Joondalup will be a Tourism Precinct

Joondalup Mayor Troy Pickard has welcomed the announcement in Parliament that the Joondalup City will be granted tourism precinct status later this year.

The announcement was a fantastic result for the City of Joondalup.  Becoming a tourism precinct will allow trading hours similar to those in Fremantle and Perth for local Joondalup businesses.

As a tourism precinct it will allow the City to improve on existing attractions like the award winning Joondalup resort and Hillarys Marina the second most visited tourism venue in WA.

It will create a more exciting City and will encourage and attract a variety of businesses and visitors to the North West region of Perth.

Becoming a tourism precinct will complement the large number of events, concerts and festivals held in Joondalup City and will help assist Joondalup to become an even more vibrant and bustling place to visit.

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Australia’s first MasterChef winner

JULIE Goodwin has dedicated her victory in MasterChef Australia to her family after winning the final of the Channel 10 reality show.

Goodwin, 38, beat Adelaide’s Poh Ling Yeow after a gruelling series of challenges that tested both competitors to the maximum.

The New South Wales mother-of-three spent three months away from her husband Mich and sons Joe, 13, Tom, 12, and Paddy, 10, to take part in the TV show and says it was the hardest time of her life.

“Winning MasterChef Australia feels like such an achievement and means the time away from my family was worthwhile,” Julie said

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Two people share record $106m Oz Lotto draw

THE champagne corks will be popping for two lucky winners of Australia’s biggest ever lotto draw.

The winners from Queensland and South Australia will each add $53 million to their bank accounts from the Oz Lotto $106 million first division prize.

And another 60 people will each get more than $33,000 from the second division pool.

The huge payouts are eclipsed only by the record $58.7 million win by a single Powerball entry in June 2008, by a syndicate of workmates who bought the winning ticket in the Melbourne suburb of Reservoir. 

Ticket-holders only had a 45 million to one chance of winning, but that did not stop Australians buying 10 million entries for the record draw.

Tattersalls spokeswoman Karen Anning said the two winners would be notified before the agents they purchased tickets from were revealed.

A massive 10 million entries were made in the competition nationally.

Victoria posted close to three million entries, while Queensland recorded over 2.2 million entries in the draw, Ms Anning said.

Lotto officials estimated that one in three Australians would enter the draw.

The winning numbers were 12, 3, 38, 21, 23, 29 and 40, with 43 and 22 as the supplementary numbers.

Source   :  www.news.com.au

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Aussie friends of Jackson ‘shocked’

AN Australian family who met Michael Jackson more than 20 years ago and became lifelong friends was devastated by the pop star’s surprise death.

Joy Robson, mother of choreographer Wade Robson, said her family could not come to terms with the news the King of Pop was dead.         

”We are all in shock right now,” Ms Robson, sobbing heavily, said.

”We’re devastated.”

A Los Angeles County Coroner’s office spokesman has confirmed Jackson had died.

Lieutenant Fred Corral told CNN Jackson, 50, was pronounced dead at 2:26pm (0726 AEST) local time after reportedly suffering a cardiac arrest.

The Robsons, formerly of Brisbane, befriended Jackson when Wade, at the age of five, won a dance competition in Australia where first prize was a meeting with the star.

When Jackson toured Australia in 1987 the pop star invited Wade to perform at his Brisbane concert.

Robsons, formerly of Brisbane, befriended Jackson when Wade, at the age of five, won a dance competition in Australia where first prize was a meeting with the star.When Jackson toured Australia in 1987

Two years later, with the help of Jackson, the Robsons moved to the US so Wade could pursue his dancing career.

Wade appeared in three of Jackson’s music videos, Black or White, Jam and Heal the World and today, at the age of 26, is one of the world’s most renowned choreographers, hosting his own MTV series The Wade Robson Project, working with Britney Spears and N’SYNC and winning two Emmy Awards.

Wade, Ms Robson and her daughter, Chantal, were called as witnesses at Jackson’s 2005 molestation trial in California.

Jackson was eventually acquitted.

The Robsons spent many nights at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. After Jackson’s acquittal in 2005, the Robsons were again in tears, but back then it was tears of happiness.

