BLACKBOARD JUNGLE
ROSEMARY Gressier had a few challenges when teaching biology in Namibia. The students, aged from 16 to their mid-40s, would go out and get drunk and "behave just like boys". That was 1996, a few years after Namibia gained independence and many of Gressier’ s students had been rebels, more used to warfare than school rules. Despite the unruliness, Gressier found many of them a delight to teach and she extended her initial 20-month volunteer placement by another year. Gressier first thought about volunteering in 1994 while on a walking tour in Nepal, her first experience
of a developing country.
MOTORING WOMEN
IF you’re a female car owner you’ve probably had some intimidating encounters with motor mechanics. Whether you’ve taken the car in for repairs or a routine service, you may have been too scared to ask questions or if you have, were bamboozled by the answers. And I’m guessing you couldn’t wait to get out of the garage and away from the testosterone-laden atmosphere. But you parted with big dollars and you wished you knew why. Tracey Coppell knows that feeling and for the past five years has been helping women understand what goes on under a car bonnet and what to do when something goes wrong. Click here to read the full story
SHARK NET SEASON
SPRING marks the beginning of the beach-netting season. Bondi is one of 49 beaches along the coast from Newcastle to Wollongong that will be protected by shark nets for the next eight months. While the nets have their detractors, particularly after a whale was entangled in one off a Gold Coast beach this year, the experts insist they do work. NSW Fisheries, which runs the shark net program, says around 100 sharks are trapped along the coast each year during the months from September to April. Fisheries biologist Dennis Reid says while most are harmless, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
THE FULL MONTI
MOST Australians experienced Cyclone Larry solely through the inconvenience of sky-high banana prices. But on March 19, 2006, the residents of Queensland’s Johnstone Shire and the town of Innisfail copped Larry’s full force, the worst cyclone to hit the Australian coast in 30 years.
A twist of fate saw the maelstrom hit as the region’s Feast of the Senses was drawing to a close. The annual event celebrates the lush bounty of the area – the papaya, passionfruit, lychee, rambutan and mangosteen that grow on the hobby farms of the district and, of course, the bananas. Sam Monti, group leader of the Mena Creek Emergency Service (SES) unit, was helping out at the celebrations.
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