THIS region really punches above its weight when it comes to its rich diversity of life.

On my way home from work for much of the past fortnight I have driven past the wonderful staging of NORPA's production of Dreamland.

This was held at Eureka as part of If These Halls Could Talk project.

What a production. It's now sadly over. But wow.

Great music, drama, dancing, singing, comedy and physical theatre.

Audience participation was invited and given freely and the end of the show basically morphed into a dance-a-thon.

But wait, there is a second example of our region punching above its weight.

On one particular night last week, on my commute home, I sailed past Dreamland at Eureka and landed in Federal where the local Japanese cafe Doma was putting on a 'picnic'.

This involved a delicious savoury pancake served up at picnic tables under the stars, followed by surf films projecting on an oudoor screen.

There was about 150 people at this event. Plenty of cool Japanese families surrounded by their friends, customers and fellow workers.

I don't know too many other places in Australia you could be doing that on a Monday night.

If you want a third example of this region punching above its weight what about Lismore golfer Sam Brazel winning the Hong Kong Open?

Ranked 480th in the world the 37-year-old defied the odds to win $440,000.

Not bad, hey?