Come and ride the G: from Broadbeach to Gold Coast University Hospital

The G: carried its first passengers, albeit non-fare paying ones, in a celebratory day on Sunday, July 21.

Thousands of Gold Coast locals and visitors took the ride on the 13km track from Broadbeach South Station to Gold Coast University Hospital station throughout the inaugural day.

Official paid services commenced the day after. I boarded the tram on both days, and this video is an overview of the journey.

The Gold Coast Light Rail is now a fully operational service providing a popular and valuable service for Gold Coast commuters.

Enjoy the ride!

Airlie Beach is looking good!

Situated on the tropical central Queensland coast, the town of Airlie Beach is a major stepping off point for the Whitsunday islands....and it's looking great thanks to a recently completed $22.5 million revamp of its main street.

The new-look downtown area ties in with the rest of the precinct including the Airlie Beach Lagoon (above) and pristine foreshore.

The main street now flows into the esplanade, linking it with the new Port of Airlie marina which is set to eventually become the main departure and arrival point for cruises,diving trips and charter yachts. A boardwalk meanders all the way from nearby Cannonvale past Abel Point Marina (which is also being refurbished at time of writing) into Airlie's central waterfront and the man-made lagoon.

On Saturday mornings Airlie Beach foreshore hosts a colourful market selling everything from fresh produce to fashion items and craftware.

Airlie Beach has for many years been a backpacker haven with a number of great eateries and hotels, apartments and other facilities, but now it's even better, offering something for every kind of tourist, especially those who enjoy water-based activities.

For more information on Airlie Beach and its surrounds check out the website:

www.tourismwhitsundays.com.au

What's new in Queensland? Tourism Australia. Tirol. Dashboard Diva. Maldives.

• Ren Zwiers provides details of some new places to visit in Queensland: Lake Redbrook Holiday Retreat near Childers; Capriole Estate (Noosa hinterland); Loganfoote Adventures on Mount Tamborine and Amytis Garden Retreat's Thai cooking classes (Sunshine Coast hinterland).
• Geoff Harrison chats with Tourism Australia CEO Andrew McEvoy at a worldwide travel trade show in the UK.
• Frances Beasley enjoys Food sud Tirol style.
• Author of 'Dashboard Diva', Dina Bennett talks to the studio hosts of Around the World in Santa Barbara about her major road trip in the Orient.
• Geoff Harrison interviews Ali Mohammed of the Crown and Chandra Hotels in the Maldives.

Helsinki, Bundaberg, Dolomites, Homecoming Scotland and Albania

• Geoff Harrison discovers the Underground Bar and Restaurant in Helsinki, Finland.
• Host Ren Zwiers has details of how and when to see the sea turtles on the beach  at Bargara, near Bundaberg (Queensland).
• Frances Beasley visits The Dolomites in northern Italy.
• Travelbites Radio host David Gordon interviews Caroline Packman on Homecoming Scotland 2014.
• From our US affiliate Around the World Radio/TV we feature a report on some of the sights in Romania and Albania.

Outback bar, Amsterdam; Queensland tourism; Oktoberfest; Biltmore Hotel and booking cheaper rooms

This week's travel podcast visits a variety of world destinations and also has some useful tips on getting a better rate for hotel bookings. Here's the full line-up:

• .Geoff Harrison visits Cocos Outback Bar, a little bit of Australia in the heart of Amsterdam (Netherlands).
• Host Ren Zwiers has the latest Queensland tourism news.
• Frances Beasley wraps up Oktoberfest 2013 in Munich and suggests making an early table booking for next year's event.
• David Gordon (Travelbites Radio) travels to Los Angeles and discovers the iconic Biltmore Hotel.
• Hosts of atw.tv in Santa Barbara, Arthur von Wiesenberger and Martha Bull chat with Bob Diener of getaroom.com to learn some tips on how to get a cheaper hotel room via the international booking website.

