Buckle has been approved

I checked my citizenship application this morning and it seems they have finally approved me. I have no idea why it took them so long: almost 6 weeks. How come they didn't just take one look at my application and say "oh she looks like a nice girl; we'll have her. Tick"? But at least they have finally come to their senses and realised they would be proud to call me an Aussie.

To be honest, the thought of dual citizenship is a wee bit strange. I could never give up my British citizenship because I feel British through and through. Even though there may be some elements of the British psyche that bug me, I just can't help it. It's who I am, it's how I was brought up, it's who many of my close friends and relations are and despite its faults (and in some cases because of them) I love it.

That said, I do feel increasingly Australian. You can't live here for five years, immerse yourself in the culture and not let it rub off on you. Obviously there are things that bug me about the Australian character too, but it's much easier to fob that off saying "oh but I'm British" ("and far superior" is the inference there, I suppose). When I return to England I remember my Britishness but my Australianness is also highlighted: that's the bit that makes me different to my fellow Brits. And my Britishness makes me different to my fellow Australians. So, I'm neither one nor the other and I guess that's the way I have felt for a while now.

So, although I can never be constantly 100% Australian, or constantly 100% British, I can now be sometimes 100% either, or always 50% of both. See what I mean about it being a bit strange? I think I will still have to barrack for England in international tournaments, and the "friendly rivalry" between the two sporting nations could very well tear me apart, but I do think I have the best of both worlds.

Now I just have to see if they can squeeze me into the last citizenship ceremony of the year in 2 weeks. I'll practice my national anthem in the meantime.

Australians all let us rejoice
For we are young and free
We've wealth for toil and earth to soil.... no , that's not right
We've wealth and toil and earth and soil... nope
We've wealth and soil and Mrs Doyle
Preparing buns for tea... no hang on, that's Ireland.

Climate change in Google Earth

Climate Change In Our World is a new Google Earth layer developed by the Met Office Hadley Centre demonstrating current climate change predictions. It's an excellent tool for communicating what climate change can (and will) do to our world and I encourage all of you with Google Earth installed to download the layer.


There is a time line across the top, which you can either slide to a particular year to see what the temperature increase would be, or which you can play as an animation, watching the temperature rise as time goes by. The timeline goes from 1999 to 2099. There is a second animation which flies you around the earth to areas of specific interest, where you can click on an icon and read stories of how climate change is already impacting the world.

Fly over to the Artic Circle and watch the temperature increase at an astonishing rate. By 2018 it is approximately 8 or 9 degrees (celsius) warmer than in 1999; by 2043 it is around 12°C warmer and by the end of the animation in 2099 it has increased by an incredible 18°C. The data used to produce the layer are based upon a mid-range IPCC emissions scenario.

A second Climate Change In Our World Google Earth layer has been produced by the British Antartic Survey and demonstrates the retreat of the Antartic ice shelves over the past 50 years.


These are great educational tools for both adults and kids with links to resources offering further information and practical advice.

Incidentally, I took this opportunity to update my version of Google Earth and installed the latest beta (4.3). It's great. It has its own browser so any links you click on open in the Google Earth window and it comes with lots of really interesting layers. Those that I have found of interest in the few moments I have spent madly clicking around are the National Geographic Magazine layer (under Gallery) and The Earth from Above with GoodPlanet (under Global Awareness) but there are loads of others.


After rediscovering my love of Google Earth I downloaded another layer which demonstrates World Oil Consumption using data from the CIA World Factbook. Fascinating. Next, I think I shall play with rising sea levels. I mean that from a purely educational Google Earth perspective, not from an evil-world-domination-I-like-to-think-I-am-God perspective.

To the moon and back

Wow! What a trip! I LOVE TASMANIA!!! We had a fantastic time and it's a beautiful place. I recommend it to anyone, particularly those people who live in Australia and have little excuse for not having been, but also to those who may be planning a trip Ozwards and may not have considered including Tassie in their itinerary.

I have uploaded our photographs to Picasa and I'm in the process of adding comments to each one. I may summarise them in a post some day but to expedite getting it out there I will leave it at that for now, rather than giving you a lengthy travel journal straight up. I will be continuing to add comments and probably a few more maps, especially for those of you who may be thinking of going and are keen on doing some walking whilst there.

