170 centimetres tall, with fair skin, a slim to medium build and short shaven blond hair.
Anyone with information that could help police should call Waverley Police Station on (02) 9369 9899 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 000 333.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Two men fleeced unsuspecting customers of $1800 in cash within half an hour of stealing their ATM cards in the middle of a transaction.
In one of three known robberies this month, police believe the thieves walked less than two metres to a neighbouring ATM and withdrew $900 in three separate transactions, all before the victim made it into the bank to cancel their card.
On another occasion, the pair stole $900 through credit card transactions and cash withdrawals within half an hour of stealing a bank card.
Police believe the first offender watches a bank customer enter their PIN into the machine and keys it into a mobile phone.
The second offender then distracts the customer by dropping a $20 note at their feet and tapping their shoulder, while the first offender steals their card as it is ejected from the ATM.
The stolen card is used in another machine, leaving the ATM customer to wonder why the machine has not spat out their card.
Eastern Suburbs police say the robberies are brazen and unlike anything they have seen before in the area.
Three known incidents have so far occurred in the Bondi and Bondi Junction areas this month.
But in the latest incident, on Tuesday, a bank employee thwarted the robbery when he recognised the duo from a successful robbery on October 2.
Detective Inspector Peter Glynn, from Eastern Suburbs Local Area Command, said the confrontational nature of these robberies had alarmed police.
"This is a new trend we haven't seen before," he said.
Police said ATM users should take extra care.
"You should also be aware of who is around you and whether they might be watching you or acting suspiciously," Detective Inspector Glynn said.
The first offender has been described as being aged in his mid-20s, about 170 centimetres tall, with medium to dark skin, a medium build and dark brown curly hair, which is short at the sides and longer at the back.
The second offender has been described as being aged in his mid-20s, also about 170 centimetres tall, with fair skin, a slim to medium build and short shaven blond hair.
Anyone with information that could help police should call Waverley Police Station on (02) 9369 9899 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 000 333.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Monday, 6 October 2008
Ecstasy sting nets two men, 1000 pills, by Dylan Welch - The Sydney Morning Herald - 3rd October 2008
A 19-year-old arrested as he allegedly tried to offload 1000 ecstasy pills while undercover police watched will not have to ring his mother to bail him out of jail - she drove him to the meeting.
Undercover city detectives arrested the teenager as he allegedly tried to sell the pills in a car park in Ramsgate Avenue, North Bondi, about 10.30am yesterday.
There was no evidence the mother was involved in any criminal enterprise or was aware of her son's illicit activities, police said.
Police also questioned three men in a nearby car.
The teenager was taken to Bondi police station and charged with supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.
Later, police also arrested a man, 26, at a house in Westmoreland Street, Glebe, whom they allege was the source of the drugs.
The commander of the Surry Hills Region Enforcement Squad, Inspector Gavin Wood, said yesterday's arrest was one of five his squad had made since May.
About 2200 ecstasy tablets with a street value of about $110,000 had been seized during Strike Force Dooley, which targeted mid-level drug distribution in the city and surrounding suburbs, he said.
Since May the squad has arrested 104 people for 200 drug-related offences.
"We'd certainly allege that [yesterday's operation] is a very significant seizure and we believe we've hit a significant drug distribution network. We are constantly targeting those people engaged in dealing illicit drugs and taking them off the streets.
"Every drug arrest we make further disrupts the supply network and … we will only continue to step up our activities."
The 19-year-old was expected to appear in Waverley Local Court yesterday. The 26-year-old has been charged with supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and will face Newtown Local Court at a later date.
Undercover city detectives arrested the teenager as he allegedly tried to sell the pills in a car park in Ramsgate Avenue, North Bondi, about 10.30am yesterday.
There was no evidence the mother was involved in any criminal enterprise or was aware of her son's illicit activities, police said.
Police also questioned three men in a nearby car.
The teenager was taken to Bondi police station and charged with supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.
Later, police also arrested a man, 26, at a house in Westmoreland Street, Glebe, whom they allege was the source of the drugs.
The commander of the Surry Hills Region Enforcement Squad, Inspector Gavin Wood, said yesterday's arrest was one of five his squad had made since May.
About 2200 ecstasy tablets with a street value of about $110,000 had been seized during Strike Force Dooley, which targeted mid-level drug distribution in the city and surrounding suburbs, he said.
Since May the squad has arrested 104 people for 200 drug-related offences.
"We'd certainly allege that [yesterday's operation] is a very significant seizure and we believe we've hit a significant drug distribution network. We are constantly targeting those people engaged in dealing illicit drugs and taking them off the streets.
"Every drug arrest we make further disrupts the supply network and … we will only continue to step up our activities."
The 19-year-old was expected to appear in Waverley Local Court yesterday. The 26-year-old has been charged with supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and will face Newtown Local Court at a later date.
British girl, 16, falls to her death from Bondi beach cliff while drinking with friends, by Richard Shears - The Daily Mail - 6th October 2008
The grieving British father of a fun-loving teenage girl who plunged to her death from a cliff in Australia said yesterday he wanted to warn other youngsters of the dangers of drinking and partying.
Robin Armson, describing his 16-year-old daughter Cody Dawson as his 'English rose', said she had been partying and drinking with friends all evening - before she fell from a cliff near Sydney's famous Bondi beach.
Police believe attractive brunette Cody fell to her death while standing with another teenager on the dimly-lit cliff top when she lost her footing and fell backwards.
'I'll cry for ever for my baby,' said Mr Armson, who emigrated to Australia several years ago and watched his daughter go through her schooling in the Bondi area.
Expressing his concerns about teenage drinking, Mr Armson said he had spoken to his daughter about her drinking two months ago.
'I suggested she ease up a bit but she has so many friends she just couldn't. She was always out organising things,' he said.
'As far as we know at this stage it's just a tragic accident, but I'm waiting to hear from police,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
'Everyone she touched loved her. She was so special, not just because she was my daughter but anyone would tell you that.'
Police said yesterday that they were still investigating Cody's death but believe it was a 'tragic accident'.
'As soon as I saw the police at my door at 4.30 in the morning I just knew, the way they looked at me, I just knew it,' said Mr Armson.
'I'm still waiting for her to come home, because Cody always comes home, sooner or later.'
A 20-year-old woman fell to her death when she slipped from a cliff in the same area last November.
A spokeswoman for the local council said yesterday that following that accident, warning signs and extra fencing had been put up around the cliffs at Coogee beach.
A further investigation to establish if the public is adequately protected will also now be carried out.
Robin Armson, describing his 16-year-old daughter Cody Dawson as his 'English rose', said she had been partying and drinking with friends all evening - before she fell from a cliff near Sydney's famous Bondi beach.
Police believe attractive brunette Cody fell to her death while standing with another teenager on the dimly-lit cliff top when she lost her footing and fell backwards.
'I'll cry for ever for my baby,' said Mr Armson, who emigrated to Australia several years ago and watched his daughter go through her schooling in the Bondi area.
Expressing his concerns about teenage drinking, Mr Armson said he had spoken to his daughter about her drinking two months ago.
'I suggested she ease up a bit but she has so many friends she just couldn't. She was always out organising things,' he said.
'As far as we know at this stage it's just a tragic accident, but I'm waiting to hear from police,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
'Everyone she touched loved her. She was so special, not just because she was my daughter but anyone would tell you that.'
Police said yesterday that they were still investigating Cody's death but believe it was a 'tragic accident'.
'As soon as I saw the police at my door at 4.30 in the morning I just knew, the way they looked at me, I just knew it,' said Mr Armson.
'I'm still waiting for her to come home, because Cody always comes home, sooner or later.'
A 20-year-old woman fell to her death when she slipped from a cliff in the same area last November.
A spokeswoman for the local council said yesterday that following that accident, warning signs and extra fencing had been put up around the cliffs at Coogee beach.
A further investigation to establish if the public is adequately protected will also now be carried out.
Saturday, 4 October 2008
Greens protest offshore mining, by Melissa Grayson - The Bondi View - 2nd October 2008
Bondi locals joined the Greens last week to protest against a proposal for coal exploration off the eastern coast.
Six thousand square kilometres of NSW coast could drastically deteriorate if Energie Future P/L gains a licence to explore seabed coal deposits. Areas of coastline from Sydney’s Royal National Park to Port Stephens would be targeted, with activity occurring within five kilometres of the coast in Sydney’s far south, and at points along the Central Coast, Lake Macquarie and Stockton Bight.
If approved, risks of leaks and spills would be an ongoing threat to marine life and water quality and impact on tourism.
The process involves offshore underground coal gasification; coal is dumped in the seabed, set on fire, which draws off gas, and creates an explosion of noise.
These explosions would pose a major disturbance for marine life, particularly whales known to communicate through sound and likely to be frightened away from the coastline.
Renee Ferster Levy from the Marine Discovery Centre in Bondi said that approximately 1400 humpback whales would be affected and drawn away from the coast, and sightseers, during the 10-week October and November migration season. “And that’s not considering the thousands more that aren’t in vision from the shore,” she said.
Marine ecologist Will Jones adds: “Southern white whales are another breed that communicates through echoing sound, as well as dolphins, another major tourist attraction that’ll be drawn away from the shore if the mining goes ahead.”
This could have an impact on the huge number of tourists who visit Bondi every year which would also affect local businesses.
The protest, held at Bondi Beach on September 26, was spearheaded by Greens MP Lee Rhiannon. Locals, Greens supporters and mining protestors joined the rally, and speakers included Ms Rhiannon, Waverley Greens councillor Dominic Wy Kanak and Julien Lacave from Renewable Energy.
Jonathon Doig from the NSW Department of Natural Resources warns of the potential effects, pointing to the impact on beaches overseas.
“At the beaches of Los Angeles, the sand is grey and the water is murky. Compare that to the glistening quality of Bondi which is a major tourist attraction,” he said.
“In five years if nothing is done, our beaches will resemble the beaches of LA.”
While the NSW government has carriage of the application process, the Rudd government has the final say.
People were urged to lobby against granting of the licence by writing to Environment Minister Peter Garrett and the local MP, Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, demanding that they act to protect our coastlines.
(Credit: The Bondi View)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Environmentalists and the environment
Eco Tourism
Bondi Beach
Six thousand square kilometres of NSW coast could drastically deteriorate if Energie Future P/L gains a licence to explore seabed coal deposits. Areas of coastline from Sydney’s Royal National Park to Port Stephens would be targeted, with activity occurring within five kilometres of the coast in Sydney’s far south, and at points along the Central Coast, Lake Macquarie and Stockton Bight.
If approved, risks of leaks and spills would be an ongoing threat to marine life and water quality and impact on tourism.
The process involves offshore underground coal gasification; coal is dumped in the seabed, set on fire, which draws off gas, and creates an explosion of noise.
These explosions would pose a major disturbance for marine life, particularly whales known to communicate through sound and likely to be frightened away from the coastline.
Renee Ferster Levy from the Marine Discovery Centre in Bondi said that approximately 1400 humpback whales would be affected and drawn away from the coast, and sightseers, during the 10-week October and November migration season. “And that’s not considering the thousands more that aren’t in vision from the shore,” she said.
Marine ecologist Will Jones adds: “Southern white whales are another breed that communicates through echoing sound, as well as dolphins, another major tourist attraction that’ll be drawn away from the shore if the mining goes ahead.”
This could have an impact on the huge number of tourists who visit Bondi every year which would also affect local businesses.
The protest, held at Bondi Beach on September 26, was spearheaded by Greens MP Lee Rhiannon. Locals, Greens supporters and mining protestors joined the rally, and speakers included Ms Rhiannon, Waverley Greens councillor Dominic Wy Kanak and Julien Lacave from Renewable Energy.
Jonathon Doig from the NSW Department of Natural Resources warns of the potential effects, pointing to the impact on beaches overseas.
“At the beaches of Los Angeles, the sand is grey and the water is murky. Compare that to the glistening quality of Bondi which is a major tourist attraction,” he said.
“In five years if nothing is done, our beaches will resemble the beaches of LA.”
While the NSW government has carriage of the application process, the Rudd government has the final say.
People were urged to lobby against granting of the licence by writing to Environment Minister Peter Garrett and the local MP, Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, demanding that they act to protect our coastlines.
(Credit: The Bondi View)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Environmentalists and the environment
Eco Tourism
Bondi Beach
Sea of stretchy pants as ‘Gummies’ salute the Bondi sun, by Annika Burgess and Yasmin Bright - Live News - 3rd October 2008
Almost 1,000 people saluted the sun this morning at Bondi Beach, in what was one of the largest yoga classes in Australian history.
The sparkling Sydney morning created the perfect backdrop, as the group, some more experienced than others, took part in the early morning mass yoga class.
Online community website Gumtree.com.au, organised the event to bring their online community to life.
"We thought it might be fun to bring the Gummies, as we like to call them, together and maybe swap stories about things they've done together on Gumtree," said Rob Cassidy from Gumtree.com.au.
Among the group was model Annaliese Braakensiek who was there to experience the ‘inspiring group energy’.
“It’s just beautiful in every sense… I find yoga has so many benefits, and most of them aren’t just physical – I think it really, really creates a sense of wellbeing.”
(Credit: Live News)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
The sparkling Sydney morning created the perfect backdrop, as the group, some more experienced than others, took part in the early morning mass yoga class.
Online community website Gumtree.com.au, organised the event to bring their online community to life.
"We thought it might be fun to bring the Gummies, as we like to call them, together and maybe swap stories about things they've done together on Gumtree," said Rob Cassidy from Gumtree.com.au.
Among the group was model Annaliese Braakensiek who was there to experience the ‘inspiring group energy’.
“It’s just beautiful in every sense… I find yoga has so many benefits, and most of them aren’t just physical – I think it really, really creates a sense of wellbeing.”
(Credit: Live News)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Friday, 3 October 2008
Coal trial submerged in debate, by Lisa Carty - The Sydney Morning Herald - 21st September 2008
Untapped coal reserves under the Pacific Ocean could provide enough energy to power every house in NSW for about 13,000 years, a company that wants to explore a massive area under the seabed says.
Energie Future is seeking leave to conduct tests under 5940 quare kilometres of the ocean floor between Newcastle and Wollongong.
If successful, the company would be the first in the world to use coal gasification - extreme heat to turn underground coal into gas - under the ocean floor.
The proposal has outraged Greens MP Lee Rhiannon, who said that even the exploratory work, centring on seismic testing, would endanger whales and other marine life.
It would almost be inevitable that the Government would grant a mining licence to a company that had spent hundreds of millions of dollars on mining exploration, she said.
The MP, who is organising a protest at Bondi on Friday, said
there was a "real threat of unforseen damage to the seabed and pollution and degradation to our coastal waters and beaches".
"Mining always follows exploration if the mining company wishes it, so this proposal should be ruled out now.
"The answer to climate change is investing in proven sustainable solutions like solar energy, not dangerous experiments that threaten our oceans and beaches," she said.
Energie Future managing director Rick Somerton said he hoped the trial would provide alternatives to high-emission fuels.
"The exploration phase will follow very stringent government guidelines . . . and a full environmental plan must be completed and approved," he said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Environmentalists and the environment
Energie Future is seeking leave to conduct tests under 5940 quare kilometres of the ocean floor between Newcastle and Wollongong.
If successful, the company would be the first in the world to use coal gasification - extreme heat to turn underground coal into gas - under the ocean floor.
The proposal has outraged Greens MP Lee Rhiannon, who said that even the exploratory work, centring on seismic testing, would endanger whales and other marine life.
It would almost be inevitable that the Government would grant a mining licence to a company that had spent hundreds of millions of dollars on mining exploration, she said.
The MP, who is organising a protest at Bondi on Friday, said
there was a "real threat of unforseen damage to the seabed and pollution and degradation to our coastal waters and beaches".
"Mining always follows exploration if the mining company wishes it, so this proposal should be ruled out now.
"The answer to climate change is investing in proven sustainable solutions like solar energy, not dangerous experiments that threaten our oceans and beaches," she said.
Energie Future managing director Rick Somerton said he hoped the trial would provide alternatives to high-emission fuels.
"The exploration phase will follow very stringent government guidelines . . . and a full environmental plan must be completed and approved," he said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Environmentalists and the environment
Hope found in whale dreamtime, by Greg Tingle - The Bondi View - October 2008
I found Whaledreamers to be a powerful, thought provoking and relevant film.
Featuring Julian Lennon, Jack Thompson and Bunna Lawrie, its indigenous and environmental messages were presented without hype and without preaching. And there were just enough celebrities to give the film mainstream appeal.
Directed by Kim Kindersley, Whaledreamers explores the intricate connections that link humans to nature, themes that permeate indigenous thinking and spirituality. Everything and everyone is connected.
Just as people communicate with their pets, Whaledreamers makes the case that some indigenous people have the power to communicate with whales.
The film is not a technical masterpiece but it does deliver a powerful message: we really need to listen to the traditional caretakers of this land. While it is not a sermon, the film invites the viewer to consider whether the Mirning tribe and the whales could teach us a thing or two about living on this planet.
The highlight of the film for me was when the elders called out to the whales, and they emerged from the ocean.
In an age of environmental degradation and threats posed by climate change, the film offers hope, and the world owes Lennon and Kindersley gratitude for this magnificent effort.
See this film. It just might change your perspective.
Whaledreamers headlines the Greenfest Film Festival in Brisbane from October 10 - 12.
For more information go to www.whaledreamers.com
Media Man Australia Profiles
Whaledreamers
Greenfest
Featuring Julian Lennon, Jack Thompson and Bunna Lawrie, its indigenous and environmental messages were presented without hype and without preaching. And there were just enough celebrities to give the film mainstream appeal.
Directed by Kim Kindersley, Whaledreamers explores the intricate connections that link humans to nature, themes that permeate indigenous thinking and spirituality. Everything and everyone is connected.
Just as people communicate with their pets, Whaledreamers makes the case that some indigenous people have the power to communicate with whales.
The film is not a technical masterpiece but it does deliver a powerful message: we really need to listen to the traditional caretakers of this land. While it is not a sermon, the film invites the viewer to consider whether the Mirning tribe and the whales could teach us a thing or two about living on this planet.
The highlight of the film for me was when the elders called out to the whales, and they emerged from the ocean.
In an age of environmental degradation and threats posed by climate change, the film offers hope, and the world owes Lennon and Kindersley gratitude for this magnificent effort.
See this film. It just might change your perspective.
Whaledreamers headlines the Greenfest Film Festival in Brisbane from October 10 - 12.
For more information go to www.whaledreamers.com
Media Man Australia Profiles
Whaledreamers
Greenfest
Thursday, 2 October 2008
Bondi Beach Media Updated
Two prominent Bondi Beach destination website portals have been updated.
Websites
Media Man Australia
Travel Tourism Media
Profiles
Bondi Beach - Media Man Australia
Bondi Beach - Travel Tourism Media
Websites
Media Man Australia
Travel Tourism Media
Profiles
Bondi Beach - Media Man Australia
Bondi Beach - Travel Tourism Media
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Friday, 26 September 2008
Greens protest 'risky' coastal coal mining - ABC - 26th September 2008
The Greens have held a protest at Sydney's Bondi Beach to call on federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett to stop a company exploring for coal off the New South Wales coast.
The company Energie Future has applied to the NSW Government to explore a 6,000-square-kilometre area of sea bed off the NSW coast for coal.
The company is seeking to use an experimental process to turn underground coal into gas and says it will submit an environmental plan.
But NSW Greens MP Lee Rhiannon says the project will impact on whale migration and water quality.
"This type of mining off the New South Wales coast comes under both the New South Wales Government and the Federal Government, and the Federal Government actually has the final sign-off," she said.
Ms Rhiannon says the experimental process to extract coal from the sea bed is too risky.
She is calling on Mr Garrett to rule out final approval of the project.
A spokesman for Mr Garrett says the Minister will give the application thorough and rigorous consideration in accordance with national environmental legislation.
(Credit: ABC)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
The company Energie Future has applied to the NSW Government to explore a 6,000-square-kilometre area of sea bed off the NSW coast for coal.
The company is seeking to use an experimental process to turn underground coal into gas and says it will submit an environmental plan.
But NSW Greens MP Lee Rhiannon says the project will impact on whale migration and water quality.
"This type of mining off the New South Wales coast comes under both the New South Wales Government and the Federal Government, and the Federal Government actually has the final sign-off," she said.
Ms Rhiannon says the experimental process to extract coal from the sea bed is too risky.
She is calling on Mr Garrett to rule out final approval of the project.
A spokesman for Mr Garrett says the Minister will give the application thorough and rigorous consideration in accordance with national environmental legislation.
(Credit: ABC)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Locals to join in mining protest - Central Coast Sun - 25th September 2008
Locals who oppose plans to drill for gas off the NSW coast including off the Central Coast are invited to join a community protest rally at Bondi Beach tomorrow (Friday).
The protest has been organised by Greens MP Lee Rhiannon who says that the recently advertised mining exploration licence application covers an area of 6000km, extending from Port Stephens to Royal National Park south of Sydney.
The protest will feature several guest speakers, including children, and representatives of environmental and tourism organisations, she said.
And mining could result in "major environmental damage to whale migration and marine life" Ms Rhiannon said.
"The operation would be a coastal eyesore and create a real risk of leaks and spills."
The protest will be held at 11am outside Bondi Beach Pavilion on Queen Elizabeth Drive.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Environmentalists and the environment
Bondi Beach
The protest has been organised by Greens MP Lee Rhiannon who says that the recently advertised mining exploration licence application covers an area of 6000km, extending from Port Stephens to Royal National Park south of Sydney.
The protest will feature several guest speakers, including children, and representatives of environmental and tourism organisations, she said.
And mining could result in "major environmental damage to whale migration and marine life" Ms Rhiannon said.
"The operation would be a coastal eyesore and create a real risk of leaks and spills."
The protest will be held at 11am outside Bondi Beach Pavilion on Queen Elizabeth Drive.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Environmentalists and the environment
Bondi Beach
Bondi Beach Virgin Unite Hero's Celebrate At Ravesi's
Last night many of Beach Beach's most prominent social and community entrepreneurs, philanthropists and people power gods and goddesses gathered at Ravesi's Drift to celebrate recent achievements, and life.
Bondi Beach surf champ, Sue Fenn, organised the night. Also attending was media analyst and community entrepreneur, Greg Tingle, and Anthony Stevenson, long time friends with Sue, who she brought into the Virgin Unite fold.
A little history...
Media Man Australia director and founder, Greg Tingle, has been a member of Virgin Unite for a number of years. Soon after relocating to Bondi Beach Greg recruited Sue to Virgin Unite, noting her community achievements, can do attitude and willingness to put others before self. Just last week Sue recruited Anthony to Virgin Unite via Facebook, making Anthony the 100th Facebook Virgin Unite member. Not one's to shy away from a party, Sue and Greg called for a celebration.
Everyone talked and danced the night away at Drift, and even got in place some last minute plans for their next gathering...the following morning no less - Bondi Beach 'Don't upset the whales' protest starting at 11am.
Virgin Unite, the philanthropic arm of Virgin Enterprises Limited, is one of many charities and worthy causes supported by Sue, Greg and Anthony, but is one of the most worthy. Sue and her crew feel inspired by the leadership of Virgin tycoon, Richard Branson, and are aware of many of the good deeds of the organistion having some inside knowledge that demonstrates the substance matches the style.
