tourism – Michmutters

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Australia

Mud, heckling and fun as Victoria Cyclo-cross Series returns to Beechworth after COVID

Two cyclists in lycra carry their bikes up a set of stairs beside a lake with reeds and blue sky.

The sun dips in and out from behind the clouds, lighting up the water of Beechworth’s Lake Sambell in bright patches.

Clusters of people in colorful lycra stand around chatting and laughing, making minute adjustments to their bikes.

Beechworth, in Victoria’s north-east, is hosting round six and seven of the Victoria Cyclo-cross Series.

And while the organizers and participants of the event are grateful for the sunshine, inclement weather won’t put them off.

The alternate name of the event is Mud Wars.

Cyclo-cross is described as a cross between road cycling, mountain biking and steeple chase.

Race organizer and member of the Beechworth Chain Gang Adrian Rodda said it originated as a winter sport in the Netherlands and Belgium.

“I saw a race where they were riding in the snow,” he said.

“They’re hard people who do cyclo-cross, that’s for sure.”

Despite the sun, the twists, hills and ditches of the course are already muddy.

Riders will try to get through as many laps as they can during an allocated time.

A male cyclist carries his bike across a watery and muddy ditch in the middle of the race course.
Things get a bit muddy on the cyclo-cross course, but that’s all part of the fun. (ABC Goulburn Murray: Katherine Smyrk)

“You’ve got to race across grass, which can turn into mud, and then you’ve got to jump over planks, and then sometimes you’ve got to carry your bike on your shoulder and run up a hill or stairs,” Mr Rodda said.

“There’s a bit of everything in there.”

Getting back on the bike

This is the first time in three years the cyclo-cross event has been able to go ahead in Beechworth, due to COVID-19.

“Last year, we had great registrations, but, unfortunately, a week out, we went into lockdown again,” Mr Rodda said.

“We’re just glad to be able to get people up here, get back on course and have some fun.”

Bronwyn Johns has traveled from Melbourne for the event. She said she was thrilled it was happening again.

Two women wearing helmets and bright clothes sit on their bikes, smiling.
Ms Johns and Ms Turnbull have traveled from Melbourne for a weekend of cyclo-cross. (ABC Goulburn Murray: Katherine Smyrk)

“The race, the sunshine, the town — I’m quite happy to be escaping from the city,” she said.

“The course is fun, especially with the lake in the middle, hopefully, no-one ends up in it.”

Sarah Turnbull has been racing cyclo-cross for about four years.

She said it was a great way to stay active and get outside during winter.

“I think Beechworth, in particular, is one of the best races,” Ms Turnbull said.

“It’s a nice welcoming community. It’s not really just about the race. It’s about the whole event.”

Ms Turnbull said it was a very family-friendly event, with her five-year-old going to come down later to watch.

For Mr Rodda, this is just one part of building the rapidly growing cycling community in north-east Victoria.

Work is almost complete on a mountain biking trail between Beechworth and Yackandandah.

Gravel riding tracks have been opened up around town, and mountain bikers flock to the region for challenging climbs.

A shot of the backs of riders about to race. They are wearing a range of jerseys from Beechworth, Tatura and Brunswick.
Local riders compete alongside people who have come from Melbourne, Shepparton, Sydney and Wagga Wagga.(ABC Goulburn Murray: Katherine Smyrk)

The Beechworth Chain Gang is also running a junior ride program, teaching kids how to ride mountain bikes.

Mr Rodda said, at times, they have had about 70 kids turning up on a Thursday afternoon to learn how to ride.

“It’s incredibly rewarding to see these kids that have gone through the program getting involved and racing and performing really well, but also just getting around town on bikes and loving that bike culture,” he said.

Mr Rodda said events like these also brought benefits to the town, attracting crowds for the whole weekend.

“People are coming from Melbourne, people are coming from Sydney, from Wagga, from Shepparton, from Bendigo, from all over the place, and they come into town, and they stay and visit businesses and support accommodation,” he said.

“There’s huge benefit for our area to have these events, without a doubt.”

