Chinese New Year Australia: The Horse Kicks Off Creative Spirits in 2014

Cities across Australia celebrate Chinese New Year with a race of events themed to the Year of the Horse.

Some say the Chinese zodiac animals derive from an ancient tale of Buddha holding a race and asking all the animals to participate. The first twelve were given a place in the calendar. Well cities across Australia are racing to get their programs in place for the beginning of this year’s Lunar Calendar on 31 January, and ensuing 15 days of celebration to follow.

2014 is the Year of the Horse or, more specifically, the Wood Green Horse, being that wood is the element of spring and verdant growth. According to folklore, the Year of the Horse will be one full of energy and excitement, following the horse’s freedom and speedy success – think more racecourse than Trojan horse.  So why not join the take a chance at your luck and join fun. 

We have surveyed the course and come up with our Horse Highlights for this year’s Lunar festivities:

Sydney

Sydney’s Chinese New Year festivities have become renowned, and in more recent years have been conscious to expand their program to other Asian communities that equally celebrate the Lunar calendar: Korean, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Malaysian, Indonesia and Filipino Chinese, and Singaporean.

It's a rich pool of cultural creativity and exchange, one that curator Catherine Croll picks up on in her exhibition Crossing Boundaries, the city’s key cultural event, which will be presented at Sydney Town Hall (22 January–9 February, 12-8pm daily).

Croll curated the most successful Snake Snake Snake for last year’s festival, setting the bar for a diverse exploration across Asian Australian contemporary art. Just look at the bounce between Hu Ming’s painting Safety & Peace in Four Seasons (pictured top),used for the festival’s marketing, to Greg Leong’s satire, The Asian Century (pictured below). It is a star-studded list of artists and punters will not be disappointed.

Greg Leong's work in Crossing Boundaries at City of Sydney Town Hall

Croll has included daily floor talks and artist forums, as well as a dedicated children’s program featuring Festival Ambassador William Yang’s Australia Now, on loan from QAGOMA, and Pamela See’s Horsing Around.

On the edges of Sydney’s Chinatown is 4A, the Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. Its greatly anticipated project Beijing Silvermine is a highlight of this Chinese New Year. Since 2009 Beijing based French collector Thomas Sauvin has amassed, edited and archived more than half a million photographic negatives destined for destruction in a recycling plant on the edge of Beijing where they’d been sent to be melted for their silver nitrate content. This salvaged ‘silvermine’ gives witness to modern China from the perspective of its citizens who have captured ordinary and extraordinary moments in everyday life.  

4A presents Up Late for CNY Festival market nights with curator talks on 24 and 25 January, 6-9pm. The gallery also offers Chinese language tours of the exhibition on 18 January and 15 February. 4A is located on 181 Hay Street. The exhibition continues until 22 February.

Other exhibitions to catch as part of Sydney’s celebrations:

• Private foundation and gallery of contemporary Chinese art, White Rabbit in Sydney’s Chippendale, wraps up the closing days of its exhibition Serve the People, curated by Edmond Capon. Taking the infamous slogan of the 1966–76 Cultural Revolution, the exhibition’s last day is Sunday 2 February. Why not join the gallery’s educator Phyl Rowlinson for a free tour at 11am and 2pm daily.
• Nancy Ma’s Woman Horse opens for CNY at Hong Kong House at 80 Druitt Street in the CBD(25 January – 2 February), and then moves to the gallery of respected Chinese dealer Simon Chan, Art Atrium in Bellevue Hill, opening 4 February.
• Artists from the Australia China Art Gallery present eleven stunning artworks at Customs House at Circular Quay (20 January – 21 February).
• Craft NSW has curated Art & The Horse – A Craft Exhibition on All Things Equine at their Rocks headquarters, 104 George Street (28 January – 16 February).
• The Art Gallery of New South Wales presents the significant collection of Chinese ceramics, stone and bronze sculptures, textiles and paintings: Connoisseur and Philanthropist: 30 Years of the Sternberg Collection (31 January – 30 April), a must see!
• Contemporary rice paper works by Lilian Lai in Australia Through Chinese Windows at Culture at Work Accelerator Gallery at 6 Scott Street, Pyrmont opens Saturday 1 February at 2.30pm followed by talk by Dr Richard Wu at 3pm, titled ‘Between Likeness and Un-likeness’ from a quotation by Qi Baishi (1864–1957) held at the neighbouring Culture at Work Collider Project Space.

