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Sally Sara

Sally Sara

Sally Sara is an award-winning journalist, writer and author. She has reported from more than 40 countries as a foreign correspondent with the ABC, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone.
Sally has won two Walkley Awards, one for television news and the other for radio. She has twice been a finalist in the Graham Perkin Award — Australian Journalist of the Year.
She has won four UN Media Awards and been nominated for AACTA and Logie Awards. In 2007 she was selected as the International Women's Media Foundation Elizabeth Neuffer Fellow in Washington DC.
Sally has written for the New York Times and Boston Globe. Her book, GOGO MAMA, profiled the lives of 12 African women and was longlisted for the Walkley Non-Fiction Book Award.
In 2011, Sally was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia, AM, for service to journalism and the community. She grew up in town of Port Broughton in South Australia.

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Cold weather in southern Queensland expected to remain until next week
Cold weather in southern Queensland expected to remain until next week

ABC News

time2 hours ago

  • ABC News

Cold weather in southern Queensland expected to remain until next week

The weather divide between Queensland's north and south has sharpened this week, as those above of the Tropic of Capricorn enjoy beach weather while southerners crowd around heaters and fireplaces. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the north is sitting on or slightly above average temperatures for this time of year. Cairns and Port Douglas are forecast to reach 28 degrees Celsius on Thursday, after similar conditions on Wednesday. On the coast north of Cairns, Ellis Beach Oceanfront Holiday Park manager Nick Giampietro said the sunshine had been a drawcard for southern travellers. "It's beautiful, a little overcast, but people are still swimming in the ocean and the pool, getting around in their bikinis and speedos," he said. "It's really busy at the moment. Most of our powered sites are booked. "Being our peak season, it's chaotic up here." Mr Giampietro said the park had been packed with people escaping the chill. "We've got all the southerners up here getting away from the cold weather down there," he said. Those who decided to tough it out in the south will have their resolve tested, with minimum temperatures forecast to stay well below average for about another week. Oakey on the Darling Downs and the Wellcamp Airport outside Toowoomba plummeted to almost -4C just before 5am on Thursday, while Applethorpe, Dalby, Miles and Warwick all dipped well into the negatives. Further west, Roma in the Maranoa recorded -2.3C, while Kingaroy in the Wide Bay region reached -3C. Daniel Hayes from the Bureau of Meteorology said inland parts of southern and central Queensland would continue to experience minimum temperatures between 4 and 10C below average until Monday. "Very clear, very dry conditions with very low humidity really allow that heat to escape during the day," he said. "Once the sun goes down, we start radiating all that heat out — and with no moisture, no cloud, and very little wind to interfere, it's getting very cool." Mr Hayes said frigid overnight conditions would lead to widespread frost. "Maybe not quite as widespread into places like the Channel Country and up into the Central Highlands and Coalfields," he said. "But we're still expecting to see a fair bit of frost through parts of the Maranoa, the Warrego, and the Darling Downs." There is some relief on the horizon, with a trough developing in the Northern Territory that could lift temperatures in Queensland as it moves east next week. "Probably around Tuesday in particular," Mr Hayes said. "Then we may finally start to see a bit of an easing of those very cool overnight temperatures. "Still probably a little below average — just less cold, rather than particularly warm." He said the same system could even bring some rain to the far north and showers down the coast. "Into places like the Herbert and Lower Burdekin, the northern Goldfields, Upper Flinders, Central Coast, and maybe even into the Capricornia area," he said.

Ghost mushroom season off to slow start under dry conditions in SA's south east
Ghost mushroom season off to slow start under dry conditions in SA's south east

