VIEW FROM ULTRALIGHT
Flying down the coast from Port Douglas in tropical North Queensland.
Inset: Ben's lovely and fun-loving Canadian visitor, 'Sharon'.
JH on 30.06.05 @ 11:42 AM AEST [link]
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Thursday, June 30th Flying down the coast from Port Douglas in tropical North Queensland. Inset: Ben's lovely and fun-loving Canadian visitor, 'Sharon'. JH on 30.06.05 @ 11:42 AM AEST [link] MEANWHILE ANOTHER ULTRALIGHT WAS ABOUT TO CRASH
 A new starter motor was being tested on my ride. Ben lined up a beach below where we might land if the motor failed to re-start, then switched off the engine. Silence. Descending at about five meters per second, I felt we were falling not flying. Brrrrooowwwmmm the motor re-started on cue and we began to lift again. Concerns over nothing? I wonder. we were falling like a rock. Not too good for the spine to land in a seat like that.....military pilots know all about such things when they eject. JH on 30.06.05 @ 11:10 AM AEST [link] PORT DOUGLAS Ultra-lite crash site
 Ben Cropp and Sharon England were flying and out of sight. A different type of ultra-lite attempted take-off as I watch. At full take-off speed the wheels clipped a mound of earth just as the craft had lifted off. Everything spun head over tail in front of me, and landed out of sight in tall grass. I expected to see mangled bodies and blood everywhere. Not so, they walked away - bruised and shaking but intact. A few minutes later it was my turn to take-off with Ben.......note the worried expression in the self portrait (above). JH on 30.06.05 @ 11:06 AM AEST [link] Ultralight crash site - I saw the accident happen.
Wednesday, June 29th AGAINCOURT REEF - Port Douglas
 Coral reef as seen by a tourist (without a face mask a bit of a blur) off Port Douglas. Qld some years ago. How does it look today I wonder? This was one of those low, low tides that occur at midday, otherwise the coral formations would be normally much deeper. JH on 29.06.05 @ 05:13 PM AEST [link] Mataranka Springs Underwater
 A fantastic winter location for a model to advertise swimsuits is the naturally heated crystal clear springs of the Northern Territory. Shallow, warm, safe. Except for the colony of fruit bats nearby. Other similar hot springs are close to Darwin. JH on 29.06.05 @ 04:55 PM AEST [link] Tuesday, June 28th SHARK MOUNTAIN on free to air TV
 I worked on a voluntary basis for Howard Hall when he and partner Marty Snyderman were filming sharks and turtles for an episode of Wild Kingdon (insert picture) around Heron Island. Ron Isbell was the guiding skipper aboard his Tropic Rover. Ron and I tuned in last Saturday to watch the latest Howard Hall underwater documentary Shark Mountain ("World Around Us" Seven 6:30pm Saturday's) and we were in for a treat. Filmed at the Cocos Island off South America - where Howard has worked on similar projects for IMAX, this TV film featured new diving equipment, new animal behaviour and even a shot of syrup water - when different water temperatures fail to mix and form a distortion - something not seen in a documentary before. It was a fantastic film, in remote but clear waters, sometimes under very difficult circumstances which illustrates what the marine world mostly is - not always like a swimming pool in bright sun and warm, calm seas. Lots of rain and sometimes strong currents. Howard Hall is athletic and capable - an excellent free diver and at the fore-front of video camera and diving technology. An excellent role model for aspiring adventure marine cameramen. We saw schools of: hundreds of white tip reef sharks feeding at night, huge rays, time lapse starfish, lobsters eating starfish, mating flounder, beautiful schools of big eye jack, rebreathers in use, UW voice communications used for good effect, A night dive amongst 50 silky sharks. All good cutting edge adventure. Pictured above: Howard sadly against a backdrop of Taiwanese shark and fishing boats at Cocos Island in Shark Mountain. Taiwanese are possibly aware of the rich shark grounds and may have even seen this through other people's documentaries on TV at home. The end credits for Shark Mountain were 'mucked up' - details from another film next week were broadcast in error, a point unknown to programme staff at the Seven Network when we called today. JH on 28.06.05 @ 12:45 PM AEST [link] OOPS! WRONG CREDITS!
