New tourist attractions for Canberra and environs?

Moose hunting in the Brindys.

thumper, there is already some large animals in the brindys. doubt the moose would survive for long against some of the big pigs up there…

In fact, the annual Gungahlin Bettong Festival does have a definite je ne sais quoi!

Ooh ooh …

Gungahlin’s Big Bunyip would be the perfect panacea for the ailing tourist industry!!

Bettong spotting in Forde.

The problem is there are too many greenie dicks and too many hurdles. For every good idea, there is someone with an argument about how it is bad for the environment. I’m pretty sure this was one of the argumetns against the V8’s.

Hang on…I’ve got it – can’t believe anyone else has thought of it yet…

We need more family fun days out to blow up buildings. The last one was such a great idea from the outset, and such a success (well the building WAS destroyed).

Canberra is such the headquarters for the f**king fun police man. Anything fun or worthwhile gets canned from here.

It was always the idiots who ruined the Food and wine frolic. Yes we used to roll up with an eski full of jim beam and coke but we weren’t into smashing bottles or fighting. A couple of school mates got onto the front page of the CT wearing shirts and hats made from cut up cans of Jim Beam and coke.

I’d like to see a Canberra equivalent of the Doges Ball at the Venice carnival.

Gungahlin Al said :

Bring back the V8s and this time, put it on in Spring/Summer

+1

But make the course interesting – Down the Drakeford Drive to Johnson Drive, along Johnson Drive to the Monaro Highway, up the Monaro on to Parkes Way, through the Glenlock Interchange onto William Hovell Drive, through to the Barton Highway, along the Barton Highway to Gungahlin Drive, down Gungahlin Drive to the Interchange and onto the Tuggeranong Parkway and onto Drakeford Drive. Repeat for a few laps. Lots of nice fast sections with a few roundabout chicanes thrown in.

Bring back the V8s and this time, put it on in Spring/Summer

+1

Canberra used to have the world’s worst mini-golf course at dickson.

But like any land in the inner north bigger than a houseblock, it is now under units.

Pity, since the inner north baby boom means families galore looking for stuff to do.

from what I can see driving past the parking is around the futsal field but not on.

i think the futsal suface has been parked for the while, deano.

ant said :

The frolic needs to be re-visited. With all the wineries here, and beer-er-ies, and amazing food producers and cookers, it’s got real potential.

The old one was great. We’d turn up early with our own food and wine, and the weekend papers, and blankets and chairs, and set up camp in the rhododendrons down from Regatta Point, a short stroll from the main paddocks.

We’d send parties out to forage and reconnoitre, invariably the chocolate frozen thing from the Braidwood restaurant was the stand-out, and we’d just enjoy the wine and pate and stuff we’d brought, and it was bloody civilised. The victorian women’s police marching band was always a hoot, too.

ah, the rhododendrons. I used to end up there, sleeping off a skinful. not with fancy blankets and chairs, most times we would just crash where we were sitting. the frolic provided us with a wide array of booze to sample, never really bothered much about the food…

if they bring it back, now, however, I will be more interested in the food.

National Futsal Championships. I think we even have a proper futsal field around here somewhere.

The frolic needs to be re-visited. With all the wineries here, and beer-er-ies, and amazing food producers and cookers, it’s got real potential.

The old one was great. We’d turn up early with our own food and wine, and the weekend papers, and blankets and chairs, and set up camp in the rhododendrons down from Regatta Point, a short stroll from the main paddocks.

We’d send parties out to forage and reconnoitre, invariably the chocolate frozen thing from the Braidwood restaurant was the stand-out, and we’d just enjoy the wine and pate and stuff we’d brought, and it was bloody civilised. The victorian women’s police marching band was always a hoot, too.

How about a gay sex festival? Oh, Sydney’s already got that (365 days a year). . .

Bicycle pub crawl…?

Skidbladnir said :

p1 said :

But bring back the food and wine frolic, put it in Commonwealth Park.

I dunno about this one skid. I worked security at one of the last ones in ’91 (where the Enormous Horns performed) and it was a security nighmare. Idiots attacking police, morons making their pittbulls fight, etc. I threw the first person out of Commonwealth Park for being drunk before 9am. It was Bogan heaven.

That said, if they could find a way to run it as it was in the late 70’s or early 80’s I’d say ‘great idea’ as they were well and truly fun family events. Perhaps if they could seal off Comonwealth Park as they do with Floriade, throw in a bunch of kids rides and have police or security banning eskies it’d work.

Corinbank music/arts festival.

I vote for H1NGO’s idea. Although I suspect that BDO organisers would just see it as the same market, and hold two in a row in Sydney and save on costs.

Another idea is to encourage the Big Day Out organisers to hold a leg of its festival in Canberra. The Sydney Big Day Out sells out in minutes and I’m sure everyone who missed out on tickets could handle the 3 hour drive to EPIC as a second choice.

Actually what I would really love to see is a another airshow in the form of the Victory in the Pacific airshow that was on in 2005. That was brilliant. Doesn’t have to be a yearly thing, a biennial show would work well. If I remember correctly it received quite an audience.

Redbull air races!

Hmm wonder what the wingspan and bridgespan sizes are 😀

trevar said :

Duke said :

Powerboat racing on the lake! One weekend a month they should allow motor boats on the lake for waterskiing, recreation etc.

