I am, you are, we are A'strayliyuns!
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Australia
- Thread starter Akhenaten
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Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
½ marks.
Answers in the spoilers, Cobber.
The big rock is nearly as wet as Gagudju but about a billion times colder, give or take.
I am, you are, we are A'strayliyuns!
We are one, but we are many!
Hey, I posted some answers on the "Identify The Place" pics but they seem to have disappeared... 
I don't use the spoilers - ruins the fun!
1. I have a vague recollection this is somewhere in or near Townsville, Qld. Was last there in 1971 as a teenager for cyclone Althea!
2. Our very good friends at Zig-Zag, near Lithgow, NSW.
3. Not really sure, but I think it might be somewhere in the Royal National Park, south of Sydney? Or Kuringai to the north?
4. A really big balls up, Rundle Mall, Adelaide.
5. Cradle Mountain, Tas. Iconic. I really want to walk that track one day.
6. The Blue Lake, Mt Gambier, SA. Right in the middle of the town too!
I don't use the spoilers - ruins the fun!1. I have a vague recollection this is somewhere in or near Townsville, Qld. Was last there in 1971 as a teenager for cyclone Althea!
2. Our very good friends at Zig-Zag, near Lithgow, NSW.
3. Not really sure, but I think it might be somewhere in the Royal National Park, south of Sydney? Or Kuringai to the north?
4. A really big balls up, Rundle Mall, Adelaide.
5. Cradle Mountain, Tas. Iconic. I really want to walk that track one day.
6. The Blue Lake, Mt Gambier, SA. Right in the middle of the town too!
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
Hey, I posted some answers on the "Identify The Place" pics but they seem to have disappeared...
Go you! I'm really pleased that you're having some fun with them. I hope others are as well.
I also hope people go back after having their guesses and read the spoilers because I've sneakily slipped some edumucational stuff in there as well as just the place names.
Sure is. In fact, it's pretty much the central feature of Townsville - Castle Hill. I remember Althea, mainly because of the timing (Christmas Eve). At the time I was just preparing to join the Army, and ultimately ended up visiting Townsville lots of times as a result of that.
ZIg Zag Zep!
My Grandad lived and worked at Lithgow in the 1920s (at the steel works) and it was he who first sparked my interest in the Zig Zag. He told me lots of stories about it, including the many derailments which, as you can tell from the picture, usually didn't end well. During the decades after the working railway was closed and before the tourist railway opened, the rail bed was accessible as a tourist drive, and my Dad has a collection of slide photos of us making our way down there, through the tunnels and switchbacks in a 1958 VW Beetle. I'll have to try and remember to scan them next time I'm up in Sin City and post them.
You're familiar with National Park? I lived in the Shire from 1963 until I joined the Army in 1972 and my Mum still lives at Engadine, so the Park has been my de facto back yard for quite a while. I can see the similarities between the rock in our picture and the exposed areas of Hawkesbury Sandstone in the two areas that you mention, but the weathering has made it tricky - the big rock is actually granite. I probably should have used a longer shot of it to highlitight its monolithicness. I seem to have misled Alfie with it as well.
A bit of a gimme for the Aussies, but these pictures were originally posted in a thread full of furriners, so they had to use the ol' Google fu to find the balls.
Me too, although the way I'm going, I'll be trundling around it in an electric wheelchair.
Yup. Another gimme for most Aussies I think. The trick is in figuring out the really obscure name.
You done good!
I got the last three. I don't recall ever hearing about the Zig Zag Railway. 
Here's a pic I took of the Blue Lake in February:
Here's a pic I took of the Blue Lake in February:
Same here. Only the last three.I got the last three. I don't recall ever hearing about the Zig Zag Railway.
Here's a pic I took of the Blue Lake in February:
http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w194/orphia/Port MacDonnell Feb 2010/BlueLake2.jpg
Aw... nowhere near me...
Ditto what Arth said.
I'd love to hear from you while you're here, Susan! Let's exchange PMs closer to the time, and I'll give you my phone number.
I said it recently, but I'll say it again - Australia is BIG!
Just ask the Leyland Brothers.
arthwollipot
Limerick Purist Pronouns: He/Him
You said tht wrong. You have to say...Just ask the Leyland Brothers.
"Ask the Leyland ask the Leyland ask the Leyland Brotheerrrrs!"
Now that I've read the spoilers! Kewl!Go you! I'm really pleased that you're having some fun with them. I hope others are as well.
I also hope people go back after having their guesses and read the spoilers because I've sneakily slipped some edumucational stuff in there as well as just the place names.
I NEARLY said it was Goulburn, NSW, as it has a similar sort of hill in the middle of town. So too does Alice Springs, NT. But I know Goulburn well - that's not the correct surrounding countryside. And I can't see the Petermann Ranges, so it's not AS. Townsville was
Do that, and send them to the Zig Zag folks! They will appreciate the info. I work with an Australian computer museum association, and we share membership with some of the Zig Zag folks.
Intimately familiar. I've hiked all over it and round the edges, and visit it often. Grandparents lived at Bundeena since the 1960's.
I don' need no Gugle-foo to fin' MY balls!
Oh.
You meant something else...
I'm going one day even if it kills me.
What? "Lake"??
Ta!
SusanB-M1
Incurable Optimist
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2006
- Messages
- 3,766
Excellent - will do!
Let me know too. Who knows where I'll be when you are here?
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
New Heffalump!