 Part of the end credits for the tigers film (showing next week), ran by mistake on Howard Hall's Shark Mountain in "The World Around Us". (free to air TV in Australia). JH on 28.06.05 @ 11:50 AM AEST [link] Monday, June 27th CORROBOREE
 Huey Fitzoy is leader of a HIC tribe, "Old" Nipper Tabagee was over 80 years of age, has danced in Sydney, speaks 13 dialects, a medicine man and craftsman, also the great leader - king of the Western Kimberley area - rarely photographed. The women are from Balgo and Nuk areas. JH on 27.06.05 @ 09:29 AM AEST [link] Sunday, June 26th BROOME ......Western Australia
 I took a bicycle along for the ride. There's only one hill at Broome. The town is flat for miles around. For a month I hardly used the car. A bike ride along Cable Beach is possible - a few soft patches though. The camel rides are a daily dusk event at Cable Beach for the tourists not the regulars. Semi-open air movies at Chinatown are worthwhile, but not cheap. It was the Sun Picture Gardens (cinema) where I rescued a kitten from certain death - during the previous visit...which led to a whole heaps of cicumstances described elsewhere in the archives.....anyway Broome is a good place to be at this time of year......if you can find a tent site. Otherwise be earlier next year. Blue sky and rarely a drop of rain for months. The blue water is cool. Kids sleep on the beach - hardly any dew at night. It's all entirely different to anything on the east coast of Australia. But there are things to watch out for too. JH on 26.06.05 @ 05:02 PM AEST [link] HARD HAT PEARL DIVER in bronze
 Early morning in Broome's Chinatown.....the bronze statue leaning forward to depict a diver battling a strong current underwater. Broome is the pearling capital with this expensive life size statue a tribute to the pioneering days (before Dale Chapman and Co got the divers onto hookah/scuba equipment and put hard hats into museums). JH on 26.06.05 @ 11:02 AM AEST [link] MALCOLM DOUGLAS ........outback adventurer.
 Pictured at his WA crocodile farm, my old mate Malcolm with Boondi his faithful cattledog. Malcolm was a travelling 16mm filmshow man like I used to be. When outback Australian films could only be seen in cinemas, it was a goldmine era. Malcolm switched to TV productions and later moved from a Sydney suburb HQ to the north-west town of Broome where I made this picture. We had dinner together with wife Valerie, and shared some great laughs. June 26 2005 Broome is bursting with 30,000 tourists, Malcolm has begun work on his Wilderness Park & Wildlife Refuge project (out of town near his croc farm number two). They spend $500 a week on wheat just to feed birds. The croc skins and meat from the farms go around the world. Croc meat? "Tastes like a mix between fish and chicken". The outback film library is running weekly on German TV - which attracts heaps of visitors. 'Land values at Cable Beach have soared, there's a project to get World Heritage recognition for a part of the Kimberley'. Very busy times indeed in what was once a last frontier town. JH on 26.06.05 @ 09:00 AM AEST [link] WAY OUT THE BACK
 When driving west from Mt Isa in Queensland, a big loop in the road can take you to Boulia. The first time I went there was over a terrible dirt road that was a challenge. The town seemed weird too. Cowboy hats were the real ten gallon style, high with round tops. I almost bought one, that's how crazy the outback gets you after driving long distances over lonely roads. Today, Boulia is more normal, a sealed track now takes caravaners through this outpost. The Min Min light is described on a huge sign at the edge of town. I saw something ....it was a white light and it did follow me. It was very late at night - I should not have been travelling. I prefer to think the light was coming from a kid on a trail bike - out to scare people! That's a lot easier to think when you are alone on a dark road at 2AM rather than a mysterious unknown phenomenon. Almost X Files stuff. JH on 26.06.05 @ 07:46 AM AEST [link] AROUND THE COAST
 After using either friction proofing or worn engine treatment to the oil of my previous Falcon wagon V8 and getting 500,000km out of 'her', I've done the same with the Toyota. The Toyota has been a ten times better and cheaper vehicle to run. Grateful I took note of John Laws'radio advice, and bought a Toyota. JH on 26.06.05 @ 06:37 AM AEST [link] ABORIGINES ......Western Australia
 These people had travelled to Broome and were to stage a demo dance that night, hence the white ceremonial paint on the others. They were from a remote community famed for artistic output, with traditional images fetching up to $7000 in a Broome art shop this month. JH on 26.06.05 @ 05:56 AM AEST [link] Saturday, June 25th ABALONE ......A New Twist