”I’ve never questioned Michael,” Ms Robson said in 2005.

”That’s the bottom line. I’ve never ever had a second of a concern.

”I don’t care what people say of me.

”You have to know Michael to understand.

”I’ve always said to Michael I wished the world could know the Michael we do.

”He’s not what the media makes him out to be.”

Jackson, aged 50, died in Los Angeles today, although a cause of death is yet to be officially announced.

Jackson was not breathing when Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded to a call at Jackson’s $US100,000 ($A124,378.11) a month rented mansion in the exclusive LA suburb of Holmby Hills, just after midday.

He was taken to the nearby UCLA Medical Centre but was pronounced dead.

RIP

Source  :  www.news.com.au

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Cheers to you, brew

Western Australia continues to produce the best beers in the country, with the state’s beer drinkers’ sophisticated palettes allowing brewers to continue to test tasty award-winning concoctions.

Margaret River’s Colonial Brewing Co. last night won the Cryer Malt Perth Royal Beer Show best commercial beer prize for their Colonial Kolsch.

Colonial was the toast of the awards hosted by beer-loving dancer Paul Mercurio, also winning the Barrett Burston trophy for best ale draught and the Premier’s Trophy for best WA beer in the show.

Chief judge Brendan Varis, head brewer at Feral Brewing Company, said Colonial’s Kolsch “is a world-class example of a top-class beer”.

“The Kolsch beer is a difficult one to make because they are really light in flavour so any faults at all will show through really quickly. This was a technically perfect beer.”

He said the standard of beer being produced by WA brewers was moving forward.

He said the standard of beer being produced by WA brewers was moving forward.

“It’s also great to see iconic WA brands like Red Back picking up awards.

”WA beer drinkers should be grateful and happy to have beers of this quality available to them locally. It’s great to know we have this kind of beer in our own backyard.”

The Cryer Malt Perth Royal Beer Show attracted 300 entries from 65 brewers.

Tops for taste:

Henley Brook’s Mash Brewing best stout draught and best lager draught

Myaree’s Billabong Brewing best stout.

Matilda Bay Brewing Company won best wheat beer draught.

Mr Varis, whose Feral Brewing Company recently took out a slab of top prizes at the Australian International Beer Awards, said WA brewers were more likely to produce extreme beers than brewers from around the country.

The sophisticated tastes of the WA beer-loving public allowed brewers to test different beer styles. Beers featuring hibiscus and black wattle seed provided new flavours for beer.

The sophisticated tastes of the WA beer-loving public allowed brewers to test different beer styles. Beers featuring hibiscus and black wattle seed provided new flavours for beer.

“There were some interesting experimental beers entered this year,” Mr Varis said.

“They represent an opportunity for brewers to explore further over the next few years and their commercial potential could be most interesting.”

Gryphon Brewing Services won the amateur brewer prize, as well as the trophy for best amateur brewer and best ale.

“The exciting thing about this competition was that the best of the amateur beers were very comparable with the best of the commercial beers,” Mr Varis said.

“Those beers came from the people who are serious about making beer and they are doing a very good job of it.”

Source  :  www.watoday.com.au

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Ticket mistake leads to million-dollar Wednesday Lotto win

A GIRRAHWEEN man has  won $1 million from Wednesday’s Lotto draw – after he was mistakenly sold a ticket for the midweek draw.

The man, in his 40s, actually wanted a ticket in Monday’s Lotto draw, but was instead sold a ticket in Wednesday’s draw by a teller at Summerfield News & Lotto in Girrawheen.

When the sales assistant attempted to rectify the mistake by cancelling the ticket, the man insisted that the ticket not be cancelled.

“Please don’t cancel the ticket; it might be lucky,” he told the sales assistant.

His decision ended up winning him the entire Wednesday Lotto Division One amount on offer.

The man, who has been playing Lotto for five years, said that $1 million may not be much money for some people, but for his family it is.

“For us, its big money,” he said.

Whilst he was still coming to terms with the win, the man said his first priority would be to pay off his debts, and then he may consider building another house. His plans also included an overseas family holiday later in the year.