It’s all about community

As the first race gets underground on Saturday, the atmosphere is lively and electric.

One rider has Lizzo’s About Damn Time playing from a speaker attached to his bike.

People stand in groups all around the undulating course, banging on cowbells, yelling out encouragement — and good-hearted insults — and handing out lolly snakes to passing riders that are starting to droop after their third or fourth lap around the course.

Tam Stevens and Beth Jackson, who both rode later, were keen to get into the spectating, too.

Two women stand in front of the lake smiling. One is wearing a jumper that says: I would but I'm riding that day.
Ms Jackson and Ms Stevens say that spectating and heckling is half the fun of cyclo-cross. (ABC Goulburn Murray: Katherine Smyrk)

Ms Jackson took part in her very first cyclo-cross race only a few weeks ago and loved it so much that she decided to come up for the Beechworth event.

“Other cycling events are not nearly this community friendly. There’s not the music going, the atmosphere, heckling,” she said.

“This is fun. It’s really refreshing,” she added after breaking off to cheer a rider up a particularly steep incline.

Ms Stevens said the event enabled them to get to know the people in the community.

“You start to learn their names, you start to get your group, and you find there’s always someone you can talk to and laugh with,” she said.

Round 7 of the Victoria Series Cyclo-cross in Beechworth is on August 14.

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Business

Domino’s pulls out of Italy after admitting failure in attempt to win over locals

Domino's pulls out of Italy after admitting failure in attempt to win over locals

It was a cheeky bid to grab a slice of the action in the home of pizza.

But US chain Domino’s has admitted failure in its attempt to conquer Italy and has said a hasty arrivederci.

After spending seven years trying to persuade Romans and Neapolitans that popular American pizza toppings – such as pineapple – were not a sacrilege, it has closed all its 29 Italian stores.

Domino’s, which has more than 1,100 UK outlets, arrived in Italy in 2015 hoping to cash in on the home delivery market.

The firm said it aimed to open 880 stores and would use ‘purely Italian’ traditional ingredients such as prosciutto, gorgonzola, grana padano and mozzarella.

But Italy’s notoriously perfectionist diners proved hard to please.

They turned their noses up when Domino’s offered US-inspired varieties such as the cheeseburger topping, the pepperoni passion and, worst of all, the pineapple-strewn Hawaiian.

The coronavirus pandemic also saw potential customers flock to local, often cheaper, restaurants for home-grown options.

Domino’s main market in Italy, according to the firm’s detractors, was just “drunk American tourists”.

The US fast food giant shut its stores across Italy after local franchise holder ePizza went bankrupt.

ePizza, which had debts of nearly £9million, has blamed the COVID pandemic lockdowns and a significant rise in the level of competition, particularly from more traditional Italian outlets, for the decision to shut its restaurants.

The firm said: “We attribute the issue to the significantly increased level of competition in the food delivery market with both organized chains and “mom and pop” restaurants delivering food.”

It was a cheeky bid to grab a slice of the action in the home of pizza. But US chain Domino's has admitted failure in its attempt to conquer Italy and has said a hasty arrivederci.
Camera IconIt was a cheeky bid to grab a slice of the action in the home of pizza. But US chain Domino’s has admitted failure in its attempt to conquer Italy and has said a hasty arrivederci. Credit: YALCIN SONAT/yalcinsonat – stock.adobe.com

Italian newspaper Il Messaggero offered a more withering assessment of Domino’s attempts to win over the country.

“Italians don’t like pineapple pizza”, it said, claiming Domino’s menu “would turn up the nose of traditional pizza lovers, while intriguing xenophiles”.

In Italy, pizza is such a way of life that the original, traditional Neapolitian has protected status and strict requirements, while the art of dough twirling in Naples has even achieved Unesco world heritage recognition.

One online commentator said bringing the US chain to Italy was like “trying to sell snow in the North Pole”.

Another wrote: “May we all have the insane confidence of the Domino’s executive who pitched opening in Italy.”

But some American takeaway giants remain unperturbed by the pizza chain’s fate.