For more information on Virgin Unite check out their website www.virginunite.com or call Greg Tingle on 0434 115 348.
Bondi Beach surf champ, Sue Fenn, organised the night. Also attending was media analyst and community entrepreneur, Greg Tingle, and Anthony Stevenson, long time friends with Sue, who she brought into the Virgin Unite fold.
A little history...
Media Man Australia director and founder, Greg Tingle, has been a member of Virgin Unite for a number of years. Soon after relocating to Bondi Beach Greg recruited Sue to Virgin Unite, noting her community achievements, can do attitude and willingness to put others before self. Just last week Sue recruited Anthony to Virgin Unite via Facebook, making Anthony the 100th Facebook Virgin Unite member. Not one's to shy away from a party, Sue and Greg called for a celebration.
Everyone talked and danced the night away at Drift, and even got in place some last minute plans for their next gathering...the following morning no less - Bondi Beach 'Don't upset the whales' protest starting at 11am.
Virgin Unite, the philanthropic arm of Virgin Enterprises Limited, is one of many charities and worthy causes supported by Sue, Greg and Anthony, but is one of the most worthy. Sue and her crew feel inspired by the leadership of Virgin tycoon, Richard Branson, and are aware of many of the good deeds of the organistion having some inside knowledge that demonstrates the substance matches the style.
For more information on Virgin Unite check out their website www.virginunite.com or call Greg Tingle on 0434 115 348.
Thursday, 25 September 2008
No gas exploration off NSW coast - Join the protest at Bondi Beach - Don't upset the whales - protest on 26th September 2008
Reminder - tomorrow (Friday) morning - 11am
Bondi Pavilion, Bondi Beach
Bondi Pavilion, Bondi Beach
Green Guide's TV critics on the evening's offerings - The Age - 24th September 2008
FREE TO AIR
BONDI RESCUE: BALI
CHANNEL TEN, 7.30PM
CHANNEL Ten's ode to the surf lifesaver at Australia's most famous beach has been a ratings winner.
The Aussie-boys-abroad travelogue, Bondi Rescue: Bali, sees three lifeguards head to Bali for an eight-episode skill-exchange program with Balinese counterparts.
The narrative revolves around attempts to patrol a 10-kilometre stretch of sand with an under-resourced local crew. There are cross-cultural clashes and scenarios such as monkeys, roadside food stalls and traffic mayhem.
The relentless depiction of Bali as dirty, dangerous and unpredictable is culturally patronising but is likely to speak to the core audience.
- LARISSA DUBECKI
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Rescue
Bondi Beach
BONDI RESCUE: BALI
CHANNEL TEN, 7.30PM
CHANNEL Ten's ode to the surf lifesaver at Australia's most famous beach has been a ratings winner.
The Aussie-boys-abroad travelogue, Bondi Rescue: Bali, sees three lifeguards head to Bali for an eight-episode skill-exchange program with Balinese counterparts.
The narrative revolves around attempts to patrol a 10-kilometre stretch of sand with an under-resourced local crew. There are cross-cultural clashes and scenarios such as monkeys, roadside food stalls and traffic mayhem.
The relentless depiction of Bali as dirty, dangerous and unpredictable is culturally patronising but is likely to speak to the core audience.
- LARISSA DUBECKI
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Rescue
Bondi Beach
Sunday, 21 September 2008
No gas exploration off NSW coast - Join the protest at Bondi Beach - Don't upset the whales - protest on 26th September 2008
No gas exploration off NSW coast
Join the protest at Bondi Beach
Don't upset the whales
A recently advertised mining exploration licence application covers a 6,000km* area of the NSW coast, from the Royal National Park South of Sydney to Port Stephens. This could result in major environmental damage to whale migration and marine life if the outcome of the exploration is a large offshore mining venture. The operation would be a coastal eyesore and create a real risk of leaks and spills.
Join the protest
11 am Friday 26 September 2008
Outside Bondi Beach Pavilion on Queen Elizabeth Drive
Organised by Greens MP Lee Rhiannon
Contact 9230 3551
lee.rhiannon@parliament.nsw.gov.au
More information below
· Seismic testing used in exploration could disrupt whale migration
along Australia*s east coast. This would have an immediate impact on
tourism.
· If drilling platforms or offshore processing and handling terminals
were eventually built in this zone they would be visible from the shore
by the naked eye.
· The risk of leaks and spills from the construction and operation of
platforms, pipelines and shipping would be an ongoing threat to marine
life and water quality at our beaches.
--------------------------------------------------
Lee Rhiannon, MLC
The Greens
Parliament of New South Wales
Macquarie St
Sydney 2000
Tel: +61-2-9230 3551
Fax: +61-2-9230 3550
lee.rhiannon@parliament.nsw.gov.au
http://www.lee.greens.org.au
http://www.democracy4sale.org
Media Man Australia Profiles
Whales
Bondi Beach
Environmentalists and the environment
Join the protest at Bondi Beach
Don't upset the whales
A recently advertised mining exploration licence application covers a 6,000km* area of the NSW coast, from the Royal National Park South of Sydney to Port Stephens. This could result in major environmental damage to whale migration and marine life if the outcome of the exploration is a large offshore mining venture. The operation would be a coastal eyesore and create a real risk of leaks and spills.
Join the protest
11 am Friday 26 September 2008
Outside Bondi Beach Pavilion on Queen Elizabeth Drive
Organised by Greens MP Lee Rhiannon
Contact 9230 3551
lee.rhiannon@parliament.nsw.gov.au
More information below
· Seismic testing used in exploration could disrupt whale migration
along Australia*s east coast. This would have an immediate impact on
tourism.
· If drilling platforms or offshore processing and handling terminals
were eventually built in this zone they would be visible from the shore
by the naked eye.
· The risk of leaks and spills from the construction and operation of
platforms, pipelines and shipping would be an ongoing threat to marine
life and water quality at our beaches.
--------------------------------------------------
Lee Rhiannon, MLC
The Greens
Parliament of New South Wales
Macquarie St
Sydney 2000
Tel: +61-2-9230 3551
Fax: +61-2-9230 3550
lee.rhiannon@parliament.nsw.gov.au
http://www.lee.greens.org.au
http://www.democracy4sale.org
Media Man Australia Profiles
Whales
Bondi Beach
Environmentalists and the environment
Bondi Rescue stars' hero act - The Daily Telegraph - 15th September 2008
The cameras are yet to begin rolling on the next series of Bondi Rescue, but the famed lifeguards who star in the reality series were knee-deep in drama as temperatures hit a record annual high of 30C at Sydney's famous beach on Saturday.
After surviving the coldest winter in 69 years, Bondi came alive as more than 15,000 locals and tourists flocked to the golden sands for a taste of summer in September.
But rather than being able to enjoy the beach-goers hours of fun in the sun, the day was tainted with a near death for four of the trusty Bondi Rescue lifeguards.
Three teenagers raised the alarm just after midday after discovering a man floating unconscious at the north end of the beach.
Anthony Carroll, Andrew Reid and Rod Kerr - AKA Harries, Reidy and Kerrbox - attended the scene, dragging the 30-year-old man from the surf to begin resuscitating him.
It emerged the man, an Indian tourist, had been heavily intoxicated when he entered the water against the advice of his mate, who had fallen asleep on the beach.
"He looked dead - his eyes had rolled into the back of his head and his face has turned yellow," Harries told Confidential.
On discovering a pulse, the lifeguards gave the swimmer oxygen, bringing him to consciousness before paramedics arrived.
The man is now recovering in hospital, but the Bondi Rescue team are keen to stress their commitment to their job - whether or not the Channel 10 TV crews are capturing the drama.
"People accuse us of playing up to the cameras but this is what we do every day - and we take it very seriously," Harries said.
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Rescue
Bondi Beach
After surviving the coldest winter in 69 years, Bondi came alive as more than 15,000 locals and tourists flocked to the golden sands for a taste of summer in September.
But rather than being able to enjoy the beach-goers hours of fun in the sun, the day was tainted with a near death for four of the trusty Bondi Rescue lifeguards.
Three teenagers raised the alarm just after midday after discovering a man floating unconscious at the north end of the beach.
Anthony Carroll, Andrew Reid and Rod Kerr - AKA Harries, Reidy and Kerrbox - attended the scene, dragging the 30-year-old man from the surf to begin resuscitating him.
It emerged the man, an Indian tourist, had been heavily intoxicated when he entered the water against the advice of his mate, who had fallen asleep on the beach.
"He looked dead - his eyes had rolled into the back of his head and his face has turned yellow," Harries told Confidential.
On discovering a pulse, the lifeguards gave the swimmer oxygen, bringing him to consciousness before paramedics arrived.
The man is now recovering in hospital, but the Bondi Rescue team are keen to stress their commitment to their job - whether or not the Channel 10 TV crews are capturing the drama.
"People accuse us of playing up to the cameras but this is what we do every day - and we take it very seriously," Harries said.
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Rescue
Bondi Beach
Make dream homes come true - The Daily Telegraph - 21st September 2008
Eugene Tan, North Bondi
Eugene Tan is so obsessed with the view from his North Bondi apartment he hasn’t even bothered to install blinds.
“You should see the light here first thing in the morning,” he says.
“The apartment is one of the first points in Bondi to get the morning sun so at sunrise the whole apartment is filled with brilliant shades of orange.”
The 34-year-old blogger, photographer and sometime surfer says his newly renovated home allows him to begin his work day without even getting out of bed.
“I can lie in bed and assess the best light and conditions so that when I need to take some shots, I’m there at exactly the right moment,” he says.
Since moving from Western Australia
13 years ago, Tan’s lifestyle has changed dramatically.
“When I first arrived in Sydney, I couldn’t believe that you could live so close to the beach; I never dreamed you could surf at your front door,” he says.
Since then he has immersed himself in the local surf scene, capturing the urban landscape juxtaposed with the ocean in photographs that he posts online and exhibits in his gallery, Aquabumps.
This year he bought his own slice of that landscape – an unrenovated two-bedroom apartment in North Bondi.
“I’d always hoped to own something in Bondi but it always seemed out of my reach until I found this place,’’ says Tan, who paid “more than $500,000”.
He renovated the apartment to his specifications, including a glass-framed balcony and a loft above the garage where he stores his 15 surfboards.
“I’ve got the surf at my doorstep, an apartment that blows you away and a perspective of Bondi that I’ve never had before. What more could I ask for?”
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Eugene Tan is so obsessed with the view from his North Bondi apartment he hasn’t even bothered to install blinds.
“You should see the light here first thing in the morning,” he says.
“The apartment is one of the first points in Bondi to get the morning sun so at sunrise the whole apartment is filled with brilliant shades of orange.”
The 34-year-old blogger, photographer and sometime surfer says his newly renovated home allows him to begin his work day without even getting out of bed.
“I can lie in bed and assess the best light and conditions so that when I need to take some shots, I’m there at exactly the right moment,” he says.
Since moving from Western Australia
13 years ago, Tan’s lifestyle has changed dramatically.
“When I first arrived in Sydney, I couldn’t believe that you could live so close to the beach; I never dreamed you could surf at your front door,” he says.
Since then he has immersed himself in the local surf scene, capturing the urban landscape juxtaposed with the ocean in photographs that he posts online and exhibits in his gallery, Aquabumps.
This year he bought his own slice of that landscape – an unrenovated two-bedroom apartment in North Bondi.
“I’d always hoped to own something in Bondi but it always seemed out of my reach until I found this place,’’ says Tan, who paid “more than $500,000”.
He renovated the apartment to his specifications, including a glass-framed balcony and a loft above the garage where he stores his 15 surfboards.
“I’ve got the surf at my doorstep, an apartment that blows you away and a perspective of Bondi that I’ve never had before. What more could I ask for?”
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Swiss miss a truly grand old dame, by Danielle Teutsch - Fairfax - 18th September 2008
You either love the exterior of the Swiss-Grand hotel or loathe it. It sits on Campbell Parade like a tiered Italian wedding cake, its ornate balconies giving it the look of a creamy iced confection. I have to say that I have a soft spot for it. For me, its pretentions of European grandeur fit perfectly in the pastiche of Bondi's beachfront strip, with its pastel art-deco apartment blocks, surf shops and fast-food outlets.
For those like me who nurture a secret fondness for the Swiss-Grand, now is the time to go and stay there. The hotel's new owners have lodged an application to develop the building into apartments, intending to create a smaller, more boutique-style hotel within the site. That means its famous exterior will be going, replaced by something altogether more sleek and tasteful. The development has been contentious and fought by local action groups who are concerned about the size of it; so for now Waverley Council has deferred any decision. So the wedding cake will be around for a little while yet.
It's not just the exterior of the Swiss-Grand that is somewhat unusual. Its original owners, the Swiss-Grand chain, gave the lobby an elaborately decorative ceiling and huge sandstone fireplace when it was built in the 1980s. This palatial ambience, no doubt intended to resemble a grand European mansion, sits amusingly alongside the lobby's recently updated decor of classic chocolate brown lounges with funky cushions.
And that's the Swiss-Grand - a strange mix of old and new; of sleek modernity and unabashed kitsch. You can't say it doesn't have character. Once you get to the rooms with a view, however, all of that is mere trifling detail. Pulling aside the curtain of my suite, I'm treated to the greatest show in Sydney - a golden semi-circle of sand, and rolling blue swell. Sit on one of the balconies here and you will truly have one of the best views available of Australia's most famous beach. The Swiss-Grand is, of course, also about location. Hop downstairs and across the road and you're on the sand; a little further south and you can do the Bondi to Bronte walk. Next door and you're in the Hotel Bondi. Up the road and you're at Sean's Panorama. The giant playground that is Bondi Beach at your disposal for the weekend.
Our suite has been renovated in recent years in the kind of standard, late-1990s minimalist decor you see in hotels everywhere: beige and chocolate soft furnishings, glass tables and a hint of stainless steel. The look is brightened by some colourful prints of Bondi Beach. There's a comfortable L-shaped lounge in the living room, two flat-screen televisions, and a superbly comfortable king-sized bed with good linen.
The bathroom is on the smaller size but has a bathtub and a large shower head. There is not much to complain about - my only gripe is that there could have been some children's programs on the television menu. The breakfast is also fine - the usual big buffet spread, with the added bonus of eggs cooked to order (who can stand scrambled eggs that have sat in a bain-marie for too long?).
While there were a lot of activities on our doorstep - jogging, swimming, doing the coastal walk - we were recovering from various winter illnesses and were largely content to laze on our bed and watch the view. Only the teenage relative visiting from overseas was full of beans, throwing herself into a surf lesson with local company Let's Go Surfing and loving every minute. I did take a break from lounging around to drag myself up to the Samsara Day Spa. On the rooftop behind the pool, it's a Balinese-style pavilion that is also very popular with locals during the week. My Balinese therapist, Jasmine, gave me a lovely massage and facial before leaving me to soak in a rose petal and milk bath with spectacular views of the ocean. All that was missing was the sight of a whale - hang on, what is that moving bit of whitewater surrounded by gawking sailors? Ah, if only they'd supplied binoculars as well.
TRIP NOTES
Address Swiss-Grand Resort and Spa, corner Campbell Parade and Beach Road, Bondi Beach.
Rates The hotel has pre-paid, advanced purchase winter specials starting at $193.50 for a junior suite and $247.50 for an ocean-view suite.
Bookings Phone 1800655252 or see www.swissgrand.com.au.
VERDICT
A grand dame of Bondi Beach, still standing proud before she goes under the knife.
Why you'd go For a weekend of sun, rest and play close to home.
Why you wouldn't You've got a very sensitive design aesthetic.
FIND TIME TO
* Do the Bondi to Bronte coastal walk, continuing on to Coogee if you feel active.
* Check out the Bondi markets, every Sunday at Bondi Beach Public School.
* Book yourself into the hotel's day spa for some Balinese-style pampering.
* Have a surf lesson. See Let's Go Surfing, www.letsgosurfing.com.au.
(Credit: Fairfax)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Swiss-Grand Hotel
Bondi Beach
For those like me who nurture a secret fondness for the Swiss-Grand, now is the time to go and stay there. The hotel's new owners have lodged an application to develop the building into apartments, intending to create a smaller, more boutique-style hotel within the site. That means its famous exterior will be going, replaced by something altogether more sleek and tasteful. The development has been contentious and fought by local action groups who are concerned about the size of it; so for now Waverley Council has deferred any decision. So the wedding cake will be around for a little while yet.
It's not just the exterior of the Swiss-Grand that is somewhat unusual. Its original owners, the Swiss-Grand chain, gave the lobby an elaborately decorative ceiling and huge sandstone fireplace when it was built in the 1980s. This palatial ambience, no doubt intended to resemble a grand European mansion, sits amusingly alongside the lobby's recently updated decor of classic chocolate brown lounges with funky cushions.
And that's the Swiss-Grand - a strange mix of old and new; of sleek modernity and unabashed kitsch. You can't say it doesn't have character. Once you get to the rooms with a view, however, all of that is mere trifling detail. Pulling aside the curtain of my suite, I'm treated to the greatest show in Sydney - a golden semi-circle of sand, and rolling blue swell. Sit on one of the balconies here and you will truly have one of the best views available of Australia's most famous beach. The Swiss-Grand is, of course, also about location. Hop downstairs and across the road and you're on the sand; a little further south and you can do the Bondi to Bronte walk. Next door and you're in the Hotel Bondi. Up the road and you're at Sean's Panorama. The giant playground that is Bondi Beach at your disposal for the weekend.
Our suite has been renovated in recent years in the kind of standard, late-1990s minimalist decor you see in hotels everywhere: beige and chocolate soft furnishings, glass tables and a hint of stainless steel. The look is brightened by some colourful prints of Bondi Beach. There's a comfortable L-shaped lounge in the living room, two flat-screen televisions, and a superbly comfortable king-sized bed with good linen.
The bathroom is on the smaller size but has a bathtub and a large shower head. There is not much to complain about - my only gripe is that there could have been some children's programs on the television menu. The breakfast is also fine - the usual big buffet spread, with the added bonus of eggs cooked to order (who can stand scrambled eggs that have sat in a bain-marie for too long?).
While there were a lot of activities on our doorstep - jogging, swimming, doing the coastal walk - we were recovering from various winter illnesses and were largely content to laze on our bed and watch the view. Only the teenage relative visiting from overseas was full of beans, throwing herself into a surf lesson with local company Let's Go Surfing and loving every minute. I did take a break from lounging around to drag myself up to the Samsara Day Spa. On the rooftop behind the pool, it's a Balinese-style pavilion that is also very popular with locals during the week. My Balinese therapist, Jasmine, gave me a lovely massage and facial before leaving me to soak in a rose petal and milk bath with spectacular views of the ocean. All that was missing was the sight of a whale - hang on, what is that moving bit of whitewater surrounded by gawking sailors? Ah, if only they'd supplied binoculars as well.
TRIP NOTES
Address Swiss-Grand Resort and Spa, corner Campbell Parade and Beach Road, Bondi Beach.
Rates The hotel has pre-paid, advanced purchase winter specials starting at $193.50 for a junior suite and $247.50 for an ocean-view suite.
Bookings Phone 1800655252 or see www.swissgrand.com.au.
VERDICT
A grand dame of Bondi Beach, still standing proud before she goes under the knife.
Why you'd go For a weekend of sun, rest and play close to home.
Why you wouldn't You've got a very sensitive design aesthetic.
FIND TIME TO
* Do the Bondi to Bronte coastal walk, continuing on to Coogee if you feel active.
* Check out the Bondi markets, every Sunday at Bondi Beach Public School.
* Book yourself into the hotel's day spa for some Balinese-style pampering.
* Have a surf lesson. See Let's Go Surfing, www.letsgosurfing.com.au.
(Credit: Fairfax)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Swiss-Grand Hotel
Bondi Beach
Saturday, 20 September 2008
Monday, 15 September 2008
Media Man Australia Interviewed About Irwin Family and Environment at Bondi Beach
Media Man Australia director, Greg Tingle, was interviewed about the Irwin family and the environment for broadcast on Channel Seven 'Today Tonight'.
The interview was appropriately taped at Bondi Beach, where Media Man Australia has assisted on site with many environmental campaigns, including Changing Colours Movement, Whaledreamers, Greenfest and Friends Of Bondi Pavilion.
The interview will likely appear on Today Tonight tonight or tomorrow night.
Website
Channel Seven 'Today Tonight'
The interview was appropriately taped at Bondi Beach, where Media Man Australia has assisted on site with many environmental campaigns, including Changing Colours Movement, Whaledreamers, Greenfest and Friends Of Bondi Pavilion.
The interview will likely appear on Today Tonight tonight or tomorrow night.
Website
Channel Seven 'Today Tonight'
Saturday, 13 September 2008
Police break up street party, by Anne Von Fehrn - The Bondi View - 6th September 2008
A local street fest ended in the arrest of a woman who now disputes the legal basis of these accusations as she claims police failed to get a statement from her.
The incident occurred during the popular City2Surf when locals were having a community gathering in Brighton Boulevard.
Sue Fenn is facing three charges: offensive language, assaulting an officer and resisting an officer, and appeared in the local court on September 2. The case was adjourned to October 21.
"Nobody took a statement from me at the station. I wonder whether the charges are actually legal since there is no record from me," she said.
Waverley Council said the event did not have council approval, but most neighbours were notified and many participated.
Mrs Fenn was among them but unlike others, she left in a police wagon.
"It was a peaceful party, it had nothing to do with the City2Surf and it was attended by young and old alike," she said.
According to Mrs Fenn, a female police officer grabbed her arm to stop her from walking through a section that was sealed off by police for the City2Surf bordering Brighton Boulevarde. Within minutes several police arrived, Mrs Fenn was arrested, and the party was called off.
Police say someone in the crowd threw a bottle but others who were present question this claim saying that an empty bottle had fallen off a fence, which in turn triggered the police heavy-handed response.
"No one actually saw the alleged bottle thrower," party attendee Vincenzo Amato said. "It seems that this was just an excuse by police to close the party."
Mr Amato, who lives in Brighton Boulevarde and is a member of the multicultural committee of Waverley Council, expressed concern about the force police applied during the incident. He said he had asked for a report at Waverley police station but was sent away empty handed.
Police declined to comment on any details of the incident saying the matter was due to be heard in court and no statements could be made in the meantime.
Mrs Fenn has sought representation through Legal Aid and hopes to bring witnesses along to her defence.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
The incident occurred during the popular City2Surf when locals were having a community gathering in Brighton Boulevard.
Sue Fenn is facing three charges: offensive language, assaulting an officer and resisting an officer, and appeared in the local court on September 2. The case was adjourned to October 21.
"Nobody took a statement from me at the station. I wonder whether the charges are actually legal since there is no record from me," she said.
Waverley Council said the event did not have council approval, but most neighbours were notified and many participated.
Mrs Fenn was among them but unlike others, she left in a police wagon.
"It was a peaceful party, it had nothing to do with the City2Surf and it was attended by young and old alike," she said.
According to Mrs Fenn, a female police officer grabbed her arm to stop her from walking through a section that was sealed off by police for the City2Surf bordering Brighton Boulevarde. Within minutes several police arrived, Mrs Fenn was arrested, and the party was called off.
Police say someone in the crowd threw a bottle but others who were present question this claim saying that an empty bottle had fallen off a fence, which in turn triggered the police heavy-handed response.
