Tickets are $13 online (or $12 at the Box Office) and will be available from today at www.eventcinemas.com.au.

Producers Chris Brown (Daybreakers, Bait 3D, The Proposition) and Chris Fitchett (Blurred, Under the Radar) will be introducing the film and participating in an audience Q&A session after the film chaired by Gold Coast Bulletin entertainment reporter Maria Lewis.

Don’t miss this terrific opportunity to ask questions to these 2 renowned Gold Coast film makers, who are responsible for some of the most interesting and commercial films of recent years as well as supporting a homegrown Queensland film at the same time.

About the film…A Heartbeat Away is a feel-good comedy from Emmy award winner and acclaimed theatre director Gale Edwards. See the trailer below or here for more details: www.aheartbeatawaymovie.com

6 January 2010

The majority of Queensland’s tourism destinations are still ready to welcome visitors, Tourism Queensland acting CEO Leanne Coddington said today.

Ms Coddington said while the floods currently affecting parts of Central Queensland, Western Downs and Outback Queensland had impacted visitor access to those regions, tourism operations in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Fraser Coast, Whitsundays, Mackay, Townsville, Tropical North Queensland, Southern Downs and Toowoomba were functioning normally.

She said tourism businesses in Bundaberg, Gladstone, Agnes Water and 1770 were recovering from flood effects and most were now open and returning to normal business operation.

Heron Island, Mon Repos Turtle Experience, Bargara beaches, Lady Elliot Island and Lady Musgrave Island, were also open and ready to welcome visitors.

“Our thoughts are with those who have lost homes and livelihoods in this natural disaster,” Ms Coddington said.

“The impact will be felt for a long time to come, but as flood waters recede in some affected regions, tourism operations are returning to normal as quickly as possible.

“Tourism Queensland is currently working with industry partners, government and other stakeholders to help tourism operators in these regions get back on their feet once access has been restored and infrastructure and businesses return to normal operation.”

Ms Coddington said the majority of the state’s tourism operators remained unaffected and with more than 222,000 Queenslanders directly or indirectly employed in tourism throughout the state, taking a Queensland holiday would help protect their livelihoods.

“Queensland beaches and island resorts are open and most day tours and attractions are operating normally,” she said.

“Most of the state’s natural areas are also open and, with full waterholes and gushing waterfalls, are quite spectacular at the moment.”

Ms Coddington said although road and rail travel were currently restricted in some areas, with the exception of Rockhampton airport, air access into the state’s remaining 19 airports was currently operating normally.

“I would encourage anyone thinking of a Queensland holiday or concerned about an existing booking to check with their travel agent, accommodation or tour provider for latest local conditions before considering changing plans.

“There are some fantastic holiday options available and taking a Queensland holiday will help recovering businesses get back on their feet and help protect the livelihoods of those businesses that haven’t been affected by the floods.”

People wishing to directly help flood victims can donate to the Queensland Government Flood Assistance Appeal at www.qld.gov.au/floods.

Information on current conditions can also be found at www.queenslandholidays.com.au

Further information:
Tourism Queensland – 3535 5010

By Susan Guthrie

Looking for a relaxing yet fun holiday then you can go no further than beautiful Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast of Australia. Not just one of the most recognised and beautiful beaches in the world, Burleigh has a wonderful village atmosphere filled with unique boutiques and charming cafes.

Burleigh Heads began in a similar fashion to Surfers Paradise, as a quiet fishing village increasingly visited by tourists from the early 1900s. A centre for beach activities, Burleigh offers an ideal alternative to more touristy Gold Coast areas.

Burleigh began to grow in population in the 1950s and is now a pretty area stretching north to Miami. Locals love to chat over a relaxing coffee and enjoy the laid-back atmosphere of charming James Street, a shopping and cafe precinct next to the beach.

Burleigh Heads is also world renowned for its surf break and when the surf is up you’ll find surfers, locals, visitors and photographers perched high on Burleigh headland, also known as ‘The Point’, watching the spectacle unfold. Every February world surfing professionals gather to compete in the Quicksilver and Roxy pros as the part of the World Surfing titles.

On a Sunday afternoon local fire-twirlers and musicians gather to jam and generally enjoy the famous sunset and gorgeous views. In a way this reflects the bohemian atmosphere that marks Burleigh as different to the glitz of the coast. Artists, writers, business owners, young families and pensioners are all part of the mix that makes up this charming beachside haven.

Burleigh Heads is the perfect holiday destination for families, couples and friends.

For more information on beautiful Burleigh and the Gold Coast check out Burleigh Tourism.