 HISTORY OF ABALONE PLAGUES text by 'Snapper' Gonza (Fiction) Abalone are single-sided shellfish which inhabit shallow cold waters around the world. The shells grow to the size of dinner plates but mostly are the size of saucers. They contain a rubbery meat which leaks purple blood. If the abalone were to leak bright red blood they would not be quite as popular as seafood. They are in fact the first secret genetically modified seafood by a Japanese experiment 65 years ago. The new shellfish were released and spread world-wide. Before this abalone leaked red blood like most other things. The new version abalone soon reached near plague numbers which threatened the habitat of sea urchin, seaweed and exotic reef fish like red rock cod. So many abalone populated rocky reef's these reef fish were forced from their crevice dwellings and entered the brink of extinction classification. To reverse the damage a consortium of governments has subsidised the elimination of this shellfish pest from our reefs by paying divers to collect this almost unchewable lump of gristle under the disguise that it was an exotic food enjoyed in Asia. Australian's who know better don't eat it. Consequently abalone has been exported to Japan at silly prices where it is then treated by boiling for hours to make it edible. This is all part of an elaborate hoax to justify the expense of cleaning-up the marine environment that was almost destroyed by the shellfish plagues. Clever advertising and marketing abalone as an aphrodesiac has tricked many into believing this rubbery item is a delicasy thereby preventing an enquiry into the now tens of millions paid annually for it's removal. Eradication of abalone plagues has been successful in California and Mexico, but South America still requires help. The red rock cod and sea urchins are gradually returning to normal levels and weed eating fish happily graze on the seaweed pastures once threatened by this slimey, purple-blooded pest. Author: Snapper Gonza has been in Vietnam and practises amateur phychiatry. He is a fan of Woody Allen and the late Peter Sellers, and others of the genre. One of his favourite movies being Dr. Stangelove (How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb), and the last film with Peter Sellers Being There. JH on 25.06.05 @ 03:49 PM AEST [link] Friday, June 24th Tiger NOT a Whale Shark (story below)
 July 5 2005: Another story, or a different version of the same story surfaced today, from a reliable source: The spotter aircraft at Exmouth directed three dive boats to the vicinity of what they thought was a large whale shark. Ten or twenty snorkelers were dropped off to swim with the whale shark, ooops, it was a big tiger shark. What happened next who knows, but a fast exit would have been certain. Eventually a large tiger will make contact with one of these future snorkelers. Expect some new rules to follow if/when someone gets eaten. JH on 24.06.05 @ 04:42 PM AEST [link] MISTAKEN ID
 There's a story floating around Sydney UW circles that a pair of Japanese divers went to Exmouth to dive with whale sharks. Their English wasn't brilliant either. To save money they hired a small dinghy and went out looking for sharks. Discovering what they thought was a giant whale shark on the surface they jumped in and began snapping stills. A great time was had with this big beast. Later, their photo's were proudly being passed around - trouble was......it wasn't a whale shark they were diving and photographing! Guess what.......a big tiger!!!!!! JH on 24.06.05 @ 04:22 PM AEST [link] Wednesday, June 22nd RETURN OF THE VANISHING GREY NURSE
 Three divers decending at Seal Rocks (NSW) and unknowingly about to 'spook' a school of young grey nurse sharks by simply approaching them. Grey Nurse went into decline between 1963 and 1988. By the time this picture was taken in 1991, populations had returned and numbered in the hundred. The vanishing grey nurse theroy began in the mid 1980's and was never questioned even when the sharks returned. The shark avoided over-zealous divers by often swimming into deeper water. Never was this a consideration by those well-meaning people involved. The ocean is a big place. Knowing exactly what is happening there is always a calculated guess by all concerned. By 2005 grey nurse sharks see divers as non-aggressive visitors and accept our presence, with the help of some rules about not closely approaching them. Why the sudden and rapid population increase in 1988 from what had appeared near extinction? Many questions and still so few answers. JH on 22.06.05 @ 09:30 PM AEST [link] HAND FEEDING SHARKS .....or feeding sharks your hands?
