The Sweet Spot. Making LIfe Sweeter.
Are we there yet? Crime and corruption proofing the Sunshine State
Walkley Award winning journalist Phil Dickie played a key role exposing the corruption leading to the 1987-89 Fitzgerald Inquiry and the downfall of the Bjelke-Petersen regime. Thirty-four years later, he casts a gimlet eye over the Sunshine State and finds we have...
The Rough End. You got a bad deal.
First Nations families split by Child Safety called to register interest in class action
Bottoms English Lawyers are inviting First Nations children and parents to register interest in a class action against the Queensland Government for systemic failure to reunite children removed under child protection laws with their parents. Special Counsel Jerry...
Mary Valley bushfires a timely warning for fire seasons ahead
While firefighters contained recent fires which burned hundreds of acres in Tuchekoi and Obi Obi, QFES and BOM say climate change will cause longer fire seasons and higher fire risks. The cause of the two fires, in October-November, is not confirmed but Queensland...
Club Tropicana. Leisure and the Arts
The Chocolate Factory: BOOK REVIEW
The Chocolate Factory is Tasmanian writer Mary-Lou Stephens’s second historical novel with Harper Collins. Set in 1920s Hobart, the story unfolds in the aftermath of WW1, as two ambitious women, Dorothy and Maisie, are building their careers (unusual for women of...
Pineapple Style. Queensland Style.
Second French fashion magazine showcases diversity in Gympie
Gympie's diverse, beautiful young people are in the international spotlight for the second time this year, this time in French beauty and fashion magazine Malvie. Fashion designer Cindy Vogels, of fashion brand Racy and Lucky and photographer Brea Martin...
JUICY. SEX AND SEXUALITY
‘Don’t swipe right on looks alone’ says dating podcast creator
The Sunshine Coast creator of a new sex and dating podcast The Bedroom Diaries is calling for people on the dating scene to shift their emphasis from looks to personality. Podcaster Narelle Walsh created The Bedroom Diaries as a sex positive, body positive,...
Aqua. On Swimming
The best freshwater swimming holes in the Mary Valley
A trip to Kenilworth in the summer months would not be the same without a swim in some of our beautiful fresh waterholes. The Mary River and the many creeks that flow into it offer diverse and interesting swimming experiences. Obi Obi Creek Crossing No 2 Obi Obi...
LITTLE PINES. FOR KIDS.
Best storybook for small children
How good does it feel when you buy a child a toy or book, they start playing with it immediately and all the other kids of all ages want to play with it too? That's what happened when I bought my great-nephew Byron the Montessori Story Book for his fourth birthday....
GREEN SHOOTS. ON GROWTH.
‘This area is precious.’ Call to protect endangered rainforest in suburban Brisbane
A botanical survey of the banks of Enoggera Creek at The Gap, in Brisbane’s north-west, has found the area meets the criteria for critically endangered Lowland Rainforest of Subtropical Australia. The survey involved botanist Rob Price and volunteers identifying...
The Long Read.
SHORT STORY: Mum and the orange juice
My mother was not one to suffer fools gladly. She had a caustic sense of humour and when she uttered one of her frequent sharp comments, Dad would say, ‘Ah, there she goes again with that Irish sense of humour.’ Mum was an observer of people and though she was not...
