Meanwhile...back in Australia

[RAAF Spitfire Girl]

Cuteness alert!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-18/c ... n/10007978

Very, very cute

[CaptWilks]

What a sweetheart!

https://www.magnt.net.au/sweetheart-crocodile

As people say, only in the Territory.

[Kismet]

That's a great story!

[kylie_koyote]

Wow! That's enormous!

[CaptWilks]

Wow! That's enormous!

Yes, stand next to it in the museum and you will understand why in "man v croc", the croc wins. Inexperienced people have no idea how fast these huge beasts can move. Fortunately, large ones are removed from the harbour and areas around the city but that is "removed when they are seen".

[kylie_koyote]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/30/australi ... index.html

The headline made me laugh, although the situation is certainly no laughing matter! Poor things.

[RAAF Spitfire Girl]

It's a good article, k_k. Thanks for sharing. I think the seriousness of the drought is only just starting to catch the nation's attention. My heart just bleeds for our farmers and graziers.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/drought/

[Spitfire666]

It's a good article, k_k. Thanks for sharing. I think the seriousness of the drought is only just starting to catch the nation's attention. My heart just bleeds for our farmers and graziers.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/drought/

This is really dreadfull. I remember a picture showing that in our last big heatwave (1976) just the UK was affected, but this time almost the whole globe was coloured red.

[OzBiggles1963]

It's a good article, k_k. Thanks for sharing. I think the seriousness of the drought is only just starting to catch the nation's attention. My heart just bleeds for our farmers and graziers.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/drought/

Yes, the drought is a shocking thing, & some are even wondering if the devastation of the lands where grass has always grown is going to be a permanent situation. Very dire for those dedicated families living on the land, who have provided food to Australians for generations.

[Kismet]

A very sad situation for all involved.

[CaptWilks]

Dorothea MacKeller:

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!

Australia has always been variable, away from the moderating influence of the coast.

[CaptWilks]

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze ...

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand
though Earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

[Spitfire666]

Thanks CaptWilks, these are lovely.

[CaptWilks]

I left off the first verse,I think.

https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/my-country/

I do like it, a lot.

It really captures the Australian landscape better than anything else I have read.

"An opal-hearted country,"

That's wonderful because opals are only found in the desert in the centre of Australia.

[Tracer]

Superb.

[Wanderer]

Its one of the most iconic Australian poems, yet most people only recall the second verse.

[Sizzling Sausages]

Yep - the drought has made the cliché the reality.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/nation ... 4zy4o.html

[kylie_koyote]

Yep - the drought has made the cliché the reality.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/nation ... 4zy4o.html

Wow that’s a LOT of kangaroos!

[Kismet]

Like the clip.

[OzBiggles1963]

I'll just leave this news article here aka WHEN WOMBATS ATTACK:

"WOMAN IN HOSPITAL AFTER COAST WOMBAT ATTACK

A 46-year-old woman is in hospital after being attacked by a wombat while at a Woombye zoo this morning.

Paramedics say the wombat left a "fairly deep bite" to her calf as she entered what is thought to be a petting area.

Mark Fisher from Queensland Ambulance says he can't remember a wombat attack"in recent years".

Once on scene, paramedics dressed the wound and took the woman to Sunshine Coast University Hospital in a stable condition."

It's a Facebook Post, so hopefully the pics of the Cute [I mean Nasty, lol] wombats come through properly [One of the posters called them "Combat Wombats", hehe].

https://www.facebook.com/ABCSunshineCoa ... =3&theater

[Kismet]

That's a fantastic picture of the combat wombats!

[RAAF Spitfire Girl]

And here's another crocodile news item, although it's actually in the USA, not OZ - but we do get a mention . Made me rather glad we no longer have a swimming pool with pool noodles lying around...

Might bring a smile to fellow Aussies' faces on a dismal day.

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/wtf/to-brighten-your-day-here-is-a-croc-crossing-a-canal-on-a-pool-noodle/news-story/5f76c356461b10020001f79d2ff8bdc6

[tiffinata]

Could this be our next Prime Minister?

[RAAF Spitfire Girl]

Could this be our next Prime Minister?

Let’s throw him into the mix.

[Wanderer]

Could this be our next Prime Minister?

Let’s throw him into the mix.

Because politics ought be outre on a forum like this I shall refrain from any comment other that "somtimes its hard not to write satire"

[Frecks]

Yes I think you are having nearly as many problems as we are here in the UK.

[Fairblue]

Could this be our next Prime Minister?

Let’s throw him into the mix.

Because politics ought be outre on a forum like this I shall refrain from any comment other that "somtimes its hard not to write satire"

Politics have intruded occasionally, Wanderer. I even put Biggles in the middle of the Scottish Independence Referendum, although he didn't enjoy it all that much.

[Kismet]

Politics have intruded occasionally, Wanderer. I even put Biggles in the middle of the Scottish Independence Referendum, although he didn't enjoy it all that much.

I did, though.

[kylie_koyote]

Me too. It was quite funny.

[RAAF Spitfire Girl]

Just had to share the latest snake tale from Brissie...

https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/grandma-faye-morgan-81-makes-light-work-of-two-snakes/news-story/945ba1ee44431bf53c80aab1785ed481

And - it's still winter...