 Should sharks be fed by human divers? It's the only way to make sure they will be there on call. Florida and Hawaii have banned shark feeding over concerns the chum or burley and the other associated aspects, changes natural behaviour and creates serious side effects. When a famed USA TV underwater stunt man (see cartoon) had his leg bitten off by a dangerous bull shark, all gloves were off for the cyber (and legal threat) battles which are continuing. There are tones of another McDonalds-type battle here between concerned consumers (divers) and large corporations (USA diver magazines, scuba certification agencies, and the shark 'circus', cage, feed operators). Shark-feed entertainers as they have ben called are diver-celebrities who capitalise with shark encounters for a variety of reasons, not always in good taste. Diver magazines were called the whores of the industry for their one-side stand as they promote what is best for the advertisers. Cyber space is the new battle-ground where anyone can voice opinions. Australia seems to have been spared negative publicity so far. But South Australians are not too happy with shark baiting off their coast. Meanwhile the NSW Fisheries is considering a fee for all diving with a grey nurse shark in the ocean, with only scuba shop boats being allowed the honours. Private boats banned. A bit unfair. $20 was a suggested fee in a newspaper story this week in Sydney as the state fisheries tests reaction. What happens if the divers don't see a shark? Or what if just one shark is sighted and it vacates promptly before everyone gets to see it? Refunds? Grey nurse are seasonal. The question of grey nurse sharks being seriously endangered and the NSW sites gazetted as sanctuaries is also flawed. Research was grossly under-funded and the outcome favoured dive shops who supported the survey. The survey was otherwise simply too much work for the one man and an assistant who did the research. More money was needed. One major NSW site known as a breeding area by fishermen was missed. Why? Because no commercial dive boat goes there. Proof that research was based upon information by dive boats. This was picked-up by the state fisheries department, with the rules now favouring the then average dive boat passenger sizes. Some good has come from grey nurse shark protection which could not have been possible otherwise. In time the grey nurse would have possibly become endangered again - as they were in 1986 - then overnight hundreds re-appeared at both the Seal Rocks sites. Complete size variations from four meters down to two meters. I filmed them all on 16mm which is still in the can, and shows how a single diver decending into a formation can spook a school of twenty or more large sharks and cause them to flee. What can a boat load of 8 to 10 divers do? Also then in 1986, an international film team arrived (unsucessfully searching for me to work with them) to document the vanishing grey nurse shark. When I found them by chance at Seal Rocks and told them before they dived and mentioned this new proliferation of sharks - it did not change the script. They had come to Australia to film vanishing sharks, full stop. The real story should have been the return of the the grey nurse shark. It did not go to air as good news and stayed with the negative vanishing sharks theme as planned months before. JH on 22.06.05 @ 01:42 PM AEST [link] Tuesday, June 21st FISH KISS
 Miss Jocelyn Edwards began it all by kissing a baby turtle and releasing it in the Australian Seafari cinema released (1974-1988) documentaries. Was there any truth in the story that this 'antic' was widely copied by others, including a young girl who made the serious mistake of kissing a vicious leatherjacket on the mouth with her lips. The LJ made a serious bite that drew blood! Fish-kissing Dean Cropp was not about to let this beautiful barramundi escape the fry pan near remote North Queensland's Princess Charlotte Bay. Dean was aboard the Ben Cropp cruiser Freedom III on a filming assignment - away from his usual news cameraman role with SEVEN TV. JH on 21.06.05 @ 03:43 PM AEST [link] Monday, June 20th MONSTER CRAB
 A visitor takes a photo of a huge crab, which is displayed beside a variety of seafood from the Japanese company Bodo during the last day of the four-day 2005 Taipei International Food Show at the Taipei World Trade Center's Exhibition Hall. JH on 20.06.05 @ 08:35 PM AEST [link] Sunday, June 19th THE FIRST TWELVE MONTHS ......