"No one actually saw the alleged bottle thrower," party attendee Vincenzo Amato said. "It seems that this was just an excuse by police to close the party."
Mr Amato, who lives in Brighton Boulevarde and is a member of the multicultural committee of Waverley Council, expressed concern about the force police applied during the incident. He said he had asked for a report at Waverley police station but was sent away empty handed.
Police declined to comment on any details of the incident saying the matter was due to be heard in court and no statements could be made in the meantime.
Mrs Fenn has sought representation through Legal Aid and hopes to bring witnesses along to her defence.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Friday, 12 September 2008
Bondi Beach local recruits Virgin Unite's 100th member via Facebook - 11th September 2008
Sue Fenn, Bondi Beach based social and community entrepreneur, has just successfully recruited the 100th Virgin Unite member via Facebook.
Mr Anthony Stevenson of Australia is the man of the moment. Anthony works in the financial sector and Sue and her team think Anthony is the perfect edition to an already impressive line up of Australian Virgin Unite members.
In the near future Sue and Media Man Australia will be conducting an official interview with Anthony about his achievement, and what Virgin Unite means to him. Sue and I think and feel that Anthony will complement the team beautifully.
As the individual who recruited fellow Bondi Beach local, Sue Fenn, to Virgin Unite, I am very proud of her achievements, and of our wonderful team down under in Australia. Special thanks to Rhys O'Connell for the tip off on Virgin Unite two years ago, and of course to Sir Richard Branson and his direct team for making social and commercial ventures with Virgin possible. More details soon.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Unite
Sue Fenn
Social and Community Entrepreneurs
Bondi Beach
Mr Anthony Stevenson of Australia is the man of the moment. Anthony works in the financial sector and Sue and her team think Anthony is the perfect edition to an already impressive line up of Australian Virgin Unite members.
In the near future Sue and Media Man Australia will be conducting an official interview with Anthony about his achievement, and what Virgin Unite means to him. Sue and I think and feel that Anthony will complement the team beautifully.
As the individual who recruited fellow Bondi Beach local, Sue Fenn, to Virgin Unite, I am very proud of her achievements, and of our wonderful team down under in Australia. Special thanks to Rhys O'Connell for the tip off on Virgin Unite two years ago, and of course to Sir Richard Branson and his direct team for making social and commercial ventures with Virgin possible. More details soon.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Virgin Unite
Sue Fenn
Social and Community Entrepreneurs
Bondi Beach
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
Saturday, 6 September 2008
Sunday, 31 August 2008
Inside Eva Mendes' Bondi Icebergs fashion shoot - The Daily Telegraph - 31st August 2008
Eva Mendes is one of the most beautiful women in the world but it still takes more than a dozen people to prepare her for a magazine shoot.
In these exclusive shots, The Sunday Telegraph stumbled across the Hollywood actress at Bondi Icebergs on Friday afternoon, surrounded by a horde of people preparing her for a series of stunning photographs for fashion bible Harper's Bazaar.
Mendes, 34, was in Australia as part of the ACP Magazines' 30 Days Of Fashion festival.
She sipped champagne with the Sydney social set, frocked up in designer labels and stopped the show wherever she went during her visit.
Eva at the footy with Rusty and Pam
... and she wants to snog Crowe too!
But, at Bondi on Friday, the Cuban-American glamour didn't get in the way of several of the club's members braving the chilly water for their daily laps.
Mendes worked the camera as if she were on a catwalk, posing alongside the outdoor saltwater swimming pool that overlooks our most famous beach.
In one dramatic look, Mendes was draped in an oversized black parachute cape.
In another, she did her best to escape Sydney's winter chill by channelling the sun in an off-the-shoulder hot-pink and yellow dress. But she had to don a dressing gown to escape the bracing coastal breeze between shots.
More than a dozen people worked behind the scenes on the shoot, with photographer Simon Lekias and stylist Christine Centenera at the helm.
Mendes said last week that dressing up in style helped to relieve the routine of a sometimes tiresome schedule.
``It's a bit frivolous but it's necessary,'' she said of her wardrobe adventures.
``I get to go to these events which are usually pretty boring but what makes it exciting is being allowed to wear an amazing gown.''
The star of such films as Hitch and Ghost Rider flew home to Los Angeles yesterday.
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
In these exclusive shots, The Sunday Telegraph stumbled across the Hollywood actress at Bondi Icebergs on Friday afternoon, surrounded by a horde of people preparing her for a series of stunning photographs for fashion bible Harper's Bazaar.
Mendes, 34, was in Australia as part of the ACP Magazines' 30 Days Of Fashion festival.
She sipped champagne with the Sydney social set, frocked up in designer labels and stopped the show wherever she went during her visit.
Eva at the footy with Rusty and Pam
... and she wants to snog Crowe too!
But, at Bondi on Friday, the Cuban-American glamour didn't get in the way of several of the club's members braving the chilly water for their daily laps.
Mendes worked the camera as if she were on a catwalk, posing alongside the outdoor saltwater swimming pool that overlooks our most famous beach.
In one dramatic look, Mendes was draped in an oversized black parachute cape.
In another, she did her best to escape Sydney's winter chill by channelling the sun in an off-the-shoulder hot-pink and yellow dress. But she had to don a dressing gown to escape the bracing coastal breeze between shots.
More than a dozen people worked behind the scenes on the shoot, with photographer Simon Lekias and stylist Christine Centenera at the helm.
Mendes said last week that dressing up in style helped to relieve the routine of a sometimes tiresome schedule.
``It's a bit frivolous but it's necessary,'' she said of her wardrobe adventures.
``I get to go to these events which are usually pretty boring but what makes it exciting is being allowed to wear an amazing gown.''
The star of such films as Hitch and Ghost Rider flew home to Los Angeles yesterday.
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Saturday, 30 August 2008
Bali hi for the Bondi beach boys, By Andrew Mercado - The Daily Telegraph - 24th August 2008
Here's your first look at Bondi Rescue: Bali with Australia's favourite lifeguards and their Indonesian counterparts now patrolling Kuta Beach for eight exciting episodes.
For the first time ever, viewers will get to see the boys off-duty as the cameras follow them to their temporary island digs.
Bondi Rescue: Bali will premiere along with Kenny's World Tour in what should be a powerhouse double for Ten from Wednesday, September 10. (Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Rescue
Network Ten Australia
Bondi Beach
For the first time ever, viewers will get to see the boys off-duty as the cameras follow them to their temporary island digs.
Bondi Rescue: Bali will premiere along with Kenny's World Tour in what should be a powerhouse double for Ten from Wednesday, September 10. (Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Rescue
Network Ten Australia
Bondi Beach
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Designer Insider, by Emily Dunn and Elicia Murray - Fairfax - 28th August 2008
Quizzed on her favourite Australian designers, Mendes was well prepared. Rattling off names such as Willow before one designer's name had her turning to the event MC, Richard Wilkins for help. "I love Collette … Collette …" Mendes garbled, to which Wilkins helpfully added, "Dinnigan", prompting twittering from the press pack, thanks to Wilkins's former relationship with the high-profile designer.
Mendes was also gracious in answering questions from the paparazzi. No, she wasn't going to the zoo, but she was planning a visit to Bondi Beach, guaranteeing herself an camera-toting entourage.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Mendes was also gracious in answering questions from the paparazzi. No, she wasn't going to the zoo, but she was planning a visit to Bondi Beach, guaranteeing herself an camera-toting entourage.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Sunday, 17 August 2008
Model hooks up with A-listers, by Ros Reines - The Sunday Telegraph - 17th August 2008
Stunning young international model Merette Gearin, 24, daughter of famous footballer Steve Gearin is making inroads into the life of A-list accountant, 37-year-old Anthony Bell.
The couple has managed to keep their love affair secret, with Gearin based out of London for the last few months. However, when she touched down on Friday morning, it was straight into Bell's embrace.
This weekend, the couple are playing out their romance with early morning walks on the beach at Bondi and meals at waterfront restaurants.
According to close friends, the couple met last autumn, just after Bell had been hobnobbing with his mates, Michael Clarke and Lara Bingle, in the Emirates marquee at Randwick.
Their attraction was immediate and Bell was soon organising a vacation for the two in Hawaii last July.
As Gearin's European modelling career took off (she scored a major campaign for Remington), Bell was increasingly finding reasons to stop off in London during his global business meetings.
She is believed to have returned home slightly earlier than planned in order to spend more time with the accountant, who is a regular guest on The Morning Show, and whose personal wealth is estimated at $26 million.
In Gearin, sports-mad Bell, who is on the board of Souths football club, is definitely rubbing shoulders with greatness. An electrifying winger, Steve Gearin scored one of the finest tries ever seen at the SCG for Canterbury in the 1980 Grand Final.
Bell's last serious girlfriend was Sami Lukis but the couple split several years ago and she later quit Sydney for a radio stint in Queensland,
Until he met Gearin, he had been experiencing a year of mixed fortunes with his beloved 22m yacht, Stealth, sinking in Sydney Harbour. Investigators blamed a $200 faulty seal.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
The couple has managed to keep their love affair secret, with Gearin based out of London for the last few months. However, when she touched down on Friday morning, it was straight into Bell's embrace.
This weekend, the couple are playing out their romance with early morning walks on the beach at Bondi and meals at waterfront restaurants.
According to close friends, the couple met last autumn, just after Bell had been hobnobbing with his mates, Michael Clarke and Lara Bingle, in the Emirates marquee at Randwick.
Their attraction was immediate and Bell was soon organising a vacation for the two in Hawaii last July.
As Gearin's European modelling career took off (she scored a major campaign for Remington), Bell was increasingly finding reasons to stop off in London during his global business meetings.
She is believed to have returned home slightly earlier than planned in order to spend more time with the accountant, who is a regular guest on The Morning Show, and whose personal wealth is estimated at $26 million.
In Gearin, sports-mad Bell, who is on the board of Souths football club, is definitely rubbing shoulders with greatness. An electrifying winger, Steve Gearin scored one of the finest tries ever seen at the SCG for Canterbury in the 1980 Grand Final.
Bell's last serious girlfriend was Sami Lukis but the couple split several years ago and she later quit Sydney for a radio stint in Queensland,
Until he met Gearin, he had been experiencing a year of mixed fortunes with his beloved 22m yacht, Stealth, sinking in Sydney Harbour. Investigators blamed a $200 faulty seal.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Sister, family mourn City2Surf victim - The Sydney Morning Herald - 11th August 2008
A young British immigrant who died in Sydney's City2Surf race was described by his sister as a "special person" who had been enjoying a "new life in Australia".
Lee Marriage, 26, dropped to the ground just 200m from the finish line of the 14km run at Bondi Beach at about 11am (AEST) Sunday.
Emergency crews worked to revive him but were unsuccessful.
Mr Marriage, who emigrated from Britain some years ago, had been living in Darlinghurst, in Sydney's inner east.
He had worked at the local offices of an IT solutions company for a few years, Fairfax reports.
On his Facebook page, his sister Louise Marriage wrote that "her heart will never be the same".
She said her only blessing was knowing how happy her little brother was in his new life in Australia, where he had a girlfriend.
"My little brother, I love you so, so much and can't believe they have taken you from us," she said on the social networking website.
"Such a wonderful, special person, so kind and caring and loved by so many!
"My only grace is to know how so very happy you were, you met your soul mate, the love of your life in Michelle and you were beaming with love and happiness when you were here last!
"I will look after mum, dad ... and the rest of the family," she adds.
Craig Walton, a friend, described Mr Marriage as a "brother" and said "I can't believe you're gone".
"It was so hard wen you went to Aus nowing I'm hardly guna see u anymore," he said.
"But nothing compares nowing I'm neva eva gunna see you again."
Another friend, Neil Phillips, said it was "impossible not to imagine what could have been".
"But I'm really grateful for what was," he added.
"Your laugh, grin and talent will live on in all who knew you."
Another friend, Camilla Hikarda, added: "Rest in Peace Lee at the big party in the sky.
"We are all in shock ... you will always be in our memories of 2006 and a life long member of the 'Bondi Crew' ... All our love xxxxxxxx".
NSW Police told AAP that autopsy results were expected from the coroner within a few days.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Lee Marriage, 26, dropped to the ground just 200m from the finish line of the 14km run at Bondi Beach at about 11am (AEST) Sunday.
Emergency crews worked to revive him but were unsuccessful.
Mr Marriage, who emigrated from Britain some years ago, had been living in Darlinghurst, in Sydney's inner east.
He had worked at the local offices of an IT solutions company for a few years, Fairfax reports.
On his Facebook page, his sister Louise Marriage wrote that "her heart will never be the same".
She said her only blessing was knowing how happy her little brother was in his new life in Australia, where he had a girlfriend.
"My little brother, I love you so, so much and can't believe they have taken you from us," she said on the social networking website.
"Such a wonderful, special person, so kind and caring and loved by so many!
"My only grace is to know how so very happy you were, you met your soul mate, the love of your life in Michelle and you were beaming with love and happiness when you were here last!
"I will look after mum, dad ... and the rest of the family," she adds.
Craig Walton, a friend, described Mr Marriage as a "brother" and said "I can't believe you're gone".
"It was so hard wen you went to Aus nowing I'm hardly guna see u anymore," he said.
"But nothing compares nowing I'm neva eva gunna see you again."
Another friend, Neil Phillips, said it was "impossible not to imagine what could have been".
"But I'm really grateful for what was," he added.
"Your laugh, grin and talent will live on in all who knew you."
Another friend, Camilla Hikarda, added: "Rest in Peace Lee at the big party in the sky.
"We are all in shock ... you will always be in our memories of 2006 and a life long member of the 'Bondi Crew' ... All our love xxxxxxxx".
NSW Police told AAP that autopsy results were expected from the coroner within a few days.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Thanks a million for record effort, by Heather Quinlan - The Sydney Morning Herald - 11th August 2008
BIG-HEARTED Sun-Herald City2Surf fund-raisers are on track to reach $1million, with a record field of 70,000 taking part in today's giant community fun run from Hyde Park to Bondi Beach.
Thousands are digging deep for their favourite cause and supporting friends and family in the biggest time-chipped race on the planet.
Among the crowd taking on "Heartbreak Hill" today is 23-year-old Philip Whitehead, from Avalon, who is tackling the 14kilometres of the City2Surf in his wheelchair.
Mr Whitehead was born with cerebral palsy. He has raised more than $5000 for the Spastic Centre - one of the City2Surf's official 2008 charity partners, along with Lifeline, Mission Australia and the Starlight Children's Foundation.
"My family have had an association with the Spastic Centre since I was a baby and, in 2003, they assisted in my transition from school to work after I completed my HSC," he said. Comedian and Vega 95.3 breakfast announcer Mikey Robins is running his first City2Surf in support of Advocates for Survivors of Child Abuse. Robins, whose chronic obesity stopped him from taking part in the City2Surf for most of his life, underwent successful lap-band surgery in 2006.
Possibly the oldest competitor is Chatswood resident and army veteran Bill Whyte, 90, who is running in his 28th City2Surf and is fund-raising for Legacy.
"I usually go out for a little run every day to keep fit," he said. "You can rest assured I've got plenty of kick in me yet - my ultimate goal is to complete my 30th City2Surf."
Meanwhile Wollongong's Margaret Royall has defied the odds and major surgery for pancreatic cancer to compete.
Fewer than 7 per cent of patients survive the disease, yet, three years after her surgery and despite being unable to eat many foods, she will walk to Bondi to raise funds for Cancer Council NSW.
Network Ten will broadcast the race from 8.30am-10am, radio 2UE from 9am-10.30am, and Nova 96.9 and Vega 95.3 will broadcast at the start and finish areas.
- You can make a donation online and support The Sun-Herald City2Surf Charity Challenge until August 31 - just go to http://www.sunherald.com.au
The Sun-Herald City2Surf is sponsored by New Balance, Singapore Airlines, Gatorade, Rebel Sport, Hahn Super Dry, Nova FM, Network Ten, 2UE, Sheraton on the Park, Fitness First, RSVP and Run Fatboy Run on DVD.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Thousands are digging deep for their favourite cause and supporting friends and family in the biggest time-chipped race on the planet.
Among the crowd taking on "Heartbreak Hill" today is 23-year-old Philip Whitehead, from Avalon, who is tackling the 14kilometres of the City2Surf in his wheelchair.
Mr Whitehead was born with cerebral palsy. He has raised more than $5000 for the Spastic Centre - one of the City2Surf's official 2008 charity partners, along with Lifeline, Mission Australia and the Starlight Children's Foundation.
"My family have had an association with the Spastic Centre since I was a baby and, in 2003, they assisted in my transition from school to work after I completed my HSC," he said. Comedian and Vega 95.3 breakfast announcer Mikey Robins is running his first City2Surf in support of Advocates for Survivors of Child Abuse. Robins, whose chronic obesity stopped him from taking part in the City2Surf for most of his life, underwent successful lap-band surgery in 2006.
Possibly the oldest competitor is Chatswood resident and army veteran Bill Whyte, 90, who is running in his 28th City2Surf and is fund-raising for Legacy.
"I usually go out for a little run every day to keep fit," he said. "You can rest assured I've got plenty of kick in me yet - my ultimate goal is to complete my 30th City2Surf."
Meanwhile Wollongong's Margaret Royall has defied the odds and major surgery for pancreatic cancer to compete.
Fewer than 7 per cent of patients survive the disease, yet, three years after her surgery and despite being unable to eat many foods, she will walk to Bondi to raise funds for Cancer Council NSW.
Network Ten will broadcast the race from 8.30am-10am, radio 2UE from 9am-10.30am, and Nova 96.9 and Vega 95.3 will broadcast at the start and finish areas.
- You can make a donation online and support The Sun-Herald City2Surf Charity Challenge until August 31 - just go to http://www.sunherald.com.au
The Sun-Herald City2Surf is sponsored by New Balance, Singapore Airlines, Gatorade, Rebel Sport, Hahn Super Dry, Nova FM, Network Ten, 2UE, Sheraton on the Park, Fitness First, RSVP and Run Fatboy Run on DVD.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Monday, 11 August 2008
Australian wins Sydney's City to Surf - AFP
SYDNEY (AFP) — An Australian runner has won Sydney's City to Surf race for the first time in 11 years, with Martin Dent taking the 14-kilometre (8.7 mile) fun run here Sunday.
Dent, a 29-year-old public servant from Canberra who competed in the steeplechase at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, is the first Australian to win the race from the city centre to Bondi Beach since 1997.
"It's the biggest race in Australia and to be the first over the line is amazing," Dent, who ran a time of 41 minutes and 12 seconds, told Australian news agency AAP.
Fellow Australian Michael Shelley, 24, was second with a time of 41:24.
Tanzanian runners Patrick Nyangelo and Dickson Marwa have between them won the last five City to Surf races but neither was running in Sunday's event.
Nineteen-year-old Sydney resident Rebecca Lowe, a member of the University of Florida's track and cross country team, won the women's race in 47:18.
The run was marred by tragedy, with a 26-year-old man dying after suffering an apparent heart attack about 200m from the finish line, reports said.
Dent, a 29-year-old public servant from Canberra who competed in the steeplechase at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, is the first Australian to win the race from the city centre to Bondi Beach since 1997.
"It's the biggest race in Australia and to be the first over the line is amazing," Dent, who ran a time of 41 minutes and 12 seconds, told Australian news agency AAP.
Fellow Australian Michael Shelley, 24, was second with a time of 41:24.
Tanzanian runners Patrick Nyangelo and Dickson Marwa have between them won the last five City to Surf races but neither was running in Sunday's event.
Nineteen-year-old Sydney resident Rebecca Lowe, a member of the University of Florida's track and cross country team, won the women's race in 47:18.
The run was marred by tragedy, with a 26-year-old man dying after suffering an apparent heart attack about 200m from the finish line, reports said.
Dent makes mark at last, by Heather Quinlan - Fairfax - 11th August 2008
HISTORY was on Martin Dent's mind when he became the first of a record 70,000 entrants over the Sun-Herald City2Surf finish line yesterday.
Uppermost was his memory of coming 1000th as a wide-eyed 13-year-old debutant 16 years ago.
Then he thought of those who had gone before him - the greats of Australian distance running, such as Rob de Castella, and four-time champions Andrew Lloyd and the race record holder, Steve Moneghetti.
Finally, Dent considered the 11 years that had passed since an Australian man had won the nation's biggest race and the decade of heartbreak he had endured trying to conquer the City2Surf's demanding 14-kilometre course, including that hill.
Then the 29-year-old from Canberra celebrated his memorable victory in the 38th year of the City2Surf with his arms raised in jubilation and a shout of sheer joy.
This was a sweet victory, not the least because Dent, Australia's 3000-metre steeplechase titleholder, was overlooked for the Beijing Olympic Games.
"This has been a long time coming," Dent said. "I didn't make the Olympics so I really needed to win the City2Surf to make up for that in some way this is the biggest race in Australia.
"To win this is just unbelievable. I have been running in it since I was 13 years old and I finished 1000th; the next year I finished 200th and these were all great results for a teenager.
"Then I was third here and now first, in a faster time than my previous PB. I nearly got to within a minute of Mona's record [40.03] so I'm pretty proud of myself.
"It's amazing to think I'll be on that list of people who have won the race, champions like Lloyd, Deek and Mona. That's special.
"Plus all my family is here - my wife, Kathie, our baby son, Elye, my dad. My family has been coming to the City2Surf since I was 13 and they are still supporting me so it is really great to win for them, too."
Dent powered through the finishing tape at Bondi Beach in a personal best time of 41 minutes 12 seconds - 12s in front of his main rival, the Gold Coast's Michael Shelley.
Incredibly, given Dent and Shelley's fears that a surprise international athlete might emerge from the pack, a mystery Kenyan entrant, Josphat Mwangi, sent shockwaves through the elite contingent when he joined the leading group early in the race.
While Mwangi's challenge was over by the time he reached the top of heartbreak hill, he hung on for third place in 41.51, with up-and-coming Australian Ben St Lawrence 13s behind in fourth.
Dent became the City2Surf's first Australian line honours winner since Lee Troop in 1997, after a long stretch of Tanzanian, Finnish and Kenyan supremacy.
Both Troop and the City2Surf champion in 2006 and 2007, Tanzania's Dickson Marwa, will be competing in the Olympic marathon in Beijing in two weeks' time.
Meanwhile, Shelley, 24, achieved a City2Surf personal best time and showed he will be a formidable competitor in the years to come.
After the event he sat slumped, utterly spent and congratulated the victor.
"Marty deserved that," Shelley said. "We worked hard to make it a race between us and although I gave it everything, when he took off at the 10km mark I was gone.
"He turned the screws and I couldn't find anything. But I'm very happy with second. I ran faster than last year, which was a bonus."
A 27-year-old Darlinghurst man collapsed and died 200 metres from the end of yesterday's race. He was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency workers and a report will be prepared for the Coroner, police said yesterday.
Uppermost was his memory of coming 1000th as a wide-eyed 13-year-old debutant 16 years ago.
Then he thought of those who had gone before him - the greats of Australian distance running, such as Rob de Castella, and four-time champions Andrew Lloyd and the race record holder, Steve Moneghetti.
Finally, Dent considered the 11 years that had passed since an Australian man had won the nation's biggest race and the decade of heartbreak he had endured trying to conquer the City2Surf's demanding 14-kilometre course, including that hill.