There is so much that we didn't get to see or do, surprising considering the size of the place. I can't understand how people can "do" the whole place in three or four weeks; they really wouldn't be doing it justice. We stayed on the Tasman Peninsular for seven days and that was nowhere near enough just for that one little section. It's definitely on our list of places for a second visit.

Thank you so much to all of the friends who helped make this trip possible. Thanks to Lucie, Scott, James, Melissa, Jillian, Jimbo, Mark, Mindi, Guy, Libbette, Jon, Megan, Pete and Daneale.

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/lindseybuckle/HoneymoonInTasmania

Apology: Historic day for Australia

This morning Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, formally apologised to the indigenous people of Australia for a policy referred to as the "stolen generations". In an emotive and carefully worded speech Rudd apologised on behalf of the government for past policies that resulted in generations of aboriginal children being taken from their families, homes and communities and forced to integrate into Western culture.

The policies started in the 1860s and continued until 1969 and involved primarily mixed-race children. They were based upon the belief that aboriginal society was dying out and that integrating the children into western society would be for their benefit. Later on it was thought that mixed race children were at risk of abuse and neglect within their communities and they were removed for their own saftey. It is clear from personal accounts that this wasn't always the case. One such account was published as a book called The Rabbit Proof Fence and a film of the same name was released in 2002. Some children never saw their parents again.

After ten years of the previous Liberal government, led by John Howard, refusing to formerly apologise, this is a momentous day in Australian history. The apology was broadcast outside Parliament House and watched by thousands. I felt quite emotional watching it as Rudd told a story of a woman remembering her childhood before the age of four, sitting around campfires and dancing, before being taken from her mother whom she never saw again. I imagined being taken from my parents as a child and how losing them was the subject of a recurring nightmare I had when I was young. I'd worry about being abandoned and I'd dream that I'd come downstairs for comfort after waking from a bad dream. I'd see my parents sitting on the settee watching television. When I walked around the front of the settee though, I'd realise they weren't my parents. They looked like them but they had different faces. It was terrifying. Then I'd realise they were wearing masks and rip them off but they'd still have different faces underneath. Then I'd realise that the new faces were also masks and so it went on until I woke up.

Imagine living that nightmare. Okay, so maybe the authorities didn't dress up as aboriginal parents and start ripping off their own faces but the feeling that I felt, of not knowing where my parents were and wanting nothing more than to find them, would have been very much how those children would have felt. I can still remember the way that dream made me feel and it makes me want to cry when I think of the 100,000 children being taken from their homes to a completely different culture.

I think it's great that the Prime Minister has apologised. I'm amazed at how many people are against it; 30% I read on one website. It means so much to the indigenous communities to have it said; does it really mean that much to the white Australians? Why do they so passionately believe that the government shouldn't be sorry. I'm sorry. I'm not saying I'm responsible but I'm sorry that it happened. The apology was more about understanding and acknowledgement of the hurt caused than about admitting responsibility. How can anyone not want to say to someone who was taken from their parents, "I understand that this must have hurt you and I'm so sorry this happened"? We say sorry to people who are bereaved but that doesn't mean we are admitting responsibility for the death of their loved one.

The opposition leader Brendan Nelson, possibly the most uncharismatic party leader in the world, also stood up and formally acknowledged and backed the apology and made a speech that I lost interest in. He went on about the problems in aboriginal communities today, problems of alcoholism, violence and drug abuse. Granted, these are problems that are rife and need to be dealt with but did they really need raking up on this day of celebration and reconciliation? Talk about killing the party. The crowd outside Parliament House turned their back on him, clearly unimpressed with the leader of a party that has had the opportunity for ten years to say sorry and yet pointedly refused. Nevertheless boring Brendan kept droning on. Seriously, the Liberals are never going to win an election with him as their leader.

If you want to read the apology, check out this website: http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/apology/text.htm

To read Australians' comments on the apology go to http://www.news.com.au/comments/0,23600,23206140-2,00.html

The Shift: A movie about an evolutionary shift in the collective consciousness

I stumbled across this film clip this morning on a blog called We The Change. I thought it was pretty cool and that it should be shared. Unfortunately it seems the film-makers are still raising funds to finish the movie so I don't know when it's likely to be released.

