If you weren’t aware, it’s World Tourism Day on Monday 27th September 2021. And whilst the Gold Coast would typically be packed with both international and domestic school holiday tourists this time of year, it is still our home, and we can all still very much serve as a tourist mecca for the local market in these current times. Ahead of the day, we spoke to Destination Gold Coast CEO, Patricia O’Callaghan about what a usual day-in-the-life for her is, and what exciting things the Gold Coast has in store for both tourists and locals!

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I think most people would still class me as a newbie to the Gold Coast having relocated from Townsville with my family earlier this year to take the role of CEO at Destination Gold Coast. I had been working at Townsville Enterprise for the past nine years where I started as the General Manager for Tourism and Events and then was the CEO for the past five years. I knew the Gold Coast was hurting after bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic and the role would be tough, but at the same time I found myself excited about the opportunities ahead. Six months on, I could not be prouder to call this city my home.

What does a typical day of being Destination Gold Coast’s CEO look like?
Every day is literally an adventure. In the morning I could be on our Broadwater with Paradise Jet Boating and then by morning tea I am at Burleigh Headland with Jellurgal Aboriginal and Cultural Centre learning about our 60,000 year-old ancient history and then that evening I am launching a new marketing campaign atop of Rydges Gold Coast Airport. I am very honoured to have such an amazing role and know at the moment our industry is really hurting, so we are all working really hard to not just support them but to ensure their message is being heard by Government.

Whilst I’ve loved getting to know my new hometown, there’s been some heartbreaking moments as well. It’s obviously been an extremely tough time for the local tourism industry. Our operators are struggling due to the unprecedented challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, having lost $3.2 billion of tourism revenue and 1 in 5 tourism jobs over the past 18 months. COVID has hurt the heart and soul of the Gold Coast, but it won’t hold us down and despite these ongoing hardships, we continue to push through and the future is still really bright.

What do you love the most about the Gold Coast?
Where do I start! If I’m not hanging out with our industry during work, I’m making the most of every weekend to organise itineraries with the family. Whether it’s family fun, a date night or a staycation to experience the Gold Coast from all different angles, I love to spend every waking minute being a tourist in my new hometown. What surprised me most when I moved here is our surreal Australian landscapes being so close in proximity. The fact you can take a dip in the ocean at Surfers Paradise and hit the road for 45-minutes and immerse yourself in ancient rainforest is very cool.

With the Wonder Reef due to open early 2022, how do you think this new attraction will assist the Gold Coast Tourism industry?
The Wonder Reef will add a new layer of attraction to the city and we’re proud to support the City of Gold Coast’s vision which will see us home to Australia’s first floating dive site. This is another product that will support the visitor economy and help us cut through a very crowded market as people travel again.

What are you most looking forward to, for the Gold Coast, over the next year?
Opening up again! Whilst the next 10 years is shaping up to be a decade of opportunity for our region, the next 12 months will be integral in capitalising on this opportunity. The 2032 Olympics in Brisbane will bring global attention and visitors from all over the world to Queensland and we know there will be a significant benefit for the Gold Coast beyond the games themselves. As the world opens again, tourism will bounce back in a big way, and we know there are massive amounts of pent-up demand we can capitalise on. And as Australia reaches vaccination targets, borders open again and consumer confidence returns – all those postponed and cancelled holidays will finally come to fruition.

How do you suggest people celebrate World Tourism Day?
Back a tourism operator and invest in a local business that has been doing it tough. Gold Coasters have been phenomenal in supporting local tourism businesses and we still really need them whilst we wait for things to open again. Maybe buy an early Christmas present for someone, head to a theme park, jump on a paddleboard, or take that hot air balloon ride you have always been thinking about. It’s time to adventure! The Play Money Rewards campaign that the City of Gold Coast is investing into makes this easy, so jump onto destinationgoldcoast.com and grab a voucher today!

