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Monday 31 July 2006: Our Mission
This is a partisan site. We make no apologies for this. Our mission is to interest you in the opportunities offered by Regional Australia for work, life and play and then to give you access to the information you need to make decisions whether to visit, live or invest.
One of the most interesting things is the way our own views have changed since the site went on line on 8 April. There is just so much more than even we had realised.
When the site began we had a fairly nuts and bolts focus, centred on giving you practical information. Increasingly we have become involved with life style issues, trying to give a feel for the different texture of life across the vast and varied expanse of Regional Australia. This is fun but also difficult.
Our challenge is partially one of diversity. This was great to begin with. But Regional Australia is also changing, with different regions creating increasingly different life styles. How to explain this?
Take wine as an example. Thirty years ago Regional Australia had a relatively small number of wine areas. Now pretty much every area of Regional Australia has its own wine. Some of this is, frankly, not much good. But with experience different regions are working out the grape varieties and wine making styles that best suit their area.
This extends to food, although regional differences are less marked. There were Australian regional differences in food in the 19th century, but these became submerged with the development of mass transport. Now there is an increasing focus on the development of dishes that draw from local ingredients.
Then there is the varying impact of differing geographies (landforms, climate) and history on life style broadly defined. This was always there. However, the differences are becoming more pronounced as localities and regions strive to create unique identities for themselve by building on local identifiers.
This web site is a celebration of that diversity.
Wednesday 26 July2006: Activity Update
Today's story on the Regional Living Australia blog features the 10th FAI Paragliding World Championships to be held at Manilla from 23 February to to 10 March 2007.
A reminder that the annual Country Week expo will be held this year from 11-13 August at the Rosehill Garden Event Centre, James Ruse Drive, Rosehill Sydney. Entry is free.
This year exhibiting localities include Armidale, Boorowa, Canberra, Cooma-Monaro, Cootamundra, Forbes, Greater Taree, Gilgandra, Gunnedah, Gwydir Country, Inverell, Lachlan (Condobolin), Liverpool Plains, Moree, Muswellbrook, Narrabri, Narromine, Oberon, Port Macquarie-Hastings, Parkes, Snowy River, Tumut, Tamworth, Upper Lachlan (Crookwell), Warrumbungle (Coonabarabran/Coolah) and Weddin (Grenfell).
More information including on-line registration can be found on the Country Week web site - http://www.countryweek.com.au/.
We have begun the process of upgrading the entries in the useful links section of the site.
We began the site with a limited number of links just to start and since then have focused on developing other sections.
Because relevant links are included in all those sections, we did wonder whether a general useful links section was still helpful. On balance, we think it is.
We have more than one hundred links to enter, so the process will take a little time to complete.
Monday 24 July 2006: Launch of Regional Living Australia blog
We do invite our site visitors to give feedback and ask questions. However, the conventional web format is not really suited to conversation and comment. For that reason we have decided to launch a companion blog.
To be edited initially by Jim Belshaw, the Regional Living Australia Blog will carry regular short reports and stories on work, life and play in Regional Australia. The blog format makes it easy for visitors to post comments and ask questions. We hope that it will build to a valuable supporting resource. Visit.
Tuesday 18 July 2006: End of "The Dag"
One sad piece of feedback since we added the New England wool track story to the site. "The Dag", one of our featured attractions, has been forced to stop accepting people to stay.
There were two problems as we understand it.
A key back-packer bus line decided to withdraw from the inland NSW route to focus just on the coastal strip, reducing the number of back packers staying at "The Dag". Then there were increased insurance premiums reducing margins.
The whole thing makes us sad in part for the Howarth family, in part for potential visitors for whom "The Dag" represented a unique experience.
Friday 14 July 2006: On the Wool Track
We have just finished loading our first area study -New England - in our On the Wool Track section of the site. This drew out some problems, some of which we have referred to before.
It took three staff days to investigate and write the section, a lot of time. A key reason lay in the nature of the various source web sites themselves.
To begin with, most of the sites related to narrowly defined geographic areas,specific councils or narrowly defined regions. Further, most sites dealt with just activities or attractions in their own areas, with no linking to broader contexts. Because we wanted to tell a broader story we were forced to look at and try to integrate a lot of sites.
Some sites were just plain bad. No names, no pack drill, but one council refers you to another tourism site that appears to have absolutely nothing to do with the council in question. Maybe it did at one point, but not now and no-one appears to have checked.
We were also surpised at the absence of thematic material. If you look at the European guide books - take Tuscany as an example - material on individual areas is set in a context. Wool, one of Australia's great industries that is vital to some areas, is very poorly served. The same thing almost certainly applies in other topic areas. Shipping or mining, for example.
We also kept coming across things that were eminently interesting and promotable, but slipped through with a passing reference.
All this confirms the need for this site. But is also means that the task of creating the site is going to be far greater than we first realised.
Tuesday 11 July 2006: Under the Tuscan Sun
Over the last few weeks we have been helping a friend who has decided to emmigrate to Australia from England under the regional migration program. She and her husband are going to MacLaren Vale in South Australia just outside Adelaide, one of the most attractive areas in Regional Australia. 
In discussion she mentioned that the area and its life style reminded her of Tuscany, an area that she and her husband know well and which has become popular in part because of the recent movie. There was a similar story inYour Sea Change suggesting that the Barossa and Clare Valleys also near Adelaide had the same attributes.
Both are right in terms of the texture of life. Certainly these areas do offer a relaxed and civilised life style.
Friday 7 July 2006: Country Week 2006 showcases opportunities in regional NSW
Email this week from Peter Bailey announcing that the new Country Week web site - http://www.countryweek.com.au/ -is on line.
Country Week, the premier Expo promoting opportunities across regional NSW to Sydney dwellers, will be held at Rosehill Gardens from 11-13 August. There is free parking, while entry is also free. 
We have spoken a number of times within this web site about the need to investigate opportunities in Regional Australia on-ground. It is one thing if you are a young person planning to take a job in Regional Australia for career puposes. Quite another if you are planning to move your whole family.
Country Week provides a unique opportunity to find out about a wide range of areas and opportunities within Regional NSW at a single time in a single place.