Monthly Archive for March, 2009

Australia Geographic’s Winter Issue

Published on March 31, 2009 in Facts About Australia. 0 Comments Tags: .

I just finished reading the most recent issue of my favorite Australian magazine Australian Geographic which this month featured stories and pictures of the various huts located in the high country areas between Canberra and Melbourne.  Absolutely gorgeous photographs and a great write up. 

Here is a sample:

Closer to heaven

Story by KLAUS HUENEKE I’M RESTING against the stump of a charred old snow gum as I munch a sandwich. About 100 people are gathered in small groups doing likewise. The air is brisk below an icy blue sky and tufts of snowgrass are about to burst into seed. It’s 15 December 2007. We’re here to celebrate the opening of a sparkling, golden-walled mountain hut called Broken Dam, the first of seven huts in Kosciuszko National Park (KNP) to be rebuilt by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) after the 2003 bushfires. Just off the main walking and ski-touring route between the old goldmining town of Kiandra and Mt Kosciuszko, Broken Dam Hut is about 90 km south-west of Canberra and 9 km south of Kiandra. It’s probably my favourite hut; I’ve skied and walked here many times, brought my children and friends here and watched their love of the high-country blossom. In 180 years of hut history, today’s event is on a par with the second coming of Christ. Not long ago NPWS wanted to remove half the huts in KNP; now it wants to celebrate their unusual history and heritage. When Rex Cox – a passionate octogenarian ski-tourer and lover of all things Kosciuszko – stepped up to address the assembled crowd, he was clearly moved. “Please protect it,” he implored, before cutting the ribbon strung between the new verandah posts. 

The issue also has other stories about parachuting in the Outback, techno trash disposal, Aboriginals serving in the Australian Defence Force, and of course since it is a magazine about Australia, sharks, plus a whole lot more.

Melbourne Nanny Talks About Life with Madonna

Published on March 28, 2009 in Tabloid Crap. 0 Comments Tags: .

This is not a job I would ever want to have, that is for sure:


A MELBOURNE nanny has told how the strain of working 24 hours a day, seven days a week for Madonna drove her to the brink.

A week after she was sacked, Angela Jacobsen arrived home yesterday with nothing but kind words for the pop star.

But her Facebook website told a different story.

“Not putting up (with) this s— any more,” a furious Jacobsen wrote last month.

“Never have, never will. Standing up for my rights regardless of consequence. Sick of always being the one who compromises.”

The next day she wrote: “You know the score!!! No one messes with my party.”

A month earlier, as she prepared for a weekend off, Ms Jacobsen vowed to “make the most of my 48 f—ing hours” of freedom.

Ms Jacobsen was dismissed on the spot last week after she gave notice to Madonna that she intended to resign.

The party-loving 29-year-old played down her differences with the Material Girl.

“I think every job has tough moments but (they were) nothing out of the ordinary,” she said. “I have had a fantastic time. This is amicable, there is no hard feelings on either side.”

Ms Jacobsen, who played 24-hour nursemaid to Madonna’s adopted African son David Banda, was witness to the pop star’s bitter split with her husband Guy Ritchie last year.

Madonna was flying back to Malawi this weekend hoping to finally adopt the little girl she has longed for. Her determination to adopt orphan Mercy James, 4, was said to have been a major cause of conflict between her and Ritchie.  [Herald-Sun]

Good luck to her and hopefully she finds some less stressful work next time.

Joel Fitzgibbon Linked to Chinese Operative Helen Liu

Published on March 27, 2009 in Australia in the News. 2 Comments Tags: , , .

This story just amazes me that the Australian Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon would do something as irresponsible as this:

THE woman at the centre of national security issues involving Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon was under investigation for her links to the Chinese Government.

Intelligence officials had noted wealthy Chinese-born, Sydney-based businesswoman Helen Liu’s contact and activities with senior officials in the Chinese government, Fairfax reports.

The contacts were picked up in normal monitoring of Chinese activity in Australia, the reports say.

Defence Intelligence and other security officials say they are also concerned Mr Fitzgibbon’s decision to sublet a Canberra residence from Ms Liu might be a security risk.

A 2002 World Federation of Chinese Association’s report praised Ms Liu for keeping Chinese officials informed about political developments in Australia, saying she has “good relations with state leaders” and passed on to relevant authorities in China details about policies and activity directed towards China.

Ms Liu’s lawyer, Donald Junn, has declined to answer questions about Ms Liu’s alleged connections with the Chinese government or its intelligence agencies.

