Tag Archives: oceania

headline

Cow rescued after getting stuck in backyard pool

Emergency services in rural NSW received an unusual call over the Easter weekend after a cow became stuck in a backyard pool.

SES volunteers were called to a property in Gilgandra, a country town in the Orana region of NSW, around 6.30pm on Saturday after the 300kg cow found itself stuck in a residential pool.

"We suspect something startled her and she ran through a panel straight into the water," Geoff Kiehne, SES Commander for the Gilgandra Unit, told nine.com.au.

READ MORE: Gold Coast beaches closed as seven-metre waves lash coast

"When we arrived the cow was quite happy and very content in the pool and she was just in the shallow end of the pool."

Mr Kiehne, along with two large animal rescue specialists from the SES, devised a plan to coax the cow out of the water.

"We worked out a plan of attack," he said.

"Because the cow was quite relaxed and appeared very good-natured, we thought we could coax her to walk up the steps of the pool.

"We didn't want to distress her because it's much easier working with a cow that's cooperative than one that's not being cooperative."

READ MORE: The grandmother who can't stop doing burnouts

After three failed attempts, emergency services were eventually able to help the cow out the water.

"We were very happy with how the rescue went and we're lucky we didn't have to use a crane," Mr Kiehne said.

"It was a very unusual event, I've never had a cow in a pool before."

headline

Family sues after California man dies in taco eating contest

The son of a California man who choked to death during an amateur taco eating contest at a minor league baseball game is suing the event’s organisers for negligence.

Eighteen-year-old Marshall Hutchings’ lawsuit filed Monday alleges his father, Dana Hutchings, was not made aware of the risks and danger involved in an eating competition, the Fresno Bee reported.

The 41-year-old died after choking on tacos while competing in the contest during a Fresno Grizzlies game on August 13, 2019.

Participants competed to devour as many tacos as possible during a certain amount of time.

READ MORE: Trans-Tasman travel receives green light

Fans arrive at Chukchansi Park in Fresno, Calif., Sept. 18, 2015, for a minor-league baseball game between the Fresno Grizzlies and the Round Rock Express.

The suit names Fresno Sports and Events, the owner of the Grizzlies.

“We won't be making any public comments," Grizzlies President Derek Frank said in an email.

Professionals in the sport of competitive eating train and make themselves physically ready to participate, Hutchings’ attorney Martin Taleisnik said.

“But that is not always present in an amateur eating contest,” Taleisnik said.

“The conductors of this event should have made the risks known to the competitors and taken steps to protect them.”

headline

Travel bubble ends dry spell which has cost billions

The much-hyped Australia-New Zealand travel bubble could pull the lever on a multi-billion-dollar jackpot for both countries.

Tourism operators and airlines Qantas, Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand, whose bottom lines have all been smashed by the coronavirus, will be the big winners.

The bubble, which NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern finally rubberstamped to open in two weeks, at 11.59pm on April 18, has been mooted for almost a year.

READ MORE: Trans-Tasman bubble to open in two weeks

Tourists snorkel over Flynn Reef off the coast of Cairns

READ MORE: What's gone wrong with Australia's vaccination rollout?

Penned in since March last year, thousands of Kiwis and Australians are expected to jump on planes to enjoy international travel without the need for 14 days of quarantine on either side of the ditch.

More than 1.4 million Kiwis visited Australia in 2019, spending $2.6 billion, according to government figures.

Only China, with 1.43 million tourists, sent more visitors to Australia.

That pipeline of cash from Kiwi travellers has been switched off for 13 months.

New Zealand is also set for a major cash injection.

More than half a million Australians cross the Tasman each year to visit family and friends.

And Australian business travellers make 200,000 trips to New Zealand annually.

With no inbound travellers, coronavirus has obliterated tourism operators on both sides of the Tasman.

Jobs have vanished and thousands have been furloughed.

Last month Qantas reported a $6.9 billion drop in revenue for the second half of 2020 because of the virus.

Grounded Qantas and Virgin Australia aircraft are seen parked at Avalon Airport in Melbourne. Government-mandated travel restrictions grounded a significant proportion of Australia's airline fleet because of coronavirus last year.Qantas planes parked on the tarmac at Sydney Airport, in Australia. Restrictions have been placed on all non-essential business and strict social distancing rules are in place across Australia in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

READ MORE: Gold Coast beaches closed as seven-metre waves lash coast

Hong Kong-based Alton Aviation Consultancy director Bradley Dailey has forecast Qantas could hoover up as much as $8.5 million every month, if they use Airbus A330-300 aircraft on the trans-Tasman route once the travel bubble opens.

"We estimate that the monthly revenues from a daily widebody travel bubble return trip between Sydney and Auckland would gross Qantas on the order of $4.5 million to $8.5 million in passenger revenues," he told nine.com.au.

To put this in context, he said, that financial boost is equivalent to 2 – 4 per cent of the average monthly passenger revenues earned by Qantas group from June through December last year.

Mr Dailey said if Air New Zealand flew Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners on the Sydney-Auckland route the Kiwi national carrier could gross between $5.2 million and $9.1 million each month.

A person flings them self over the edge of an AJ Hackett Bungy jump over Queenstown, in New Zealand's South Island.

READ MORE: Airports want kickstart of international travel 'within months'

"Considering that in 2019 Air New Zealand, Qantas, Virgin Australia, and Jetstar combined to average more than 3500 flights per month between Australia and New Zealand, the creation of a trans-Tasman travel bubble would be a welcome development for airlines from both countries," he said.

The loss of international tourism cost the Australian economy $34.3 billion in 2020, according to Austrade statistics.

Most losses, around $22.3 billion, came in the last six months of 2020.

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