Then the 29-year-old from Canberra celebrated his memorable victory in the 38th year of the City2Surf with his arms raised in jubilation and a shout of sheer joy.
This was a sweet victory, not the least because Dent, Australia's 3000-metre steeplechase titleholder, was overlooked for the Beijing Olympic Games.
"This has been a long time coming," Dent said. "I didn't make the Olympics so I really needed to win the City2Surf to make up for that in some way this is the biggest race in Australia.
"To win this is just unbelievable. I have been running in it since I was 13 years old and I finished 1000th; the next year I finished 200th and these were all great results for a teenager.
"Then I was third here and now first, in a faster time than my previous PB. I nearly got to within a minute of Mona's record [40.03] so I'm pretty proud of myself.
"It's amazing to think I'll be on that list of people who have won the race, champions like Lloyd, Deek and Mona. That's special.
"Plus all my family is here - my wife, Kathie, our baby son, Elye, my dad. My family has been coming to the City2Surf since I was 13 and they are still supporting me so it is really great to win for them, too."
Dent powered through the finishing tape at Bondi Beach in a personal best time of 41 minutes 12 seconds - 12s in front of his main rival, the Gold Coast's Michael Shelley.
Incredibly, given Dent and Shelley's fears that a surprise international athlete might emerge from the pack, a mystery Kenyan entrant, Josphat Mwangi, sent shockwaves through the elite contingent when he joined the leading group early in the race.
While Mwangi's challenge was over by the time he reached the top of heartbreak hill, he hung on for third place in 41.51, with up-and-coming Australian Ben St Lawrence 13s behind in fourth.
Dent became the City2Surf's first Australian line honours winner since Lee Troop in 1997, after a long stretch of Tanzanian, Finnish and Kenyan supremacy.
Both Troop and the City2Surf champion in 2006 and 2007, Tanzania's Dickson Marwa, will be competing in the Olympic marathon in Beijing in two weeks' time.
Meanwhile, Shelley, 24, achieved a City2Surf personal best time and showed he will be a formidable competitor in the years to come.
After the event he sat slumped, utterly spent and congratulated the victor.
"Marty deserved that," Shelley said. "We worked hard to make it a race between us and although I gave it everything, when he took off at the 10km mark I was gone.
"He turned the screws and I couldn't find anything. But I'm very happy with second. I ran faster than last year, which was a bonus."
A 27-year-old Darlinghurst man collapsed and died 200 metres from the end of yesterday's race. He was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency workers and a report will be prepared for the Coroner, police said yesterday.
Lowe on a huge high but passes on her plane prize, by Heather Quinlan - Fairfax - 11th August 2008
TWELVE months ago, in her own words, Rebecca Lowe "wasn't that good" a runner.
Yesterday, 19-year-old Lowe won Australia's premier distance running event, The Sun-Herald City2Surf and launched her career in spectacular style. She had only crossed the finish line by a matter of minutes before she caused a further sensation, revealing that as a University of Florida scholarship holder, she was unable to accept the winner's prize of two business-class tickets to Europe offered by race sponsor Singapore Airlines.
In a magnanimous gesture, she gave the tickets to the women's second placegetter, unknown 18-year-old Emily Brichacek. Lowe may have had to wave goodbye to a prize worth thousands of dollars, but she had no complaints about the experience.
"I'm really excited, this is my best win ever," the Vaucluse teenager said. "I did the City2Surf last year and ran it in 52 minutes. Now I'm a whole new person."
Lowe's transformation has occurred since leaving school and taking up the University of Florida scholarship, which has offered her the chance to compete regularly and to learn her craft under the US college coaching system.
"When I went to the States 12 months ago, I wasn't that good - I was just another consistent runner," she said. "I went in the US nationals and was fifth in the 5km and I got a huge confidence boost there.
"When I was at school I had too much on my plate with other sports. I played tennis every day, I played netball, touch football, skiing, everything. In the US I have really put my head down and focused just on running and that has showed in my results."
Yesterday, Lowe displayed an inkling of her promise by wiping more than four and a half minutes off her City2Surf personal best, winning the 14km race from Hyde Park to Bondi Beach in 47 minutes 18 seconds.
After Lowe took off from her female rivals only a few kilometres into the event, Brichacek caused a boilover by finishing second in 48.12, 23 seconds ahead of pre-race favourite Eliza Stewart. Profoundly deaf Blue Mountains runner Melinda Vernon was fourth in 49.30.
Brichacek said she was "absolutely surprised and stoked" with her placing and the airline ticket gift from Lowe.
"Rebecca and I went on a training camp together in June and became friends," Brichacek said. "I can't believe she has given me her prize. It's just an amazing day for me. I have never run in the City2Surf before and it is also the first time I have run 14km."
Injured hurdles champion Jana Rawlinson swapped her running shoes for a starting gun and got the huge field underway yesterday.
Yesterday, 19-year-old Lowe won Australia's premier distance running event, The Sun-Herald City2Surf and launched her career in spectacular style. She had only crossed the finish line by a matter of minutes before she caused a further sensation, revealing that as a University of Florida scholarship holder, she was unable to accept the winner's prize of two business-class tickets to Europe offered by race sponsor Singapore Airlines.
In a magnanimous gesture, she gave the tickets to the women's second placegetter, unknown 18-year-old Emily Brichacek. Lowe may have had to wave goodbye to a prize worth thousands of dollars, but she had no complaints about the experience.
"I'm really excited, this is my best win ever," the Vaucluse teenager said. "I did the City2Surf last year and ran it in 52 minutes. Now I'm a whole new person."
Lowe's transformation has occurred since leaving school and taking up the University of Florida scholarship, which has offered her the chance to compete regularly and to learn her craft under the US college coaching system.
"When I went to the States 12 months ago, I wasn't that good - I was just another consistent runner," she said. "I went in the US nationals and was fifth in the 5km and I got a huge confidence boost there.
"When I was at school I had too much on my plate with other sports. I played tennis every day, I played netball, touch football, skiing, everything. In the US I have really put my head down and focused just on running and that has showed in my results."
Yesterday, Lowe displayed an inkling of her promise by wiping more than four and a half minutes off her City2Surf personal best, winning the 14km race from Hyde Park to Bondi Beach in 47 minutes 18 seconds.
After Lowe took off from her female rivals only a few kilometres into the event, Brichacek caused a boilover by finishing second in 48.12, 23 seconds ahead of pre-race favourite Eliza Stewart. Profoundly deaf Blue Mountains runner Melinda Vernon was fourth in 49.30.
Brichacek said she was "absolutely surprised and stoked" with her placing and the airline ticket gift from Lowe.
"Rebecca and I went on a training camp together in June and became friends," Brichacek said. "I can't believe she has given me her prize. It's just an amazing day for me. I have never run in the City2Surf before and it is also the first time I have run 14km."
Injured hurdles champion Jana Rawlinson swapped her running shoes for a starting gun and got the huge field underway yesterday.
New and old heroes gather to walk, run, fly, by Dylan Welch - The Sydney Morning Herald - 11th August 2008
There is no doubt the City2Surf is a serious race; just take a look at the front pack of razor-thin, ropey-muscled runners. With their wraparound sunglasses and stern jaws, they are an intimidating sight.
But for many others, the City2Surf is a day for the bizarre, and the valiantly oddball. Forget running the 14.1 kilometres in less than 60 minutes; the race is all about the outside-underpants brigade (the superheroes) and their colourful kin.
With male fairies, ball-gown and tuxedo wearers, teams of port-a-loo man Kennies, and even a giant chook, Sydney's costume hire shops must have done a roaring trade.
Runners should have been thankful that one fashion trend did not return this year: the Borat-style mankini. As this correspondent can attest, there is little worse than being stuck behind a mankini-clad runner in full stride.
But the race also means you get to tell friends you beat Superman. Although in the Man of Steel's defence, this year he was looking like somebody may have spiked his water with kryptonite.
There is also the pre-race clothing barrage, leaving some new participants bewildered by the shower of ratty jumpers and faded tracksuit pants.
As people stand waiting for the race to start, they peel off unwanted clothing and throw it to the side of the road, knowing they will be collected by waiting Smith Family workers.
Many of the clothes do not make it to the side of the road with the first throw, however, and there is much mirth to be had in watching a laundry bomb make a gentle parabola before landing with a muffled flop on some unsuspecting runner's head.
Yesterday's City2Surf was also a day for numbers. Not only was it the largest run in the event's history, it also set a world-record for a fun run. It raised more than $1 million for charity through the efforts of its 70,000 competitors.
And - for all those people gripping their remotes in hopes of Australian gold at the Olympic Games - the 38th City2Surf heralded something rather important.
For the first time in more than a decade, an Australian won - even if a homegrown victory was aided by the fact that the City2Surf's traditional duopoly, the Tanzanian runners Dickson Marwa and Patrick Nyangelo, were at the Beijing Olympics.
Their decision allowed a Commonwealth Games runner, Martin Dent, to take line honours. The Canberran set a personal best, passing the finish line in 41 minutes 12 seconds. It was the first time an Australian had won since 1997.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
But for many others, the City2Surf is a day for the bizarre, and the valiantly oddball. Forget running the 14.1 kilometres in less than 60 minutes; the race is all about the outside-underpants brigade (the superheroes) and their colourful kin.
With male fairies, ball-gown and tuxedo wearers, teams of port-a-loo man Kennies, and even a giant chook, Sydney's costume hire shops must have done a roaring trade.
Runners should have been thankful that one fashion trend did not return this year: the Borat-style mankini. As this correspondent can attest, there is little worse than being stuck behind a mankini-clad runner in full stride.
But the race also means you get to tell friends you beat Superman. Although in the Man of Steel's defence, this year he was looking like somebody may have spiked his water with kryptonite.
There is also the pre-race clothing barrage, leaving some new participants bewildered by the shower of ratty jumpers and faded tracksuit pants.
As people stand waiting for the race to start, they peel off unwanted clothing and throw it to the side of the road, knowing they will be collected by waiting Smith Family workers.
Many of the clothes do not make it to the side of the road with the first throw, however, and there is much mirth to be had in watching a laundry bomb make a gentle parabola before landing with a muffled flop on some unsuspecting runner's head.
Yesterday's City2Surf was also a day for numbers. Not only was it the largest run in the event's history, it also set a world-record for a fun run. It raised more than $1 million for charity through the efforts of its 70,000 competitors.
And - for all those people gripping their remotes in hopes of Australian gold at the Olympic Games - the 38th City2Surf heralded something rather important.
For the first time in more than a decade, an Australian won - even if a homegrown victory was aided by the fact that the City2Surf's traditional duopoly, the Tanzanian runners Dickson Marwa and Patrick Nyangelo, were at the Beijing Olympics.
Their decision allowed a Commonwealth Games runner, Martin Dent, to take line honours. The Canberran set a personal best, passing the finish line in 41 minutes 12 seconds. It was the first time an Australian had won since 1997.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Sunday, 10 August 2008
Aussie wins City2Surf, young runner dies - AAP - 10th August 2008
A young man has died just 200m from the finish line of the City2Surf running race in Sydney, an NSW Ambulance spokeswoman says.
The 26-year-old fell to the ground on the home stretch at Bondi Beach, bringing a wave of on site medical personnel to his aid.
The tragedy happened around 11am (AEST) while thousands of runners were passing by on their way to completing the 14km race.
Ambulance and other emergency professionals worked to revive the man but were unsuccessful.
A record 70,000 people entered Sunday's 14km race, which was first held in 1971.
The race started in the CBD and headed east along New South Head road, which includes a steep section known as heartbreak hill before descending into Bondi.
Earlier, Martin Dent won the race with an unofficial time of 41 minutes 11 seconds, the first Australian to win since 1997.
The 29-year-old Canberra public servant who ran at the 2006 Commonwealth Games was one of the favourites for the event.
The winning time was Dent's personal best, beating his previous time by 8 seconds.
Gold Coast resident Michael Shelley, 24, came in second with an unofficial time of 41 minutes 24 seconds.
Dent only lost to Shelley in a half-marathon recently but has been competing in the City2Surf since he was young.
"I'm absolutely ecstatic," Dent told AAP. "I've been running this race since I was 13 years old."
Up until Sunday, Dent's best finish was third place in the race.
"Third was my best coming into today and to win it is a dream come true for me," he said.
"It's the biggest race in Australia and to be the first over the line is amazing."
Rebecca Lowe took first place in the women's category with an unofficial time of 48 minutes.
The 19-year-old Sydney resident is a student at the University of Florida and is a member of the university's track and cross country team.
"I'm really excited to win, it was my second time running it competitively," Lowe told AAP.
"I wanted to run the first 10km hard. I didn't want to leave it until the final 4km because it's pretty easy from there."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
The 26-year-old fell to the ground on the home stretch at Bondi Beach, bringing a wave of on site medical personnel to his aid.
The tragedy happened around 11am (AEST) while thousands of runners were passing by on their way to completing the 14km race.
Ambulance and other emergency professionals worked to revive the man but were unsuccessful.
A record 70,000 people entered Sunday's 14km race, which was first held in 1971.
The race started in the CBD and headed east along New South Head road, which includes a steep section known as heartbreak hill before descending into Bondi.
Earlier, Martin Dent won the race with an unofficial time of 41 minutes 11 seconds, the first Australian to win since 1997.
The 29-year-old Canberra public servant who ran at the 2006 Commonwealth Games was one of the favourites for the event.
The winning time was Dent's personal best, beating his previous time by 8 seconds.
Gold Coast resident Michael Shelley, 24, came in second with an unofficial time of 41 minutes 24 seconds.
Dent only lost to Shelley in a half-marathon recently but has been competing in the City2Surf since he was young.
"I'm absolutely ecstatic," Dent told AAP. "I've been running this race since I was 13 years old."
Up until Sunday, Dent's best finish was third place in the race.
"Third was my best coming into today and to win it is a dream come true for me," he said.
"It's the biggest race in Australia and to be the first over the line is amazing."
Rebecca Lowe took first place in the women's category with an unofficial time of 48 minutes.
The 19-year-old Sydney resident is a student at the University of Florida and is a member of the university's track and cross country team.
"I'm really excited to win, it was my second time running it competitively," Lowe told AAP.
"I wanted to run the first 10km hard. I didn't want to leave it until the final 4km because it's pretty easy from there."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Martin Dent wins City2Surf - The Sun-Herald - 10th August 2008
Martin Dent has won this year's City2Surf with a time of 41 minutes 12 seconds, the first Australian to win since 1997.
The 29-year-old Canberra public servant who ran at the 2006 Commonwealth Games was one of the favourites for the event.
The winning time was Dent's personal best, beating his previous time by 8 seconds.
Gold Coast resident Michael Shelley, 24, came in second with a time of 41 minutes 24 seconds.
Rebecca Lowe has taken first place in the women's category with a time of 47 minutes 18 seconds .
The 19-year-old Sydney resident is a student at the University of Florida and is a member of the university's track and cross country team.
Second place went to unseeded runner Emily Brichacek from Canberra, with a time of 48 minutes 12 seconds.
It's the 18-year-old cross-country runner's first time in the event and she wasn't on the list as one of the ones to watch.
Some 70,000 participants braved Sydney's winter cold for a shot at glory.
For many just completing the 14km icon of public running events will mean satisfaction.
Many of our Olympic hopefuls are just rising to their second day of competition in Beijing, while Sydney's fun runners make a dash from the CBD to Bondi Beach.
The event has a record time of 40 minutes and three seconds, set by Australian runner Steve Moneghetti in 1991.
Motorists should expect delays though the eastern suburbs as roads have been closed on a staggering schedule until 4pm.
(Credit: The Sun-Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
The 29-year-old Canberra public servant who ran at the 2006 Commonwealth Games was one of the favourites for the event.
The winning time was Dent's personal best, beating his previous time by 8 seconds.
Gold Coast resident Michael Shelley, 24, came in second with a time of 41 minutes 24 seconds.
Rebecca Lowe has taken first place in the women's category with a time of 47 minutes 18 seconds .
The 19-year-old Sydney resident is a student at the University of Florida and is a member of the university's track and cross country team.
Second place went to unseeded runner Emily Brichacek from Canberra, with a time of 48 minutes 12 seconds.
It's the 18-year-old cross-country runner's first time in the event and she wasn't on the list as one of the ones to watch.
Some 70,000 participants braved Sydney's winter cold for a shot at glory.
For many just completing the 14km icon of public running events will mean satisfaction.
Many of our Olympic hopefuls are just rising to their second day of competition in Beijing, while Sydney's fun runners make a dash from the CBD to Bondi Beach.
The event has a record time of 40 minutes and three seconds, set by Australian runner Steve Moneghetti in 1991.
Motorists should expect delays though the eastern suburbs as roads have been closed on a staggering schedule until 4pm.
(Credit: The Sun-Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Aussies finally a chance in City to Surf - The-Sun Herald - 10th August 2008
More than 70,000 people are expected to cascade from Sydney's Hyde Park in Sunday's City-to-Surf, winding their way through the eastern suburbs to the finish line at Bondi Beach.
The event is in its 37th year, and there's speculation an Australian might take out race honours as the usual swathe of international competitors are at the Beijing Olympics.
A Canberra public servant, 29-year-old Martin Dent, is one competitor to watch at the front of the pack.
He wears the number 41 bib, and recorded a City to Surf time of 41 minutes and 19 seconds in 2005.
The 14 m event has a record time of 40 minutes and three seconds, set by Australian runner Steve Moneghetti in 1991.
The race starts at 9am (AEST).
Details on road closures are available on the website http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au.
(Credit: The Sun-Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
The event is in its 37th year, and there's speculation an Australian might take out race honours as the usual swathe of international competitors are at the Beijing Olympics.
A Canberra public servant, 29-year-old Martin Dent, is one competitor to watch at the front of the pack.
He wears the number 41 bib, and recorded a City to Surf time of 41 minutes and 19 seconds in 2005.
The 14 m event has a record time of 40 minutes and three seconds, set by Australian runner Steve Moneghetti in 1991.
The race starts at 9am (AEST).
Details on road closures are available on the website http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au.
(Credit: The Sun-Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Saturday, 9 August 2008
Men on a Mission join charity rush for the beach, by Garry Maddox and Steve Meacham - The Sydney Morning Herald - 9th August 2008
Even days ago, none of them were runners. Far from having expensive racing equipment, they lacked even a pair of decent trainers between them. But a team of homeless men will tackle the gruelling 14-kilometre Sun-Herald City2Surf tomorrow.
Among a record 70,000 entrants will be seven men, aged from their 20s to their 50s, recruited by Mission Australia, one of four charities supported by Sydney's great run this year.
Even if it takes a slow shuffle to reach Bondi Beach, that's fine with Daniel Petsalis, of Mission Australia, who called for volunteers from its hostels. "Seven put their hand up," he said. "Some were a bit hesitant but we made it clear they didn't need to be in the best physical condition; that if they came aboard, they would have a fun day out and take part in a Sydney icon."
The river of humanity will be set flowing by the injured Olympian Jana Rawlinson.
"Very, very excited," was how she was feeling yesterday about the honour. "Obviously, I was particularly disappointed the Olympics weren't going to happen for me this year, so it's a bit of a nice alternative."
Rawlinson sees the homeless team as an inspiration for all those taking part. "It puts life into perspective a bit," she said. "These guys are running and they don't even have a home to go home to afterwards."
One team member, Alex Marshall, lives in a Mission Australia centre at Liverpool, having moved to Sydney to help a younger brother who has been living on the streets with mental health and drug problems.
Mr Marshall points out the importance of these sorts of activities for the homeless. "It's an hour or two where the stresses of the world get shut off and you can have some fun," he said.
Having organised the team, Mr Petsalis found his runners were missing a vital piece of equipment. "One of the guys said, 'I've been down to Vinnies to try and get a pair of runners but I haven't had much luck'," he said. "I looked down at his feet and saw a pair of old Dunlop Volleys with a hole in the bottom."
A call to the sports company New Balance delivered running shoes for the team.
Individual electronic timing chips have increased the run's popularity. "Having the event chipped has drawn a lot of people back," said the race director, Michael Russell. "The A start filled up very quickly because the semi-serious runners know they're going to get an accurate time."
The event is expected to raise a record $1.3 million for charity, to benefit the Spastic Centre, Starlight Children's Foundation, Lifeline and Mission Australia.
In the absence of elite overseas runners because of the Olympics, the men's and women's race favourites are both Australian - Martin Dent and Eliza Stewart.
The running great Steve Moneghetti said there could be an Australian male winner for the first time since Lee Troop in 1997, which could foreshadow a resurgence in distance running.
"There's just this group about to explode. I think by London 2012, we'll be really strong," he said. "A lot of the guys who'll be running on Sunday are that next generation."
The Road to Bondi Beach
First start 9am
Back of the pack about 9.20am
* There will be no entries on the day.
* Roads will be closed from the Sydney CBD to Bondi beach following the route of the 14-kilometre race.
* Entry fee includes a free bus from Bondi beach afterwards.
* Because of trackwork, buses are replacing trains on the North Shore line between Berowra and Wynyard and on the South Coast line between Nowra and Wollongong. CityRail says there will be flow-on effects on the western and northern lines with trains terminating at Central. For public transport details: 131 500 or www.131500.info
(Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Among a record 70,000 entrants will be seven men, aged from their 20s to their 50s, recruited by Mission Australia, one of four charities supported by Sydney's great run this year.
Even if it takes a slow shuffle to reach Bondi Beach, that's fine with Daniel Petsalis, of Mission Australia, who called for volunteers from its hostels. "Seven put their hand up," he said. "Some were a bit hesitant but we made it clear they didn't need to be in the best physical condition; that if they came aboard, they would have a fun day out and take part in a Sydney icon."
The river of humanity will be set flowing by the injured Olympian Jana Rawlinson.
"Very, very excited," was how she was feeling yesterday about the honour. "Obviously, I was particularly disappointed the Olympics weren't going to happen for me this year, so it's a bit of a nice alternative."
Rawlinson sees the homeless team as an inspiration for all those taking part. "It puts life into perspective a bit," she said. "These guys are running and they don't even have a home to go home to afterwards."
One team member, Alex Marshall, lives in a Mission Australia centre at Liverpool, having moved to Sydney to help a younger brother who has been living on the streets with mental health and drug problems.
Mr Marshall points out the importance of these sorts of activities for the homeless. "It's an hour or two where the stresses of the world get shut off and you can have some fun," he said.
Having organised the team, Mr Petsalis found his runners were missing a vital piece of equipment. "One of the guys said, 'I've been down to Vinnies to try and get a pair of runners but I haven't had much luck'," he said. "I looked down at his feet and saw a pair of old Dunlop Volleys with a hole in the bottom."
A call to the sports company New Balance delivered running shoes for the team.
Individual electronic timing chips have increased the run's popularity. "Having the event chipped has drawn a lot of people back," said the race director, Michael Russell. "The A start filled up very quickly because the semi-serious runners know they're going to get an accurate time."
The event is expected to raise a record $1.3 million for charity, to benefit the Spastic Centre, Starlight Children's Foundation, Lifeline and Mission Australia.
In the absence of elite overseas runners because of the Olympics, the men's and women's race favourites are both Australian - Martin Dent and Eliza Stewart.