This was the third Division One Lotto win within the past week for WA and the 33rd Division One win for the state so far this year.

Tickets on sale for $30 million OZ Lotto jackpot draw

$30 million remains as the largest Division One amount ever won by a WA Lotto player and is up for grabs in Tuesday’s OZ Lotto draw.

Two Western Australians have won a $30 million Lotto prize in the past; the first, a couple from Leeming in 2001; the second, a university student in October 2007.

And, only last week the Western Australians have won a $30 million Lotto prize in the past; the first, a couple from Leeming in 2001; the second, a university student who for 10 months hadn’t bothered to check a ticket her father had given her as a gift. When she finally decided to check it, she became more than $13 million richer.

With OZ Lotto proving to be a ‘winning’ game for WA players, anyone who hasn’t already got a ticket in Tuesday’s $30 million OZ Lotto draw could put it on their weekend shopping list, or get a friend or work colleague to prompt them to buy their ticket before 6pm on Tuesday,” says Lotterywest spokesperson Jodi Eastman.

Lotterywest is unique in Australia in its role of returning its profits directly to the community through a grants program. Last financial year alone, over $205 million was raised for WA hospitals, sports, the arts and not-for-profit organisations

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Perth has a new millionaire

Perth has a new millionaire after a woman won $1.8 million from the weekend’s Lotto Superdraw.  

The winner recalls the words uttered by the staff member who sold her the winning Slikpik 50 ticket in the Superdraw: “Good luck dear, I hope you win.”

Looking forward to celebrating the good news with family this weekend, the woman said an overseas holiday with family and clearing debts were first on her to-do list.

A 14-member syndicate claimed WA’s second Superdraw Division One winning ticket this afternoon.

Strong sales in Saturday’s $20 million Superdraw translated into a huge win for community groups around the State with approximately $3.6 million raised from the draw to go back to WA hospitals, sports, the arts and not-for-profit organisations.

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P!nk Funhouse Tour @ Burswood Dome, Perth 8th August 2009

P!nk – Australia’s biggest selling international recording artist of 2006-7 – is back, at the top of her game, and raring to perform live for your entertainment.

In 2007 P!nk staged the biggest Australian concert tour ever by a female artist, with more than 307,000 tickets sold for a 35 show itinerary that grew to a run of more than 8 weeks around the country’s arenas.

Winning the 2007 Helpmann Award for ‘Best International Contemporary Concert’, 2007’s I’m Not Dead Tour was a spectacular that drew critical raves and standing ovations!

“Such was the deafening reception for the singer… it was impossible not to be swept up in the excitement of her opening songs… the singer’s strikingly energetic performance left them tickled pink .” Sun Herald

“The pop rebel shimmied, grooved and rocked her way across the arena all night, turning her performance into an elaborate stage show to take her sometimes controversial messages to the masses. And they loved it.” mX

Now P!nk brings her Funhouse Tour 2009 to Australia, presented by Optus for what is certain to be another recordbreaking run of shows.

Aiming to top the raunchy theatrical performances of the I’m Not Dead Tour, Funhouse will not disappoint! Expect a dazzling carnival-styled stage set, feats of aerial daring and surprises that can only be hinted at… and at the core, the confident and charismatic vocal powerhouse that is unmistakably P!nk .

P!nk said, “I’m so excited to get back on the road. The ‘Funhouse’ tour ideas are running rampant in my head. Who knows what they’ll come out as…. And I can’t wait to see.”

“When P!nk lets rip there’s no denying her soul or sass.” Herald Sun

“She’s real, fallible, positive, gutsy, a self-confessed dork and knows her own mind. And she has proved to be a great entertainer too, offering….one of the best shows….seen in a long time.” West Australian Set to add substantially to the accumulated albums sales of 23 million world-wide, P!nk ‘s 5th studio album Funhouse will be released on October 25 by Sony/BMG, and features the 1 smash hit So What.

It follows the massively successful I’m Not Dead album – which spawned seven top 5 smash hits and has to date sold more than 600,000 copies in Australia.

www.wots-on.info

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