New Link Pages.

New link pages added today.:-
Japan Links.
Vietnam Links.
United Kingdom Links2.

Queensland Accommodation

Check out our new Queensland Accommodation Page.

Do The Whitsundays.

Do The Whitsundays is a joint marketing venture organized by local tourism operators in the beautiful Whitsundays. Their aim here is to promote the 74 islands that make up the Whitsundays and generate interest in a larger variety of activities available. Queensland Armchair Guide wish them every success in their new venture.Visit them at Do The Whitsundays

Climate Change --The Truth.

Hi Guys,
Just read an interesting piece in The International Express
Tuesday June 21st 2011.
http://www.theinternationalexpress.com
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Ann Widdecombe Page.:--
No more lies on the global climate front.
How long will it be before the voice of reason prevails over
the cynical cowardice of climate-change scientists who
are faced with increasing evidence that they have it wrong
but are too deeply dependent on huge government spending
to admit it.
A scientist who has worked for Australia's Dept.
for Climate Change recently admitted that nobody started out
to mislead, but by the time the evidence was pointing the other way
there were too many jobs, industries, trading profits and political
careers riding along on this nonsense.
Strong words but they reflect the growing unease.
Now that some scientists are daring to put their heads above the
parapets, how long must we wait before politicians follow suit.?
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Foot note :-
Gillard Comment to The ABC.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard says she didn't mean to mislead people when just before last year's federal election she said there would be no carbon price under a government she led.

"I've explained of course to the Australian people that I never meant to mislead anybody during the last election campaign about carbon pricing," Ms Gillard told ABC Radio.

She said she has always thought the best way of putting a price on carbon was a cap and trade scheme.

"We're going to get there through a path I didn't expect during the election campaign of a fixed price period for around three to five years," Ms Gillard said.

"So yes, the route to the objective is different.

"When I said those words in the election campaign I didn't mean to mislead anybody and I understand that people heard those words and they look at what's happening now and they perhaps say: `What's going on? What did she mean then? What does she mean now'?"
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We all make mistakes Julia. Many of the people voted for you by mistake at the last election so can we have another election and we can call it quits.

Million Dollar Memo News.

Tourism Queensland have just embarked on their latest World Wide Promotion. 'Million Dollar Memo' targets companies and their staff to compete against each other to produce a 60 second video relating to their company and to write and tell why they would like to holiday in The Sunshine State. It will be interesting to follow the video applications as they come in, and to add fun to this promotion there will be a news site dedicated to commenting and viewing the entries as they come in. Most people dread getting another memo, but this time the memo comes with a million dollar bonus attached for you and your hard working staff. Million Dollar Memo will be well received by creative enterprises throughout the world that do that "bit more" for their customers and staff. The News site will introduce you to the Whitsunday and Airlie Beach people and businesses that will show you a good time on your adventure of a lifetime.They will highlight the submitted videos as they come in and provide some fun reviews and commentary along the way. Member for Whitsunday and Queensland's Minister for Tourism Jan Jarratt will meet you and probably join you for a sail or scuba dive adventure around the Whitsundays. Minister Jarratt told the News site this week that "We're encouraging people to have a bit of fun with this." "Naturally the Great Barrier Reef is going to feature on anyone's wish list. We love welcoming people and sharing what we have to offer." "If you want to give your staff an incentive for their hard work, where better could you possibly send them than to Queensland?" Minister Jarratt asks. The news site will include a 'Peoples Choice' score on all video entries and will have a special 'Hot or Not' rating for some extra fun. Get your passport ready to hop across the world when your company wins the trip of your lifetime to Australia's Queensland for fun in the sun. Cap'n Dan From the News site that will be announced shortly. Airlie Beach, Whitsunday - The Heart of Australia's Great Barrier Reef

Fantasea Adventure Cruises Australian Award.

