News you can use

Cave paintings found near Hamilton Island, Queen Elizabeth II to visit Perth, Indigenous Tourism Champions announced and Jetstar launches Brisbane to Melbourne flights.

Jetstar launches Brisbane to Melbourne flights
Jetstar has moved to expand its domestic Australian network announcing that twice daily Melbourne-Brisbane services will commence from 1 July 2010. The new services will provide Jetstar passengers with a choice of gateways into and out of Melbourne with a total of four daily services to now be operated from Brisbane to Melbourne (Avalon) Airport and Melbourne Airport. The extra services mean the airline will offer 128,000 new seats annually between the cities.

Queen to visit Perth in 2011
Australia has won the rights to host the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) event. As head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II has confirmed she will attend the event along with leaders of 54 Commonwealth nations and approximately 5,000 delegates. The Western Australia Premier Colin Barnett stated the event would be the biggest hosted in Perth since the America's Cup 22 years ago and confirmed that the meetings will be housed in the Perth Convention Bureau. 

Indigenous Tourism Champions announced
Twenty small businesses from across Australia have been chosen to champion Australia’s Indigenous tourism in international marketing, and will be part of an intensive mentoring and training program with the support of Tourism Australia and Indigenous Business Australia. A significant focus of the Indigenous Tourism Champions program will be to work with these businesses to make sure they are represented and profiled in the global tourism sales distribution system so that international consumers can easily book them. The 20 Indigenous Tourism Champions include Kooljaman at Cape Leveque (Western Australia), Uptuyu Aboriginal Adventures (Western Australia) and Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park (Queensland). For a full list of the Indigenous Tourism Champions and their businesses click here.

YHA launches new mobile application
YHA Australia has announced the launch of m.yha.com.au, a mobile version of the hostel network’s website. The advantage of this application is that guests can quickly and securely make or review hostel bookings on their web-enabled mobile phones. This application is the first of its kind to be launched by an Australian hostel network and can be used to book all YHA hostels including the four recently-opened properties in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Port Elliot.

Geographe Bay Race Week
The 2010 Geographe Bay Race Week, the largest Yachting Regatta in Western Australia, will be held from 19-26 February 2010. The race competitors will sail out of the Port Geographe Marina, located 107 nautical miles from Fremantle and just 10 kilometres east of Busselton. A highlight of the Geographe Bay Race Week social calendar is the Full Sail Fiesta on 24 February which includes a night of local food, wine, arts and entertainment by a number of street performers. Over 1,000 participants are expected to compete in the maxi-yacht, handicap and keelboat events.

Asian retail precinct opens in Melbourne
A brand new Asian-focused retail precinct called 206 Bourke has opened in the centre of Melbourne. The precinct is based in the former Village Cinema site which connects Bourke Street to Little Bourke Street. The precinct is a hub of Asian food, entertainment and retail options and includes a number of famous outlets such as the Nan Xing Steam Bun restaurant, the Rainbow Entertainment and Karaoke Centre and the Xinhua Bookstore. 

Cave Paintings found near Hamilton Island
A cave with Indigenous drawings that could be thousands of years old has been found in one of Australia's busiest waterways. The cave was discovered by an Airlie Beach local and is on an island in the Whitsunday Passage. The local stumbled on to the cave and immediately recognized the significance of his discovery and after taking a few photos, he left the cave undisturbed. Local Elders and personnel from National Parks will be inspecting the site this week and will report on the significance of the site.

Tasmanian cycling trails officially opened
Four Great Western Tiers cycling trails have been officially opened in Tasmania. Each trail is about 80km long and has been designed to take the average traveller a leisurely two days to complete. Great Western Tiers have created free podcasts to accompany riders and inform them about the regions they are passing through and to notify them about the off-pedal pursuits and B&Bs available along the way.  Key products include the Great Gourmet Ride and the Great World Heritage Ride.

Air tours launched for world’s longest golf course
Chinta Air Tours have launched a new four day air tour designed for avid golfers who want to play the longest golf course in the world, the eighteen-hole Nullarbor Golf Links. The Nullarbor Links stretches 1800 kilometres from Ceduna in South Australia to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia and can take up to two weeks to complete by car. On the Chinta Air Tour guests can fly to the various golf holes along the way and can take part in optional day activities such as fishing for whiting or salmon at Ceduna, and a highlights tour of Kalgoorlie.