Jetsettersblog

Surrey: Bite CP, a creative design consultancy based in Surrey, has been selected by the London’s Air Ambulance (LAA) to create a new identity that will make it even more recognisable in the future.

The new logo combines the two elements of helicopter rotor blades and the universally recognised medical cross symbol. The combination perfectly symbolises the speed and authority of an emergency intensive medical care service which has become indispensable to those living and working in the capital.

The new identity will roll out across the organisation’s helicopter, cars and communications over the next few months. It will play an important role in communicating the confidence, strength, professionalism and dependability of this critical London service. The teams of pilots, surgical staff and paramedics will also display the identity.

Mark Lappin, managing director Bite CP says “It has been refreshing to be involved in a design project for an organisation whose main remit is save lives rather than increase their bottom line. Everyone within the agency has greatly enjoyed giving something back to the greater community. Our main challenge was to create a striking identity that didn’t overshadow the current sponsor’s logo, and we have achieved a perfect combination.”

The helicopter has been visibly branded by one of its principal sponsors, Virgin, for some years. This sponsorship continues, and the craft will continue to display the famous logo in addition to the service’s new identity. “Our current sponsorship remains incredibly valuable” explains Andrew Cameron, chief executive of the LAA “but as we examined our future funding needs we felt that a unique identity for the service was becoming increasingly important. Many people do not realise that it depends upon a constant stream of donations and sponsorship funding. We feel that a fresh and unique identity will help our efforts to ensure that LAA’s contribution stays highly visible to the public.”

The design challenge faced by Bite CP was significant. Amongst other things, the final design required simplicity and strength to be seen at a great distance when the helicopter is in flight – but could not be too overwhelming for other items (such as business stationery).

About London’s Air Ambulance

London’s Air Ambulance (LAA) is London’s only air ambulance service. Since it was established in 1989 it has been involved in every major incident in the capital including the Cannon Street, Southall and Paddington train crashes and the July 7th terrorist bombings in 2005. To date it has flown to over 17,000 trauma incidents. It supports over 10 million people living and working within the M25 orbital road who depend on the iconic helicopter which brings trauma doctors, paramedics and vital surgical equipment to emergency scenes. The LAA is a registered charity (no. 801013) which relies on donations and fundraising.

Further information can be found at http://www.londonsairambulance.com/

Spotting a platypus in the wild and discovering unspoilt islands for a spot of snorkelling are just some of the ways to enjoy Mackay’s natural attractions.

Relax on your own tropical paradise under the palm trees on St Bees Island, only a short boat trip with Mackay Island and Reef Cruises from the Mackay Marina. One of the seven islands within the Cumberland Group off the coast of Mackay, St Bees is ideal for snorkelling and discovering the underwater beauty of the reef.

It really is an unspoilt island – there’s no accommodation on the island but day visitor facilities are available, and camping permits can be organised through the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Office. www.qld.gov.au/camping

Mackay Island and Reef Cruises offer day trips which also take in Keswick and Scawfell Islands (part of the Cumberland Group), a great way to discover some hidden treasures within the Great Barrier Reef. http://www.islandreefcruises.com/

From bright coral and colourful fish to the mountain heights and cool crisp air of the Eungella National Park, this is arguably one of Australia’s best locations to spot the duckbilled platypus in the wild.

Join a Platypus Twilight Tour with Coops Travel and Tours which also includes a guided tour of the abundant birdlife at the Wetland Walkabout Sanctuary as well as an up close encounter with the native animals at Illawong Fauna Sanctuary. Then finish the day off spotting Platypi in the wild against the dense backdrop of the Eungella National Park.

Get a bird’s eye view of lush tropical rainforest in nearby Finch Hatton Gorge. Suspended amidst the rainforest canopy, Forest Flying will give a view of this natural wonderland from a completely different angle. Glide through the air up to 25 metres high, secured in a harness with personal brake system you can take it slowly and enjoy the sights and sounds of the rainforest. http://www.forestflying.com/

If you’d prefer to keep your feet on the ground, set off on your own adventure along one of the many walking trails in the Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens. The gardens are a microcosm of the Central Queensland Coast’s diverse flora including lush tropical rainforests, mangrove-lined creeks and open eucalypt forests.

