Departure Lounge

Newcastle Herald

Tuesday July 3, 2007

CHRIS WATSON

Island aims high

Qualia, an exclusive, world-class luxury resort, will open on the secluded

northernmost point of Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef at the end

of August, representing a $75 million investment by the island owners,

Bob Oatley and his family, in the island. Qualia is aimed at the premium

end of the Australian accommodation market and features 60 private,

one-bedroom pavilions accessible only to the resort's guests with handcrafted

furniture by designer Freedman Rembel. The "windward" pavilions

include their own plunge pools and are more than four times the size of

an average hotel room. The ultimate accommodation at Qualia will be the

Beach House, with sweeping views of the Coral Sea, large entertaining area,

private full-size swimming pool and a separate guest pavilion. The resort will

also contain Spa Qualia - complete with Roman baths - on the pinnacle of

the point giving it sweeping views, a state-of-the-art gym and yoga centre

and two infi nity pools. Two restaurants will be open only to Qualia guests,

the Long Pavilion and Pebble Beach. Qualia is part of the Small Luxury Hotels

of the World chain, and its high standards do not come cheap. Qualia rates

start at $1400 a night for pavilions without a pool to $1600 per night for

those with a plunge pool. The Beach House is $3000 a night, with the prices

including all meals. Other projects due to come on line on Hamilton Island

in the next few years include the Great Barrier Reef Yacht Club, near the

marina, which will open in 2008, and the Peter Thompson-designed 18-hole

championship golf course on nearby Dent Island which will open in 2009.

Luxury at 35,000 feet

Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates and

the world?s fastest-growing new airline, appears to be lifting the bar for

hospitality and service for airlines in Australia. Etihad (Arabic for "united")

began flying in March between Sydney and the airline?s base in Abu Dhabi

and then onwards to 38 destinations including Europe, North America and

the Middle East, originally three flights a week from Sydney which increased

to daily last month, while yesterday the airline?s Sydney-Dublin route was

due to debut, the fastest way to get from Sydney to Ireland. The airline

has three classes, diamond (first), pearl (business) and coral (economy), and

at check-in diamond and pearl travellers are met by a personal attendant

and escorted to the departure lounge. On board, the seats in these zones

convert to fl atbeds and diamond passengers can reconfi gure seats and

tables to face each other, while meals in diamond and pearl are individually

ordered, plated and served. Coral passengers don?t miss out, with a sliding

seat, recline up to 30 degrees and adjustable feet and headrests, and a

10.4-inch LCD monitor. Diamond passengers receive Bulgari amenity kits

and pearl passengers Aigner, and for passengers going to the Middle East,

diamond and pearl travellers receive a free limousine transfer anywhere in

the UAE while coral passengers are offered a free luxury coach service to

and from Dubai, Sharjah and Al Ain. Back in Sydney, all premium passengers

travelling within a 50 km radius of Sydney Airport can use a complimentary

luxury chauffer service.

Time to leave

It?s sad but official - Australians are workaholics. The annual global Vacation

Deprivation survey, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Expedia,

the online travel company, has found that among the countries surveyed,

Australians are the worst at taking holidays. More than a third (37 per cent)

of employed Australians don?t take all of their annual leave. They also

receive the second least number of holiday days a year, getting on average

18 days, second only to Americans who receive a mere 14 days per year.

Last year, Tourism Australia released Australia?s largest-ever national study

on Australian leave behaviour, showing Australian workers were not taking

all their annual leave. The Expedia survey now tells us Australians are in fact

the worst globally at taking holidays. The French are the most holiday rich,

receiving on average twice as much holiday allowance as Australians with

36 days a year. The French also take the most leave each year, on average 34

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days. Germans are also holiday lovers, with the majority of employed adults,

79 per cent, leaving no days untaken. Expedia.com.au managing director

Arthur Hoffman says he hopes the results will encourage people to take

more holidays, and when taking them people should switch off, he says, not

answering the mobile phone, checking emails or looking at the blackberry.

Dr Ben Searle, occupational psychologist at Macquarie University, points out

that working for extended periods without taking time off to recharge can

lead to mental and social problems and in extreme cases death. "In Japan,

a culture notorious for workaholic behaviour, this occurrence has been

estimated to cause as many as 10,000 deaths each year and has even been

given a name, karoshi (which translates to mean `death from overwork?)."

Fiji flights cut

Air Pacific has reduced Australia-Fiji direct services and some services to other

international destinations due to low demand. Fiji tourism industry and Air

Pacifi c bookings are down after the political events of December, 2006, Air

Pacifi c?s managing director and chief executive offi cer John Campbell says.

Negative media reports, particularly in the Australian and New Zealand

markets, advisories placed by governments recommending against travel to

Fiji and strong competition from Asian and other South Pacifi c destinations

had been successful in diverting travel from Fiji, he said. Bookings continue

to be fl at. Air Pacifi c has cancelled Boeing 737 operations between Sydney

and Suva and Auckland and Suva until at least December and have removed

a Monday Boeing 737 Brisbane-Nadi service and two Friday and Saturday

Sydney-Nadi 737 services. It?s retained the daily Nadi-Sydney wide-bodied

service, now operated with a mixture of Boeing 747 and 767 aircraft.

Betsy the bomber

The skies above Bundaberg will be busy from August 3 to 5 during the

biggest air show in Queensland - the Wide Bay Australia International Air

Show. The three-day event incorporates aerial demonstrations, joy flights

and static displays of some of the finest aircraft to take to the skies, fashion

parades, live music, children's rides, vintage cars and motorbikes, model

aircrafts and food and drink. Bundaberg is home to the Hinkler House and

Museum. Bert Hinkler was one of the world's greatest pioneer aviators and

his museum is housed in the Southampton home he designed and lived in

from 1926 until his death in 1933. Now fully restored, the aviation museum

is open daily from 10am to 4pm. Visitors can also have a full-day four-wheel

drive trip to Kroombit Tops National Park to the wreck of Betsy the Bomber.

Betsy was a World War II B-24D Liberator bomber that, along with her sixman

crew, met an untimely demise in February, 1945. The wreck was not

discovered until almost 50 years later in 1994, and now lies scattered for

hundred of metres through rugged bushland.

Gone fishing

Kims Beach Hideaway at Toowoon Bay on the NSW Central Coast has a

reputation for offering guests some of the best local seafood available and

now it is offering a particularly fresh seafood experience. Guests can go

fishing on Kims' 47-foot traditional huon pine fi shing boat Antares, with

the boat skipper taking them to his "secret mark" to actually catch and fi llet

their own fish, which will then be cooked by Kims' chefs for lunch.

Lights, camera, Queensland

Hollywood just can't seem to get enough of Queensland at the moment.

While Bowen is now home of Australia, Baz Luhrmann's film starring Hugh

Jackman and Nicole Kidman, the tropical North Queensland village of

Mossman is rolling out the red carpet for Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks,

getting set to welcome the duo's multi-million dollar international television

production The Pacifi c, a sequel to Band of Brothers. The 10-episode miniseries

will tell the story of America's battle with the Japanese in the Pacific

during World War II. Pre-production has started with filming due to get

underway in the second half of the year. Mossman is a sugar town just five

minutes from Mossman Gorge, an accessible and scenic part of the World

Heritage-listed Daintree National Park.

© 2007 Newcastle Herald

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