Interesting Bits and Pieces
From recent happenings or stories around Australia and the world.
Department of Environment and Science rangers had been clearing a trail at Conway National Park in the Whitsunday region when they discovered the mighty amphibian. The 2.7 kilogram toad measured just over 25 centimetres in length.
Ranger Kylee Gray said she couldn't believe how heavy the toad was when she reached down to grab it. According to the Guinness World Records, the largest known toad weighed in at 2.65 kilograms in 1991. "We didn't get it on certified scales … so we're sort of kicking ourselves."
The toad has been euthanased and will be taken to the Queensland Museum.
A very large visitor.
The huge elephant seal made its way onto land on Friday afternoon as locals and holidaymakers in Point Lonsdale, an hour and a half south of Melbourne, gathered along the shoreline to watch the visiting mammal.
The curious seal came ashore, crossed roads and then smashed windows at the Point Lonsdale BP petrol station before it was escorted back into the sea. Neo Ussawathawornthai, whose parents work at the service station, said the seal may have been trying to fight its reflection.
A Pilbara man wins battle to be buried in his Port Hedland hometown of more than 60 years.
A living piece of history in Western Australia's north has won his battle to be buried in the town he has called home for more than six decades.
Arnold Carter, 96, has lived in Port Hedland since 1962 and wishes to be buried in the pioneer cemetery after he dies, on a small hill overlooking the long sandy beach just outside the town centre. But the cemetery is closed, which forced Mr Carter to ask the state government for permission. However, a bizarre and little known part of WA's burial rules dictated a decision on Mr Carter's burial would only be made after he died.
The Port Hedland pioneer cemetery was declared full in 1968 and closed in 2020, with the closest burial ground 11 kilometres away in the neighbouring settlement of South Hedland. Mr Carter said he felt no connection to South Hedland and pushed the state government to grant him an exemption for the pioneer cemetery.
Mr Carter was president of the local council and owned 28 businesses, and he feels his contribution earned him a place alongside the graves of Port Hedland's early residents.
In the end Mr Carter's dogged persistence paid off, with the government granting both Mr Carter and his wife Frances exemptions in late 2022 while they are alive.
North Lismore flood victim thrilled to be reunited with her long lost cat.
Valerie Axtens thought she had seen the last of her beloved cat Mendelson as she was being rescued through a window from rapidly rising floodwater. The 92-year-old lives in North Lismore, one of the areas hardest hit by the February 28 disaster. After the floodwater receded and one of her sons was able to return and check on the mud-covered house, he discovered — much to everyone's surprise — the cat had survived. "They were duly surprised to see he had actually survived this flood and they kept looking out for him, feeding him and he stayed around." Ms Axtens said "Mendo", as he was affectionately known, stuck around the house for about a month before vanishing.
Almost 10 months passed before Ms Axtens got an unexpected but welcome surprise. The cat came back. Ms Axtens said her son Laurie had been fixing up the house one day when Mendelson walked in "like he'd never left".
The last Jumbo Jet.
The last commercial Boeing 747 will be delivered to Atlas Air this week, ending its reign as "Queen of the Skies" 53 years after capturing the world's attention as a Pan Am passenger jet.
The final delivery comes after Qantas retired its last Boeing 747 in 2020 which was bought in 1971 and made air travel accessible to many Australians for the first time.
The first 747 took off from New York on 22 January 1970 and it more than doubled plane capacity to 350-400 seats.
Flooding continues as it takes months for waters to drain.
NEW SOUTH WALES
Ivanhoe in far western NSW is still grappling with flood crisis as residents remain isolated due to main road closures.
The Cobb Highway south of Ivanhoe.
Wendy Aves, who owns the service station and caravan park in Ivanhoe, said she had not left the town in months. "It's been very quiet, there's no one up the street, no cars at the shops or anything," Ms Aves said. She said the flooding had doubled travel time to Ivanhoe for the truck carting supplies from two hours to four. The flooding could remain for weeks.
