Latest news with #outback
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Travelling couple's incredibly special discovery beside outback track: 'Amazing'
A pair of adventurers in their 4WD were stunned to spot a large nest spanning almost two metres wide by the roadside in the outback, completely taken aback that a native bird was responsible. Caro and Craig were travelling along Goog's Track, a popular red dirt route for four-wheel driving in South Australia, when they spotted the large hole by the side of the road this month. They stopped and snapped a photo, saying online it was "amazing" that it was the workings of a malleefowl. Jenny Denton Price — whose family is responsible for forging the road in the 1970s and where the road got its namesake from, taking after her late husband John 'Goog' Denton — told Yahoo News it's "rare" to find the large nests in Australia, but quite a few can be spotted along the track. "My children saw malleefowl birds working on their nest [in the past]. They used to lie in the scrub and watch the hen and cock bird building the nest, and they got an egg out of it that year," Jenny reminisced to Yahoo News. "That nesting site [in the picture] has been there for a couple of years, they [the birds] go back there again and again." Malleefowl nests can grow up to four metres in diameter Malleefowl birds are one of three native mound-building birds in the country, and the species is the only one that lives in arid areas. The nests can grow up to four metres in diameter, and over one metre in height. The birds themselves are shy and seldom seen, according to Bush Heritage Australia, meaning the sighting of a nest is incredibly special — especially as the birds are among very few species that mate for life. Male birds are primarily responsible for building the nest, using their strong legs to scrape sand and leaf litter into a pile where the female will then lay the egg at the top of the mound. The egg is covered by the debris and as it decomposes, it generates heat, aiding incubation of the eggs. The male birds maintain the temperature by adding or removing debris from the mound, using his beak as a natural thermostat. Chicks hatch unaided around 60 days, with parents able to lay one egg every four to eight days, meaning 24 eggs can be hatched in one breeding season. 😲 Travelling dad's 'amazing' find on road stops traffic for 20 minutes 👀 Driver in hysterics after spotting strange sight in ute 🚮 State rolls out new bins to help tackle deadly issue Legacy of Denton family now enjoyed by hundreds of 4WD drivers Jenny explained to Yahoo News her late husband Goog lived in the area since he was a "young lad" and was always intrigued by the scrub near his home. Curiosity got the better of him, and he began to make a clearing in order to discover what the land held, as well as connect his hometown of Cenduna to the east-west railway line at Tarcoola. Between 1973 and 1976, family members constructed the track during weekends and the colder months using basic equipment like an old tractor with a blade, and later a bulldozer. Jenny still lives in Cenduna and told Yahoo News her door is always open for travellers wanting questions answered about the track. "We never, ever thought it was going to be what it is today... It's got so busy. There's lots and lots of people that travel along it now," she said. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Banished review – cultish terrors lurk in the Australian outback
Weirdos in animal masks, summary executions, rituals that envelop you in a strange sense of predestination; thanks to the folk-horror crowd, you can't go for a country walk these days without expecting to stumble into some uncanny pagan savagery. This Australian thriller subscribes unquestioningly to all of the above tropes, but its delicately splintered narrative and feel for outback disorientation and dismay mark out a distinctive trail – until it disintegrates to the point the film can only turn in circles. Prodigal city girl Grace (Meg Eloise-Clarke) comes back to her home town in the bush to search for her missing brother David (Gautier de Fontaine), who saved her from their abusive father. Nosing around this depressing outpost, she hears rumours of a mysterious commune out in the wilderness drawing in local vagrants and drifters. Her uncle (Tony Hughes) warns her off investigating – but of course she ignores him, as well as the pile of keepsakes hinting at her family's long involvement in cultist shenanigans. So she slings a few grand to her shady former geography teacher Mr Green (Leighton Cardno) to escort her out into the scrub. Intercutting Grace's forlorn interrogations with her panicky isolation in the countryside, director Joseph Sims-Dennett initially has one narrative chase another's tail; they dovetail into a first half whose general oppressiveness grinds us down, while the fragmentation prickles us into alertness. It's heightened by a sharp and impatient visual sense keen to root out grim outback picturesque as well as broken bones and toxic microbes inside Grace's beleaguered body, and meting out action in abbreviated, comic-book-style beats. Once Grace makes first contact, and comes back once more within the family embrace, the film tries to go full-on phantasmagoric. But the highly allusive storytelling style ultimately leaves insufficient meaning at the core of this quasi-psychedelic breakdown and too much generic pagan cavorting and leering. Even so, it's a credible enough attempt at launching an Aussie branch of the global folk-horror brotherhood. The Banished is on digital platforms from 28 July.
ABC News
3 days ago
- Health
- ABC News
BTN Newsbreak 25/07/2025
STEPS IN A DAY You might have heard some people say you need to walk 10,000 steps a day to stay healthy. But where did that number even come from? Now, a new study has suggested otherwise. As we all know, walking lots is really good for us. It keeps our hearts healthy, our bones strong, and our minds clear. And since the 1960's, 10,000 steps a day has been the gold standard. But apparently, there's no science behind that number. It's why Katherine and her team decided to do some research of their own. Right now, there's no exact number of steps kids should be doing daily, but the Department of Health suggests 60 minutes of exercise a day is optimal. STARLINK OUTAGE If you were using Elon Musk's Starlink internet service this morning, you might've found things were a bit slow. Mr Musk took to his platform X this morning to apologise, after the internet provider suffered a huge outage, with at least 60,000 people globally reporting internet issues. It's become a pretty important service for people in Australia's outback, where high-speed internet can be pretty patchy. Starlink says the outage was caused by a software services issue, and that things should now be back online. COMIC-CON Thousands of people from all over the world have travelled to San Diego for one of the world's most popular comic conventions, Comic-Con! When Super Mario characters, Batman, and a giant banana come together under the one roof, it can only mean one thing: it's time for Comic-Con! Comic-Con was started in San Diego back in the 1970s, by a small group of comic, movie and science fiction fans, and was a true comic book convention. Since then it has grown into a global phenomenon and has become more of an opportunity for fans to dress up like this. Comic-Con has also become an important place for actors and Hollywood producers to promote new projects, although they seem to be a little more absent from this years Comic-Con. Over the next couple of days more than 100,000 fans will be able to attend panels, workshops, meet artists and creators, and get unique merch and collectibles! BOW TIES FOR ANIMALS First up, to 18-year-old Darius in the US who has turned his passion for sewing into a business that helps save animals. He's raised more than 700 thousand bucks selling bow ties and donating them to shelters for animals to wear, which has helped them get adopted even faster. VULTURE PUPPETS Now to a zoo in Prague, where zookeepers have been using hand puppets to feed their new baby vultures. It might look a bit creepy, but they do it so that the birds don't get too close to humans, otherwise it might affect their ability to connect with other birds, and find a mate in the future. LEONARDO DA PINCHY And finally, to Leo the cat in New Zealand who's been wreaking havoc on his local community, stealing laundry from his neighbours' clotheslines and bringing his loot back home. He's earnt himself the nickname Leonardo Da Pinchy, and nothing is off the cards: undies, socks, even a 300 dollar cashmere jersey.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- The Guardian
The kindness of strangers: we broke down in the outback and a retired mechanic came to our rescue
It was 2003 and the Peter Falconio case was fresh in our minds. As 22-year-olds itching for adventure, my wife and I, together with one of our closest friends, nonetheless decided to fly from the UK to Australia and spend six months road-tripping through the outback. We were driving 250km from Julia Creek to Mount Isa in Queensland, in a Ford Econovan that had seen better days. About 50km short of the town, there was a loud bang beneath the van and the fuel level started dropping rapidly. A stone had pierced the rusty fuel tank and our petrol had drained on to the road – all of it except for the spare metal jerrycan that we'd kept for emergencies. The van quickly stopped running. But to our unbelievable good luck, we were only about 100 metres from a rest stop, to which we pushed the van in the baking morning heat. Parked in the rest stop was a new, high-spec camper van. With recent news headlines in mind, we were apprehensive about approaching a stranger in the middle of nowhere – we'd spooked ourselves out a couple of times already on the trip – but we didn't have many options. We knocked on the door to be greeted by a barrel-chested Aussie halfway through having a shave. We asked for any suggestions as we were in dire straits. In another moment of unbelievable good luck, the man turned out to be a retired mechanic, who fixed the jerrycan to the engine. That held long enough for us to get the van to Mount Isa where he and his wife very kindly followed us – almost another three hours' drive away – to make sure we didn't get taken advantage of by the local mechanic. We bought the man, whose name was Pete, a pack of XXXX Gold beer to say thanks. I distinctly remember him downing one, opening a second, and downing that too. Pete and his wife told us they had kids who were travelling in England at the time and they would have wanted strangers to help them if they needed it. We got extremely lucky with Pete and his wife. If they hadn't been there, we would have been very stuck without a clue what to do, on a blisteringly hot day. It made us vow to do the same if we were ever in a position to help. From making your day to changing your life, we want to hear about chance encounters that have stuck with you. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. If you're having trouble using the form click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here
The Guardian
4 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Rare water world: Australia's Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre from the air
The vast salt lake in the South Australian outback is dry for most of its life, having only filled to capacity three times in the past 160 years. So when water does arrive, this enormous landscape becomes a riot of colour
