Ironic perpetuum mobile

A shark that eats a 3 meter white shark must be some nasty piece of work. Off the coast of Straddy, where we went diving last year, a monster lurks. Last week’s journal shows pictures of an unfortunate white shark with a rather large chunk missing from its belly. It's estimated that a great white between 5 and 6 meters took a nibble.

So… what is an ironic perpetuum mobile?

1. Installing shark nets to give the illusion of protection to swimmers,
2. catching a few whales in these nets as a side effect, much to the grief of local Greenpeace hippies,
3. leaving the rotting whale carcass to to be eaten by... sharks.
4. waiting for white sharks to swim hundreds of kms to eat this delicacy,
5. hearing entrepreneurs complain to government that tourists stay away from the beaches,
6. go to 1.

While we're on the topic... Here are all the nasties here in Australia. Have a look at the Irukandji... that is a little bastard.

Spiders
Funnel web Spider, Red Back spider.

Snakes
Black snake, Copperhead, Death Adder, Eastern Brown, Fierce snake, Small eyed snake, Mulga snake, Taipan, Tiger snake, Western Brown, Stephen's banded snake.

Jelly Fish
Irukandji, Box Jelly fish

Sharks
Tiger shark, Bull Shark, White shark

Other
Salt Water Crocodile, Giant sting ray, Stone fish, Blue ring octopus, Cone Snail, Kangaroos (believe it or not, they kill about 100 people per year).

Lake Mackenzy

Lake Mackenzy is made of very clear fresh water that warms as the day progresses. It is very pretty, the warning sign: beware of the Dingo's don't leave you small children unattended get our attention. Then again, I blame any dingo trying to take our son with my wife jealously guarding him. The dingo that attempts this, and probably its entire race, would suffer the consequences of a postal woman. This should be enough deterrent for any animal with a basic brain function.

To get there you need a fourbie and as I have one, we go. We had been warned that it was 'pretty bad out there'. But that doesn't deter us. After 200 meters we look at each other with a nervous smile and ask, should we turn back? The holes in the road are up to 1 meter, and some climbs and descends are as steep as the drop of the US dollar recently. My fantastic Fourbie has no trouble negotiating these and we push on.

The return road is sandy and we get bogged. A Giant off-road bus full of young tourist stops behind us, and 20 people offer their help to push us out. while the remaining 5 people take pictures and laugh.

I make it for about 200 meters before I get bogged again. Kieran all the while quiet in the back of the car, now wonders what the hell is going on and says "Weh?". I reply, "yeah mate, we're bogged again", Kieran Says "Wah!". Good kid.

Emma's birtday on Fraser

Emmanuelle's birthday needs to be celebrated, and as my lovely wife deserved a fantastic weekend I started planning many weeks ago. We try to keep a list of things to do here in oz before our visa run out. One of those things was Fraser Island. The award winning kingfisher bay resort to be exact.

We can't get enough of the whales and as they are leaving us for Antartica we decide to go once more. We are treated to the special! Mum allows young bub to breach again and again, and the splash of the whale makes to the boat. Whhooossshhh.

We have been taught by another ship that if you wave at a whale sometimes they wave back. Emmanuelle waves like if her life depended on it. Other guests look at her as if she's lost it until all of the sudden both the baby whale and mum wave back at us. Some people come and ask us if it really works, but when the whales wave back the 4th time everyone is convinced.

(this really works, you won't believe it until you see it with your own eyes). The crowd quickly realises what had happened and feverishly start waving like Emmanuelle. Not sure who's entertaining who at this stage.

As a dinner I invited Emma to a Bush Tucker meal. Kangaroo (delicious), Emu (not so good), Crocodile (delicious). We ate many berries. The thing with Australian fruit is that the ground is very poor, so the fruit doesn’t grow large or plenty full. But what it lacks in quantity it makes up in flavour. Very rich menthol, anis, citrus and pepper flavours. Some of them downright spicy.