Starbucks has opened 16 stores across Italy in the hope of tempting coffee traditionalists away from the country’s much-loved espresso bars.

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Categories
Australia

Kangaroo Island wildlife sanctuary rebounds from bushfires to create citizen science ocean tours

Kangaroo Island wildlife sanctuary rebounds from bushfires to create citizen science ocean tours

Is adventure tourism, with a science bent, the new way to attract travellers?

From tracking echidna poo, trapping mosquitoes, or counting face masks on beaches, citizen science is helping boost scientific records and data.

But it is not just for locals. A new style of tourism encourages people to involve themselves in landscapes and wildlife while visiting locations, rather than just taking in the sights.

In South Australia, Kangaroo Island is known for its unique and abundant wildlife.

But 25,000 koalas and 50,000 farm animals perished in the fatal Black Summer bushfires of 2019-2020.

Two people also lost their lives.

Roanna Horbelt has been rescuing native orphaned animals at her Wildlife Land Trust Sanctuary for the past decade. She said the fires tested her mettle of her.

Woman smiling holding a kangaroo in a blanket, standing in a meadow.
Roanna Horbelt and rescued kangaroo Choco on Kangaroo Island, SA.(ABC Movin’ To The Country: Tony Hill)

“We were out in the fire grounds the whole time and you see horrible things, but we didn’t focus on that at all,” she said.

“I don’t have one picture. We focused on the positive things.

“We focused on the live animals, and we had about …150 to 200 kangaroos in the sanctuary at that stage, where it really was a sanctuary.”

Tourism that helps wildlife

Ms Horbelt and her partner, Phil Smith, saw an opportunity to give back to the animals not just through rehabilitation but through research and conservation.

They started an ocean tourism operation taking small group boat trips to the remote north-western coastline of Kangaroo Island to introduce people to the astounding diversity of animals, landscape, and geology.

Man with arm around woman, both smiling wearing matching t-shirts.
Roanna Horbelt and Phil Smith are partners in business and in life.(ABC Movin’ To The Country: Tony Hill)

The tourists, along with active citizen scientists, contribute to data monitoring and collection programs by taking photos, noting locations and animals, and making new discoveries.

Kangaroo Island Dolphin Watch coordinator Tony Bartram said, surprisingly, not much was known about dolphins.

“People think we know a lot, because dolphins are on T-shirts, in movies, on TV, all the rest, but they’re actually listed as data deficient,” he said.

“Getting baseline data about all species of dolphins is incredibly important.”

Mr Bartram said this area of ​​Kangaroo Island was the perfect place to conduct these tours.

Two women standing outdoors in a rural setting, leaning on a fence and smiling.
Halina Baczkowski meets Roanna Horbelt on Movin’ To The Country.(ABC Movin’ To The Country: Tony Hill)

“It’s not like being in Queensland. In South Australia, the marine environment is largely unexplored,” he said.

Mr Bartram had high hopes for the project.

“It’s important to us because it gives us a greater data flow, but also it means that we’re getting to places we haven’t been able to get to before,” he said.

“The limits on the research we’ve done so far are the limits on us and how far we travel, not on the dolphins.”

It’s not just dolphins tourists get to see. They have also spotted whales and ospreys previously not thought to inhabit the area.

Whale tale on display out of the ocean.
One of many stunning whale flukes captured off the coast of Kangaroo Island on Roanna’s tours.(ABC Movin’ To The Country: John Natoli)

Seeing a whale’s tail, known as a fluke, is the money shot. The unique markings help to identify the whale.

The more cameras the better, according to Ms Horbelt.

“The data they collect is vital. It’s not easy to get a fluke of a whale or a fin because the animals move very quickly,” she said.

‘Bloody hard work’ pays off

Another citizen scientist, Sue Holman, has documented ocean life around the island for eight years and was amazed at the data coming back from the tours.

“There are only seven recorded [osprey] nests around the island and they didn’t believe there were any up that end of the north coast at all, no nests,” she said.

“This is new data. This is cutting-edge stuff that we really want to show… there are nests up there that no-one knows about.”

