Tourism Update - Fiona Barden

focus_contributor.

TALKING

DESTINATION

with FIONA BARDEN

FROM COFFS CITY COUNCIL

Sharing Our Place of Plenty

e Destination Co s Coast team is excited to release the new Co s Coast – Plenty of Reasons to Play, Stay, Taste and Explore publication.

The visitor magazine showcases the unique beauty and attractions, activities and businesses across Coffs Harbour, the Southern and Northern Beaches and the Orara Valley. Many of our local tourism businesses have copies for you to pick up and enjoy.

As you take in the stories you’ll notice our new positioning – Coffs Coast… the PLACE OF PLENTY. This refl ects both the expansive variety of experiences found on the Coffs Coast, and connects to the local Gumbaynggirr culture. The Gumbaynggirr people were traditionally known as the sharing people, who generously shared their plentiful resources with those who visited the region.

With the variety of challenges being felt within our community at the moment, it’s a fantastic time to focus on what makes our region special. We’ve highlighted a number of ways you can enjoy our wonderful part of the world, support local, and share the Coffs Coast you love.

‘Find the Fun’ on the Coffs Coast – A great holiday (or any day) activity to help you explore and discover some of the many delights in our area. With fun attractions, glorious walks and tasty delights, you’re challenged to enjoy one or all of these experiences and tick them all off. Find the list inside this month’s Focus magazine.

Share the Love of Local – Do you have a fave coffee shop, a great mechanic, a fabulous beautician, or any other business that you can’t live without on the Coffs Coast? It’s easy to share the love and let locals know. Download the ‘My Favourite Businesses on the Coffs Coast’ social stories template and share to your social media – don’t forget to add tags for your fave businesses. Go to coffscoast.com. au/golocal for the template.

Go Local First and Gift Local – A great way to support the Coffs Coast Go Local First initiative is to Gift Local. Buy a gift voucher to say thank you, for a special occasion, to put away for Christmas, or just to treat yourself! Local businesses are the heart of our community, and even with restrictions we can show them our support. Find details at coffscoast.com.au/giftlocal

‘Place of Plenty Experiences’ Holiday Packages – Now is a great time to consider having a holiday close to home. Our team has put together a number of three day packages for families, couples and adventurers to enjoy a curated itinerary of pre-booked experiences on the Coffs Coast. Fully fl exible and secured with a $100 per person deposit, these packages will help you holiday at home. Details at coffscoast. com.au/plenty-of-experiences

Our Place Is Great – ‘Share’ the places and moments that make the Coffs Coast special to you through images. Sharing pics on your socials with #ourplaceisgreat and #coffscoast helps others discover the hidden gems in our beautiful region. Remember to tag the business or location as well.

REMINDER: It’s important that whatever way we choose to enjoy everything our beautiful destination offers, we follow current Covid-19 guidelines. This includes hygiene, physical distancing, QR code check-in and mask-wearing, along with travel restrictions if appropriate.

Let’s celebrate the Coffs Coast… the Place of Plenty!

#coffscoast #ourplaceisgreat

Gallows

BREWING CO

Tom Pritzler, Glen McCann and Kurt Ramsay are the guys behind Gallows Brewing Co. ey met in a share house many years ago and have always shared a love of great cra beer, and they recently decided to turn that passion from a hobby into a business, and we’re glad they did!

Who makes up Gallows Brewing Co. and where did you meet?

We’re three mates hell bent on producing good beer. Glen McCann is the experienced head brewer. He’s created a range of awardwinning beers and has received positive feedback on his Gallows brews so far. Kurt Ramsay has a detailed understanding within the craft beer industry through extensive experience in alcohol retail, including management. He also has design and sales experience. Tom Pritzler has hospitality management and marketing experience across a variety of roles, plus a strong professional background in social research.

We met in a Brisbane share house over 15 years ago, and quickly bonded over our appreciation for beer. After going our separate ways to pursue careers, start families and travel, we reconnected in 2018 in Coffs Harbour, our childhood home. It was around this time that we decided to explore our passion for beer once again and try and turn it into a business. We realised that each of us brought with them a wealth of knowledge and experience that complimented each other and created a foundation for the early success we are experiencing today. This was the beginning of Gallows Brewing Co.