Take a break at the Lagoons Café – a great spot as you’d guess overlooking the lagoons. They were once a feasting and ceremonial ground for the Yuibera people. http://www.mackayregionalbotanicgardens.com.au/

This is just a taste of how to explore Mackay region’s natural beauty, for more information please visit www.mackayregion.com

HOW TO GET THERE:

Virgin Blue, Jetstar and Qantas all fly direct to Mackay daily. Virgin Blue offer direct flights from Sydney (four times per week), and Jetstar and Qantas can connect from any other major Australian city. Qantas Link also operates dash flights from regional centres like Cairns, Townsville, Rockhampton and Gladstone.

Quanah Hospitality Partners, LP announced the details of expansion plans for the Value Place brand. The company will develop 150 to 200 Value Place property locations within a short five-year timeframe. This equates to the addition of approximately 20,000 beds. Value Place currently touts 52 open properties, with plans to develop at least 500 more hotels over the next five years.

Quanah has been successfully securing the necessary capital to fuel this expansion effort. Most recently it completed a $100 million transaction with NorthStar Realty Finance Corp. Additional milestones are expected to be reported within the coming 30 to 60 days. As of July 2007, Quanah has opened hotels in Fort Worth, Texas and Albuquerque and is under construction in Fort Worth; Rockwall, Texas; Trophy Club, Texas; and Jacksonville, Fla. Additional projects under contract include: Fort Worth; Dallas; Benbrook, Texas; Forest Hill, Texas; Irving, Texas; Mesquite, Texas; Albuquerque; Jacksonville, Fla.; Palm Springs, Calif.; Moreno Valley, Calif.; Loma Linda, Calif.; Victorville, Calif.; Perris, Calif.; and Wildomar, Calif.

Four Seasons Hotel Sydney received top honours at the 2007 HM Awards for Hotel & Accommodation Excellence during a glittering gala presentation attended by 350 industry professionals last Friday evening at the University of Sydney. General Manager, Stephen Lewis received the night’s major award for Australian Hotel Manager of the year and the hotel outshone a prestigious category to be named Australia’s leading Five Star Accommodation.

Stephen Lewis, General Manager, Four Season Hotel Sydney said: “There is no greater praise than receiving the recognition of industry peers. To be awarded these two significant accolades is a true testament to our dedicated and passionate staff who consistently deliver hospitality of the highest possible level.”

This is the second time Mr Lewis has received the prestigious award having being the inaugural recipient in 2002. It follows another significant accolade for Mr Lewis who was recently presented with an Honorary Professorship from the Swiss-based Orion Hotel Schools group, given in recognition of his significant contribution to the international hospitality and tourism industry.

The HM Awards for Hotel & Accommodation Excellence are regarded as Australia and New Zealand’s foremost hospitality industry awards, sponsored by HM Magazine. The fifth annual awards saw over 600 nominations and were judged by a key panel consisting of fifty industry professionals and travel media.

This industry recognition comes in the wake of a much anticipated soft refurbishment due to sweep through the hotel’s 531 guest rooms and public areas from late 2007 through to March 2008. Interior designer Joseph Pang’s vision will lead the refurbishment to create a sleek new colour palate and interiors in time for the Four Seasons Hotel Sydney’s 25th Anniversary in January 2008.

The Sebel Kirkton Park Hunter Valley has again been recognized as “Best Hotel Accommodation -4.5 Star” NSW at the 2007 Hotel Motel & Accommodation Association (HMAA) Tourism Accommodation Industry “Awards for Excellence” dinner recently and attended by over 250 industry people.

Joining them also in the winners circle this year was sister hotel The Sebel Resort & Spa Hawkesbury Valley who was recognized as “Best Resort Accommodation – 4.5 Star” NSW for 2007. Managed by Mirvac Hotels & Resorts, each hotel was visited anonymously by an industry representative who judged a number of aspects including level of service, standard of accommodation, unique features of the hotel and efficiency of associates. An industry panel then looked at the quality of the hotels, their business acumen, training and staff development as well as the marketing/promotional activity and their respective services and facilities. The Sebel Kirkton Park Hunter Valley and The Sebel Resort & Spa Haweskbury Valley were judged as being the best NSW 4.5 star hotels in their various categories as a result of their high standards, spectacular location, superior facilities and professional customer service.

