Behind the scenes of Australia's whale census; citizen scientists explain why they keep taking part
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News.com.au
19 hours ago
- News.com.au
Seven hikers saved in Kosciuszko alpine rescue
A massive six-hour rescue operation has saved a group of hikers who were stranded in heavy snow in NSW's Snowy Mountains. The group of seven hikers activated a personal locator beacon (PLB) around 1.15pm on Saturday along a trek in the Kosciuszko National Park. Police, SES and NSW ambulance were part of the rescue team. The group, who were aged from 21 to 48, was found at about 7pm. They had reportedly become disoriented after a sudden change in weather on their hike. They were all assessed by paramedics at the scene and treated for exposure to the cold. The group were then taken to Thredbo Village using a specialised Snowcat vehicle. Monaro Police District Commander Detective Acting Superintendent Keith Price urged hikers to look for weather alerts before embarking on any treks. 'Activating the PLB meant rescuers had a precise location as well as information about the stranded group, enabling the appropriate resources to be deployed more quickly,' he said. 'Even experienced hikers with the right gear can be impacted by sudden weather changes and our advice to all hikers in the Alpine area is to always check for weather alerts, plan your route carefully, and take a PLB.' The Dead Horse Gap hike is considered one of the more accessible treks in the Thredbo region. It is a mostly downhill 10km circuit that takes hikers from the top of the Kosciuszko Chairlift to Dead Horse Gap.
ABC News
20 hours ago
- ABC News
Drought relief truck convoy brings fodder to farms in time-honoured tradition
Australia's vast distances are perhaps the reason the idea of the cross-country trek — in the form of a convoy, a cavalcade or a relief column — has imprinted its tracks so deeply into the nation's collective consciousness. The inland mission of Burke and Wills met with disaster, but when the doomed duo left Melbourne months earlier in August 1860, the stately tread of their travelling party's horses and camels was accompanied by the cheers of a 15,000-strong crowd. The men were in search of pastures green — a sight that has, of late, been a little hard to come by across swathes of southern Australia. For months, drought has been ravaging the continent's temperate zone, leaving many South Australian farmers without water and fodder, and there is a prevailing sense of a final straw. But, in time-honoured tradition, help has been on the way — and it has been coming from way out west. Along the Eyre Highway and across the Nullarbor Plain, a veritable "hay fever" of sorts has broken out. For the past two days, a convoy that would stretch an estimated 3 kilometres if all its trucks were lined up bumper-to-bumper has been bringing thousands of bales of fodder from Western to South Australia. "This is logistically the biggest hay run ever and it is a massive machine," convoy participant Karen Smith said. The enterprise has been not so much a "bailout" as a "bales on" — on, that is, to the backs of the approximately 85 trucks that are now destined for 400 farming businesses across Eyre Peninsula, the Adelaide Hills and other South Australian regions that have been battling the impact of the drought. When Ms Smith — who runs a transport business in Esperance — got wind of what was brewing, she knew she had to be involved. "We were on a holiday in the Kimberleys up north and we cut it short to do this trip because it's very important to us," she said. "This is our third hay run … [and] once you get involved, that's it — it's kind of like a lifetime membership. "It's addictive in that you just love the fact that Aussies are helping Aussies, and I guess in this case it's farmers helping farmers, but you've also got the transport industry, which is obviously what helps get it there." The convoy is the brainchild of two charities, Farmers Across Borders and Need for Feed, and support has also been provided by the South Australian government. Transport costs have been covered by $2 million from the state's drought relief fund. Anyone overlooking the trucks before they set off from Norseman in WA on Friday might have been struck by their resemblance to a giant cattle drive or muster — the vehicles and their cargo of provender were packed together like sheep in a pen. But when they hit the road, they quickly metamorphosed into a narrow column. As that column arrived to a warm welcome in Ceduna on SA's west coast on Saturday afternoon, it presented the kind of spectacle that might have sparked the imagination of Henry Lawson, had the bush poet been born into the age of the B-double and the dual carriageway. "We've got truckies here from New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia," said Need for Feed chair Graham Cockerell as he refuelled his truck in Ceduna. "Ceduna is probably the first of the real welcoming committee but there's been a few farmers come out onto the road, which is a bit emotional for us. "We're blown away by that — by the level of support right from the top downwards." Among the army of drivers is Shepparton truckie and hay run veteran Andrew Linehan, who left for WA nine days ago in order to participate in the operation. For him, the chief appeal of the enterprise is the camaraderie afforded by the open road. "It's always been a bit of fun — you get to catch up with some like-minded people as well, and you get the added bonus of helping somebody out who's struggling a little bit," he said. Progress was painstaking — rain meant the drivers had to take extra care on the road. While some noted the irony of delivering drought relief amid downpours, Adelaide truckie David Aylett was delighted that the convoy had coincided with the wintry weather. "It's bringing the rain, which we need in South Australia," he said. "The farmers — they do it tough at times, and it's just good to do a bit for the country. But some of that spirit was very much on show along roadsides, where smiling, waving and cheering wellwishers gathered to salute the convoy. "You just see people out there who've got so much joy on their faces," Mr Aylett said. "It tingles down your spine, basically." Among those greeting the group was Ceduna resident of 14 years Karen Toft. Standing on the edge of the Eyre Highway, she was draped in an Australian flag, which she eagerly held aloft with the passing of each hay truck. "I think it's a big moment," she said with both local and national pride. "This is just really amazing — an amazing logistical exercise to get all these trucks through a small town, in Ceduna. "This is