The running great Steve Moneghetti said there could be an Australian male winner for the first time since Lee Troop in 1997, which could foreshadow a resurgence in distance running.
"There's just this group about to explode. I think by London 2012, we'll be really strong," he said. "A lot of the guys who'll be running on Sunday are that next generation."
The Road to Bondi Beach
First start 9am
Back of the pack about 9.20am
* There will be no entries on the day.
* Roads will be closed from the Sydney CBD to Bondi beach following the route of the 14-kilometre race.
* Entry fee includes a free bus from Bondi beach afterwards.
* Because of trackwork, buses are replacing trains on the North Shore line between Berowra and Wynyard and on the South Coast line between Nowra and Wollongong. CityRail says there will be flow-on effects on the western and northern lines with trains terminating at Central. For public transport details: 131 500 or www.131500.info
(Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Friday, 8 August 2008
Girton’s quest in City-Surf rolls on - The Advertiser - 7th August 2008
The Bendigo-based Girton Grammar will have a 75-strong team heading to Sydney tomorrow to compete in the City to Surf run on Sunday.
Decked out in their yellow singlets, Girton will be aiming to stand out among a field of more than 60,000 in the 14km run from Hyde Park to Bondi Beach.
Sunday’s run will cap many months of training by the keen students and teachers.
It will be the 11th consecutive time that Girton Grammar has fielded a team in the classic.
‘‘Each year the numbers of students keen to run in the City of Surf has kept on growing,’’ said Dean Langley, Master in Charge of Girton Grammar’s program for the City to Surf run.
‘‘The college’s first run in the City to Surf was back in 1998 when 10 students competed,’’ Langley said.
‘‘This year we have 65 students who will run.
‘‘We have a couple of talented athletes from Year 8, and the rest are from Years 9 to 12.’’Langley said the City to Surf was not just for those who regularly competed in athletics, but for students keen to build their fitness base and enjoy the challenge of the City to Surf.
Training for this year’s group began at the start of Term Four last year.
‘‘The Wednesday morning running group starts off at a distance of 3km up to 5km and gradually builds up,’’ Langley said of the training program.
The group regularly tackles the climbs at Rosalind Parik.
‘‘We have also varied the workouts to include some shorts sessions at the Tom Flood Sports Centre, and also in the Girton gymnasium.
‘‘There is a lot of enthusiasm at training and everyone is really dedicated,’’ Langley said of the 7am starts on chilly mornings.For students from out of Bendigo, there is also a smaller training group which takes to the streets and hills on a Thursday afternoon.
Although the challenge will be firstly to finish the race, Langley said Girton would also be vying for team awards in various age groups.
Last year, Girton’s squad achieved two wins and two runner-up placings.
‘‘The fastest three times from a team in each age group determine the team awards,’’ Langley said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach News
Bondi Beach
Decked out in their yellow singlets, Girton will be aiming to stand out among a field of more than 60,000 in the 14km run from Hyde Park to Bondi Beach.
Sunday’s run will cap many months of training by the keen students and teachers.
It will be the 11th consecutive time that Girton Grammar has fielded a team in the classic.
‘‘Each year the numbers of students keen to run in the City of Surf has kept on growing,’’ said Dean Langley, Master in Charge of Girton Grammar’s program for the City to Surf run.
‘‘The college’s first run in the City to Surf was back in 1998 when 10 students competed,’’ Langley said.
‘‘This year we have 65 students who will run.
‘‘We have a couple of talented athletes from Year 8, and the rest are from Years 9 to 12.’’Langley said the City to Surf was not just for those who regularly competed in athletics, but for students keen to build their fitness base and enjoy the challenge of the City to Surf.
Training for this year’s group began at the start of Term Four last year.
‘‘The Wednesday morning running group starts off at a distance of 3km up to 5km and gradually builds up,’’ Langley said of the training program.
The group regularly tackles the climbs at Rosalind Parik.
‘‘We have also varied the workouts to include some shorts sessions at the Tom Flood Sports Centre, and also in the Girton gymnasium.
‘‘There is a lot of enthusiasm at training and everyone is really dedicated,’’ Langley said of the 7am starts on chilly mornings.For students from out of Bendigo, there is also a smaller training group which takes to the streets and hills on a Thursday afternoon.
Although the challenge will be firstly to finish the race, Langley said Girton would also be vying for team awards in various age groups.
Last year, Girton’s squad achieved two wins and two runner-up placings.
‘‘The fastest three times from a team in each age group determine the team awards,’’ Langley said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach News
Bondi Beach
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
Life's a breach for winter's migrating monsters - The Australian - 1st August 2008
On most days, the biggest danger for surfers at Bondi is the risk of cutting in on a local's wave.
Yesterday there was 100 tonnes of danger as a Southern Right whale and her 1.5m calf wallowed just metres off Sydney's famous beaches.
Watch our video special of the Bondi whales
"If you get too close, she may flatten you to smithereens - even in the water," NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesman John Dengate said of the protective mother.
No one was hurt but many surfers and swimmers breached state laws by approaching within 30m of the giant visitors. The pair, who had moved into shallow water to protect the calf from predators during their annual migration to warmer water, spent almost eight hours moving north along the city's beaches.
(Credit: The Australian)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Yesterday there was 100 tonnes of danger as a Southern Right whale and her 1.5m calf wallowed just metres off Sydney's famous beaches.
Watch our video special of the Bondi whales
"If you get too close, she may flatten you to smithereens - even in the water," NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesman John Dengate said of the protective mother.
No one was hurt but many surfers and swimmers breached state laws by approaching within 30m of the giant visitors. The pair, who had moved into shallow water to protect the calf from predators during their annual migration to warmer water, spent almost eight hours moving north along the city's beaches.
(Credit: The Australian)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Baby Indigo Packer makes public debut with mum Erica - The Daily Telegraph - 5th August 2008
She will be raised cushioned by her dad James' hefty fortune, but yesterday Indigo Packer settled for the comfort and relative anonymity of her mother Erica's arms in Sydney.
Making the most of Bondi's glorious winter sunshine, the model mum introduced her week-old daughter Indigo to the view from life at the top.
Protected against a chilly sea breeze - and, of course, trained lenses - the littlest Packer made her public debut, albeit covered in a quilted wrap, as she snuggled against her attentive mother.
Just days after leaving hospital, friends have revealed the new mum is adjusting seamlessly to parenthood with little fuss.
Looking the picture of good health, the former model and her child took the brief afternoon break about 1pm (AEST) yesterday.
But Indigo's arrival has called for military precision from the family's minders, who have been co-ordinating the avalanche of flowers and gifts for Australia's most connected kid.
Despite already trucking out a suite full of bouquets last week, it is understood florists have been asked to stagger paid-up deliveries over the coming month.
While new dad James has returned to work overseeing the family media and casino interests, colleagues have been charmed by his gushing enthusiasm for fatherhood.
"He's a typical new dad. Back to work, but still beaming about his daughter and more in love with Erica than ever," one media source said yesterday.
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Packer
Erica Baxter
Bondi Beach
Making the most of Bondi's glorious winter sunshine, the model mum introduced her week-old daughter Indigo to the view from life at the top.
Protected against a chilly sea breeze - and, of course, trained lenses - the littlest Packer made her public debut, albeit covered in a quilted wrap, as she snuggled against her attentive mother.
Just days after leaving hospital, friends have revealed the new mum is adjusting seamlessly to parenthood with little fuss.
Looking the picture of good health, the former model and her child took the brief afternoon break about 1pm (AEST) yesterday.
But Indigo's arrival has called for military precision from the family's minders, who have been co-ordinating the avalanche of flowers and gifts for Australia's most connected kid.
Despite already trucking out a suite full of bouquets last week, it is understood florists have been asked to stagger paid-up deliveries over the coming month.
While new dad James has returned to work overseeing the family media and casino interests, colleagues have been charmed by his gushing enthusiasm for fatherhood.
"He's a typical new dad. Back to work, but still beaming about his daughter and more in love with Erica than ever," one media source said yesterday.
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Packer
Erica Baxter
Bondi Beach
Friday, 1 August 2008
Mum and calf have whale of a time at Bondi, by Josephine Tovey - The Sydney Morning Herald - 31st July 2008
Locals and tourists at Bondi today were treated to the rare sight of two whales, believed to be a mother and her calf, playing within 50 metres of the shore.
The whales were first seen at Tamarama Beach about 8am today, before they made their way up the coast to Bondi about 11am.
John Dengate, the Director of Public Affairs with the Department of Environment and Climate Change, said the whales were southern right whales, which look like humpback whales though are slightly larger and have shorter front fins.
Waverley lifeguard Harry Nightingale said he saw the creatures come to within 50 metres of the shore.
Do you know more? Message 0424 SMS SMH (+61 424 767 764) or email us with information or images.
"A mother and her calf came into Bondi for at least an hour and a half," he said.
"They were rolling on their sides, tails going in the air ... it was a really momentous occasion."
He said his lifeguards had to warn off a number of surfers who tried to approach the huge mammals.
"People think [whales] are little puppy dogs, but they're not ... they should be given a bit of space," he said.
Swimmers in NSW are required to keep at least 30 metres from whales in the ocean, as much for their own protection as that of the whales, said Mr Dengate.
"Whales with calves are particularly protective," he said.
"The reason they come into beaches like Bondi in the first place is because the shallow water protects them from things like great whites."
Leanne Bartlett from the Bondi Lifesavers said she was delighted the whales spent so long near the shore.
"We haven't seen them that close for years. It was very special," she said.
Both said the whales swam off in a northerly direction about 1pm.
Several species of whales migrate north up the Australian coast to calve between May and July every year, before returning to Antarctic waters with their babies, the Department of Environment website reports.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Whales
Environmentalists and the environment
Bondi Beach
The whales were first seen at Tamarama Beach about 8am today, before they made their way up the coast to Bondi about 11am.
John Dengate, the Director of Public Affairs with the Department of Environment and Climate Change, said the whales were southern right whales, which look like humpback whales though are slightly larger and have shorter front fins.
Waverley lifeguard Harry Nightingale said he saw the creatures come to within 50 metres of the shore.
Do you know more? Message 0424 SMS SMH (+61 424 767 764) or email us with information or images.
"A mother and her calf came into Bondi for at least an hour and a half," he said.
"They were rolling on their sides, tails going in the air ... it was a really momentous occasion."
He said his lifeguards had to warn off a number of surfers who tried to approach the huge mammals.
"People think [whales] are little puppy dogs, but they're not ... they should be given a bit of space," he said.
Swimmers in NSW are required to keep at least 30 metres from whales in the ocean, as much for their own protection as that of the whales, said Mr Dengate.
"Whales with calves are particularly protective," he said.
"The reason they come into beaches like Bondi in the first place is because the shallow water protects them from things like great whites."
Leanne Bartlett from the Bondi Lifesavers said she was delighted the whales spent so long near the shore.
"We haven't seen them that close for years. It was very special," she said.
Both said the whales swam off in a northerly direction about 1pm.
Several species of whales migrate north up the Australian coast to calve between May and July every year, before returning to Antarctic waters with their babies, the Department of Environment website reports.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Whales
Environmentalists and the environment
Bondi Beach
Right time, right whale - The Daily Telegraph - 1st August 2008
A southern right whale and her calf have delighted beachgoers as they passed through Tamarama and Bondi, frolicking with surfers just metres from shore.
Surfers have told how the playful pair appeared unfazed by the extra attention as they swam down the coast.
Gallery: Playful giants of the deep
By the time mother and baby were sighted off Bondi Beach, officials had established an exclusion zone, ensuring swimmers were kept back as the mammals frolicked.
Send us your pictures of flaura an fauna around NSW
It is not unusual to spot southern rights off Sydney at this time of year - they migrate to southern waters during the winter months.
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Whales
Environmentalists and the environment
Bondi Beach
Surfers have told how the playful pair appeared unfazed by the extra attention as they swam down the coast.
Gallery: Playful giants of the deep
By the time mother and baby were sighted off Bondi Beach, officials had established an exclusion zone, ensuring swimmers were kept back as the mammals frolicked.
Send us your pictures of flaura an fauna around NSW
It is not unusual to spot southern rights off Sydney at this time of year - they migrate to southern waters during the winter months.
(Credit: The Daily Telegraph)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Whales
Environmentalists and the environment
Bondi Beach
Sunday, 27 July 2008
A day on set for Jen, then off shopping, by Rachel Browne - The Sun-Herald - 27th July 2008
She may be one of Australia's hardest-working celebrities but Jennifer Hawkins still has time for a bit of retail therapy.
The former Miss Universe, who promotes a range of products from cosmetics to lingerie, was spotted stocking up on goodies at Electric Monkeys at Bondi Beach.
She managed to squeeze the shopping trip around her commitments to shooting her latest show for Channel Seven, Make Me A Supermodel.
The modelling contest, to air next month, features young men and women vying to be catwalk superstars.
It marks the first hosting role for Hawkins, who has worked as a presenter on travel show The Great Outdoors.
"It's been awesome," she said. "I was really excited to take the role on board and dig my teeth in and start preparing for it."
Hawkins will be joined by a judging panel which includes male model Tyson Beckford, magazine editor Jackie Frank and modelling agency director Martin Walsh.
Having worked as a model, Hawkins empathised with the aspiring models as they auditioned for the show.
"There were some really interesting people coming through the door," she said. "These people are putting their egos and emotions on the line so it's really hard to say, no, you're not right for this show."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
The former Miss Universe, who promotes a range of products from cosmetics to lingerie, was spotted stocking up on goodies at Electric Monkeys at Bondi Beach.
She managed to squeeze the shopping trip around her commitments to shooting her latest show for Channel Seven, Make Me A Supermodel.
The modelling contest, to air next month, features young men and women vying to be catwalk superstars.
It marks the first hosting role for Hawkins, who has worked as a presenter on travel show The Great Outdoors.
"It's been awesome," she said. "I was really excited to take the role on board and dig my teeth in and start preparing for it."
Hawkins will be joined by a judging panel which includes male model Tyson Beckford, magazine editor Jackie Frank and modelling agency director Martin Walsh.
Having worked as a model, Hawkins empathised with the aspiring models as they auditioned for the show.
"There were some really interesting people coming through the door," she said. "These people are putting their egos and emotions on the line so it's really hard to say, no, you're not right for this show."
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Thursday, 24 July 2008
Bondi Rescue boys go back to the basics in Bali - The Daily Telegraph - 24th July 2008
Soaking up the sun on Bali's Kuta beach sounds blissful but for Bondi Beach lifeguards on a cultural exchange in Indonesia it has proved an unpredictable exercise that has left them exhausted.
A handful of the larrikin boys in blue, made famous through Logie-winning observational series Bondi Rescue, have been put through their paces battling wild surf and unfamiliar conditions while filming Bondi Rescue: Bali, to screen on Channel 10 later this year.
For lifeguards Ryan "Whippet" Clarke and Tom Bunting, a gruelling ocean rescue to save a French woman and her two sons was the toughest challenge of their careers.
"It's one of the most intense rescues I have done," former Home and Away star Clarke, 24, said.
Bunting, 27, said, without the luxury of Jetskis and paddle boards, the visit had forced them to rely on the fundamentals of ocean rescue.
Kuta beach has suffered nine deaths so far this year, with an average of 20 to 30 deaths per year.
It's a huge death toll considering Bondi has one fatality a year.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Rescue
Network Ten Australia
Bondi Beach
A handful of the larrikin boys in blue, made famous through Logie-winning observational series Bondi Rescue, have been put through their paces battling wild surf and unfamiliar conditions while filming Bondi Rescue: Bali, to screen on Channel 10 later this year.
For lifeguards Ryan "Whippet" Clarke and Tom Bunting, a gruelling ocean rescue to save a French woman and her two sons was the toughest challenge of their careers.
"It's one of the most intense rescues I have done," former Home and Away star Clarke, 24, said.
Bunting, 27, said, without the luxury of Jetskis and paddle boards, the visit had forced them to rely on the fundamentals of ocean rescue.
Kuta beach has suffered nine deaths so far this year, with an average of 20 to 30 deaths per year.
It's a huge death toll considering Bondi has one fatality a year.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Rescue
Network Ten Australia
Bondi Beach
Wednesday, 23 July 2008
Bikini record bid falls flat - 21st July 2008
More than 300 women braved the unpredictable British summer weather as they attempted to break a world record for the most bikini-clad women photographed together.
But, despite 320 women stripping down to their swimwear on Redcar beach, in Cleveland, the effort was not enough to get a place in the record books.
The fundraising event, organised by the Middlesbrough Erimus Rotary Club, failed to beat the current Guinness World Record, set in September last year on Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia, when 1,010 women posed together in their bikinis.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bikini Babes
Bondi Beach
But, despite 320 women stripping down to their swimwear on Redcar beach, in Cleveland, the effort was not enough to get a place in the record books.
The fundraising event, organised by the Middlesbrough Erimus Rotary Club, failed to beat the current Guinness World Record, set in September last year on Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia, when 1,010 women posed together in their bikinis.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bikini Babes
Bondi Beach
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
English women fail to break Aussie bikini record - The Courier-Mail - 21st July 2008
Hundreds of Englishwomen stripped off their clothes on a chilly British beach in a doomed attempt to break a world record set in Australia last year.
Some 320 women posed in swimwear on Redcar beach, in Cleveland, in a bid to break the record for the most bikini-clad women ever photographed together.
In pictures: Bondi's bikini shoot record
The fundraising event, organised by Middlesbrough Rotary Club, failed to beat the current Guinness World Record, set in September last year on Bondi Beach, Sydney, when 1,010 women posed together in their bikinis.
It was a far cry from the sunny climes of Sydney as thousands of people lined the beach to watch the women, aged from 16 to 81, taking part in the challenge.
Organiser Mike Robson, chairman of fundraising at the Rotary Club, said: "It was electric. The atmosphere was fantastic.
"We didn't manage to break the record - in fact we got nowhere near it - but that isn't a disappointment. We managed to make an awful lot of money for the Great North Air Ambulance."
Mr Robson said he came up with the idea after seeing the Bondi Beach attempt on the internet.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Some 320 women posed in swimwear on Redcar beach, in Cleveland, in a bid to break the record for the most bikini-clad women ever photographed together.
In pictures: Bondi's bikini shoot record
The fundraising event, organised by Middlesbrough Rotary Club, failed to beat the current Guinness World Record, set in September last year on Bondi Beach, Sydney, when 1,010 women posed together in their bikinis.
It was a far cry from the sunny climes of Sydney as thousands of people lined the beach to watch the women, aged from 16 to 81, taking part in the challenge.
Organiser Mike Robson, chairman of fundraising at the Rotary Club, said: "It was electric. The atmosphere was fantastic.
"We didn't manage to break the record - in fact we got nowhere near it - but that isn't a disappointment. We managed to make an awful lot of money for the Great North Air Ambulance."
Mr Robson said he came up with the idea after seeing the Bondi Beach attempt on the internet.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Bingle, Veronicas, Dinnigan go to ACP Grazia magazine launch - The Daily Telegraph - 21st July 2008
Australian fashionistas and celebrities have turned out on Bondi Beach for the launch of weekly glossy magazine Grazia.
Designer Collette Dinnigan, pop twins the Veronicas, model Lara Bingle and TV presenter Erika Heynatz, joined abound 100 guests for a breakfast launch of the women's mag at North Bondi Italian restaurant.
Gallery: See the stars party, cut cake at the Grazia launch
ACP, Australia's largest magazine publisher, has high hopes for the publication, and believes it can fill a gap in the market.
The magazine, which claims to be aimed at the "stylish set", contains both gossip and news, as well as fashion, beauty and food.
Australia is the 10th country in the world to launch Grazia, and the first in the southern hemisphere.
It was first published in Italy in 1938.
Editor in chief Alison Veness-McGourty thanked the celebrities for attending.
"You are the content that fuel our fire," she told the launch.
"Because Grazia is going to be about your stories, about great stories. We need your fabulous fashion and you are our heart and soul."
ACP Magazines Group publisher of women's lifestyle Pat Ingram said she was confident the magazine would be successful despite the raft of similar publications already around.
The magazine adds to ACP's staple of mags such as Harper's Bazaar and Australian Women's Weekly and comes after New Woman magazine was canned earlier this year.
"There is a buzz and anticipation about Grazia that does bode well for its success," Ingram said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
ACP Magazines
Bondi Beach
Designer Collette Dinnigan, pop twins the Veronicas, model Lara Bingle and TV presenter Erika Heynatz, joined abound 100 guests for a breakfast launch of the women's mag at North Bondi Italian restaurant.
Gallery: See the stars party, cut cake at the Grazia launch
ACP, Australia's largest magazine publisher, has high hopes for the publication, and believes it can fill a gap in the market.
The magazine, which claims to be aimed at the "stylish set", contains both gossip and news, as well as fashion, beauty and food.
Australia is the 10th country in the world to launch Grazia, and the first in the southern hemisphere.
It was first published in Italy in 1938.
Editor in chief Alison Veness-McGourty thanked the celebrities for attending.
"You are the content that fuel our fire," she told the launch.
"Because Grazia is going to be about your stories, about great stories. We need your fabulous fashion and you are our heart and soul."
ACP Magazines Group publisher of women's lifestyle Pat Ingram said she was confident the magazine would be successful despite the raft of similar publications already around.
The magazine adds to ACP's staple of mags such as Harper's Bazaar and Australian Women's Weekly and comes after New Woman magazine was canned earlier this year.
"There is a buzz and anticipation about Grazia that does bode well for its success," Ingram said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
ACP Magazines
Bondi Beach
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Robes replace speedos at Bondi, By David Brooks - 16th July 2008
Catholic pilgrims braved the chilly waters and Franciscan friars clad in simple brown robes became rock concert "roadies" as throngs of worshippers congregated on Sydney's famous Bondi Beach.
With up to 215,000 mostly young Catholics joining Pope Benedict XVI in Sydney this week for World Youth Day, the city is getting used to the unexpected.
That was certainly true at Bondi where dozens of pilgrim groups planted their national flags in the golden sand of the beach more famous for summer hedonism and topless sunbathing than winter Christian festivals.
A group of pilgrims from the Gulf emirate of Qatar spent much of their time explaining what country their flag represents.
The mostly Filipino foreign workers from the Muslim state said they are proud to represent their adopted country.
"We have the same coloured sand in Qatar, that's why we were attracted to go down to the beach,' Patrick C. Manahat said.
The Bondi surf patrol sign warning swimmers to avoid the beach's notorious rips by swimming between the flags left swimmers wondering which flags they should aim for.
Hundreds of the youthful visitors took to the chilly water, joining the regular crowd of local wetsuit-clad surfers.
Kerri Hickey, an 18-year-old from the eastern US state of New Jersey, said she wanted to be able to say she had swum at one of the world's most famous beaches.
"We come from the Atlantic coast, so we wanted to be able to say we had swum in the Pacific Ocean," she added.
"The water is clean, but it is very cold."
Locals in their jackets and hats gazed in wonder at the swimmers.
"They don't feel the cold obviously, I'm freezing,' said 85-year-old Bondi resident Lilian Selby while strolling the beach front.
But she welcomed the influx of life to the beach, which is usually left to the surfers, joggers and seagulls in winter.
"I think it's wonderful. It's great to have people coming down here and they are all very well behaved," she said.
At a park next to the beach, Franciscan monks wearing their simple brown habits with ropes tied around the waist scurried to set up a rock concert to be held late in the day.