“Winning the Best 4.5 star Hotel Accommodation for the second year in a row is a great honour for The Sebel Kirkton Park, as we have strived hard not to rest on our laurels but to go that extra mile. This award endorses this. The dedication and passion of the staff to be the best is to be commended, it’s a credit to their hard work, customer service training and certainly demonstrates our commitment to the industry,” Simon Glover, Hotel Manager, said.

“Naturally to ‘strike the double’, with The Sebel Resort & Spa Hawkesbury Valley winning “Best 4.5 Resort Accommodation” is particularly pleasing, and a true reflection of accommodation operators and the HMAA Awards for Excellence setting and maintaining a high benchmark within the industry,” he concluded.

Winners of the HMAA Awards automatically go through to the HM Awards and compete on a national level.

The Sebel Kirkton Park Hunter Valley is a delightful, colonial style hotel with 71 rooms and suites, set within a 40 acre estate in the heart of Hunter Valley wine country. Home to Infuzion Restaurant & Bar, specialising in contemporary, Australian cuisine with Asian and European influences, and winner of the 2005 Best Restaurant in a Hotel – Restaurant & Catering Awards.

The Sebel Resort & Spa Hawkesbury Valley is just one hour’s easy drive from Sydney and sits among 8 hectares of gardens within the historic town of Windsor. The world class Villa Thalgo Day Spa within the grounds, is all part of the hotel’s magic.

Mirvac Hotels & Resorts owns and or operates 40 hotels and resorts across Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific under such well know brands as The Sebel Hotels, Resorts & Residences, Quay West Suites & Resorts, Citigate Hotels, Quay Grand Suites, The Como Melbourne, Sydney Marriott Hotel, Sea Temple Resorts & Spas, and Cairns International Hotel.

 

World-renowned Japanese chef Tetsuya Wakuda found himself deep in the West Coast wilderness for his latest Tasmanian adventure.

His Sydney restaurant was recently named one of the top five in the world, and he is just as at home on a fishing boat as he is in the kitchen. But when world-renowned Japanese chef Tetsuya Wakuda was preparing to go deep into the Tasmanian wilderness on the new Piners and Miners experience, it was with more than a little trepidation.

“I’ve never done this before. I have a personal policy of never walking,” he confided. This was evidenced by a hasty trip to an outdoors shop in Hobart to buy walking boots before the hour-long light plane flight to Strahan.

But with a unique hybrid 4WD and railway vehicle never seen before in Australia; the fascinating tale of two feuding Irishmen whose passion and drive saw major development on the West Coast, and ultimately led to one man’s downfall; one of Tasmania’s most spectacular short walks by the Bird River; and the promise of a gourmet Tasmanian barbecue lunch at the end, Tetsuya could no longer resist.

Nearing the end of the walk, the group was buoyed by the smells of Tasmanian beef and wallaby, marinated quail, seared scallops and the Macquarie Harbour ocean trout Tetsuya has helped foster into one of the West Coast’s most thriving industries. His Confit of Ocean Trout is one of his most famous dishes.

“This is just lovely – simple, clean flavours,” Tetsuya enthused. “And this ocean trout is cooked just perfectly.”

The world-famous chef later summed up his West Coast experience: “That was the stuff of dreams.”

For further information on Piners and Miners, visit www.puretasmania.com.au/pinersandminers

Cunard Line’s luxurious Queen Mary 2 and its newest ocean liner, Queen Victoria, will make encore visits to Australia in 2009 as part of the globe’s most traditional world voyage program.

Cunard’s biggest and second biggest liners ever, respectively, Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria will together offer an unprecedented 2300 staterooms on the line’s popular world voyages.

