Australian Waterfalls Flow Upwards

Ever heard of waterfalls that flow upward? Well, it happened in Australia. No, these waterfalls are not flowing upward because gravity got messed up down under – winds are so strong that they are forcing them to run upward. LINK, Via: Youtube

Toowoomba Flood 2011.01.10

Amazing footage of East Creek near Chalk Drive / Chalk Lane rising and washing away lots of cars during Flash Flood in Toowoomba on Monday 10 January 2011. This is some of the best footage I have seen of the Flood and was taken from the second floor of our office which backs onto Chalk Lane.

It shows just how fast the creek turned into a torrent and quickly flooded Chalk Drive and Chalk Lane.

I also got some video of where the creek crosses Neil Street and some video of the aftermath and the huge amount of cars damaged and piled on top of one another in the Chalk Drive car park. LINK: Youtube

PRETTY PECULIAR PLANT

“Platycerium – even the name sounds odd. Mostly referred to as Staghorn or Elkhorn ferns, this genus of fern is, to say the very least, unusual looking. Yet they are fascinating to look at because their fronds are something else, quite unique. To look at a platycerium is to look back in time millions of years. They are found on several continents, South America, Africa, Asia as well as Australia and unsurprisingly thrive in tropical and temperate climates. They really aren’t your average fern at all.” w/ photos. LINK

Wave Rock

Wave Rock is an unusual landform in southwestern Australia. It looks like a giant wave of water that is about to crash. This feature was caused by the erosion of soft rock below the harder top. It measures 14 meters high and 110 meters long.

Link, Via: The Presurfer | Photo by Flickr user tostao meravigliao used under Creative Commons license, Via: Neatorama

Two Headed Bobtail Lizard

A two headed bobtail lizard, a type of skink, at its new reptile park home at Henley Brook in Perth, Australia. The two-headed reptile was rescued by the Park and appears to be doing well, despite a short life expectancy. It eats from both heads but the larger head has also tried to attack the smaller one, and its movement is difficult as both heads control its back legs. It also has a healthy sibling without any mutation. Bobtails give birth to live offspring, rather than laying eggs.

Photo: Paul Kane/Getty Images, LINK

Previous photo: Exhibition

The Tasmanian Tiger

Thylacines - Greek for dog-headed pouched one - were the largest known carnivorous marsupial of modern times, top-level predators native to continental Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea.

Commonly known as the Tasmanian Tiger due to its striped back, they were the last extant member of their genus, Thylacinus.

These creatures became extinct on the Australian mainland thousands of years before European settlement of the continent, but survived on the island of Tasmania. It's thought that intensive hunting encouraged by bounties to be blamed for their extinction, but other contributing factors may have been disease, the introduction of dogs, and human encroachment into their habitat. LINK: The Presurfer

Plastiki, A Boat Made from Plastic Bottles, Sails for Australia from California

The Plastiki is a boat made from recycled plastic bottles. It was built by a team led by David de Rothschild in order to call attention to the value of recycling. It set sail on Saturday from Sausalito, California and is heading for Australia:

The Plastiki, named in honor of Norwegian explorer Thor Hyderdahl’s raft Kon Tiki, is a boat like no other in the world. Besides the hull of recycled plastic water and soda bottles, the vessel is made of a hardened plastic called PET.

The boat is a twin-hulled catamaran rigged as a ketch. It will rely on the wind for propulsion and has only a small auxiliary engine. No such boat has ever made an ocean passage before.

The Plastiki was built on the San Francisco waterfront in 2009 and has been making trial voyages on the bay.

