I have a confession to make. I may be a secret New Zealander. I was born in Melbourne and my father was a fifth generation Australian. However, my mother was born and raised in the world’s most southern city, Invercargill. I know this because when I was at primary school, I had a pencil case purchased from Invercargill which boasted this important fact.
Just quietly I think Invercargillers or whatever they call themselves might have a challenger from Punta Arenas in Chile but let’s not get bogged down on the finer points of geography.
Invercargill isn’t the arsehole of the world but if you clamber out to Bluff at the southern tip of New Zealand’s South Island, you can see it from there. Just up the road is a town called Gore, a place so windswept and uninteresting that even the locals look embarrassed. I guess Gore would be the perineum of the world.
My mother arrived in Australia in 1954 and became an Australian citizen a decade later. She claims that process required her to renounce her NZ citizenship so she could vote in Australian elections. Her memory is based on the fact that her mother, who was visiting Australia at the time, took serious umbrage.
Full column here.
The death of Journalist Peter Luck at age 73yo, Mr Insider. Enjoyed his wonderful reporting and TV Shows for decades. May he RIP. None of us know the day……….
http://tinyurl.com/y7kn6ks7
Looks like Jose may track further to the north than Irma, either way not pleasant for the islands already hit.
There is also Katia off the gulf coast of Mexico.
Yes, Jose is likely to be categorised a hurricane (tropical cyclone) in the next few days and smack into the Caribbean again.
Footy tips, folks. Don’t forget. Crows v Giants tonight in Adelaide.
Footy tips are a bit tough Jack, predicting results for games which other than tonight have yet to announce teams.
Who cares? Giants, Richmond, Swans and Port for mine.
Bombers to do the Swans for mine. Agree Giants – I don’t think the Minor Premier will be in the GF. Well done Lou O’Todd on taking the tipping comp Minor Premiership. Just edged Gryzly on the thinnest margin.
Casboult signed on again for 2018. The Blues have re-signed a good bundle,14 strong signatures from this year’s team.
Well, I got the Giants wrong. Crows almost certainties to make the GF although if Sydney wins tomorrow they will have to beat the loser of the Cats v Tigers tonight and then meet the Crows in the prelim in Adelaide.
Damn it Jack, your tips came through too late for me to jump on board.
I’ll have to go with mine, one of us could be up for one out of four. Given your standing I know you don’t give a stuff, but I have a reputation to uphold!
They will almost certainly be better than mine, Lou.
Tasmanian Tiger footage…..very grainy and unclear.Nothing conclusive can be drawn from that. I dont know why people go to such trouble to make unsubstantiated claims with evidence that is very poor.With todays technology and great cameras one would expect much better footage than that.
When one stands in parts of the vast wilderness down there looking down at gorges where no man has ever set foot (not even the Aboriginals back in time) it becomes easier to think that there could be thylacines still out there somewhere.
Gosh wouldn’t that be amazing!
I hope this news of a sighting doesn’t inspire some local journalist to weed out & publish the exact location.
The footage is pretty dodgy & I can’t imagine these creatures, whose population was decimated by bounty hunters, will have survived 80 years of relentless logging sight unseen. I agree though, it would be amazing.
Take care in France B & eat all the pastries you want.
You only live once & you’ll walk it off anyway.
Hey Bassy
It was/is a wild animal. If by some miracle it is not extinct, I hardly think it would just stand there whilst someone approached and got the camera settings just right !!! Particularly in light of what happened to its rellies.
The habitat is extremely dense forest.
All I can say is this is NOT convincing. I am NOT saying there are no Tassy Tigers. I am just saying the ‘proof’ is nowhere near solid enough. Hmm too many ‘no’s there Bald. Yes there is something out there but what? I dunno.
I see some guy has video footage of the Tasmanian tiger. If conservative religious freaks still exist there is no reason the thylacine cant.
Did you share similar sentiments in all the many Muslim places you suggest you have worked in? I’m guessing you’re a fair weather hero. Otherwise, gutless!
Milton. Get your Mum to explain what the word Religion means. you have some sort of complex. the usual conservative hard done by, always persecuted, treated poorly complex that is. That is Your problem to deal with not the rest of the communities. Oh and actually I let my crews know if they wanted to pray and have chai breaks not carry their load and leave the odd non-muslims to do the work they could leave. I also challenged why they would not eat or drink during very hot days and actually had them change their ways for their own health and safety as per their own texts not too mention my rigs safety. Amazing what a forthright discussion can do. Get over you complex and open your eye.