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Categories
Australia

Agriculture Minister to release first National Biosecurity Strategy as disease threat looms

A man in a protective bee suit holds a frame from a beehive with bees on it.

Australia’s ability to protect itself from pests and disease is at the center of a new national strategy agreed to by federal, state and territory ministers.

Addressing the National Rural Press Club in Canberra today, federal Agriculture Minister Murray Watt will release the first National Biosecurity Strategy.

“The biosecurity risks we’re facing as a nation are closer and they’re more threatening than we’ve ever seen before and that’s partly as a result of climate change, shifting trade and travel patterns, different land uses,” Senator Watt told the ABC.

“There’s a range of factors we’re dealing with now as a country that we haven’t seen before and that is increasing the risk of biosecurity [issues] for our farmers and their products.”

The risks include the threat of African swine fever, lumpy skin disease and foot and mouth disease, which are currently spreading through nearby Asian countries.

Senator Watt said the new strategy would ensure governments and industry worked together to protect Australia.

“By aligning all the key players, we can ensure that everyone [is] working together to counter the biosecurity threats we face,” he said.

“Australia’s biosecurity system is a critical national asset and shared responsibility, and this strategy is for all Australians.”

According to the strategy, Australia receives 115 million parcels through its mail centers each year, with 2.6 million shipping containers arriving at the country’s ports.

Call for sustainable funding model

The strategy sets out six priority areas for governments, including “shared biosecurity culture, stronger partnerships, highly skilled workforce, coordinated preparedness, integration supported by technology, research and data; and sustainable investment”.

“We will ensure funding and investment is sufficient, co-funded, transparent, targeted to our priorities and sustainable for the long term,” the strategy states.

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Categories
Australia

Rare southern right whale calf sighting a thrilling start to NSW far south coast whale watching season

Rare southern right whale calf sighting a thrilling start to NSW far south coast whale watching season

The sighting of a southern right whale and her calf along the NSW far south coast has excited locals, photographers and marine experts alike as the whale watching season in the region kicks off.

August marks the time of year when some whales were still heading north as part of their annual migration on Australia’s east coast, while others were heading south.

In that crossover came the unique sighting of what appeared to be a white southern right whale calf.

“Any white animal, like we’ve seen with Migaloo, does get the attention of many people around Australia if not the world,” said wildlife scientist Dr Vanessa Pirotta.

“A small percentage of southern right whales are born very white, and in this case, this animal is known as a gray morph.

“Unfortunately, it’s not likely to stay white its entire life and will most likely become darker as it gets to adulthood.”

white whale calf emerges from the water
Southern right whales reproduce slower than other species so sighting a calf is a rare event.(Supplied: Peter Harris)

The southern right whale reproduced at a slower rate compared to the humpback, and was vulnerable to a number of threats in the post-whaling era including entanglement in fishing gear, ship strikes, acoustic pollution and even Killer Whales.

Dr Pirotta said although the current “salt and peppery” appearance of the calf wouldn’t remain, its existence had buoyed many working to ensure the survival of the species.

a white whale calf swimming in the water
The whale watching season usually doesn’t start until mid-August on the NSW far south coast but this calf is proof the mammals have arrived early.(Supplied: Peter Harris)

“It’s also an opportunity to see other species such as the southern right whale which is unfortunately not recovering as well as the humpback whale population,” Dr Pirotta said.

“When we do see one it’s of great significance because any contribution or addition to the southern right whale population is a special one for all of us.”

pods on the move

Mid-August usually marked the start of whale watching season on the NSW far south coast, but cruise operators were organizing tours early off the coasts of Bermagui, Merimbula and Eden.

a whale jumping out of the ocean
Humpbacks are usually more “acrobatic” and “energetic”, according to Mr Millar.(Supplied: Sapphire Coastal Adventures)

“We’ve had a great stream of southbound whales for a few weeks now,” said Simon Millar, director of Sapphire Coastal Adventures.

“We didn’t use to start until the end of August… [but] we’ve had multiple pods off Merimbula.

“It looks like it’s going to be an amazing season.”

