Adventure Ausrama Blog

Australians worship the Hills Hoist. Wherever one travels in this hot brown land the Aussie clothes line can be seen, with shirts and skirts attached thereto. It seems, however, that in other countries the Hills Hoist is a blot on the landscape. In the US the hoist is hardly seen at all. In the 1950s the electric dryer arrived and more recently in the 1970s regulations were brought in to prohibit the hoist on aesthetic grounds. Some argued that the humble Hills Hoist detracted from perfectly manicured backyards and could reduce home values. The tide is turning. For people are hanging out their washing in protest. You see, electric dryers are bad for the environment. A significant amount of electricity is used by electric dryers in the US, six percent in fact. Furthermore, commercial laundry establishments including laundromats, gaols, prisons and hospitals use gas dryers. The humble clothesline could be a valuable weapon in the fight against global warming. http://www.adventure--austra

Humans destroy more things in the environment than climate change. This is especially the case in Australia where over the last 50,000 years people have wiped out the county's megafauna. Before Aboriginals arrived flightless birds, large reptiles and giant marsupials lived a carefree existence. Humans slaughtered the large animals in a very short period of time. More accurate dating of bones shows that megafauna died out abruptly. When the giant creatures were in large numbers there is no evidence of human tools. After the Diprotodon, Australia's largest marsupial, large kangaroos and flightless birds died out stone tools appeared. Accurate dating shows they did not exist at the same time even though they were found together at certain locations. When humans became settled the large animals were gone. The odd thing is that humans and megafauna must have coexisted for at least 5,000 years. But this is a very narrow window to find evidence of both living side by side. This gives

A new type of crocodile now extinct has been found in northern Africa. It had three sets of fangs like wild boar tusks for killing other animals. Another kind of crocodile was found nearby. This one used a flat, wide snout to catch fish. A third species of crocodile also located close by was only three feet long. This had "buckteeth" for eating plants. It was a rich find with two other known kinds of crocodile being dug up there. The National Geographic Society sponsored the successful project. The new crocodiles show that the region had unique animals 100 million years ago. much different than in surrounding regions. These reptiles could run along at quite a fast pace then dive into the water and swim off. Unlike modern crocodiles which have legs on the side of their bodies these had longer legs set underneath. Luckily there were no people around for them to chase and eat. The three new species are as follows: 1) BoarCroc (Kaprosuchus saharicus) 20 feet in length wit

People want to come to Australia. They get on a leaky old boat, paying their life savings to the traffickers, thinking they will soon be in the promised land. However, if they did not leave as genuine refugees they will be on the boat back home. Only a few days ago those who were not refugees were forcibly removed. A riot recently broke out between Afghans and Sri Lankans when the Afghans said the Sri L ankans didn't have a chance of getting residency. The truth is the war is over in Sri Lanka and two boats have just been stopped by Sri lankan Government vessels. Why do they want to live here? Well, social services and health now employ more people than retail. The mining industry is booming. People in developing countries hear that life is easy in Australia and the state looks after you. But do they know that coastal cities are short of houses and water runs out, often. Electricity is rapidly increasing in price. Council rates are rising faster than the rate of inflation

How could the experts get it so wrong. For many years we were told that Australia should populate or perish. The Bureau of Statistics has released data showing that 296,00 births occurred in 2008. This is 10,000 more that 2007 and 1971, earlier record years. The fertility rate for women is high at 1.97 babies for every female. Tasmanians are really getting on with it (must be the cold climate) with a fertility rate of 2.24. Hot Darwin had a lower rate of 1.76. Not only are women having more babies, but the proportion of women in the population is rising. And the reason for this increase is financial. The Government pays $5,000 to a woman to have a baby. Women are getting pregnant in some cases just to get the money. If they want a big ticket item they see this as the way to get it, irrespective of the lifetime cost of bringing up a child. Another thing is that women who have put off having babies are now reaching the point of no return where they must act or never have children. http:

There is an answer to the refugee problem. A the moment the Australian Federal Government is in talks with the Sri Lankan Government. Hopefully, some bright spark will have the courage to stand up and say it: Australian ships should take them back home and let them apply for refugee status through the usual means, if the country of origin agrees. And indeed there should be pressure to make them agree. There is a long queue to attain citizenship status. Boat people should be patient. In countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, perhaps people fear going home, but these countries should take them back and give them protection. This may be simplistic. Nonetheless, it is the only answer when people are leaving to gain a better life and not running from oppression. The Tamils are clearly not running from oppression. The war is over. They should not be allowed to demand Australian citizenship and win. If they do win, we can expect all boat people from now on to refuse to get off ships taken to

Some people are extremely arrogant. In the present economic downturn it is not the poor who believe that the world owes them a living. Like many banks who continue to pay their executives high salaries despite accepting money from government, some wealthy people expect to live the high life at someone else's expense. Karin Upton Baker (her double barrelled name should give her away for a start) expects companies she has borrowed money from to leave her alone and let her live well despite owing them $18 million. In court she is saying that the claim against her is "unjust". She says that she did not read the contracts. Furthermore, she lied to financiers telling them that she had taken legal advice before signing the documents. Assuming that companies will leave her with the five apartments, living in them and collecting rent, is a bit much when you consider she hasn't paid any moneys back since July last year. Despite earning $7,000 a week she claims she cannot to af