Of course i’m complex, Unmade the flipside would be being simple like you.
Have a walk and read a book champ.
Amazing that he can turn a story about a innocent old thylacine into yet another tirade against those he hates!
Only your strange mind could link a thylacine with religion. Weird.
I’m sure we studied St Paul’s epistle to the Thylacines at Sunday School. Or was it Ephesians ?
The Philippoussis?
My old pastor would be horrified. Fortunately he’s a late pastor. And get this, thanks to the generosity of my father, he’s buried in my family plot! Maybe when the Last Trumpet is blown, the Reverend can put in a good word for me.
That’s quite a revelation Dwight
Hehehe – good one Perentie!
Dismasted -What do you mean by conservative religious freaks? Does that include the conservative Muslims that you worked with in Arabia, or just RC/Anglican people? I too have worked in Arabia, but in hard rock, and not gas/oil. You seem to abuse RC/Catholic Christians in your comment, the people that are the basis of the freedoms that you have. If you do not like it where ever you are head back to the ME and spread your vitriol in a region that may see you stifled, but you seem to prefer.
I see not only SA but Victoria to have blackouts and possibly load shedding this summer. Diesel generators are worse for the environment than even power stations fired by Brown Coal yet ideology again wins over practicality! The virtue signalling by heavily subsidising unreliable renewables has meant energy companies will shut reliable coal fired stations. Without the renewable subsidies coal would still be king. We would have cheap and reliable power and manufacturing businesses would be much better off . Our children who wish to have blue collar jobs would be able to get one. Let renewables fight the battle against coal unsubsidised and when it stacks so be it.
Well coal, mining etc is subsidised $5billion a year and has been for years here….imagine how we would be for energy if some of this had been put into renewables each year. And the rest of the world? I have seen figures of subsidies in the $4-$5trillion range. It’s like the car industry Abbott and Hockey destroyed over a $500million subsidy when every car industry in the world is subsidised. The cost? Over 200,000 jobs when you take in small industry that supplies the car builders. Looters always play the short game. never the long game.
What did we lose? 5 wickets for about 60 runs? Wld like to see the Bangos win. So would George Harrison.
I reckon all hell will break loose when citizens start receiving their power bills at the end of the quarter. Interesting times.
razor. You continue to highlight you have no idea. Coal is Heavily Subsidised World Wide. Each year Fossil Fuels consume on average 7% of GLOBAL GDP through subsidies and concessions. Something like $7 trillion. You only have one setting an ugly old world ideology. Get some facts with your bran flakes.
Did you note SA was pumping large amounts of Electricity back into the NEM during the last couple of weeks due to the amount of wind. Coal is a 2 centuries ago answer that today is obsolete and bordering on criminal negligence. You and mad Barnaby should stop giving false hope and get with the program.to ensure cheaper power for the Nation. It is people like and the Nationals who are keeping power artificially high with your fantasies of years gone by. No surprises.
So Bassy and Dismal your storage solution for this summer is what? We have rushed into this feel good stuff without any thought to the consequences.
Sigh. Troglodyte. What have your conservatives done to ensure power? Since 2007 your conservatives have done everything possible to force up power prices. It is way past time you and your trog. mates took responsibility for making a mess for the sake of your way past the used by date narrow minded ideology. You continue to highlight just how out of touch and misinformed or deliberately mendacious you are. No Surprises.
….but wasn’t all this power stuff, high prices due to the carbon tax (Hee hee)…er sorry to awaken you. How is it we never hear about that anymore? Not so long ago it was blamed daily for high electricity prices but never a word about the Liberals 10% GST doing untold harm-TAKE IT OFF!!
Candles and Duracell.
razor you like Barnaby have an aversion to facts. This is from a recent report Goldman Sachs report. you know those lefties don’t you? Coal is up to 5 times more expensive when all costs are included. This is with NO Subsidies. “Wind and solar are currently the cheapest ways of producing electricity when all costs (including investment) are included We estimate that the reduction in LCOE for wind/solar has made these technologies the cheapest way of producing electricity when all the costs, including investment costs, are taken into account “
Again….what is the storage solution.
Provide some facts please. Now, when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining how do solar and wind produce power? Grid scale storage is not yet up to the job, and what is around is very expensive. So on a still night, how will you power your computer to post on this? Installed capacity is totally different from deliverable capacity.
