By NOEL MURPHY
PRETTY chuffed crew at Queenscliff’s Vue Grand Hotel where they’ve picked up two bonuses this week.
The first was a pretty fair moniker as recipient of Australia’s best beer list, courtesy of the folks at Gourmet Traveller mag.
The second, perhaps even better: a thank-you card for a “great stay” from no less than violin virtuoso Andre Rieu.
Nothing against good old Andre but this column knows which moniker we’d prefer.
Bottoms up!
FUNNY how similar it looks to the new Mustang headed this way, notes worker from Ford’s North Geelong plant.
Take a look for yourself.
On the left is the 2015 Ford Falcon XR8, on the right the 2015 Mustang.
A new painting of Geelong Mayor Darryn Lyons is, er, ruffling feathers around his municipality.
Artist Noreen Scott has depicted the usually mohawk-coiffured Lyons with a sulphur crest – and the rest of the cockie’s head as well.
Social media circulation of the confronting artwork this week set off a round of squawking.
“That’s an insult to cockatoos,” teased Jimmy Sanchez Jnr below the picture on the Indy’s Facebook page.
“He wished he looked that good,” added Jenny Broadbent, among others.
Tony Ansett, a colleague of the mayor on Geelong’s council, was more diplomatic.
“Great picture, well done,” he commented.
Just goes to show a picture really can be worth a thousand words.
Spearking of birds, a new grant for research into bird diseases that might cross over to humans has gone to Deakin Uni researchers and square in their sights is that controversial little ‘budgie’, the orange-bellied parrot.
Yep, almost half a million smackers to study psittacosis and beak and feather disease, which the endangered OBP is susceptible to – and which could make the flapper a threat to not just windfarms and petrochem plants but humans as well.
In fact, “lethal” is the word Deakin utilised as it spruiked the new research and the menace to humans.
With only 30 or 40 in the wild, it’s ironic the birds most at risk are the 300 “insurance population” at Healesville Sanctuary – from other birds there.
Go figure.