'I've never done anything like this before," admitted Sydney friar Mario Debattista, pointing out that the friars' main line of work is helping the poor.
"But we have Stan performing later."
Stan Fortuna is a Franciscan friar from New York, who spreads the Christian message through rap and jazz music.
The relatively unworldly Franciscans aren't totally ignorant of the powers of merchandising. T-shirts are on sale with "I attended an Aussie WYD event..." on the front.
On the back is written: "and had a Franciscan good time".
Other pilgrims looking for an Aussie experience had the chance to attend any of around 200 sausage sizzles billed by the church as Australia's biggest barbecue.
Carol Stockley, another pilgrim from New Jersey, said she was happy it did not involve anything cute or cuddly.
"Is it kangaroo? Because I can't do that," she said at a barbecue at central city church St Benedict's. "But we'll try the sausages."
Pope Benedict was resting before joining World Youth Day Thursday but he too had a special taste of Australia when zookeepers took a selection of native animals to show him at his Sydney retreat.
The animals from Sydney's Taronga Zoo included a koala, red-necked wallaby joey, a python, a baby crocodile, a lizard and an echidna.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
With up to 215,000 mostly young Catholics joining Pope Benedict XVI in Sydney this week for World Youth Day, the city is getting used to the unexpected.
That was certainly true at Bondi where dozens of pilgrim groups planted their national flags in the golden sand of the beach more famous for summer hedonism and topless sunbathing than winter Christian festivals.
A group of pilgrims from the Gulf emirate of Qatar spent much of their time explaining what country their flag represents.
The mostly Filipino foreign workers from the Muslim state said they are proud to represent their adopted country.
"We have the same coloured sand in Qatar, that's why we were attracted to go down to the beach,' Patrick C. Manahat said.
The Bondi surf patrol sign warning swimmers to avoid the beach's notorious rips by swimming between the flags left swimmers wondering which flags they should aim for.
Hundreds of the youthful visitors took to the chilly water, joining the regular crowd of local wetsuit-clad surfers.
Kerri Hickey, an 18-year-old from the eastern US state of New Jersey, said she wanted to be able to say she had swum at one of the world's most famous beaches.
"We come from the Atlantic coast, so we wanted to be able to say we had swum in the Pacific Ocean," she added.
"The water is clean, but it is very cold."
Locals in their jackets and hats gazed in wonder at the swimmers.
"They don't feel the cold obviously, I'm freezing,' said 85-year-old Bondi resident Lilian Selby while strolling the beach front.
But she welcomed the influx of life to the beach, which is usually left to the surfers, joggers and seagulls in winter.
"I think it's wonderful. It's great to have people coming down here and they are all very well behaved," she said.
At a park next to the beach, Franciscan monks wearing their simple brown habits with ropes tied around the waist scurried to set up a rock concert to be held late in the day.
'I've never done anything like this before," admitted Sydney friar Mario Debattista, pointing out that the friars' main line of work is helping the poor.
"But we have Stan performing later."
Stan Fortuna is a Franciscan friar from New York, who spreads the Christian message through rap and jazz music.
The relatively unworldly Franciscans aren't totally ignorant of the powers of merchandising. T-shirts are on sale with "I attended an Aussie WYD event..." on the front.
On the back is written: "and had a Franciscan good time".
Other pilgrims looking for an Aussie experience had the chance to attend any of around 200 sausage sizzles billed by the church as Australia's biggest barbecue.
Carol Stockley, another pilgrim from New Jersey, said she was happy it did not involve anything cute or cuddly.
"Is it kangaroo? Because I can't do that," she said at a barbecue at central city church St Benedict's. "But we'll try the sausages."
Pope Benedict was resting before joining World Youth Day Thursday but he too had a special taste of Australia when zookeepers took a selection of native animals to show him at his Sydney retreat.
The animals from Sydney's Taronga Zoo included a koala, red-necked wallaby joey, a python, a baby crocodile, a lizard and an echidna.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
Calm before the Papal storm - SBS - 16th July 2008
World Youth Day organisers are urging the public to stay away from Barangaroo tomorrow for the Pope’s official arrival, after more than 150,000 people packed the venue for yesterday’s opening mass.
Police were forced to turn people away from Barangaroo for the first official World Youth Day event, one that didn’t feature the Pope, who remains in retreat at a location on the city’s outskirts.
Thousands more are expected to flock to the city for tomorrow’s event, which will see the Pontiff lead an official ‘boat-a-cade’ around Sydney Harbour before his is met by Pilgrims at Barangaroo.
Co-ordinator of World Youth Day, Bishop Anthony Fisher, has urged members of the public interested in seeing the Pope to head to viewing areas along the harbour at Woolloomooloo, Mrs Macquaries Chair and Circular Quay.
After the welcome, the Pontiff will travel by motorcade through the city and into the Domain, with the Popemobile due to wind it’s way through the park in a bid
He says all events are open to the public but it’s expected pilgrims will again fill Barnagaroo for the event.
Days of reflection
Most of the official World Youth Day pilgrims are now spending much of the next three days in Catechesis, a series of teachings with Bishops across the city.
The events are taking place at around 400 Churches, halls and other venues around the city, with three Bishops present at each venue to conduct teachings in some 29 languages.
Following the morning events, the pilgrims are then expected to again spill out across Sydney for a series of Youth Festival events at several venues, including concerts, exhibitions, a vocation expo and other community gatherings.
One of the biggest events will occur at Bondi Beach, including rapping, streetwise priest Father Stan Fortuna, who wowed the faithful during his last visit to Australia last year.
Media Man Australia Profiles
World Youth Day
Bondi Beach
Police were forced to turn people away from Barangaroo for the first official World Youth Day event, one that didn’t feature the Pope, who remains in retreat at a location on the city’s outskirts.
Thousands more are expected to flock to the city for tomorrow’s event, which will see the Pontiff lead an official ‘boat-a-cade’ around Sydney Harbour before his is met by Pilgrims at Barangaroo.
Co-ordinator of World Youth Day, Bishop Anthony Fisher, has urged members of the public interested in seeing the Pope to head to viewing areas along the harbour at Woolloomooloo, Mrs Macquaries Chair and Circular Quay.
After the welcome, the Pontiff will travel by motorcade through the city and into the Domain, with the Popemobile due to wind it’s way through the park in a bid
He says all events are open to the public but it’s expected pilgrims will again fill Barnagaroo for the event.
Days of reflection
Most of the official World Youth Day pilgrims are now spending much of the next three days in Catechesis, a series of teachings with Bishops across the city.
The events are taking place at around 400 Churches, halls and other venues around the city, with three Bishops present at each venue to conduct teachings in some 29 languages.
Following the morning events, the pilgrims are then expected to again spill out across Sydney for a series of Youth Festival events at several venues, including concerts, exhibitions, a vocation expo and other community gatherings.
One of the biggest events will occur at Bondi Beach, including rapping, streetwise priest Father Stan Fortuna, who wowed the faithful during his last visit to Australia last year.
Media Man Australia Profiles
World Youth Day
Bondi Beach
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Synchro swimmer goes for Gold - SBS - 14th July 2008
Australia's synchronized swimming medal prospects at the Beijing Games have risen with the inclusion of French born star Myriam Glez on the team.
The 28-year old has won the French National title 10 times.
The sport has yet to take-off in Australia, but a medal in Beijing would give Glez more ammunition in her fight to win wider acceptance for the sport.
Glez lives at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach and although synchronised swimming is a way of life for her, her sport is a long way from gaining iconic status in Australia.
"I think there's a lot to be done. I'm working on a club at the moment, for seniors. We've been developing the club and having little girls coming in.
"There's a lot of work to be done, but we'll keep pushing it."
Medal hopes
Glez been competing in synchronised swimming events since the age of six, and despite marrying and settling into a corporate career in Australia, she says the move from her native Lyon three years ago was far from synchronised.
"I remember telling my Mum when I arrived, the first thing I thought was 'Oh my god, it's another planet!'
"It's not, but it feels like that, the first night. I guess if you come from the US or UK it's easier to get used to Australia."
Mexican born swimmer Erika Leal Ramirez parters Glez in the synchronised duet, and the pair are the only members of a nine-strong team heading to Beijing with previous Olympic experience.
"Every country in Asia is doing synchronised swimming, and they all have a massive team – it’s the same in Europe and the Americas.
"It's just this part of the world that doesn’t quite get it yet, but it's going to come."
That goal will move a lot closer if Glez and her teammates can translate Australia's highest ever World ranking of seventh into a medal at the Beijing Games next month. (Credit: SBS)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Olympics
Bondi Beach
The 28-year old has won the French National title 10 times.
The sport has yet to take-off in Australia, but a medal in Beijing would give Glez more ammunition in her fight to win wider acceptance for the sport.
Glez lives at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach and although synchronised swimming is a way of life for her, her sport is a long way from gaining iconic status in Australia.
"I think there's a lot to be done. I'm working on a club at the moment, for seniors. We've been developing the club and having little girls coming in.
"There's a lot of work to be done, but we'll keep pushing it."
Medal hopes
Glez been competing in synchronised swimming events since the age of six, and despite marrying and settling into a corporate career in Australia, she says the move from her native Lyon three years ago was far from synchronised.
"I remember telling my Mum when I arrived, the first thing I thought was 'Oh my god, it's another planet!'
"It's not, but it feels like that, the first night. I guess if you come from the US or UK it's easier to get used to Australia."
Mexican born swimmer Erika Leal Ramirez parters Glez in the synchronised duet, and the pair are the only members of a nine-strong team heading to Beijing with previous Olympic experience.
"Every country in Asia is doing synchronised swimming, and they all have a massive team – it’s the same in Europe and the Americas.
"It's just this part of the world that doesn’t quite get it yet, but it's going to come."
That goal will move a lot closer if Glez and her teammates can translate Australia's highest ever World ranking of seventh into a medal at the Beijing Games next month. (Credit: SBS)
Media Man Australia Profiles
Olympics
Bondi Beach
A new twist on our most famous beach view - The Daily Telegraph - 9th July 2008
It's the kind of sight you would expect to see on the TV news from the plains of the US mid-west, not over Sydney's world famous Bondi Beach.
However an amateur photographer yesterday captured this image of a tornado-like water spout from his Bondi home.
Pete Ottery noticed the spout when he walked out onto his balcony just after 4pm and watched it for about five minutes.
"It had already touched down when we saw it," he said.
"It was stationary, but as it went on, you could see it thinning out at the bottom and it ran out of puff."
Severe weather forecaster for the Bureau of Meteorology Michael Logan said water spouts along the coast were more common than people realised.
"Today's event was most likely the result of shower activity moving offshore in the area," he said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
However an amateur photographer yesterday captured this image of a tornado-like water spout from his Bondi home.
Pete Ottery noticed the spout when he walked out onto his balcony just after 4pm and watched it for about five minutes.
"It had already touched down when we saw it," he said.
"It was stationary, but as it went on, you could see it thinning out at the bottom and it ran out of puff."
Severe weather forecaster for the Bureau of Meteorology Michael Logan said water spouts along the coast were more common than people realised.
"Today's event was most likely the result of shower activity moving offshore in the area," he said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Friday, 11 July 2008
Councils having a whale of a time, by Ned Kosta - 30th June 2008
Australia’s inaugural National Whale Day was held on June 14 at Bondi beach to raise awareness of the threat facing humpback whales.
At the ceremony, Waverly Council Mayor Ingrid Strewe spoke of her personal thrill in whale watching, the importance of preserving this graceful, awe-inspiring animal and the commercial benefits of whale watching which is estimated to be worth around $300 million a year.
She was asked to speak on behalf of the 60 Australian coastal councils taking part in IFAW’s Humpback Icon Project (HIP), which encourages coastal councils to adopt a humpback whale as their icon. And it is this iconic species for Australians that is being targeted by the Japanese Whaling program. The project aims to gather community support and help councils raise threats to their icon humpback whale with their respective Japanese sister cities.
The ceremony was followed by an anti-whaling protest at North Bondi beach the following week. Organisers of the protest, The Changing Colours Movement, held a concert for the 600-strong crowd at North Bondi RSL club to raise money for anti-whaling organisations, including HIP member organisation 'Surfers for Cetaceans'.
Waverly Council became involved in HIP last year when it adopted a humpback they named Liberty. Environment Minister Peter Garrett chose the name from submissions received from local kids. Humpbacks have distinctive markings on the underside of the tail fluke that are unique to each whale.
Trish Franklin of The Oceania Project documented these markings in photos and distributed them to councils so that communities can identify their adopted whale when it passes along the migration route.
IFAW wants to establish a symbolic chain of coastal councils that stretches across the entire eastern and western seaboards, a popular whale migration route for the humpback on its way to breeding territories. It hopes these councils will become a potent weapon against whaling.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Changing Colours Movement
Bondi Beach
At the ceremony, Waverly Council Mayor Ingrid Strewe spoke of her personal thrill in whale watching, the importance of preserving this graceful, awe-inspiring animal and the commercial benefits of whale watching which is estimated to be worth around $300 million a year.
She was asked to speak on behalf of the 60 Australian coastal councils taking part in IFAW’s Humpback Icon Project (HIP), which encourages coastal councils to adopt a humpback whale as their icon. And it is this iconic species for Australians that is being targeted by the Japanese Whaling program. The project aims to gather community support and help councils raise threats to their icon humpback whale with their respective Japanese sister cities.
The ceremony was followed by an anti-whaling protest at North Bondi beach the following week. Organisers of the protest, The Changing Colours Movement, held a concert for the 600-strong crowd at North Bondi RSL club to raise money for anti-whaling organisations, including HIP member organisation 'Surfers for Cetaceans'.
Waverly Council became involved in HIP last year when it adopted a humpback they named Liberty. Environment Minister Peter Garrett chose the name from submissions received from local kids. Humpbacks have distinctive markings on the underside of the tail fluke that are unique to each whale.
Trish Franklin of The Oceania Project documented these markings in photos and distributed them to councils so that communities can identify their adopted whale when it passes along the migration route.
IFAW wants to establish a symbolic chain of coastal councils that stretches across the entire eastern and western seaboards, a popular whale migration route for the humpback on its way to breeding territories. It hopes these councils will become a potent weapon against whaling.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Changing Colours Movement
Bondi Beach
Heritage status for Bondi beach - The Daily Telegraph - 11th July 2008
Sydney's famed Bondi beach has been given an almost impenetrable layer of protection from major development, by being placed on NSW's Heritage Register.
Bondi beach, Bondi Park, Bondi Surf Pavilion and the Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club Building have been listed as a cultural landscape of state significance.
Waverley Mayor Ingrid Strewe said the listing would provide further protection from overdevelopment. It follows listing of the 65ha beach - including promenades, clubs, parks, cliffs, ocean waters and Bondi Icebergs - on the national heritage register earlier this year.
"There's no question that Bondi is an Australian treasure," Ms Strewe said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Waverley Council
Bondi Beach
Bondi beach, Bondi Park, Bondi Surf Pavilion and the Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club Building have been listed as a cultural landscape of state significance.
Waverley Mayor Ingrid Strewe said the listing would provide further protection from overdevelopment. It follows listing of the 65ha beach - including promenades, clubs, parks, cliffs, ocean waters and Bondi Icebergs - on the national heritage register earlier this year.
"There's no question that Bondi is an Australian treasure," Ms Strewe said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Waverley Council
Bondi Beach
Saturday, 5 July 2008
Sculptures line up for hearts and dollars, by Linda Morris - The Sydney Morning Herald - 4th July 2008
Thirty-three lifesize sculptures of the Sacred Heart of Jesus - depicted clothed with heart exposed and arms outstretched - will be featured in an outdoor exhibition during World Youth Day.
Organisers commissioned a group of young artists to creatively dress and decorate the Jesus Walks sculptures at Bondi Beach, Hyde Park, The Domain, Circular Quay, Cockle Bay, the Convention Centre, the Hungry Mile, North Sydney and Randwick Racecourse.
"The exhibition includes work from artists of Catholic and non-Catholic backgrounds, [other] Christians and non-Christians of a variety of inclinations and cultural heritages," said Helena McCarthy, the exhibition's director and curator.
"Jesus Walks offers the commissioned artists a channel for their creative expression as well as a unique opportunity to interact with an audience of up to 300,000 young people. The exhibition also encourages an interactive dialogue between diverse audiences."
The sculptures will be auctioned later, with proceeds going to Father Chris Riley's Youth Off The Streets.
Media Man Australia Profiles
World Youth Day
Bondi Beach
Organisers commissioned a group of young artists to creatively dress and decorate the Jesus Walks sculptures at Bondi Beach, Hyde Park, The Domain, Circular Quay, Cockle Bay, the Convention Centre, the Hungry Mile, North Sydney and Randwick Racecourse.
"The exhibition includes work from artists of Catholic and non-Catholic backgrounds, [other] Christians and non-Christians of a variety of inclinations and cultural heritages," said Helena McCarthy, the exhibition's director and curator.
"Jesus Walks offers the commissioned artists a channel for their creative expression as well as a unique opportunity to interact with an audience of up to 300,000 young people. The exhibition also encourages an interactive dialogue between diverse audiences."
The sculptures will be auctioned later, with proceeds going to Father Chris Riley's Youth Off The Streets.
Media Man Australia Profiles
World Youth Day
Bondi Beach
Thursday, 3 July 2008
Gordon Ramsay rates Sydney after all - The Daily Telegraph - 2nd July 2008
Melbourne may be on Gordon Ramsay's radar for a new restaurant, but Sydney triumphed with the kitchen whiz when it came to nominating his latest list of top world nosh spots.
Asked this week about where the best chefs eat, the F-word wonder waxed lyrical about his meal at Maurice Terzini's Icebergs eatery.
"I've just had a manic week in Australia at the Good Food Show. The undoubted highlight of the whirlwind tour was a phenomenal lunch at an iconic beachside restaurant, the Icebergs Dining Room in Bondi Beach," he said.
"The food was uncomplicated and fresh and the setting just blissful. It epitomises the laid-back Sydney style that I find so refreshing."
They can suck on that south of the border.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Icebergs
Bondi Beach
Asked this week about where the best chefs eat, the F-word wonder waxed lyrical about his meal at Maurice Terzini's Icebergs eatery.
"I've just had a manic week in Australia at the Good Food Show. The undoubted highlight of the whirlwind tour was a phenomenal lunch at an iconic beachside restaurant, the Icebergs Dining Room in Bondi Beach," he said.
"The food was uncomplicated and fresh and the setting just blissful. It epitomises the laid-back Sydney style that I find so refreshing."
They can suck on that south of the border.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Icebergs
Bondi Beach
Changing Colours Movement - review by Rae Threnoworth
Sunday 11:45am Before:
Sitting at one of the 'reserved' tables in the North Bondi RSL club I feel surprisingly energised after a 3-hour drive down from Newcastle this morning. Missioning it down the coast on this Sunday morning on my own after working late at the pub last night, and fluking it through toll bridges and tunnels on my first adventure to the 'big smoke' of Sydney, I realise that people will do so much more in the name of a good cause. When people are passionate enough about a topic, they attract people of a similar attitude and outlook, it's because of this that "The Changing Colours Movement" are a success.
As I sit here organizing my camera equipment and fiddling with my pen, people are casually but quickly moving about making the finishing touches to the Benefit Concert being held here today. There is a cruisy and united vibe about the place and no body seems to be stressing or panicking about the expected crowds arriving in the next couple of hours, not to mention the media expected to arrive for the press conference being held in twenty minutes. The crew are organized and focused – the specific intention of saving the whales is evident and all about are people flashing whale tales arm symbols as often as their smiles as a sign of unity, dedication and good humour.
Today's activities coincide a week long International Whaling Commission Meeting being held in Chile as of Monday, to raise awareness and money and help to bring about peace in our waters and to bring a final, necessary ban on whaling of any kind. It's been 22 years since Commercial whaling was subjected to a moratorium by the International Whaling Commission, although this is hotly contested by a small number of countries. The ban on commercial whaling was agreed by the IWC in 1982, finally implemented four years later although there are two IWC members who still continue to kill whales - Japan for what it calls "scientific research", and Norway because it does not accept the moratorium. Whaling and other threats have led to at least five of the 13 great whales being listed as endangered.
As a group, we ask:
Isn't it time to consider a non-lethal form of scientific research Japan?
The Benefit concert has been organized under The Changing Colours Movement, a movement brought together by a local Sydney band Mojada. Marco, Chad, Wes, Neil and Pat have recently taken some time off after a 3-month adventure and recording of their album over in the US. During this time the boys acknowledged the dire need to shine colour and light on to the horrific and pointless killings, which take place in our oceans, and to encourage the community/world to stand up to the Nations who refuse to take responsibility for the declining numbers of whales and dolphins in our oceans. This is what they endeavor to do today as the first of many events in the name of ending the slaughter of the people of the ocean.
"As 'The Changing Colours Movement' it is our passion and goal to promote sensitive and thoughtful discussion, and to bring general awareness to the issue of whaling to our generation."
Monday 10:32pm After:
Looking back over Sunday's events, not only have I connected with some amazingly motivated and inspired people but I have walked away feeling I have more knowledge and motivation on the topic because of this. It's comforting and endearing to know that there are people who aren't so out of reach that share this passion to rescue these giant beauties of the sea. They too are awake, aware and can acknowledge the need for people to unite and speak up to make these necessary changes so that our children can share our love for these ocean mammals.
The day kicked off at 11am and despite the bitterly cold wind whipping it's way along Bondi beach, media, celebrities and people in the local community made the effort to show their resilience to the world. To formalize the day's events, a press conference was held outside of North Bondi RSL club with celebrities the likes of Hugh Jackman, Gyton Grantley from channel 9's Underbelly, Bessie Bardot, Lauren Eagle (World Champ water skier and Miss Teen Universe), Nicole Atherton (World Jnr. Womens surf champ) Aaron Jefferies from McLeouds Daughters, Star Wars star Leanna Walsman, and Bardot singer Belinda Chappel showed up to help speak out on the Anti-whaling cause.
Joined by Australian band Mojada were special guests Waverly Mayor Ingrid Strewe, Deputy Mayor Dominic WYkanak, CEO of Greenpeace Steve Shalhorn, And CEO of IFAW Erica who voiced their knowledge and opinions to open the publics' eyes on some very real and very important facts which pro-whaling organizations are trying to keep quiet.
Bunna Lawrie, famous as lead singer in the band 'Coloured Stone' many years before and the first Aboriginal person to be awarded an Aria was also present through out the length of the day. Bunna who is the songman for his Mirning tribe performed a traditional Whale calling ceremony. The whale has a special place for Bunna and his people as the Southern Right whale is their totem animal, (an entity that watches over their tribe). The ceremony consisted of Bunna saying a prayer for the whales in his native tongue, followed by singing and dancing and calling the whales in. The spirits of everyone were lifted in delight as Chad from Mojada yelled "Whale!" and a couple of hundred meters out of Bondi Beach, water spouts could be seen coming from a couple of whales traveling up our coastline.
