28 Apr 2008

Glorious sunny greetings, Reader,

27 degrees of sun yesterday. Yes!!! In Canberra, Anzac Day is the traditional day to turn on the home oil heaters. (Sound of hysterical laughter!!!)

After a week of extraordinary weather the skies cleared for the first weekend of the Camden Haven Music Festival, and the fun is underway. Lots still to come, through this week, so have a look at the program on www.camdenhavenmusicfestival.org.au for details.

And, of course, next Sunday May 4th the Slice of Haven Food & Wine Festival will be held at Laurieton United Services Club. Experience the fine food and wine that the Camden Haven area has to offer.

This is a week for telecommunications. Telstra will shut down its old CDMA network tonight. Noone should notice, because all CDMA users should have swung over to an alternative network long before this. There is no argument that Telstra’s “Next G” network is superior, and a logical progression in a big country where telecommunications is so vital.

In the same week, Australian Bureau of Statistics has released its most recent scorecard for Internet penetration in Australia. As of the December quarter 2007, Australia had more than 7.1 million Internet subscribers. This would suggest that the vast majority of Australia’s 21 million people have some form of Internet access available to them. (See http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/8153.0?OpenDocument for details)

Interestingly, the old dial-up connections accounted for less than 1.9 million of the total. This means that the majority of Australian Internet users are enjoying at least half-way decent access speed. But only half-way decent!

Warning! I’m about to go all techo on you, but I have some translations below, including a few examples that you might find interesting.

Roughly 2.5 million subscribers enjoy speeds greater than 1.5 Mb/sec (ADSL-1 or faster), with the top 180,000 subscribers having speeds greater than 24 Mb/sec. This sounds very impressive, until you realise that technology leading countries are in the process of migrating from 100 Mb/sec to Gigabit per second speed. The gap between “have” and “have not” is widening rapidly, and by world standards we are not keeping up.

Of course, the usual guilty parties are primarily responsible – distance and small population. To roll out high bandwidth pathways is a very expensive business, and even the installation of high-speed switch equipment in exchanges is pricey. The much vaunted ADSL-2+ technology, promising “up to 24 Mb/sec speed” is largely a furphy in Australia – thanks to our aged and pretty ordinary copper network. If you live more than a kilometre or so from the nearest exchange you will be very lucky to ever see more than 6 or 8 Mb/sec – until a decent fibre-optic network is laid, and here comes the cost factor again.

In the meantime, for most general domestic purposes, ADSL-1 (1.5 Mb/sec) is a pretty useful speed, available over most standard phone lines, and well worth the upgrade if you are still suffering the screeching and whistling of your dial-up modem. Have a word with your Telstra Country Wide guys to see what is available for you.

On with this weeks activities and news:

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Port Macquarie Community College

Manual Bookkeeping
BSBCMN308A - Maintain Financial Records - This short course will show you how to maintain a cashbook, to handle your receipts and payments and also reconcile your bank statement. You will be able to manage a general ledger to manually post journal entries and produce a trial balance.
805W002 Tue May 6 to July 24 8 sessions 6pm-9pm $175

Introduction to Excel Workshop
You will learn how to create worksheets, format, use formulas, functions, printing, sorting and filtering. Topics will also cover copying, moving, the fill-in feature and conditional formatting.
805C005 Wed May 7 1 session 9am-3pm $90

Food Hygiene & Safety
This course covers safe food handling and safe storage, effective use of detergents and sanitisers, waste and pest control. Includes an overview of how the new food safety legislation will affect you. Statement of Attainment for THHGHS01B - Follow Workplace Hygiene Procedures from Certificate II in Hospitality (Operations).
804W006 - May 10 1 session 9am-3pm $95

Networking Skills for Shy People in Business
Effective Networking can really help build your business. If you're shy meeting new people, to increase your contacts and promote yourself can be a traumatic thought. Your attempts might be unsuccessful if people misinterpret your shyness as having no confidence in your abilities and no interest in them! Learn how to enjoy meeting new people.
805W004 Thur May 29 1 session 9am-4pm $65

Contact the College on 6583 7288 to book for any of these courses. See www.portace.com.au for full course guide.

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Camden Haven Music Festival

As mentioned above, the festival is in full swing, and the blue skies have returned to help it along. Aevum Living is sponsoring a couple of events at its villages this week. A bit late for today’s show at Parklands Village, but you could still have a shot at Wednesday’s concert by Elly Franchimont and Russell Dick at Queens Lake Village. Call Betty Ryder 6559 7089 to RSVP.

Tomorrow night, April 29th, 7.00pm at Uniting Church, Sherwood Rd Port Macquarie, will host a classical guitar extravaganza with a group called Saffire – comprising Karin Schaupp, Slava Grigoryan, Gareth Koch and Leonard Grigoryan. $40 for adults.

Heaps of other great events. See the program on www.camdenhavenmusicfestival.org.au for details.

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Hastings BEC Networking Breakfast

Next breakfast will be held on Thursday 8th May, 7.00 am at Rydges Port Macquarie.
I have a couple of little surprises planned for this one, so come along for the ride.
As usual, $20 for Members and $25 for Guests and Visitors.