Link, Via: The Presurfer | Official Website | Photo: Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle, Via: Neatorama

Amazing and Beautiful Flooded Meadow

The "Grüner See" (engl. Green Lake) is situated in upper styria, austria (see geotag). It is amazingly beautiful because of its deep green/blue colour and the surrounding alpine scenery. The lake itself dries up in autumn but fills up with melting water. The water itself of the lake is extremely pure, like glass. The colour is a result of light refraction. LINK: Youtube

Chook the Lyrebird

(YouTube link)

You might recall Sir David Attenborough introducing us to the lyrebird, a master of mimcry (and later the wonderful remix). Chook the lyrebird lives at the Adelaide Zoo. After a period of construction at the zoo, Chook was able to recreate the sounds of hammers, saws, and power tools exactly. Link, -Via: Arbroath, Via: Neatorama

Discowl (Don't You Want Me Baby)

William Henry the baby Barn Owl hypnotizes you in Radelaide, South Australia, LINK, Via: Youtube

Misa Digital Guitar

Misa digital guitar running linux kernel 2.6.31. Product page.

Sydney, Australia. LINK, Via: Youtube

Baby elephant born in australia zoo

Dokkoon gives birth to a healthy girl, weighing 110 kilos at Melbourne Zoo, becoming the first ever elephant birth. LINK: Youtube

Guinness World Records Day 2009

The success of the 5th annual Guinness World Records Day celebrated this November 12 has proved once again that the public has an insatiable appetite for witnessing or participating in world record events. An estimated 250,000 people took part in this years events, helping to raise thousands of dollars for various charities and drawing attention to the fun and excitement that can be had when trying to get your name in the worlds best-selling copyright book.

Kicking off events outside the Sydney Opera House in Australia were a group of skimpily clad exhibitionists striving to break the record for the largest swimwear parade; sadly, only 235 people turned up not enough to qualify for the record demonstrating that not every attempts leads to a Guinness World Record! LINK: Youtube

Peacock Spider

This is a kind of jumping spider, and it’s only about 5mm in size. The males have a colorful pattern on flaps that extend from their abdomen during breeding/mating. In addition to this, they raise their back pair of legs and dance from side to side to win over their plain brown females.

Only found in Australia, they were classified as species Maratus volans because people originally thought the flap was for gliding after jumping. Wiki

Link, Via: Neatorama

Dental Nightmare Skull

WEB in Victoria, Australia (makers of the Metalhead Skull) made this fantastic paper skull kit (with metal teeth!)... LINK: Skull A Day

The smallest horse in Australia

Koda the dwarf American miniature.

Koda, the smallest horse in Australia, is smaller than most dogs and not much bigger than a cat. LINK

Gigantic Spider Gobbles Bird in Front of Camera

Snapped in the backyard of a resident of Queensland, Australia in October 2008, the disturbing sequence shows the bird, identified as a chestnut-breeded mannikin, caught in the web of its arachnid nemesis. As the mannikin’s struggling subsides, the spider decides it’s feeding time and goes in for the kill. Golden orb weavers are known for their strong, finely meshed webs, but this one must have been like steel to keep the bird from taking wing. More info at LINK.

Reach

Director: Luke Randall
Running Time: 3'50
Country: Australia
Category: Comedy

A tiny robot is given the gift of life with only one limitation, the length of his power cable. When a curious bird appears at the workshop window, the robot feels a lust to live outside of his reach that may be his demise.

Originally from the island of Tasmania, Luke Randall is a director/animator currently based in Melbourne, Australia. Luke has been fortunate enough to work on CG TV series, video game cinematic and animated feature films over the past couple of years and has received several awards for his work. LINK: Youtube

Only 2,000 Left - The Rainbow That Can Fly

There is something about the Rainbow Finch that makes it look like an animal made up, using Photoshop, for an April Fool joke. The colors seem too bright to be real and each garish hue ends abruptly to be replaced by one equally as preposterous for a wild animal. The main part of its body looks like some psychedelic Neapolitan ice cream.

Found in Australia, there are only around two thousand of them left in the wild. Although conservation attempts are ongoing the question is whether or not this beautiful species will join the ranks of those who only survive in captivity. LINK

The Prodigy - Big Day Out Australia 09 - take me to the hospital

The Prodigy rabble-rousing in Australia, performing “Take Me To The Hospital” live at the Big Day Out festival.

This film is dedicated to everyone affected by the bush fires in Australia, summer 2009. LINK, Via: Youtube