Murwillumbah Photo Gallery

Beautiful countryside

Behind that hill is Surfers Paradise

2000 year old Beech trees

Tweed River

Natural Bridge

Quiet country roads

Mount Warning

Rainforest walk

Madura Tea, Murwillumbah

Madura Tea Estate was established in 1978 in Murwillumbah by a third generation tea planter from Ceylon, Michael Grant-Cook and is 100% Australian owned. Since the first bushes were planted Madura have used clean, green farming practices to produce premium quality tea and there are now over 250,000 tea bushes.

The best tea is made from the two top leaves and the bud. The harvester was specifically designed by Madura to selectively harvest the fresh, new shoots from the top of each bush.

Harvesting is continuous through spring, summer and autumn when only the finest leaves and bud are plucked for processing. Business is brisk - Coles and Woolworths are their biggest customer and there is a growing market in America.

From now on, it's Madura tea, for me.

Surfers Paradise, Queensland

Australians are suddenly waking up to the fact that having an "absolute beachfront" property is no longer desirable. As most of our population live on the coast, plenty of waterfront homeowners choose to ignore it because it doesn't bear thinking about. The dream they have worked so hard for all their lives in now at risk.

The Queensland Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise in particular, is one of the most popular holidays destination in Australia and I wonder how long they can keep dumping more and more sand on the beaches after high tides keep taking it away. Huge investments are at stake and the beach erosion problem that has been ignored for years, with more and more hotels and apartments being built every day on the seafront, is now a frightening reality.

There seems to be three options to the problem: erect a sea wall in front of your property (which which cause erosion for your neighbour further down the street); sand replacement at tax-payers expense (which they've been doing for ages); or government buy-back for demolition (too horrible to contemplate).

The problem seems to have snuck up on us and is going to cause terrible anxiety for homeowners. Retirees come from all over the country to see out their days in a luxury apartment overlooking Gold Coast beaches and anyone who has invested heavily in waterfront properties, should be seriously worried.

Photos are of the Palazzo Versace, the luxury 6 star hotel which opened in 2000.

Murwillumbah, New South Wales

Murwillumbah is among the top ten most desirable places to live in Australia. Close to the Queensland border it has a sub-tropical climate, rolling green hills and beautiful mountain scenery. Because it has an abundant rainfall, everything is lush and green and all the rivers run.

There are idyllic creeks and waterfalls, exotic birds and lots of wild-life. It has a populaton of about 8,000 people and the town was by-passed by a freeway in 2002 which makes it even more attractive. Nestled at the foot of magnificent Mount Warning, the town is surrounded by 5 World Heritage National Parks as well as pockets of sugar cane and banana plantations.

Murwillimbah is also the Hare Krishna capital of Australia and they offer young globe-trotters the opporunity to go WWOOFing. WWOOFing (Willing Workers On Organic Farms ) is an organization that links people with organic farms. Working in exchange for food and accommodation is the basis of WWOOFing, it means that travellers can see the country cheaply and learn about organic farming.

The farm is 10 kilometers from Murwillumbah in the foothills of Mount Warning. It's a 900 acre certified organic property with orchards, vege gardens, cows, peacocks and gently flowing streams. WWOOFers get to stay in a simple guest house room with shared bathroom facilities and are expected to work about four hours per day, five days a week.

Mount Warning

Tweed River Regional Art Gallery in Murwillumbah used to be the home of the Doug Moran Portrait Prize, Australia's richest portrait art prize, the winner receiving $150,000. To enter, both artist and subject must be Australian citizens. By comparison, the winner of our most prestigious art award, the Archibald, only receives $50,000.

Doug Moran

Doug Moran is an enigmatic character. A self-made millionaire from a working-class background, he started out with nothing and made his fortune in the nursing home industry. He and his family were thrust into the headlines when his daughter-in-law sued for damages, claiming they bullied her husband Brendan Moran and were responsible for his suicide.
.

The family imploded even further when Doug sacked his son Shane, former Chief Executive as well as his sister Kerry who was Chief Executive of the Moran Foundation for Older Australians.

This resulted in even more ligitation involving Moran versus Moran. Instead of sorting out their family problems in private, they chose to take each other to court, where all their sad family business was played out in the headlines for months on end.

Hare Krishner Community

Between 2002 and 2004 Doug Moran took the Tweed Shire Council to court which ended in an out of court settlement. The family are no longer associated with the Tweed Council.

Kadina High School, Lismore New South Wales

Two days after 14 year old Alex Wildman was brutually beaten by school bullies, he killed himself. None of his teathers at Kadina High School in Lismore took any action, instead they chose to ignore it.

