World Watch Advisory :: Australia
 

World Watch Advisory
vacationtechnician.com
03/17/04 12:05 GMT

Message One:

Locust infestation expected to increase from March 17 in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia.

Locations affected by this alert: Australia

Massive swarms of locusts, converging on northeastern Queensland and southeastern New South Wales, Australia, are expected March 17 to increase and spread rapidly across the area. Extensive crop loss is predicted as the the locusts devour everything in their path and swarm densely enough to block out the sun across land recovering from a severe 18-month-long drought.

If a swarm is encountered, expect possible transportation delays due to diminished visibility or ground treatment and aerial spraying. Farmers are hoping for dry weather through early April to discourage hatching
conditions. Information regarding plague conditions is available on the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Web site: http://www.affa.gov.au/content/outpu...E06241F418B21A

Message Two:

03/17/04 11:50 GMT
Counter-terrorism units to stage an exercise in Australia March 22-27; disruptions possible.

Locations affected by this alert: Australia

Australian national and state counter-terrorism organizations will stage a five-day security exercise throughout South Australia, Victoria, the Northern Territory and Tasmania March 22-27. The extensive exercise, dubbed Mercury 04, will test new defensive equipment and infrastructive protection against chemical, radiological and biological attack.

While the authorities will attempt to minimize the disruption to normal life, travelers should expect a disruption in services when the exercise is held. Police and rescue units will be occupied and some roads may be closed for a period of several hours, causing congestion and traffic delays. If near the site of the exercise, do not panic and cooperate with police orders.


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Related Intelligence: The Australian police forces are trustworthy, well trained and responsive.
Related Intelligence: Dial 000 for all emergency services in Australia.

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Is someone trying to scare us so they can have Australia all to themselves?
AndrewDavid

Don't worry, AndrewDavid! The locusts will never get as far as Sydney; the cockroaches would eat the lot in five minutes!

Do you notice that the warning mentions that the plague is spreading TO north east Queensland and south-east NSW? That would have to mean that its ORIGIN is just west of Surfers Paradise! Hey, LizF! Are you cultivating nasties up there again?

For all the backpackers - no they aren't talking about those crops. Just unimportant things like food

I was starting to wonder who was responsible for this alarmist stuff - nary a sign of so much as a grasshopper here. Maybe I'm getting paranoid - anyone who's visited the USA board lately might have noticed that it's been plagued by a different sort of pest - a phantom poster who just hates San Francisco and tries to steer would-be visitors off to San Jose (who knows the way?). He (if it's a he) pops up under a string of constantly-changing names, and despite other posters' firm resolution to ignore him he always succeeds in generating huge, furious threads to which he contributes using different names while accusing his critics of masquerading under different names ... it's all quite exhausting. And nobody knows why he's got a bee in his bonnet about SFO.

Anyway, roobar, how do you know the hoppers don't eat that other crop? Are they still flying straight?

"I knew it", when I said " go forth and multiply and enjoy yourselves" I didn't mean that they should eat everything now did I? I said to them, " now that you are a free cockroach, just have a bit of fun before Alan finds out" so what did they do but get all their friends around and have a party!
You see there is not much going on in the news in the US of A and so we had to manufacture something, didn't we? I had an email from my friend in Atlanta saying that she was sick and tired of hearing about Australia - what with all those locusts eating themselves around the eastern states of Oz followed by ""Russell Crow's" film Passion - which, she assured me, she was not going to see because there was something about locusts in the bible and it must have been retribution to Australia for such a dreadful, and gory film!!!!! Well anyway I am sure that she knows what she is talking about but I'll just have to imagine that it must be way past her bedtime at this stage and furthermore senility gets to us all if we live long enough! - eh Alan?????

I don't know where this person is posting from but there was a news article on Wednesday about alocus plague that had hit Dubbo in NSW. Hardly a cause for hysteria or mass warnings to the public, the only people who were concerned about this were the farmers in the central west of NSW.

Serves you right, Liz, for cultivating two consummate locusts!You never know what those blighters will get up to! What did you feed them on: diet Coke?

For what it's worth, the same source posted a warning about floods on the Fodors Africa forum. :)

I like the line "they are recovering from an 18 month-long drought".

I bet many wish that were true!

I think it is a good idea to warn people of anti-terror excercises though. Could be scary watching a bunch of helicopters dropping army personnel in the middle of the city if you don't know what it is about.

The post though seems to be spam, trying to get people to visit their website. The warnings do seem to be "out there" maybe some are relevant but most are paranoid.

Alan, wouldn't it be "consummating 2 cultivated locusts"?

>>>>""Russell Crow's" film Passion - which, she assured me, she was not going to see because there was something about locusts in the bible and it must have been retribution to Australia for such a dreadful, and gory film!>>>>

Russell may have been a bad boy now and then, but getting blamed for bringing Egyptian plagues down on us is a bit much, especially as we all know that it's Mel Gibson who's responsible for the hoppers. And didn't "The Patriot" coincide with the start of Australia's long drought? Anyway, I'm sure we disowned Mel around that time. And for that matter, if Russell Crowe gets to be too much we can always fall back on the fact that he was born in New Zealand.

Alan, you aren't kidding about the roaches. I experienced that firsthand...they were EVERYWHERE in my friend's apartment. If you can't beat em, join em. After a few days, I was naming the roaches and inviting them over for tea.

Ooooo! Crazymina you have some strange friends if they have roaches in their homes. No one need every have them in their homes nor anywhere outside sewers, drains and rubbish tips.
You are absolutely right Neil, but said friend from Atlanta wouldn't know Russel Crow from Mel Gibson and I do think that it was the time we decided that the US could have him back anyway. I thought they could have had him back after Mad Max myself.

Liz
Cockroaches are a fact of life in Sydney, especially inner suburbs, regardless of cleanliness, pesticides, and whatever.... unfortunately!

Sydney cockies seem to thrive on any pesticide known to man. In my youth I rented an almost subterranean flat at the Cross - it looked OK when we saw it in the daytime but soon found out that at night you literally could not see the kitchen ceiling for them. Up here in North Qld the house geckos deal with them most efficiently. There's got to be some "plus" in having cane toads everywhere - they love to snack on cockies.

Goodness me, you poor things.
Doesn't the good old Bi carb do the trick or have you created the World's most resistant roach?

Come the nuclear "experiment", the cockies will survive!

Lost highest mountain and governor; found roaches and locusts.

All is in equilibrium in the island continent.

Andrew David

The things you learn on this board!

Sheesh....I'd stack our US roaches up against an Aussie one any day -- a tough NY roach can be saddled and ridden.

Not to mention Palmetto bugs in Florida and New Orleans. Years ago I stayed in New Orleans, and you know how you "fluff" your sheets and they sort of flutter down on your body? Well, when I did it I distinctly felt something...and a flicked the sheet back and distictly heard something hit the floor! Naturally I couldn't sleep after that, so I woke my husband who spent who knows how much time on his hands and knees with a mini-flashlight looking for the offending critter.

Sure enough....a huge cockroach. Faster than you can say "Wild Kingdom" we, (ok, it was just him, I was on the bed) we trapped it in our lovely plastic water cup. I got dressed, marched downstairs to the desk with my "prize" and presented it to the Desk Clerk who drawled "why m'am, you're just like mah ex-wife...aint nothing but a Palmetto bug which you can find at the Hilton too". Whereupon he took my cup out to the courtyard, tilted it and stomped on it, came back calmly and went back to his Playboy.

Regards,

Melodie3