“They (Defence officials) would be the first to know that you have to have some firm indication, if not direct evidence, to make what is a most serious allegation,” he told Fairfax. [AAP]

Fitzgibbon even allowed her to pay for his trips to China and he failed to tell anyone about this:

DEFENCE Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has confirmed he took two trips to China paid for by Chinese-born businesswoman Helen Liu that he failed to declare to parliament.

Mr Fitzgibbon has been at the centre of a political storm involving his relationship with his department following claims department officers spied on his relationship with Ms Liu.

Earlier, questioned about the relationship, Mr Fitzgibbon said he had only exchanged small gifts with Ms Liu and her family.

A spokesman later said: “The minister has not accepted any gifts that would require a declaration on the members’ interest register.”

But later on, the minister’s office said in a statement that following an exhaustive review, Mr Fitzgibbon had identified two occasions of sponsored travel which have not previously been declared to the registrar of members’ interests.

“I have taken immediate steps to declare this sponsored travel to the clerk of registrar of members’ interests,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.

“These trips were paid for by Ms Helen Liu either personally or through her associated commercial interests.

“I failed to disclose those trips. This was a mistake and for that I apologise.”  [The Australian]

Even if she isn’t a Chinese spy this just looks entirely inappropriate and someone in his position should know better.  Really a shocking story and I would be amazed if Prime Minister Kevin Rudd decides to keep him in his current position.

The Loss of Environmentalism in Australia

Published on March 27, 2009 in Environment. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

I didn’t need a Facebook group to tell me Earth Hour is dumb because I have been telling people this since it first started.  Well now it is good to see people are finally catching on to the pointlessness of Earth Hour:

AN anti-Earth Hour group urging Australians to keep their lights blazing this weekend is a sign of waning interest in environmentalism, experts say.

The global Earth Hour movement – founded in Australia in 2007 – is asking people to switch off their lights for one hour on Saturday night.

But a Facebook group is urging people to “keep every light you own running during Earth Hour”.

Feedback Gimmick or global saviour – will you be turning off your lights? Tell us below

The group urges people to protest by switching lights on “if you think turning the lights out for an hour is completely ridiculous and will change nothing”.

“Or if you just think people who really believe global warming is a giant threat are dumb, join this group to keep every light you own running during Earth Hour.”

Group member Alexander Woodhouse says: ”The Earth Hour makes people feel like they’ve done their share and makes them sleep better… that’s nice for them but it doesn’t really help the earth.” Another member wrote: “I don’t believe the vast majority of those participating have given it enough thought to get to that point. ‘It’s helping! I don’t know how, but it’s helping! I’m helping! I don’t have to do anything else because I’m doing this now! Go me!’”  [News.com]

I’m actually not happy about this, but on the same note not surprised that the Australian public is now becoming increasingly less concerned about environmental issues:

Australians have been losing interest in environmentalism for years, says social analyst David Chalke, who leads the annual AustraliaSCAN survey, a cultural change monitor established in 1992.

“Absolutely the GFC (global financial crisis) has accelerated a decline in interest in environmentalism that was already going on,” Mr Chalke said. “Environmentalism has been in decline among the Australian public for the last five or six years.

“The notion that we’re all becoming more environmentally concerned is not true. We get concerned occasionally when (global warming activist) Tim Flannery tells us we’re all going to die – but it’s not a genuine fundamental shift in values.

What I think is really happening is that people are catching on that the doomsayers are never correct.  How many times has people like Tim Flannery warned that “the show will be over” for Australia or other similar statements that prove to be untrue and then provide solutions such as changing the color of the sky to solve them.

The world has stopped warming since 1998, you have 31,000 scientists now on record that they are skeptical about global warming, the Australian droughts has been proven to have nothing to do with CO2 emissions, and the world has suffered through yet another brutal winter which is causing people to further realize they have been duped.  I have always said these doomsayers were bad for people actually concerned about the environment because real environmental concerns have been obscured by their Doom’s Day proclamations.

I am definitely more concerned about the plight of Australia’s marsupial wildlife such as the koala that are drastically reducing in numbers due to threats from introduced predators and loss of habitat. The loss of habitat and endangered native Australian wildlife is the greatest threat to Australia’s environment, which few people seem to know or care about due to all the lip service given to global warming.