Repondez S’il Vous Plait to admin@hastingsbec.com.au by cob Tuesday 6th May so I can advise Rydges on numbers.

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Don’t forget Port Macquarie Chamber of Commerce Members’ Meeting, tomorrow night.

Details of the night are as follows:
Date: Tuesday 29th April 2008 Time: 6.00pm for 6.30pm
Venue: Quality Resort Sails, Port Macquarie
Cost: $10.00 per person
Drinks and savouries will be provided on the night
Non-members and guests are most welcome
For catering purposes please RSVP by 3:00pm Monday 28th April 2008
(02) 6583 4412 or Email: info@portchamber.com.au

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The Slice of Haven Food & Wine Festival, 12.00 till 4.00pm Sunday 4th May at Laurieton United Services Club. All welcome.

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Speaking of food, our new member Luxe FineFood – Café – Catering in the Peachtree Walk Arcade is expanding business to open nights from Tuesday to Saturday, starting Tuesday 6th May (an excellent choice). Chris will be serving some beautiful tapas for entrees and some yummy main meals.
Luxe FineFood is BYO.

Contact details: Phone: 02 6584 1120 and Email: dine@luxecafe.com.au

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Chris Smith, who has just joined Bendigo Bank, Port Macquarie as Business Banking Manager (congratulations Chris!), has advised:

Bendigo Bank Agency for Lake Cathie

Agreement has now been reached for a Bendigo Bank Agency to open for business in Lake Cathie on Monday 28th April.

The Agency will be located in the offices of Higgins & Dix, Lawyers and Conveyancers, at Shop 8, Lake Cathie Village Centre, 1613 Ocean Road.

Operating in conjunction with Bendigo Bank’s branch in Port Macquarie, the agency will offer a wide range of banking products and services.

We are looking to offer the highest possible level of banking service to Lake Cathie and surrounding communities and we are delighted to have such a highly regarded firm as Higgins and Dix as our Agents, said Sean Hallett, Bendigo’s Branch Manager at Port Macquarie.

For details contact Sean Hallett, 65815831

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TCF Australia Business Growth Project, Designedge Training & Mentoring Project, Coffs Harbour, NSW

FASHION INDUSTRY BUSINESS WORKSHOPS
Monday, 5th May 2008 10am – 4pm
COST: $45.00 (Full Day for up to 3 business partners)

Growing your Fashion Business – 10am-11am
Working IN or ON your business, develop a checklist to assist your business growth
Product Development – 11am – 12noon
Labeling, sizing, pricing, trademarks, packaging, on/off shore sourcing, supply chain

Lunch Break – 12noon - 1pm
Promotion & Marketing – 1pm – 2pm
Look books, media releases, designer profiles, brochures, logos, range images and presentation skills

Linking with Retailers & Agents – 2pm – 3pm
Online shopping web site, hosting of a site, tips on designing the site, usability, competitors, payment gateways
Designedge fashion incubator has available sponsorship for selected designers to establish an online shop

TCF Global – Sourcing off shore manufacturers – 3pm – 4pm
TCF global sourcing raw materials & manufacturers & TCF Global village community projects.
You may be eligible for 3 nights free accommodation for the first time buyers in TCFWA Buying Mission to
Hong Kong Fashion Week

PRE BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL:
Please return this registration form (download from www.hastingsbec.com.au/downloads/FIBW.pdf ) together with payment to
ETC Head Office, 80 Grafton St (PO Box 1371, Coffs Harbour or fax to 02 6652 1888 OR EMAIL businessinfo@etcltd.com.au

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Angela Lockwood has advised that “there have been new developments at Sunrise Occupational Therapy for Kids... we now have a new name! From January 2008, Sunrise Occupational Therapy for Kids became:
(that’s Sunrise health consultancy – for readers with images turned off)
The change in name now encompasses the range of services we offer to families, health professionals, schools and community groups in the Hastings, including the supply of therapy products and equipment.

Take a minute and have a look at our web site at www.sunriseot.com.au for more information on our service.”

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On Friday June 13th, Wesley Mission is bringing former Wallaby Captain Nick Farr-Jones to Port Macquarie for a corporate lunch at The Westport Club.

All money raised from this event will go directly to Wesley Mission for the establishment of an integrated local counselling service. Wesley Mission will be working in partnership with existing organisations to address the issue of suicide in our community.

Tickets are on sale now from The Westport Club on 6583 1499. Corporate table for 8 is $720, or individual tickets at $95 each. A stimulating afternoon of fine food and beverage, motivation and entertainment all for a worthy cause.

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And that’s about it for this week. Phew! There’s a lot going on in this quiet little fishing village ;-)

Before I go, for anyone interested, I’ve put up a little document I’ve written with a whole lot of plain English explanations of all that techo stuff that swamps you whenever you try to understand Internet connections. Have a look at www.hastingsbec.com.au/downloads/TechTalkApril2008.doc .