Brisbane City Council has officially opened the much awaited Kingsford Smith Drive River Walk. Locals can now enjoy walking, running, or cycling at the River Walk whilst taking in the beautiful view.
Photo credit: Brisbane City Council
The 1.2-kilometre project is a part of the Kingsford Smith Drive upgrade providing a new landmark for Brisbane. The Kingsford Smith Drive River Walk stretches from Bretts Wharf in the east to Cameron Rocks Reserve in the west.
Credit: Brisbane City Council/YouTube
Kingsford Smith Drive Upgrade
Photo credit: Brisbane City Council
The Kingsford Smith Drive offers a major gateway to the city for tourists, visitors, and residents. More than just a road project, the Kingsford Smith Drive upgrade involves the transformation of the site into a vibrant urban corridor. The improvements aim to maximise public access to the river and reinforce Brisbane’s identity as a new world city.
Credit: Brisbane City Council/YouTube
Built along the Brisbane River at Hamilton, the new River Walk has a dedicated two-metre wide riverside pedestrian path apart from the three-metre-wide, two-way off-road cycle path.
The Kingsford Smith Drive River Walk is the latest addition to Brisbane’s world-class active transport network. It provides users with unique views of the iconic Brisbane River and CBD and allows residents and visitors to explore the area’s dining, boutique shopping, and retail precincts.
Have a look at the construction of the Kingsford Smith Drive River Walk from June 2016 to December 2018.
Located at Ascot’s Eagle Farm Racecourse, Big Screen on the Green is embracing the festive spirit with a great line-up of classic Christmas movies.
Photo credit: www.brc.com.au
From Monday, 17 December 2018 to Friday, 21 December 2018, Eagle Farm Racecourse is going to be filled with the sights and sounds of Christmas. Prior to the movie screening, several free activities such as face painting, Christmas carols playing, and a meet-and-greet with Santa will be up for the whole family to enjoy.
Have a great picnic on the lawn whilst viewing the Christmas movies on the screen. BYO food and beverages are not allowed in the event, however, there will be plenty of options on the night.
Picnic hampers will also be available for purchase. All you got to do is bring your own bean bags, cushions, blankets or rugs.
General Admission requires a gold coin donation on the day of the event (located on the public lawn). You may pre-register your attendance to receive a free Frozen Fanta (orange or red) on arrival. Food and beverage available for purchase.
The Movie Pack costs $10 per person and includes the following:
Access to Eagle Farm Racecourse and the Public Lawn
A large Popcorn
Beverage (your choice of a glass of house wine/sparkling, house beer or a non-alcoholic beverage)
Doomben line gets a major boost as it receives the biggest number of train upgrades. Train services upgrades involve the replacement of three-car trains with six-car units on 193 Queensland Rail services.
According to Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey, the new services would increase carrying capacity by more than 46,000 seats a week across the Queensland Rail network.
Passengers are already benefiting from the upgrades on the Beenleigh, Shorncliffe, Ferny Grove, Cleveland, Northgate, and Doomben lines.
Train Service Upgrades
Photo credit: Queensland Rail/Facebook
Queensland Rail has been focusing on upgrading the Monday to Friday services rather than at weekends when fewer people travel.
“Of the 193 services where capacity will be doubled, 40 are classified as high patronage where average seated capacity occupancy rates are more than 80%,” Mr Bailey said.
Receiving the most train upgrades, Doomben line will have 44 services per week upgraded from three-car to six-car trains on weekdays. For others, the Beenleigh line will have 38 services per week, Shorncliffe with 24, Ferny Grove with 38, Cleveland with 36, Northgate with 12, and Ipswich/ Rosewood will only have one.
Few of the three-car trains are still required to run during peak periods due to current operational restrictions. However, a six-carriage train will precede and follow each of these to assist with customer loading.
Mr Bailey said that only 171 three-car services will remain on Monday to Friday timetable. One hundred of these are on the Rosewood shuttle. Queensland Rail won’t be upgrading these trains due to infrastructure limitations on the Rosewood line and low demand.
“Current patronage numbers also show the three-carriage trains meets demand on that line at weekends when patronage is lower.”
The train service upgrades come from 37 New Generation Rollingstock (NGR) units which are now available for service. Queensland Rail will consider further upgrades as more NGR units become available.
Following their efforts in restoring the tracks, Eagle Farm Racecourse is getting ready to reopen the tracks for races before Christmas.