 The first entry featured this shot on 24 June 2004 - since then we've worked out a few tricks and made the pages more interesting. Thanks for the feedback folks. We repeat this picture with the extra text this time. It's the Charles Eaton shipwreck site. The massacre story may not have been discovered had the cannibal's not traded a young white boy for a bunch of bananas at Murray Island (much further to the north and offshore). The boy was later rescued and the rest is history and a pretty grim tale too. Death during ship travel 150+ years ago was often slow - sharks at sea or cannibals on the coast. Failing that, infection from the coral cuts and failing all those 'joys', sunburn. (The Pandora shipwreck prisioners buried themselves up to their necks in sand to minimise the harsh rays of tropical far north Queensland, not such a bad thought now winter has arrived in southern Oz). JH on 19.06.05 @ 10:21 AM AEST [link] Friday, June 17th BEACH WORM MAN
 Who, where, when? Catching beach worms is an art. A sharp eye and local knowledge helps, plus a rotten rabbit carcass to bring the hidden worms to the surface of the wet sand in the surf. JH on 17.06.05 @ 04:22 PM AEST [link] GIANT CLAM and Valerie Taylor
 During the Belgian Scientific Expedition I saw this, my first giant clam. Valerie (pictured) is wearing one of her early wet suits, a black version which preceded her bright orange suit with red stockings. The camera is a Nikonos with standard lens. This picture was taken with my similar 35mm camera with the just released 28mm lens. It was October 1967 on the Ribbon Reefs east of Cooktown. A beautiful location with numerous coral trout. At the time the prettiest reef we knew of, after months of diving. Ron was always entheusiastic about Flinders Reef off Cape Moreton much further south, for the diversity there then, (but not now). JH on 17.06.05 @ 03:56 PM AEST [link] Thursday, June 16th BIGGEST WHALE SHARK
 This was only the second whale shark encountered uw and probably still the largest photographed - Ron Taylor with his 16mm Bolex hand-wound camera, Valerie Taylor in the main picture alongside the plankton eating giant almost the size of a bus. The pictures made three full newspaper picture pages - the film became the flahship for the Taylor's TV series Innerspace. JH on 16.06.05 @ 01:14 PM AEST [link] Wednesday, June 15th LOUISE & ANNABEL ........(Annabel 11/1950 - 12/1996)
 You don't need to be a recognised celebrity in order to be a celebrity. Both girls pictured married rock musician husbands. Annabel (also in the small box) should have been a celeb herself. Her personality was that of an entertainer. In later life she motivated housewife neighbours to become vixen (again) - life was a party that should never end. She was a motivator of many. But it did end. Her two beautiful daughters, her husband and others missed her passing very sadly, very truely and ever so deeply - even several years later and possibly today. Why? Why so strong? A special person is the simple answer. Life is a journey that ends - we are all on the same 'train ride' - some get off the train a little sooner than expected - for reasons that are impossible to fully understand. One day we will understand more. JH on 15.06.05 @ 03:38 PM AEST [link] Tuesday, June 14th SURF & SHARK MUSEUM Coffs Harbour. Australia
 On the Pacific Highway seven clicks north of town, Scott Dillon entertains with his true stories of the sea. In his mid seventies, with marine tales galore, Scott Dillon's original surfing museum is expanding with shark-related materials, posters and jaws. A guided tour is the best value known at just $5 JH on 14.06.05 @ 08:51 AM AEST [link] Monday, June 13th Fluoride in tap water.......and cola drinks and beer etc.
