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Mother arrested after two boys found dead in Blue Mountains home

<p>A mother has been arrested after the tragic discovery of her two sons, aged nine and 11, dead at their home in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales. The boys, Russell and Ben, were found by their father at the family's home in Faulconbridge shortly before 12:40pm.</p> <p>Their mother, Trish Smith, 42, was also found at the scene with several self-inflicted injuries. She has been taken to Westmead Hospital and is in a stable condition. No charges have been laid so far.</p> <p>Superintendent John Nelson of the Blue Mountains police confirmed that Mr Smith, the father, discovered the bodies and contacted authorities. "The father is helping us with inquiries, and he was the one who contacted police... all avenues are open for investigation," Nelson stated. While the police have not confirmed whether a weapon was involved, they are working to understand the sequence of events leading to the boys' deaths.</p> <p>The family, who had no prior history of domestic violence and minimal contact with the police, has left the community in shock. Superintendent Nelson said that the investigation is still in its early stages, and no speculation will be made at this time.</p> <p>The boys had attended school on Monday with no apparent issues, and authorities are now trying to trace their movements on Tuesday to piece together what might have happened.</p> <p>The nearby Springwood High School was involved in the emergency response as its oval was used as a helipad for medical evacuations. Homicide detectives from the State Crime Command have been assigned to the case, and police are continuing to speak with neighbours to uncover any possible motives.</p> <p>Blue Mountains Mayor Mark Greenhill expressed the community’s grief in a statement: "Our community has lost two precious souls in the most awful circumstances. Now is a time to come together and remember these two beautiful children."</p> <p>NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb acknowledged the profound emotional toll the incident has had on law enforcement officers. "I think the older and more experience you get in this job, things like this still cut to the core. It’s a tragic situation," she said.</p> <p>Authorities have confirmed that no one else is being sought in connection with the deaths, and there is no ongoing threat to the community.</p> <p>The investigation continues as police work to understand the full circumstances surrounding this heartbreaking incident.</p> <p><em><strong>Need to talk to someone? Don't go it alone. </strong></em></p> <p><em><strong>Call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit lifeline.org.au</strong></em></p> <p><em><strong>Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636</strong></em></p> <p><em><strong>SANE: 1800 187 263; saneforums.org</strong></em></p> <p><em>Image: Supplied</em></p>

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“I didn’t want to come out!”: Spanish mountaineer emerges after 500 days underground

<p>When Spanish mountaineer Beatriz Flamini descended into her cave - and home for the next 500 days - the world was an entirely different place. </p> <p>COVID-19 restrictions were still enforced, Queen Elizabeth II was still alive and on the throne, war hadn’t been declared in Ukraine, and Flamini herself was only 48. </p> <p>She entered the cave on November 20 2021, and while she was forced to surface for eight days while repairs were made to a router - one used for transmitting audio and video - she spent that brief period isolated in a tent. </p> <p>And then, a year and a half later, a 50-year-old Flamini emerged from 230 feet underground outside of Granada, Spain. And while most would be eager for some sunshine and some company after such a stint, Flamini had an entirely different take, informing everyone that she had actually been sound asleep when her team came to collect her. </p> <p>“I thought something had happened,” she said. “I said, ‘already? Surely not.’ I hadn’t finished my book.”</p> <p>And when it came to whether or not she’d struggled while down there, Flamini was quite to declare “never. In fact, I didn’t want to come out!”</p> <p>To keep herself occupied during the marathon stay, Flamini tried her hand at a whole host of popular pastimes, from knitting to exercising, painting, knitting, and reading. The effort paid off, the days flying by as the determined mountaineer successfully lost track of time.</p> <p>“On day 65, I stopped counting and lost perception of time,” she explained. “I didn’t talk to myself out loud, but I had internal conversations and got on very well with myself.</p> <p>“You have to remain conscious of your feelings. If you’re afraid, that’s something natural, but never let panic in, or you get paralysed.”</p> <p>Flamini was given a panic button in case of emergency, but she never felt the need to use it. And while her support team were on hand to give her clean clothing, provide essential food, and remove any waste that had accumulated, they were not to talk to her.</p> <p>“If it’s no communication it’s no communication, regardless of the circumstances,” Flamini said of that particular decision. “The people who know me knew and respected that.”</p> <p>As for what comes next, Flamini will now be studied by a team of experts - psychologists, researchers, and the like - to determine what impact the isolation of her extended time below might have had on her. </p> <p><em>Images: Getty, Sky News</em></p>

Travel Trouble

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Murdered schoolgirl’s mum charged with home invasion

<p dir="ltr">The mother of murdered school girl Charlise Mutten has been charged for allegedly breaking into a home in the Blue Mountains. </p> <p dir="ltr">Police will allege Kallista Mutten, 39, accompanied her fiancé Justin Stein with breaking into a home in the Blue Mountains and taking firearms. </p> <p dir="ltr">Stein, 31, is accused of murdering Kallista’s daughter Charlise and is in custody where he maintains his innocence. </p> <p dir="ltr">The nine-year-old schoolgirl was staying with Stein over the summer holidays and was reported missing on January 14. </p> <p dir="ltr">Four days later, her body was found stuffed inside a barrel near the Colo River with a gunshot wound.</p> <p dir="ltr">There is no suggestion that her mother had anything to do with the murder.</p> <p dir="ltr">However, as investigations ensued, police found two firearms and ammunition near where Charlise was brutally murdered. </p> <p dir="ltr">Police are yet to confirm whether or not the firearms were used in Charlise’s murder.</p> <p dir="ltr">Police will further allege that Stein broke into a home in the Blue Mountains and stole the firearms in August last year. </p> <p dir="ltr">In May, police charged Stein with acquiring the two weapons during a home invasion in Mount Wilson.</p> <p dir="ltr">On July 26, police charged Kallista with allegedly accompanying Stein, with the break and entering of the property. </p> <p dir="ltr">“A woman’s been charged over her alleged role in a home invasion that was uncovered as part of ongoing investigations into the alleged murder of a girl in the Blue Mountains earlier this year,” NSW police said in a statement.</p> <p dir="ltr">“A 39-year-old woman attended Campbelltown Police Station on Tuesday where she was charged with aggravated break and enter in company.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: NSW Police/ABC</em></p>

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The world’s most colourful mountains

