HOW WE SEE IT! - Saturday Snapshot

With BRYAN LITTLELY & SHAUN HOLLIS

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Cartoon by SHAUN HOLLIS

Diving right in to controversy

We have poked our toe in the water, literally, this week to run a couple of reports from across the broad, and seemingly growing, spectrum of “experts” on our great, Great Barrier Reef.

While I did grab a perfect Marine Biology mark in my Year 12 year, the subject matter for this down south lad was more southern right whales than coral spawning.

I've dived on GBR - in a very tourism experience setting - but I am far from an expert. And I am happy to be told so.

This is why as a news editor, I do run the reports from those groups... even knowing they are likely to be controversial.

Call it "fishing" for engagement if you like but it is the best way to discover the best in the business and that wealth of local knowledge… and give all of them the opportunity to have their say.

Keep the comments coming… and if you do ever want an expert comment on a whale sighting, you know where to come.

Is bleaching report a white wash?

 

Retirement? What a Croc!

I’ve got a mate called Dinga who wrapped up his footy career at the ripe old age of 46 and was chaired off the ground to much fanfare in the last game of the season…. only to be chaired back onto the ground in round one of the next season.

I think he has retired now… that was in 2014.

By my calculations, the Crocs boys have lots of lifting onto the shoulders of the biggest blokes on the team of reigning Crathern Medallist and team legend Liam Brandt to do yet.

If he does actually ever stick to a retirement plan, Brandt might like to take up singing at the Paddy’s Sunday Karaoke sessions…. teammate Jared Petrenko reckons “Your The Voice” might be his song. 

Bring back Brandt… oh, wait!

 

About them crazy coconuts

So last week it seems I was a bit dismissive of the very real risk of someone being killed or seriously injured by a falling coconut. I am also no coconut expert.

A surfing mate of my cartoonist colleague suggests the standard line in surfing circles is that more people die each year from falling coconuts than shark attacks.

Google is our friend, we find, so a quick search showed that less than 10 people a year on average come to grief in the jaws of a shark, while up to 150 a year are killed by falling coconuts.

Milking every drop of coconut news

 

Holy Truck… don’t flip out!

Granted, it is quite spectacular to see a fully-laden cane carrier truck taking a little nap on its side on the side of the road. But the response to our sharing a photograph of the unfortunate incident south of Mossman earlier this week got a response I thought was a bit over the top.

While a couple of people jumped online with their first response being to express that they hoped all involved were ok, the go-to for many was to beat up on any and all truck drivers.

Speed may have been a factor. The driver may have been careless.

Someone MAY have pulled out in front of them and they just did an amazing job of avoiding disaster.

Our region relies on agriculture as well as tourism. And our tourism industry relies on road transport to keep goods and services ticking along.

Share the road. Keep each other safe and if there’s dangerous driving to be reported, absolutely let the authorities know so they can deal with it.

WRONG DIRECTION: Truck load of off comments

 

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