 bone cancer in boys, a disturbing new study indicates, although there is no evidence of a link for girls. New US research suggests that boys exposed to fluoride between the ages of five and 10 will suffer an increased rate of osteosarcoma -- bone cancer -- between the ages of 10 and 19. In the UK, fluoride is added to tap water on the advice of bodies such as the British Dental Association. The Department of Health maintains that it is a cost-effective public health measure that helps prevent tooth decay in children. The increased cancer risks, identified in a newly available study conducted at the Harvard School of Dental Health, were found at fluoride exposure levels common in the US and other countries. It was the first examination of the link between exposure to the chemical at the critical period of a child's development and the age of onset of bone cancer. Although osteosarcoma is rare, accounting for only about 3 percent of childhood cancers, it is especially dangerous. The mortality rate in the first five years is about 50 percent, and nearly all survivors have limbs amputated, usually legs. The research has been made available by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a respected Washington-based research organization. The group reports that it has assembled a "strong body of peer-reviewed evidence" and has asked that fluoride in tap water be added to the US government's classified list of substances known or anticipated to cause cancer in humans. "This is a very specific cancer in a defined population of children," said Richard Wiles, the group's co-founder. "When you focus in and look for the incidence of tumors, you see the increase. We recognize the potential benefits of fluoride to dental health," Wiles said, "but I've spent 20 years in public health, trying to protect kids from toxic exposure. Even with DDT, you don't have the consistently strong data that the compound can cause cancer as you now have with fluoride." Half of all fluoride ingested is stored in the body, accumulating in calcifying tissue such as teeth and bones and in the pineal gland in the brain, although more than 90 percent is taken into the bones. Anti-fluoride campaigners argue that the whole issue has become highly politically sensitive. If health scares about fluoride were to be recognized in the courts, the litigation, especially in the US, could be expected to run for decades. Consequently, scientists have been inhibited from publicizing any adverse findings. The new evidence only emerged by a circuitous process. It was contained in a Harvard dissertation by Dr Elise Bassin at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. The dissertation, completed in April 2001, obviously had merit because Bassin was awarded her doctorate. However it has not been published. Environmental organizations were repeatedly denied access to it, and even bodies such as the US National Academy of Sciences could not get hold of a copy. Eventually two researchers from the Fluoride Action Network were allowed to read it in the rare books and special collections room at Harvard medical library. JH on 13.06.05 @ 04:41 PM AEST [link] Saturday, June 11th MASKING THE PROBLEM fogging dive masks are avoidable.
 Face Masks This single, most important diver item has been neglected by manufacturers since the ScubaVision mask ( pictured uw) went out of production in the 1970’s. Masks have come and gone. Each year there is a new array of promoted items, none as good as the masks we wore in the mid 1960’s. The white/clear/translucent rubber masks began in Hollywood in “The Deep” to highlight the beautiful features of the British actress. Professional divers avoided them – and returned free samples to the importer, as I did. Some like dolphin expert Kathy Troutt kept the mask but painted the inside black. Enough were sold to keep the production lines churning out new models. They sell well today but people don’t always use them long term. You’d think dive shops would have a voice and brains and enough feedback to influence manufacturers. The point is, no face mask should have a reflection on the inside of ‘the viewing screen’. Maybe OK in Japan and Europe where blue sky is rarer? Maybe that’s how they get away with it? Novice dive shop retailers got conned and believe advertising. Few realize they are pushing ‘lemons’, which ultimately effect their business. Most argue in favour of these masks being a good item, such is this retail business today. Plus the masks ARE good to look at, and they feel good, but still no hot choice. The $22 face mask pictured is a dream, brand new and no fog on the first swim. Consider: 1. The people overseas who design divers face masks rarely go skindiving themselves. 2. New face masks are sprayed with rubber preservatives (which cause the fogging). 3. It takes weeks or months before a new face mask gives crystal vision. 4. Clear rubber face masks allow (distracting) sunlight to reflect inside the mask. 5. Professional (abalone-type) divers prefer simple one-piece masks (pictured). 6. Deep swimming freedivers use low volume masks, to conserve air exhaled in pressure equalization. (Yet some modern freedivers dive with empty lungs these days)! 7. My choice of a face mask shape today is a cheap $22+ version (see box) from many fishing tackle stores. 8. This design face mask (in box) is advertised in Japan as a “professional divers mask”. 9. Would you buy a tennis racquet of golf club that had to be used for six months before it worked properly? Why then a fogging face mask? 10. A brand new (ex dive shop) dive mask that gives crystal clear vision from day one is 40 years overdue. 11. Palmolive dishwashing liquid is said to be a good de-fogger, and the cheapest. 12. There are solutions not mentioned here. Yet to be shared with a suitable manufacturer. 13. The original Espadon brand compensator mask from France as used by Valerie Taylor (for decades) – is very similar in design to the $22 version. MORE With diving gear I have always held the opinion that a highest price was never a guide to quality. French and Italian gear seemed to have the lead. French wetsuit neoprene rubber was the best quality we have ever seen. Warmest, softest and best smelling too. My one piece surfer wet suit of today has somewhat foul-smelling neoprene, but has a good design and is more practical in the tropics than the roughly designed diver wet suits, so I put-up with the smell. If only the Tarzan suits were still available in Australia today. They were double skin (without nylon lining) and were the warmest. The downside was you needed talcum powder to get them on, and the risk of tearing was paramount. JH on 11.06.05 @ 12:52 PM AEST [link] Wednesday, June 8th PORT DOUGLAS VILLAGE North Queensland Australia.
