Two Deniliquin businesses headed for the NSW Tourism Awards in Sydney last week, with one returning with a prize.
Deniliquin BIG4 Holiday Park was awarded bronze in the Caravan and Holiday Parks category.
The honour on Thursday night came as the park was ramping up preparations to deal with this week’s predicted 9.6m flood surge peak.
Winning gold was a Hastings Point-based park, and second prize went to a park on the Central Coast.
Representatives of The Depot Historic Collection also attended the gala awards evening, but the popular museum did not get a placing in its award category.
They’re both winners in the community’s eyes though.
Deni Lights Up is back
It’s time to drag out your ladder, get someone else to untangle your lights and start decorating to enter the Deni Lights Up competition.
While some of the details for the competition are still being finalised, registrations are being taken now.
Once again, there are categories for homes and businesses.
To enter go to https://bit.ly/denilightsup.
Winners will be announced at the Edward River Community Christmas Party in the Deniliquin Waring Gardens on December 16.
Northern stars
A weary but ecstatic group of Deniliquin North School students, teachers and parent helpers returned home from Maryborough at the weekend beaming with pride.
The school’s Northern Stars team ended their Energy Breakthrough Pushcart Challenge campaign with a win.
They were the overall winners in the endurance event.
The HVP team - the Blue Crew - finished their challenge on Saturday clocking up more than 300km in their human powered vehicle over 16 hours.
Final results from the HVP challenge were not available at the time of going to print yesterday, so we’ll have more details about the entire challenge weekend in Friday’s edition.
Mozzie products - the new toilet paper crisis
Mosquitoes continue to be quite the topic of conversation.
The mozzie boom has led to a surge in demand for products such as Aerogard and Stingose, with customers snapping up anything they can get their hands on to repel the pesky insects - even essential oils.
It reminds us of the start of COVID-19, and the trouble we had sourcing toilet paper.
Both local pharmacies have reported having to restock insect spray and repellent products daily, and that they are struggling to keep up.
The demand is also having an impact higher up the supply chain with pharmacies reporting delays and issues sourcing certain products.
Stagnant flood waters combined with warm weather creates ideal conditions for mosquito-borne diseases such as Japanese encephalitis (JE), Ross River virus, Kunjin virus and Murray Valley encephalitis.
While the mozzies won't be going anywhere soon, there are a number of steps you can take to protect yourself when leaving the house, such as applying insect repellent over all areas of exposed skin, wearing loose-fitting clothing and to get the JE vaccine if you're eligible.
For more information, go to https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/mosquito-borne/Pages/default.aspx.