The Australia Letter is a weekly e-newsletter from our Australia bureau. Sign up to get it by e-mail.This week’s difficulty is written by Natasha Frost, a reporter in Melbourne.
At The New York Times, we name it “counterprogramming”: tales which will present a breath of contemporary air for readers exhausted by tales of hardship, peril and acrimony.
These tales come from Australia and New Zealand a little bit extra usually than you would possibly count on. The international locations, like wherever else, have their very own challenges, and we cowl these too. But one of many nice pleasures of masking this area, as my departing colleague Yan Zhuang wrote final week, is the capability to put in writing about pleasure, magnificence and marvel.
Here are tales from the bureau that you simply might need missed from the final 12 months.
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In March, tens of 1000’s of vacationers descended on the tiny Western Australian city of Exmouth for a uncommon complete photo voltaic eclipse, one among only a few locations the place the spectacle was seen from land.
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Caroline Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador to Australia, celebrated and commemorated the lifetime of John Joseph, a Black American gold miner who was buried in 1858 and who helped forge Australian democracy.
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In central Australia, a customer discovered how Indigenous custodians and conservationists are working to guard an historic land and its animal denizens.
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For the primary time in dwelling reminiscence, kiwi — New Zealand’s nationwide hen — hatched eggs within the wild within the space round Wellington, due to a multiyear conservation effort.
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Melbourne, residence to 1000’s and 1000’s of city bats, put in custom-designed showers to assist these foxy-faced creatures settle down on dangerously scorching days.
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Early within the 12 months, a Japanese vacationer who goes by Uni set off on an inconceivable journey, touring greater than 2,000 miles throughout Australia on a toddler’s scooter. “I thought it would be a good challenge,” he informed us. (He made it to his vacation spot by June.)
The Australia Letter is taking its annual summer time break. We’ll be again in January. In the meantime, benefit from the holidays — and don’t hesitate to ship us your individual examples of antipodean marvel.
Here are the week’s tales.
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