When deputy principal Bradd Farrell found out the attack had been recorded on the mobile phone of another student, he had it deleted instead of taking it to police.

When his mother discovered her son's injuries, she told Bradd Farrell she wanted to involve the police but he talked her out of it. When she asked him if they could have a meeting with the bullies and their parents, he didn't like that idea either. Then he told the traumatized boy to "Sit outside the principal's office if you're scared". That must have been the last straw for Alex, he'd had enough.

On the 4th August, 2001,15-year-old Timothy Winkler also took his own life because of constant bullying at Kadina High School.

The Deputy State Coroner Malcolm MacPherson will investigate the failure of Alex's teachers to address the problem of bullying at an inquest which started in Ballina yesterday.

Jessica Watson, lone sailor around the world

Jessica Watson is only 16 and is attempting to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world. She has survived a barrage of negative press about her being too young to take on such an arduous task and now it's up to her to prove everyone wrong.

Jessica's father Roger Watson said there was a real chance that she could die in the attempt but he still thinks it would be worse to say 'no you can't go' because of that risk. Mother Julie also gives her support but was very concerned when Jessica had a collision with a 63,000 tonne cargo ship last month. While Jessica was distracted at the departure point, her mother snuck aboard and hid little cards, notes, sweets, a cuddly teddy bear, anything to make her daughter smile when things got tough. Jessica cried as she motored out of Sydney harbour, followed by about 30 boats and kayaks, but managed a smile and a wave to supporters.

Jessica says


My goal is to sail solo around the world non-stop, unassisted. I have chosen a route that is a traditionally recognised path and distance for ‘around the world sailors’. As this is a Southern Hemisphere voyage the significant landmarks are the southern tips of the American and African continents, as well as some of the most challenging oceans a sailor will ever face. The entire journey is a mix of amazing experience and unique challenges.


There are a few key targets I must achieve to qualify for around the world status. The approximate distance is 23,000 nautical miles (about 38,000 kilometres). I must depart and arrive from the same port, cross all lines of longitude, cross the equator entering into the Northern Hemisphere at least once and round the southern landmarks of South America and South Africa.

Yesterday Jessica's blog attracted 610 comments, you can track her progress on jessicawatson.com.au

Byron Bay, New South Wales

Lots of artistic folk live in Byron Bay and the town is considered to be the alternative and creative hub of far North New South Wales. But the city, surrounded by natural beauty, is divided. Five of nine positions on the Byron Bay Council are held by the Greens. Lady Mayor, Jan Barham is also a Green.

There are a lot of very wealthy people in Byron Bay and most of them have waterfront homes. The trouble began when Byron Council adoped a policy of "planned retreat". Council is totally commited to climate change and are convinced that sea levels will continue to rise so future development should be pushed back from the shoreline. Sounds logical, but when wild weather and high tides pounded the coast in May their over-reaction was bizarre.

John Vaughn saw his front yard disappear into the sea so he rang and asked permission to build a rock wall - which he would pay for - on the dunes in front of his house. He said the wall would plug a gap in an existing rock wall that had protected surrounding properties since about 1974. Council said no and issued him with a legal threat if he dared to go ahead - no sandbags, no sea walls.

The distraught home owners approached the NSW government for help. The NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change has written a stern letter to Byron Bay Council stating that ratepayers have every right to defend their homes. Mr Vaughan said that Belongil property owners were euphoric when they heard the news. But the Mayor is still defiant. Perhaps she should consider that six councils have been sacked by the NSW government since 2003, some for corruption, others incompetence. Maybe her council should get together and plan their own retreat.

Then there is the problem of holiday rentals. Council says there is unregulated and illegal tourism in residential areas and have proposed a ban on some holiday rentals. Canny investors bought houses in the town purely to rent them out as holidays homes, bringing in huge rents. The Mayor is unapologetic and says the locals are fed up with 'party houses' which are scattered among permanent private homes, they keep residents awake all night and cause real distress. Point taken, but since when does council have the right to tell people they can't rent out their property if they want to.

We Aussies seem to follow a pattern, when we retire, we want to get out of the rat race and move to a beautiful, quiet, seaside town. Byron Bay 30 years ago was a quaint village with an alternative lifestyle and weird looking people in dreads and whacky clothes. Today you have to fight for a parking meter - the charm has long gone. Business owners naturally want to expand and encourage new development like McDonalds and huge shopping malls and the long time residents want it to stay the way it was. Trying to hold back progress in any quaint coastal town I think is a pipe dream and if people want total peace and tranquility, they'll have to move to some place no one else wants to be.