Swan Hill, Bern, Carcassonne and Ecuador

Host/producer Ren Zwiers introduces the following segments:

• Geoff Harrison visits Swan Hill and chats with local tourism expert Rebecca Dick.
• Frances Beasley explores Bern, the capital of Switzerland.
• David Gordon from Travelbites Radio enjoys the hospitality of a French houseparty in the Carcassonne.
• Arthur von Wiesenberger from ATW.TV chats with US author Linda Ballou about her recent visit to Ecuador.

New season of travel podcasts

Travelradio Australia host Ren Zwiers has returned to the microphone following a month-long break visiting family and friends in the UK. A new series of Travelradio Australia has commenced and the fo9llowing show is now online at travelradioaustralia.com

• John Crook reviews Angalong Wines from Orange (NSW).
• Ren Zwiers advises on how to make the most out of a seven hour lay-over at Changi Airport (Singapore).
• Geoff Harrison visits Mansfield Shire, north of Melbourne (Victoria) and chats with local tourism officer Judy Dixon.
• Frances Beasley provides an overview of Croatia.
• From our US-based sister program Around the World, hosts Arthur von Wiesenberger and Martha Bull chat with author Kim Horton Cavesque about her latest book on travelling to Paris with children.

Travelradio Australia #165

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Amazonian cruise, lunch in Munich and Paris tour in na Citroen 2CV

In the first edition of our Travelradio Australia podcast for 2013, longtime stalwart John Crook presents an Australian wine review. Host Ren Zwiers follows with details of a five-star seven night cruise in the upper-Amazon reaches aboard Seadream II departing early March 2013. European-based contributor Frances Beasley reviews a business lunch at a popular five star hotel in Munich (Germany). Our man in Ireland, David Gordon visits Paris (France) and enjoys a city tour in a classic Citroen 2CV car.

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Jura whiskey, Little Vietnam (Melbourne) and Bavarian State Opera

In the second of Travelradio Australia's 'best of'' editions our travelling team, David Gordon, Frances Beasley and John Crook 'revisit' the island of Jura to taste the local whiskey; Sporingvale (little Vietnam) in Melbourne and the Bavarian State Opera (Germany). This podcast along with all our previous editions is online now at travelradioaustralia.com

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Taylors wines, Gelato, Perigieux, Frankfurt and Queensland

Ren Zwiers introduces Travel Radio Australia presenters John Crook, Frances Beasley and David Gordon with segments on Australian wine; what to do in Queensland, Australia if you can't make it to the London Olympics; a thriving gelato businness in the small town of Moonta, South Australia; La Vielle Forge restaurant near Perigueux, France and the city of Franfurt, Germany.

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Abalone diving, The Pyrenees and Sovereign Hill

A new edition of Travelradio Australia is now online at:
www.travelradioaustralia.com
In this show we provide details of an abalone diving holiday adventure in Tasmania. Frances Beasley visits The Pyrenees in the south of France. John Crook discovers the popular Sovereign Hill historical museum park in Ballarat, Victoria (Australia).
Don't forget you can now also hear the show as part of the weekly schedule of great travel audio shows on internet radio station travel-radio.com

Sydney Seafood Classes, Munich Synagogue and James Egan, artist

On the latest Travelradio Australia podcast I introduce our regular contributors John Crook and Frances Beasley who provide reports as diverse in topic as the popular seafood cooking classes offered in Sydney (Australia), the synagogue in Munich (Germany) and an interview with a renowned Australian artist, James Egan whose works are found in 'high' places like Buckingham Palace. We visited him in his studio at Ballarat (Victoria).

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Travelradio Australia is back!

The first new podcast since I returned from overseas is now online. It features a review of Caraffini Restaurant, London by Frances Beasley; John Crook returns to the show with a report on the forthcoming Scarf festival in Australia, and from the ATW show in the US, Eric Weinstein chats about movie set location tourism. Hear the show on the player below

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Queensland fresh, Hunter Valley wines, Passion of Oberammergau and Idaho adventure

On the latest Travel Radio Australia podcast host Ren Zwiers takes listeners on a farm-fresh trip around Queensland, Australia. Wes Crook tastes the wines from the Hunter Valley. Frances Beasley describes the passion play which takes place in Oberammergau, Germany once every 10 years, attracting half-a-million visitors. From our sister show Around the World, hosts Arthur von Wiesenberger and Martha Bull chat with Steve Letz about his adventure tours in Idaho.