<p>Imagine taking a photo of a destination that’s so colourful that you don’t need to apply any filters. Or so bright that your camera settings only need to be changed to make sure the entire scenery is captured through your lens. Among many of Earth’s colourful landscapes, there are mountains and rock formations whose hues go beyond monotone shades.</p> <div> </div> <h2>Rainbow Mountain, Peru</h2> <p>Also known as Vinicunca or Montaña de Siete Coloures (the Mountain of Seven Colours), this colourful mountain near Cusco became well-known throughout the world in recent years. It attracts 1,500 visitors daily during Peru’s high tourism season. The mountain’s rainbow look is revealed as the surrounding snow begins to melt, unveiling its true colours. In part from environmental conditions, over time marine, lake, and river sediments formed layer deposits resulting in turquoise, gold, red and fuchsia colours. Visits to Rainbow Mountain often involve full-day excursions through tour operators, where it’s best to be physically able to handle high altitudes. Consider the less-travelled yet equally colourful Cordillera de Coloures Palcoyo, also within the Cusco region.</p> <h2>Landmannalaugar Mountain, Iceland</h2> <p>Iceland is known for its diverse topography and this mountain in the Fjallabak Nature Reserve based within the country’s Southern Highlands fits in quite brightly. Its hues come from rhyolite, a type of rock producing quite the range of shades, from red, pink, and green to blue and golden yellow. Collectively, Landmannalaugar Mountain is a colourful mountain that makes for a picture-perfect backdrop to be captured with your smartphone lens. Aesthetics aside, Landmannalaugar is touted as a great hiking destination, where trekkers can venture along its three major trails: Mount Brennisteinsalda, Mount Bláhnjúkur, and Ljótipollur, the latter a crater lake. Speaking of water, after a long stretch, weary bodies can relax within the warm streams heated by geothermal energy, which could be why Landmannalaugar is also known by the moniker, “Pools of the People.”</p> <h2>The Pitons, St Lucia</h2> <p>Near the town of Soufriere, on St Lucia’s southwestern coast, this pair of mountainous volcanic cones are truly green and they’re also blessed in being covered with a lush forest that is home to a number of rare plant species. Collectively they are recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, each of these two spires has its own name and, well, “personality.” Gros Piton is the taller of the two while Petit Piton is shorter but also said to be steeper. These two spires can offer hearty challenges to those who wish to go up to them – a guide is a must – but also reward visitors for their efforts in reaching their summits with mesmerising views. From the top of Gros Piton, you can see Petit Piton and Soufriere; Petit Piton will have you overlooking the Piton Bay.</p> <h2>Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, USA</h2> <p>Designated in 2000, this 280,000-acre national monument in Northern Arizona and near the Utah state line makes you feel like you’ve stepped onto another planet. Towering cliffs, slot canyons, and churned coloured sedimentary formations are found across this site’s many regions. But wait a minute: There are certain areas that require obtaining specific permits in advance to explore them, so do your homework first. Coyote Buttes are split into Coyote Buttes North, which has The Wave, a swirling sandstone formation, the Melody Arch, and the Grotto, while Coyote Buttes South is also visually striking with Paria Canyon and its petroglyphs.</p> <h2>Zhangye National Geopark, China</h2> <p>In northwestern China’s province of Gansu, within the foothills of the Qilian Mountains, this UNESCO national park is considered to be one of China’s most beautiful natural wonders. At first glance, it looks like a rainbow was carefully applied to a palette. And there’s a science to it. The striped colours within the 320-kilometre colourful rainbow mountain have been around for quite some time, in that they are comprised of deposits of cretaceous sandstones and siltstones that developed before the Himalayan Mountains were formed. These sand and silt deposits also held iron and trace minerals which created these vivacious colour formations. Then, as Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates collided into each other millions of years ago, mountains were lifted up and underneath sedimentary rock got exposed, thus leading to this colour scheme that’s still bright.</p> <h2>Montagne Sainte Victoire, France</h2> <p>What makes this limestone mountain ridge in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur so magnifique is that it has served as a muse for the French artist Paul Cézanne. This Post-Impressionist painter was inspired by this distinct landscape so much that Montagne Sainte Victoire became the constant subject of his paintings. Apparently, Cézanne never grew tired of capturing its appearance on this canvas, as he lived below the mountain and create a series of paintings on Montagne Sainte Victoire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.These days, Montagne Sainte Victoire can be taken in through mountain biking and rock climbing; it’s also the location for religious heritage sites such as the Saint-Ser Hermitage, a tiny chapel built inside a cave.</p> <h2>Serranias del Hornocal, Argentina</h2> <p>Translated as the Hill of 14 Colours, this jagged-looking yet multicoloured geological formation in the northwestern Argentinian province of Jujuy has gotten visitors’ attention in recent years. According to Jujuy’s tourism board’s website, you reach this colourful mountain by driving with care from the town of Humahuaca. Your ride will go along the winding and gravel-covered Provincial Route 73, traveling roughly 24 kilometres to reach this Hill of 14 Colours. At this location, visitors can view the panoramic scenery and park their vehicles at an observation point that’s 4,350 meters high.</p> <h2>Remarkable Rocks, Flinders Chase National Park, Australia</h2> <p>How could we not include this amazing rock formation found in this park on Australia’s Kangaroo Island? These aptly-named granite boulders are said to have been shaped by 500 million years of environmental impact from the natural elements. The end result is quite an abstract vision. Some of these rocks are covered with golden orange lichen, which is a fungus and algae organism that reflects the sunlight. Other spotted colours include black mica, bluish quartz, and pinkish feldspar. Interpretive signs tell the story behind these rocks plus there’s a viewing platform for those with accessibility needs.</p> <h2>Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia</h2> <p>A World UNESCO Heritage site, this national park in northern Ethiopia is a biosphere onto its own with an abundance of flora and fauna. Canyon gorges, soft turfs, deep valleys and vegetation such as a type of flowering tree known as Erica arborea are all nestled here. Wildlife can be found within the park as well. Walia ibex, an endangered species of goat that’s native to this region of Ethiopia, is a resident. Other coinciding rare animals include the Ethiopian wolf (also known as a Simien fox) and Gelada baboon and several birds of prey.</p> <h2>Seven Coloured Earths, Mauritius</h2> <p>While they’re technically sand dunes, this colourful granular grouping stands out to us because of their blended hues. Found near the village of Chamarel, this geological marvel is a result of volcanic rock becoming clay that bridged together various elements and brought forth a result of different colours that have swirled together. Surrounded by forest, this harmonious blend of shades have settled amongst each other with red, brown, violet, green, blue, purple, and yellow shining in their own right.</p> <p>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/travel/destinations/the-worlds-most-colourful-mountains?pages=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>.</p> <p><em>Images: Shutterstock</em></p>