ABC News

time2 hours ago

  • ABC News

Ghost mushroom season off to slow start under dry conditions in SA's south east

Drought conditions have slowed mushroom growth in South Australia's south-east, including the glowing fungi that has become a popular tourist attraction. Walk the Limestone Coast owner Natasha Dawson has been running ghost mushroom tours in the lower Limestone Coast for the past five years. She said that while the bioluminescent species Omphalotus nidiformis was found across Australia, the Limestone Coast, particularly its forested areas, was the hotspot for them. ForestrySA set up the Ghost Mushroom Lane tourist attraction in 2017, but a poor season in 2023 led to visits to Glencoe confined to tours run by Ms Dawson. So far this year, even she has yet to find enough of the mushrooms to take groups through. "I've found small patches [but] not enough that I would normally like to run a tour," Ms Dawson said. "The key thing is they're just not glowing." Local photographer Steve Chapple said he had also noticed a slow start to the mushroom season. "There's been a fairly significant lack of rain for everybody," he said. Ms Dawson said the ghost fungi species was sensitive to changes to the microclimate. "Of course they need rain, but we also think that they might have needed those really cold nights that we start getting in May to help as well," she said. Flinders University mycologist Michael Taylor said a lack of moisture in the soil meant the fungi had a harder time forming mushrooms. "A really good winter season is normally preceded by a good wet summer," Dr Taylor said. "So the longer it is dry for, the less likely it is that we're going to see a whole lot of mushrooms pop out." Dr Taylor said while no surveying had been undertaken, his observations were that it had "not been a great year for mushrooms so far". "We might see what we call a flush [of mushrooms] towards the end of winter, or into spring, if conditions stay a little bit wet and a little bit more moderate in temperature," he said. "Or we might just have a crumby season all round. Hopefully, we get some better rains next year." He said the lack of glowing could be an indicator that the fungi were not well-fed or were stressed. Ms Dawson said that with recent rain and cooler temperatures, she was hopeful the mushrooms would appear soon. Mr Chapple said he had recently started taking groups out on photography tours as mushrooms have begun to appear, including ghost mushrooms. "It's always cyclical," he said. "But I was panicking about some of the rarer ones that people come from interstate to see. It was a bit difficult to find them this year." In the long term, Dr Taylor said climate change could also change the distribution of different species. "There's probably going to be a mixture of introduced fungi, temperature, rainfall, and a few things that may well change what fungi we see and where we see them over the next 10 to 20 years," he said.

Uber's annual Lost & Found Index reveals items most commonly forgotten by Australians
Uber's annual Lost & Found Index reveals items most commonly forgotten by Australians

News.com.au

time8 hours ago

  • News.com.au

Uber's annual Lost & Found Index reveals items most commonly forgotten by Australians

An Esky full of seafood, a Steve Irwin action figure and $1200 worth of meat raffle winnings are just some of the unique items left behind in Ubers this year. The rideshare company have just released its annual Lost & Found Index, and some distinctive lost property gives a glimpse into the habits of Australian travellers. On the list of the 'most unique' lost items were $500 worth of live exotic fish, a vibrator, a cooked chicken, a puppy, half a pair of dentures, and what Uber deemed a 'suspicious' amount of belts. Other highlights on the list were a sword, Lamborghini keys, and an electric doughnut maker. The most commonly forgotten items, however, were everyday possessions, including clothing, luggage, phones, jewellery, headphones, wallets and keys. Uber Australia and New Zealand's director of consumer operations Mathieu Maire said the index showed 'a quintessentially Aussie' insight into how we travel. 'People misplace things for all sorts of reasons – maybe they're in a rush, juggling too much or just a bit distracted,' Mr Maire said. 'Behind every lost item, there's often a little story. 'Whether it's your love letter or your lightsaber, we know how important it is to be reunited with your belongings.' Australian forgetfulness habits change depending on the day of the week, according to the index. On Mondays, hats are commonly forgotten, jackets are lost on Tuesday and Fridays, iPads on Wednesdays and AirPods on Thursdays. Phones are most likely to go missing on the weekend. The time of day also seems to make an impact; Australians are most forgetful during the morning rush hour and when coming home from a night out at 2am. Sydney topped the list as Australia's most 'forgetful' city, followed closely by Melbourne at No.2. Next on the list were Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, the Gold Coast and Canberra. Uber has encouraged anyone who lost something in a rideshare to reach out by contacting their driver directly. 'Our built-in tools make it easy to reconnect with your driver and retrieve your belongings with as little hassle as possible,' Mr Maire said. 30 most unique lost items: Mini Steve Irwin toy $500 worth of live exotic fish Vibrator A cooked chicken Esky with crabs and fish Puppy Portable CPAP machine Bottom denture $1200 meat raffle prize Cat scratching post Massage table Sword Breathalyser Electric doughnut maker Kung fu belt Rugby ball shaped cufflinks Love letter Lightsaber Breast pump executor Hair extensions Jar of bee pollen Police documents Crochet peas Clown nose Green gremlin toy $400 worth of concert merch Bass guitar Christmas lights box with $1,500 cash inside Teeth grills Suspicious amount of belts 10 most commonly forgotten items: Clothing Backpacks/luggage Phones Jewellery Headphones Wallets/purses Keys Laptops Vapes Glasses 15 most 'forgetful' cities: Sydney, NSW Melbourne, VIC Perth, WA Brisbane, QLD Adelaide, SA Gold Coast, QLD Canberra, ACT Newcastle, NSW Hobart, TAS Cairns, QLD Darwin, NT Sunshine Coast, QLD Geelong, VIC Wollongong, NSW Ballarat, VIC

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