Rescuers Try to Save Whales Beached in Western Australia

Published on March 23, 2009 in Western Australia and Wildlife. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

The beaching of whales off the coast of Australia continues:

cape-leeuwin-8.JPG

A rescue mission is under way to save a pod of long-finned pilot whales which have become stranded on a beach south of Perth, in Western Australia.

Around 80 whales were found along a 5km (three mile) stretch of beach in front of a caravan park in Hamelin Bay, a picturesque tourist destination near the Margaret River, about 200 miles south of Perth, on Monday morning.

At least 55 of the mammals were found dead this morning, and despite rescue efforts, a further eight died today.

Environment officials, whale experts and over 100 community volunteers in wetsuits are desperately trying to save the 17 which remain alive in the shallows of the sea.

Liz Carlon, who works at the Hamelin Bay caravan park, said the giant creatures were found by people taking an early morning stroll along the beach.

“I’ve never seen this sort of thing happen in real life, I’ve only seen it with photos, but I went down on the beach and had a look myself and … just held back the tears,” Ms Carlon told the Australian Associated Press.

“I thought one was still alive because there’s quite a bit of swell down here, and the dorsal fin or part of the whale had moved but it wasn’t, it was just the waves (pushing it around).”

A spokesman for the WA Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) said they were trying to herd the remaining group together to form a pod they hoped to entice back out to sea by the morning.

[The Times Online]

I have actually been out to Hamelin Bay before and wrote about it in my Western Australia Holiday Journal.  It is actually quite a scenic area that you can see pictured below:

cape-leeuwin-8.JPG

It is sad to see these whales being stranded there.  This latest whale beaching comes on the heels of two prior beachings in the past four months in Tasmania as well.

Marysville to Reopen to the Public

Published on March 9, 2009 in Victoria. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

The once beautiful town of Marysville is about to be reopened to the public for the first time since last months devastating bushfires:

SOME of the towns worst hit by Victoria’s Black Saturday bushfires will be open to the public later this month, police hope.

A police spokesman said it was expected residents from Marysville, where at least 45 people died in the devastating fires, should be able to return home on March 20.

From Monday March 23, members of the general public would be able to visit towns destroyed in the Marysville complex of fires under the plan, including Cambarville and Narbethong.

Many of the places devastated in the Black Saturday fires, which killed at least 210 people, have been off-limits to residents and members of the public because they were considered crime scenes.  [AAP]

For those that have never been to Marysville before, from The Keppel Lookout here is how this charming city used to look a few months before the bushfires destroyed the town:

Below are pictures of the downtown area of Marysville:

The downtown area had plenty of fixed up family owned stores, coffee ships, and restaurants catering to the Melbourne day trippers like myself that would frequent this town:

As can be seen below parking can be challenge during peak tourists time though when this town probably had more tourists visiting it then people that actually lived in the city:

The side roads that lead away from the downtown area all had a number of nice looking bed & breakfast hotels:

Something that used to be a big hit with tourist visiting Marysville was the incredible amount of colorful birds that lived in this tree in downtown area of the town:

The shopkeepers would hand out bird feed to the kids to feed the birds with:

The kids obviously had a blast doing this.  Hopefully once the town is rebuilt these colorful birds along with the many the town’s many visitors will return.  I look forward to that day.

Make sure you check prior pictures I took of Marysville as well.

Prime Minister Rudd Warns of Political S*** Storm

Published on March 9, 2009 in Australia in the News. 0 Comments

Make of this what you will:

JUST when our church-going, workaholic Prime Minister could not appear any more robotic, he accidentally slips out a four-letter word.

But was it a genuine slip of the tongue or a calculated effort to appear like the rest of us?

Defending his Government’s decision to spend $42 billion to save the nation’s faltering economy, Mr Rudd warned punters to expect a “political s—storm” during a pre-recorded interview of Channel 7′s Sunday Night program that aired last night.

The PM quickly fixed his language malfunction, which echoed through prime-time airwaves.

“People are going to run a huge scare campaign about government debt and government borrowing . . . people have to understand that because there’s going to be the usual political s—storm, sorry, political storm over that.”

The grab caused a gasp from Bath, while Munro cried, “Prime Minister”. [News.com]

Not everyone is buying this as a slip of the tongue though:

Melbourne’s Liberal Lord Mayor Robert Doyle told Sky News this morning that the colourful language was no accident.  “I don’t think he dropped it, I think it was a carefully scripted attempt to make himself appear human … one of the lads,” he said.

