[News] Ah the joys of summer in Australia

[Audax]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-01/snake-on-monash-freeway/104669444

Just thought I would share this with you good folk. Absolute kudos to the woman involved, could have gone seriously bad had she panicked

Have to wonder if the cops gave her a little ticket too, just to rub it in. IIRC it's illegal to drive in those types of shoes.

 

[Audax]

I lived in Canberra for a year when I was 8 and I couldn't leave the house without being swooped by the same magpie during the nesting season. I had to carry an umbrella to protect my head when I walked to school. I was told that if I stared it in the eye it would back off but never tried it.

A common technique is to wear a hat / helmet with fake eyes stuck on the back. The theory being the birds don't swoop if they're being watched. Seems to work on some, not others. It's not just the magpies, either. The primary school I went to had a line of trees on the far side of the playing field that had butcher birds that used to swoop in nesting season. And plovers ... they nest on the ground, but will take flight and swoop to protect nests/young.

My brother once had a small kangaroo/wallaby bounce through the frame of his bicycle (while he was riding it) on his way to school.

 

[nickjhs]

Have to wonder if the cops gave her a little ticket too, just to rub it in. IIRC it's illegal to drive in those types of shoes.

Not here it's not. If the police think your footwear may have contributed to an accident then it can become an issue, but no states have any legislation in regard to footwear and driving.

 

[Bodian]

Not here it's not. If the police think your footwear may have contributed to an accident then it can become an issue, but no states have any legislation in regard to footwear and driving.

No thongs allowed in some bars though - which puzzled me when I was first over there for a while......

 

[A1X]

Bigger and more venomous species of funnel-web spider discovered in Australia

View attachment 195137

Honestly we should just nuke the place from orbit, it’s the only possible solution

 

[Badger]

I lived in Canberra for a year when I was 8 and I couldn't leave the house without being swooped by the same magpie during the nesting season. I had to carry an umbrella to protect my head when I walked to school. I was told that if I stared it in the eye it would back off but never tried it.

It's the same in Toronto with the red-winged blackbirds. They can be very aggressive in the spring. I seem to get targeted by them quite often. A couple of years ago there was one nesting outside the front of my house and it would go for the head of pretty much anyone who walked past. I ended up using the back entrance to my house for most of June to avoid it.

 

[BadFish]

Honestly we should just nuke the place from orbit, it’s the only possible solution

sydney? i agree, even their bins arearrogant.

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