If you have some spare cash lying around and you're in the business of supporting independent film-makers then you can make a donation at The International Documentary Association website. Visit the film's website at The Shift Movie.

Little furballs

Once one grows up and buys one's own home, one must also assume the responsibilities of an adult and do such things as gardening, DIY and home-baking. One must also start considering the very serious subjects of procreation and, more importantly, pets. Usually what one does in these circumstances is get a dog. You see, dogs require quite a grown-up and responsible attitude. They need lots of love and attention, and many breeds need to be walked twice a day. A dog is a big commitment and to be seen walking one's dog is to be seen as a committed and responsible grown up (who likes the outdoors). I am a committed and responsible grown-up (you don't get much more committed than a marriage and a mortgage) and I do quite like the outdoors but I don't think I could give a dog the attention it needs. I always feel a bit sorry for dogs whose owners are out at work all day, then do things in the evenings, and then pop off to a friend's place for the weekends. And, if truth be told, I am a cat person.

Most of my old buddies from the UK will be well aware of this but it may be news to some of my antipodean friends. In fact, I surprised some very good friends last week by announcing that I intended to have a cat. James responded with, "I didn't know you were a cat person" and for a split second I was prepared to defend myself and humour his love of dogs until, to my delight, I discovered that both James, and his wife Melissa are also cat people. This is a marvellous thing to discover about two people you already love. See, most people in Australia are dog people, and not only are they dog people but they actively hate cats. They see cats as evil, arrogant creatures (the point being...?) that pose a threat to their wildlife. As if white man clearing the land so his hungry cows can graze, digging big holes in the ground and pulling out coal and gold, concreting beach forests so they can build ocean-view high-rises, and flooding rivers to make dams isn't any sort of a threat to the wildlife or the environment that supports it. Evil? Arrogant? Threatening wildlife? Pot? Kettle? Black?

Anyway, to cut a long rant short (too late, Buckle), I received an early birthday present this year in the form of a cat. Well, actually two! Toby and I visited the local animal shelter at the weekend. I had decided I'd like two cats (even cats get lonely if their family leaves them alone all day), and that I'd like a male and a female. Toby wanted one kitten. We had to walk past two enclosures of adult cats before we got to the kittens so of course I stopped by for a chat.


Because all of the kittens were boys I chose to take a beautiful Russian Blue (cross, I think but I know nothing about pedigree cats) 15 month old Queen home too. We have named her Zadie (because her name at the shelter was Mercedes, which is terrible, but shortening it to Cedes (or Sadie) didn't work because I have a good friend called Sadie (hi, Sades) but then Lucie misheard me and thought it was Zadie and it kind of stuck). She's a little chatterbox who loves attention but isn't particularly cuddly. She's still quite playful and is a lovely addition to the household.

The kitten is 3 months old and his name is Monty. He's a mentalist and gets himself into all kinds of scrapes. He's a bit greedy and probably should have been called Wolf because he wolfs his food down and then starts on Zadie's. He goes nuts when the food is being prepared and tries to climb up on the bench. He'll find the highest thing he can sit on to get as close to the food as he can and today he suffered for it when his tail got caught in the drawer his food is kept in. He loves cuddles and will sit on any part of you that is available.

They get along very well together and chase each other round the house like Tasmanian Devils. Zadie frequently reminds Monty who's boss by pouncing on him and pinning him down. They both rush to the front door to greet us, purring, when we come home.

There are more photos here: CrazyCats , although not too many because they're both hopeless at staying still for the camera and are far too interested in whatever it is I'm doing resulting in lots of black and gray blurry photos. I'm sure you'll be hearing many more stories of their craziness in weeks to come.

Sexist, me? Shut up man, woman!

I have so much to tell you all (like, we moved into our new house - yay!) but things are so hectic at the moment. However, I read something on the web today that tickled me so much I just had to share it.

The "Ernies" are annual sexism awards, now in their 15th year, voted by women for the most sexist remarks uttered within the public arena. Some of them are downright insulting and unfunny (such as Australian senator Bill Heffernan's comment that opposition deputy leader Julia Gillard was unfit to lead because she was "deliberately barren" which, incidentally won the Gold Ernie of 2007) ; I won't mention them here.