It was evident the connection we have with these whales, from our singing "Wiberu, Wiberu We Love you.. Wiberu We love you.." (Wiberu is Mirning's name for the Humpback whale) and sending out our peaceful united vibes of protection being rewarded by there presence. I can't imagine a world without them, one where we would have to explain to our children what these magnificent creatures were and why they are no longer part of our Earth. No sense can be made from it… being the only reason for their extinction would be man's greed for money and power. This greed is unsustainable and inevitably will lead to not only the wiping out of the whales, but an end to the income that these ignorant few are making from them. There is so much more to be learnt and if necessary, money to be made, from the living and breathing whale industry.
After the traditional and political aspects of the day on the foreshore of Bondi had wrapped up, the real party started. Kicking off the musical celebrations was Gin Wigmore, a young Kiwi girl with the most unique and energetic style I've seen in a long time.
Her style has been described as something of a mash up of Neil Young, Blondie and Macy Gray, You can check out her stuff at http://www.myspace.com/ginwigmore
Following Gin with everyone all the more happier and relaxed thanks to Sol beer's contribution to the event was the acoustic sounds of Melanie Horsnell.
Soon enough, everyone was in the partying mood and the music started to pump everyone up a bit more thanks to an Aussie hiphop band Budspells (http://www.budspells.com), the soulful sounds of Decklan Kelly. In between sets Dj's Jimmy 2 xox, and TARAS dj's kept everyone dancing.
(http://www.myspace.com/themojada) Volunteers on the day even stopped what they were doing to come and celebrate with the boys who had created this awesome event and mass awareness through media and word of mouth to help the charities "Surfers for Cetaceans" and the "Whaleman Foundation". Judging by the crowd's reaction of dancing, jumping and singing along, Mojada are a band to be reckoned with. Afterwards, Mojada called special guest Bunna up on to the stage for 5 songs including a great cover of "Aint No Sunshine" by bill withers, which he sang in his native Koori tongue. The energy in the room was intense with a clear message of unity. We're the new generation and although we like to party, we aren't going to allow these slaughters to continue.
Ending the night with a bang are local award winning Sydney band who were recently reviewed by Drum Media as "the tightest band in Sydney". Set to the stage with their explosive energy, everyone let loose before heading home to bed (or various after parties) ready for the Monday morning which was soon approaching.
King Farook's online profile can be seen http://www.myspace.com/kingfarook
It had been the most successful day and "The Changing Colours Movement" couldn't have asked for a smoother execution of the first of many events to come in the name of peace and protection of our waters, bringing people together with focused intentions and harmonious vibes. After putting this first event together in only four weeks with such success, I can only imagine the size and impact the next one will have thanks to Mojada, Sol beer, the musicians, celebrities and everyone who contributed on the day. It goes to show that big things do happen when people come together as one. Our voice grows louder and can reach this message further and further.
For more information on the whaling issue, you can visit Surfers for Cetaceans and Whaleman.org
Please also visit www.myspace.com/thechangingcoloursmovement to show your support and join the thousands of people now speaking up.
Article and Photography by Rae Threnoworth
Flickr online gallery - updated daily
Blue Element Photography Portfolio
Myspace Page
For more information on the whaling issue, you can visit Surfers for Cetaceans and Whaleman.org
Media Man Australia Profiles
Environmentalists and the environment
Bondi Beach
Sitting at one of the 'reserved' tables in the North Bondi RSL club I feel surprisingly energised after a 3-hour drive down from Newcastle this morning. Missioning it down the coast on this Sunday morning on my own after working late at the pub last night, and fluking it through toll bridges and tunnels on my first adventure to the 'big smoke' of Sydney, I realise that people will do so much more in the name of a good cause. When people are passionate enough about a topic, they attract people of a similar attitude and outlook, it's because of this that "The Changing Colours Movement" are a success.
As I sit here organizing my camera equipment and fiddling with my pen, people are casually but quickly moving about making the finishing touches to the Benefit Concert being held here today. There is a cruisy and united vibe about the place and no body seems to be stressing or panicking about the expected crowds arriving in the next couple of hours, not to mention the media expected to arrive for the press conference being held in twenty minutes. The crew are organized and focused – the specific intention of saving the whales is evident and all about are people flashing whale tales arm symbols as often as their smiles as a sign of unity, dedication and good humour.
Today's activities coincide a week long International Whaling Commission Meeting being held in Chile as of Monday, to raise awareness and money and help to bring about peace in our waters and to bring a final, necessary ban on whaling of any kind. It's been 22 years since Commercial whaling was subjected to a moratorium by the International Whaling Commission, although this is hotly contested by a small number of countries. The ban on commercial whaling was agreed by the IWC in 1982, finally implemented four years later although there are two IWC members who still continue to kill whales - Japan for what it calls "scientific research", and Norway because it does not accept the moratorium. Whaling and other threats have led to at least five of the 13 great whales being listed as endangered.
As a group, we ask:
Isn't it time to consider a non-lethal form of scientific research Japan?
The Benefit concert has been organized under The Changing Colours Movement, a movement brought together by a local Sydney band Mojada. Marco, Chad, Wes, Neil and Pat have recently taken some time off after a 3-month adventure and recording of their album over in the US. During this time the boys acknowledged the dire need to shine colour and light on to the horrific and pointless killings, which take place in our oceans, and to encourage the community/world to stand up to the Nations who refuse to take responsibility for the declining numbers of whales and dolphins in our oceans. This is what they endeavor to do today as the first of many events in the name of ending the slaughter of the people of the ocean.
"As 'The Changing Colours Movement' it is our passion and goal to promote sensitive and thoughtful discussion, and to bring general awareness to the issue of whaling to our generation."
Monday 10:32pm After:
Looking back over Sunday's events, not only have I connected with some amazingly motivated and inspired people but I have walked away feeling I have more knowledge and motivation on the topic because of this. It's comforting and endearing to know that there are people who aren't so out of reach that share this passion to rescue these giant beauties of the sea. They too are awake, aware and can acknowledge the need for people to unite and speak up to make these necessary changes so that our children can share our love for these ocean mammals.
The day kicked off at 11am and despite the bitterly cold wind whipping it's way along Bondi beach, media, celebrities and people in the local community made the effort to show their resilience to the world. To formalize the day's events, a press conference was held outside of North Bondi RSL club with celebrities the likes of Hugh Jackman, Gyton Grantley from channel 9's Underbelly, Bessie Bardot, Lauren Eagle (World Champ water skier and Miss Teen Universe), Nicole Atherton (World Jnr. Womens surf champ) Aaron Jefferies from McLeouds Daughters, Star Wars star Leanna Walsman, and Bardot singer Belinda Chappel showed up to help speak out on the Anti-whaling cause.
Joined by Australian band Mojada were special guests Waverly Mayor Ingrid Strewe, Deputy Mayor Dominic WYkanak, CEO of Greenpeace Steve Shalhorn, And CEO of IFAW Erica who voiced their knowledge and opinions to open the publics' eyes on some very real and very important facts which pro-whaling organizations are trying to keep quiet.
Bunna Lawrie, famous as lead singer in the band 'Coloured Stone' many years before and the first Aboriginal person to be awarded an Aria was also present through out the length of the day. Bunna who is the songman for his Mirning tribe performed a traditional Whale calling ceremony. The whale has a special place for Bunna and his people as the Southern Right whale is their totem animal, (an entity that watches over their tribe). The ceremony consisted of Bunna saying a prayer for the whales in his native tongue, followed by singing and dancing and calling the whales in. The spirits of everyone were lifted in delight as Chad from Mojada yelled "Whale!" and a couple of hundred meters out of Bondi Beach, water spouts could be seen coming from a couple of whales traveling up our coastline.
It was evident the connection we have with these whales, from our singing "Wiberu, Wiberu We Love you.. Wiberu We love you.." (Wiberu is Mirning's name for the Humpback whale) and sending out our peaceful united vibes of protection being rewarded by there presence. I can't imagine a world without them, one where we would have to explain to our children what these magnificent creatures were and why they are no longer part of our Earth. No sense can be made from it… being the only reason for their extinction would be man's greed for money and power. This greed is unsustainable and inevitably will lead to not only the wiping out of the whales, but an end to the income that these ignorant few are making from them. There is so much more to be learnt and if necessary, money to be made, from the living and breathing whale industry.
After the traditional and political aspects of the day on the foreshore of Bondi had wrapped up, the real party started. Kicking off the musical celebrations was Gin Wigmore, a young Kiwi girl with the most unique and energetic style I've seen in a long time.
Her style has been described as something of a mash up of Neil Young, Blondie and Macy Gray, You can check out her stuff at http://www.myspace.com/ginwigmore
Following Gin with everyone all the more happier and relaxed thanks to Sol beer's contribution to the event was the acoustic sounds of Melanie Horsnell.
Soon enough, everyone was in the partying mood and the music started to pump everyone up a bit more thanks to an Aussie hiphop band Budspells (http://www.budspells.com), the soulful sounds of Decklan Kelly. In between sets Dj's Jimmy 2 xox, and TARAS dj's kept everyone dancing.
(http://www.myspace.com/themojada) Volunteers on the day even stopped what they were doing to come and celebrate with the boys who had created this awesome event and mass awareness through media and word of mouth to help the charities "Surfers for Cetaceans" and the "Whaleman Foundation". Judging by the crowd's reaction of dancing, jumping and singing along, Mojada are a band to be reckoned with. Afterwards, Mojada called special guest Bunna up on to the stage for 5 songs including a great cover of "Aint No Sunshine" by bill withers, which he sang in his native Koori tongue. The energy in the room was intense with a clear message of unity. We're the new generation and although we like to party, we aren't going to allow these slaughters to continue.
Ending the night with a bang are local award winning Sydney band who were recently reviewed by Drum Media as "the tightest band in Sydney". Set to the stage with their explosive energy, everyone let loose before heading home to bed (or various after parties) ready for the Monday morning which was soon approaching.
King Farook's online profile can be seen http://www.myspace.com/kingfarook
It had been the most successful day and "The Changing Colours Movement" couldn't have asked for a smoother execution of the first of many events to come in the name of peace and protection of our waters, bringing people together with focused intentions and harmonious vibes. After putting this first event together in only four weeks with such success, I can only imagine the size and impact the next one will have thanks to Mojada, Sol beer, the musicians, celebrities and everyone who contributed on the day. It goes to show that big things do happen when people come together as one. Our voice grows louder and can reach this message further and further.
For more information on the whaling issue, you can visit Surfers for Cetaceans and Whaleman.org
Please also visit www.myspace.com/thechangingcoloursmovement to show your support and join the thousands of people now speaking up.
Article and Photography by Rae Threnoworth
Flickr online gallery - updated daily
Blue Element Photography Portfolio
Myspace Page
For more information on the whaling issue, you can visit Surfers for Cetaceans and Whaleman.org
Media Man Australia Profiles
Environmentalists and the environment
Bondi Beach
Monday, 30 June 2008
Bottoms up for Taste Orange, by Tracey Prisk - Central Western Daily - 27th June 2008
Once again Orange food and wine producers will get the opportunity to showcase their wares to a seaside crowd at Taste Orange at Bondi, which kicks off this year from September 22-28.
Taste Orange @ Bondi is a partnership between Orange City and Waverley councils and was established to raise the profile of Orange produce and wine.
According to Brand Orange executive officer Kim Currie the event allows those not familiar with what the region has to offer to sample a selection of Orange’s best food and wine in the context of the popular seaside suburb.
“We really would like to present Orange as a desirable place to work, visit or live.”
After last year’s inaugural event, a number of participants reported an immediate influx of Sydney visitors keen to enjoy more of what they had sampled at Taste Orange @ Bondi.
Apart from several new food and wine events, an art exhibition has been added to the mix this year.
The Blue Show, featuring local Orange artists and curated by Orange Regional Gallery director Alan Sisley will be used to further showcase the region’s creative community.
Other Taste Orange events scheduled to take place in and around Bondi and Waverley include: Dinner on the Balcony at Bondi Pavilion (September 22); Taste Orange for MS featuring young local chefs at the East Leagues Club, Bondi Junction (September 23); 9 Tastes of Orange Dinner at North Bondi Surf Lifesaving Club (September 27); Taste Orange Sunday @ Bondi Pavilion with wine and food matched stalls, fresh and value-added produce stalls, music from Orange Regional Conservatorium and local Bondi musicians, cooking demonstrations presented by Lesley Russell from the Orange Regional Cooking School and children’s activities (September 28).
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Taste Orange @ Bondi is a partnership between Orange City and Waverley councils and was established to raise the profile of Orange produce and wine.
According to Brand Orange executive officer Kim Currie the event allows those not familiar with what the region has to offer to sample a selection of Orange’s best food and wine in the context of the popular seaside suburb.
“We really would like to present Orange as a desirable place to work, visit or live.”
After last year’s inaugural event, a number of participants reported an immediate influx of Sydney visitors keen to enjoy more of what they had sampled at Taste Orange @ Bondi.
Apart from several new food and wine events, an art exhibition has been added to the mix this year.
The Blue Show, featuring local Orange artists and curated by Orange Regional Gallery director Alan Sisley will be used to further showcase the region’s creative community.
Other Taste Orange events scheduled to take place in and around Bondi and Waverley include: Dinner on the Balcony at Bondi Pavilion (September 22); Taste Orange for MS featuring young local chefs at the East Leagues Club, Bondi Junction (September 23); 9 Tastes of Orange Dinner at North Bondi Surf Lifesaving Club (September 27); Taste Orange Sunday @ Bondi Pavilion with wine and food matched stalls, fresh and value-added produce stalls, music from Orange Regional Conservatorium and local Bondi musicians, cooking demonstrations presented by Lesley Russell from the Orange Regional Cooking School and children’s activities (September 28).
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Saturday, 28 June 2008
Media Man Australia Upcoming Media Interviews
Media Man Australia director, Greg Tingle, has another series of interviews about to be released into the public domain.
MMA founder, Greg Tingle, will also be interviewed himself about his business, community and philanthropic activities.
Greg's last public interview can be read here.
Website
Media Man Australia
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
MMA founder, Greg Tingle, will also be interviewed himself about his business, community and philanthropic activities.
Greg's last public interview can be read here.
Website
Media Man Australia
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Friday, 27 June 2008
Packer's 'white elephant' leased, by Justin Vallejo - The Daily Telegraph - 27th June 2008
Bondi's most famous white elephant has sat vacant beneath James Packer's beachside palazzo for the past six years.
Now the ground floor of Packer's former bachelor pad is to be converted into a Jurlique "wellness sanctuary".
The Campbell Parade block will house the pursuit of "beauty and connecting oneself to the earth" rather than dirty nappies.
The space had been boarded up since iconic retailer Jones The Grocer shut up shop in 2002, and was eventually placed into voluntary administration with $1 million in debts.
The site was supposed to have provided a rental income of more than $3000 a week for Packer, with the grocery shop paying $148,000 a year for panoramic views of Bondi Beach.
International coffee chain Starbucks almost took up residence in 2003 but pulled out after residents' protests - an American chain, puh-lease.
Gelateria & Pizzeria owner George Pompei was also keen but couldn't get permission for outdoor seating.
Packer settled on Jurlique, a cosmetics company in which his CPH Investment Corp paid $25 million in 2002 for a 25 per cent share.
Contractors have already begun converting the site, scheduled to open in July - and it's no dodgy kebab shop operation, either.
According to chief executive Eli Halliwell, Jurlique "is passion" and a chance to connect with the "living energy" of their skincare products.
"Beauty is sustainable connections to the earth," her website says.
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Packer
Bondi Beach
Now the ground floor of Packer's former bachelor pad is to be converted into a Jurlique "wellness sanctuary".
The Campbell Parade block will house the pursuit of "beauty and connecting oneself to the earth" rather than dirty nappies.
The space had been boarded up since iconic retailer Jones The Grocer shut up shop in 2002, and was eventually placed into voluntary administration with $1 million in debts.
The site was supposed to have provided a rental income of more than $3000 a week for Packer, with the grocery shop paying $148,000 a year for panoramic views of Bondi Beach.
International coffee chain Starbucks almost took up residence in 2003 but pulled out after residents' protests - an American chain, puh-lease.
Gelateria & Pizzeria owner George Pompei was also keen but couldn't get permission for outdoor seating.
Packer settled on Jurlique, a cosmetics company in which his CPH Investment Corp paid $25 million in 2002 for a 25 per cent share.
Contractors have already begun converting the site, scheduled to open in July - and it's no dodgy kebab shop operation, either.
According to chief executive Eli Halliwell, Jurlique "is passion" and a chance to connect with the "living energy" of their skincare products.
"Beauty is sustainable connections to the earth," her website says.
Media Man Australia Profiles
James Packer
Bondi Beach
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Nik Fish on the run... for charity - InTheMix - 24th June 2008
It’s not often the disparate worlds of long-distance running and dance music collide, but hard dance heavyweight Nik Fish isn’t known as one to do things by the rule book. In 2008 he’s decided to undertake Sydney’s annual City 2 Surf run, and he’s looking towards the club scene for support to raise much needed funds for his chosen charity; The Shepherd Centre.
The City 2 Surf is a grueling 14km run from the Sydney CBD to iconic Bondi Beach. Each year thousands undertake the challenge, and in 2008 Nik will be one of them proudly flying the flag for Australian DJs. He’s clearly taking it seriously, telling ITM that in the lead-up to the August event he’s ‘kicked the smokes and stopped boozing at gigs’.
Nik chose The Shepherd Centre as they offer education programs and medical assistance to children who are either born deaf or suffer from severe hearing impairment. “My dad went completely deaf in one ear recently and I blew my right eardrum out in a scuba diving accident a few years ago,” Nik explained. “[Because of] this, and with the severe tinnitus that I suffer, it made sense to help the kids who are even worse off!”
If you’d like to donate to Nik just head to www.everydayhero.com.au/nikfish. Your contribution can be as little as $1 – every bit counts.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Social and Community Entrepreneurs
Bondi Beach
The City 2 Surf is a grueling 14km run from the Sydney CBD to iconic Bondi Beach. Each year thousands undertake the challenge, and in 2008 Nik will be one of them proudly flying the flag for Australian DJs. He’s clearly taking it seriously, telling ITM that in the lead-up to the August event he’s ‘kicked the smokes and stopped boozing at gigs’.
Nik chose The Shepherd Centre as they offer education programs and medical assistance to children who are either born deaf or suffer from severe hearing impairment. “My dad went completely deaf in one ear recently and I blew my right eardrum out in a scuba diving accident a few years ago,” Nik explained. “[Because of] this, and with the severe tinnitus that I suffer, it made sense to help the kids who are even worse off!”
If you’d like to donate to Nik just head to www.everydayhero.com.au/nikfish. Your contribution can be as little as $1 – every bit counts.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Social and Community Entrepreneurs
Bondi Beach
Sunday, 22 June 2008
The Changing Colours Movement - today, North Bondi RSL, 11am, Press 1pm
Website
http://www.myspace.com/thechangingcoloursmovement
Profiles
Whales
Environmentalists and the environment
Bondi Beach
http://www.myspace.com/thechangingcoloursmovement
Profiles
Whales
Environmentalists and the environment
Bondi Beach
Saturday, 21 June 2008
The Changing Colours Movement - North Bondi Beach Gathering and Concert Tomorrow - 22nd June 2008
IT'S HERE THIS SUNDAY!!! starts at 11am NTH BONDI BEACH!!! then live music from 2pm at the NTH BONDI
hey guys..
well its here..
We watched whales off Bondi Beach this morning , breaching and dancing in the magic morning sunshine..
So come join us during the day this SUNDAY
Starts at 11 am on NORTH BONDI BEACH..
With a giant inflatable whale, and lots of cool activities for the whole family..
Then at 1PM THERE IS AN OFFICIAL PRESS CONFERENCE, with guest speakers, such as Lauryn Eagle, world junior surf champ Nicola Atherton, The mayor and deputy mayor of Waverley, the head of Greenpeace (with some breaking news about the scientific whaling scam!!!), and an amazing WHALE CALLING CEREMONY by BUNNA LAWRIE from the Mirning tribe and renown Aboriginal band, Coloured Stone
NOT TO BE MISSED, this happens at 1PM..!!!
North end of Bondi Beach..
Then the music kicks off at 2pm up at the NORTH BONDI RSL. and really gets going at around 4pm!!!
There free drinks from SOL BEER for everyone who comes in to the music concert at the RSL and make a donation..
and lots of surprises!!!
Hope to see ya there.. bring ya friends and help us celebrate as a community and as humans who are ready to stand up and protect our earth, and all its inhabitants..
respect
marco, chad, and wes
mojada
Website
The Changing Colours Movement
Media Man Australia Profiles
Environmentalists and the environment
Whales
Waverley Council
Bondi Beach
hey guys..
well its here..
We watched whales off Bondi Beach this morning , breaching and dancing in the magic morning sunshine..
So come join us during the day this SUNDAY
Starts at 11 am on NORTH BONDI BEACH..
With a giant inflatable whale, and lots of cool activities for the whole family..
Then at 1PM THERE IS AN OFFICIAL PRESS CONFERENCE, with guest speakers, such as Lauryn Eagle, world junior surf champ Nicola Atherton, The mayor and deputy mayor of Waverley, the head of Greenpeace (with some breaking news about the scientific whaling scam!!!), and an amazing WHALE CALLING CEREMONY by BUNNA LAWRIE from the Mirning tribe and renown Aboriginal band, Coloured Stone
NOT TO BE MISSED, this happens at 1PM..!!!
North end of Bondi Beach..
Then the music kicks off at 2pm up at the NORTH BONDI RSL. and really gets going at around 4pm!!!
There free drinks from SOL BEER for everyone who comes in to the music concert at the RSL and make a donation..
and lots of surprises!!!
Hope to see ya there.. bring ya friends and help us celebrate as a community and as humans who are ready to stand up and protect our earth, and all its inhabitants..
respect
marco, chad, and wes
mojada
Website
The Changing Colours Movement
Media Man Australia Profiles
Environmentalists and the environment
Whales
Waverley Council
Bondi Beach
Sunday, 15 June 2008
Bondi Beach News Media Update
Another wet, windy and cold weekend at Bondi Beach. As if Tourism NSW and Tourism Australia didn't have enough troubles already!
Media Man Australia Profiles
Travel and Tourism
Bondi Beach
Media Man Australia Profiles
Travel and Tourism
Bondi Beach
Friday, 13 June 2008
Development of wedding cake hotel no slice of Europe, by Jano Gibson - The Sydney Morning Herald - 13th June 2008
A $100 million plan to beautify Bondi Beach's Swiss Grand Hotel has been recommended for rejection by Waverley Council staff.
The owners of the hotel, Allan Linz and Eduard Litver, who are also behind the controversial redevelopment of the historic Currawong workers' retreat, want to transform the wedding cake-style hotel into a mixed-use facility. It would contain 82 hotel suites, 98 residential apartments, a two-level supermarket, a gym and spa.
But a report by the council's development and building unit said the addition of three storeys would create a building "that will dominate the Bondi streetscape far more than the existing building and will be contextually incongruous [with the area]".
The report said the developers had justified exceeding the council's height controls by saying "beachfront and waterfront locations benefit from a strong street wall which defines an urban edge in places such as Nice, Cannes and San Sebastian".
But the unit rejected the argument saying: "The applicant's comparison of Bondi Beach to the famous waterfront locations in Europe has limited relevance".
Mr Linz agreed his and Mr Litver's company, Epic Hotels Pty Ltd, would probably have to consider reducing the proposal's height.