Last year’s whale watching season was thwarted by COVID-19 restrictions, and this year tourism operators hoped to make an uninterrupted comeback.

Mr Millar also found the sighting of the southern right whale and her white calf to be unique, after not having spotted the species in three years.

“The southern right whales aren’t as typically energetic or acrobatic on the surface as the humpback whales,” he said.

“We tend to watch the humpback whales more even when the southern rights are around, but it was still great to see that new-born calf.”

a man and woman sit on the railing of their boat with their dog sitting in front of them
Mr Millar and his wife Jessica had not seen a southern right whale in three years before spotting the white calf.(Supplied: David Rogers Photography)

The sighting occurred ahead of the Walawaani Muriyira-Waraga Bermagui Whale Event on August 13 which marked the official opening of the 2022 season.

The event would celebrate the cultural significance of the annual migration to the local Yuin people and would feature an ocean paddle out to welcome the whales.

a big whale in the water next to a smaller white whale
The southern right whale and her white calf traveling along the NSW far south coast.(Supplied: Richard Gonzalez, Insta @the.shot.father)

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Categories
Australia

Pyney’s Pie Reviews star Shaun Pyne’s rise from mortgage broker to pastry pundit

Shaun Pyne has developed a large social media following through his Pyney's Pie Reviews alter ego.

A former mortgage broker on a mission to review every pie shop in Australia has taken his pastry pilgrimage to the farthest reaches of North Queensland — and delivered a verdict on the age-old tomato sauce debate.

Shaun Pyne ran a successful finance business for more than 20 years before selling up and hitting the road to realize his life’s ambition of visiting every pie vendor and bakery in Australia, bar none.

Over the intervening years, his Pyney’s Pie Reviews person has developed a huge social media following and raised tens of thousands of dollars for charity along the way.

Shaun Pyne made it to the northernmost tip of Australia during his tour of Cape York.(Supplied)

Five secrets to a perfect foot

Mr Pyne is halfway through a schooner of beer at the Peninsula Hotel in Laura — a Cape York town famed for its Quinkan Aboriginal rock art, but not its pastries — when he gets a call from the ABC.

The baked-good gourmand already has a few weeks’ travel under his belt on this leg of his Australian tour, with a loaded caravan and an insatiable appetite for adventure, great yarns and the perfect meat-to-crust ratio.

And it turns out, he has distilled the foot assessment criteria down to a fine science.

“The five categories that I do my scoring on are value for money, meat ratio, flavour, pastry and temperature,” he explains.

“They get scored out of 10 … and they’re all equally important.

“If you have a hot pie, it’s going to burn your taste buds … if the pastry falls apart while you’re driving that’s going to be a massive issue.

“For me, a real pie, you’ve got to be able to eat in your car – so it’s got to stay stable.”

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Given the price of fuel and the clicks clocked up by his nationwide mission, value for money is obviously going to be a major factor in any foot’s overall score.

“Look, the cost of living is expensive, the meat prices have gone up and yes, pies have gone up,” Mr Pyne says.

“At the end of the day, that’s life.

“But I’ve visited so many bakeries, with the cheapest being $4.10 to the dearest being $8.50.

“But even the $8.50 one, it’s massive, it’s a big pie and it’s great value for money.”

Caravan with the Pyney's pie reviews logo on the side of it
Shaun Pyne travels across Australia in a caravan to try every foot he can.(Supplied: Pyney’s Pie Reviews)

Can Australia really claim the meat pie?

Historical evidence of meat pies can trace their origin back to the Neolithic period of about 6,000 BC, and more recently they were staple dishes sold by street vendors as convenience food to the poor in Medieval Britain.

The dish features throughout British literature and nursery rhymes – take the philandering “Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie” for example, or the ditty about baked blackbirds that now lends its name to Australia’s biggest pie brand, Four’N Twenty.

But even the most parochial Brit must admit the tradition has taken flight since the pie arrived on a new continent with the First Fleet.

Mr Pyne’s recent discovery of a crocodile pie in Port Douglas and a crayfish pie at Bamaga certainly lends evidence to that claim.