Others however, are so unbelievably stupid that one can't quite believe that the men (as it is mainly men who win these awards, strangely) who uttered them were in the slightest bit serious when they did so (hopefully many of them weren't). It is these comments that I wish to share. Don't worry too much about who these people are - I haven't a clue about some of them - just bear in mind that they are all men who are, to some degree, in the public eye.

• Industrial Relations minister, Joe Hockey, on his wife's pregnancy: "It's exhausting for me, her being pregnant. I don't know why, during the birth process, they only focus on the women."
• Warwick Capper: "Expectant father Darren Jolly needs to get his priorities in order. The birth of your first child is special, but if you're a machine like me, there's more children to be had than premierships."
• An advertisement by Ingham's for chicken: "Breast awareness week" (Love it!)
• Mufti, Sheikh Taj Aldin Alhilali accused Australian women of being "uncovered meat".
• P&O advertisement: "Seamen wanted" (Come on, girls, get a grip; these are FUNNY!)
• Totally unfunny and inexplicably wrong, I almost daren't publish this one but I'm embarrassed to say it made me giggle, until I considered the context and then I was horrified, of course. Rene Rivkin's driver, Gordon Wood made an unusual request to a morgue attendant whilst identifying his girlfriend's body: "Do you mind if I look at her tits?" (Maybe it's fair enough that he wanted to sneak one last peek?!)

To see more (and see the photo of Warwick Capper that has me suspect he could have been serious) check out the Nine News' photo gallery.

Excuse me, is this your life?

Well, well, well, how things change. Since my last post I have bought a car and a house and gained a niece. That is a lot of new things. Big things too (except for my niece; she's quite small, although a big concept, being the first of a new generation in our family) and it's only been a month.

I've been meaning to tell you about the car for a while and in fact asked Toby two weeks ago to take a photograph of the two of us but somehow we didn't get around to doing it so you'll have to make do with a photo her previous owner, Linda, sent to me:


As you can see she's a lovely little three-door Mitsubishi Mirage, born in 1998, which is a modest age for a car. She's just the right size to run me around the coast pretty quickly and is so much nicer than the bus, although not necessarily more comfortable; my sciatica copes better with an upright position on the bus than the car seat position and associated leg work. But I'm working on that too, and my dodgy shoulder which has plagued me for years, with a comprehensive remedial exercise program in the gym. I'll be right as rain again in no time. We even took a trip to Brisbane, the big city, together at the weekend with Lucie and, thanks to our inability to get to anywhere we wanted to go without going to a few other places on the way, we got to see a fair amount of the city known as Brisvegas, or just Vegas as Aussies love to shorten everything... even names they've nicked from elsewhere.

So, that's the car. Nice colour, don't you think?

Now, the house. You have no idea how happy Toby and I are to no longer be homeless. We move to our new home a fortnight today, and here it is:


It's a lovely, medium-sized three bedroom house, which is actually quite large for us, with a double garage, en-suite, walk-in robe, decent sized garden, two living areas and lots of cute little features, such as a spa bath, a covered outdoor area (to fox those damned mozzies), an in-ground sprinkler system connected to bore water (that's water that comes from under the ground and smells like rotten eggs, which basically means we can continue to water our garden in a drought but the house is in an area of high rainfall anyway so we may never have to use it, which is good because I hate the smell of rotten eggs), a vacu-maid system (some weird sci-fi thing they use in hotels, where you plug a tube into a wall and it automatically vacuums stuff up for you, or something), a walk-in pantry/larder with light (my favourite thing after the walk-in robe, I think) and a wood fire - very useful in winter as it's quite a cool house.

More photos at OurHouse.