Eagle Farm Racecourse has been mostly out of operation over the past four years due to problems with the re-laying of the track surface. Once the track refurbishments are complete, BRC plans to have 35 race meetings per year, rather than the usual 50, until the newly laid track is tough enough.
The Eagle Farm Racecourse is expected to be fully restored in three years’ time. Until then, the new tracks will be given time to rest in between race meetings.
Photo credit: Brisbane Racing Club/Facebook
Brisbane Racing Club (BRC) General Manager Racing Matt Rudolph recognised the importance of monitoring the recovery of Eagle Farm once the racing starts again.
“A big focus of this track will be its recovery so we can ascertain early how many races and meetings we can run here,” Mr Rudolph said.
“For next year’s Brisbane Racing Carnival, we’ll be looking at running the Kingsford Smith Cup meeting at Eagle Farm with a two-week break then into the Stradbroke meeting. That will ensure the track is at its best for our premier meeting.”
Mr Rudolph also mentioned how the tracks can benefit from rest. He said that Doomben racecourse races superbly after a quick renovation.
Mounting yard in use pre-race at Doomben. Photo credit: kgbo/Wikimedia Commons
Racing Queensland consultant Mick Goodie is the one overseeing the refurbishment of the tracks. He is optimistic about the track’s current progress.
“The track is improving by the day. It has improved immensely in the last few weeks,” Mr Goodie said.
He also said that he is happy with the results of the restoration. He is making sure that the track will be excellent to race on and that “they race consistently and they race fairly”. So far, he is happy with the results of the restoration.
“Everything we are doing here is about getting a good racing surface for a long period of time.”
Ascot joins the list of the exclusive suburbs that draw wealthy Chinese home buyers into Brisbane, a Chinese international real estate website’s research says.
Data from Juwai.com’s research showed that property investors from China are willing to spend for a much-coveted property in Brisbane. For the first half of 2018, Chinese investors showed great interest in exclusive Brisbane suburbs: Kangaroo Point, Newstead, Sunnybank, West End, Indooroopilly, Ascot, Sunnybank Hills, and St Lucia.
Foreign investment rules are raising interests of these offshore buyers particularly in suburbs where new developments are underway. Chinese buyers are pleasantly surprised to find out that they can purchase a house in Brisbane for half the price of an inner-city apartment in Shanghai or Beijing.
Chinese buyers put a premium on new developments in a suburb, quality education, and convenience. This makes Brisbane very attractive to Chinese home buyers because of the easy lifestyle, the water views, and quality English language educational institutions, the report said.
Photo Credit: True_Guowei/Pixabay
Amongst Chinese home buyers, Brisbane is the third most popular Australian city, next to Melbourne and Sydney. Demand for Australian property increased by 10.1 percent in the first quarter of 2018 and 4.4 percent in the second quarter. Considering the current state of the property market in China, Brisbane is regarded by Chinese property buyers as a safer place to invest.
Also, in 2017, “Chinese property buyers and investors remain interested in overseas real estate and have even caused exceptional investment growth in certain countries,” according to Juwai Chinese Global Property Investment Report 2018. Even though, Chinese property investments in Australia—which stood at US$17.4 billion—fell in 2017, it still larger compared to any other foreign nation.
Continued growth of personal wealth in China has benefited U.S., Australia, Hong Kong SAR, and Malaysian residential markets.
Shoppers and stallholders are disappointed with the announcement of Eagle Farm Markets’ closure at the end of October.
Eagle Farm Markets has officially announced that the last market day will be on Sunday, 28 October 2018.
The management informed the stallholders of the closure via email prior to their announcement on social media, however, it seems that not all were aware of the news. Some stallholders reportedly found out about the markets’ closing on Facebook.
Major Challenges
According to Brisbane Racing Club chairman Neville Bell, the decline in customers visiting the markets over the years is one of the challenges that the markets faced.
The popular markets reportedly had a decrease of 23.5% of customer visits in the last financial year. Apart from the decreasing customer visits, the number of competition in the area is also a hurdle for the markets.
Photo credit: Eagle Farm Markets/Facebook
“As a result, the BRC together with our partner the Brisbane Markets Limited, has decided to end the Eagle Farm Markets. The final Markets will be held on Sunday, October 28. This decision was not easy however we are mindful that our responsibility as a Club is to ensure our growing non-racing ventures are operated in a sustainable manner,” Mr Bell said.