Colored drawing of two people standing around a clay oven and a large tray with ten small feet on it.
Medieval pie bakers didn’t have to worry about the taste of their pastry – it wasn’t for eating.(Image: The Bodleian Library, Oxford/Public Domain)

The ‘dog’s eye and dead horse’ debate

Not every Aussie pie tradition gets the thumbs up from this crust crusader.

Whatever you do, don’t mention the dead horse.

“We’ve had a couple of huge heated debates,” he warns.

“To me, a good Australian pie does not need any sauce whatsoever.

“The only time I put sauce on my feet is when I go to the cricket or the footy.

“The flavors should be just riddled through the pie.

“By putting tomato sauce or some other sauce on, you’re taking away from the aroma and the actual true flavor of the pie.

“Square pie, round pie, oval pie — that’s been a separate debate.”

Mr Pyne falls into the square pie camp but acknowledges rules are made to be broken when it comes to this beloved foodstuff.

A bearded man wearing a cap and holding a foot stands next to a bearded man in a singlet
Shaun Pyne gets a taste for tropical rock lobster pies at Bernie’s Kai Kai Bar in Bamaga.(Supplied)

A controversy erupted from the recent 2022 Australia Best Pie and Pastie Competition, which he helped judge, after the top award went to a pie that had no meat.

My Pyne said the creamy mushroom and truffle creation was a revelation.

“There was no meat in there … but you know what, I had the privilege of tasting that pie on Wednesday and it was absolutely stunning, beautiful,” he says.

“They’ve come under fire a little bit because the judges did award that best pie… but it is Australia’s best pie competition – it’s not Australia’s best meat pie.

“To be honest, I think the judges got it right.

“This was a beautiful, beautiful foot.”

Shaun Pyne just cannot get enough of the humble meat pie.(Supplied)

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Creativity lies just under the lid

That fungal triumph was nowhere near the strangest meal to pass his lips.

“I’ve had a camel pie [at Birdsville] which was awesome,” he says.

“Roberta from Blackbutt Bakery, she was my first ever perfect score.

“She sells a Big Mac pie and it literally tastes exactly like a Big Mac.

“Whittlesea Bakery in Melbourne, it was another of my perfect scores – it was a slow-cooked brisket, camembert cheese and caramelised onion.”

The remoteness of the Cape meant feet were few and far between during Mr Pyne’s most recent northern journey, but he made up for it by hitting every bakery from the Atherton Tablelands to Innisfail at least once on the way back down.

“My mantra has always been, don’t go to Bali, go to Broken Hill,” he says.

“Get out and see this great country.

“Get out and see North Queensland.

“There’s so much to see up here and I can’t wait to get into the bakeries.”

A drawing on yellowed paper of a woman and man standing near each other, with hats and semi-formal clothing, and messy hair.
Early Australian convicts were allotted rations, including salted meat, flour and butter, that could be used to make a pie.(Image: State Library of NSW)

Pyney’s great lifestyle shift

So how does a mortgage broker become a roving gastronomist of the pie variety?

It all started as a bit of nonsense between two mates on the long and dusty trip to the Birdsville Big Red Bash in 2019.

“One of my mates said, ‘I’m gonna have a schooner at every pub ’cause my missus normally drives, blah blah blah,” Mr Pyne explains.

“And I said, look, if you do that I’ll have a walk at every town we stop at while you have your beer.

“So he had plenty of beers and I had plenty of pies, and I just started blogging about it at the end of 2019.”

A couple of horses show interest in Shaun Pyne's breakfast as his pie review tour takes him to Mareeba
A couple of horses show interest in Shaun Pyne’s breakfast as his pie review tour takes him to Mareeba(Supplied)

Covid-19 put Mr Pyne and his wife’s travel plans on ice, but a three-and-a-half month trip around the NT last year brought the social media reviews back to the fore.

Selling the family mortgage brokering business helped make it all possible, and writing pie reviews was as good excuse as any to get out and see Australia.

It also helps pay some of the bills.

“It’s a labor of love, mate,” Mr Pyne says.

