The 2025 Melbourne Cup made history once again when Half Yours crossed the line first, ridden by jockey Jamie Melham. Her victory was a landmark moment — only the second time a woman has ever won the Cup. The first, of course, was Michelle Payne on Prince of Penzance in 2015, and Australia cheered just…
It’s 5am on Halloween day. The sun’s up somewhere behind all that cloud, the road outside is wet and the distant rumblings might mean the rain is out over the Bay – or that more is approaching. According to BOM, it’s a bit of both. It hasn’t been a good night. In a way. You…
In the seventeenth century the use of torture to extract confessions and the like was de rigeur. Everybody did it. The rack, thumb screws, weights on chest – you name it. You’ve all seen these things in the horror movies. In these more enlightened times we don’t do things like that, restricting ourselves to more…
Life’s peaceful at Hervey Bay. The weather is warming and we’re at that stage where we’d like some rain, please. Not like earlier in the year when the remains of a cyclone dumped hundreds of millimetres upon the town. Just – I dunno. 25mm? The garden is enjoying the sunshine. We have walking iris, which…
I’ll be honest. I didn’t think that Hamas would give up the remaining hostages. I thought they’d hang on as long as they could, buying themselves time to regroup, rearm, and consolidate. Yes, Trump deserves credit. Perhaps the real reason Hamas has agreed is because of pressure from other Arab countries. Maybe, also, a recognition…
It has been two years now. Two years since unspeakable horror poured over the Gaza-Israeli border. First, it was just the sound of rockets. Then the sirens. Then the chaos. The attacks started just before dawn when ordinary people were asleep in their beds. Communities near the Gaza border—small kibbutzim where people lived ordinary lives—were…
It’s an hour after midnight. The town slumbers under clear skies, nothing stirring except the occasional possum or a couple of fruit bats squabbling in the trees. An elderly couple is fast asleep in their bed – and is suddenly jolted awake by an insistent beeping. It took us (yes, it was us) a while…
It’s not often that I agree with the odious current occupant of the White House, but I do agree with him about the uselessness of the United Nations. The United Nations was born out of the ashes of the Second World War. Its founders dreamed of an institution that could prevent another global catastrophe, foster…
Adelaide’s Sunday morning was overcast and cool, with the ever-present possibility of showers. I went on the Barossa Valley trip by myself. Well… along with another eight Ghan passengers. Amanda met us in a little Toyota bus and we headed for the hills. First stop was the Barossa Sculpture Park at Mengler’s Hill Lookout, one…
We woke on our final morning on the train to a very different landscape. The arid Outback was behind us, replaced with green fields and puddles from the recent rain. At about mid-morning the Ghan rolled into Adelaide’s Parklands Station. From the bright sun of the Outback we were thrust into damp and cold. Adelaide…