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Surfers Paradise is looking much better!

Ever since first visiting the Gold Coast in the early 1960s, I have seen the gradual decline in Surfers Paradise as being a family-friendly destination.

In more recent years it has become a holiday haven for drunks and louts and it hasn't been a good spot to find a quality restaurant either. Broadbeach, just one suburb southwards,  has easily overtaken Surfers in recent years in all those departments.

However, there has been (and still is) much work going on reshaping the Surfers skyline and beachfront - so I eagerly look forward to revisiting Surfers more regularly before too long in the hope that the change in the air is permanent or at least, long lasting.

I spent a day in Surfers Paradise between Christmas and New Year 2011, when the surf was well and truly up (too big to swim in, thanks to king tides coupled with a recent cyclone in the Pacific Ocean) but that didn't stop people heading for the beach to watch the spectacle more reminiscent of an Hawaiian landscape!

I had my trusty camcorder at hand and produced this video for my youtube channel.

New format kicks off 2012 season

This week we introduce a new shorter and snappier format for the travel podcast.

Travel Radio Australia is now available only as a podcast via our websites travelradioaustralia.com; travelwithren.com; travelcastnetwork.com and as a download from the iTunes store's free podcast department.

We appreciate all the online listeners we have collected to the show over the past four years and hope to build the audience even more in time to come.

Although the show is no longer a weekly event like it has been for the past decade (and longer), it will appear here on a regular basis, so keep checking back, or even better, subscribe and you'll never miss an episode.

On this edition host Ren Zwiers has some travel news involving a wayward tourism manager in Croatia who has been sacked for her comments about Aussie visitors to her country; Frances Beasley celebrates the Christmas season in Munich, Germany and in the final segment, Ren offers some cruise specials from an Australian-based agency.

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Aussie wines, arts in Munich and Montpellier, France

On this week's 'Travel Radio Australia' podcast John Crook chats with Australian wine ambassador George Samios. Then we feature our European-based contributor Frances Beasley 'going arty' in her home city of Munich, Germany. The third segment features gonomad.com travel editor Kent St John talking about his recent visit to Montpellier, France.

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Film locations popular with tourists

US-based correspondent Jennifer Merin has been visiting many of the popular film destinations recently and in this week's Travel Radio Australia podcast she tells us about some of these sites which have since become renowned tourist haunts. Also on this show John Crook reviews wines from Kingston Estate (South Australia); Frances Beasley describes St Leonard's Day celebrations in Germany and Bruce Salam takes listeners skiing in Canada.

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Riding the trams in Europe

Trams and light rail systems have always been part of the European landscape. However in recent years they have become even more popular as modes of urban transport. I have fond memories of my days as a youth growing up in Amsterdam (it seems like only yesterday, even though it's actually more like 50+ years ago) and riding the trams to all parts of the city. I have been back to my birth city many times in the past 15 years and still enjoy exploring the city on the rails. On this week's podcast, our Euro correspondent Frances Beasley has European trams as her topic of conversation. Also on the show, Aussie contributor John Crook visits the Town of 1770, on the central Queensland coast. It's a beautiful area which until recently had a woeful access road, but, from all reports it's much easier to get their by car now. Arthur von Wiesenberger from our US sister-show 'Around the World' chats with author John Shors about his impressions of Ko Phi Phi, a boat ride away from ever-popular Phuket, Thailand. Listen to the show on the mp3 player below.

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Have you ever been to Eumundi?

If you'd like to find out about this south east Queensland town, then listen to John Crook's report on this week's Travel Radio Australia episode. Also on the line-up: Arthur von Wiesenberger visits the Aolin Islands, Italy; Frances Beasley takes listeners to the German city of Freiburg and Gonomad.com editor Max Hartshorne reports on Maine (US). Click the play button on the player below to listen.

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