Taiwan lights up for the end of Lunar New Year

If Taiwan has been on your travel "to do" list then next week might be a good opportunity.

The 2026 Taiwan Lantern Festival will be held in Chiayi County from March 3 to 15. 

Diverse offerings include the chance to stand beneath a 21-metre tower of glowing light while drones paint the night sky, fireworks burst overhead, and the sounds of Irish tap dancers fill the air. 

Taiwan Lantern Festival is one of Asia's most beloved annual celebrations - marking the end of the Lunar New Year . 

Each year it rotates to a different city and this year's theme is "Glow with Taiwan, Light Up Chiayi". 

The festival has 12 official "must-see" attractions. The centrepiece is "Glow of Alishan", a towering 21-metre main lantern synchronized to a full sound and light show. 

International artists include France's Cavalcade of White Horses and high-energy Irish tap dancers, along with the Taiwanese Paper Windmill Theatre, and the Ming Hwa Yuan Arts & Cultural Group.

Chiayi is accessible by high-speed rail with the Chiayi HSR Station connected to Taipei in under 90 minutes. 

See more at 2026taiwanlanternfestival.org/En 

Drone sighting shuts down major airport

Drones can be hugely useful work tools, and a lot of fun for leisure operators.

But they can also be a threat to aviation when operated close to an airport.

Operations at Gatwick Airport were disrupted over the weekend when a suspected drone was seen close to the runways.

A spokesman for the international airport outside London said operations were suspended temporarily for around 30 minutes to ensure no aircraft were affected.

He said 12 inbound aircraft were diverted to other airports during the incident.

Gatwick was previously shut down for over 24 hours after drone sightings in 2018, local media reported.

"Passenger safety is the airport's absolute priority and - following established procedures - operations at London Gatwick were suspended temporarily while investigations into the sighting of a suspected drone close to the airfield took place," an airport spokesman said.

Image: Nik Gracner, scop.io

Drones a new weapon for wine grape growers

Drones could be set to become an important new tool for the wine industry.

Used for vineyard inspections and spraying, drones are being promoted as "changing vineyard management to make it safer, easier, and more efficient".

In Hawke's Bay in New Zealand, the XAG P100 Agricultural Drone - which has a large payload for spraying - is being used to help wine growers control fungal diseases with less water usage and reduced manual labour.

Powdery mildew is a key challenge to grape frowers and fungal spores are more rampant after excessive rainfalls, putting more pressure on growers.

Warren Gibson, manager of Bilancia Vineyard in Hawke's Bay, had trouble with how to spray safely and efficiently, and used drones from XAG.

Bilancia is located on a steep hillside block, where Gibson and his colleagues used to spray using a quad bike.

"On such sloped terrain, the previous way the job was done was getting too dangerous for us," Gibson said.

"And we would easily get covered in chemicals, risking our health. Efficiency was another problem with the two-hectare vineyard taking about three hours to cover using the quad bike."

Airborne Solutions, XAG's partner in New Zealand, initiated a drone spraying trial, creating a 3D topographic map with an XAG M500 Remote Sensing Drone, then using the XAG P100 Agricultural Drone to spray precisely according to the terrain.

The vineyard was sprayed with an hour.

"The P100 has a 40kg payload, so it is heavy enough to generate a strong downdraft when flown slowly and penetrate the vines," said drone pilot Scott Horgan. 

"With grape spraying, you need to cover every single piece of the plants, or else the vine will still get diseases." 

For more detail see https://www.xagaustralia.com.au/

Here come your groceries - delivered by drone

 

My first thought was that April Fools' Day had been brought forward, but apparently not.

Gold Coast residents are to be added to a trial of a new service that delivers groceries direct to their homes.

Coles has paired with global on-demand drone delivery company Wing to trial the service in the Gold Coast suburbs of Ormeau, Ormeau Hills, and Yatala - starting on November 2.

The deliveries will be flown from the Coles store at Ormeau Village Shopping Centre and will be gradually expanded to include other nearby suburbs, delivering 500 of the most popular Coles grocery items including bread, fresh produce, convenience meals, snacks, health care items, and household essentials.

The press release says Coles is the first major Australian retailer to trial the new ‘store-to-door’ drone delivery model, with a dedicated fleet of Wing delivery drones co-located in the Coles store car park.

Coles team members will process and pack orders, and Wing staff will load the drones and oversee operation of the delivery service. Delivering frozen chickens or 24-packs of toilet rolls might be problematic.

Coles Head of Network Development and Customer Delivery (phew!) James Geddes said: “We are delighted to be expanding our drone delivery pilot program with Wing to our Queensland customers. 

"The service will provide a convenient and effective way of delivering everyday essentials to our customers’ homes in a matter of minutes.

“Customers can now get those urgent items they need in a hurry, delivered by drone, directly from the local Coles Ormeau Village store. 

"Whether they’ve forgotten to pick up a loaf of bread or fresh milk during their weekly shop or are missing an ingredient for dinner-time meal prep or school lunches, they can now get those products delivered quickly, without having to drive to the store."

The Coles drone delivery expansion into Queensland follows a successful pilot program launched in Canberra.

As part of the expansion into South-East Queensland, Wing will also be offering Coles items for delivery from the rooftop of the Gland Plaza in Logan City.

Customers can download the Wing app (available from the App Store or Google Play), enter their address, and add items to their cart before submitting their order.