Where did the idea for Gallows Brewing Co. come from?

The idea for Gallows Brewing Co. started with our passion for beer. After years as fans of craft beer in all its varieties and seeing brands emerge that enjoyed great success, we decided to take the leap and turn our hobby into an enterprise. Glen had years of

We want to ensure that we have something for everyone and it also gives us an opportunity to have fun with the beers we are creating.

experience in homebrewing. Once he started becoming more interested in the craft beer styles that were popping up everywhere, he fi gured he could give it a crack and bought his fi rst DIY brew kit. It wasn’t long until he was hooked and built his own system from the ground up. As with all brewing stories, you start brewing to save money, but that never ends up being the case somehow!

With both Kurt and Tom working in the hospitality industry, it seemed like the perfect storm for taking the leap into the world of professional brewing. After months of groundwork and a few setbacks, we launched earlier this year and have so far enjoyed an overwhelmingly positive response to our product. We pride ourselves on being local and producing excellent beer.

With all the incredible beaches on the Coffs Coast how did Gallows win the name?

We love all our local beaches equally! However, we’ve always been interested in the darker side of branding and felt that the name Gallows suited this perfectly. It’s refl ected in our can designs, highlighting the sometimes stormy and volatile climate that

We’ve always been interested in the darker side of branding and felt that the name Gallows suited characterises our region. this perfectly. We wanted to explore the more edgy styles of beers, and also from a personal perspective we all like heavy and hardcore music so we felt the name Gallows encompassed everything we wanted!

Continued over...

You consider yourselves a gypsystyle brewing company. How does the process work?

A gypsy brewer is a producer that uses another brewer’s equipment to make beer. We haven’t got our own equipment yet but have been fortunate enough to have received some help from friends in the industry to help create Gallows Brewing Co. beers. We think up the recipes, source the ingredients and supervise the brewing process on existing brewery equipment. Most craft beer producers start this way. It is difficult in the sense that we can’t have complete control over our beers, but we’ve made some pretty amazing relationships with breweries and brewers that allow us to be as hands-on with the process as we need to be and at the same time see our dream come to life. Our long-term goal is to create enough momentum to eventually purchase our own equipment and have a local tap room where customers can drink beers directly from the tanks!

What makes

Gallows Brewing Co. stand out on shelves is that we are truly local and have a connection to the community we call home. We love Co s Harbour; it’s the reason behind our name, branding and even the style of With craft beer on the rise here in beers we create. Australia, what makes yours stand out? What makes Gallows Brewing Co. stand out on shelves is that we are truly local and have a connection to the community we call home. We love Coffs Harbour; it’s the reason behind our name, branding and even the style of beers we create. If a customer wants to try a craft beer and get a taste for what embodies the Coffs Coast; a relaxed, summery lifestyle, then

Gallows Brewing Co. beer is the one to pick.

Craft beer is a community too and we want people trying our beer along with other craft beers. We believe our beer is just as good as, and dare we say even better than, most craft beers out there and we’ll stand by our brand against any competition. Therefore, our quality is also something that sets us apart for the rest; try it and see for yourself!

Do you make a variety of beers or do you have a signature type?

We currently have two core beers; a Choc Coffee Stout and a West Coast style IPA. Our Catalyst Choc Coffee Stout contains Dark Arts Coffee and is designed specifically to showcase local produce as well as our creativity. Trapdoors West Coast IPA was created to feed off the popularity of this style in the craft beer community and to genuinely be a quality choice for the consumer. There’s more to come too; we are in the process of creating a tropical pale ale with a lower ABV, something sessionable coming into summer that can be enjoyed at an afternoon barbeque and down by the water. Stay tuned! In relation to a signature style, we are trying to avoid being pigeon holed into one type of beer at this point. We want to ensure that we have something for everyone and it also gives us an opportunity to have fun with the beers we are creating.

What’s the secret to good beer? And what do you personally look for when you taste one?

There are a bunch of factors that go into making good beer; the recipe, the freshness of the ingredients, the brewing process, even storage and transport. But it’s also true that one person might love a beer that someone else dislikes. That’s what’s great about craft beer, there is something for everyone. There aren’t any rules about beer either; we say if you like the taste, drink it!