“We’re lucky, we’ve got older kids and we’ve done very well out of our business.

“And I’ve got merchandise that I sell, so pie bikinis, pie boardshorts, T-shirts, that sort of stuff.

“I’ve got great partners that have sponsored me behind the scenes, which is awesome.

“But we were going to travel anyway, and this is just a great way to get out there and help people.

“Unfortunately it’s a dying profession, so if I can do my little bit to raise tourism, to get people out there spending money in these little communities, it obviously helps them.”

A man in a wide-brimmed hat smiles while sitting down to eat a pie
Sometimes on foot cooked in a caravan’s travel oven was the best Pyney could muster during his Cape York trip.
(Supplied)

All things in moderation

Mr Pyne is probably Australia’s best-known pie aficionado behind the late and great Shane Warne, whose fans mourned his passing earlier this year by laying offerings of meat pies, cigarettes, beer and baked beans alongside the flowers at the foot of his statue at the CGM.

Warnie’s shock death in Thailand gave Mr Pyne enough of a fright about his own diet to go see his own GP.

“It’s funny, because obviously with Shane Warne earlier this year, I went straight in,” he says.

“Since Christmas, I’ve lost 14kg, so I’ve been on a diet myself.

“My heart was all good, check-up was all good.

“I go to the gym every day, I work out every day.

“I do smash feet, but I do [social media] content on different days.”

A tin of beer and a meat pie are seen amid floral tributes for Shane Warne.
A can of beer and a meat pie are seen amid floral tributes for Shane Warne left at the MCG on March 5, 2022.(ABC News: Danny Morgan)

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You can call them meat pies, dog’s eyes, maggot bags or rat coffins.

As long as the meat ratio is right, it doesn’t send you broke or skin your tongue, the flavor is spot-on and the pastry is flaky and structurally sound, what you call them matters very little.

Pyney will gladly smash them all.

“Bloody oath mate, every day of the week.”

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Categories
Australia

North-east Victoria braces for wet spring after week of rainy weather

Minor flooding occurring along the Murray River and coming into the Walwa Riverside Caravan Park

Residents of north-east of Victoria are keeping a close eye on predictions of a wet spring.

The Bureau of Meteorology recently said a wetter August to October was likely for most of the country, including more than double the normal chance of unusually high rainfall for most areas in the eastern-two thirds of the mainland.

North-east Victoria has already recorded good rainfall, hail, as well as a number of flood alerts and minor flood events just a week into August.

Walwa Riverside Caravan Park owner and manager Heidi Conway said the Murray River had peaked about five meters at the park late on Friday and into Saturday morning.

“The Murray River broke the bank and came into our park so we’ve probably got a quarter of the park underwater at the moment,” she said.

“Our cabins are elevated up so it hasn’t affected those at all, but it looks like it’s going down now.”

‘You can’t stop nature’

Ms Conway said her business was not feeling too many impacts from the latest flooding event given it was quiet over winter.

She said Saturday’s flooding was similar to the last flooding event they saw at the park in September 2021

She said the latest event had arrived earlier than usual.

A flooded area with several trees around and a bench half submerged in water
Ms Conway says it’s not great to have to deal with flooding concerns.(Supplied: Heidi Conway)

“Normally we would look at maybe flooding towards September but due to seasonal changes we’ve copped it now as well,” she said.

“We have heard that we will have a wet year so that will impact the amount of people that we have in the park.

“After COVID and everything it’s not a great thing to happen but you can’t stop nature so we just have to look to all the things that we can do to deal with that.”

Ms Conway said despite the latest weather challenges she still expected to have a busy period leading up to, and during, Christmas.

Eyes on the sky

Victoria State Emergency Service north-east duty officer Dan Walton said the heaviest of the weekend’s rain had come and gone.

He said his organization was expecting steadier conditions early next week.

But he said it was important for community members to remain vigilant to any weather changes.

“This is not going to go away.” he said.

“We’re going to have the next several months of wet, warmer than average temperatures, more than average rainfall.

“This is going to continue until probably, at least, through November.”