 Every Sunday is market day. Homemade jam (shown here) in just one of the three hundred stalls, the most sensational of these being Mr Pearls - handcrafted pearl shell jewelry. The Italian market gardener under the huge tree is a must with frozen mango slices, dried mango strips, dried banana and masses of fresh tropical fruits, including jak fruit (durien) and others in season. JH on 08.06.05 @ 04:34 PM AEST [link] Tuesday, June 7th HOW TO CLEAN A TOILET
 INSTRUCTIONS 1. Put both lids of the toilet up and add 1/8 cup of pet shampoo to the water in the bowl. 2. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom. 3. In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close both lids. You may need to stand on the lid. 4. The cat will self agitate and make ample suds. Never mind the noises that come from the toilet, the cat is actually enjoying this. 5. Flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a "power-wash" and rinse". 6. Have someone open the front door of your home. Be sure that there are no people between the bathroom and the front door. 7. Stand behind the toilet as far as you can, and quickly lift both lids. 8. The cat will rocket out of the toilet, streak through the bathroom, and run outside where he will dry himself off. 9. Both the commode and the cat will be sparkling clean. Sincerely, The Dog JH on 07.06.05 @ 03:53 PM AEST [link] Monday, June 6th SATURDAY NIGHT RAIN
 A light shower in a country holiday town on the east coast of Taiwan, Saturday night. A favourite picture. We ate food cooked at the table in boiling pots of water. A popular method up there. A movie poster for Lara Croft Tomb Raider (in Chinese) is in upper right. It was August 2003. The township of Haulien is close to famous Taroko Gorge - which is worthwhile with it's marble cliffs. JH on 06.06.05 @ 07:34 PM AEST [link] Sunday, June 5th SURF HAZARD..... fatal big shark encounter.
 This picture (and three others) arrived at Legends Surf Museum Coffs Harbour this week. We are hoping to learn who it was, where and when. The picture was taken 9 December 2003, but it may have been copied from an original on this date. We have contacted various shark authorities and picture sources for help. The pictures are just a bit too terrible to pollute this site - sorry but that's the way it is. Some comments received from those who have seen the uncensored shots, including the question as to if we should show the pictures received: Looks like a set-up to me......have never seen a sharks teeth cut like that.....looks like a knife cut. ( Dave Moran - NZ dive magazine). Obviously a big bite, so I will run with the theme...depends on: 1. your own standards, 2. the audience you're targeting 3. what you're trying to achieve - titillation, voyeurism, objective reporting. It could be offensive for a variety of reasons, (my opinion only). Then is publication of the pic OK with the victim's family so on and so forth? There are many forms of journalism so then it's whatever you're comfortable with. I am tempted to insert the word mediocrity in there somewhere... Lisa Simpson clone. Are you trying to scare my wife out of the water? After all these years she has finally become a certified scuba diver and we recently went on a diving holiday overseas together. (B.S. Former dive shop proprietor). I wonder where St Johns ambulance found the model for their staff training. (Ruth) Is that a real person? (A divers magazine). I've had mates who put the bite on me like that. Seriously is f--king aweful....enough to put you right off surfing. (P.F. Legendary NZ diver). Eeeeiuuwww.....where did you get that from?? (L.P. Marine film productions) Who is the poor bastard? (I.R.) I have seen a lot of shark bites over the years. Nothing ever looked like that. The cuts look like knife cuts. They are trying to make it resemble a white but that's not the way they look in the real thing. Maybe I am wrong but I don't think so. A lot of this kind of presentation is very common in television production these days. It looks incredibly real. I think that's where it is coming from. Peter Bristow (professional charter captain). Further evidence that sharks are responsible for a greater numbr of deaths in the sea that are often attributed to drowning. (Statisics shy away from death at sea to shark bite). Bill Robbins (close friend of Wally Gibbins). JUNE 7: Peter Fields and I are now of the opinion the injury was NOT caused by a shark bite, but more likely an outboard motor propeller. Peter Bristow offered the clue to this line of thought - Dave Moran was 'on the ball' from the start. I initially thought the 'teeth marks' a bit too spaced or far-apart, but went with the theme that such a mess had to be caused by an animal. It goes to show how we lean heavily on blaming sharks first and foremost for serious sea injuries - including disappearances of people without a trace as the first and only probability. More balance is required by all such authorities quoted by various media. Myself included. JH on 05.06.05 @ 08:58 AM AEST [link] Saturday, June 4th CAT IN A CAR
