OPINION: Local news still rules on holiday break

QT team work through break to deliver breaking local news

I WAS staying down near Coolangatta with friends some years back when I first heard the Gold Coast suburb referred to as "Little Ipswich."

Caloundra was always my family's holiday destination when we were kids, so I was a tad ignorant of just how many Ipswich people headed for the Pacific Highway - as opposed to the Bruce - once they had the station wagon packed up.

Whatever way you were headed, one thing was certain; there was no better feeling as a kid than heading to the coast for a week or so of nothing but going to the beach, getting sunburnt as hell and swimming or surfing until your parents started to wonder if they should call the police.

Likewise, there was nothing more sobering than driving back into the dry heat of an Ipswich afternoon following said week of fun by the sea.

One thing I recall about those holidays was that they used to sell the QT down at the shop; which not only meant that a fair few Ipswich people were up there, but that they also demanded the local news - even while on holidays.

Mobile phones have mostly replaced those sought after copies of the QT at the Caloundra shop, but I would like to think that this relationship with our readers hasn't deteriorated.

So, while those few weeks from Christmas Day to about mid-January are some of quietest you are likely to experience in our neck of the woods, our job here doesn't change.