“We thank the many loyal customers and clients of the Eagle Farm Markets. At their peak, the Markets attracted about 200,000 people each year. They were a vibrant gathering bringing together some excellent producers and loyal customers. We are grateful for their contributions,” he added.
Most locals are sad to hear the news since the Eagle Farm Markets have been part of their Sunday routine. However, some are not as surprised since they have also noticed a decrease in the number of stalls in the markets. Some have even called out the limited number of parking space in the markets.
The Eagle Farm Markets might be bracing for a really busy Sunday. More locals are expressing their interest in heading to the markets for the very last time before its permanent closure.
Heritage listing of portions of the historic Eagle Farm Racecourse has already been lifted to give way to future works on the $1.2 billion master plan for the site.
The Brisbane Racing Club (BRC) previously applied to delist a small section of the heritage-listed Eagle Farm racecourse land from the Queensland Heritage Register. Lifting the heritage listing on these sections will make it possible for works on the BRC’s master plan expansion to move forward.
The delisting involved the four lots on the south-east section of the Eagle Farm race track near the Gallopers Sports Club and around to front Nudgee Road. The delisted area of the Eagle Farm racecourse is now the site of the Racecourse Village with the full-line Woolworths supermarket, specialty shops and restaurants.
Racecourse Village Aerial Footage July 2018
Video credit: Brisbane Racing Club/YouTube
Whilst a majority of the area including the racetrack, front gates, and the grandstand remains heritage-listed, community organization Brisbane Residents United felt dismayed over the decision to delist sections of the historic site.
BRU president Elizabeth Handley expressed her concern at how the city is losing its heritage sites and heritage buildings. BRC, on the other hand, said that they are keen on keeping the heritage listing of vast majority of the racecourse. Delisting portions of the site will make assessment on future developments and changes to the master plan easier.
The $40 million Racecourse Village Shopping Centre is part of the BRC master plan. The Racecourse Village features what is considered to be the most modern Woolworths supermarket in Australia. There are also 12 specialty outlets located on the ground floor with six tenancies on the first floor. The site also features a mixture of dining destinations and services, $700,000 of solar panels, and high-level brick and tile finishes.
Burger lovers rejoice! Racecourse Village has recently unveiled its latest addition to its impressive line-up of restaurants and it promises to be DA’Perfect place for DA’Family to enjoy great tasting burgers. That’s right, Da’Burger Ascot is now open to serve you.
DA’Burger burst onto the food scene in 2013 with its super-sized burgers to the delight of burger lovers all over inner-city Brisbane. Now, five years later, the New Farm burger joint expands to Ascot with the opening of its second venue, DA’Burger Racecourse Village. The Ascot outlet sports a distinct design that is uniquely DA’Burger’s, a painted mural and graffiti wall.
Owners James D’Ath and Wendy Mason have brought all the great DA’Burger goodness that Brisbane burger enthusiasts have grown to love with its continued partnership with Rayner’s Gourmet Meats. Rayner’s supplies the fresh meat which is turned into great-tasting burgers, thanks to their time-tested family recipe and custom-made fresh bun.
DA’Vegie with an add-on beef patty. Grilled halloumi and zucchini, Wendy’s chilli jam with a hint of lemongrass and ginger, lettuce, tomato, onion and Chrissie’s tomato relish
Photo credit: DA’Burger/Facebook
Double flame grilled Black Angus beef patty, triple cheddar cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomato, onion, truffle mayo and mustard
Photo credit: DA’Burger/Facebook
flame grilled soy bean patty, ras el hanout spiced cauliflower, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo and our tomato kasundi
Photo credit: DA’Burger/Facebook
Nelson Nasty–spice rubbed grilled chicken tenderloins, smoked bacon, jalapenos, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo and Wendy’s chilli jam with a hint of lemongrass and ginger
Photo credit: DA’Burger/Facebook
DA’Burger serves beef burgers, chicken burgers, lamb burgers, fish burgers, and even veggie and vegan burgers and Gluten-free buns for the conscious eaters out there. You also got to try their Chicken Wings tossed in one of their signature sauces like Thai style citrus magic with fresh coriander, jalapeno hot sauce, blend of Miso, honey and rice wine, or a simple seasoning with Himalayan pink salt and herbs.
What sets the Ascot venue apart from its New Farm sibling is the beer on tap, serving more than 35 craft beers from local breweries such as Green Beacon. However, if beer is not your thing, DA’Burger also serves a great selection of wine to wash all that good burger and chicken tastes down.
