If nothing else it makes for a good example of why one should be wary of laws aimed at hate speech. You can't rely on any ambiguity within them being interpreted with common sense, particularly if you've annoyed someone in a position of power.

My wild ass guess would be that it's a gauge for measuring water levels, with the upper opening part being a scale to read a marker that moves up and down the pole.

Does it line up with anything on this map of Brisbane water/sewer infrastructure? That map seems likely to give you at least an idea of what system it's associated with, and might even give more of a clue about the purpose of this specific point.

I like the callout to On the Beach, fits well with a post apocalyptic Australian game (it's a good book, albeit not one you want to read if you're already feeling down).

I’ve recebtly been looking for good sources for Aussie music, its harder than i expected

One of my local radio stations plugs AMRAP in regards to their Australian artist segments. It's a site really intended for use by radio presenters and artists wanting to get some radio play time but it appears anyone can search for music (including by state/region) and listen to a 30 sec sample. Seems like something that could be useful as a way to at least find names to look further into.

It's not a fee for the beaches per se but the fee for entering the national park which covers the territory (though it is in effect paying to see beaches as that's the main reason to visit).

There’s also basically no reason to ever go there unless you’re in or supporting the military bases located there.

It does have some rather pretty beaches, best to plan on checking out all that's there to make it feel worthwhile though as they sting you $20 to see them.

When they tried Roombas for the yearly vacuuming of these rocks they all fell off the edge and caused a lot of hard work retrieving them, after that they changed the name of the place and went back to vacuuming it with teams of people.

Yep, and you can see a bit of Civic to the right of it behind Mt Taylor.

I should get around to getting up Bimberi this winter, I've been meaning to for years but have never actually done it.

Gingera in the snow is definitely worth a walk - I've been up there a few times and it's very scenic. Next weekend is looking good for such a trip if you're considering it with a decent amount of snow predicted early in the week then fining up for the weekend. Note that you do need to have some degree of fitness though as Stockyard Spur is very steep coming up from Corin Dam and the snow makes things harder once you hit the snow line (snow shoes help if you have or can borrow a pair).

Good to see some progress there, it's not going to make a huge difference at this stage but if it helps progress a more ethical meat option it will be useful in the long run.

There's certainly a lot around, it's a real sign of a big population when you start seeing groups of them hopping around in daylight (like they often are around ADFA/Russell). Sometimes I wonder how much of the burrows have ended up under the roads around there - might make for interesting subsidence issues in the future.

The shooting crews are effective, it made a very noticeable difference on City Hill when they went through there a while back (went from eaten down to roots and bark being chewed to the grass growing back). If the local population is developing resistance to the current calicivirus though the government is going to end up hard pressed trying to shoot enough rabbits to keep up with their population growth (unless we end up in drought anyway).

I'm going to say somewhere near this location looking towards the Gold Coast. Haven't spent time in that region so can't confirm but I'm liking my odds based on the skyline, terrain and view angle.

It does seem odd. The only way I'm seeing to make money off something like part of old mate's driveway would be to get it cheap and sell it to the surrounding owner for a bit of a profit, but when you're bidding against said person and win then you have literally spent more for it then they're willing to pay...

The land being a separate title probably comes down to historical oddities - possibly it was part of an old road reserve that got sold off or something like that.

Can't say I've ever really thought about it, though looking at pictures it does look familiar. Not sure how one differentiates it from native tussock grasses though.

I have stronger feelings about things like blackberries, fireweed, lantana, and crofton weed as these are ones I've had to put work into removing before (and blackberry is a pain for encroaching on single track networks or blocking off path walking). Running bamboo too to an extent, but while painful to get rid of that's one that I think can be a nice sort of plant when in an appropriate location.

If you start believing that racism is the cause of all your woes you'll see it everywhere, particularly if - for example - you're still salty about losing a vote to be deputy leader.

It is amusingly ironic though because the Greens both appear the least likely party to actually be racist and the most likely party to have enabled such a mindset during her time with them.

It's from a relatively unusual combination - a 60s era Hasselblad 500c and 150mm lens paired with an older (well much younger than the rest of the system, but still old for digital era) Leaf Aptus digital back I recently picked up. Not something particularly practical for most uses (the body being all manual and the back only good for very low ISO ratings) but old cameras are a bit of an interest of mine.

It's a trig point, one of many around the country which were originally used for surveying purposes. They're basically a vestigal structure now as things like GPS have made them redundant for modern use. This design is pretty common but you do find a few variations on the theme - basically all I've seen have the top circles on a post but the support structure varies.

If you check out prominent hills in your area there's a good chance that you'll find some trig points, they were very widespread and large numbers are still around albeit often in a state of disrepair or with vegetation blocking them from view

I’m forever mixing up Ginini and Gingera personally

You're not the only one - for years the wikipedia page for Mt Ginini had the top of Mt Gingera as the primary picture...

Mt Franklin is indeed a good destination for a snow hunt, it's the usual winter locked gate and if it's closed below that (like today) it's usually because there's ok snow further down the hills. The walk up to the trig point gives a bit more height and a view too. Pity the old chalet burnt down as that sounds like a place that would have been interesting to check out.

D'oh, it is indeed Coree. Ginini was where I would have liked to get to but they don't tend to leave the gate open to there in winter.

Time to bring back the 'Feel the Power of Canberra' licence plate slogan!

It's a real reminder to consider edge cases when designing systems though - if you're using frequencies reserved for radar there should really have been a fallback option for when someone actually shows up and uses their radar...