What does the future hold for Gallows Brewing Co.?

We’ve got a new beer in the tanks ready to

Our long-term goal is to establish our own taproom in the local area. To achieve this, we want to continue unleash pretty soon. After that, we’re looking to add another beer to our repertoire. It’s hard to keep up at the moment while we’re still finding our feet. We’re working hard to keep creating innovative, up demand and hopefully we can keep rolling quality beers that with our current success. locals and visitors Our long-term goal is to establish our own want to drink to taproom in the local area. To achieve this, build our brand. we want to continue creating innovative, quality beers that locals and visitors want to drink to build our brand. We want to create a community around our beers; one in which we listen to feedback from customers, respond, and continue to grow. We are set on an adventure and want to bring Coffs along for the ride.

Where can people find your beer?

Our beers are currently stocked at the Coffs Hotel Bottleshop, Boambee IGA Bottleshop, Jetty Cellars, The Seaview Hotel, The Pier Hotel, The Hoey Moey, Element Bar, Sam’s Place in Woolgoolga… All great local businesses… Online via mybeerdealer.com.au, thebeerdrop. com.au and a handful of Brisbane stockists too thanks to brewing our first few batches in Brisbane. We are super active on social media so if you’re struggling to find a beer message us and we’ll get back to you with more information. Cheers!

Come Home to

G R O V E

What does your retirement dream look like? Everyone has a di erent picture of their ideal retirement lifestyle.

Does yours include low- maintenance accommodation, with stress-free days spent pursuing your passions? Or time-out relaxing in a peaceful

environment?

Marian Grove is nestled serenely on 27 acres of award-winning gardens, and ideally located between mountains and coastline, with its proximity to the airport, village of Sawtell and vibrant regional city of Coffs Harbour. Every day the lifestyle choices are plentiful.

“It’s a walk to Toormina, to the shops and the doctor. You can walk down and get the paper or go for coffee, and everything else you want, like restaurants, movies and the beach is close too.“- David.

“I pulled up out the front of the apartments and walked up the stairs, and it was like someone put their arms around me and said, ‘You belong here.’ The sense of peace and feeling like this was home was overwhelming.” - Chris.

Are you a people person, looking to settle in a thriving, vibrant and established community of like-minded folk? Or perhaps you want to be able to lock your place up and leave for adventures whenever you like.

At Marian Grove you can be as connected or independent as you choose, with activities on offer from art classes to bus trips to table tennis, or the security of knowing you have staff teams and neighbours who’ll look out for your place while you’re away.

“Marian Grove has everything. It’s a walk to the shopping centre if you want to walk, a short drive to the beach and cafes and shops at Sawtell - which even has its own cinema! I play cards and table tennis, I joined the choir and play scrabble and, honestly, I’ve been too busy to do much else!” - Mary Lou.

“The community here is wonderful, I feel like I’m part of a big family. I feel so secure and so welcome.”- Robyn.

Marian Grove grew out of the desire of a not-for-profi t Christian community to provide fellowship, accommodation, and care for its members, enabling them to age positively. For over twenty-seven years, we’ve been doing just that, responding to the changing needs of our residents as they maintain their active lifestyles, adding levels of support over time, as needed, which includes in-home assistance service from Sawtell Home Care, and Residential Care at Mater Christi if needed for respite or longer stays.

“Every time I had a question or needed assistance, there was always wonderful support from the Marian Grove team.” – Robyn.

“The thing I strongly feel that sets this place apart is that your words seem to be backed up by actions. Everyone, from the maintenance team to reception and all the others seem to have smiles on their faces, love in their hearts and patience when they deal with people, and you can feel that.” - Chris.

Are you ready right now to make your dream come true? It’s within reach if this is what you are looking for. If somewhere to put down roots in a community with a longstanding reputation that’s second to none is your retirement dream, there’s never been a better time to “Come to Marian Grove.”

With modern apartments in the New Release complex and spacious villas available at prices to suit every budget, why not come and take a look? You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the welcome waiting for you.

Give us a call on (02) 6653 1241, or have a look at our website: scca.net.au/independent and scca.net.au/ new-release-marian-grove

We’d love to hear from you!