The 26th Annual Australian Tourism Awards was held in The Grand Ballroom at Burswood Entertainment Complex in Perth last night 11/3/2011. Fantasea Adventure Cruises won the 2011 Australian Tourism Award for best Tour & Transport Operator in the country. Fantasea Adventure Cruises, presently based at Shute Harbour, will soon be moving their operations to the new Port of Airlie at Airlie Beach in The Whitsundays.Some of the 'behind the scenes' guys from Fantasea Adventure Cruises,who, without them this magnificent award would not have been possible are pictured on the right.Congratulations also go to our other Queensland winners. Queensland's Tropical North showed its strength of Tourism Excellence with Jungle Surfing Canopy Tours taking out two of the region's three awards, the Gold Coast winning two awards, and one category taken out by Brisbane. Take a trip from Shute Harbour via Hamilton Island to Hardy Reef with us at Queensland Armchair Guide. Follow up with the award winning Fantasea Reef Sleep trip on our Reef Sleep Page.

Michael Moran must have know the result was in the bag judging by the smile. Crew members of The Fantasea Reef Platform.

Fantasea Reef Sleep.

Liz and I recently joined Fantasea Adventure Cruising on a trip to Hardy Reef. This time would be decidedly different because we would be staying overnight in the 'King Room' Accommodation on Fantasea's Reef Platform. The Reef Sleep experience really begins to take effect immediately our fellow passengers depart on the ferry for home. As we watched them slowly disappear into the distance we sat on the top deck of the pontoon sipping champagne with only ourselves and the seabirds for company. A gentle breeze gave voice to the ocean softly lapping at our remote marine structure just 40 nautical miles NE.from our home at Shute Harbour. The opportunity to dive, snorkel or just relax completely in almost absolute isolation is a truly unique holiday experience that is only available in Australia here on Hardy Reef at The Fantasea Reef Platform. The afternoon gave way to a balmy tropical evening as we prepared to enjoy an alfresco dining delight as the sun sank slowly on the western horizon.After dinner we spent a considerable time in the underwater viewing chamber watching the many varieties of fish that frequent this part of The Hardy Reef System before retiring to bed for an early start before dawn the next day. Five - thirty am with coffee on the upper deck we sat and watched the ever changing colours of the sky in the pre-dawn light. The birds had begun to stir from their resting places aboard the helipads as the sun announced another beautiful day in paradise. A beautiful sunrise, complete solitude, and a few more hours before the peace gives way to a host of new visitors. A couple of green turtles decided to munch away at the marine growth on the pylons as the birds circled and dived into the shimmering waters. Being in the open air always brings on a ravenous constitution hence breakfast and coffee, served by our host was devoured with alacrity. Snorkelling and relaxing followed until finally the morning ferry arrived with the accompanying sounds of excited visitors. The Reef Sleep over, we still had a few more hours to relax in the sun and contemplate what was a truly remarkable experience that we will remember until the next time round. For more pictures and a full report please visit The Queensland Armchair Guide Website. For bookings visit The Fantsea Cruises Website.

Tropical Sunrise at Hardy Reef. George the Hardy Reef Giant Grouper.

Google Gripe.

Here at Queensland Armchair Guide we have a travel site that endeavours to give all of our visitors the most valuable information available to check out the areas in Queensland that they intend to visit before they actually arrive.
Whether it be activities, attractions or restaurants, we provide outgoing links to several venues to enable customers to check out and decide, prior to visiting,some of the options available to them.
Unfortunately Google in their infinite wisdom do not like a large number of outbound links on pages and penalise sites that provide them. Sites that provide useful info penalised? Contrary to Google Guidelines!!
We will not allow Google or any other company to dictate how we run our business as we are continuing to operate as we always have done. Giving customers the information they want despite Google's incessant urge to change the goalposts to confuse and disrupt honest SEO activities.
A company that doesn't come clean on it's guidelines, and suggests you use Forums made up of individuals who know little of the internal tactics of Google to solve problems of Google's making,is neither ethical or trustworthy.
Google should be answerable to the public for its ambiguous, unintelligable Guidelines, not Forums full of guesswork artists. Come clean Google.
While I'm on a roll, :-

The methods Google use to establish heirarchy on Page Search are antiquated and need revising to give everyone the best information available. How a web page can still be on the first page of search when it has not been updated for 2 years and its info is totally irrelevant beggars belief. There are hundreds of these, maybe thousands of websites that Google wittingly or otherwise promote to be of benefit to the community when they obviously are not. Google Bots are fooling their masters.
Take a hard look at yourselves Google. You are missing in action.

