The Travel Auctions concept is an amazing innovation witch enables a couple to holiday at selected venues all over Australia at your own price. Various destinations are offered for sale at a recommended retail price, and the public is invited to bid their own price and to be among the top 50 bidders to be eligible to win that holiday. These venues are posted on T.V, radio or on the web site. After the closing date we are notified by 'phone by very courteous and friendly office personnel who will advise you of your success, (or I suppose otherwise) We have bid for seven of these holidays and been successful with the whole seven. Terrific idea for saving on your holidaying accommodation expenses.

Approximate cost: $Name your own price.

The Coomealla Memorial and sporting Club is probably the best sporting, dining, pokie and leisure venue in the area which includes Wentworth, Mildura and Euston. The club is a spacious and ultra modern establishment with friendly and courteous staff, great meal deals with yummy food, a sports bar, entertainment area and lots of pokies. Membership is less than a dollar a month at $11 per year, with bonuses, give aways and prizes for members. The meal deals include Wednesday lunch $5, daily lunch $7 (not Sundays), Sunday 2 course lunch for $8.50 and Tuesday snitzel from $8.75. Evening meals are a little dearer. A great place to stay for a couple of days with the Coomealla caravan park just down the road, the town centre back the other way and the golf course over the road and the river a short walk from that. We've been to this club a number of times now and we are going back.

We had Foxtel installed years ago, cancelled it when I was on the dole but now I am retired, have had it reinstalled. I think it is a marvelous innovation especially with the IQ box. This allows you to record programs at unearthly hours in the morning, such as darts from the UK. It also enables you to record a linked series by setting the unit up once only and it will record each ensuing episode automatically. If you happen to miss a program or a movie, chances are that it will be on again at a later date so you can choose the option of watching it or recording it. We have the full package and it is great to view old movies free of ads most of the time, kids programs to keep the grand kids entertained, and live cricket and football usually hours before they make time to televise them on free to air. It was a real bummer though, when the Ovation channel was withdrawn and now has to be paid for separately. Bad Luck. Not this little black duck, but overall we view Foxtel more now than we ever had before and it is much better than most of the rubbish served up on free to air. A winner.

We have been dealing with Identity Direct on line now for a number of years and we have had no problems to date at all. I have bought personallised story books, D.V.Ds and cuttlery sets to name a few for the grand kids, and each time they have arrived in good order and before their recommended due date. I also like to receive their e-mails every so often to see what else is new. The only problem is that we have four grand children and you can't buy something for one with out the other , so it does become a little expensive when you have to but four of every thing, but this is not their fault, all their items are pretty reasonably priced and good quality. We will continue shopping with them.

We have had our Puratap for a few years now and would not be without it. Prior to using Puratap our kettle was brown inside from the residues of tap water, but since we have been using water from Puratap the kettle is as clean as the day we bought it. You can also notice the difference in taste if you happen to drink mains water by mistake. They installed it with a minimum of fuss and every twelve months on the dot they return to change the filters. We enjoy the quality and taste of the water so much now that we bought our son and his wife a Puratap for Christmas and now he drinks the water where he never used to before. Even his two kids aged 5 and 3 help themselves to the easy to use tap and fill their bottles up, whereas before they would only drink cordial. We would recommend any one spending a little money and installing a Puratap - it is well worth it.

Filling out your tax return usually is a burden at the best of times. By the time you unwrap the Tax Pack decipher all the rigmarole and then do another copy for yourself, four hours of more has elapsed. Down load the E-tax from the ATO site and follow the prompts. I have been using E-tax for the last six years and find it a piece of cake. E-tax takes you through the whole process from personal details to a refund (hopefully), logging online and printing out a copy for your records. If you are unsure of an entry or what you can claim, click on the blue link and read it through. No more letters or phone calls to the tax department, all you need is at the click of a button. The first time you use E-tax may take a little longer whilst setting up your details but ensuing years use the roll over feature and all you personal details are inserted. If your situation is straight forward, no shares no business no complicated issues, it should take you no longer than a couple of hours. The best thing since sliced bread.

The good All you information at the click of a button.
The Bad Two hours of your time.

Approximate cost: $Zilch, nothing, Zero

We go to Priceline Ingle Farm for a myriad of health and beauty products most of which are a bit cheaper than a regular chemist. They have a good range of products to suit all incomes and are neatly arranged and categorised. The staff is friendly and willing to assist for hard to find items in the store.

We usually go to the Ingle Farm Fruit Market when we do our shopping locally. A good range of fresh produce always arranged neatly. Always seems fresher and of better quality than a similar product from supermarkets. Good quality and usually keeps for days sometimes a week or so when we get it home. Friendly and helpful staff willing to assist and advise.

We usually go to Kmart Ingle Farm as a result of seeing an advertised special. Most of their specials can save a good deal of money if you are there at the right time. The staff are friendly and helpful and the store is laid out so products can be found easily. We also go to this store to source specific items when needed as it is in our local shopping centre.

We have been to Australia zoo four times, and as we are from South Australia we had to get around by public transport. We were on the train on the return journey from Robina on the Gold Coast heading for Brisbane when the news of Steve Irwin's death came through. This was just three days before we were due to go to the Zoo. Many people may think that Steve was a thorough idiot but what he has achieved at the zoo is a tremendous credit to him. The staff are constantly cleaning sweeping mowing raking etc so as hardly to leave a blade of grass out of place, a animal dropping hardly to be seen or a piece of paper blowing in the breeze. The staff are friendly, although three days after Steve's death the mood was sombre to say the least, and will allow visitors to touch and inter act with some of the animals. The show at the 'Crocoseum' is awe-inspiring and captivating. There is a great variety of healthy food at the food court at very reasonable prices. The entry fee is more than reasonable and well worth every cent. The souvenirs at the gift shop and around the grounds though are a little pricey. A word of warning - if you are contemplating travelling to the Zoo by public transport, you can get there reasonably easily but you need to be fully aware of what buses are available and their times of departure from the zoo to either Beerwah or Caboolture stations well before you wish to leave. All in all a great place to spend a days outing in I feel the best zoo in Australia - Adelaide has a fair way to go, Perth is almost there but Australia Zoo --- Magic.