Sisters

I took a trip with my sisters. Amazingly, this is actually the first time we have gone on a holiday together, just the three of us.

The many forms of sisterhood: at Parliament House

Canberra was the destination of choice, specifically to visit the National Gallery of Australia. We'd given the folks tickets to see the Masterpieces from Paris exhibition for Christmas, only it turns out they couldn't go. So, rather than letting the tickets go to waste, we took them back and headed off ourselves (hopefully the book of the exhibition isn't too poor a consolation prize). It was magnificent. Vincent blew my socks off with this one; the sky truly shone, I was there by the riverside, breeze washing over the water and through my hair. I've never seen paint do that before. What a genius.

I was out-voted on a visit the Museum of Democracy, so after a trip to Parliament House, we headed to the War Memorial instead. I don't think you need to be a historian or connected to the military to appreciate both the place and recognise the sacrifices made by Australians at war. It prompted me to question how Australian identity is tied up with the conflicts in which we have played a part, and what the country would be now had we not participated in conflicts over the past 200 years. I don't know the answer. Bring your tissues for the Roll of Honour; more than 100,000 names of those who have died in war or in peacekeeping. The Afghanistan and Iraq wars don't yet have end dates. It seems so nebulous - how is it decided when these wars are 'finished'? Interesting, although tangential, things to contemplate before heading off again to work in development in someone else's country.

Spending time with my sisters was special. Sisters to confide in, yell at, cry with and grow old by. Its not a timeless relationship, indeed, as time passes it grows better. How lucky am I!

Watching winter from afar

Last year I was hearing a lot about dzuds in Mongolia, but this winter is the real deal.

After a spate of extreme weather conditions last week, with -40C temperatures and heavy snowfalls, over a million livestock have died, three women have died in childbirth unable to reach medical assistance and some 6,000 (largely herding) households have been, so to speak, caught out in the cold. The Mongolian Government has requested assistance from donors, including from the Australian Government and the Red Cross, which one of my favourite English-language Mongolian bloggers Jargalsaikhan, suggests may lead to more pocket-lining or "the dzud of unaccountability".

The World Bank in Mongolia has posted a short video of a visit to a dzud-struck area; much more snow in the same area compared to a visit I had there last year, leaving animals unable to forage and starve. Brutal.

On coffee shops in the pharmacy

Mornington - one giant retirement village, originally uploaded by Amstravels.

Cane toad cuisine

The latest cane toad pest control story is a fabulous yet repulsive idea to export them to China for human consumption and Chinese medicine. Interestingly, one of the biggest hurdles to export is not whether toads are tasty, but what to do with the toad venom, a Class A drug.

Cane toads are noxious bastards. Alongside rabbits and camels, cane toads are one of the most successful introduced species into Australia. An abundance of food and a lack of predators have fueled pest numbers. Rabbits were introduced for sport; the story goes that just six rabbits were released for hunting. Similarly, camels were far hardier than the first white explorers who used them as pack animals. But like the old lady who swallowed a cat to catch the mouse to catch the spider, toads were introduced from Hawaii to eat the cane beetle, which was destroying cane crops in Queensland. However it turned out that the beetles hung out up the stalk, while toads were ground-dwellers, so the toads never got to eat the beetles and both pests flourished. Woops.

These days, the cane toad is rapidly advancing across the tropical top end of Australia, now nearing Kununurra to the north-west and Sydney to the south (map), competing with and preying on local wildlife, and poisoning local species, pets and people. A changing climate also means the habitat of the toad is expanding.

After making sure you've got the right toad and not a native frog, toad control people say the best way to get rid of a cane toad is to destroy them at egg stage, or, if you're too late for that, by popping them in the fridge then the freezer for a few days. Who would've thought. I remember seeing a video in uni Conservation Biology where a guy was running them over with his Combi van; 'They explode better if you can run them over head first'. Like whacking them with a golf club, this method is not condoned by the folks who run the annual Great Cane Toad Muster. An aside, the same video had a young girl who played dress-ups and tea parties with the toads hopping around their garden: 'I call this one Princess!' (Warty Barbie?)

I've heard about cane toad biofuel trials or toad-compost once toads have been captured, alongside the genetic modification research to try to stop them breeding in the first place. Magpies have learnt to peck out the venom glad at the back of the toad's head, and some lizards have learnt they can only eat them belly-side up to avoid the poisonous skin. This evolution and our pest control practices are however slower than the cane toad's advancement across the tropics. So full support to anyone willing to try out what may seem like a fantastical idea. Hopefully, they taste like chicken.

Hadn't had enough of cane toads? Click here.

Big Days Out

I took time out from my relaxing schedule of coffees, dinners and beach catch-ups to take a trip to Sydney to see northern friends and go to the Big Days Out (yep, both - hooray for free tickets!). A few things struck me:

• Woman are orange-coloured. As in, tan over-kill, oompah loompah-kind of orange.
• There are a lot of Australian flags around: on hats, bikinis, shoes, tshirts, stubby holders, fake tattoos, real tattoos ... Is this just fashion? A patriot act? Just Sydney BDO post-Cronulla? Because we like the monarchy again since Prince William's been in town?
• Tattoos a-go-go: count thee without than with. My vote for best in show: "My life, my choices" in rather large letters across a young fella's chest. Still plenty of room to add: "My regrets" later on, though.
• Hitting the beach ball around the crowd at a Fear Factory gig doesn't seem the most appropriate band for those kinds of shenanigans. But the guy moshing in his wheelchair was the Best. Thing. Ever.
• Groove Armada's frontwoman has the best shoulderpads and voice around; truly sensational, and one of my fave performances and the best for dancing.
• The whole set was a top performance by headliners Muse, best experienced up front where the bass will blow your socks off. Interestingly, they got the biggest cheer when they covered Back in Black. Bass player, please smile every now and again. Just because you're singing about fighting for your rights (as a middle-aged white male), doesn't mean you can't be happy sometimes too.
• Devendra Banhart was truly delightful *swoon*. Let's all move to Mexico.
  

Interesting stuff

What I've been looking at:

Things that were good for a laugh: Why your aid project won't work and signing off your emails.

Things that make me sad: China at Copenhagen.

Things that make the world smaller: Photo Nomads (send your pictures, Mongolian photographers!).

Things that look beautiful: Earth as Art and Three Australian Photographers.