|
Browse by Tags
All Tags » Australia » Offbeat News ( RSS)
-
|
"Doggone it! That's a bit ruff." That's the response Clayton Dwyer, a landscaper from Darwin Australia, gave when he discovered a pack of wild dogs had torn off the front bumper of his work ute and gnawed it to pieces. According to Dwyer, the dogs had been terrorizing the neighborhood for some time and had savaged his girlfriends car to a similar effect. The dogs are so problematic, the neighbors have taken to throwing mangoes at them to get them to go away. This story proves once again that Australia is a considerably more interesting place to live than your average country (as if more proof was needed). [You should head over to NT NEws because Dwyer has a lot of good one liners]
|
-
|
Proving that the best intentions aren't always matched with the best actions, 19-year-old Brett Seabrook of Victoria, Australia attempted to help a koala he thought was injured by repeatedly ramming its tree with his Toyota Landcruiser. Apparently the incident began when the Aussie teen found the koala at his campsite and wrapped it in a blanket — which is sort of a nice way of saying he abducted it. After hanging out with the koala for a while, he released it into a tree. That's when the koala started making noises, worrying Seabrook and prompting a somewhat irrational series of responses. According to The Age : Wildlife officer Greg Chant, prosecuting for the Department of Sustainability and Environment, said when the koala began to make a loud noise, Seabrook tried to retrieve it by poking it with a stick. Mr Chant said Seabrook then rammed the tree with his Toyota Landcruiser utility, which was witnessed by a number of nearby campers who alerted authorities. Is that hoonage...
|
-
|
So you're taking the Holden Commodore SV6 out for a 93 MPH drive, you're firing your rifle out the window at passing kangaroos, and you've got five kilos of reefer in the trunk and a couple of pot plants in the back seat. Well, hell, at that point you might as well indulge yourself in a little bout of videotaped onanism, right? Sadly for Brendon Alan Erhardt, 39, the police disapproved of at least some of those activities, but at least they let Mr. Erhardt out on bail so he could marry his girlfriend. Thanks to 57Sweptside for the tip! [Northern Territory News]
|
-
|
Ely 'Lucky' Grills, a Brisbane-area koala, came face to face with the grille of a Lexus at 62 MPH, and, aside from getting his head stuck in the grille, was no worse for wear after being removed by rescue workers. A passing motorist noticed the koala dangling limp from the front of the car and flagged down the driver, who had been unaware of Lucky's misfortune. We've never been to the home of hoonage, so we don't really know what Australia's roadside fatality rate on koalas looks like. But we assume it's a lot like armadillos in Texas and raccoons in Michigan — rare in the city, but not uncommon out in the sticks. Gail Gipp, manager of the Sunshine Coast's Australian Wildlife Hospital, said of the little marsupial, "He just shook his head and started to come around. Being hit at that speed, it is amazing he survived. He just clung on. He has a lovely placid, relaxed nature and I think that definitely helped him." Ely was taken to the Wildlife...
|
-
|
The Australians are fighting the menace of VIN number tampering with new VIN stickers which cannot be removed or altered without being destroyed, making vehicle reconstruction and title washing significantly more challenging. Although we're not sure what's bigger news here, the fact that a cheap $2 AUS decal can markedly deter car thieves, or that the Aussies call VIN tampering "rebirthing." Join us for a collective shudder, and the full afterbirth details after the jump. Although we expect automakers to scream about the new sticker destroying profitability and requiring at least 10 years of development work to implement, we expect the program makes some serious sense. In fact, the numbers we've seen peg the potential savings at $240 million US dollars. Not bad for a cost per-vehicle of just $1.90. Apparently, some automakers have already recognized the writing on the wall. Hyundai is installing the new tamper-resistant stickers on its entire Australian fleet, and...
|
-
|
Remember when we drove a European-spec Honda Civic 2.2 i-CTDi on a 100-mile road trip? We did pretty well, averaging 72 MPG . While we were throughly impressed, it was nothing compared to earning two spots in the Guinness Book Of World Records. Helen and John Taylor, a British couple, earned their two spots of fame in the record book of record books while Down Under in their little Peugeot 308 HDi. The first record was for "longest distance on a single tank," set by traveling 1192 miles on just 60 liters of diesel fuel — just 15.8 gallons. The other record, "highest mileage for a journey," was set by completing 9,062 miles at an average of 90.75 MPG. So how did they do it? What magical modifications were made? Actually, the car was stock. Stock as in standard, from the factory, without any modifications besides the sponsors' stickers. That is, unless you count the extra weight of the couple's luggage as a modification. It's figures like this that make...