Actually, being homeless hasn't been as bad as I thought. It's more of an irritation than anything else really. I think being homeless and unemployed would be a bummer but it's not too bad when you're employed. The extra rent we've been paying for the convenience of a short-term rental is helping us get used to not having some of that extra money we'll be paying towards our mortgage, and we haven't had to deal with bills etc. The first couple of weeks we spent staying with friends until our short-term rental was available. That was fun, but a bit more stressful as we didn't feel like we had our own space, and no doubt our friends felt the same, plus they live quite a way from where I work and so does everyone else it seemed, which made my drive to work long and at times stressful as I sat in traffic moving about 2kph in first gear. Our friends had their house on the market so the place had to be kept spotless most of the time. Most of my clothes were in boxes which kept getting moved into the garage, which couldn't have been further from the room we were staying in. When I found myself traipsing to the garage one morning to get some knickers to wear, I knew things had reached a new low. All in all, it's been fun getting to know new areas but I can't wait to settle into our own place. And get a cat. Then my life will be complete. Until I think of something else I want. Like a widescreen plasma TV. Or a new light-weight aluminium hybrid bike.

Do you know what the best thing is? Until we come to rent our house out, if indeed we ever do, I don't have to deal with another rental real estate agent ever again!!! You don't know how happy that makes me.

And last, but by no means least, my beautiful niece. Born at 4.10am BST on Wednesday 3rd October, vastly overdue and a little chubber (8lb 15.5oz!) as a result, she was named Lucy Grace. Or Lucy-lu as I have dubbed her. Clare has gone one step further and started calling her Lulu. She's also known as "sick machine" as she has a very upset tummy and has perfected the art of projectile vomiting, something which may come in handy in eighteen years when she goes to university.


I think of all my new things I'm especially pleased with my niece and can't wait to get back to England so I can play with her properly. I'm very proud of my clever little sister, Clare, who seems to be settling quite well into motherhood and is obviously "stoked" with her lovely daughter. Well done, and congratulations to Clare and Alan. Can't wait to catch up with you both in person.

Now, to wrap it all up I'd like to share with you an interesting photograph and story I read today, of a man who crashed his aeroplane and managed to destroy the entire cockpit except for the bit he was sitting in - fortunately. Amazingly, he came away with only a few broken bones.


For the full story see The Age: Please remain seated for landing

It's official and here's the plan

This is just a quick update to let you all know what's happening.

Firstly, we have received notice that we have to be out of our place on 4th September. We haven't found anywhere to buy yet so we're packing all of our stuff into storage and staying with friends in Coolum for two and a bit weeks, with a slight sojourn to Yeppoon next weekend for Praj and Tracy's wedding.

Consequently this week is packing hell as we sort through what we don't want, what we want to keep with us and what can be stored in time for the removalists coming at 8am on Saturday. This morning was spent on the phone trying to organise cleaners, carpet cleaners, removalists and insurance, the latter of which is a complex nightmare. I still have to book us a post office box and have our mail forwarded to it and find out when we can pick up the keys at the storage space.

After a couple of weeks of crashing with Bec and Adam we are moving into a pretty expensive holiday apartment. Cheap for a holiday apartment but expensive long-term. Mind, I suppose we don't have to worry about bills and the bonus of this place is that it has broadband access so I can get back into skyping folk. It's on the river at Maroochydore so should be a good base for house-hunting and will be something a bit different to what we're used to. We're there for 6 weeks.

I don't know what will happen after that. It's only a 2 month plan. I'm hoping to have a house by then because things like insurance get even more complicated after 3 months. If not, perhaps we'll just put the rest of our stuff into the storage facility and naff off on a super long honeymoon.

This all means that we haven't been able to have the gifts from our wedding registry delivered so, whilst I have an idea what we've been given, I don't know who gave what. It also means for those gifts we have already received, we haven't really had time to take stock and write thank you notes. So, apologies to everyone who has sent us stuff. We're really grateful and plan to write to you all just as soon as we get settled somewhere permanently and have had our gifts delivered.

I have to go now. There is so much to do. I just wanted to let you all know what was going on.

The Great Netherlands Horse Rescue

I first saw this video on Google but it isn't very good quality so I'd recommend viewing the YouTube one. It's an amazing story which brought tears to my eyes and a shiver down my spine. A must-see for horse lovers.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4584913278289860160

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n9wd7P5Apw

Biometrics prevent pub fights

This is kind of old news now as I read it a week ago but forgot to pass it on. Apparently, a pilot biometrics scheme, in Yeovil of all places, is being used to cut down on pub brawls by scanning drinkers' thumbprints and preventing entry to anyone who has already been barred from any of the other pubs in the scheme. According to silicon.com, there are seven pubs taking part in the scheme and South Somerset District Council reports a 23% decrease in alcohol related crimes since the start of the pilot.