an extraordinary thing, this is what people do, Australians do, in times of need — everyone steps up, and this is part of it." On the farmers' side of the fence, there is a strong sense of appreciation, but it is being tempered by caution. Amid heavy rain on Friday, grain growers told the ABC that it was far too soon to be talking about recovery. "One rain doesn't break a drought," one said. "We'll still need follow-up, and we'll need a very kind spring to make a season of it." It's a message the state government understands. "The rains have come very, very late, which means that a lot of people either sowed crops which then got blown away or didn't grow or have had to re-sow, or both," Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven said. "What this rain means is I think some hope for our farmers, who have been doing it so, so tough, but it means still that there is a long way to go. "We've been very, very grateful for the partnership with the charities." SA Dairyfarmers' Association president Robert Brokenshire said the deliveries of donated hay would make a difference at a difficult time for many. "If the state government didn't have a freight subsidy package — and if we weren't getting Need for Feed and others bringing in this fodder, frankly — sadly, some banks would be knocking on the doors, I'd suggest, of some farmers, because it's that tight," he said. "Many dairy farmers would have had to dry their cows off or indeed sell cows, and we probably would have had quite a shortage of milk to supply South Australia. "It's really been exhausting financially and mentally, so the government being behind us and the volunteer organisations … are an absolute saviour." The convoy has now reached its final destination in the township of Wudinna, on Eyre Peninsula's wheatbelt, but the job is hardly over. In fact, the most important stage has not yet begun. "We've brought just over 6,400 bales," Need for Feed chair Graham Cockerell said. "We've actually had to rejig some of our deliveries because it's too wet to get in on the farms." From Wudinna, the vehicles will go their separate ways, taking their fodder in all directions. "It'll get distributed throughout different parts of South Australia," driver Andrew Linehan said. "We could end up down the other side into the Adelaide Hills or into the outback areas." Towards the fateful end of their journey, Burke and Wills were famously confronted by the word "DIG" on a tree along the Cooper Creek — a message pointing them in the direction of buried supplies. It was not enough to save them. But digging deep in times of crisis is something that rural communities pride themselves on — a point made by many involved in this weekend's hay convoy. "It means everything," Karen Smith said.
ABC News
21 hours ago
- ABC News
Unauthorised roadside campfire prompts warning for tourists
Jil Wilson says she could smell something was wrong at her remote outback roadhouse earlier this month. "We're smelling smoke and wondering is someone lighting up the bush here, what's going on?" Ms Wilson said. She said she realised the source when one of her dogs nearly stepped in campfire embers. Ms Wilson found a roadside campfire on her private property south of Burketown, which she suspects had been left to burn by unauthorised campers. "There was still a burning log," she said. "With the grass so close by it could have started a bushfire quite easily, especially with the winds we're getting here at the moment." Instead of calling into the roadhouse and paying the $15 camping fee for an unpowered site and fire pit, Ms Wilson said the "cheeky campers" likely drove past the camping sign, as well as the private property sign, and opted to camp for free. "I sort of get people travelling unprepared and it might have been late when everything was shut," she said. "I could have excused it, but leaving a burning campfire behind is just not fair." Firefighters responded to more than 200 fires in camping and picnic areas last year across Queensland, according to the Rural Fire Service Queensland (RFSQ). The organisation's fire mitigation manager Chris Wegger, and Ms Wilson, are urging travellers to be careful with campfires. "Our message to the travelling community is please consider your safety and the safety of others before lighting a campfire," Mr Wegger said. He said people wanting a campfire experience should use designated camping areas that had fire rings or pits, instead of lighting a fire on the roadside. "So the time that a fire does get reported on, there may be a delayed response." Mr Wegger said mobile reception issues meant people often could not report a fire until they reached the next town with service. "Campers must always extinguish fires, even in designated fire areas," he said. The best way to extinguish fires was to use water. Attempting to smother it with dirt or sand was not a solution. Mr Wegger said the coals left from a fire would remain hot under sand and become a risk for other travellers to step on, or in the right conditions, re-ignite. Half of the World Heritage-listed island K'gari on the Fraser Coast burnt for six weeks in 2020 after campers unsuccessfully attempted to put a bushfire out with sand. "You need to make sure that you're taking additional water supplies to extinguish fire," Mr Wegger said. Burke Shire Mayor Ernie Camp said the council managed several free camping areas using ratepayer income, but also encouraged visitors to use paid camping facilities at local businesses. After hearing what had happened at Ms Wilson's roadhouse, the mayor said he would be raising the issue of unauthorised camping at the next council meeting. He said the council would consider increasing signage in the region, but he also believed that existing tourist publications could include more explicit fire safety education. Cr Camp said his key advice to travellers was to plan ahead and make sure they avoided emergency roadside camping by knowing how far they could realistically travel without getting fatigued. He and Ms Wilson said most people did the right thing. "I don't want to paint the picture that everyone is doing the wrong thing here," Ms Wilson said. "It does happen that every now and again we find cheeky people." Ms Wilson's roadhouse was inundated by devastating floodwaters in 2023 and 2024, prompting her to raise the building on stilts. She now lays claim to having the highest roadhouse on the Savannah Way, but does not want another disaster such as a preventable bushfire to wipe out the roadhouse again. "Anyone that's been in the area lately knows how incredibly dry it is at the moment," Ms Wilson said. "The wind is just howling so everything is dried to a crisp."