And there is plenty traditional CNY activities: The hub for Sydney’s Festival is Belmore Park with markets, food and performance. The Festival Launch will be held there on 24 January, with further highlights the Twilight Parade on 2 February, Dragon boat raceson the weekend of 8-9 February at Darling Harbour and my personal favourite, aChinese history bike tour picking up where the Nimrod landed in Sydney Harbour in 1848.

Check out City of Sydney’s fantastic festival website for details. Most events are free.

Melbourne

There will be celebrations over 7 days at various venues showcasing over 50 performances, 25 stalls, lion dances, dragon dances and lots of fire crackers. Not only does Melbourne’s Chinese Precinct of Little Bourke Street come alive, but you can join the crowds at Federation Square to welcome in the Year of the Horse with a program curated for the Big Screen counting down the year (31 January).

Activities continue in the square on the 1st with the dynamic and flamboyant lion troupe Hong de Lion, performances by Melbourne’s Chinese Choir, mass Tai Chi and drop-in exhibition Mah Jong games.

Millennium Dragon in Melbourne's streets for CNY

The City’s New Year Parade will head down Little Bourke Street on Sunday 2 February, with the world’s largest professional Chinese Dragon – the Millennium Dragon – parading the streets in a day-long celebration (10am–10pm). 

The Chinese Museum will throw open its door for free that day, a perfect opportunity to catch its exhibition Literati: Re-presentations of Chinese literature and language through art. Artists Marynes Avila, Nicholas Chin, Jane Creenaune and Denise Keele-Bedford draw inspiration from recurring motifs in Chinese literature and the ideographic nature of the Chinese language.

The Chinese Museum is located at 22 Cohen Place (off Little Bourke St between Exhibition and Russell Streets), and is open from 10am-5pm.

Across the city, there are a range of local events that speak about community and celebration:

• Sunday 26 January (9am – 9pm): Buckingham Avenue, Springvale, Melbourne’s largest Asian shopping precinct becomes festival centre.
• 30 January (8pm): The Quang Buddhist Temple in Braybrook offers a unique festival of traditional chants and vegetarian food, as the spiritual heart of the new year’s festivities. (18 Burke Street Braybrook)
• Weekend 1-2 February: Box Hill is transformed by as the Asian Business Association of Whitehorse (ABAW) leads their lunar festival with Choi Sun (Chinese God of Fortune) Parade, Buddha display, SBS broadcasting, food, lions and the mandatory firecrackers. Why not join their Midnight Countdown!
• Sunday 9 February (11am-8pm): Head to the Kingsway for Glen Waverley Chinese Lantern Festival.

Brisbane

In Brisbane Fortitude Valley’s Chinatown Mall again comes alive for three days of non-stop musical performances, firecrackers, cooking, Tai Chi, drumming and markets. Head there to bring in the new year on Friday, 31 January (5-10pm).

The city’s celebrations in the mall are just one element of the BrisAsia Festival which runs from 31 January through 1 March. Highlights of the festival include:

• Cai Guo-Qiang: Falling Back to Earth at QAGOMA
• Pop-Up Encounters: Brisbane’s streets will be enlivened with 3D art illusions as part of BrisAsia Festival, with locations directed by social media.
• Friday night laneways – Hot Shanghai Nights (1-9 February): Wander down Burnett Lane with its lanterns and music and traditional fan dances – you might be mistaken you in 1940s Shanghai.
• Musical performances at the Clem Jones City Hall throughout BrisAsia with an appropriately Asian tone.
• Bands in Parks (2 February, 2-4pm): Brisbane Symphonic Band for a program of Asian inspired music arranged for concert band. See local Taiko drum collective Toko-Ton for a set of high energy Japanese percussion
• Art Bites: everything from contemporary jewellery, lantern making and origami workshops throughout the festival

Be sure to check out the BrisAsia Festival program for times and locations.