Article Author: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Susan_Guthrie
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?Beautiful-Burleigh-Heads—Gold-Coast,-Australia&id=5550650

Hope you enjoyed the artice and if you need accommodation for your holiday, please consider a luxury Gold Coast holiday home.

Hopefully (fingers crossed) the weather will ease up a little to give the rest of QLD time to recover from the massive amount of rain we had fall in the last week of 2010.

Rain has been forcast for Christmas and New Year’s Eve. According to the Weather Channel we should expect up to 200mm more rain in the next week or so, with isolated areas over the 200 mark.

The New Year’s Eve celebrations will continue as planned unless there are cyclonic conditions. The rain will not put a stop to the fireworks planned for 9pm and midnight around the coast, but the wind could be the factor that blows them out.

With the rain expected to continue into 2011, this will be the wettest December in 16 years.

The temps have been cooler throughout December and the amount of rain that has fallen in the region has been overwhelming!

After yesterdays cold snap hitting the Coast late in the afternoon, today is a typical Gold Coast magic day!

For those that are early wakers, you would have seen one of the best sunrises of the year and the day has just got better since. Currently there is a slight breeze and temps are in the mid to high 20s….perfect!

Hopefully with Christmas only a few days away the weather will stay like this and give everyone a sunny Christmas!

There has been a fantastic increase in visitors to the Gold Coast region over the last year and the Christmas holiday season for 2010/11 is in the best shape for almost 3 years with an expected 2.8 million tourists expected to set foor on the Gold Coast.

And it is just not the Gold Coast where things are looking good for tourism, Queensland have had around 10 million visitors in the last 12 months, this is the first time there has been an increase in visitor numbers since 2008.

Could the financial crises really be starting to let up on the Gold Coast? Hopefully it has!

A little about Palm Meadows:

The course was laid out by leading Australian golfer Graham Marsh, who integrated water into play on 14 of the 18 holes, positioned 80 sand bunkers, three towering bamboo clumps and in excess of a thousand palm trees to sculpt an outstanding golfing experience.

Palm Meadows is well recognised throughout the golfing world as an excellent course and ranks amongst the worlds top 500 golf holes. The famous 18th hole has established its position in history as being in the greatest 500 golf holes on the earth, recognised by the American Golf Digest. It has acquired this fame courtesy of the stunning lake that runs the complete 523 metres alongside the hole. If you play this hole effectively you can definitely reward yourself with a great finish to your round, at the same time if one stroke is miss hit, you can easily hit double figures.

Great to have you back Palm Meadows, get out there and take the challenge.

But this story does have a silver lining.

Enjoying his morning coffee, the Jupiters Hotel and Casino managing director saw the story in the paper about the event being scrapped. With that a $16,000 donation was made, followed by $2500 each from the Gold Coast Bulletin and Hot Tomato [local radion station]

Burleigh Heads Rotary Club was thrilled to hear the news as not only would it save the event for 2010, but make it save in 2011 as well.

Schoolies

In my honest opinion Schoolies gets a bad rap from the media and a small number of residents of Surfers Paradise jump and down a little to make it known that they are not happy so it must stop. To those residents, do you realise that you live in the entertainment heart of the one of Australia’s major tourist destinations? If you can not put up with the extra people on the streets, going to your favourite restaurants and a few parties it is time you move!

This schoolies has seemed to be very low profile in the media, so the behaviour of the kids must be excellent. From reports from various workers in the surfers paradise area the people that are the trouble makers [not schoolies] have been kept to a minimum this year. Some believe that the extra planning of events to keep schoolies away from the non schoolies and extra presence by police and adult volunteers has proved successful.

Weather

We are now in the first week of December and still yet to have a day tip the 30deg mark I believe. No doubt the summer heat and hummidity will arrive, but it has been mild to say the least so far this summer. We have a large amount of rain and that has filled QLD water storage to almost 100%. The rain has also helped many tourism based businesses as well. The local golf courses are looking fantastic and the visitors to the area that are getting to experience them [when it is not raining] are loving it.

The Gold Coast and QLD has been warned to expect a lot more rain this summer and it has already caused some headaches for local residents with minor flooding and emergency services have been kept on their toes keeping up with all the call outs to home damage and car accidents.

Christmas Party Time

With Christmas only a few days away, many businesses are starting to celebrate with work Christmas functions. This has kept many of the night clubs, restaurants and function rooms busy so if you are here on holidays and you run into a Christmas party, sorry in advance but why not join in the fun! Some of the more popular destinations are Melbas, Titanium Bar, Room 81 and Temple Lounge bar.