 We found this puss as a tiny kitten at a country Queensland market in a bird cage with the rest of the litter. During the next two days my friend and assistant picked out 75 fleas while travelling in our Falcon V8 wagon. Were road-showing 16mm movies in clubs and theatres in QLD and NSW country regions. The cat travelled well. It learned to show-up when I whistled - just like a dog. It stayed with us for a couple of years and then disappeared from a motel-holiday unit. Maybe it got aboard another car and just went to sleep as a stow-away? It was an interesting breed, long legs and a long tail. A tom cat with a narrow face too. A good little friend. If you take the time to understand a cat - and don't rough handle them, they are rewarding. Later I saved a little black and white kitten at Broome (Western Australian) from certain death and had this cat as a travelling companion for several months. We went directly from Broome to Cairns and then Tasmania. That cat changed the direction my life was heading in, a point obvious when I look back in stages at important points. It lead to an understanding of PSH (private sub conscious healing) which later put me in touch with the worlds' greatest hypnotist which in turn led to my furthering of interests in Asian culture, especially Taiwan, where I have spent three months in total in the last three years. As I write this I listen to www.icrt.com.tw which is quite different radio with a Mandarin-English mix. What happens next is an interesting guess...... The original thought of tracing significant changes of direction in life sparked from a Deepak Chopra MD lecture to about 1000 punters in a Melbourne theatre. It was about the only interesting 10 minutes he made, that I remember - but worthwhile for just those minutes. JH on 04.06.05 @ 12:11 PM AEST [link] Friday, June 3rd NOCTURNAL CAT CREATURE
 Do you know what this is? Looking like a cross between a cat and a possum.....the first seen in years..... a rainforest dweller........answer later..... JH on 03.06.05 @ 08:18 PM AEST [link] KAMERUKA CAT
 A request for another 'pussy picture' was received tonight, and as fate has it....we have a beauty here for Lisa. Pussy is the prize cat of Kameruka Estate, the famous New South Wales south coast dairy farm known for premium grade milk from Jersey cows. Consequently pussy samples milk and cream straight from the dairy - no wonder she looks contented in the early morning sunshine this week. Note: Dogs have MASTERS, cat have SERVANTS. JH on 03.06.05 @ 06:26 PM AEST [link] Thursday, June 2nd FISH RIGHTS
 Do fish and other forms of seafood have any rights? Not many, not yet anyway. Does anyone stop to think? Maybe a few. Maybe in time this will change when young kids wake up to what goes without being questioned today. Once it was fashionable to hunt whales. Not any more. Once is was OK to boil live lobsters, prawns and crabs......but people are beginning to do things like drowning the crustaceans in fresh water first (which may still cause a burning type of pain). The coral trout (pictured) has been brought to the surface from quite deep water, maybe 40 meters deep. The sudden change in pressure has forced the eyes to pop almost out of the sockets. To make matters worse, the fish is being kept alive until being gutted (probably with some life still evident) then cooked for the restaurant where it will end its days. Such things seem to go un-noticed in downtown Sydney. Isn't it time for a change? JH on 02.06.05 @ 04:01 PM AEST [link] Wednesday, June 1st CHINATOWN SYDNEY
 Model 'Jan Li', is a student from Beijing and regular visitor to MarketCity Chinatown, the Haymarket area of George Street, Sydney where many Asian food shops are located including some new Taiwanese restaurants. More about these later. There is a good little Japanese place on a corner where less than $10 buys grilled makerel, salad and miso soup. It has only 12 seats/stools. More info eventually. JH on 01.06.05 @ 02:22 PM AEST [link] |
