Thursday, May 15, 2014

 'Monster cookies' join gift list for Redland mothers

Image from the Express Cookies facebook page
BEACH fishing on North Stradbroke Island is a favourite recreation for Darren Lind, of Victoria Point, but the line will stay in the reel this week as his business enters a new phase.
Darren was working in his trade as a carpenter when just over three years ago he decided to seek a new career.
He set up a home-based business, Express Cookies, distributing tasty treats supplied by a Victorian factory.
Darren is now known as “the cookie man” as he travels around south-east Queensland delivering to cafes and restaurants.
His typical working day starts early with trips between Redcliffe, Kingscliff and Ipswich on his schedules.
“It's still just a small business but growing each week and getting to the stage where it will need dedicated premises somewhere,” he says.
Darren says the offer of a free sample pack to restaurants and cafes has helped business growth.

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A colourful notice in the Classifieds has announced a new era for Express Cookies, offering Mother's Day baskets containing 10 wrapped 'monster cookies' and either a candle or a coffee mug, with delivery on the Redland mainland.
Darren conducted a trial of a themed promotion at Easter selling similar baskets, complete with bunny.
Encouraged by the response, he plans to market cookies for other occasions on the cultural calendar and offer personalised baskets for birthdays and anniversaries.
Darren expects a busy weekend, also attending Redland Bay markets on Sunday.
Cookie vendors may have an insight into dietary habits. Darren says trade ebbs during summer but rises in autumn.
“As it cools down people drink more coffee and that goes with cookies, muffins and things like that,” he says.
While most Redlanders bemoaned this week's cold snap, Darren could rub his hands in anticipation of brisk trade. After growing up in the South Australian inland he can handle the chill.

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This year is the 25th anniversary of the young carpenter's arrival in the Redlands during his travels, stopping first at a Capalaba van park.
His hometown of Woomera was no match for our bayside. “I just fell in love with the place,” he says.
Darren first settled at Wellington Point and he says he has no plans to move from Victoria Point, which has been a good base for his business.
“The cookie man” sometimes has helpers on his rounds – his wife Nicole and their teenage son, Dolton, who enjoys travelling with his dad, and of course has inherited his parents' love of fishing at daybreak with feet in the Straddie sand.

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This column has appeared in The Redland Times.

Sunday, May 04, 2014

'Health and wealth' echoes as mantra for baby boomers


A LONG journey on some highways and byways of Queensland life has led Tim Campion (right) to Victoria Point but he's not resting as he advances toward retirement age. Once a "typical country boy" who grew up on a sheep and cattle property on the western Darling Downs, Tim now describes himself as an entrepreneur.
At 62 years old, he is not winding down but rather ramping up to prepare for his senior years with a mantra of "health and wealth" at top of mind.
He works out at a gym three times a week and brims with energy as he talks about his new projects.
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Tim has already lived a full life, after he left the family property while in his twenties, to study for a business degree.
"I stumbled across the opportunity to start my own business, line marking, and had contracts around the greater Brisbane area including the Redland Shire Council," he says.
"At the time I was living at Sheldon and started a nursery there."
In the late 1980s, Tim returned to work on the family property, between Miles and Chinchilla, and decided to study law. 
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He says his admission as a barrister allowed him to start a practice in Chinchilla and Toowoomba and he later served as the senior lawyer with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service in Mt Isa, then moved to Wellington Point and defended in cases in the Cleveland, Wynnum and Holland Park Magistrates Courts.
Tim says he mistakenly believed the sale of the family property to a gas company almost four years ago would allow him to retire.
However, after seeing how quickly his wealth was shrinking, he knew positive action was imperative.
"We can no longer rely on a little nest egg of superannuation to get us through," he says. "So many people in the baby boomer category are looking for the means to give them quality of life in their impending retirement." 
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Tim believes he has found a perfect solution in the marketing of a US-developed dietary supplement, Protandim, that is hailed as a weapon against "oxidative stress".
That is the background to the "medical breakthrough" that Tim recently announced in the Business Opportunities column.
The Protandim website says the supplement's five natural ingredients work together to activate an enzyme that communicates with the body's cells, "instructing them to ... survive in the face of stress from free radicals and other oxidants, and ... help the body function at an optimal level".
If enthusiasm and energy are any guide, Tim Campion appears to be a walking and talking example of the supplement's efficacy.
This column has appeared in The Redland Times.




Paddle with passion in 'wilderness' with houses in view

Glorious Moreton Bay, courtesy of www.louisedenisenko.com
MY research has failed to identify the thinker who coined the often-quoted phrase, "Stop and smell the roses", but one thing's for sure - he/she didn't live in our bayside districts.
The best advice to or from anyone who knows our great Redland City and south-east Queensland's huge air conditioner, Moreton Bay, must be, "Get out there on the water and enjoy it - now."
We may take the bay for granted as we soldier on with day-to-day issues of survival in our modern urban lifestyles.
Just take a minute to soak up the vista from the mainland to Straddie and north toward Moreton Island and think how lucky we are to live in such an environment.
Better still - hop in a kayak and pit yourself against the elements. Get close to the other side of the mangroves you normally drive past. Feel that little nip of apprehension that you may interest a shark - and the sweet anticipation of getting up close and personal with a dolphin.
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Bruce Mitchell, of Thorneside, has done it. He has been out there, with a dolphin and calf swimming beside his kayak and keeping him company for "quite some time".
He is thankful he has not had a close encounter with the species with the teeth while kayaking on Moreton Bay and its waterways, and says the scent of the bay is better than a whole field of roses.
Auckland-born Bruce migrated to Australia in 1986 but did not bring his kayak across "the ditch" - as freight - until about a decade ago.
The kayak then crossed the Nullabor atop his car, and he paddled on Western Australia's Murray River before moving back to the Redlands.
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Bruce later bought a top-range 4.8m model. His favourite outing has been up Tingalpa Creek, "all the way to Capalaba".
"It's like you are in wilderness, among the mangroves and bush, although you do see the houses in parts," he says.
"Kayaking is such a great experience, and we are very lucky to live where we live."
Bruce was sad to advertise his beloved kayak for sale, after a spinal injury that was unrelated to his paddling passion.
"A hell of a nice bloke has bought it," he says. "He's from Victoria Point and is going to paddle back down there."
Bruce estimates the trip will take probably four hours. His advice to kayakers is to ensure the wind and tides are on their side.
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This column has appeared in The Redland Times.