PHUKET tourism leaders and resort representatives are on their way to Australia tonight on a flying ''road show'' designed to boost the holiday island's profile and income.

Ever wondered what happens on a Phuket road show? We'll tell you at every opportunity this week. Phuketwan chief reporter Chutima Sidasathian is one of more than 30 people in the Phuket party, if that's the right word for a group committed to hard work.

Tonight's V Australia flight out of Phuket is bound for Brisbane, then the group will move on to Sydney. They'll meet buyers in both big cities.

Phuket road shows are legendary for generating business. With a great holiday destination product to sell and plenty of experience at mounting comebacks since the 2004 tsunami, the Phuket standard-bearers are expected to do extremely well.

Khun Chutima is travelling light, carrying the kind of miniaturised gear that enables journalists these days to file stories, photographs and video with maximum impact but a minimum of effort.

She's a little sensitive, though, about Australia's cows and the Thai Ovaltine International Incident that marred her first visit to Australia earlier this year.

Answering an SOS from a Thai pal who expressed a preference for Thai Ovaltine over the Aussie variety, Khun Chutima bought 500 baht worth of Ovaltine on Phuket - and was amazed to have the lot confiscated by Customs officials on arrival in Sydney.

Apparently because the packaged Thai Ovaltine contained an imported dairy product in the form of powdered milk, Aussie officials saw it as a threat to all Down Under cows.

Khun Chutima was reluctant to admit it at the time, but we can now reveal that she really had planned to spend her entire holiday inserting the Ovaltine sachets up the rumps of as many cows as she could catch in the central city areas and suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne, even if it took her all two weeks. (Australian Customs officials are advised that this is an attempt at humor.)

In recent years Aussies have been coming to Phuket in greater numbers, despite intense competition from destinations within Australia and in other parts of Asia and the Pacific. Can this road show keep them coming? We'll find out this week.

As technology improves, reporting shows on the road is becoming easier. Just a couple of years ago, a photojournalist could have been expected to pack a hefty laptop and a Digital SLR with a few alternative lenses. Not any more.

In Khun Chutima's backpack are a Sony VGN-P117, a lightweight laptop less than one-third the size of the old-fashioned kind, a pocket Canon S90 capable of taking good photos by candlelight, and two telephone devices (two countries, two devices) a Nokia 97 and a T-mobile with Google. Both the ''telephones'' have mini keyboards.

You'll find out how she uses the future vision 2010 gear this week - and how the whole Phuket team goes in selling Phuket to Australians. We will also be introducing the members of the Phuket group and reporting as we go along how they perform.

Phuketwan's trip is being sponsored by the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation.