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The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
Deep impact: touring central Australia's cosmic craters
'You didn't mention camping on Mars.' My wife had a point: thin air, thinner soil, extreme UV, rocks straight from a Nasa red-planet image, jagged ranges – all ideal backdrops for a movie set. No wonder the place was considered for training by the Apollo program. Its sparse life forms include an intimidating shrub whose thorns mimic the stingers on the scorpions that come out after dark. A harsh, forbidding place, but beautiful too. We made shade with our camper awning and waited for magic time: the desert at dusk. Travelling along the Stuart Highway it's easy to miss the Henbury Meteorites conservation reserve, 12km off the tarmac along a rough track one and a half hours south of Alice Springs. We'd seen samples of its space rock in the excellent display at the Museum of Central Australia in Alice and were keen to see where they fell. There are six known impact sites in the territory and the two most accessible are Henbury and Tnorala (Gosse Bluff). We visited both during Victoria's fifth Covid lockdown in 2021. Henbury is a site where a nickel-iron meteor about the size of a garden shed disintegrated before striking the land to carve out over a dozen impact craters, just 4,500 years ago – so recently that the site has significant cultural meaning as a sorry place for the Luritja people, whose sacred songs and oral histories tell of this devastating event. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Scientific models suggest the meteorites hit Earth at 40,000km/h in an explosion akin to the Hiroshima blast. The site's 12 craters are best viewed when the sunlight's low angle reveals the smaller, heavily eroded examples. Among the youngest of Earth's known impact sites, Henbury's pits have been scoured by wind and rare deluges down the Finke River flood plain. Extreme temperatures do the rest. The largest crater is 180m across, the smallest the size of a back-yard spa. The explosion sprayed out tonnes of pulverised rock in a distinctive rayed pattern still visible around Crater No 3 – the only known terrestrial example. Temptingly, specimens of the actual meteorite hurled out may still be found. The 45kg chunk in the Museum of Central Australia is one example of 680kg collected so far, though digging or damaging the site without a permit is illegal. We don't find any meteorite fragments but we leave with memories of a humming sunrise and night with a billion almost touchable stars. From Tylers Pass lookout, two hours west along the Namatjira Drive from Alice Springs, Tnorala (Gosse Bluff) appears as a mountain range thrusting incongruously from the endless western plains. In fact, these peaks were created in seconds when an object up to 1km wide hit the Earth at about 250,000km/h, 142m years ago, with an explosive force at least 20 times more powerful than all the world's nuclear weapons. No trace of that object has been found, so it was probably an icy comet that vaporised on impact. Erosion has since reduced the crater from its original 22km diameter. Satellite images uncannily resemble a staring eye under a sunburnt brow. Specimens in the Museum of Central Australia show that early Cretaceous central Australia was wetter and cooler than it is now, with abundant dinosaurs. Locally, they would have been vaporised, and anything living within 100km killed by the massive shock wave and extreme heat. The sound of the explosion probably travelled around the world. The Tnorala bolide event was a prelude to the big one, Chicxulub on Mexico's Yucatán peninsula, which wiped out the dinosaurs 77m years later. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion In their oral traditions, Western Arrernte people understand Tnorala as a cosmic impact site. A group of star woman were dancing in a corroboree in the Milky Way when one woman placed her baby in a turna (wooden cradle). The dancing shook the galaxy and the turna slipped, with the baby falling to Earth as a blazing star, striking the ground to create the crater's distinctive bowl shape. These days 'awesome' is a word debased by glib use. It's apt driving into the 5km-wide Tnorala crater, surrounded by cliffs 180 metres high, formed in a blink by a literally Earth-shattering event as our planet's crust rebounded to form the crater's inner ring. The rock strata in these peaks show that some were lifted from a depth of 4km by incredible explosive force and are now inverted. It's not just awareness of this ancient violence that marks Tnorala as a sorry place. Local information boards describe it as a pre-colonial massacre site. So it's doubly proper that camping is forbidden. It's an unwelcoming place, where an object large enough to be classified as a city-killer fell from the sky. This kind of comet is now thankfully detectable by telescopes such as the new Vera C Rubin observatory in Chile, and also proven as feasible they could be steered off course. So forget Mars. Cancel that ticket. Instead, visit awesome central Australia – where the mountains are upside down, the stars greet your fingertips and the dawns are so silent you can hear the sun sing. The Museum of Central Australia is hosting a Henbury Meteorite reserve discovery day on 10 August as part of National Science week. Henbury: Day trips to the Henbury Meteorites conservation reserve require a Northern Territory parks pass and the site can be reached by 2WD vehicles, however 4WDs are recommended. The reserve's basic facilities include picnic shelters and a drop toilet. Water and firewood are not available. Campsites must be booked online through Northern Territory Parks and fees apply. The nearest food and fuel supplies are available 85km south at the Erldunda Roadhouse on the Stuart Highway. Tnorala (Gosse Bluff): The Tnorala crater is accessible via a sandy track and offers picnic shelters and a drop toilet. Camping is not permitted in the reserve due to its status as a registered sacred site of the Western Arrernte people. Fuel and food is available at Hermannsburg, 62km east on the Namatjira Way. Travel beyond Tnorala is by 4WD only and requires a Mereenie Tour pass. Many of these roads may be impassable in wet weather. Associate Prof Duane Hamacher assisted with factchecking for this story
The Independent
10 hours ago
- The Independent
Successful series shows why the Lions are here to stay — but new threats provoke tough questions for the future
The great exodus of British and Irish Lions fans has begun, the pilgrims in their red cloaks making passage back to their home isles after the adventure of a lifetime. It is estimated that more than double the number of travelling fans came to Australia to soak up this series than in previous trips, a figure inflated by the Covid-wrecked affair in South Africa that saw plenty delay a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Their presence has helped make the 2025 edition the most profitable tour in history 'by a significant margin'. Certainly, in Brisbane, Melbourne and now Sydney, it has been impossible to miss the massed red bodies – one suspects the hostelries and hotels of Australia will have been glad of their presence. But look closer among them and one would have found plenty of rugby high-rollers and influential players, too. As with any major event in the sport, these have been crucial weeks of discussion, bread-breaking and plotting, with a number of executives taking the chance to visit Australia to catch up and set out plans for the future. World Rugby has been hard at work finalising the details of the new Nations Cup, due to launch next year, with details expected soon of the exact structure of the competition. A return Down Under for the World Cup in 2027 is also on the horizon – ticket packages will soon be on sale for a tournament that it is hoped will help revive rugby union in the nation. Yet one conceived competition has dominated discussions in the last fortnight particularly. Some of those behind the proposed R360 breakaway league have been hard at work recruiting possible players and assembling the sort of high-calibre staff to make an ambitious idea happen, with nearly 30 permanent employees said to have been found. The idea of the franchise competition is to revolutionise the game and bring in new investment, appealing to players with lighter workloads and significant pay-packets as part of a global tour of major cities. If the economics of a sprawling venture remain slightly doubtful, and it for now remains entirely conceptual, there is growing belief that it will actually materialise. Should it do so, it will instantly pose problems for an already delicate ecosystem. Some suggest that R360 will be able to work in conjunction with the existing properties of the game but even those involved with the Lions, as established a rugby brand as they come, will surely be wondering what the impact of an upstart disruptor within the sport may be. Sat in the Lions' team hotel on Sunday, chief executive Ben Calveley was a contented man – he had record revenues to report and a competitive series won. But even a great anachronism does not want to be left behind, and Calveley's admission that his organisation had had no formal discussions with the rebels felt jarring. 'It's up to them who they want to make contact with,' the CEO said. 