The latest news from silicon.com on this topic is that 40% of respondents to an online poll they conducted said they would be prepared to participate in such a scheme. On the other side of the fence are the 29% who said they would consider moving if their town introduced such a scheme, and sitting on the fence were the 31% who really couldn't be bothered just for the sake of having a pint - lightweights!

Me suspects the poll gave a basic three choices:
a) Yes I would participate in such a scheme;
b) Probably isn't worth it just for a pint;
c) No way, I'd rather move;
which probably wouldn't give an altogether accurate impression of people's opinions. But I merely speculate.

For more on biometrics see silicon's A-Z of biometrics and biometrics on wikipedia.

An “eeeeeeeeee hello” to you all and a sad farewell to The Crocodile Hunter.

I haven’t blogged in quite some time. I’ve started a few posts but then not quite got around to finishing them and getting them up here. But after hearing the sad news regarding Steve Irwin this week I was reminded of the important things in life and the fleeting fragility of our mortality.



I’ve just been to the zoo (i.e. Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo) and was overwhelmed by the number of tributes laid there and the scores of people still rolling in five days after Steve’s death with messages and flowers and donations for Wildlife Warriors, the charity Steve and his wife Terri founded. Surprisingly, it surpassed the tributes I witnessed at King’s Cross last year, two weeks after the London Transport terrorist attacks. The only thing I can liken it to was the aftermath of the death of Princess Di, although it hasn’t quite reached those same levels of hysteria.


Whilst we were there Toby ran into a girl he used to know at university. Turns out she played softball for Australia in Athens in 2004 and won a silver medal. But that’s another story (although it is the first time I’ve met an Olympic athlete). She works for the zoo so was able to give us an interesting insight into the goings-on there. It’s clear that everyone who works at the zoo loved Steve very much and that he had a big impact on their lives. His loss has affected them all deeply. She also told me that apparently today (Friday) was International Khaki Day… wonder if that will become an annual thing. I had no idea of this but quite independently organised for my team to come in today wearing the closest they could get to khakis. Not everyone took part – some insisted that they had nothing remotely khaki – but for those that did it was a nice gesture.

At the zoo I made a donation to Wildlife Warriors and wrote a message on a khaki shirt. There were dozens of these hanging around the place covered in the messages people wrote for Steve and his family. Whilst I was doing this about seven zoo employees, some of which I recognised as having presented crocodile and tiger demonstrations, approached carrying a covered frame. They spent a few moments attaching it to a fence and then said a few quiet words to one another before turning around and having their photograph taken with it. At one point they all raised their thumbs and cried “Crikey”. After they left I moved in for a closer look. It was a framed photograph of Steve in action, feeding a crocodile. At the bottom were two crocodile teeth. I don’t know if they were in any way significant, maybe they were from a particular croc whom Steve was fond of but that’s just speculation. Around the photograph they’d written their own very personal and moving tributes.


Steve Irwin is an intrinsic part of the Sunshine Coast where I live and it's only now that he's gone that I've really noticed it. The day after his death I was cycling home from work and a bus passed by me. There he was, larger than life as always, covering the back of a bus. Anywhere you drive there are huge Australia Zoo billboards with Steve's picture on them. I wonder what will happen to those billboards... whether over time Steve's photograph will slowly be replaced by his daughter Bindi, or one of the other crocodile handlers.

It’s clear that Steve Irwin was a man who touched the hearts of many people all across the world for many different reasons. Some loved the entertainer, the man who could see the beauty in any animal and who educated the world about the characters and complexities of so-called dangerous animals. Others loved the conservationist, the selfless man who worked so hard to help and protect animals, putting all the money he made back into the zoo and similar projects. And yet others, those close to him, would have been more familiar with the family man, the ordinary bloke. Although after watching a re-run of a 2003 Andrew Denton interview with Steve, who insisted his TV persona was the real thing all the time, and others who knew him have confirmed this, I fail to see anything ordinary about him. On the contrary, I believe he was an extraordinary man, albeit down to earth. (By the way, Andrew Denton is like a younger, Australian Parkie.) An example of his ability to be both down to earth and extraordinary can be found in the weekly column written by the VC of the uni I work for (University of the Sunshine Coast): when Steve was granted an honorary senior fellowship at the uni in 2000 he turned up for graduation wearing, as always, his khakis.

