Event: Dawn Service
Date: 25 April 2010
Time: 6:00am
Venue: Darwin Cenotaph, The Esplanade

For further details of Anzac Day Dawn Services and Commemorative Services throughout the Northern Territory, please contact the Darwin Sub- Branch of the RSL on (08) 8981 5437 or check the RSL website www.rsl.org.au.

April is  Autism Awareness month.

A Walk for Autism will be held on April 24th  and Autism NT would like you to join them for a walk around the Jingili Water Gardens. The Walk begins at 9am.  For those who need to register on the day, registration commences at 8am. Adults $10 Children $2

Start Time: Sat 24th April 2010 8:00 am

If you or someone you know is affected by Autism, now is the time to show your support.

I hadn’t heard of this unique hotel until recently, so I thought I would do some checking. It was designed by a Darwin architect and  is in the shape of a 250 metre crocodile. The  jaws are the entrance, which leads to a marble foyer representing a cool, green billabong. The crocodile’s body section houses 110 guest rooms overlooking a central courtyard with a recreation area of a billabong and swimming pool, designed to represent the crocodile’s belly.

Friends of mine stayed there recently and were suitably impressed with both the accomodation and the meals.

I noticed this interesting article in bigpond news regarding exporting cane toads to China.

A Queensland game meat producer hopes to be exporting cane toad body parts to China as soon as next month.

John Burrey says his Charleville-based United Game Processors will send a trial shipment of toad parts to China and hopes more shipments will follow soon after.

Toads are prized in China not only for their value as traditional medicine but also for their meat.

Read more here

Police say a 44-year-old man wheeled a shopping trolley containing three jerry cans of petrol and fireworks through the front door of the TIO (Territory Insurance Office) building  in Cavenagh Street about 11am, injuring 15 people.

The injured people have been treated at the Royal Darwin Hospital. Five people are in the high dependency unit.

It is believed to be a dissatisified insurance claimant that caused the blast which injured 15 and frightened countless innocent people.

Not the sort of crime one would expect in little ole Darwin is it?

People in the Darwin, Palmerston and rural areas experienced power outages since around 6am today (January 30 2010).

Power and Water report that two direct lightning strikes took out the high voltage transmission lines that deliver power from Channel Island Power Station to the Darwin region. Some areas have now been restored and they continue working on the remainder.

Sources at the shopping centre indicated that it was affected as far away as Alice Springs.

A film crew from German channel RTL has flown in to Darwin to report on the annual Beer Can Regatta today.

Reporter Niels Buengen from Cologne said the event was not to miss.

“It’s going to be a typical, stereotype Australian story – crazy, funny and celebrating,” he said.

“That’s always interesting. And a lot of people will think let’s go and do holidays there.”

The 36th regatta is one of the few remaining Territory icons from the “Darwin that was” era.

The family day was founded a year before Cyclone Tracy hit the Top End.

President of the Darwin Lions Beer Can Regatta Des Gellert said he expected to attracted up to 12,000 people and 20 boats today.

“It will be a day of fun in the sun, being as uniquely Territorian as we are,” he said.

Mr Buengen said the regatta might surprise some of the European audience.

“I think this event may prove that Darwinites drink more beer than Germans,” he said.

RTL is one of the main TV channels, attracting about four million viewers from all German-speaking countries in Europe.

Continued here

John Williamson performed his new song about Australia (“Island of Oceans”) at the Country Muster in Darwin.

Watch the video here

During the June/July 2009 school holidays, the Desert Park (Larapinta Drive Alice Springs) will have school holiday activities every Tuesday to Friday until the end of the break.

Alice Springs Desert Park Guide Manager, Regena Medhurst, said visitors of all ages could explore the mystery and adventure of the desert at night with expert guides on the Nocturnal Tours, being held from 7pm each week night.
Visit the website for more information on what the Alice Springs Desert Park offers. For further details of the school holiday program, call the Alice Springs Desert Park on 8951 8788.

NT swine flu suspect dies after mercy dash

LARINE STATHAM

June 20th, 2009

AN Aboriginal man from WA being treated in Alice Springs Hospital has become the first person with swine flu to die in Australia.

The 26-year-old man died last night after being diagnosed with the virus on Thursday. Health authorities could not yet confirm whether the man died because of swine flu, as he had been suffering from a number of other serious health conditions.

The man had been transferred from Alice Springs Hospital to the Royal Adelaide Hospital intensive care unit on Monday. SA Health Minister John Hill said the RAH would continue to investigate the cause of death.

“What we do know is that this man was seriously ill from a number of conditions and the reason he was sent to Royal Adelaide because of those conditions,” he said.

“How the swine flu interacted with those conditions and what’s the ultimate cause of death is something we can’t really speculate about.”

SA Health’s chief medical officer Paddy Phillips said he did not, as of yet, have all the details surrounding the Aboriginal man’s death.

“Although the patient was diagnosed as positive for swine flu yesterday, his other medical conditions had dramatically deteriorated by the time he got to Adelaide,” Professor Phillips said.

Continued here