'I don't really want to comment on how they manage their own business. For me, what is encouraging is that our players remain committed to the Lions.' These could again be intriguing times for the Lions to navigate. Their place in the calendar is enshrined by World Rugby's Regulation 9, which ensures player release for the tour, and it is clear that the tourists will be off to New Zealand in four years' time, but much otherwise is uncertain. The economic heft and history of the quadrennial tourists ensures that they have a bright future, yet there is a sense that they could be doing more to make the most of their time in the spotlight. Much is on the table - having been frustrated by the non-competitiveness of some tour games, Calveley and his ilk are exploring the prospect of facing Fiji, Japan or other nations ahead of the All Blacks series in 2029. It is a smart idea, one feels – the tour games on this trip were largely forgettable, other than the First Nations & Pasifika encounter against a side who embraced a larger purpose. 'If we're looking at bringing in new components into the tour, it's because we're interested in building relationships with those markets,' Calveley explained. 'If you think about the Lions, we've got great relationship with countries that make up the Lions and the countries we have toured historically. But outside of that, there's an opportunity to grow even further. That's what that will be." There has also been a frustration in some parts about a Lions tour that has felt more insular and insulated than past trips. A focus on high performance has seen the squad - who say they have had the time of their lives – perhaps eschew the sort of community and cultural experiences that make up the Lions legend. While insiders insist that this is misplaced, the pursuit of on-field success can feel incompatible with the open approach so embedded within the fabric of the touring side. An ability to attract new fans will also be key. The average travelling Lions supporter is said to be in their late 50s, with recent retirees making up a significant number of a sea of red that it is expensive to become part of. As one figure involved with a sponsor joked, perhaps flight socks would have been an apt gift for those travelling on tour given that sort of age profile; bringing new fans through is a goal for Calveley and co. 'That's part of the reason why the home fixture has been attractive for us in the past,' he explained. 'For all those people that can't travel on the tour, going to Dublin is obviously more accessible, as it was when we went up to Edinburgh four years prior to that. 'There is also a piece that is about the way people are consuming through our digital and social channels. The majority of people consuming our content through that format are in the under-34 age category. There is a really large element of the Lions fan that is younger. We are bringing a young audience to the game, but any way we can think to get them into the country so that they can experience the tour would definitely be worthwhile.' The other element to consider, which gets to the nub of one of R360's selling points, is how to ensure that the Lions really is the best of the British Isles meeting the best of the host nation. The worrying sight of a spent Tom Curry hobbling off in Sydney was, in truth, little surprise given the brutal workload he and other players have to endure – figures like Maro Itoje, Tommy Freeman and Finn Russell blew past the 30-game limit set by the Rugby Players' Association (RPA) to preserve player welfare. After criticism over the calling up of nearby players to cover for the First Nations encounter, and the bloating of the squad that causes, there is no guarantee that the midweek game between the first and second Tests remains on the itinerary. A heavy workload of 15 Tests between July and November is also surely part of the reason why Joe Schmidt was cautious around Will Skelton and Rob Valetini, whose absence from the first Test proved costly. There are only so many times that these top internationals can go to the well and the appeal of the shorter club fixture list that R360 will seemingly offer is obvious. The Lions, though, will be going nowhere. For all of the criticisms around this tour it was vastly superior to the 2021 trip where the absence of fans was so keenly felt, and the behaviour of both camps fell short of expectations. Australia's rebirth, to some extent, has been heartening to see, and let us hope it continues through to their home World Cup in two years' time. Not all of Andy Farrell 's selections proved popular but the concept of bringing together four nations in such a way is unique, drives debate and ensures vital cultural cut-through. There is plenty of good amidst a challenging landscape – but plenty of tough questions to be answered, too.
Daily Mail
10 hours ago
- Daily Mail
This Lions tour was an SOS and they desperately need a revamp - from ending the media paranoia and stopping the one-nation domination to the four future stars who can take down the All Blacks, here's my blueprint for 2029: CHRIS FOY
Where do the Lions go from here? Home, in the first instance, to disperse and recharge, but then the hierarchy must review this Australia tour in forensic detail, to work out the future direction of travel, in every sense. They are adamant that all feedback will be welcomed and considered, so here, this column is offering a range of points, free of charge.