What are your Gold Coast favourites…
Café: Baritalia – This is an all-day dining option with beautiful coffee and Italian food which is really authentic and yummy
Coffee spot: Anywhere along the Coolangatta foreshore – I love the viewpoint from Coolangatta Surf Club and The Coffee Club
Restaurant: A tie between Nineteen at The Star and The Tropic at the Burleigh Pavilion
Bar or pub for a drink: Southport Yacht Club (especially on a Sunday afternoon – live music is always fun and a great way to start the week)
Weekend tradition: Visiting the Fisherman’s Co-op on a Saturday to pick up our local seafood – you can’t beat the prawns, they are sensational
Hinterland: The Polish Place – spectacular cabins with wood fires and the Pork Hock in the restaurant is a must try!

How do you choose to spend your weekends?
In between my son’s sports and house hunting, my family and I love being outdoors and a passion of mine is chasing sunsets. We are either at the HOTA markets on a Sunday getting a Largo or having a Milkman’s cookie, creek swimming at Currumbin or Tallebudgera Creek and heading to a Surf Club for lunch, or finding a nice spot to watch the sunset (whilst eating of course).

At Inside Gold Coast, it’s no secret we love our food. So it’s only fitting we acknowledge World Food Day on Saturday 16th October. And no doubt when you think ‘food’, you think of a nice meal at a restaurant or a lovingly cooked meal at home. But have you ever stopped to consider the food wastage that is caused from preparing your dish at a restaurant or those vegetables you have in your fridge you keep telling yourself you’ll use? Stats show that we Aussies waste a staggering 7.6 million tonnes of food each year – with 70% of this being perfectly edible. Enter OzHarvest, a food rescue organisation here to save good food ending up in landfill. So we got to know the woman who is the Founder and CEO of this amazing organisation. Read on to get to know Ronni Kahn AO.

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m Ronni Kahn, OzHarvest Founder and CEO. I grew up in South Africa, before moving to Israel, then finally to Australia. I never set out to start a charity, I just started out trying to fix a problem!  As the owner of an events business, I often found myself with huge amounts of good food going to waste and I knew how many people were hungry. One day, I put that food in the back of my car and delivered it to a local charity, from there OzHarvest was born!

For those who don’t know, what is OzHarvest?
OzHarvest is Australia’s leading food rescue organisation with a driving purpose to ‘Nourish our Country.’ We started 17 years ago in Sydney with one van and now operate across the country and to date, have saved over 65,000 tonnes of food from ending up in landfill, delivering more than 190 million meals to those who need it most. As a for-impact organisation, we also run a range of education programs to create positive change and are constantly looking for innovative ways to tackle food waste and address food insecurity.
On the Gold Coast, our fleet of four vehicles support more than 60 charities every week, rescuing food from 100 local businesses across the hinterland and down to the Northern NSW Coast. In just seven years, OzHarvest Gold Coast has delivered more than 9.5 million meals, getting good food to families and individuals experiencing food insecurity. The impact of bushfires, drought and COVID-19 has seen demand for food relief increased dramatically in communities across the country.

What does a typical day being OzHarvest’s CEO/founder look like?
Every day is different, but always busy! The impact of Covid has obviously changed how we’re working, and I am mainly based at home. I always start the day early – with some yoga and meditation or a brisk walk, before starting my workday with a Management Team Zoom. My diary is full of meetings and phone calls, with stakeholders, partners, prospective funders, government departments etc. I sit on various committees and am still doing quite a few speaking engagements (albeit virtually!). Since March last year, OzHarvest has been classified as a frontline emergency service, so I do go to the office if needed, mainly for media interviews or key meetings.

Do you have a favourite memory/moment that comes to mind since the inception of OzHarvest?
I have so many! From the first time a yellow van delivered rescued food to hungry people to the graduation ceremonies of our Nourish students. I’m always blown away by the stories of how OzHarvest has impacted people’s lives in such different ways. A parent told me that after leaving and dropping out of many schools, their son had finally found an educational opportunity through the Nourish program, which restored his hope and self-confidence. To see a young person reach their potential, knowing that we have helped in some way to make that happen, is an incredibly special moment.

