March 27 – Queensland News: Inspiration and Innovation

 In among the uncertainty of our current reality, our Queensland spirit has certainly not diminished. If anything, it’s made us stronger – and certainly challenged us to think on our feet.  

There’s a demonstrated passion and resilience in our Queensland community to make things work, to keep our heads held high and keep a smile on our faces; we always pull through these tough situations, together.  

We’re still the positive, hard-working and adaptable people and places collaborating for the greater good. And these inspiring stories are what keeps our community spirit and natural life alive. 

Read on for the latest good news stories in Queensland. 

A peek at penguins

A malnourished little penguin found waddling along Currimundi Beach has been rescued and is undergoing rehabilitation with the experts at SEA LIFE Sunshine Coast. And as the world shifts into a new mindset of working from home, a silver lining awaits. On Tuesday March 31, take a little time out of your day SEA LIFE is live-streaming the Little Blue Penguins’ habitat to show the journey of an adorable colony of penguins eat, swim, play and sleep in their very own home. Catch the pengion action on their Instagram or Facebook.

Rest assured, the friendly permanent residents (marine life) and their incredible carers (aquarium staff) at Sea Life Sunshine Coast are still taking great care of their amazing marine life. Take a look at the wonderful world of the smallest penguin species here.

Queensland distilleries lending a hand

Rum and gin distilleries across Queensland are converting their production lines to produce much-needed hand sanitiser.

Beenleigh Rum Distillery, Bundaberg Rum Distillery, Tamborine Mountain Distillery and West End’s Brisbane Distillery are using existing capacity to produce hand sanitiser to ensure there’s a ready supply for the local community, specifically frontline workers and schools.  

Bundaberg Rum is going full steam ahead by producing and donating 100,000 litres of ethanol – enough to produce around 500,000 bottles of hand sanitiser – to the Queensland Government.  

It goes to show just how much local companies are willing to help fellow Queenslanders in any way they can. 

BYO (build-your-own)

With many operators adapting to the current climate by offering online delivery services, contactless pay or encouraging the purchase of gift vouchers to use later, these purchases are a way to help local small businesses now.  

Supporting local could include buying your morning coffee, ordering takeaway from your favourite restaurant to have a date night picnic at home, purchasing from your local butchers or green grocers, or it could even be spreading the love of a positive review for a Queensland tourism operator on TripAdvisor. 

We’ve compiled a few of our favourite innovative local offers or services below: 

Share because you care. Tag us on Instagram with your love local purchase #thisisqueensland 

Class is on at Cockatours 

From next Monday, 30 March, young nature lovers can add Ecology to their home schooling schedule (although anyone in isolation at the moment might like to join in!). Rossy, the owner of Cairns-based tour company Cockatours, is going to be offering up free ecology talks on the company’s Facebook page while its tours are temporarily suspended. 

With a degree in Ecology and experience delivering motivational speeches to school-aged children, Rossy will no doubt entertain young would-be adventurers with practical and hands-on talks, each slated to go for half and hour, that covers the relationship between animals, plants and the environment around them.  

Start following Cockatours on Facebook where further details, including the time of the live talk, will be posted. 

Dreamworld looking after locals

After Gold Coast theme park Dreamworld and WhiteWater World temporarily closed their doors, the theme park has donated hundreds of perishable food items to help feed locals.

Rather than letting anything go to waste. they called in food-based organisation OzHarvest to collect a whopping 755kg of food, including milk, fruit, vegetables, juice, popcorn and pasta. The entire van-full of food donated was equivalent to 2,265 meals, no doubt very much welcomed by Gold Coasters facing tough times.

Although closed to the public, Dreamworld and WhiteWater World will retain a minimal number of team members during the closure to continue to maintain essential business services – including the ongoing care of their animal collection.