I never actually met Steve Irwin but I did see him in the flesh once. On one visit to the zoo I spotted him running towards me with a group of zoo workers. I was trying to figure out what on earth could be such an emergency that they had to run - had a croc escaped? But maybe that's just how someone as energetic as Steve Irwin gets around. A girl I was with shouted, "Hey look, it's Steve. Hi Steve!" and as he ran passed he waved and smiled at us. Other people I know have said that he rode around the zoo on a scooter saying hello to people. And others have said that seeing him do the croc presentations made their visit. Everyone who visits the zoo hopes they'll be lucky enough to see Steve Irwin in action. It's so strange to think that will never happen now.

Germaine Greer's scathing, and possibly inaccurate comments earlier this week (see http://www.guardian.co.uk/australia/story/0,,1865124,00.html, calling Irwin "self-delusional" and "dominating" of animals, claiming that the zoo's crocs are depressed and that Steve's tragic death is a case of "the animal world finally taking revenge" on him are nothing less than disgusting, not least because of her insanely insensitive timing. But, whilst she claims John Stainton's job is "to keep Irwin pumped larger than life, shouting "Crikey!" and punching the air", it's clear that Greer's job is to disagree with general opinion and to wind everyone up in the most appauling way she can imagine, and, I suppose, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Greer states that, "the one lesson any conservationist must labour to drive home is that habitat loss is the principal cause of species loss", implying that Steve Irwin failed to do this and instead barged into fragile habitats, manhandling and distressing animals. But I think he did do this and this is how I hope the world remembers him, as a compassionate (and passionate) caring conservationist, as opposed to an "entertainer". Yes, he was entertaining but this was simply a by-product of his passion.

So, with this in mind, I have racked my brains trying to think of an Irwin-esque Tip for the Top. I thought of the fact that he bought vast swathes of land so that they could be conserved and kept away from greedy developers, something the Sunshine Coast sees a lot of as one of the fastest growing regions in Australia. And whilst it may be possible to put that into place on a smaller scale by buying land to live on and not developing or sub-dividing, or by refusing to buy on one of the new massive development estates and instead going for a traditional Queenslander (wooden home, raised for air-flow with a big deck or verander around the outside), that's really beyond the capabilities of most people and applies more to Australians than Brits, where most of the land has already been developed anyway.

So then I thought of the little things you could do, like encourage birds into your garden and put two bells rather than one on your cat's collar so it can't catch the birds. Rather strangely, as I was writing this post travelling in the car on Friday evening to Toby's parents' place, not too long after leaving the zoo, we hit a small animal. I remembered having heard somewhere what to do in these situations, particularly if it's a koala. We found the animal and it was definitely dead. But then we had the distressing task of moving it into the light and checking to see if it had a pouch. If it did we would have had to check inside the pouch for a joey and call the Australia Zoo Hospital (the number of which I have in my phone) to come and take it away. The animal was some kind of small marsupial by the way, possibly a bandicoot. Now, again this applies more to Australia as UK doesn't have animals with pouches but it can teach us to be more aware of animals crossing the roads and to take some care to check them out if we do hit them. I wasn't driving by the way. Oh no sirree! Blogging and driving definitely do not mix. Don't do it.

My struggle to think of some practical advice to offer has perhaps highlighted to me that this is an area I'm quite ignorant in. Or maybe conservation has been so ingrained since I was a school child that it's now second nature (leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but photographs, that kind of thing) but I do think I have a lot to learn, especially in this less familiar environment of Australia.

I will be making a donation to the Wildlife Warriors and for those of you who wish to do the same I will say be wary of bogus sites. I haven't seen any myself but I've heard they do exist. It's www.wildlifewarriors.org.au and you can get there from the Australia Zoo website.