The Mayor of Waverley, Ingrid Strewe, said it was vital the redevelopment be appropriate, especially as the landmark building might be strata-titled in the future, which would limit the possibility of changes.
The council's development control committee are to meet on June 24 to decide on the recommendation to reject the project.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
The owners of the hotel, Allan Linz and Eduard Litver, who are also behind the controversial redevelopment of the historic Currawong workers' retreat, want to transform the wedding cake-style hotel into a mixed-use facility. It would contain 82 hotel suites, 98 residential apartments, a two-level supermarket, a gym and spa.
But a report by the council's development and building unit said the addition of three storeys would create a building "that will dominate the Bondi streetscape far more than the existing building and will be contextually incongruous [with the area]".
The report said the developers had justified exceeding the council's height controls by saying "beachfront and waterfront locations benefit from a strong street wall which defines an urban edge in places such as Nice, Cannes and San Sebastian".
But the unit rejected the argument saying: "The applicant's comparison of Bondi Beach to the famous waterfront locations in Europe has limited relevance".
Mr Linz agreed his and Mr Litver's company, Epic Hotels Pty Ltd, would probably have to consider reducing the proposal's height.
The Mayor of Waverley, Ingrid Strewe, said it was vital the redevelopment be appropriate, especially as the landmark building might be strata-titled in the future, which would limit the possibility of changes.
The council's development control committee are to meet on June 24 to decide on the recommendation to reject the project.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
Bondi Resue series Bali bound, By Erin McWhirter - The Daily Telegraph - 10th June 2008
The team of television series Bondi Rescue has only just come down from winning the most popular factual program Logie last month, but already have cause to revel in glory again.
In a spin-off series, show favourites Ryan "Whippett" Clarke, Dean "Deano" Gladstone, Andrew "Reidy" Reid and Anthony "Harries" Carroll, will hit the hot sands of Bali following Channel 10 commissioning an eight part, Bondi Rescue: Bali, starring the foursome.
The larrikin lifeguards will be put through their paces when they commence a four-month stint on Bali's famous Kuta Beach, which was devastated by terrorist bomb blasts in October 2002.
The boys in blue will be assisting and learning new methods in surf safety from Bali's professional lifeguards in a bid to make an entertaining but informative new series.
While it might sound like the ultimate job, executive producer Michael Cordell said it would be no walk in the park.
"Bali is renowned for its big surf and dangerous conditions," Cordell said.
"For our boys, it will be a tough and confronting experience. Kuta can be lethal and the resources the Balinese lifeguards have don't compare to Bondi. Expect plenty of dramatic rescues along with classic good times in between."
The mix of gags and personalities, combined with showcasing the lifeguards' courage in risking their own lives to save others is the formula that has made this series so popular.
The third series of Bondi Rescue was the most successful yet, winning its time slot in all major demographics and attracting an average 1.31 million viewers weekly.
The program is also thrilling audiences abroad - in the UK, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Germany.
With a fourth series expected to be commissioned by Ten in the coming weeks, Cordell said the network's risk to run with the series three years ago had paid off.
"It was quite a risk . . . because we didn't know how many rescues would happen or what the characters would be like," Cordell said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Rescue
Bondi Beach
In a spin-off series, show favourites Ryan "Whippett" Clarke, Dean "Deano" Gladstone, Andrew "Reidy" Reid and Anthony "Harries" Carroll, will hit the hot sands of Bali following Channel 10 commissioning an eight part, Bondi Rescue: Bali, starring the foursome.
The larrikin lifeguards will be put through their paces when they commence a four-month stint on Bali's famous Kuta Beach, which was devastated by terrorist bomb blasts in October 2002.
The boys in blue will be assisting and learning new methods in surf safety from Bali's professional lifeguards in a bid to make an entertaining but informative new series.
While it might sound like the ultimate job, executive producer Michael Cordell said it would be no walk in the park.
"Bali is renowned for its big surf and dangerous conditions," Cordell said.
"For our boys, it will be a tough and confronting experience. Kuta can be lethal and the resources the Balinese lifeguards have don't compare to Bondi. Expect plenty of dramatic rescues along with classic good times in between."
The mix of gags and personalities, combined with showcasing the lifeguards' courage in risking their own lives to save others is the formula that has made this series so popular.
The third series of Bondi Rescue was the most successful yet, winning its time slot in all major demographics and attracting an average 1.31 million viewers weekly.
The program is also thrilling audiences abroad - in the UK, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Germany.
With a fourth series expected to be commissioned by Ten in the coming weeks, Cordell said the network's risk to run with the series three years ago had paid off.
"It was quite a risk . . . because we didn't know how many rescues would happen or what the characters would be like," Cordell said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Rescue
Bondi Beach
Channel 10 puts Logie-winning Bondi Rescue into Bali, By Erin McWhirter - 10th June 2008
The team of television series Bondi Rescue has only just come down from winning the most popular factual program Logie last month, but already have cause to revel in glory again.
In a spin-off series, show favourites Ryan "Whippett" Clarke, Dean "Deano" Gladstone, Andrew "Reidy" Reid and Anthony "Harries" Carroll, will hit the hot sands of Bali following Channel 10 commissioning an eight part, Bondi Rescue: Bali, starring the foursome.
The larrikin lifeguards will be put through their paces when they commence a four-month stint on Bali's famous Kuta Beach, which was devastated by terrorist bomb blasts in October 2002.
The boys in blue will be assisting and learning new methods in surf safety from Bali's professional lifeguards in a bid to make an entertaining but informative new series.
While it might sound like the ultimate job, executive producer Michael Cordell said it would be no walk in the park.
"Bali is renowned for its big surf and dangerous conditions," Cordell said.
"For our boys, it will be a tough and confronting experience. Kuta can be lethal and the resources the Balinese lifeguards have don't compare to Bondi. Expect plenty of dramatic rescues along with classic good times in between."
The mix of gags and personalities, combined with showcasing the lifeguards' courage in risking their own lives to save others is the formula that has made this series so popular.
The third series of Bondi Rescue was the most successful yet, winning its time slot in all major demographics and attracting an average 1.31 million viewers weekly.
The program is also thrilling audiences abroad - in the UK, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Germany.
With a fourth series expected to be commissioned by Ten in the coming weeks, Cordell said the network's risk to run with the series three years ago had paid off.
"It was quite a risk . . . because we didn't know how many rescues would happen or what the characters would be like," Cordell said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Rescue
Bondi Beach
In a spin-off series, show favourites Ryan "Whippett" Clarke, Dean "Deano" Gladstone, Andrew "Reidy" Reid and Anthony "Harries" Carroll, will hit the hot sands of Bali following Channel 10 commissioning an eight part, Bondi Rescue: Bali, starring the foursome.
The larrikin lifeguards will be put through their paces when they commence a four-month stint on Bali's famous Kuta Beach, which was devastated by terrorist bomb blasts in October 2002.
The boys in blue will be assisting and learning new methods in surf safety from Bali's professional lifeguards in a bid to make an entertaining but informative new series.
While it might sound like the ultimate job, executive producer Michael Cordell said it would be no walk in the park.
"Bali is renowned for its big surf and dangerous conditions," Cordell said.
"For our boys, it will be a tough and confronting experience. Kuta can be lethal and the resources the Balinese lifeguards have don't compare to Bondi. Expect plenty of dramatic rescues along with classic good times in between."
The mix of gags and personalities, combined with showcasing the lifeguards' courage in risking their own lives to save others is the formula that has made this series so popular.
The third series of Bondi Rescue was the most successful yet, winning its time slot in all major demographics and attracting an average 1.31 million viewers weekly.
The program is also thrilling audiences abroad - in the UK, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Germany.
With a fourth series expected to be commissioned by Ten in the coming weeks, Cordell said the network's risk to run with the series three years ago had paid off.
"It was quite a risk . . . because we didn't know how many rescues would happen or what the characters would be like," Cordell said.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Rescue
Bondi Beach
Sunday, 8 June 2008
Aboriginal Art Gallery at Sydney's Bondi Beach - 7th June 2008
The word "Aborigine" (said to be from the Latin ab, origin meaning "from the beginning") is used to refer to Australia's Original People. Before the coming of non-Aborigines, everyone was simply a person.
A new art gallery in Sydney's famous "Bondi" Beach district, the Boondi Aboriginal Art Gallery, specialises in Aboriginal Fine Art from the Central and Western Desert, The Kimberleys, Queensland and Arnhemland.
Sydney's "Bondi" district derives its name from "Boondi Boondi" meaning the sound of waves. The Boondi Aboriginal Art Gallery's principle is to educate and inform international and local clients about the Original Australian "Aborigine" people's culture and heritage through holding exibitions, sale and advertising of paintings and various artifacts.
In this way the gallery is promoting and helping individual artists and communities around Australia. The gallery offers an enchanting and diverse collection of traditional and contemporary artworks from upcoming artists such as Sarrita King to world renowned masters like Dorothy Napangardy, Judy Watson, Ngoia Pollard, and many others.
The Boondi Aboriginal Art Gallery displays vast collection of glass works, wavings, and sculptures as well as books and holds occasional dance ceremonies and performances where visitors can question the artists on Aboriginal culture.
Here you can also discover Aboriginal art and culture, and even start playing the didgeridoo. The Boondi Aboriginal Art Gallery carries perhaps the best quality selection of didgeridoos in Australia including yidakis. Boondi will run didgeridoo workshops twice a week featuring some of the best didjeridoo players. Visitors can learn the fundamental techniques on the didgeridoo.
There are associate Australian Aboriginal Art galleries in Sydney's Queen Victoria Building (QVB) as well as at Shop 13, Opera Quays, 2 East Circular Quay, while the Boondi Gallery is located at Shop 138 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach and can be contacted via the Email below.
Readers can find out more about Aboriginal Art at the Ulladulla Aboriginal Art website, or contact the Boondi Aboriginal Art Gallery for further information or notification about events at: boondiaboriginalgallery@y7mail.com
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
A new art gallery in Sydney's famous "Bondi" Beach district, the Boondi Aboriginal Art Gallery, specialises in Aboriginal Fine Art from the Central and Western Desert, The Kimberleys, Queensland and Arnhemland.
Sydney's "Bondi" district derives its name from "Boondi Boondi" meaning the sound of waves. The Boondi Aboriginal Art Gallery's principle is to educate and inform international and local clients about the Original Australian "Aborigine" people's culture and heritage through holding exibitions, sale and advertising of paintings and various artifacts.
In this way the gallery is promoting and helping individual artists and communities around Australia. The gallery offers an enchanting and diverse collection of traditional and contemporary artworks from upcoming artists such as Sarrita King to world renowned masters like Dorothy Napangardy, Judy Watson, Ngoia Pollard, and many others.
The Boondi Aboriginal Art Gallery displays vast collection of glass works, wavings, and sculptures as well as books and holds occasional dance ceremonies and performances where visitors can question the artists on Aboriginal culture.
Here you can also discover Aboriginal art and culture, and even start playing the didgeridoo. The Boondi Aboriginal Art Gallery carries perhaps the best quality selection of didgeridoos in Australia including yidakis. Boondi will run didgeridoo workshops twice a week featuring some of the best didjeridoo players. Visitors can learn the fundamental techniques on the didgeridoo.
There are associate Australian Aboriginal Art galleries in Sydney's Queen Victoria Building (QVB) as well as at Shop 13, Opera Quays, 2 East Circular Quay, while the Boondi Gallery is located at Shop 138 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach and can be contacted via the Email below.
Readers can find out more about Aboriginal Art at the Ulladulla Aboriginal Art website, or contact the Boondi Aboriginal Art Gallery for further information or notification about events at: boondiaboriginalgallery@y7mail.com
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Nico Surfs Bondi Beach - Williams F1 - 27th May 2008
About This Video
It's not easy being a racing driver. Outside of the cockpit, they're dragged from pillar to post fulfilling sponsor and media commitments, that is when they aren't testing. Every so often, however, a sponsor will come up with a fun day out, like RBS did for Nico just before the Australian Grand Prix.
Having arrived in Australia a few days ahead of schedule in order to get used to the time difference, Nico headed up to Sydney to join the Royal Bank of Scotland for a promotional day with a difference. Swapping his F1 car for a surfboard and his race overalls for a wet suit, Nico hit the beach. With pro-surfer Nathan Hedge on hand to give him some top tips, Nico tackled the waves. Watch the video to see how he got on...
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
It's not easy being a racing driver. Outside of the cockpit, they're dragged from pillar to post fulfilling sponsor and media commitments, that is when they aren't testing. Every so often, however, a sponsor will come up with a fun day out, like RBS did for Nico just before the Australian Grand Prix.
Having arrived in Australia a few days ahead of schedule in order to get used to the time difference, Nico headed up to Sydney to join the Royal Bank of Scotland for a promotional day with a difference. Swapping his F1 car for a surfboard and his race overalls for a wet suit, Nico hit the beach. With pro-surfer Nathan Hedge on hand to give him some top tips, Nico tackled the waves. Watch the video to see how he got on...
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Bondi? Pretentious. Bronte? Perfect, by Jonathan Dart - The Sydney Morning Herald - 7th June 2008
Peter West emerged from the grey winter sea at Bronte this week looking traumatised, but as he gasped for breath to speak he asked: "How good's this?"
A self-declared Bronte "diehard", it now seems Dr West is not alone. The suburb has been declared the best of 641 Sydney suburbs by the Herald's Good Suburbs Guide.
The guide was compiled by the Herald's property experts, assessing each area on its median property price, investment growth, access to transport, natural environment and all-round "liveability".
Some suburbs were chosen as great investments, such as Alexandria, North Sydney, Parramatta and Ultimo.
Others were singled out for their lifestyles, such as Balmain and Avalon, while Manly Vale, St Peters and Banksia made the list of suburbs offering great value. North Ryde and Redfern were considered up-and-comers.
Some of Sydney's most exclusive suburbs - Point Piper, Palm Beach, for instance - were shunned for awards altogether.
The guide's editor, Stephen Nicholls, the editor of the Herald's Domain section, said only Bronte had the full package. "It's got a great beach, great cafes, a great primary school and [it's] so close to the city. And the median apartment price is still reasonable at $535,000, so you can still pick up an Art Deco apartment there. Where else in the world can you have a suburb with so much going for it?"
He said parking was a problem, but that was common in Sydney and at least there were buses.
The news came as little surprise to Dr West, who said Bronte's demographic sets it apart from the rest of Sydney.
"People in Bondi are too pretentious," he said. "In places like Bondi and Coogee, there's a very young population - people are in their mid-20s and have very fast-paced lives. Whereas Bronte is more relaxed."
One thing that has changed over the years, says Dr West: the development of Bronte's cafe culture. A weekly influx of people seek their coffee fix along the Bronte Road beachfront.
At the famous Bogey Hole Cafe, Jane Hinton is a regular and tried to downplay her beautiful surroundings: "We don't want you to publish something and ruin our little secret down here," she said.
Dr West enjoys observing the weekly influx. "It's fascinating watching them, they're like lizards. They come out when it's sunny and bask in the sun. And if it's really hot they might wander down to the edge of the water and have a dip. But the diehards, we're here all year round."
The Good Suburbs Guide (Penguin Books/Fairfax Books, $29.95) is at bookstores, www.smhshop.com.au/index.php or call 1300656059.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
A self-declared Bronte "diehard", it now seems Dr West is not alone. The suburb has been declared the best of 641 Sydney suburbs by the Herald's Good Suburbs Guide.
The guide was compiled by the Herald's property experts, assessing each area on its median property price, investment growth, access to transport, natural environment and all-round "liveability".
Some suburbs were chosen as great investments, such as Alexandria, North Sydney, Parramatta and Ultimo.
Others were singled out for their lifestyles, such as Balmain and Avalon, while Manly Vale, St Peters and Banksia made the list of suburbs offering great value. North Ryde and Redfern were considered up-and-comers.
Some of Sydney's most exclusive suburbs - Point Piper, Palm Beach, for instance - were shunned for awards altogether.
The guide's editor, Stephen Nicholls, the editor of the Herald's Domain section, said only Bronte had the full package. "It's got a great beach, great cafes, a great primary school and [it's] so close to the city. And the median apartment price is still reasonable at $535,000, so you can still pick up an Art Deco apartment there. Where else in the world can you have a suburb with so much going for it?"
He said parking was a problem, but that was common in Sydney and at least there were buses.
The news came as little surprise to Dr West, who said Bronte's demographic sets it apart from the rest of Sydney.
"People in Bondi are too pretentious," he said. "In places like Bondi and Coogee, there's a very young population - people are in their mid-20s and have very fast-paced lives. Whereas Bronte is more relaxed."
One thing that has changed over the years, says Dr West: the development of Bronte's cafe culture. A weekly influx of people seek their coffee fix along the Bronte Road beachfront.
At the famous Bogey Hole Cafe, Jane Hinton is a regular and tried to downplay her beautiful surroundings: "We don't want you to publish something and ruin our little secret down here," she said.
Dr West enjoys observing the weekly influx. "It's fascinating watching them, they're like lizards. They come out when it's sunny and bask in the sun. And if it's really hot they might wander down to the edge of the water and have a dip. But the diehards, we're here all year round."
The Good Suburbs Guide (Penguin Books/Fairfax Books, $29.95) is at bookstores, www.smhshop.com.au/index.php or call 1300656059.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Bondi Beach
Fun run is great for staff bonding, by Heather Quinlan - The Sun-Herald - 8th June 2008
Competition in the workplace is not a new concept.
Now workers can channel that competitive streak into The Sun-Herald 2008 City2Surf by trying to beat their colleagues to Bondi.
Businesses houses can enter teams in the community fun run's corporate categories - great for staff bonding. The run, organised by Fairfax staff for 38 years, is a favourite annual event for company sporting teams.
Fairfax Media, publisher of The Sun-Herald, fields a large team - the Herald Harriers - made up of journalists, printers, administrative staff and advertising reps.
The company's chief executive officer David Kirk is running. The former New Zealand All Blacks rugby captain, who has led Fairfax Media since October 2005, has participated in The Sun-Herald City2Surf for the past two years alongside his children.
Many of his teammates in the Harriers, such as The Sydney Morning Herald associate editor and expatriate Englishman, John Huxley, have had a long association with the 14-kilometre race from Hyde Park to Bondi Beach. "I think I've done about 14 or 15 City2Surfs since arriving in Australia 20 years ago, and it's just got bigger, better and I strongly believe, far longer in that time," Huxley joked.
The Sun-Herald City2Surf is a great day, especially if you're running with family or friends, or in a team such as the Harriers.
The Harriers will field more than 300 runners on Sunday, August 10. There are even larger teams, including Commonwealth Bank's 1000 participants.
Many corporate teams enthusiastically support The Sun-Herald City2Surf Charity Challenge. The 2008 partner charities are Lifeline, Mission Australia, Starlight Children's Foundation and The Spastic Centre.
Enter online before Friday, June 27 and you will save $10 on the entry cost and have the option of receiving your timing chip and race pack in the mail (for a nominal fee of $3).
For more information, see www.sunherald.com.au.
The 2008 Sun-Herald City2Surf is proudly sponsored by New Balance, Singapore Airlines, Gatorade, Rebel Sport, Hahn Super Dry, Nova FM, Network TEN, 2UE, Sheraton on the Park, Fitness First, RSVP and Run Fatboy Run on DVD.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Fairfax
Bondi Beach
Now workers can channel that competitive streak into The Sun-Herald 2008 City2Surf by trying to beat their colleagues to Bondi.
Businesses houses can enter teams in the community fun run's corporate categories - great for staff bonding. The run, organised by Fairfax staff for 38 years, is a favourite annual event for company sporting teams.
Fairfax Media, publisher of The Sun-Herald, fields a large team - the Herald Harriers - made up of journalists, printers, administrative staff and advertising reps.
The company's chief executive officer David Kirk is running. The former New Zealand All Blacks rugby captain, who has led Fairfax Media since October 2005, has participated in The Sun-Herald City2Surf for the past two years alongside his children.
Many of his teammates in the Harriers, such as The Sydney Morning Herald associate editor and expatriate Englishman, John Huxley, have had a long association with the 14-kilometre race from Hyde Park to Bondi Beach. "I think I've done about 14 or 15 City2Surfs since arriving in Australia 20 years ago, and it's just got bigger, better and I strongly believe, far longer in that time," Huxley joked.
The Sun-Herald City2Surf is a great day, especially if you're running with family or friends, or in a team such as the Harriers.
The Harriers will field more than 300 runners on Sunday, August 10. There are even larger teams, including Commonwealth Bank's 1000 participants.
Many corporate teams enthusiastically support The Sun-Herald City2Surf Charity Challenge. The 2008 partner charities are Lifeline, Mission Australia, Starlight Children's Foundation and The Spastic Centre.
Enter online before Friday, June 27 and you will save $10 on the entry cost and have the option of receiving your timing chip and race pack in the mail (for a nominal fee of $3).
For more information, see www.sunherald.com.au.
The 2008 Sun-Herald City2Surf is proudly sponsored by New Balance, Singapore Airlines, Gatorade, Rebel Sport, Hahn Super Dry, Nova FM, Network TEN, 2UE, Sheraton on the Park, Fitness First, RSVP and Run Fatboy Run on DVD.
Media Man Australia Profiles
Fairfax
Bondi Beach
Thursday, 5 June 2008
More than just a stroke of bad luck, by Jacquelin Magnay - The Sydney Morning Herald - 5th June 2008
At the end of the day, who would want to be an athlete? More particularly, who would want to be a kayak paddler?
Luke Michael is a Bondi Beach boy, all blond hair and toned bod to boot. When you drive the Princes Highway through Rockdale to Tempe, you might see him training along the murky waters of Cooks River.
He is the one with the super-smooth action propelling his craft at lightning speed. Don't blink if you see two of him, for Michael has a twin brother, also a paddler.
Of late Luke Michael, 23, has had another preoccupation: working out which coloured tie to wear to a selection appeals hearing. So far this year he has been to four. Each time he has been battling to earn the right to wear the green and gold at the Beijing Olympics, and although he has had a bit of success before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, he is still not in the team because two different selection panels at Canoe Australia refuse to pick him.
You see, if they plump for Michael, the sport's favoured son, the superb paddler, Clint Robinson, might miss out. Yet another appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport is imminent.
How did it come to this? Michael is one of the best paddlers in the country. He has been a member of the K4 team for some years; indeed he was in the boat when it qualified four paddlers for the Beijing Olympics.
At the Olympic
Luke Michael is a Bondi Beach boy, all blond hair and toned bod to boot. When you drive the Princes Highway through Rockdale to Tempe, you might see him training along the murky waters of Cooks River.
He is the one with the super-smooth action propelling his craft at lightning speed. Don't blink if you see two of him, for Michael has a twin brother, also a paddler.
Of late Luke Michael, 23, has had another preoccupation: working out which coloured tie to wear to a selection appeals hearing. So far this year he has been to four. Each time he has been battling to earn the right to wear the green and gold at the Beijing Olympics, and although he has had a bit of success before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, he is still not in the team because two different selection panels at Canoe Australia refuse to pick him.
You see, if they plump for Michael, the sport's favoured son, the superb paddler, Clint Robinson, might miss out. Yet another appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport is imminent.
How did it come to this? Michael is one of the best paddlers in the country. He has been a member of the K4 team for some years; indeed he was in the boat when it qualified four paddlers for the Beijing Olympics.
At the Olympic