sweet sorrow PARTING IS SUCH

WORDS BY LARINE STATHAM-BLAIR

We hope you’ve enjoyed Crush Magazine as much as we’ve enjoyed bringing it to you!

It started as a pipe dream. I dismissed it as a fleeting idea, but it just wouldn’t budge. In the early hours of the morning, I’d sit breastfeeding my son, dreaming up ways to positively promote the Bundaberg Region. I’d lived all over the country and couldn’t understand why more people weren’t proud to call it home. The news journalist in me hated all the negative press that visitors were confronted with. I wanted holiday makers to stay longer, spend their money here, supporting businesses to create jobs for young people. I wanted investors to see the potential in Bundaberg. I wanted to boost community morale. Could some positive public relations really make a difference; even in a small way?

Everyone told me traditional media was dead and it couldn’t be done. So I said: ‘watch me!’ I telephoned an old journo mate of mine. One of the best in the business: Nikki Sorbello. I begged that marvellous unicorn (the kind of multiskilled professional that rarely exists) to leave her marketing job and come on a magical mystery tour with me. I warned her it might be a flop, but she took a punt on me and together we created Crush Magazine.

We enlisted some extraordinary expert help along the way: our photographer Paul Beutel and graphic designer Rowena Preddy, among others.

I’m deeply grateful to the unwavering businesses and organisations that have been with us for every issue: The Place Hairdressing, The Optical Superstore, Cha Cha Chocolate, Kalki Moon Distilling Company, Bundaberg

Distilling Company, One Little Farm, Charlton’s Lawyers, Lyons Judge, Bundaberg Tourism, Saskia, Hitz939, Kaleidoscope Skin Cancer Clinic and Macadamias Australia. They advertised and collaborated with us because they shared our values and wanted to be part of a positive local movement.

It’s our fellow small business owners who will understand better than most just how tough and trying the past few years have been. It’s why, for professional and personal reasons, Nikki and I have decided to take a break from Crush. It isn’t goodbye; just see you later.

We are 12 issues in (my lucky number), with an amazing following of loyal readers, and I like to think Crush Magazine has achieved at least some of what it set out to do. And that’s enough for me; for now at least. Stay tuned.

If there was ever a nursery rhyme to capture the essence of Bundaberg it must be the childrens’ classic, What All The World Is Made Of. You know the one that describes little girls as being made of ‘sugar and spice and all things nice’ and boys come from ‘snips and snails and puppy dogs’ tails?

Without entering a debate about gender stereotypes, our diverse Region is just like the rhyme: full of glorious contradictions. Industrial and natural. Savoury and sweet. Bush and beach. Sugar and salt. Drought and flood. Spicy and soothing. Thrill-seeking and relaxing. Alcohol and mixers. These paradoxes mesh perfectly together to make the Bundaberg Region what it is today: a horticulture powerhouse with a growing agritourism sector and thriving manufacturing base.

The same juxtaposition exists between Crush Magazine’s co-founding editors. Nikki Sorbello is sweetness personified and Larine Statham-Blair loves to spice things up. As business partners, work wives and close friends, they strike the perfect balance.

It’s said that variety is the spice of life. So, in this, our 12th issue of Crush Magazine, we look at some of the things that make the Bundaberg Region such a nice place to live, work and holiday. We’ll help you spice up

WEBSITE your life by discovering new flavours, hobbies or events that take you out of your comfort zone.

Pursue a new career. Sweeten your life by spending more time with your loved ones, doing the things you enjoy. Life is short. Sing the silly rhymes you enjoyed as a child. Eat the cake. Dance like no one is watching.

Take care,

TEAM CRUSH

Special thanks: Paul Beutel, Rowena Preddy, Tara Jacobsen, Wayne and Diane Hurring, Leanne Toy, Tomas O’Malley, Ross Peddlesden, Michael Dart.

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Studio: Palace Arcade, 10/133 Bourbong St, Bundaberg

Postal Address: PO Box 2426, Bundaberg Qld 4670 www.crushmagazine.com.au crushbridal.com.au www.crushcommunications.com.au

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