And if you don’t want to head out and join the festivities then why not welcome the good spirits into the coming year at home. Here are a few tips from the experts:

1. Place mandarins in bowls throughout the house. Mandarins with their leaves still intact are the fruits of happiness for the New Year, but remember to keep their numbers even as uneven numbers bring unhappiness.

2. Wear new clothes on the first day of the New Year – it sets the tone for the year to come.

3. Celebrate New Year with a family dinner. Traditional dishes include uncut noodle, a symbol of longevity, and fish and chicken, both symbols of prosperity.

4. Or take to the skies with a kite, a popular New Year tradition in Korea.

5. Refrain from uttering words relating to misfortune, such as ‘death’, ‘broken’, ‘killing’, and ‘illness’ as this may bring bad luck for the year to come.

6. Make sure your pantry is well stocked with rice at New Year to ensure prosperity and abundance in the year ahead.

The Year of the Horse is from 31 January and ending 18 February 2015.

Celebrate Australia Day: The True Meaning of Australia Day

Yet, from the desert the prophets come. Not the desert run by BHP/Billington and Essington ''I am work'' Lewis. Not the desert run by The Big Three financed by The Big Four. It's the desert that is suburbia. We are all, almost without exception, from THAT desert. And our prophets are born underneath the dull steel of a Hills Hoist. We are not just a mining pit with a pretty coastline. There's a bit more to us than that.

Our nation barely knows the words to its own national anthem. That fact makes my heart swell with pride. I love to see the horrified, furtive glances and inept, bad mime and mumbling that occurs if we ever get to that dreaded second verse. My magnificent and future Nobel Prize winning prime ministerial five-year-old daughter, Lotte May Muldoon, knows Advance Australia Fair better than 90 something per cent of the Australian population. I love that and her.

I love that if the weather is fine, our beaches will be filled. I love that a cricket ground will be packed. ON A WORK DAY.

I like that we happily shoot and eat our national symbol, the kangaroo (Sorry vegans, but I do). It speaks to our rural and indigenous past. I like that huge swathes of the city hate that.

I like that the tension between the city and the country is not that tense.

We're still finding out who the hell we are. We are a teenage nation. Which, of course brings me to the JJJ Hottest 100. Somehow, that strange and often wonderful station, has become part of our ''national identity''. No-one knows how or why. Anyone over the age of 12 gripes about JJJ, and will happily tell you when ''the glory days of JJJ'' were (I'm one of them. For mine it was when they went from JJ to JJJ. That first bit. THAT was good, weird times. But hey, you've got yours too) and you will hear JJJ across this nation on that day. It will be ubiquitous. And yes I think BBQ too. I think cricket with arguments about LBW and classic catches. It's hard not to. It'll be happening (almost) everywhere.

Do we CARE about Australia Day? Of course not. It's a bit of artificial holiday to make us think we're a nation. We have fun, we're good at that. But do we reflect on our strengths and weaknesses? About where we're headed and where we'd like to go? Do we ponder? Do we furrow our brows? Do our poets battle with the tyranny of the blank page? Do our souls expand towards a new unseen horizon sparkling with the tincture of hope?

Nup. We get on the piss. And sometimes kiss. And sometimes biff. We can, quite effortlessly become the Disney version of Australia. The worst part of us is a drunken nationalism that is like a pack of wolves seeking prey. The best part is planting trees and welcoming newcomers to this miracle of a nation that we are almost embarrassed to share, because it's THAT good. In this nation, we tend to be allowed to ''go about our business'', whatever that may be.