Melbourne Zoo's newborn baby elephant is making its public debut.
There will be a competition to name the baby elephant in coming weeks. I reckon we should come up with a name and send it in.
ABC News
Melbourne Zoo's newborn baby elephant is making its public debut.
The calf was born on Friday (10 September) and is the zoo's first male Asian elephant.
The zoo's elephants curator Jan Steele says the calf is energetic and a bit cheeky.
The zoo's elephants curator Jan Steele says the calf is energetic and a bit cheeky.
There will be a competition to name the baby elephant in coming weeks. I reckon we should come up with a name and send it in.
ABC News
Hallo Alfie
Banned
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2009
- Messages
- 10,691
I want to know what the mothers trunk is doing to the poor thing to give it that look on its face.
Maybe Groper would be a good name (for the mum anyway)
Gropette?
Maybe Groper would be a good name (for the mum anyway)
Gropette?
Aww, she's giving him a hug!
And before we think we anthropomorphise elephants too much, consider the following:
Where I work, one of the other staff is a volunteer "ele-watcher" at Taronga zoo. As you will recall, Taronga has had two young male calves born in the last year or so, giving an opportunity to see young male group behaviour. Ele-watchers are part of the zoo science program to study the social behaviour of elephants, noting their activities and interactions (from afar, of course).
These two youngsters have now formed a "gang" in much the same way that human children do. They hang out together, get up to no good, play vigorously, throw stuff, annoy their mothers and aunties, etc. And it appears they also have a sense of right and wrong and being sneaky.
A number of times the elder calf has noted that they are not being watched by the adults, and will rear up and try to squash the younger calf by lying on him full weight - something he is apparently not allowed do by the younger's mother or else it earns him a kick. He will do this until he notes the mother or an aunt starting to turn around to look at them. By which time he will quickly get off and saunter away as though he was not there, etc (the watchers say if he could whistle tunelessly, he would!). In other words, he is trying to get away with teasing his younger friend without getting caught. Of course, the younger one thinks this is huge fun anyway and chasing in the mud usually begins.
http://media.monstersandcritics.com/galleries/2206998_38997/0209928255085.jpg
And before we think we anthropomorphise elephants too much, consider the following:Where I work, one of the other staff is a volunteer "ele-watcher" at Taronga zoo. As you will recall, Taronga has had two young male calves born in the last year or so, giving an opportunity to see young male group behaviour. Ele-watchers are part of the zoo science program to study the social behaviour of elephants, noting their activities and interactions (from afar, of course).
These two youngsters have now formed a "gang" in much the same way that human children do. They hang out together, get up to no good, play vigorously, throw stuff, annoy their mothers and aunties, etc. And it appears they also have a sense of right and wrong and being sneaky.
A number of times the elder calf has noted that they are not being watched by the adults, and will rear up and try to squash the younger calf by lying on him full weight - something he is apparently not allowed do by the younger's mother or else it earns him a kick. He will do this until he notes the mother or an aunt starting to turn around to look at them. By which time he will quickly get off and saunter away as though he was not there, etc (the watchers say if he could whistle tunelessly, he would!). In other words, he is trying to get away with teasing his younger friend without getting caught. Of course, the younger one thinks this is huge fun anyway and chasing in the mud usually begins.
http://media.monstersandcritics.com/galleries/2206998_38997/0209928255085.jpg
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
Trawool Reservoir
Happily, the Tallarook Ranges escaped the fires of Black Saturday (7 Feb 09).
The reservoir is in the hills on the opposite side of the Goulburn Valley Highway from the pub.
The Trawool Reservoir was completed in 1895 to supply water to Seymour. In modern times (if it's got any water in it) it's used to supply the irrigation system at the Trawool Valley Resort. For the last 12 years it's mostly been a dustbowl, with occasional mud puddles. Then it rained.
These pictures were taken yesterday by my mate Strawbs, who works for the Department of Sustainability and Environment (Victoria).
These pictures were taken yesterday by my mate Strawbs, who works for the Department of Sustainability and Environment (Victoria).
Happily, the Tallarook Ranges escaped the fires of Black Saturday (7 Feb 09).
The reservoir is in the hills on the opposite side of the Goulburn Valley Highway from the pub.
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
In God's good time down came the rain;
And all the afternoon
On iron roof and window-pane
It drummed a homely tune.
And through the night it pattered still,
And lightsome, gladsome elves
On dripping spout and window-sill
Kept talking to themselves.
It pelted, pelted all day long,
A-singing at its work,
Till every heart took up the song
Way out to Back-o'-Bourke.
And every creek a banker ran,
And dams filled overtop;
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"If this rain doesn't stop."
- Excerpt from Said Hanrahan by John O'Brien (1921)
And all the afternoon
On iron roof and window-pane
It drummed a homely tune.
And through the night it pattered still,
And lightsome, gladsome elves
On dripping spout and window-sill
Kept talking to themselves.
It pelted, pelted all day long,
A-singing at its work,
Till every heart took up the song
Way out to Back-o'-Bourke.
And every creek a banker ran,
And dams filled overtop;
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"If this rain doesn't stop."
- Excerpt from Said Hanrahan by John O'Brien (1921)
Akhenaten
Heretic Pharaoh
New Indigenous Art Exhibition
A new Sydney art exhibition curated by Hetti Perkins is aiming to connect mainstream Australia with Aboriginal cultural heritage.
Here's a video from the ABC's 7:30 Report