And for the first time, discerning travelers boarding Cunard’s legendary world voyages will be able to choose from two modern, state-of-the-art liners, with the 151,400-ton Queen Mary 2 built in 2004 and the 90,000-ton Queen Victoria to be launched in December 2007.

Cunard’s liners have circumnavigated the world since 1922 when the line’s Laconia became the world’s first ocean liner to circle the globe.

As the world’s longest (345m), tallest (62m above the sea) and widest (41m) ocean liner, the famous Queen Mary 2 will make its second visit to Australia on February 26, 2009, when she calls at Sydney as part of a 90-day world voyage from Fort Lauderdale, USA.

Queen Mary 2’s first visit to Sydney in February this year drew huge crowds to the harbour and coincided with a visit by ‘little’ sister, QE2, which will leave the fleet later next year to become a luxury floating hotel in Dubai.

In 2009, Queen Victoria will also make her second visit to Australia, calling at Hobart (February 17, 2009), Sydney (February 19-20, 2009) and Cairns (February 23, 2009) during an epic 107-night circumnavigation of the globe. Queen Victoria will make her first visit to Australia in February 2008 when she will rendezvous in Sydney Harbour with QE2, which will be making her final visit to Australia. Queen Victoria will also visit Melbourne, Brisbane and Port Douglas.

Cunard President Carol Marlow said Queen Mary 2 and Queen Victoria were designed to recreate the golden age of ocean travel and were tailor-made for world voyages.

“Cunard offers discerning passengers a timeless legacy reflecting an era when crossing the oceans on a stately liner was the embodiment of the good life – when getting there was often more important than arriving,” Ms Marlow said.

“Everything feels more special on ships that are international icons – from the fanfare our grand and elegant liners receive in cities around the world to our signature white glove greetings on embarkation and formal balls. Sailing aboard a Cunard liner is much more than a cruise – it’s an event most people would love to do at least once in their lives.”

Queen Mary 2’s ‘Epic Expedition’ world voyage will depart Fort Lauderdale, USA, on January 13, 2009, and visit 26 ports in 24 countries including Brazil, Chile, Samoa, Japan, India, Egypt, Greece and Italy. A range of full voyage, line voyage and sectors are available including 15 nights from Los Angeles to Sydney from A$5489 per person*, 23 nights from Sydney to Dubai from A$7659 per person* and 43 nights from Fort Lauderdale to Sydney from A$12,629 per person*.

Meanwhile, Queen Victoria’s ‘Exploration of Distant Horizons’ world voyage will depart Southampton in the UK on January 2, 2009, and visit 38 ports in 25 countries including USA, Guatemala, Tonga. Papua New Guinea, South Korea, Singapore, Jordan, Turkey and Spain. Sectors include 40 nights from New York to Sydney from A$10,769 per person* and 48 nights from Southampton to Sydney from A$12,429 per person*.

More details on Cunard’s 2009 world voyage program are available via travel agents or call Cunard on 13 24 41 or visit www.cunardline.com.au

* Fares are cruise only, per person in a complete twin stateroom. Subject to availability and conditions apply.

Sydney residents are being invited to escape the roadblocks, traffic restrictions and delays of this year’s APEC Australia 2007 event – and discover some of South Australia’s iconic holiday experiences.

Captured through radio and online elements, South Australia’s brilliant blend of tourism experiences including four-wheel drive, wine and nature, will be promoted from today (29 August).

A number of Sydney radio stations, including Triple M, 2Day FM and Nova 96.9, will give 30-second live reads encouraging listeners to visit a dedicated website: www.getoutofhere.com and work out how to escape Sydney during APEC Australia 2007.

The website will remind them about the annoyance of traffic restrictions caused by APEC, and will give them a taste of the great experiences in South Australia to which they can escape.

The dedicated site will have a link to www.southaustralia.com  where they can plan and book their escape immediately. They can view weekend escape ideas, accommodation suggestions, prices – and even follow the link to Virgin Blue for flight bookings.

On 3rd September, banner ads will be displayed on the Sydney Morning Herald’s website, encouraging consumers to click through to the dedicated ‘Get out of Here’ website.