I've lived in this nation my entire life and I still have no idea what it is. I also hugely struggle with even typing the word ''we''. Do I love it? This place that I plant my feet? This place I potter around and bump into other lost souls seeking comfort and joy, unfussed about the concepts of ''identity'' and ''belonging'' ? This place of incomparable beauty hidden from the world, yet profoundly connected? This land of the brutal, weary, yet strangely innocent smile?

Why yes I do. Thanks for asking.

Happy Australia Day.

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Roy Orbison Tribute Show Accommodation Package - Ipswich, QLD

Metro Hotel Ipswich International is offering this Roy Orbison Tribute Show Package for $200.00* including:

• Accommodation for Two
• 2 Tickets to the Roy Orbison Tribute Show at Civic Theatre  

Book this Roy Orbison Tribute Show Package at Metro Hotel Ipswich International

 View Metro Hotel Ipswich International

Terms and Conditions:

• Subject to availability Please be advised that we must be notified of cancellations at least 24 hours prior to arrival, charge of one full night's tariff. 
• Terms and Conditions apply

Glenn Shorrock & Brian Cadd Show & Accommodation Package Ipswich

Metro Hotel Ipswich International is offering this Glenn Shorrock & Brian Cadd Show Package for $240.00* including:

• Accommodation for Two
• 2 Tickets to the Glenn Shorrock & Brian Cadd Show at Civic Theatre  

Book this Glenn Shorrock & Brian Cadd Show Package at Metro Hotel Ipswich International

 View Metro Hotel Ipswich International

Terms and Conditions:

• Subject to availability Please be advised that we must be notified of cancellations at least 24 hours prior to arrival, charge of one full night's tariff. 
• Terms and Conditions apply

2014 Brisbane to Gladstone Multihull Notice of Race

The Notice of Race for the 50th Brisbane to Gladstone Multihull Race to be held over Easter 2014 has just be released. Celebrating its 50th year the event incorperates the Race Fleet, Follow the Fleet Multihull Cruisers and a Multihull Cruise Rally it is going to be spectacular for all involved. This is a very special year for our club and for the promotion of multihulls so come along and join in the fun.

The notice of race can be found via this link.

  

Source: http://www.multihulls.net.au/2014-brisbane-to-gladstone-multihull-notice-of-race/

SUNfest Encourages Youngsters to Try New Activities

SUNFEST is getting kids off the couch and encouraging them to be active with lots of sports available to try.

Last week kids at SUNfest got a chance to try out different sports including squash, abseiling, indoor rock climbing and skateboarding.

Week two of SUNfest is shaping up to be very active.

On Monday youths around the region tried their hands at water sports including: surfing, stand-up paddle boarding and kayaking in Seventeen Seventy.

Head to the hockey grounds for Hook in2 hockey, a program teaching kids the basic skills of hockey to get them involved in Gladstone's hockey scene.

If hockey isn't for you then head next door to the Gladstone tennis/squash complex to give tennis a go.

Or head to the Awoonga headwaters adventure day to learn more about the environment while swimming, walking and canoeing.

WHAT'S ON

TODAY

• PCYC master chef day.
• Summer Reading Club Craft Gladstone City Library. Time: 9.30am.
• SUNfest photography workshop at Canoe Point. Time: 9am-noon. Cost: $15.
• SUNfest hot shoes/flash mob dancin' in the street at St Stephens Lutheran College, Time: today and tomorrow 9am-3pm. Cost: $30.
• SUNfest Lil' Kids klay kreetures clay workshop at Gladstone Regional Art Gallery and Museum. Time: 10am-noon. Cost: $10.
• SUNfest Lil' Kids wirework wildlife at Tondoon Botanic Gardens and Calliope Community Centre. Time: 10.30am-12.30pm (Gladstone), 2-4pm (Calliope).

