CURLEW CORTEGE IN CEMETERY

On a cold morning , after overnight rain   in  North Queensland ,  these  Bush Stone-curlews  make use of the warmth of   graves  in  the  McLeod Street Pioneer  Cemetery , Cairns . Another  Curlew , below , warms   its  feet  on  an  old   grave top decorated   with  reflective  white  stones , other  birds  visible near  plots.

 The mainly nocturnal  Curlews  , also  known as the  Bush Thick Knee, emit  an  eerie, wailing  call , are rare  in southern pastoral  parts of  Australia and  regarded  as  threatened. In  another sad  event, the latest  Little  Darwin  resident  Curlew  chick , a  plump critter,  disappeared  overnight  on  Magnetic Island , taken  by  an  unknown  predator .   

CROCODILE IN RIVER PUZZLE

A family  fishing  trip   on    the  popular   Bohle River, Townsville,  recently  resulted in an  unusual experience. A large  popper  bottle  , with  cord   attached  ,  was  noticed  floating along   with  the   incoming  tide .   For some strange reason , fish   frequently  erupted   near  the  bottle . Then , oddly , the bottle began to travel against the  tide  and  move towards the bank , again causing    fish   to   leap , as  if  being chased, frightened  . The  mystery was  solved when  the head  of  a  large  crocodile  broke  the  surface   near  the  float . The  theory  is  that the crocodile had grabbed  a mud  crab pot  and had  been trying to  get  at  the meat  bait inside  the  trap to which was  attached the  cord  and  bottle .   

WAITER : THERE'S A FLYING FISH IN MY SEAFOOD COCKTAIL

 

Piscatorial  view  of  Cairns, North Queensland, by  Vallis.  

 

STRANGE WALL HANGING ?

Vallis  photograph .

NEW THREAT TO CNN , MURDOCH AND OTHER MEDIA MOGULS

Unlike  these snoozing Pelicans in North Queensland , the Little Darwin  blog never sleeps  . Even when stretched out   in  the  horizontal at  night, snoring , our  team  has  vivid  dreams  in  which they are on the news beat, locally and overseas ,  composing   golden  prose  for  our  global  readership .

 In addition , we  have roaming correspondents in  various parts of the  world-France, Kuching, Malaysia , Vietnam , the United Kingdom , New Zealand , Western  Australia .

 

One of our young ,  agile  reporters recently  braved the   running of the bulls  at Pamplona  and  posed   there  with  a  Northern Territory flag, which should  have   attracted  the  snorting   attention  of  Ferdinand  the  Bull  and  his mates .

As we  continue to  be  increasingly  flooded with stories , intelligence and  pictures  from far and wide,   we  have  delusions of   becoming  bigger  than  Reuters  news  agency with the help of a Melbourne based chief sub editor who corrects  the  surprising number of  bloopers  in  the  copy .

Watch this space  for exclusive  reports   from  a  recent magical mystery tour in which Little Darwin  met the Blues Brothers  on   another   mission  from  God  in Australia , searched  old cemeteries ,  saluted  the  great Turkish  leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk , sampled a  new latte , discovered  that  poet Judith Wright   could  have been the  Governor-General of Australia  instead of  tipsy Sir John Kerr  and  the  brutal  background to the settlement  of   the  country .

 Along this  exciting  journey books and ephemera of interest  were  bought , three  portable typewriters  for  sale  were spotted , bringing  back old  memories  of   newspaper  reporting   days .        

NO FISHING AND NO DRONES IN CAIRNS

Vallis  photograph.

TOWNSVILLE GHOST FLEET : WHAT'S NOT IN VOGUE ?

The answer to what is not in vogue in Townsville, of course ,   is shipping reporting  in  any depth  in  the  local  media .  Just  recently   the only S(h)ipping  Reporter north of  Woy Woy , discovered the  Panama flagged bulk carrier DD Vogue  in  Townsville  . Because the media loves running   stories about  things in vogue , witness  weekend newspaper supplements   filled with the latest trends in  fashion, smashed vegies, gadgets  , our  waterfront  reporter  snapped the vessel   from   various  angles , like  skinny fashion  models  in  those  lifestyle  sections  , which  the DD Vogue  certainly is  not , the   DD possibly standing for  a double D cup ?