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'Melbourne Cup of the bush' is on track for fun
IT'S called the ``Melbourne Cup of the bush'' but the soul of the Birdsville Races is the people and amusements away from the track.
The dusty, southwestern Queensland outpost 1602km from Brisbane is home to only 100 but that figure is expected to swell to 5000 today for the iconic two-day race meet, now in its 128th year.
Punters have been trickling into town for days - bush characters with ruddy noses and crusty hair all but concealed by worn Akubras, along with grey nomads, tanned young backpackers and families with kids in tow.
Canadian-born Byron Bay resident Sarah Bulmer, 27, and her friend Jessica Rowley, 17, were among the crowd gathered outside the only pub in town yesterday.
``The atmosphere is fantastic - it's great to be out here and see more of Australia,'' Ms Bulmer said.
The highlight of yesterday's pre-race frivolity was a stuffed toy horse race down the already beer-can littered main street, with proceeds of bets donated to the Royal Flying Doctors Service.
The mock ra
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Tram-packed fashion
A TRAM was transformed into a travelling catwalk for a surprise peek at Ruby Rose's rock star fashion label.
Rose enlisted her grandmother, Deidre Langenheim, and dog Daisy to take her signature edgy style to the streets.
Models hopped aboard the new low-floor tram at the Melbourne Museum stop, and circled the city where Rose grew up to show off the model and TV host's first designer label, Milk and Honey.
The Melbourne Spring Fashion Week ambassador's collection of distressed denim, relaxed T-shirts, leather and animal prints, has been picked up by retail giant Myer as part of its new look youth department.
Ms Langenheim, wearing one of her grand-daughter's T-shirts, showed the edgy new look spans generations.
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Melbourne woman defies warring factions and climate to complete 23,000km bike ride across Africa
DETERMINED cyclist Kate Leeming braved gunfire, heat and floods to complete a 23,000km ride through Africa to raise awareness about extreme poverty.
Ms Leeming has just returned home, after being the first person to cycle, albeit in zigzag fashion, from the continent's western-most point -- Cape Verde in Senegal -- to the eastern tip -- Cape Hafun in Somalia -- in one journey.
The seasoned 43-year-old cyclist began her epic ride last October, covering as much as 130km in up to eight hours in the saddle each day.
``There were many tough times, every day some sort of crisis on the bike,'' she said. ``But I am experienced enough to cope with that.''
Ms Leeming, who kept an online diary throughout the trip, visited projects aimed at tackling problems in impoverished communities.
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Cut speed to save koalas
WILDLIFE carers are calling for reduced speed limits on peninsula roads before the entire koala population is wiped out.
Jennie Bryant said the number of koalas being hit by cars had increased from three a month earlier in the year to three a week in the past month.
“It is alarming to have more and more dying on the roads; they will eventually disappear entirely from local areas,” she said.
So far this month Ms Bryant has nursed 12 koalas in her wildlife shelter compared with eight last August, four in 2008 and three in 2007.
She estimates about 125 koalas enter her wildlife shelter a year after being hit by cars, with a further 25 suffering dog attacks.
“It is just horrendous for that many to die,” she said.
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Skippy's comeback helped inspire Trickett to take the plunge
THE morning after Libby Trickett announced she was abandoning retirement and getting back in pool, she was true to her word.
The triple Olympic gold medallist was up at dawn to do a 3.5km workout with her training squad, alongside Eamon Sullivan, Geoff Huegill and Andrew Lauterstein at the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre in Sydney.
In fact, Trickett had been back in the water for two days, since telling coach Grant Stoelwinder on Tuesday that retirement had lost its charm and she wanted to come back for the London Olympics.
That realisation hit Trickett last Saturday after she finished a session working with a masters swimming squad.
``I was driving home afterwards and said to Luke (her husband and former international swimmer) that I had really missed this feeling of pushing my body,'' Trickett said.
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Ex-Blacks captain warns Wallabies to get their heads together
FORMER All Blacks captain David Kirk knows first-hand what it takes to succeed at rugby's highest level -- and he says the Wallabies' current problems are in their heads.
The halfback, who led New Zealand to win the inaugural World Cup in 1987, said that while the Australians had a lot of talent, they are struggling to put together a consistent 80 minutes of rugby.
``This team is working hard but hasn't yet got itself into a position where it is mentally tough enough to win against the very best in the world -- and I think it's worth remembering the Wallabies are playing against the very best in the world in the Springboks and the All Blacks,'' Kirk says. Kirk was at the launch of New Zealand's World Cup promotion at Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal.
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The moon man with a mission
WHEN Buzz Aldrin and the crew of the Apollo 11 took to the controls of their moon-bound shuttle in 1969, they were in the most technologically advanced piece of equipment on the planet.
Now the average suburban house is littered with technology that dwarfs the first lunar mission's on-board computer -- from washing machines to the gaming consoles such as the Xbox.
The Apollo's on-board computer was a 64kb machine with 2kb of memory, about the same processing power of a 1980s desktop calculator and less than most electronic toys.
It weighed in at 33kg and drew 55W in power -- comparable to a contemporary internet server which would have millions of times the computer power of the Apollo's computer.
The on-board computer's storage was 32kb-- barely the first bar of an average-sized song saved on an iPod. Dr Aldrin was in Sydney yesterday promoting the latest instalment of Xbox's Halo game franchise.
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Casey sheds light on joys of singing
IT WAS a slimmed down and glammed-up Casey Donovan who returned to the scene of her Australian Idol victory when she joined 400 youngsters on the steps of the Opera House to belt out a song to promote music in schools yesterday.
More than 500,000 schoolchildren simultaneously sang an original song at various spots around the country as part of the Music: Count Us In program that highlights the importance of school music programs.
Donovan, who took time out of her tour to promote her new single Big, Beautiful And Sexy, said she was feeling great after shedding 21kg.
``I feel fantastic,'' Donovan said.
The curvy diva said she was proud of her figure: ``Yeah, I'm very styled up because I'm promoting Big, Beautiful and Sexy so I should look the part.''
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Nile defends his staffer's porn `research'
NSW upper house MP and morals crusader Fred Nile yesterday denied he or his staff had ``perved'' on adult websites but was unable to explain why one of his researchers had allegedly recorded 200,000 hits on such sites between February and June.
Reverend Nile continued to insist the researcher, who he identified as David Copeland, visited sites such as those operated by the Eros Foundation and the Australian Sex Party legitimately, in his official duties.
The computer in Reverend Nile's office was snared in the same audit of parliamentary internet use that cost the ports minister, Paul McLeay, his job on Wednesday.
NSW Premier Kristina Keneally, who during question time yesterday lamented ``ill-discipline'' among her MPs, demanded Mr McLeay's resignation when he confirmed that he had visited adult and gambling sites on his work computer.
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New office building with own power
COMPANIES are building their own power plants to escape Sydney's ageing energy infrastructure and crippling electricity costs.
Sydney's newest office, a transparent 28-storey glass house with a soaring 130m atrium, is taking form, heralding a new era in environmental technology.
Due open next May, 1 Bligh St boasts its own energy plant using gas and solar for cooling, heating and electricity, slashing its strain on CBD grid infrastructure by more than 25 per cent.
It is the first high-rise to tap into Sydney's sewers for 90 per cent of its water demands.
With electricity costs rising by a third over the next three years, Dexus Property Group head of development Tony Gulliver warned new buildings without onsite power risked becoming redundant.
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SYDNEY OLYMPICS 10 YEARS ON Morenos
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