International Travel

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Landslide victim identified

<p>The victim of the Blue Mountains landslip has been identified as Mehraab Nazir, a British Lawyer who was holidaying in Australia, and his 9-year-old son. Both bodies were recovered on Tuesday the 5th of April.</p> <p>Mr Nazir, 49, had been on a hike with his family in the Wentworth Pass area of the Blue Mountains, a national park west of Sydney in NSW on Monday, when the incident occurred.</p> <p>Mr Nazir's wife remains in a critical condition in an intensive care unit, while another son, 14, has undergone surgery and is in a stable condition. His 15-year-old daughter walked from the scene and is under observation in hospital. </p> <p>Mr Nazir was a partner at law firm Watson Farley &amp; Williams and was based in its Singapore office.</p> <p>"It is with the greatest sadness that we must confirm that our dear friend and colleague Mehraab Nazir, a partner in our Singapore office, tragically lost his life in a landslide in Australia earlier this week alongside his young son," the company said in a statement.</p> <p>"We will be remembering and honouring Mehraab, however, with the surviving members of the family in serious conditions or in shock, we ask that you respect their privacy and grief at this incredibly difficult time."</p> <p>NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet is seeking advice as to whether the walking track should have been open given recent heavy rain in area.</p> <p>"Obviously, the Blue Mountains is a place where people love to go trekking. It's one of the wonders of the world but when those tragedies occur it would be remiss of any government not to act."</p> <p>Following the removal of the bodies, the NSW Department of Environment and Heritage announced that the area was closed to the public until further notice and a "comprehensive review" would be undertaken.</p> <p>The department said it had a program to assess geotechnical risks and maintain the safety of walking tracks and that the walking track was inspected in the days leading up to the landslip.</p> <p><em>Image: Nine News</em></p>

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Young girl's desperate walk to safety after deadly landslide

<p dir="ltr">The victims of a horror landslide in the NSW Blue Mountains have been identified as a British family of five holidaying in Australia.</p> <p dir="ltr">The father, 49, and his nine-year-old son died at the scene after the family was caught in a landslide on a Wentworth Falls walking track at around 1.30pm on Monday afternoon.</p> <p dir="ltr">The 50-year-old mother and 14-year-old son, both found in critical condition, were winched out that evening and taken to hospital. They remain in critical condition.</p> <p dir="ltr">The couple’s 15-year-old daughter escaped injury, with NSW Police saying she was walked from the location by emergency services and treated for shock.</p> <p dir="ltr">It is understood the young girl also assisted rescuers on the ground, as reported by <em><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/blue-mountains-wentworth-falls-landslide-hikers-trapped/18dff055-80de-4549-a5c5-371704d0e7a0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9News</a></em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Police have confirmed the family were visiting from the United Kingdom, and that the British consulate is assisting with the incident.</p> <p dir="ltr">With the dense bush making the rescue even more difficult, two police helicopters and special operations paramedics were among those enlisted to help.</p> <p dir="ltr">Seven road crews and two road crews were also dispatched to the scene by NSW Ambulance.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Unfortunately there’s been a landslip while they were bushwalking and a man and a boy have passed away,” NSW Police Detective Acting Superintendent John Nelson told reporters.</p> <p dir="ltr">“In terms of the site, it’s extremely dangerous and unstable.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Two other patients are critical, with head and abdominal injuries, requiring sedation before extraction.”</p> <p dir="ltr">NSW Ambulance superintendent Stewart Clarke addressed the incident on Monday night, telling the media it was “absolutely heartbreaking”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“This is absolutely heartbreaking for all involved and a truly tragic ending to what I’m sure was meant to be a pleasant day out,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It is terribly sad to have lost two lives here today and my heart goes out to the families and the survivors of this horrific ordeal who have witnessed what is certainly a traumatic event.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Trish Doyle, the Labor MP for the Blue Mountains, and the Wentworth Falls City - Blue Mountains Council Deputy Mayor, Romola Hollywood, both shared their condolences to the family online.</p> <p dir="ltr">“My heart goes out to this family, their friends and community, on behalf of ours,” Ms Doyle commented on a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nswpoliceforce/posts/352525600253199" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> from NSW Police about the incident.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I extend the deepest respect to our Blue Mountains Police Rescue, Special Ops Paramedics &amp; all first responders - for your traumatic but crucial work. Thank you.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“Our hearts go out to the family in these tragic circumstances. So incredibly sad,” Ms Hollywood also commented. “And we hope the woman and boy in hospital make a strong and speedy recovery.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Deepest thanks to our first responders for your amazing work in difficult circumstances and thanks to all who support them too. Take care everyone too.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The devastating incident comes after weeks of heavy rain across the state forced the National Parks and Wildlife Service to close several popular tracks due to “flood damage and ongoing rockfall risk”.</p> <p dir="ltr">All tracks in the area have been closed since the incident.</p> <p dir="ltr">A coroner’s report will be prepared for the man and young boy, as Blue Mountains police return to the area to retrieve their bodies.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-6f2c7767-7fff-b976-fb6d-8e875410c264"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: 9News</em></p>