TOMORROW

• PCYC Rockhampton Zoo excursion. Cost: $12 addition to standard day fee.
• Scrapbook Fantasies, 2pm cardmaking and 3.30pm scrapbooking.
• SUNfest Hook in2 Hockey, at Rigby Park. Time: 9am-noon. Cost: $6 (booked ticket).
• SUNfest recycled lanterns at PCYC. Time: tomorrow and Thursday 10am-3pm. Cost: $20 for both days.
• SUNfest Awoonga headwaters adventure day. Meet up at Gladstone Regional Art Gallery and Museum. Time: 8am-5pm. Cost: $35 (booked ticket).
• Summer Reading Club Craft, Calliope and Agnes Water libraries 9.30am.

WANTED: Nanny for Prince George for Tour Down Under

THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are on the lookout for a nanny to look after baby George on their trip to New Zealand and Australia in April, Britain's Daily Mail newspaper has reported. 

Proud mum and dad William and Kate, with their baby Prince George

The royal couple's current nanny, Jessie Webb - who looked after Prince William when he was a child and came out of retirement to tend George - has reached the end of her contract. 

Mrs Webb, 71, took the job on the condition that she would work only for three months, the newspaper reported. "Mrs Webb is still at Kensington Palace and William and Kate are keen to retain her services, but they are discreetly looking for extra help for the month-long trip this spring," the paper said. 


The Duke and Duchess did not hire a maternity nurse after George's birth last July. Instead the couple moved into the Middleton family home in Berkshire so that Kate's mother, Carole, could help out.

When they moved to Kensington Palace last September, they persuaded Mrs Webb to join their household.

It had been rumoured that Carole Middleton could join the tour Downunder to help look after George. However, aides insist that will not be the case and the couple will instead hire a new nanny. 

Prospective candidates would need to be experienced, discreet, trained in paediatric first aid and demonstrate an ability to cope in stressful situations, Janine Bayley of nanny recruitment agency Rock mybaby.co.nz said. 

"We have placed nannies and babysitters for some high profile families including Hollywood actors while visiting in New Zealand," Mrs Bayley said. "We find their expectations just the same as other families, although we do encourage the nannies not to become star struck. 

"At the end of the day, parents want someone who is responsive to their child's needs, able to provide a quality, educational environment and someone who knows how to have fun. Regardless of where we are in society, we just want the very best for our children." 

The royal entourage may include a housekeeper and Kate's personal hairdresser, Amanda Cook Tucker. 

Royal Nannying: Five keys to success 

• Mum is the word. Discretion will be vital as the ravenous media look to exploit any means to find fresh angles on the visit. The nanny should be occasionally seen, but certainly never heard.
• Sleep is over-rated. With near constant travel and a packed diary of obligations to fulfil, the royal couple will be constantly on the move. The nanny can expect to be on call 24/7.
• Say cheese. Photo ops for baby George will be par for the course and there's every chance the nanny will get caught in the lens at some point. A constant smile would be a good idea.
• Keep calm and carry on. George soils his nappy while meeting John Key? No drama. It's just another day at the office. Hand me the wipes.
• A way with children. It may seem obvious, but if wee George isn't taken with his nanny that is going to be one long trip from Kensington Palace and back.

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Shows Australia: Arctic Monkeys - Touring Australia May 2014

Frontier Touring is thrilled to confirm that Sheffield Arctic Monkeys will be landing in Australia next May to embark on their biggest tour of our shores to date!

Arctic Monkeys first burst onto the music scene in 2006 with their Award-winning debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.  The album became the fastest-selling debut album in British music history. 

In the years since their debut, the band have received two Grammy Award nominations, five Brit Awards, headlined the iconic Glastonbury Festival twice and taken to the world stage in front of billions as part of the London Olympic Games opening ceremony. Originally one of the ‘best new bands to watch’, Arctic Monkeys have well and truly cemented themselves now as one of the most important British bands of their time.

The band were last Down Under in 2011 for Falls and Southbound Festivals as well as a handful of Australian headline shows; in 2014 they will return for their most extensive run of tour dates including two New Zealand shows and five Australian shows in celebration of their fifth studio album AM (out now through Domino Records/EMI).

