# Australia



## Anne

I thought it would be a beautiful, wondrous place to visit, in spite of all the critters. 

  ESPECIALLY those frightening Drop Bears.......:stop::danger:

http://www.peskypossum.com.au/australia-everything-here-can-kill-you/


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## Diwundrin

It's official then!  :lofl:


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## SifuPhil

I was actually planning a visit until I learned about the drop bears ... 

Now? No way!


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## Anne

Yes, how bad it that for tourism, anyway??!!  Drop bears are sneaky and hideous.

Even worse than  those snow Snakes in the northern USA.......mg:

View attachment 3459


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## Diwundrin

Well how lucky are we that it's too hot for those things around here!


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## Fern

Never heard of the drop bears, yikes Aussie what else is there to be fearful of. I see Kevin Rudd has given up politics.layful:


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## Warrigal

Relax, Fern. It's just how we tease overseas visitors when we take them hiking. 
And gullible children.

I once convinced a group of teenage girls that there was a coke machine on top of Ayers Rock (Uluru) to keep them climbing in the heat. Sometimes it is just too easy.


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## Anne

Coke machine on Ayers Rock??  More proof of the dumbing down of our youth...yikes.   Re: the snow snakes..in the midst of Winter, the snow gets a crust on top, and the mice, voles, etc. tunnel underneath it in their quest for food.   As the days warm later on, the roofs of the tunnels collapse, leaving little crooked trails in the snow.

We once convinced someone that those were snow snake trails.  He didn't' believe it at first, until we asked him what on earth else did he think could cause those little trails...he gazed out the window awhile, and said, "Well, I''ll be damned - I've never seen that before."   
He was from the north also; guess he never paid much attention to snow.


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## Diwundrin

Fern said:


> Never heard of the drop bears, yikes Aussie *what else is there to be fearful of. I see Kevin Rudd has given up politics*.layful:




Perfect segway!  :lofl:


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## maxHR

The deadliest things in australia are insects, specifically ticks and mosquitos, closely followed by dogs, thousands of 'loving' pets attack people every year, no one gives a shit.


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## Diwundrin

Has your whippersnipper snuffed it again Max? you sound a bit down on the world. 



Not upset about Kevvy are you?


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## maxHR

Build up to the wet season Joycy, no rain here for 5 months, people are going crazy. Plus i have a big lump on my arm where i was bitten by a tick 3 days ago, - the  thing was only there for 10 minutes . :what::notfair:


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## Diwundrin

Ticks!  There's a specimen bottle on the counter at the local vet's and he's dropping them in as he removes them from the local dogs.  It's nearly full up after 3 weeks!  It's a pretty good wake up call to check pets, and ourselves over, they're reported to be plague level here too.

We got some fair to middling rain over the last few days but you still can't see where it's gone.  I've never in my life seen the ground up here dry enough to crack, but it has this year.


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## dbeyat45

maxHR said:


> Build up to the wet season Joycy, no rain here for 5 months, people are going crazy. Plus i have a big lump on my arm where i was bitten by a tick 3 days ago, - the  thing was only there for 10 minutes . :what::notfair:



Have you done your will and a funeral plan?  
HINT:  I want your camera gear.


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## maxHR

dbeyat45 said:


> Have you done your will and a funeral plan?
> HINT:  I want your camera gear.


Funny you should mention that, i'm de cluttering atm. Just trying to give away a Titanium mountain bike on facebook. I could be worse,  a lady i know crashed her bicycle and lost 4 teeth, in hospital as we speak. a stick flew up off the road and stuck in her wheel, she was in a group at the time, so things like that are not supposed t happen, - riders normally warn each other of obstacles. :danger:


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## Diwundrin

Is that why they go through red lights when they're on their own?


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## Katybug

Warrigal said:


> Relax, Fern. It's just how we tease overseas visitors when we take them hiking.
> And gullible children.
> 
> I once convinced a group of teenage girls that there was a coke machine on top of Ayers Rock (Uluru) to keep them climbing in the heat. Sometimes it is just too easy.



Great thinking, WG, the idea of a coke on a super hot day would inspire me to keep going as well.


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## Katybug

Anne said:


> Yes, how bad it that for tourism, anyway??!!  Drop bears are sneaky and hideous.
> 
> Even worse than  those snow Snakes in the northern USA.......mg:
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 3459



LOL  I would many times over prefer to deal with Drop Bears (or any type real bear, as I'm rarely anywhere near where they are) than the amount of snow the northerners have to deal with.


