Cruisin’ Down the Channel
January 28, 2019
What A Line-Up!
January 28, 2019We could not produce this enormous event without a great deal of help, and we are delighted to welcome an impressive line-up of new partners for the 2019 festival. They join a group of generous Tasmanian businesses and organisations who believe that the MyState Bank Australian Wooden Boat Festival is a worthwhile expression of what’s best about Tasmania and are willing to put their resources behind it.
RACT is a highly respected home-grown brand that has been part of the Tasmanian community for 95 years. RACT Insurance covers a broad range of insurance policies for car, boat, travel, home and contents – even caravans and trailers. With local offices across the state, finding good advice and competitive quotes is easy when you are dealing with a trusted Tasmanian company.
Specsavers has come aboard for the 2019 festival with a brilliant new initiative – a competition to find the very best in professional and amateur photography from wooden boat festivals gone by. We don’t know why we didn’t think of this before, but there are hundreds of beautiful images captured at the festival every second year and here’s a chance to see the finest, in a great setting – the Brooke Street Pier. There are serious prizes to be won: $3,000 First Prize, $1,500 Second Prize and a People’s Choice Award of $500. A panel of qualified judges had selected the finalists for display and you can cast your own vote for the People’s Choice Award at the venue.
Brand Tasmania has been a champion of Tasmanian industry and visitor experiences since the early 1990s. There is perhaps no other organisation that has done more to promote the amazing brand identity Tasmania has built over the past 25 years. From superb food to unique experiences, stunning accommodation to celebrity chefs, Brand Tasmania has been at the heart of building our enviable reputation for quality, craftsmanship and genuine hospitality. These are qualities fundamental to the AWBF and we’re pleased to have Brand Tasmania join us as a partner. Just browsing their website will make you proud of where you live.
The most recent addition to the Sullivan’s Cove waterfront is the stunning MACq 01 hotel, a super- stylish creation in natural timber
and glass at the northern end of the harbour, in Hunter Street. Dubbed ‘a storytelling hotel’, it features dozens of personalities and characters who have contributed to the growth of Hobart, with each room dedicated to a Tasmanian character whose story has, in some way, shaped Tasmania’s culture as we see it today. Storytelling spans across the whole hotel, including the indigenous-themed lounge with authentic aboriginal artefacts. A team of full-time storytellers offer tours to the public to promote understanding of Tasmanian culture. MACq 01 will be offering storytelling tours ($20pp) and seafood BBQs on the deck every day of the festival.
MACq01 will provide a fantastic prize for two lucky people – a luxury two-night stay at the property in a waterfront suite with breakfast included and one dinner at the gorgeous Old Wharf Restaurant. Festival visitors can register their email address to fill out a post-festival questionnaire and enter the draw.
We are very pleased to see the smartly turned-out seaplane back in King’s Pier Marina on the Hobart waterfront. The deHavilland Beaver is a genuinely amphibious aircraft operated by Above & Beyond Tasmanian Seaplanes. They fly short aerial tours over Hobart and longer flights to some of Tasmania’s most beautiful locations, for experiences you will never forget. Expect to see the seaplane taking off and landing frequently during the festival as proud owners view their boats from above. Their ticket office is right in the heart of the festival site.