Yup, my vote’s for the Powerboats. They should put cardboard cutouts of MPs to be run over. Or just use the real ones…

finally, a use for bob…

Duke said :

Powerboat racing on the lake! One weekend a month they should allow motor boats on the lake for waterskiing, recreation etc.

Yup, my vote’s for the Powerboats. They should put cardboard cutouts of MPs to be run over. Or just use the real ones…

fifa world cup. that’d bring in a few.

wait, we’re getting this in 2018, or 2022, innit?

what we really need is a world class mini-golf (putt-putt) course and a world championship to kick it off. that’d rock!

move the rugby 7s from Adelaide to Canberra, in wellington it goes off. Why it is in Adelaide I have no idea.

p1 said :

Canberra would be great for the Redbull Air Race, but it is a bit of a small city, so I unfortunately can’t see it happening.

There isn’t even a large town in Monument Valley, but they still got the air race.
And there’s already an Australian leg to it, which Perth isn’t about to give up easily.

But bring back the food and wine frolic, put it in Commonwealth Park.

Food Festival.

p1 said :

Canberra would be great for the Redbull Air Race, but it is a bit of a small city, so I unfortunately can’t see it happening.

I do think that there must be room on one of Canberra’s lakes for some motor boats, at least a couple of times a year.

A friend of mine the other day mentioned that when Lake Tugg was built, there was a plan to put in a wave generating machine and a beach. Can anyone confirm or deny this? I am off to google for it now….

doubt it. why would you put a wave machine on lake tuggeranong? just drive to the coast.

Canberra would be great for the Redbull Air Race, but it is a bit of a small city, so I unfortunately can’t see it happening. I do think that there must be room on one of Canberra’s lakes for some motor boats, at least a couple of times a year.

A friend of mine the other day mentioned that when Lake Tugg was built, there was a plan to put in a wave generating machine and a beach. Can anyone confirm or deny this? I am off to google for it now….

As is evidenced by the Summernats event, any kind of show involving the internal combustion engine will undoubtably result in protest and hysteria from the vocal minority.

The Red Bull air show (love it!) will be too noisy for the dullards enjoying a peaceful picnic and the studious types over at the National Library. It could also upset pelicans.

And low-flying planes belting around at 300+KPH over a packed foreshore has the potential for disaster – anybody recall a hospital implosion a few years back?

But apart from those obstacles I think it’s a wonderful idea, Thumper.

H1NG0 said :

Red Bull Air Race would be a huge drawcard. Great idea. Would be nice to see them over the lake, plus the airport is convenient for them.

considering there aren’t many planes there?

Red Bull Air Race would be a huge drawcard. Great idea. Would be nice to see them over the lake, plus the airport is convenient for them.

The Alcoholic Frolic was great, but it did get a bit out of control in the last few years.

I think we should make more use of the lake. A daytime outdoor event like the birdman rally would be great.

Maybe incorporating kids sport in some way – kids decorated dragon boat races or something.
I’m thinking ‘family’ oriented, rather than bogans and beer.

Tourism is the first thing to be affected when your working families can’t afford the lifesyle anymore. Afterall, how can you afford to take the kids on a week of holidays when you can’t make the mortgage repayments?

We shouldn’t be saying “Tourism needs more cash spent on it to survive because the economic climate is drying”, we ought be working out how to either more efficiently use what we have, or go with things more able to survive the New Economy.

But the Birdman Rally was never really a tourist attractor, mostly an excuse for locals to make a show of themselves in front of a (local) crowd and jump in a lake.
Same for the Food & Wine Frolic, it was mostly locals in attendance and some interstate stalls.

Redbull air races!

OH YES! Top thinking Thumper!!!

Let’s lobby the ACT Gov’t to try and get this at least once. I’m thinking the Centenary year might be a good opportunity!

Powerboat racing on the lake! One weekend a month they should allow motor boats on the lake for waterskiing, recreation etc.

As the Summernats has just discovered, and our other tourism based operators are about to, tourism is the first industry to suffer in a downturn and tends to crash rather than just decline.

In any case, why should we prostitute ourselves for other people to come here, have a good time and then piss off again.

H1NG0 said :

Bring back the V8’s and this time, put it on in Spring/Summer…oh and ditch Summernats.

you have my vote…

Bring back the V8’s and this time, put it on in Spring/Summer…oh and ditch Summernats.

ant said :

I’d love to see the Birdman Rally get kup again. Taht was brilliant. There’s the balloon shindig, too. Is the Food and Wine Frolic still going? We used to love that but I thought it’d been canned?

There used to be some important road bike race here, Commonwealth Bank something or other. And there seems to be increasing mountain bike events, there’s that 24 hours of hell or whatever it is.

is the alcoholic frolic still on? maybe they should get it to coincide with the nats. at least we would get more revenue from the bogans.

I’d love to see the Birdman Rally get kup again. Taht was brilliant. There’s the balloon shindig, too. Is the Food and Wine Frolic still going? We used to love that but I thought it’d been canned?

There used to be some important road bike race here, Commonwealth Bank something or other. And there seems to be increasing mountain bike events, there’s that 24 hours of hell or whatever it is.

what about a v8 birdman rally? you know it makes sense…

I would like to see the national cross country macrame championships held in the national capital.