SHARK ATTACK !

Albany made the national news last night with the reporting of a shark attacking a swimmer at our beautiful Middleton Beach.

You hear about shark attacks from time around the country, never thinking it would happen in your backyard.......errr, beach.
Middleton Beach is a lovely beach nestled at the bottom of Mount Clarence, and being only a few kilometres from the centre of the city, is very popular.
On saturday morning a regular beach goer was having an early morning swim about 80 metres offshore when he had this 4 metre white pointer single him out for bite to eat.
The news reported that this 36 year old was left with a deep wound to his leg ( not sure which one), and could possibly have drowned had it not been for the heroic actions of a middle aged woman who swam out and rescued him, with no consideration for her own safety.
When interviewed on local TV she was quite non-sho- lont, ( can't be bothered with spell check) about the whole episode, but I reckon she'll be up for a bravery award for sure. She sure deserves one.

TIPPY aka THE BLESSED MONGREL

Here's a photo of my dog that graced our household for 14 years.
He arrived in our family in 1956 and died in 1970.
Tippy is the subject of a book.....well it's more of a manuscript at the moment, that I wrote back in 2002.
I called it the Blessed Mongrel, as he was called this by my father, who didn't exactly like dogs, or animals in general, for that matter.

In the "Book" I describe growing up with Tippy, and for the most part we were inseparable.
As time permits, I will include the odd chapter for anyone to read and appraise.

CRUISESHIP

In contrast to the sleek lines of the QE2, this cruise liner is much larger, with multiple decks that remind me of a live sheep carrier, but there the similarities stop.
No sheep to the slaughter here !

QE2 VISITING ALBANY

Albany was priveledged to entertain the QE2 and her passengers last month when the stately ocean liner docked for the day at the Albany wharf on what was her last voyage before being relgated to a floating hotel in Dubai. (sovereign wealth funds at it again?)
This was the first and last time Albany would play host to this magnificent example of yester-year sea travel, and the city didn't dissapoint.

Dusk

Fedor Konyukhov Albany Finish

Here,s a photo of Fedor's yatch just after it had crossed the finish line, completing a 14,000km 102day race around the South Pole.
This was the inaugural race, and the organisers are hoping that more entrants will line up next year.

Fedor has circumnavigated (big word!)the world single-handed in a yatch 4 times I think, as well he has climbed Mount Everest and traversed both poles.
Being Russian hasn't stopped him. What a bloke!

His weapon of choice for this race is around 25metres long, weighs 30 tonnes, and has a draught of 5 metres, with a mast 32metres tall. Some yatch!

I like these world clocks