GOLD Coast residents are being warned to stay away from large black spiders after reports of funnelweb spider sightings this week. Australia's deadliest spider has begun its mating season and taken up residence in areas around the Gold Coast Hinterland, Mt Tamborine and the Lamington National Park. Queensland Museum curator Dr Robert Raven warned large black male spiders would be wandering around rainforest areas for the next six months. Males actively search for females and wander at night, often during rain. They are large ground-dwelling spiders which are jet-black, long-legged and quickly rise into the attack position. The mating season can last right up to May. There have been 14 recorded deaths caused by funnelweb spiders in Australia since 1927.
PARKWOOD residents banded together to fight a wildfire which claimed about 100ha of bushland and threatened homes yesterday. A row of houses which faced the burning gully were within metres of being engulfed by the blaze, while other fences, backyard swing sets and sheds were severely burnt. Fourteen fire crews and two water-bombing helicopters were called in near Napper Road and Smith Street when the fire began about 1pm and spread to threaten homes on Greenacre Drive. Power was cut to about 1000 homes in the area as a precaution and the Gold Coast to Brisbane rail line was shut between Robina and Coomera while waterbombing was carried out, leaving commuters to rely on buses.
This is a place near where I grew up. My mother grew up at Blackwood Creek so I spent many of my school holidays staying with my grandparents in this country town of Tasmania.
Liffey's falls and forests have received World Heritage listing for their unique natural values.
Liffey Falls are nestled in the Great Western Tiers about an hours drive from Launceston and 1 1/2 hours from Devonport. For many years the falls were only accessible by track ~ an hours walk from below the falls. The track still exists. There is now a reserve only a short distance from above the falls. A narrow winding steep gravel road links each end of the track. The walk is very much worth the trip. The track from the upper car park is relatively steep in parts - particularly the final descent to the bottom of the falls.
There are two reserves on the upper reaches of the river, one a forest reserve managed by Forestry Tasmania and the other a state reserve managed by the Parks and Wildlife Service. The extensive picnic and barbecue facilities are in the former, while the falls themselves are in the latter, and both are part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
There are four sets of falls along the 45-minute walk from the picnic ground down hill to the majestic Victoria Falls (commonly referred to as Liffey Falls) and return, all of which can be viewed from sturdy observation decks.
Liffey is located 41 kilometres (25 mi) south west of Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. It was named by Capt. William Moriaty. The town is situated in rainforest, on the Liffey River at the foot of the Great Western Tiers. Nearby towns are Bracknell and Blackwood Creek. The most notable attraction in the area is Liffey Falls.
The Liffey River rises on the northern edge of the Great Western Tiers, flowing through dense cool-temperate rainforest of myrtle, sassafras and leatherwood before plunging over spectacular waterfalls.
We are one but we are many And from all the lands on earth we come, we share a dream, And sing with one voice, I am, you are, we are Australian.
I came from the dream time, from the dusty red soil plains, I am the ancient heart - the keeper of the flame, I stood upon the rocky shore, I watched the tall ships come, For forty thousand years I'd been the first Australian.
I came upon the prison ship bound down by iron chains I cleared the land, endured the lash and waited for the rains. I'm a settler, I'm a farmer's wife on a dry and barren run A convict then a free man, I became Australian. I'm the daughter of a digger who sought the mother lode The girl became a woman on the long and dusty road I'm a child of the depression, I saw the good times come I'm a bushy, I'm a battler, I am Australian.
We are one but we are many And from all the lands on earth we come, we share a dream, And sing with one voice, I am, you are, we are Australian.
I'm a teller of stories, I'm a singer of songs I am Albert Namatjira, and I paint the ghostly gums I am Clancy on his horse, I'm Ned Kelly on the run I'm the one who waltzed Matilda, I am Australian. I'm the hot wind from the desert, I'm the black soil of the plains I'm the mountains and the valleys, I'm the drought and flooding rains I am the rock, I am the sky, the rivers when they run The spirit of this great land, I am Australian.
We are one but we are many And from all the lands on earth we come, we share a dream, And sing with one voice, I am, you are, we are Australian.
Australia's worst dust storm in 70 years blanketed the heavily populated east coast Wednesday 23rd Sept in a cloud of red Outback grit, nearly closed the country's largest airport and left millions of people coughing and sputtering in the streets. No one was hurt as a result of the pall that swept in overnight, bringing an eerie orange dawn to Sydney, but ambulance services reported a spike in emergency calls from people with breathing difficulties, and police warned drivers to take it easy on the roads. Dust clouds blowing east from Australia's dry interior - parched even further by the worst drought on record - covered dozens of towns and cities in two states as strong winds snatched up tons of top soil, threw it high into the sky and carried it hundreds of miles. International flights were diverted from Sydney to other cities - three from New Zealand were turned around altogether - and domestic schedules were thrown into chaos as operations at Sydney Airport were curtailed by unsafe visibility levels. Passenger ferries on the city's famous harbour were also stopped for several hours for safety reasons. The dust over Sydney had largely cleared by mid-afternoon, though national carrier Qantas said severe delays would last all day because of diverted and late-running flights. The dust was still flying further north, however, and the sky over the Queensland state capital of Brisbane was clogged with dust into the early evening. Such thick dust is rare over Sydney, and came along with other uncommon weather conditions across the country in recent days. Hailstorms have pummeled parts of the country this week, while other parts have been hit with an early spring mini-heatwave, and wildfires. The storms - visible as a huge brown smudge in satellite photographs of Australia on Wednesday - are the most severe since the 1940s, experts said. One was recorded travelling from southern Australia all the way to New Zealand some 1,400 miles away. Officials said particle pollution in Sydney's air rose to the worst on record Wednesday, and the New South Wales state ambulance service said it had received more than 250 calls before midday from people suffering breathing problems. People with asthma or heart or lung diseases were urged not to go outside and to keep their medicine inhalers handy. Sydney residents coughed and hacked their way through their morning commute, rubbing grit from their eyes. Some wore masks, wrapped their faces in scarves or pressed cloths over their noses and mouths. These dust storms are some of the largest in the last 70 years. Ten very dry years over inland southern Australia and very strong westerlies have conspired to produce these storms.
