Is anyone else sick and tired of the 'big boy' supermarkets and their tactics? Well, I for one am. As is said, almost daily these days, on the current affairs-type programs - these guys are really ripping us and aussie food producers off.

We do a fortnightly (sometimes 3 weekly if I don't get around to it!) 'big' shop at one of the Nowra supermarkets and every time I go, I see more of the 'house-brand' items there on the shelves. Now, I don't have a major issue with that - it's the removal of other brands that gets right up my nose.

Sure, I can understand there are many people out there 'doing it tough' and a saving of even a few cents is worth making, but we must all realise that if we buy more and more of the 'house-brand' products then eventually we'll have little else to choose from. How long do you think the house-branded stuff will stay so cheap?? Come on, once they have eliminated the competition they can charge whatever they like!

Sure - there will eventually be 'budget' house-brand items and 'premium' house-brand items to choose from - but, where do you think they will come from? Yep, you guessed it, China, Mexico etc. If they are aussie-sourced, then you can bet the poor old farmer will get bugger-all for the produce or products!

Do what I do - take one of their 'Customer Experience Feedback' forms (or whatever they call the complaint forms), tell them that you are sick of the situation and would they kindly give us a real choice and pop one in the letterbox EVERY time you do a shop (they are usually post-paid so it costs nothing but 1/2 hour of your time). You can say at least that you have had your say and you never know, they may take notice if enough shoppers complain about it!

Let's get the ball rolling - why do you like living here? Let us all know your 'pros and con's of our village. What makes it special to you and what do you think needs improvement?

Personally, having only been a 'local' for just over 3 years now, I can only say that the place is fantastic.
Everyone I have come in contact with, either personally or in business has been welcoming and friendly.

Pros: The weather (cool sea breezes on hot summer days keeps it far more comfortable than town) - the facilities (well, we have almost everything here we need don't we?) - the beach and river of course!
Cons: None that I can think of except the painful drive into town for the big supermarket shop!

I believe that our community needs a purpose built childcare centre that includes an Out Of School Hours (OOSH) service as well. The current childcare centre is based in the original town hall. It may have been suitable 15- 20 years ago when it catered only for preschool aged children. Today the centre caters for 2 - 5 years olds in one large room. This means 4-5 year old children miss out on vital learning equipment because it could be deemed hazardous for two year olds.

There has been talk about renovating the hall to accomodate this need. This would only be a bandaid as there is inadequate storage, inadequate design for appropriate supervision at all times. We need to move into the 21st century with modern facilities that cater for under two's, 2 - 3's, and 4 - 5 year old children.

Why change a perfectly good building that could be used by other community groups such as a a performing arts or theatre group etc? If the Marina goes ahead and employment opportunities increase, then families will need adequate childcare for both preschool and school age children.

If you agree why don't you convey your thought to the Shoalhaven Harbour group who are in the consultation phase with our community in regards to what our community needs.

One of the real issues facing all website designers is, and always has been, visitor screen resolution.

Back in the days of Windows95 and even 98 most people had their computers set to 640x480 screen size. We had 14 and 15 inch CRT (tube) monitors and video cards that had maybe 4Mb of ram onboard, and so there was little choice. We finally progressed to 800x600 when things improved.

These days the most common resolution is 1024x768 but 1280x1024 is quickly becoming the 'new standard' now that we have 19 inch and higher LCD monitors and video cards with 128Mb (and often more) memory installed.

The problem is, there are still around 30 percent of web site visitors using 800x600 - and designers have to make an effort to accommodate this sizable number of visitors to the sites they create and maintain. This always involves a compromise - in the case of this site, visitors running their monitors at this resolution will notice they have to 'horizontally scroll' to view all the page content. The sidebar menu layout looks odd too - sorry I can't get this any better than it is.

Like most sites now, visitors still running at 640x480 (under around 5% and rapidly dropping thank goodness) would find it impossible to navigate - and I have made no efforts to accommodate them.

For visitors running the more usual 1024x768 or higher this compromise affects them in that I can't fill the entire screen width with the site content and so avoid the need for 'vertical scrolling', but I believe the compromise is acceptable.

The problem won't go away any time soon I guess as screen resolution is continually improving (or depending on your eyesight getting worse!) and designers will continue to have to make compromises - oh, for a consistent standard!

Now, browser choice is a whole other issue, but I'll go into that subject at a later time. For now though, can I state this: 'In my opinion, Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 is junk'.
IE6 was bad enough with it's severe privacy and security issues, but IE7 has become a nightmare for both users and designers. Please, if you do nothing else this year - download the fantastic Firefox. It was the inspiration for IE7 but they actually got it right first time!

In 1797 the Shoalhaven area was crossed by the survivors of the wreck of the Sydney Cove and then by explorer George Bass who, investigating their reports, followed Seven Mile Beach, crossed the shoals at the entrance to the Shoalhaven River and noted the fertile river flats. He named the shallow mouth of the Crookhaven River (as it is now known) 'Shoals Haven'.

In 1805 the coastline was mapped from the land by Lieutenant Kent and assistant surveyor-general James Meehan. They explored the area noting the dense rainforest and heavy timber in the area.

Seven years later surveyor George William Evans journeyed from Jervis Bay to the Shoalhaven, which he crossed in a bark canoe, and climbed Cambewarra Mountain where he remarked upon the magnificent views. He descended to Broughton Creek and struck out to the coast before returning to Appin.

James Meehan returned in 1818 when he was sent with explorers Charles Throsby and Hamilton Hume by Governor Macquarie to seek a route from the southern tablelands to Jervis Bay. Meehan and Hume followed the Shoalhaven upriver while Throsby, with the help of Aboriginal guides, explored Kangaroo Valley down to the Shoalhaven then crossed it and journeyed on to Jervis Bay. The following year Meehan and Hume returned to the area.

From 1830 the current site of Shoalhaven Heads was known as 'Jerry Bailey' for reasons now lost. The name was changed in 1955.

There were nothing but primitive huts manned by fishermen for quite some time and no lasting settlement occurred until the 1930s.

Coolangatta was settled in 1822 by Alexander Berry and Edward Wollstonecraft. They obtained a grant of 10,000 acres and 100 convicts and built their settlement on the foothills of the mountain named 'Coolangatta', an Aboriginal word meaning view.