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## That Guy

Anne said:


> I thought it would be a beautiful, wondrous place to visit, in spite of all the critters.



You don't mean the Aussie members of The Forum, do you . . . ?


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## Anne

That Guy said:


> You don't mean the Aussie members of The Forum, do you . . . ?



LOL; now that you mention it....J/K, our Aussie forum members are a great bunch!!!  :thumbsup:


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## Diwundrin

I just want to say, on behalf of Australian members....Critt...Critt...Critt.  :lofl:


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## Anne

See???  Critters!!


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## Anne

OMG, is this a nightmare or what??!   No, I'm not down on Australia; LOL, but these are the things that would send me living elsewhere....  :eek-new:

http://www.viralnova.com/spider-fields/


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## SifuPhil

Anne said:


> OMG, is this a nightmare or what??!   No, I'm not down on Australia; LOL, but these are the things that would send me living elsewhere....  :eek-new:
> 
> http://www.viralnova.com/spider-fields/



See? SEE?!? I TOLD you that country was messed up!!! Running through fields of spider-webs, only to be run over by speeding kangaroos then crushed by an overweight drop-bear! 

No, thank you - I'll go live in the worst ghetto of China before I move down-under! At least there all I'd have to worry about is getting my throat cut open ...


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## Anne

SifuPhil said:


> See? SEE?!? I TOLD you that country was messed up!!! Running through fields of spider-webs, only to be run over by speeding kangaroos then crushed by an overweight drop-bear!
> 
> No, thank you - I'll go live in the worst ghetto of China before I move down-under! At least there all I'd have to worry about is getting my throat cut open ...




LOL- still would love to visit Australia; but doubt I could ever live there.  Beautiful, beautiful country from what I hear.


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## Diwundrin

You people do realise you have a massive wuss problem when it comes to spiders 'n such don't you?  



They're only harmless little things that are around in the grass all the time.  Imagine the number of insects there'd be to cope with if those little fellas weren't culling them!

I've seen that web thing a few times in the Hunter Valley but not quite to that extent.  Doesn't have to be a flood, early morning strolls usually resulted in jeans cuffs and shoes being festooned with webs most times of the year, it's really no big deal. 
 They build the webs across the grass at night to catch low flying dinner, nothing spooky about that.
They're extremely fine webs and only visible in cold or wet weather when the dew settles on them and 'lights' them up to be seen.

Oz can't be toooo bad, people survived here for 40,000 years with no shoes or clothes, (or flame throwers), remember?


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## Anne

Spider problem??  US??!!  Well,  yeah........   I'd have to stay in at night, then; bad enough here, where they weave humungous webs between trees or whatever else at sundown, and take them down before dawn.  The spiders are huge enough, and just walking into one of those webs.....ack!!!!!!!!  

That must be why I wasn't born in Australia......:disturbed:


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## Diwundrin

Hey, if you're scared of OZ's critters here,  this will worry you.  Be afraid!  



http://www.kxan.com/entertainment/must-see-video/kangaroo-on-loose-hops-down-tx-highway-nd13


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## SifuPhil

That poor roo! Flashing lights all over the place, probably was scared. Good thing the owner found him.

I wouldn't mind a roo or two coming 'round, but those steroid-addicted dinosaurs you guys call "spiders" are another story entirely. Y'all have a thing for downplaying your monsters - must be a national pride thing ...


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## Diwundrin

Sort of, maybe, a bit, perhaps...

 but the fact that so damned many of us survive is a good indication that things ain't quite as bad as pictured sometimes.


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## Warrigal

I quite like spiders. They are useful in nature and humans and spiders are quite compatible in the same living space.
You just have to be able to recognise the more dangerous species.

Anyway, bees are more dangerous than spiders and I absolutely refuse to share my house with a hive.


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## Diwundrin

With you on that one Warri.

But got more than critters to worry about at the moment... 'something wicked this way comes' and the sky is about to fall bigtime.
 The house is rockin, the town is creaking and the thunders crashin' and I'm about to pull all the plugs.  Ahhhl be baaack. hopefully.


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## maxHR

Same here, storms, no rain bugger. friend just had windscreen smashed by hail in maroochydore, queensland.


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## Anne

Yikes, Di - hope all is ok there, and the storm passes quickly.  

As for spiders, I do think they are fascinating creatures.  I just don't want them on me; and those webs are like nylon; you can't get them off.


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## Diwundrin

Yeah I'm back thanks Anne, it was a ripper.  Most excitement I'm likely to get this week.  Biggest hail stones I've ever seen and this is the first house with a steel roof I've heard big ones on.  It was like artillery shells ftw. 



