THE MEANING OF OZ - All you need to know!

Polly Waffles! They were like Cherry Ripes - never loved them but wouldn't knock them back.

Doing some research - Nestle bought Hoadleys, Rowntree and Allens - here's some of the things they don't make any more:
Barley Sugars
Steam Rollers
Fruit Tingles
Jelly Tots

Remember Love Hearts?
Maltesers are still around

That's not a sight for morning eyes!

Kangaroos like sunrise too

By Dan Battley ·
I've been visiting the Cape Hillsborough National Park, just north of Mackay since I was a kid so I knew that the local wild kangaroos venture down to the beach of a morning. I wanted my own kids to witness the daily roo routine so one day we got up and headed down to the sand as the sun was rising.

This shot just happened in front of me. I didn't think about it or plan it.

A moment before, a fisherman motored past in his tinnie and the tourist and kangaroo looked towards the noise breaking the silence of the morning.

I noticed the two of them standing there so stoically. So I snapped it. But to be honest, I didn't think the shot was particularly special because this is just what happens at Cape Hillsborough.

It wasn't until later that I realised I had captured a little bit of magic.

I published the image on my Instagram feed and added the obvious hashtags, as well as mentioning a couple of local Instagrammers that I thought might appreciate the shot too.

BOOM.

People just loved this shot. The image was shared and re-shared. Nearly 50,000 likes on Instagram. Tourism Mackay featured it, then Tourism Australia shared it to more than 700,000 followers. So far it’s had 120,000 likes, 22,000 shares and 1,700 comments! And when Adam Gilchrist tweeted it, the comments kept flowing in.

Who would have thought a sleepy morning out with the kids could produce an image that would be enjoyed by people all over the world?

I guess people just love to see the interaction between a human being and a kangaroo.

https://open.abc.net.au/explore/72979

It's great!!

It is a top capture. Is the boat just out of frame to the right?

Both heads seem focussed upon the same point.

Your guess is as good as mine, I'm just copying and pasting, but it would make sense given the background and the slight wake.

How good is your indigenous language pronunciation?

How would you pronounce Ampilatwatja (340km northeast of Alice)

Answer here: http://barkly.nt.gov.au/our-communities/ampilatwatja

Wilso & Builder - were you as surprised as I was that Campbell Newman called the state election for Jan 31?

Talk about short notice. It can only mean they expect things to get worse rather than better.

Let's hope they get arseholed and once again Newman shows Abbott the future.

Sure it's got something to do with the holiday period.

Maybe he wanted to exclude recent school leavers who suddenly realise their TAFE and employment options are limited - only four days to enrol!

Bingo

Slimy weasel has already done plenty of damage as it is. To call an election that close to the start of the school year is both the height of arrogance, and depth of disgrace. In many people's eyes, he's lower than a snake's belly, and not working for the people at all.

He would have been given advice that his time is running out, and his only shot at another term is to catch both his adversaries, and the people themselves, unawares.

I personally believe the ploy will backfire on him. Fingers crossed.

I think it's funny that he refuses to talk about who will lead the LNP should they win government and he loses Ashgrove. Does he think it will turn off potential LNP voters? There's someone even less appealing than him in the party? hoodathunk?

(admittedly Seeney and Springborg are apalling - but on par with Newman).

He's a raving narcissist. He wouldn't think that he could possibly lose Ashgrove after spending so much in his own electorate.

The BIG THREE clinchers (according to a few sources, that is) are the environment, more specifically the GBR/Abbott point/Adani mix.

The arrogance of giving miners and frackers open slather, without any kind of public discourse, or environmental impact study. That one issue, for mine, should be enough to show the true nature of this Canberran dropkick.

The sell-off (99 year leases are a sell-off) of income-producing public assetts, without a mandate from the people. He said he would seek the public's position on this, and despite lots of our dollars spent on advertising his BS sell-off, there has been no mandate given, nor actually sought.

The Brisbane protest against this weasel has been shifted from Feb 7th back to 24th January (yeah, it's the long weekend of Australia day, but this is important). I'll be there with the bells on. Queens park. 10 a.m.

The last protest against this corportate stooge govt was massive. I'm guessing the timing of the snap election was to avoid yet another public outcry. Nice try, weasel.

The Adani thing IS freaking apalling.

It's what is not being told that is truly appalling. On a recent road trip to Cairns, I made a purchase at a store in Bowen, and enquired about accessing the site in question. The road in to Abbott point has been closed to traffic for some time now, but local fishermen and women are incensed that they can no longer launch fishing craft at their favourite spot, so an ocean vigil is being maintained, to assess just what is going on there.

Rampant coastal mangrove destruction, wading bird habitat destruction, and tidal waterway disruption in the past two weeks, without any oversight by the GBR authority, or Harbours and Marine, might have been more of an incentive for the Premier's hasty election decision than many have reckoned.

Adani's record for environmental sabotage in their own nation would have rung plenty of warning bells in anyone not financially obligated to this company. Newman is performing contortion antics left, right, and centre, to keep Adani's aims on the table, including alluding to the sale of assetts (lease, whatever you like) to afford the construction of rail and other infrastructure necessary to keep the project at full steam ahead.

When questioned about his promise on jobs creation, his only answer is that all of the new jobs will be in the Gallilee basin (Adani's mine). It's not like he's got anything else on his mind at this point in time, so he's clearly showing his hand on this one.

Oh, for a true QLD ICAC. It would so heartwarming to see his kind railroaded (pardon the pun) back to Canberra where he belongs.

Preferably suitably disgraced, and hopefully in prison orange.

Our best bet is to call on our super funds and banks to divest themselves of coal mining shares - in fact the last I heard Adani had completely stalled the project because of financing issues and declining prices. - but that was a few months back.

Reading with interest here. We are facing fracking in a big way over the coming few years, and can't help but feel uncomfortable about it.
There was a series on the beeb here not so long ago, with Simon Reeve as he travelled the tropic of capricorn, and a lot of it was in Oz.
He is a good inquisitor about all the eco stuff, and I found the sheer scale of mining of minerals in Oz quite astounding.

Here is a ten minute snippet, but there are loads more episodes on youtube. Maybe you've already had it on telly over there.


Hope it works......

You might have also heard that Western Australia's Tory gov't is looking to dispossess indigenous people in that region of their homelands, to clear the way for the frackers and miners.

It's class war, like it is in several major western nations, and most people are oblivious of the outcomes possible.

Dryest continent on the planet, and the water tables are about to be corrupted beyond repair.