Yes, but their moral preening should give them that warm inner green glow.
The controversial Meat and Livestock Lamb Ad that is causing a stir, Mr Insider, has a “religious” slant. Very strange imho.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfhf2TwO0pA
i thought this letter in the Aus was rather good,
“I am confused (“Bill shock looms amid power crisis”, 5/9). I thought the plan, now well over a decade old, was to artificially increase the cost of normal power (through imposts, policy changes and veiled threats of more to come). This would have the twin benefits of forcing the less well off to use less power and provide billions to subsidise uneconomic and intermittent “new” power.
Those who promoted this strategy (including Messrs Turnbull and Shorten and all the Greens) should be claiming victory: at last a plan that has worked perfectly! (Don’t mention the NBN). The elites are happy; only the poor and middle-income earners suffer the pain: surely the best of all possible worlds! Yet all express surprise and consternation. Did I get it wrong?”
Not such good luck for us that Hurricane Irma is heading towards Cuba, just before it hits Florida.
Authorities here in Cuba say they have things under control.
I hope that’s true!
It’s smashing the Leewards Islands at the moment on its way to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Florida bringing with it winds of 290 kmh, more ferocious than any storm system measured in the world. I wouldn’t have thought it was a huge opportunity for laughs, TO.
Gosh, TO – stay safe. That sounds frightening. Definitely not in the travel brochures…..
Here in the south of France it’s hot and dry. They’re on the ball though and close walking tracks when the Mistral is blowing
Meantime Tassie is up to the eyeballs in snow! Good to feel warm here. Trying not to eat too many French pastries!!
.
Thanks, Boadicea,
We left some hours back and we’re back in Ottawa without incident.
There were some anxious folks back in Cuba when we left.
I hope you’re enjoying your time in France. We found it hard not to eat too much in Cuba, so I wish you the best on that front!
It’s back to freezing temperatures in Canberra in a couple of days time, after a week of balmy weather and fabulous beaches in Cuba. Havana is a must-see for its history and architecture alone.
2 for 222 Richie Benaud where are you?
🙂
sort out yer formatin’ n speln bud
tchew for tchewtchewtchew …
Richie Benaud where are hyou?
Ok, Invercargill… in the School Certificate geography exam when I did it they gave us a map of UnZud and we had to fill in a few locations that were just dots on an outline of the islands. Auckland, Christchurch, D’nedin, yeah, yeah. But there was this place down the bottom of the South Island and I had not the foggiest what it was (and no-one ever taught it to us either). So I put Bullabakanka, on the theory that anything’s better than nothing. When I finally went there thirteen years later, I found it to be very wet. Forty five minutes waiting for a connecting bus to Te Anau and the rain didn’t stop. Nor did it look like it had just started, or had any intention to stop ever. To be fair, Queenstown wasn’t much better. The bloke from Mt Cook Lines was wearing trout waders because the lakeside office was a metre deep in water. It was snowing down to 2,000 feet. The lake at Te Anau was over the tops of the bench seats put there for octogenarians to doze on. It was effing wet and that is my enduring impression of Invercargill.
In later years I ended up working with several people from Invercargill, Riverton and Bluff as well. It’s no coincidence that they were all boat drivers, and good ones. They needed to be. Plenty of practice. Not quite the Noah story but prepared for being aquatically mobile in the main street of Invercargill in normal conditions.
Further to this , since Lieutenant/Captain Cook is much in the news, I was talking to the wife of one of these blokes once (Rangi) and mentioned a story that I’d read where Cook sent a boat ashore for fresh water near Bluff. The boat did not return and a second was sent to look for it. When they made landfall they found the earlier boat, draped with the lungs of their comrades. Everything else was gorn. So they had not been made welcome. “Oh yeah, that was Rangi’s tribe” she said.
I’m pleased to say that they don’t seem to behave that way any longer. Probably too busy caulking their coracles.
PS to that. I forgot to mention that the floods and snow to 2,000 feet was in mid-January.
Really enjoyed that yarn Bivalve.Always wondered what White Man hungi would taste like! By the way went to see Christopher Cross the other nite.What a magic concert.He had an incredible band of gifted muso that he let loose on us.I was no more than 3metres from him checking out his guitars and gear.A very underrated guitarist too I might add.
What a farce sending Marise Paint saber rattling to Sth Korea….and we know what Trumpers fone call today was about dnt we…SEND TROOPS OR NO REFUGEE DEAL