Kats Beauty Salon.

I have just completed a website for our friends Lyle and Katharina Reinbott. Kat has been running her business Kats Beauty Salon for a number of years in Airlie Beach and has finally decided to go online with it. Although her salon is a popular calling point for the local ladies, Kat has the capacity to do Group Bookings as she has therapists on call to cover such events and her husband Lyle is an exponent of Hawaiian Lomi Lomi Massage. Kat is available for Wedding Parties and can travel to your home on the mainland or your island residence for that special day. Special events such as Halloween or Fancy Dress Party make-up can be arranged and Kat will take your special requirements onboard to make your event a special occasion for you. Come along to Kat's Beauty Salon and relax in the spa while you are waiting for your treatment to commence. Visit Kat's Website to see all the services that are available to you.

Ragamuffin.

The Queensland Armchair Guide went out for a day sail on Maxi Yacht Ragamuffin from her home in Shute Harbour to the Hayman Island destination of Blue Pearl Bay a short time ago. The photos and story of this trip can be found on our new Shute Harbour Page. We had a fabulous day sailing on this magnificent yacht and we thank George and the crew for their wonderful hospitality. We have been on many a day sail over the years in The Whitsundays and I must agree with our friend Ben Southall that Ragamuffin and her crew are the best. You can read all about the history and pedigree of this famous Maxi Yacht on the company website at Maxi Action.com.au Liz and I will be spending a night out on the Great Barrier Reef with our hosts Fantasea Adventure Cruises in the near future and we will be publishing an account with pictures on our website as soon as we get back from this exciting adventure. In the meantime we would like to wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year and catch up with us again soon on our next adventure.

New Pages on The Armchair Guide.

Four new pages have just been added to the Queensland Armchair Guide. The Ngaro Sea Trail Page has a Detailed Map and description of the walking trails. The Bowen Page is small and we will be adding information in the near future.Cedar Creek Falls and Surrounding Area Page we will develop as and when info becomes available and last but not least our Shute Harbour Page will expand quickly as it is our home.

Gold Coast Accommodation.

For all your accommodation needs for The Gold Coast Queensland Australia you can visit us at The Queensland Armchair Guide. All areas of Queensland are illustrated on our main page.

Tourism Whitsundays Award Winners 2010.

Tourism Whitsundays held their Annual Awards night on Saturday 16th October on Daydream Island this year.For Fantasea Adventure Cruises awards and photos you can check out our Whitsunday Page. and for full winners list you can visit our Tourism Whitsundays Awards Page.

Louisiana

New link page.The state of Louisiana at http://www.queenslandarmchairguide.com/louisianalinks.html

Queensland

Queensland is know throughout the world as the Australian Sunshine State and with very good reason. All year round we have overseas visitors flocking to our shores, but it is the Southern Hemisphere winter months from June through til the end of August when our neighbours from the Southern States leave their winter woolies behind and travel North to experience a world still basking in warm sunshine. From The Gold Coast in the South to Cooktown and beyond in the Tropical North we are inundated with what we describe as 'Home Grown' Tourists. Living in the Topics we are used to the odd tropical downpour, and the occasional road closures, but unfortunately we have an unknowledgable media who carte blanche give the impression that Tourism Areas in Queensland that are visited by a brief spell of inclement weather are to be avoided like the plague as the roads will be impassable for weeks on end. It leads me to believe that Southern States must be in collusion with the media to try to retain their own population exodus. The recent Cyclone Ului that came through The Whitsundays was a prime example.The very next day nearly all businesses were open and the only significant damage was borne by Charter Companies.But to read the media reports, The Whitsundays had basically been totally destroyed and would be out of action for months. The Whitsundays is very similar in reputation to The Windmill Theatre in London. WE NEVER CLOSE. So when you read stories in the media about weather conditions in Queensland, please be aware of the over zealous scribes sitting in their centrally heated offices South of the border describing in their own words the climatic conditions that could only possibly be conduscive to their own native environment.

