Health & Wellbeing

Spending three months alone on a river with the only companion being your thoughts and the ripple of the water would be intimidating and daunting for most, but this is the battlefield where Canberra's Marc Nieuwenhuys chooses to fight his greatest enemy. Departing on 24 August, Nieuwenhuys will kayak unassisted and with no support crew along Australia’s longest river - the...

A Cooma business that delivers mental health first aid training to up-skill women in rural and regional areas is the latest recipient of a grant from the NSW Government’s Investing in Women Grant Program. Susan Burke Interactive Lessons Design is one of 16 organisations to receive funding across NSW and will receive $25,000 to help fund their program that supports women experiencing mental...

When I sneak into the Bega Showground Pavillion, light is streaming through the high windows and the fLiNG crew are sitting on the floor, listening attentively to creative director Kate Denborough, who is taking them through a play-by-play of their new production, My Black Dog. The production is part of a two-year project by the Bega-based physical theatre company which tackles...

Australia’s most respected and experienced social researcher, Hugh Mackay, believes something is wrong with our nation and in the lives of its citizens. At the inaugural Festival of Open Minds in September 2018, Hugh came to Bega to explain what and why, but more importantly how he thinks we can change for the better. "It's at the local level that...

I'm waiting for Chris Groninger at the bus stop opposite Centrelink in Bega on a chilly evening. Although dusk is falling, there is no sign of Chris or his Soup Ute until he suddenly pulls up alongside me and unceremoniously begins unloading a few boxes. "This is it, this is the Soup Ute," Chris says with a broad smile. "We...

"I so easily feel helpless in the face of what seem like overwhelming global problems, but this is one small way I can contribute and know that my contribution will make a direct difference to individual families like mine," says Julia Stiles, one of the organisers of this Saturday's Tathra Winter Morning Walk. The beach walk, breakfast, and dip in the...

Confession time. I’m not a big “group activity” person. Well, there is the one exception, usually associated with the popping of a cork on a few bottles of French bubbly. So when a friend suggested adding a day trek to her 50th birthday celebrations at Mollymook on the NSW South Coast, a cruisey stroll through the bush to somewhere called...

One of the region's rising artists is the latest to sign on for the Festival of Open Minds in Bega this September. Sassi Nuyum, aka Meaghan Holt, has been writing since she was a little girl - writing runs in her family's blood. Meaghan lost her mother at the age of 9 and has since been raised predominately with her Aboriginal...

A new cancer podcast offering support to residents in South East NSW is now available, the 10 episode series is a deep dive into treatments, hope, life and loss. John O’Neill was diagnosed with advanced brain cancer in May 2018 and had trouble finding information that openly addressed the crisis he was facing. “Searching for information in the wake of...

With spring in the air comes another step forward in Tathra's evolving and ongoing growth beyond the bushfire of autumn 2018. As has been the case over the last 17 months a bunch of locals have seen a need and are stepping up to fill it with a Garden Recovery and Open Gardens weekend on August 24 and 25 in...

The Tuross community will be without a doctor from the end of this month, a move that will alarm other communities in Southern New South Wales. "The difficult and disappointing decision has been made to close this practice – the last consulting day will be Friday, 30 August 2019," a media statement from Queen Street Medical Centre Tuross says. GP Partner,...

The Snowy Monaro's largest locally based disability and aged care provider, Cooma Challenge, has announced the opening of a Jindabyne office, located in the Snowy Mountains Neighbourhood Centre. "We saw a significant need for a local service in Jindaybyne," says recently appointed CEO Darren Carr, "and the community has been very welcoming." Currently, Coordinator Peter Wilson works from the Neighbourhood Centre...

Students from Bega Valley high schools have been asked to come up with an idea which addresses a problem they see in their community and after three months of working on their plans with adult mentors, the students pitched their ideas this week to members of the community at Bega's University of Wollongong Campus. The program, Youth frontiers, is run...

The 2019/2020 bush fire season along the Far South Coast will start early, as the shadow of the vast and long-running Yankees Gap Bushfire still looms large. Thursday, August 1 will be the official start of the statutory Bush Fire Danger Period for the Eurobodalla and Bega Valley. The NSW Rural Fire Service is urging residents to prepare for the...

Fresh is best and the Eurobodalla is about to experience more of it with more back-yard vegetable gardeners, veggie beds and a new community garden growing from a $20,000 grant for the SAGE 2019 Veggies for All program. Sustainable Agriculture and Gardening Eurobodalla (SAGE) received the grant from the IMB Bank Community Foundation, enabling the successful program to continue. The...

We are all inundated with talk of drought, changing climates, tougher times ahead. How are you feeling about all that? Are you coping with all that is being asked of us? Are you feeling overwhelmed and confused? Tired and exhausted? Is the worry of it all getting you down? What can you do to get back that feeling of control,...