I dropped in on the Coates Hire Newcastle 500 office last week to receive an update on preparations and a quick tour of the course, which is still a work in progress.

My interest in the event is more than personal, however.

As Mayor of Lake Macquarie, I am very keen to work with the organisers to ensure our city receives the benefits that a tourism event of this scale can bring to the surrounding region.

The race is expected to draw about 150,000 spectators over three days. A substantial number will be travelling from outside our region, which means they will be looking for accommodation, places to eat, and things to do during their stay.

Supercars organisers tell me that Newcastle’s 2800 accommodation rooms are already booked out for the event, so Lake Macquarie is well-placed to pick up the overflow, given its proximity to and public transport links with inner-city Newcastle Lake Macquarie City Council tourism staff report a spike already in bookings and inquiries around the race weekend, 24-26 November.

They have set up a Supercars landing page on the visitlakemac.com.au website, in order to direct people looking for accommodation to the options available in our City.

So, if you know of people coming to town for the event, direct them to our tourism website.

We want to put Lake Macquarie in the driver’s seat to reap economic benefits from this national sporting event.

I had the pleasure of attending a recent rehearsal by the Marching Koalas for their upcoming tour to the USA for in the famous Pasadena Rose Parade.

The Marching Koalas are a regional musical institution.

Launched in 1983 – their first performance was for Prince Charles and Princess Diana – they have performed all over the world.

The 8.5-kilometre Pasadena Rose Parade takes place on New Year’s Day in front of a crowd of 750,000 and a TV audience of up to 50 million.

It is an honour to be invited and I have no doubt the Marching Koalas will once again do their home region proud.