No damage I can see though so all's sweet.  I'll post some piccys later in the weather thread.

Haven't heard from Jilly yet, she was in the path of it too.


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## Ozarkgal

Are ya treading water Di?






I like spiders more than snakes, but about the same as a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.


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## Diwundrin

No flood OG, more ice than rain.  It's all long gone already.


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## Anne

Glad it passed and you're ok, Di.  Jilly, hope all is well there, too.   I'm no fan of storms, tho the lightning is beautiful; but I don't go outside to view it like some do.  Seems we've lived near the 'tornado alleys' so many times, but have been lucky so far.  Once, I did hear the train sound they talk about, and think that it passed right over us.  A bit spooky, but only had a tree down in the yard.


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## SifuPhil

This video was pretty much my one and only introduction to Australia ...


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## Jillaroo

_I'm back hope you can understand me i am probably gurgling from all the water  mg: big storm wasn't it Di, for some reason you got hail  and it missed me although the rain was so heavy it probably melted it before it hit the ground, bugger me the suns out now lol.
             You are worried about all the creepy crawlies we have here , well we hardly ever see them, where as you guys have the coyotes coming into your backyards and attacking your pets, you have the grizzly bears, and a lot of other critters so maybe we are even _


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## Diwundrin

Glad you missed out on the hail Jilly.





Geeze Phil I can see why you'd why want to avoid the joint.  It must have seemed full of Pommy comedians doing very corny send ups  in largely faux Kiwi accents.  



Their stuff is still funny isn't it?... and there were a lot of Bruces back then.


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## Jillaroo

_Forgot to say i love Monty Python always have a good laugh_


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## Katybug

Anne said:


> OMG, is this a nightmare or what??!   No, I'm not down on Australia; LOL, but these are the things that would send me living elsewhere....  :eek-new:
> 
> http://www.viralnova.com/spider-fields/



Well, you would know I'm not viewing the link, Anne, but as DI mentioned in another post...look up  MAJOR WUSS in the dictionary. You'll see my picture, probably 2 of 'em!  I can only imagine how frightening this thing is.


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## Katybug

Jillaroo said:


> _I'm back hope you can understand me i am probably gurgling from all the water  mg: big storm wasn't it Di, for some reason you got hail  and it missed me although the rain was so heavy it probably melted it before it hit the ground, bugger me the suns out now lol.
> You are worried about all the creepy crawlies we have here , well we hardly ever see them, where as you guys have the coyotes coming into your backyards and attacking your pets, you have the grizzly bears, and a lot of other critters so maybe we are even _



Jilly, I know they're in other areas of the USA, but we don't have coyotes in southeastern USA...that I've ever heard of.  (I could be totally wrong on that, just never hear of them.)  Still, I have read of many people (mostly in California) who have watched in horror as their pet was carried away by one, so they are a definite threat here.   Our mountains (2-3 hrs away) are loaded with bears, but I've never been in a position to run into one and have  only seen a few of them in zoos. Probably much the same for all of you there re anything listed in this post. You're nowhere near any danger.

But you do have 20 -25 of the most deadly snakes in the world (we have 3 In NA, I think.)  Given that, along with your crocs and sharks galore, it amazes me that so few die from them, as was shown on the posted chart. Yours are just more interesting to me, compliments of the Dundee movies. (wink!)

We've got more than our fair share of sharks here as well, it's just the surfin' is better where you are and we hear of bites more often.  A baby alligator chased my ex from the golf course all the way to his car, and another bit larger one chased my SIL from a public park lake to his car at the beach.  They are all over our warm areas, it's just your crocs get the most publicity.   Not enough to keep me away, I would love to visit your country in the worst kind of way!


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## Katybug

Anne said:


> Spider problem??  US??!!  Well,  yeah........   I'd have to stay in at night, then; bad enough here, where they weave humungous webs between trees or whatever else at sundown, and take them down before dawn.  The spiders are huge enough, and just walking into one of those webs.....ack!!!!!!!!
> 
> That must be why I wasn't born in Australia......:disturbed:



I wish I had another Xanax after reading this post...in just imagining.  LOL


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## Anne

Katybug said:


> I wish I had another Xanax after reading this post...in just imagining.  LOL



The link I posted above was just webs, Katy, covering the grass everywhere....some spiders, too.     That was Australia - here, I heard that if you go out at night with a light in Summer, there will be red wolf spider eyes shining in the tall grasses.  Needless to say, I've not tried that.  Don't know if wolf spiders are dangerous or not, but they sure aren't pretty.
The one in the trees are some type of orb weaver.  But, enough about those creatures.  :stop:


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## Katybug

Anne said:


> The link I posted above was just webs, Katy, covering the grass everywhere....some spiders, too.     That was Australia - here, I heard that if you go out at night with a light in Summer, there will be red wolf spider eyes shining in the tall grasses.  Needless to say, I've not tried that.  Don't know if wolf spiders are dangerous or not, but they sure aren't pretty.
> The one in the trees are some type of orb weaver.  But, enough about those creatures.  :stop:



Now, I'm going back and look at the video on newborns getting a bath again (just posted in another thread) to get my mind back to a happy place.  Note to self, get some professional help on your fright of anything even written re those gawdawfull things.


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## Diwundrin

Thing is with our critters, just as with yours, not all of them are everywhere. 

The only reasonably wide spread really dangerous snake is the Brown, and they're only down the East Coast. The top of the charts lads, the 'Fierce' or Inland Taipan is only found out in Central Far North Qld where few venture anyway. So arguably the world's most venomous land snake accounts for very few recorded fatalities at all.
  Crocs are few and far between except in the far north, in the tropics.  Sharks are never reported inland of beaches and even many spider species are regional.

So as with anywhere, you learn what's about and look out for it, but they're not ALL there.


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## Jillaroo

_Anne i encountered 2 Wolf spiders in an old dairy farm home, the first was on the floor in the lounge and it was huge it's legs were as thick as my little finger, we disposed of him as i would not have stayed in that house with him in it, and next morning my daughter stood outside our bedroom and said be careful when you come out as another Wolf spider is above your door, hubby disposed of it the brave man. 
                I made enquiries with a pest controller guy and he said if bitten they will make you ill but won't kill you, they usually live behind bark on trees. 
       I'll tell you one thing i have never seen such a huge spider before and very aggressive too, i will respect Katy's fear and refrain from putting a picture of one on here.
                 We had a lot of the Orb spiders where i lived, you had to be careful walking around at night as you could easily walk into their web , but they are harmless i think._


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## Anne

Jillaroo said:


> _Anne i encountered 2 Wolf spiders in an old dairy farm home, the first was on the floor in the lounge and it was huge it's legs were as thick as my little finger, we disposed of him as i would not have stayed in that house with him in it, and next morning my daughter stood outside our bedroom and said be careful when you come out as another Wolf spider is above your door, hubby disposed of it the brave man.
> I made enquiries with a pest controller guy and he said if bitten they will make you ill but won't kill you, they usually live behind bark on trees.
> I'll tell you one thing i have never seen such a huge spider before and very aggressive too, i will respect Katy's fear and refrain from putting a picture of one on here.
> We had a lot of the Orb spiders where i lived, you had to be careful walking around at night as you could easily walk into their web , but they are harmless i think._


b  

Wolf spiders in the house; I would sleep with lights on!!!   Granddaughter brought over a bucket couple years ago, with a wolf spider in it.  When she took the cover off, the little babies left their mother's back (where she carries them), and started running all over.   I put the cover back on, and told her please not to bring those to Grandma again; lol   I was joking, of course, and we left them sit by the woods.  UGH.

They are in our crawlspace, and there's no way I'll go down there.  I said, with a tornado, I'll take my chances with an inside closet or bathroom; lol


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## Katybug

Jillaroo said:


> _Anne i encountered 2 Wolf spiders in an old dairy farm home, the first was on the floor in the lounge and it was huge it's legs were as thick as my little finger, we disposed of him as i would not have stayed in that house with him in it, and next morning my daughter stood outside our bedroom and said be careful when you come out as another Wolf spider is above your door, hubby disposed of it the brave man.
> I made enquiries with a pest controller guy and he said if bitten they will make you ill but won't kill you, they usually live behind bark on trees.
> I'll tell you one thing i have never seen such a huge spider before and very aggressive too, i will respect Katy's fear and refrain from putting a picture of one on here.
> We had a lot of the Orb spiders where i lived, you had to be careful walking around at night as you could easily walk into their web , but they are harmless i think._



Thank you for not posting a pic, Jilly.  I can barely stand even read your post, but did see that part. Don't know why I'm even on this thread other than my pure fascination with Oz.


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## SeaBreeze

They just highlighted Australia on a TV show this morning, the scenery was spectacular...would definitely be a wonderful place to visit!


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## Diwundrin

The problem with our scenery is that it's spread so far and wide.  Everything is at least a day's drive from everything else it seems.