Here is video of the interview, judge for yourself if this was intentional of slip of the tongue:

So what do you think?

Cyclone Hamish Weakens as It Moves Closer to Australian Coast

Published on March 9, 2009 in Queensland. 0 Comments

There is at least a little bit of good news in what is assuredly overall a bad news story for the people living in Queensland that will be affected by this storm:

CYCLONE Hamish evacuations have been put on hold amid predictions the weakening cyclone may hold its path parallel to the coast.

Currently situated around 210km northeast of Yeppoon and travelling south at 10km/h, Hamish still poses a threat to exposed coastal and island communities between Yeppoon and Hervey Bay.
However, an emergency services spokeswoman said all evacuations had been put on hold.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has warned resident in low-lying areas to be prepared for flooding.
 
“Some places like Hervey Bay are particularly low-lying and, therefore, have considerable higher risk,” Ms Bligh told Channel 9.

“Good news overnight that we’ve seen a slight movement in the tracking for this cyclone, the prospect of it crossing the coast is a little less than it was yesterday.

“But … these are very unpredictable events and they can change at short notice and we’re monitoring it very carefully.”

Forecasters are tipping Hamish to weaken to a category three cyclone by this afternoon and hold its path out to sea.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) says the cyclone is expected to maintain a southeastern track parallel to the coast during the next 24 hours and slowly weaken.

Major centres such as Townsville and Mackay were taken off the cyclone watch at the weekend as Hamish moved steadily southeast, stalking the coastline without threatening to turn towards land.

Coastal towns north of Rockhampton received heavy rain and strong winds without any reports of major damage.

But forecasters fear that Hamish will turn towards Hervey Bay, where it will cross the coast as a category-three storm.

And local authorities say they do not want residents in low-lying areas to remain in their homes. [The Courier-Mail]

Picture of the Day: Pemba the Baby Red Panda

Published on March 8, 2009 in Wildlife. 0 Comments

Baby Pemba the red panda has made his first visit outside, exploring his outdoor habitat at Taronga Zoo in Sydney.  You can view more pictures here.

Cyclone Hamish Moves Closer Towards Queensland

Published on March 7, 2009 in Queensland. 0 Comments

The southeast of Australia may be experiencing bushfires and now even earthquakes, but the northeast of Australia is now being faced with a massive category five cyclone:

CYCLONE Hamish – now a Category Five storm – is bringing high water and devastating wind gusts as it rumbles south along Queensland’s popular Whitsunday Islands, where tourists and residents have battened down the hatches.

Two of the north Queensland islands – South Molle and Long – have already been evacuated, but most visitors are staying on other islands with cyclone-proof resorts, like Hamilton.

The Weather Bureau says a cyclone warning remains current for coastal and island communities from Ayr to Gladstone, and a cyclone watch is current for coastal and island communities from Gladstone to Hervey Bay.

It says very destructive winds, higher sea levels and large waves are likely to hit the Whitsunday Islands this morning.

Hamish was moving off the north Queensland coast an estimated 180km north-northeast of Hayman Island and 275km east-northeast of Townsville, moving southeast at 17km/h. The Weather Bureau says Hamish poses a very significant threat to coastal and island communities along the central Queensland coast as moves parallel to the coast for the next 24 to 48 hours.

Whitsundays Disaster Management Group coordinator Senior Sergeant Steve O’Connell said preparations were well under way on the coast.

“We’ve done as much preparation as we can in the event the cyclone does come towards us,” he said.

“The critical part will be the next 12 to 15 hours.”

Damaging wind gusts are expected to affect communities between Townsville and Yeppoon on Sunday.

Areas around Mackay have been deluged with 180mm of rain since 9am on Saturday, with some suburbs evacuated due to flooding and authorities warning of road closures.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said Hamish could bring devastation similar to that of Cyclone Larry, a category five cyclone which wreaked havoc on Innisfail in 2006, if it crossed the coast.

“On current predictions it does appear that if this crosses the coast, it could be the worst that we have seen since Cyclone Larry,” she told reporters at an emergency briefing in Brisbane today.  [AAP]

I remember Cyclone Larry quite well because it caused the price of bananas in Australia to skyrocket when much of Queensland’s banana crops were wiped out by the storm. 

However, I think the rain from this cyclone could end up being worse then the wind considering how Queensland has already been inundated with floods already this past month.  Let’s hope for the best for everyone that is going to be effected by this cyclone in Queensland.