On the charts, AM was the band’s fifth consecutive UK #1 debut, making them the first artist signed to an independent label to achieve this. Closer to home, the album shot straight to the #1 spot on both the ARIA Album Chart and New Zealand’s Official Album Chart.

As well as success on the charts, AM was also heralded by critics  across the globe as Arctic Monkeys’ best album to date and was nominated for the 2013 Mercury Music Prize just two days after its release.

If the demand for their latest album is anything to go by, these tickets won’t last long. Be quick to see Arctic Monkeys; one of the greatest live bands to emerge in recent years.

TOUR DATES*:
Tue 6 May - Sydney Entertainment Centre
Wed 7 May - Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Fri 9 May - Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
Sat 10 May - Adelaide Entertainment Theatre, SA
Tue 13 May - Perth Arena , WA
*Ticketek is selling for the above venues only.

Jam-packed Week of Holiday Fun as SUNfest Gets Underway

SUNfest got started yesterday with a variety of activities for youngsters around the region. 

Children at Seventeen Seventy battled it out with Lazer Skirmish and Gladstone kids showed their creative side at the SUNfest Lil' Kids Creative Tangle Doodle Art workshop, where they learned how to draw things using their hands as a pattern. 

The Young Dancers Company began their five-day dance workshop, allowing aspiring dancers to try hip-hop, jazz, ballet, tap and contemporary dance styles. 

On Tuesday the PCYC is venturing to the Botanic Gardens for an Amazing Race event and Bunnings is holding a mask-making workshop. 

The Gladstone Regional Libraries' Summer Reading Club craft sessions start on Tuesday. Children can make disguises, finger-print art and crack the mystery parcels. 

The Summer Reading Club is also a competition; to win a prize kids need to have read 10 or more books and whoever reads the most will win a bike. 

SUNfest heats up later this week with more Laser Skirmish, claymation music videos, photography, drama and jewellery-making workshops. 

SUNFEST PROGRAM 

TUESDAY 

Laser Skirmish at Canoe Point. Time: 12.30-3.30pm and 4-6.30pm. 

War-Gaming and Introduction to Tabletop Gaming at Calliope Community Centre. Time: 1-4pm. 

Paintball Gladstone Regional Art Gallery and Museum. Time: 8.30am-2.30pm. 

Lil' Kids Papier Mache Fish workshop at Mt Larcom Room and Boyne Tannum. 

WEDNESDAY 

Laser Skirmish at Tondoon Botanic Gardens. Time: 12.30-3.30pm and 4-6.30pm. 

Photography workshop at Tondoon Botanic Gardens. Time: 9amnoon. 

Claymation Music Videos at Gladstone Regional Art Gallery and Museum. Time: January 8-9, 10am-3pm. 

Lil' Kids Funky Paper Bead Jewellery workshop at PCYC. Time: 9am-noon. 

Lil' Kids So You Think You Can Act at Boyne Tannum Community Centre. Time: January 8-9, 9am-2pm. 

THURSDAY 

War-Gaming and Introduction to Tabletop Gaming at Boyne Tannum Community Centre and Gladstone City Library. Time: 1-4pm. 

Squash at Gladstone Tennis/Squash Complex. Time: 3-5pm. 

Melted Madness crayon art workshop at Boyne Tannum Community Centre. Time: 13pm. 

Overnight Escape to Awoonga Dam and Harmony Farm Activity excursion. Time: 8am. 

Lil' Kids Paper Mache Fish Workshop at Gladstone Regional Art Gallery. Time: 9.30am-12.30pm. 

Lil' Kids Indoor Rock Climbing, Abseiling and Sportwall at Tannum Fitness Centre. Time: 9am-1pm. 