 Too many tourists arrive and expect to see the beaches, Ayers Rock, the Gt Barrier Reef and Tasmania on a 2 day lay-over. 



A UK fella I worked with cracked us up when he told us his tales of his 'assimilation' when he arrived here.  His first priority was to see as much of the country as he could before his money ran out and he had to find a job. 

 So armed with a small map and a backpack he set off on the overnight train to Melbourne.  When he arrived next day, and feeling as though he'd just crossed half the planet, he dragged out his little map and discovered he'd covered an inch and a half of OZ.  


 He did some calculations and saw Adelaide was another 2 inches, Perth another 4 and Darwin at least 5 or 6 from there.  He bummed around Melbourne for the day, caught the night train back to Sydney and went looking for a job next day.  He would have run out of money about day 4. 



An Irish friend never did adjust to the distances here. He couldn't believe we holidayed 400miles away up the coast. "Jayyyzus, we'd be in bluidy Germany if we did that!"  He used to take the family on the ferry across to Manly for a couple of days.  They were around 17 miles from home but that was far enough for them.  The scenery is nice at Manly at least.


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## That Guy




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## Fern

> The house is rockin, the town is creaking and the thunders crashin' and  I'm about to pull all the plugs.  Ahhhl be baaack. hopefully.


I saw that big low on the weather map. Any orchards and the like round that area? 
A hail storm was threatening in the western Bay of Plenty, the home of Kiwifruit, hail can ruin the crop in minutes so they were all keeping their fingers,along with everything else, crossed. Odd how things go, you can almost bet your life that they will get a hailstorm in November every year.!


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## Diwundrin

There's a big blueberry farm just inland and it has acres of white netting over it to keep the fruit bats off the berries so you can imagine what happened when the nets caught the hail. 

   Saw it on the TV news.  They were sagging to almost ground level, big bags of ice.  It looked really funny, but they kept the damage down.  Normal hail just gets slowed down and goes through them but this was too big and  built up.  

No banana plantations up this far but if they got that size hail around Coffs I'd say the price of bananas will be up again.  It shredded my poor little banana palm. siiiigh.

Hope those Kiwifruit get through, they already cost an arm and leg here.


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## Fern

> Hope those Kiwifruit get through, they already cost an arm and leg here.


Yes they will be last years, cool stored.


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## Phantom

I fixed my tick problem ..............Simple Just took the batteries out of the clock


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## Jillaroo

_That's the only Tick problem i have too Lol_


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## Katybug

Phantom said:


> I fixed my tick problem ..............Simple Just took the batteries out of the clock




We're both having clock problems.  Mine started lightly humming, extremely distracting.  Just replaced it with another clock.


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## Anne

Speaking of Australia; has anyone seen this place???


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## Katybug

Incredible!  All my Aussie info comes from my Sydney friend and she's never mentioned it.  It's beautiful, just so unusual.


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## Diwundrin

That one was featured in one of SeaBreeze's threads of unusual places and piccys recently.  It should have fascinated me more than it did I guess, ...  but don't know of anyone who's seen it sorry.

But I'd bet the Kooris have a ripper legend to explain it.


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## dbeyat45

Anne said:


> Speaking of Australia; has anyone seen this place???
> 
> View attachment 4244


It's Gin.


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## Anne

dbeyat45 said:


> It's Gin.




Sloe gin??  

Must be some kind of mineral...some of the water here is greenish-blue, but I've never heard of pink.


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## Diwundrin

dbeyat45 said:


> It's Gin.









The pink is Grenadine, enjoy,  and bring your own eggs, a glass,   ...  and a tent.  



*PINK LADY*




 Type*Cocktail*Primary alcohol by volume 

Gin 
Served1Standard garnish cherryStandard drinkware 


Cocktail glassCommonly used ingredients 

1.5 oz. gin 
4 dashes grenadine 
1 egg white 
PreparationShake ingredients very well with ice and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.


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## Warrigal

Anne said:


> Sloe gin??
> 
> Must be some kind of mineral...some of the water here is greenish-blue, but I've never heard of pink.



Cobalt?


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## Diwundrin

That would have been picked up in testing though wouldn't it?  I wonder does anyone drink it?  

It got the better of me, Google Earthed it ...  it's on an Island!  Off the S. coast of WA a bit East of Esperance.  There's a similar lake across on the mainland but not pink.  They look to be drainage ponds from the higher rocky ground around them and are at sea level so probably brackish.






That's all I've got, still looking.


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