What has OzHarvest’s impact been like here on the Gold Coast?
The team on the Gold Coast has been extremely busy as demand for food has increased dramatically, we’re now delivering around 30,000 meals a week. Thanks to philanthropic support, we were able to add a fourth yellow van, which has enabled us to increase our service to include Tweed Heads to Cabarita, an area particularly hard hit by border closures and tourism downturn. I was lucky enough to join the Gold Coast team earlier in the year to celebrate their 9 million meal milestone and meet some of the wonderful supporters and charities that we work with in the region.

What can we expect from OzHarvest in the next 12 months?
Food security is a big issue, which OzHarvest is collaborating with other organisations in the sector to ensure it’s being addressed as a national priority. We are also committed to halving food waste by 2030 in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and know the immense scale of change required to achieve this. We are working with Government, businesses and stakeholders to achieve this goal and have just launched a new campaign to inspire people at home to tackle food waste.
Education is a huge focus for OzHarvest and we will continue to grow our three programs – Nourish, NEST and FEAST. Our curriculum-aligned program for primary schools – FEAST – is now in 400 primary schools across the country inspiring future change-makers! We will be piloting a version for high schools, which will hopefully launch next year… watch this space.
I am also hugely excited about our new social impact collaboration with world-famous chef Massimo Bottura and his charity Food for Soul – Refettorio OzHarvest Sydney. This will be a unique dining experience in the heart of Sydney, where vulnerable people can enjoy a free nourishing meal, served with dignity and respect.  Whilst Covid restrictions have delayed this project, we hope to open the doors early next year.

What can we all do to help fight food waste?
People are always surprised when they learn the number one thing they can do to tackle climate action is to reduce food at home! OzHarvest has been fighting food waste for 17 years, but to revolutionise behaviour at home, we teamed up with BehaviourWorks Australia to understand the most impactful way households can reduce their waste. The overwhelming answer was to Use It Up – a simple behaviour that can save food, save money and save the planet! To get the nation on board, we’ve developed the Use It Up tape, a world-first product that makes it easy and fun to see what food needs using up in your fridge or pantry, which can then be transformed into your next meal! Check out the Oz Harvest website for more information and to order the Use It Up tape.

How can people support OzHarvest?
It’s easy to support our work with a simple donation, as just $1 means we can deliver two meals to people in need.
In the local Gold Coast area, we’d love businesses to get involved by hosting a fundraiser, or booking our wonderful team engagement program – Cooking for a Cause – it’s a great idea for Christmas party activity to get the team creating delicious food that goes directly to feed local communities in need.

Correct us if we are wrong, but most of us would be pretty well versed in knowing the taste and look of the famous purple liquid that sits behind most bars. And of course, we are referring to none other than the renowned Ink Gin. And ahead of International Gin Day (yes it’s a thing) on the 9th of April, we thought it would be only fitting we interviewed the man behind Ink Gin. Founder of Husk Distillery, Paul Messenger gives us an insight into how Husk came about and what the once-Goldy-local loves about the Coast when he does make the trip up north from his home in Northern NSW.

How long have you been a Northern New South Wales local?
I grew up on the Gold Coast and have fond memories of visiting Tumbulgum as a ten-year-old when the chain ferry ran people and cars across the river. When we realised we wanted to make agricultural rum, Tumbulgum was the first place that came to mind with its fertile soils, abundant water, rich sugar cane history, picturesque river village and close proximity to some of the world’s best surf beaches. It was with enormous satisfaction and a great privilege that we were able to buy Husk Farm in 2011, finally moving here in 2012.

Tell us how Husk came about.
It’s a long story. I was flying over the Nullarbor Plain on my way to a drill rig in the West Australian goldfields in 1998 when I read a story about how a fella by the name of Bill Lark, the Godfather of Tasmanian whisky, lobbied to change the law and allow small craft distilleries to operate legally. That story captured my imagination and over the next 10 years I followed the success of Tasmanian Whisky and wondered how I too could follow this dream. But it was during a Caribbean cruise in 2009 that my distilling ruminations started to take form during an afternoon sipping 20 year-old Rhum Agricoles in a small bar next to a small distillery on the small island of Martinique. While reflecting on the vast fields of sugar cane back home, my dream took on a clarity quite at odds with the relaxed rum haze that became the rest of the afternoon in that charming place. The locals explained to me that rum made from fresh cane juice has “terroir” – the taste and soul of the place where it’s made. As a geologist, the idea of capturing the provenance and spirit of the place where I grew up made my heart skip a beat and that was where our journey began.

