HerCanberra - like catching up for coffee with friends. Image courtesy www.smh.com.au.

Canberra has come a long way from the place I remember as a child in the 1970s and 80s. And whilst Canberra’s reputation in the broader population still has some way to go, locals know what a great place it has become. We’re now spoilt for choice when it comes to shopping, dining, facilities, entertainment and more, but we’ve still got those ‘big country-town’ elements which make it such a great place to live and work. And I reckon it’s only going to get better.

Which leads me to two Canberra-centric websites that have popped up in recent weeks – hercanberra.com.au, and bestincanberra.com.au. These kinds of websites show the richness and diversity of experiences and facilities that Canberra now has to offer. But they do it quite differently.

A disclaimer before I start: hercanberra.com.au is the brainchild of a friend of mine, and I also happen to be smack bang in the middle of the websites’ target demographic (Canberran, female, mid to late 30s).

But this is what makes HerCanberra different from online directories such as Best in Canberra. It so obviously has a defined target market. Everything on that website speaks to Canberra women in their 20s to 40s, regardless of whether they are single women or stay-at-home mums. From great local shopping to kid-friendly restaurants, its content is interesting, useful and relevant to people just like me. It’s not trying to be all things to all people.

And it does it in a way that doesn’t scream advertising. In fact, it doesn’t even whisper it, because hercanberra.com.au puts quality content first and foremost. Amanda and the other contributors at hercanberra.com.au are fantastic writers, putting forward their opinions, experiences and ideas in ways that are both engaging and entertaining. The website itself is beautifully designed too.

Now I can’t write a post about my favourite local websites without a reference to RiotACT – the website I visit every single day (the-riotact.com). But whereas RiotAct is where I go for current affairs and local news (and the sometimes fiery exchanges in the comments), HerCanberra will be where I go to be entertained, to chillax and to find new ideas on how to enjoy our wonderful (and growing) city.

If you’re a local business targeting females in their 20s to 40s, or if YOU are a female in or around this age group, be sure to check out hercanberra.com.au. We here at Threesides think it might be the next big thing on the Canberra media scene!

What isn’t there to love about the place:

• ‘peak hour’ lasts for 25mins (20 mins without road works) – you’d be lucky to get to the corner shop in Sydney in that time.
• We get real seasons at the time of year they are meant to happen – unlike Melbourne that you wake up in winter, go to work in summer, lunchtime has fined up to a nice spring day and by 2.00pm you have the winter blues back again.
• We are located 2 hrs from the Snowy Mountains and 1.5 hours from the NSW South Coast – a 14 hour drive to the snow from Brisbane.

…and at this point everyone from interstate is going to start telling me that we don’t get massive concerts, we don’t have a grand prix, beaches or 1400 cafes down pokey little laneways.  I’m cool with that, that’s why I go on enough holidays to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and everywhere else in Australia because I love my whole country. We also have great clients across this region that gets us out the door and travelling all the time (NSW National Parks and Wildlife, Illawarra Fly Tree Top Walk, Tourism Wollongong to pick a few).

But what I love most about Canberra is that we are the centre of attention for people that want to “love Canberra in Disguise” - also known as Canberra Bashing or Canberra knockers.  You get it in the media all the time “Today Canberra sent 1,000 more troops to Iraq” – “Canberra has set up a new immigration detention centre” – “Canberra plans new taxes on the poor”.

I AM CANBERRA as much as any politician and I didn’t decide any of those things.  Politicians from Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney decided those.   They are Australians, we are all Australians (time for a song??).  Canberra is a place where you can get a great cross section of what it means to be Australian – it’s where I love to live regardless of what politicians say or do all day up on the hill – Canberra is full of much more goodness than that.

The point of this blog post you ask?  A pro-Canberra rant? A stop Canberra bashing rant? A shameless plug for six of our clients? No – the whole point of this post was to give you a great lead into a really funny video (aired on ABC’s Hungry Beast TV show) that one of our friends at the Australian Instititue of Sport sent me through (We worked on their Tourism Award win with them).

This made me laugh – it’s got all the good bits of Canberra in it and does a great job of taking the piss at the same time – Truly Australian Humour.

Enjoy – Todd.

Robyn and Denis Rowe - Grand Champions at the 2010 Sydney Royal Cheese and Dairy Produce Show

Canberra’s popular Saturday morning market, the Capital Region Farmers Market at EPIC, has successfully matched its growers with some of the best in Australia at the 2010 Sydney Royal Cheese and Dairy Produce Show, with three of the market’s most popular stallholders, Lindsay & Edmunds, Robyn Rowe and Small Cow Farm scooping up awards.

The judges of the show have taste tested their way through 863 products and have deemed Small Cow Farm, Robyn Rowe Chocolates and Lindsay & Edmunds Chocolates worthy winners of awards in their categories.

Farmers Market Spokesperson, Tony Howard, is most proud of the wins for these market stallholders, “The Sydney Royal Show award wins give real kudos to both these small businesses and also attest to the high calibre of products on offer each week at the Capital Region Farmers Market,” said Mr Howard.

Regarded as a premium cheese producer from Robertson, Small Cow Farm won gold and silver for their Petit Vache Brie and Petie Vache Camembert respectively. They were also awarded the Australian Cheeseboard Perpetual Trophy for their Petit Vache Brie, a huge honour according to Small Cow Farm cheese makers and owners Mark and Lesley Williams.

“Winning at the Royal Sydney Show is a great honour, it was such a surprise. We were tickled to win the Cheeseboard Perpetual Trophy and to be recognised alongside the likes of King Island,” Ms Williams said.

The Royal Sydney Show gives producers the opportunity to benchmark their products against the best that the country has to offer, whilst promoting their products under the respected Sydney Royal brand.

And another Capital Region Farmers Market favourite, Robyn Rowe Chocolates from Murrumbateman won the Champion Chocolate Award for her hand made assorted chocolates, for the second year. She also took out gold in the Boxed Chocolate assortment category.

“Winning the award for the second year in a row is a great honour. It’s helped us realise that we are producing some of Australia’s best chocolate, being up against companies such as Haigh’s from South Australia and The Margret River Chocolate Company,” Ms Rowe said.

The market’s handmade organic chocolate producer Lindsay & Edmunds, were also recognised at the Sydney Royal Show, winning gold for their Organic Caramelised Chilli Macadamia in Organic Dark Chocolate, and silver for their Organic Honey-Almond Praline in Organic Belgian Milk Chocolate.

The Capital Region Farmers Market will be closed on Saturday 27 February as the Royal Canberra Show will be in full swing on 26 – 28 February at Exhibition Park. The Market will operate as normal following the show on Saturday 6 March.

The Capital Region Farmers Market in Canberra is a genuine farmers market with over 100 stalls offering a diverse range of fresh food and agricultural produce straight from the producer to the customer. All funds generated from the Market are fed back into regional communities and other projects chosen by the Rotary Club of Hall which founded the Market in 2004.