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("FerrariAusCrash_Jalop.flv", 494, 400,""); It's happened time and time again, and it will continue to happen until the end of days. A jumpy teenager has a crazy idea, perhaps induced by peer-pressure, to sneak the old man's car out for a late night joyride. As Jalops, we've likely all put ourselves in such a situation. In retrospect, we're able to look back at it as a right of passage into man hoon hood, but for this Aussie boy, it may be a while before he will fully appreciate the accomplishment of crashing his dad's Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale, though never being able to see daylight may accelerate that process. [via AOL ] Hat Tip to Andy and Matt!
|
-
|
There's an 18-year-old somewhere in Australia today who is in dire need of a new pair of undergarments. Police responded to the scene of an accident on the Fitzgerald Bridge in Raymond Terrace, Australia where a the man lost control of his Mitsubishi Magna and crashed through the guardrail. Instead of plummeting the 20 meters into the Williams River below, the car managed to get caught up on the railing, dangling precipitously from the side of the bridge. A quick thinking tow truck driver hooked the car to his truck and called for emergency assistance. It took emergency workers an hour and twenty minutes to remove the man from the precariously perched Mitsubishi Magna, and he was taken to the hospital for shoulder injuries — no doubt caused by crashing into a guard rail then hanging by his seatbelt for an hour and twenty minutes. We can only imagine what kind of chafing that can cause. [ Sydney Morning Herald ] Photo credit to Darren Pateman
|
-
|
The Ford GT is unquestionably a great car for hooning. But hey, what to do if you're an Aussie hoon wanting to get some GT goodness legalized for road use Down Under? Well, Ford never offered a right-hand-drive version for such markets, so you're going to have to have it converted over to RHD yourself. Which hadn't been done at all until now. Even though the GT came out a while ago as a 2005 model, this is the world's first RHD conversion . Surely you'd think some plucky British GT owner like Jeremy Clarkson would've demanded RHD, but since the UK is connected to continental Europe, it's not illegal to drive a LHD car on British roads. However, for most Aussies, unless you've find some legal loophole, you operate your vehicle on the right. Which again raises the question: Why hasn't there been a RHD conversion before? Well... galleryPost('RHDfordGT', 3, 'Right Hook Ford GT'); Price, plain and simple. If you want to buy this RHD Ford GT...
|
-
|
If you own a car down under worth more than $10,000 we suggest you just incase it in concrete. According to police, thieves made off with this blue Supergas class mustang race car, a 40ft white trailer, an F250 ute and some tools and spare parts. Basically, an entire racing team. This comes after not one, but two rare Falcons were stolen from garages in Australia in the last few months. What's surprising to us, other than people think they can steal clearly marked trailers and drag race cars and somehow get away with it, is that as of now they have gotten away with it! If you're in the Brisbane area and see a trailer, or anything really, with "Guthrie Racing" on it just call the police. [ The Age ]
|
-
|
Here's a fun statistic for you: one-in-ten serious burn cases treated in Australia are from men tinkering with their cars at home. It's such a serious issue that, according to the Herald Sun , one-in-six victims treated at the Victorian Adult Burns Service in 2006 were careless or unlucky gearheads. Said one young victim "One thing i don't think I will ever forget is the pain. You don't think you can be put through that much and still survive." Yeah, but he's got a totally rad Falcon to show for it. Actually, the kid in the story was pouring gas into a carburetor of a farm vehicle (maybe a Holden SS V-Series Ute ?) when the vehicle burst into flame, causing him third degree burns on one side of his body. We like his outlook though. "And the smell will stay with me too. It is never going to stop me playing around with cars, but obviously I will be respecting the petrol side of it a lot more." Well put. [ Herald Sun ]
|
-
|
It seems as though no one in Australia has a lock on their garage, as yet another rare Falcon has been stolen in the land down under. This time it was a 1970 Ford XY Falcon GT Sedan with special Bathurst Gold Mag Wheels valued at $250,000. This is following the recent theft of another rare Falcon worth $600,000. We wonder if someone isn't waiting for the apocalypse to begin and starting to horde all the rarest models so that they may be the Maddest Max of them all. Our advice to those of you who own rare Falcon models in the greater Australia area: buy a viper. Not an alarm system, not a car, but an actual viper to protect it. [ ABC.net.au ]
|
-
|
A rare red 1971 Phase III GT HO Ford Falcon Sedan registration number 71 HO valued at over $600,000 was stolen out of the J & M Caporale Auto Body Repairs shop in Osborne Park, Australia. But since the Falcon was in the back of the store, they had to move a couple of cars to get there. Here's what the report in the Perth Times had to say about how the caper was accomplished: "Once inside, the offenders moved a number of vehicles in order to gain access to the car. These vehicles were driven out through the front roller doors which face onto Collingwood Street, and parked down the side of the premises. These include a Rolls Royce Stretch Limousine, a late model Holden GTS Monaro valued at $100,000 and a Honda Odyssey." Talk about knowing what's worth what, eh? Can you imagine the conversation going on during the midnight raid? "Guys, ignore the Rolls -- we're going FFTW, Ford For The Win!" The bandits were last seen hooning it up in the Falcon somewhere north of Osborne Park. ( Hat tip to...
|
-
|
newVideoPlayer("BathhurstKangaroo_gawker.flv", 475, 376); Apparently that's not an unusual thing -- but it's certainly unusual to us to see a kangaroo take a flying leap into the midst of the Bathurst 1000 V8 supercar championship race this past weekend. Little Skippy went a-hoppin' and a-leapin' onto the racetrack and somehow managed to neither cause himself or any racecar any serious injury. By the way, didja see how fast those Ford V8's swerved out of the way -- we've never seen a Ford corner so fast in all our lives.
|
|
|
|