DA’Burger give back to the community by donating $2.30 to the Share the Dignity with each sale of Foul Play burger—Thai marinated chicken tenderloins, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, and Wendy’s chilli jam with a hint of lemongrass and ginger. Each $2.30 donated to Share the Dignity buys a period pack for the homeless.
“As a child, I witnessed domestic violence and know first hand the challenges one faces in dealing with it. Helping those in need now is something I’m deeply passionate about.” James D’Ath said.
Celebrate spring season at The Society Rooftop for The Spring Series 2018 presented by Chandon.
Starting at 2:00 p.m. each Saturday of the month, delight in endless Chandon Sparkling Rosé whilst you dance to the groove and enjoy great DJ entertainment with your friends.
Immerse yourself in the expansive gardens and don’t forget to take snaps at the event amidst the stylish themed decor and the magnificent views. The place is absolutely ‘gram-worthy.
Catch the sunset and toast to the new season of spring. Don’t miss out on this event as this is only available for four Saturdays this month, which kicked off on the 1st of September.
Woolworths just opened its latest store at Racecourse Village in Ascot. The newest store is Woolworths’ first next-generation store. It boasts a number of new features guaranteed to create a whole new shopping experience.
Woolworths 3.0
The new features, dubbed as “Woolworths 3.0”, include flame-roasted chickens and an array of seafood from a new fish market. Other features include artisan bread and made-to-order cakes from the full production bakery. The Woolworths Ascot store will also feature a new ready meals section. The ready meals section is filled with fresh sandwiches, salads, and healthy juices for customers looking for easy meal options.
Picking up orders in-store is now even more convenient for those who prefer to do their shopping online. There is a dedicated Drive Thru service area at the side of the building with parking bays.
Photo credit: The Retail Designers/Facebook
“Woolworths Racecourse Village Ascot marks the next evolution of our journey to create a neighbourhood food store for Queensland customers. It provides a great shopping experience for our local customers, with good prices on products they want, a great fresh offer and the convenience they are looking for,” Woolworths Queensland State Manager, Matthew Franich said.
“Our team has spent a great deal of time understanding how local customers like to shop and designed this store with their shopping needs in mind to create this next-generation grocery shopping experience.”
Fruit and Vegetables – Shoppers will experience a “marketplace” feel while choosing from an extensive range of Australian fresh fruit and vegetables.
Deli – Pick up cured meats sliced to order. The can also choose their favourite olives from the deli or select from 90 delicious kinds of cheese.
Flame-Roasted Chicken – Expertly marinated with breadcrumbs, herbs, and the juice of half a lemon – and hand-stuffed in-store. Free-range chicken is flame roasted to tender perfection for 30 minutes.
Bakery – Customers can order custom-made party cakes and freshly made pastries. They even have artisan bread loaves and freshly-made flatbread which are perfect for burritos, wraps, and even pizza bases.
Butcher – A new and free ‘Bag and Bake’ service available in meat and poultry, including Memphis Smokey BBQ, Cajun Seasoning, Herb and Garlic, and Portuguese Seasoning marinades. Meats are sourced locally, organic, and Heart Smart.
Seafood – Fresh fish caught locally from Australia and New Zealand. There offer free ‘Bag and Bake’ with fantastic marinade options, including tomato and basil, lime and chilli fusion, Thai sweet chilli, roast garlic and herbs, and teriyaki and ginger.
Macro Wholefoods Market – Pick from an extensive range of certified organic products, including loose nuts, seeds and grains, and gluten-free range.
Sushi – Made to order and handmade fresh sushi with Platter pre-orders are also available. There are hot Japanese dishes on the takeaway menu, including Poke bowls, Katsu Chicken, and Teriyaki Chicken.
Pick up – online shopping made convenient through a dedicated Pickup area at the front of the store. Likewise, there is a convenient Drive-thru service to the side of the building with designated parking bays for store-to-boot convenience.
One With the Community
To minimize environmental impact and ensure sustainability, Woolworths used LED lights and carbon-efficient refrigeration and air-conditioning systems.
“Being part of the local community is very important to us, and we’re looking forward to hosting local schools in our Fresh Food Kids Discovery Tours program. We’re also helping minimise food waste via our partnerships with OzHarvest and Foodbank to help provide meals to Australians in need,” Matthew Franich concluded.
Woolworths Ascot is located in Racecourse Village, 188 Nudgee Rd, Ascot.
