Wednesday, 30 May 2007
Tuesday, 29 May 2007
Drop bears
A drop bear (or dropbear) is a fictional Australian marsupial said to be related to the koala.
Drop bears are commonly said to be unusually large, vicious, carnivorous koalas that inhabit treetops and attack their prey by dropping onto their heads from above. They are an example of local lore intended to frighten and confuse outsiders (usually American tourists), and amuse locals, similar to the jackalope, hoop snake, haggis or snipe hunting.
Some suggest that the drop bear myth is designed to discourage children from straying needlessly below eucalyptus trees, protecting them from the very real danger of getting hit by a falling branch. Arbitrary detachment of old branches is common with certain species of the eucalyptus, which are known as 'widow-makers' for this very reason. Similar theories are attached to the cone from the bunya tree.
The drop bear myth appears to have first appeared during the latter half of the 20th century, and may have its origins with Phascolarctos stirtoni, the carnivorous Phascolarctos involus or perhaps Thylacoleo carnifex, which belong to a group of extinct animals known as Australian megafauna. The prehistoric creatures were approximately twice the size of modern koalas. Thylacoleo is thought to have been an arboreal predator that may well have ambushed prey by dropping on it from overhead branches.
Stories of drop bears are often told to unsuspecting foreign visitors to illustrate Australian morbid humour. It is suggested that doing ridiculous things like having forks in the hair or Vegemite or toothpaste spread behind the ears will deter the creatures.
Kakepuku Catastrophe Day 1
Thursday, 24 May 2007
Day 2
"Follow me," said Sam. I snapped back to reality. We followed Sam to a place that had hard, thin wood. Perfect! While it seems easy, it's harder than it sounds. Sam told us the basic rules for making spears. "No. 01:You should find long, hard wood." "Check!" I answered in my mind. "No. 02: The wood should be thin enough to hold or throw. And No. 03: Make the tip sharp enough to stab yet blunt enough so it doesn't snap."
We pulled out our craft-knives. Luckily, Jimi didn't have one. The last thing we needed was for Jimi to be armed with spears. After hours, I had finally mastered the art of spear-making. I was so hungry that my stomach was hurting. We trudged down to the farmland and stabbed a sheep in the chest and after only a minute it fell down, dead.
Cows were going to be harder. A lot harder. Sam volunteered to demonstrate how to kill them. While Jimi carried the sheep back to the base, Sam walked slowly up to the cow and... stroked it. The cow relaxed and kept on eating grass. As it chewed Sam suddenly got the spear, stabbed it and ran. The cow, startled, let out a loud grunt and suddenly all the cattle spun around. STAMPEDE!!!!
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