Hi everyone, it’s that time for the DOWNunder UPdate Newsletter from Bellaonline. I’ve been away for the past three weeks, travelling 2,000km in a round trip from Brisbane in Queensland to Mt Kosciusko (Australia’s tallest Mountain); where we trekked to the summit, then onto the eastern seaboard where we meandered north, back to Brisbane.

With the wonders of technology, I have been able to continue with my writing and newsletters for the Australia site, and I’ve got lots to pass onto you following our recent travels. To that end, I will be writing a number of articles that cover my experiences, together with photos and links to interesting stuff that we discovered along the way. I’ll keep you posted about those articles through this weekly newsletter.

Last Sunday I posted my first fun Aussie cultural piece – on the wonderful poem titled “The Dying Stockman”. We learnt this poem in primary school and it has remained one of my favourites. Here’s the link to that article: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art15337.asp

The forum has been very chatty in my absence and please don’t think I haven’t been interested. I was unable to access the forum whilst I was travelling. I’ll be endeavouring to add my say asap. Here’s the forum: http://forums.bellaonline.com/ubbthreads.php/forums/315/1/Australia

As usual, here are the links to the three major newspapers in Australia for the latest news and information:

THE NEWS FOR WEEK 21st to 28th MARCH
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/ The Australian
http://afr.com/ The Financial Review
http://www.smh.com.au Sydney Morning Herald

I’ve been surfing and came across these interesting snippets for your enjoyment. Have fun!

http://news.discovery.com/earth/poisonous-plant-prepared-aussie-lizards-for-toad-terror-120227.html interesting information about our Blue Tongued Lizard

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-weird-bird-cassowary-image96860 yes, that is an Australian Bird – and the eye is the orange thing, not the black thing – that’s its ear!

http://www.australianfauna.com/kookaburra.php We have these majestic birds all around our home, and they even sit on the balcony waiting for some fresh meat.

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?hl=en&rlz=1T4SUNC_enAU363AU363&biw=1148&bih=589&tbm=isch&tbnid=gCuoF1RvdyIKcM:&imgrefurl=http://www.ratestogo.com/blog/weird-and-wacky-signs-around-the-world-part-iii/&docid=qA8zZbuI5wTG5M&imgurl=http://www.ratestogo.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/sign29.jpg&w=500&h=356&ei=JqtzT_CpN-aYiAePyenjDw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=91&vpy=286&dur=2716&hovh=189&hovw=266&tx=115&ty=90&sig=108386587386453816284&page=3&tbnh=127&tbnw=172&start=43&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:43 only in Australia!!

Well, that’s all from me, I do hope this newsletter finds you well and keeping busy.
Cheerio till next week

Judie Bellingham, Australia Editor
http://Australia.bellaonline.com

One of hundreds of sites at BellaOnline.com