What’s your proudest entrepreneurial moment?
Everything we were doing was novel or innovative and it was clear that it would take many years of devotion to perfect our rum and reveal the true spirit of this place. It was also clear that we needed an income fast, and with the early signs of a gin renaissance taking root in England we started looking for quirky gin ingredients. I actually found the colour changing butterfly pea flower early in the journey and had been experimenting with it in liqueurs, vodka, even rum as well as with a range of gin botanicals. I was mixing these concoctions with lemon or lime to make the colour change, but the “eureka moment” came when I mixed an experimental butterfly pea gin with tonic water. The magic of seeing that deep blue liquid transform into a bright, sparkling blush pink colour sensation will stay with me forever, I knew we were onto something big and that butterfly pea gin and tonic would be a match made in heaven.

What’s the most popular Husk Spirit you sell?
At the moment, at least, Ink Gin is by far our most popular spirit, even though we continue to invest heavily in developing a unique Australian expression of a French-style fresh cane juice rum. Ink Gin came about because of the need to generate cash flow and because cane juice rum is seasonal and can only be made during the harvest (August-November). The fact that we spent three years developing the recipe and getting the infusion right meant we had to keep our day jobs for a few more years, but we wanted to make sure that people would buy the first bottle because of the colour but they’d then buy their second for the taste. Ink Gin hit a nerve with people at the right time, when the craft gin boom was about to take off and people were thirsty for something new and different.

What’s your personal favourite Husk Spirit and why?
No question, Husk Pure Cane. This is how all our rums start – it’s the most pure, unadulterated expression of our ‘terroir’, our provenance. Call it what you like, agricole, fresh juice rum or Cultivated Australian Rum, this is a style not well understood in Australia and unaged rums even less so. But in the French Caribbean, where it is as much a part of their heritage and identity, this is how people drink rum – clean, fresh and full of flavour. Drink it in a short ti’ punch, a daiquiri, caipirinha or mojito, but it must be Pure Cane.

What’s a Gin Cocktail recipe you would recommend to all Gin-lovers?
The Southside is one of the classics, that’s also really easy to make at home. Otherwise, you can’t go past the simple G&T. I like simple drinks where you can really taste the quality of the spirit.

What does the next 5 years have in store for Husk Distillery?
The next 5 years will be just as adventurous, bold and busy as the last 10 years. We are investing in the future of Australian rum with a new sugar mill onsite at Husk. This is a complicated project which will take up a lot of my time this year and next. We are also finishing up a new tank farm and barrel storage and we are planning additions to our fermentation capacity and an upgrade to our wastewater treatment. As always we are very focused on quality control and process improvements and we are committed to making Husk Distillers, Tumbulgum one of the safest, most efficient and sustainable distilleries in Australia. You can also expect to see plenty of new product releases, a new Husk Rum brand identity and bottle (shhh…), and lots of new experiences at the Husk cellar door.

When you visit the Gold Coast, what are your favourites…

Café: Café D’Bar after a surf off the rock wall is always a favourite.
Coffee spot: Zephyr Coffee in Kirra is fantastic. And they roast their own beans!
Restaurant: Jimmy Wah’s in Burleigh is great.
Bar or pub for a drink: Rainbow Bay surf club. Best view on the coast.
How do you choose to spend your weekends? 
Surf as much as I can, catch up with work, spend time with my beautiful wife. BBQ with family and friends and share a few Botanicals & tonics. We also enjoy cruising down the coast and catching a show at Bruns Picture House. Ending up in the Brunswick pub also makes for a great Saturday night.