Our New Links Page.

Links. Asian Links.S.American Links. India Links.Alaskan Links. African Links.Oceania Links.Chinese Links. Canadian Links. Mexican Links. European Links. European Links 2. N.American Links. Alabama... Arizona... Arkansas... British Columbia... California... Carolina... Colorado... Connecticut Florida... Georgia... Hawaii... Idaho... Illinois... Indiana... Iowa... Kansas Kentucky... Louisiana... Maine... Maryland... Massachusetts...Michigan... Minneapolis...Minnesota Missouri... Nebraska... Nevada... New Jersey... New York... Ohio... Oklahoma... Oregon Pennsylvania...Tennessee... Texas... Utah... Virginia... Washington... Washington DC...

ABC Childrens Illustrated "An Alphabet Story" kindEbook.

The first kindEbook is now available online for $9-50.Personalisation is an extra $5-00.Treat your child to a colourful kindEbook with all the letters of the Alphabet Illustrated with the accompanying "An Alphabet Story". Having your child's photo on the cover of the book will provide a lasting memento for you and your family.Visit our site at Queensland Armchair Guide and order the book now. Available in PDF Format.

Whitsundays

All our visitors to The Whitsundays are now able to take home with them a journEbook as a memento of their visit. As an added bonus they can take advantage of having the journEbook Personalised by having their photo on the front cover for a fee of $5-00. Send a photo no smaller than 360 px x 270px to our webmaster at The Queensland Armchair Guide and he will arrange the personalisation and your own stand alone .exe file of The Whitsundays will be sent to your email address. Please Note: The .exe file is Windows compatable and if you are using another platform just make sure that it can accommodate the .exe file.

ABC kindEbook An Alphabet Story.

Check out our first Personalised kindEbook. Just go to our Book and click on it for a free viewing.Personalisation can be arranged directly with us.

kindEbooks and journEbooks.

Thank you for popping in to see us. Both of our publications are now available online at a price that everyone can afford. Our journEbook of The Whitsundays and Liz's kindEbook An Alphabet Story will be A$10 each but for the first 2 weeks we are offering the kindebook free for general view. A fee of A$5-00 is extra for personalisation. See below for details.Paypal is our preferred option and our account is elizabethwelch1@bigpond.com Send your email address to us for delivery. Please allow 24 hours for Time Differences.Note: journEbooks are in a stand alone .exe file that is Windows compatable. If not operating Windows please check if the file is suitable for your platform.You are most Welcome to Join.Our Membership is free.Liz and I have great pleasure in introducing you to the benefits that are on offer in our Members Page at the moment and forthcoming offers that we are contemplating for the future.Our Members have free access to our first two ebooks in the Members area. The journEbook of the Whitsundays and Liz's kindEbook, An Alphabet Story.For those of you who are interested in owning our first Personalised journEbook on The Whitsundays, we are providing the book access free to members online and will Personalise the book with your photo on the cover for a fee of $5-00. You need to send a photo not smaller than 360px x 270px to us at webmaster@queenslandarmchairguide.com and we will transfer the photo to the cover of your own personalised ebook. Actual book cover size is hereIn addition, for the Mums and Dads out there who would like a keepsake of their childs photo on the cover of An Alphabet Story for the nominal sum of $5.00. You need to send a photo not smaller than 360px x 270px to us at webmaster@queenslandarmchairguide.com and we will transfer the photo to the cover of your own personalised ebook.Paypal is our preferred option and our account is elizabethwelch1@bigpond.comOn receipt of the payment we will send you the Personalised ebook via a mail centre that can provide for the size of the files. Please allow 24 hours because of Time Differences etc.Note: journEbooks are in a stand alone .exe file that is Windows compatable. If not operating Windows please check if the file is suitable for your platform.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~