FRIDAY 

Skateboard Art workshop at Police Citizens Youth Club Time: 1-4pm 

Mini Me Puppets Bunkaru style puppet workshop at Gladstone Regional Art Gallery & Museum Time: 10am-noon 

Party On at the Pool/Zorb Balls at the Gladstone Aquatic Centre Time: 4-8pm 

Lil' Kids Funky Paper Bead Jewellery Workshop for 10-11 year olds at Boyne Tannum Community Centre Time: 9am-noon 

Lil' Kids Skateboard Art Workshop for 10-11 year olds at Police Citizen Youth Club Time: 9am-noon 

Lil' Kids The Amazing Art Race for 10-11 year olds at Canoe Point Time: 1.30-3.30pm 

Lil' Kids Recycled Wearable Art for 10-11 year olds at Tondoon Botanic Gardens Time: 9-11am 

Gladstone Girl Plays in Australia's Lingerie Football League

TACKLING people dressed in lingerie may sound like fun, but for diesel fitter Kody House it's serious business.     

The 23-year-old Gladstone woman and former St Ursula's College student has gone on to do great things in lingerie football, making a name for herself in the first-ever Australian Legends Football League (LFL) last year.   

This blonde beauty is a passionate athlete who said she had always enjoyed sport since she was young.   
"(I've played) (basketball, touch, netball, soccer, athletics), and started going to the gym in high school," Kody said. 

"However, the past few years is when I have been really dedicated to eating healthy and training as I moved from my home town to Brisbane to play soccer in the Brisbane Premier League and also play AFL in the Brisbane Women's League."   

Kody said she was contacted by a friend from Yeppoon to try out for the sport and made the Queensland team.   

No longer playing soccer or AFL and dedicating her time solely to LFL, Kody said she was happy to be acknowledged for her skills.   

"I've played for other sports and you don't get that much recognition for your abilities," she said.    
"Being on TV was so exciting…and it's been getting a good response here so far, we had 6000 people turn up to one of the games in Melbourne recently."   

One of the captains playing tight end and linebacker positions in the game, which is based on America's grid iron sport, Kody said she hoped to go further in the sport and play overseas.   
"I eventually want to play in America and Canada or even in Europe when the new league starts in upcoming years," she said.    

"It's so full-on, I put in a lot of effort every day, aside from our training sessions I do my own, so I don't really get that much spare time."   

Kody said wearing lingerie while playing didn't faze her, and it was no different from other sports.   
"I did a bit of body building and you wear a similar outfit for that.    


"It (LFL) has been re-branded now and we are all people who have played sport before, we're normal athletes who want to be recognised for our skills and hard work," she said.

Indian Tourists Flocking to Australia, Says Report

Melbourne: Indian tourists are flocking to see beauty of Australia taking the total number of overseas travellers from the region to over 134,000 from January to October this year, a report said.

According to latest data of Tourism Australia, a total of 134,000 visitors from India visited Australia during October this year, an increase of 9.5 per cent as compared to the same period previous year.

According to its Tourism Forecast Committee report released earlier this year, visitor arrivals from India were predicted to rise by 7.5 per cent and 7.6 per cent to 1,63,800 in 2012-13 and 176,300 in 2013-14 respectively.

"Markets expected to experience strongest gains in visitor volumes in 2012?13 are China (15.9 per cent), Malaysia (13.9 per cent), Singapore (12.5 per cent) and India (7.5 per cent)," it said.

"This revision represents a difference of 6500 more visitors in aggregate. In the longer term to 2021-22, average annual growth of 7.2 per cent to 306,100 visitors is expected," the report cited while note trends from Indian tourists.

It said that average length of stay rose 20 per cent to 66 nights per trip while total nights in hotels, motels and guest houses and serviced apartments rose 17.2 per cent to 0.5 million compared with same period in 2011-12.

"Visitor expenditure is fore casted to rise 19.8 per cent in 2012-13 to USD 867 million.

In the longer term to 2021-22, average annual growth of 10.9 per cent is forecast to USD 2 billion, representing an upward revision of USD 354 million,"?the?report predicted.

Last year, Tourism Australia had launched India 2020 Strategic Plan which was developed to maximise India`s tourism potential and set a foundation for the future, when long haul leisure travel by Indians becomes more common.