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
River Murray shack owners in the River Murray towns of Punyelroo and Blanchetown take first their look at muddied homes.
As Rolf Stanisch hops out of his kayak and onto what was a second-storey deck, the sight that greets him is "shambles". "We looked through the windows and we were sort of aghast with the amount of mud … about three inches of sludge all the way through," he said. Among the sludge were critters, yabbies and a strong smell of sewage.
Authorities say it could be weeks still before some owners gain access to their properties. The water level has dropped by more than a metre since January's peak, but much remains semi-submerged. More than 1,000 property owners have registered for a clean-up inspection.
Noxious fish the oriental weatherloach found in the South Australia's Riverland, causing concern for irrigators.
A recent boom in the oriental weatherloach population has caused issues with irrigation filters.
The Renmark Irrigation Trust (RIT) said it was concerned about the fish with reports coming in from its members locally, and was seeking advice from irrigation bodies upstream on how to deal with the pest. "It is getting into their systems, pipe networks and filters, it is really causing havoc upstream and we have just started to notice it ourselves," RIT chief executive Rosalie Auricht said.
Oriental weatherloach are native to China, Siberia, Korea, Hainan and Japan. They are widely eaten in eastern Asia and have been introduced into Mexico and the Philippines for aquaculture.
This nocturnal bottom dweller is typically found in still waters with sandy or muddy substrates. The weatherloach feeds on algae, aquatic insect larvae, crustaceans and rotifers.
The weatherloach is a multiple spawner, laying 4-8000 eggs per spawning on aquatic vegetation or mud. With a lifespan in captivity of 13+ years, it is possible for one female to lay up to approximately 100,000 eggs in her lifetime. Due to their relatively high fecundity, hardiness and mobility there is a high risk of self sustaining populations becoming established once the weatherloach is introduced into new areas.
After colonising the Ginninderra Creek in the ACT in 1986, the oriental weatherloach spread into tributaries and consequently into NSW waters soon after. Within NSW, populations of this species have been recorded in the Hawkesbury River, Murray River, Murrumbidgee River and Port Hacking catchments, and in tributaries of Lake Eucumbene.
How did they get here?The oriental weatherloach is a popular aquarium species in Australia. It is thought that the discarding of unwanted specimens by aquarists or escapees from ponds were the source of early populations in Australian waterways. It is thought that the spread of this species within both NSW and Australia has been greatly facilitated by illegal use of the species as live bait by anglers. Anglers should note it is illegal to use any live fin fish as bait in NSW freshwaters.
Wonder how long it will take the government to put this on the medicare list ?
For the Rhenium treatment, which is only for non-melanoma skin cancers, the patient has a plastic foil placed over their lesion, then a radioactive resin is painted onto the foil which is directly over the skin cancer. Radiation particles penetrate through the foil and skin to a depth of three millimetres, targeting the tumour but preserving healthy tissue.
"Even after you don't get an actual surgical wound," Lee explained.
The treatment is a private procedure, meaning patients pay the full cost, which is determined on a case-by-case basis.
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Outback budgie boom.
Budgerigar numbers are set to explode for the third consecutive year in outback Central Australia.
Mark Carter, a former bird guide and local, said the booming budgie season was thanks to perfect breeding conditions and Queensland rainfall. "They had tons of rain which means lots of grass," he said, "They've followed the weather over here. And Alice Springs is so green at the moment."
Budgies are in abundance in the Red Centre thanks to summer rain.
Quoll family completes round trip from Cairns to Melbourne after nesting in pumpkin box.
A family of northern quolls have been returned to their home in Far North Queensland after an unexpected journey to Melbourne.
The mother and four babies were found in a box of pumpkins at a Melbourne wholesale market in early December after it's believed they entered the box at a farm near Cairns. Victorian wildlife officer Megan Hain said the animals were a little worse for wear but were captured and taken to Melbourne Zoo for rehabilitation.
The family have since been returned to FNQ and were released at a carefully selected spot.
Full ABC story.