South Australia’s Tourism Minister Jane Lomax-Smith says the campaign is “a bit cheeky”, but disgruntled Sydney residents represent a real market for South Australia’s tourism industry.

“Campaigns like this are an important part of the State Government’s commitment to increasing visitor spending from $3.4 billion in 2001 to $6.3 billion in 2014 – a key target in South Australia’s Strategic Plan.”

“This promotion has been developed to show off the State’s brilliant attractions to Sydneysiders and to highlight that South Australia is a fabulous holiday destination at any time of the year.”

Restaurant & Catering New South Wales/ACT Awards for Excellence recognises best practice in the hospitality industry. Last night, they recognised Sydney Tower Restaurant as Best Tourism Restaurant at the Metropolitan Awards for Excellence.

The award acknowledges Sydney Tower Restaurant’s commitment to meeting the needs of local, domestic and international tourists. From its unique position 305 metres above the city Sydney Tower Restaurant showcases Australian produce and our stunning harbour city at its best.

Relaunched with a fresh new contemporary look and enhanced buffet in February 2007, the highest revolving restaurant in the Southern Hemisphere is a must visit for domestic and international visitors and locals alike. Along with the new décor, the quality of the world class international buffet including fresh local seafood, exclusive Pacific Virgin Oysters from Esperance Bay Tasmania and an authentic Australian carvery, ensures there is something to suit all palettes.

James Leadbeater, Head Chef at Sydney Tower Restaurant says “We are delighted to be recognised for the achievements we have made to ensure that this 25 year old icon can now provide an even better dining experience for locals and tourists than it did in its early days. We have totally redesigned the buffet and the variety of cuisine reflects the diversity of our customers. We look forward to welcoming more Sydney residents and their guests to try it again for themselves.”

For further information visit the website http://www.sydneytowerrestaurant.com.au/

For bookings call 02 8223 3800 or email reservations@sydneytowerrestaurant.com.au

When you read about Las Vegas it is usually regarding the phenomenal levels of investment and development taking place in the city but the city has managed to retain some of its swinging Sinatra-era charm and there is definite vintage Vegas left if you know where to look. Here are some ways to get nostalgic in Las Vegas:

Downtown Resurgence

Fremont Street or ‘Downtown’ is what The Strip was all about until the enormous resorts Las Vegas is better known for today were built further up Las Vegas Boulevard. When strolling through hotels like the Golden Nugget (1946) and Four Queens (1966), past one-cent slot machines and all-you-can-eat buffets, it is almost possible to imagine Las Vegas as it was pre-mega resort and casinos.

Neon Graveyard

Nothing screams ‘you’re in Las Vegas’ more than flashing neon. Vegas Vic, the enormous neon cowboy that towers over Fremont Street, is the world’s largest mechanical neon sign. Not all neon is still flashing though and you can see some of the classic neon signs dating back to the 1940s where they have come to rest – the boneyard at the Las Vegas Neon Museum.

Sensational showgirls

The statuesque showgirl is an icon of Las Vegas. Jubilee at Bally’s Las Vegas is a classic showgirl production and in its 25th year it is one of the longest running shows on The Strip. It is a feast for the eyes with more than 100 dancers wearing not much more than plumes of ostrich feathers, Swarovski crystals and headpieces that can weigh up to nine kilograms.

The Rat Pack is Back

No one made Las Vegas swing more than Frank and his Rat Pack buddies. Before Sinatra hit The Strip the word ‘style’ was never used in the same sentence as Las Vegas. Frank and his cronies gave the city what it desperately needed – a glamorous image that put it on the map. In a tribute show at the Greek Isles Hotel-Casino the boys sing some of their best-known hits accompanied by a nine-piece orchestra.

Liberace Museum

There was no place more fitting for the King of over-the-top to reside than Las Vegas and many of Mr Showmanship’s dazzling treasures are housed in the Liberace Museum. Visitors can’t help but shake their heads at the spectacle of his custom-made exotic cars such as the hand painted red, white and blue ‘Stars and Strips’ Rolls-Royce convertible or a Roadster covered in Austrian rhinestones and lavish jewellery including a white and yellow gold piano-shaped ring with 260 individually set diamonds.