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Categories
Australia

New Zealand’s borders fully open after long pandemic closure

Passengers board an Air New Zealand flight at Christchurch Airport

New Zealand’s borders fully reopened to visitors from around the world on Monday, for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic closed them in March 2020.

The country started reopening in February, first for New Zealanders returning home, and restrictions have progressively eased.

The process of reopening the borders ended last night with visitors who need visas and those on student visas now also allowed to return.

New Zealand is now also letting cruise ships and foreign recreational yachts dock at its ports.

International students were a significant contributor to New Zealand’s economy and educational providers are hoping the reopening of the borders will again provide a boost to schools and universities around the country.

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New Zealand’s border opening plan revealed by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday during a speech at the China Business Summit in Auckland that the final staged opening of the borders had been an enormous moment.

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Australia

Retired couple on Australia’s longest pub crawl say old country hotels are best

Couple selfie photo in front of long historici building with verandah, trees behiind building

A couple from Queensland are on Australia’s longest pub crawl, aiming to have at least one drink in every pub in the country.

Andrew and Ursula Keese set themselves the adventurous task for their retirement and they believe nobody has attempted it before.

“We both like to travel and we both like drinks and we both like to see Australia,” Mr Keese said.

They have ticked off every Queensland hotel and are just about to finish South Australia, where they have pulled up a seat at more than 380 pubs, bringing their total to more than 1,500.

Couple standing in front of modern large white campervan
Andrew and Ursula Keese plan to spend six months each year traveling to pubs across Australia.(Supplied: Ursula and Andrew Keese)

“I’ve been going to pubs since I was literally a baby with my mum and dad, and Ursula’s dream was to buy a motor home and travel around Australia so we thought we’d combine the two,” he said.

They expect it will take eight years to visit every pub in the country which they research online.

“We print out all the towns and suburbs and each state, and as we go we’ll cross off the town or the suburb,” Mr Keese said.

Man and woman in front of William Creek hotel building
Andrew and Ursula Keese at William Creek Hotel.(Supplied: Ursula and Andrew Keese)

“There’s only one website … that lists all the pubs, which is 6,033, but unfortunately it’s about 15 years out of date so we’re finding since that time about 10 per cent of pubs have closed.

“Some stunning old pubs [have closed] which is tragic so we’re hopefully doing our little bit just to promote pubs, especially country pubs and get people traveling out and going to their local once again.”

Reputation precedes them

The couple post photographs on social media and quite often the next pub on their list is expecting them.

“We always get our photo out the front of the pub so we’ve got proof that we’ve been there,” Mr Keese said.

“Some of them have seen us on other pubs they follow and they are happy to see us in their pub.

Woman in pink top leaning over bar to pat dog behind hotel par, post looking on
Ursula Keese enjoys meeting the locals at the Poochera Hotel in rural South Australia.(Supplied: Ursula and Andrew Keese)

“So many of them show you around the pub and take you on a tour which is really nice.

“They say ‘We’ve been wondering when you’d come into our pub’.”

They photograph the bars and features of the pub.

“If there’s stunning facades we get that and then all of the inside of the pub … just so people can see what does the pub look like and what does it offer.”

A drink at each watering hole

The couple have at least a drink at the pub, and try the local drops whenever they are available.

“We’ll order local, certainly anything different on tap or if they’ve got a local gin or a local wine,” Mr Keese said.

“We try and change it up so we’re always ordering something local because we went through outback Queensland for about three months and you could only get XXXX and Great Northern and I’ll drink them, but it was certainly a stretch,” he said.

Man behind a bar filled with memorabilia on shelves and ceiling
The couple enjoy exploring Australia’s most remote and quirky pubs and take a photo of the bar person who serves them.(Supplied: Andrew and Ursula Keese)

Most of their favorite pubs were older pubs that had character on the outside and characters on the bar stools inside.

“The beautiful old country pubs, they’ve just got a different feel and the locals they’ll always welcome you especially in the old pubs.

“It’s rare that you walk in and people don’t go ‘g’day, how ya going?'”

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