Tasmania’s Journal of Discovery

Amazing footage of synchronised swimming from a pod of killer whales determined to make a meal of a lonely seal adrift on an ice floe.

(Via Zooillogix )

Two women who were seriously injured in a car accident outside Tasmania’s Mersey Hospital yesterday could not be treated at the Mersey, because the hospital still does not have an intensive care unit (ICU).

The injured women had to be taken to Burnie Hospital for treatment, even though others who were less seriously injured in the accident were treated at the Mersey.

The former Federal Government promised to reinstate the ICU as part of the take over.

Listen to the ABC Radio report here.

Jelly would have to be one of the luckiest cats alive.

Nine-year-old Jelly spent some time yesterday walking around with a deadly Lowland Copperhead snake wrapped around her neck.

Owner Wendy Wallis said Jelly wandered back in to their property, which borders the creek at Sorell, about 11.30am yesterday carrying the snake with her.

She called wildlife rescuers who removed the snake.

‘Both the cat and the snake seemed quite happy,’ Ms Wallis said.

‘She didn’t show any signs of a bite last night, but this morning she was almost paralysed.

‘She’s at the Montrose vet at the moment being pumped full of anti-venom, but the vet says she’ll recover fully.’

Ms Wallis said she snapped the picture through a glass door, but didn’t dare open the door as the cat would have walked inside.”

(Via The Mercury)

Our long, slow growing season ensures not only plump, vibrant and glossy berries, but true to type taste and perfume … the whole package! However, beware of the blackberries that line our country lanes. Classified as a noxious weed, they have probably been sprayed.

Raspberries, members of the rose family, had been traditionally grown for processing, but as with many of our berries, the demand is now well and truly for fresh table fruit, due to their exceptional eating qualities. The exception to this are red and black currants, which are grown predominantly under contract for processing.

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John Elder of The Age reports that:

The feral destruction of the Macquarie Island’s native vegetation is akin to Ayers Rock being taken over by 100,000 clowns with jackhammers or the Great Barrier Reef being used as torpedo practice …

… it’s like one of those movies where a team of rough and tough heroes are called upon to save the world. In this case, the survival of one of Australia’s ecological treasures depends on finding a dozen disciplined hunting dogs — and finding them fast.

Since rabbit numbers exploded on the World Heritage-listed Macquarie Island over the past couple of years, massive landslips - caused by overgrazing and tunnelling by the 100,000 bunnies - have sent entire hillsides falling into the Southern Ocean, killing king penguins and wiping out crucial albatross nests. At the same time, a living carpet of rats and mice have been feasting on the eggs in penguin and seabird colonies.

Macquarie is a sub-Antarctic island about 1500 kilometres south of Tasmania and a critical breeding ground for seabirds, including four endangered species of albatross, and delicate plant systems. It also serves as a unique geological snapshot of the world’s evolution, a record of life.

There’s more about Macquarie Island here …

Here’s one of the best videos we’ve found that features Tassie’s greatest surfing destination – the irrepressible Shipsterns Bluff.

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Photographs by Matt Newton and Rob Blakers.

Anti-pulp mill activists will ratchet up their campaign to stop the $1.9billion Gunns project with a boycott of its corporate backers, according to The Mercury.

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According to James Kirby in The Age today:

The commercial logic of Tasmania’s new pulp mill is crumbling by the day. If only Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull could have delayed his approval for the monster mill a few more months, he might have saved himself a lot of bother.

It’s extraordinary really, but in the six weeks since Turnbull signed off on the application from Gunns Ltd, bankers to the mill are dithering, while the builder doesn’t think it will go ahead.

While Gunns chief executive John Gay has been looking over his shoulder threatening court action against environmentalists, he should have been looking straight ahead, because some stockbrokers have been losing faith in the company and are now arguing the mill could be a flop.

The backlash against Gunns from inside the market is based on fears that current high pulp prices cannot be sustained; forecasters believe pulp prices will begin a steep plunge in two year’s time, just as the mill is set to open.”

There’s more.

Hobart firemen in the thick of it. Photographs above by James Moult. See more of his dramatic photography in this gallery.
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Pier One

Wrest Point, Sandy Bay

Char-Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Leek, Crayfish and Scallop Pie on Port-Wine Jus, Fresh Asparagus

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