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“It felt like an out-of-body experience”: Families evacuated during floods

<p dir="ltr">A heartbroken family has opened up about the moment they were given a chilling 10 minutes to pack their belongings and evacuate their home.</p> <p dir="ltr">The Buksh family home is situated in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, which has been smashed by torrential rain for two weeks now.</p> <p dir="ltr">They thought they were safe on higher ground, but a warning that a landslide threatened to swallow their home saw them scrambling for their lives.</p> <p dir="ltr">"We're so far up, we've been through bushfires, came very close to being evacuated for that as well, never in a million years did we expect our driveway to be the first thing to go," Rasleen Buksh told <a href="https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/nsw-floods-landslides-threaten-homes/3c7f4ad6-311d-4e41-a816-ad904ca8bca6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Current Affair</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Upon closer inspection, Rasleen noticed some trees had disappeared from around the home as well as random rocks rolling down.</p> <p dir="ltr">When she noticed the gaping hole underneath her driveway, she immediately called her husband Naizal and son Rashan to come home from work.</p> <p dir="ltr">They called emergency services who gave them just 10 minutes to pack a few things and escape to safety.</p> <p dir="ltr">"We don't know how long we had, or what's going to happen. It's scary. Very scary," Rasleen said.</p> <p dir="ltr">The family scrambled for their paperwork and passports and at one point attempted to leave in their car but it was deemed too dangerous.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Felt like an out-of-body experience," she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Now staying with friends, the Buksh family are anxiously waiting for their next move following the terrifying ordeal.</p> <p dir="ltr">"The engineers have come and said our house is safe, and habitable, but we are still very nervous, we're going to wait it out for another couple of weeks or so.</p> <p dir="ltr">"No one's safe in this environment."</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: A Current Affair</em></p>

Travel Trouble

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Man charged with murder of missing 9-year-old

<p><em>Image: NSW Police </em></p> <p>A man has been charged with murder after nine-year-old Charlise Mutten disappeared from the Blue Mountains last Thursday.</p> <p>Police have arrested a 32-year-old at a unit in Surry Hills, in central Sydney, at about 8:30 pm on Tuesday evening, and he is due to appear in Central Local Court late on Wednesday.</p> <p>NSW Police established Strike Force Buena to investigate Charlise's disappearance.</p> <p>Last Friday morning she was reported missing, officers last night carried out a search at Colo River, about an hour from the Blue Mountains. It is unclear if anything was found.</p> <p>The young girl was a student from Tweed Heads Public School, who lived with her grandmother in Coolangatta, Queensland. She was holidaying in the Blue Mountains with her mother, Kallista Mutten.</p> <p>The pair were staying at a wedding and function venue when she disappeared last Thursday afternoon. Ms Mutten reported her daughter missing the next morning but police haven't revealed whether she was formally interviewed since she was hospitalised for a medical condition.</p> <p>NSW homicide detectives joined the investigation on Monday. Volunteers helping with the search were instructed to call out Charlise's name loudly and told to flag any evidence with police before touching it.</p> <p>They were also told to search for anything out of the ordinary including footprints or bike tracks. A large-scale search had been underway in the area since late last week, with a hundred emergency services staff on the ground and in the air.</p> <p>Police divers spent hours searching the Hawkesbury River in Windsor, with Rural Fire Service (RFS) volunteers also joined the search.</p> <p>On Monday morning police searched a cubby house on a neighbouring property but found nothing.</p>

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One last look for dying woman

<p><em>Image: Ambulance NSW </em></p> <p>Two paramedics in NSW have given a very special treat to one palliative care patient, taking her to The Three sisters in the Blue Mountains for one last look.</p> <p>Penrith woman Evelyn Collins suffered from dementia and was diagnosed with Leukaemia in October, and as part of her treatment is taken to Katoomba’s Blue Mountains Hospital for blood transfusions.</p> <p>While under the care of paramedics Judy Andrews and Mike Horan, the 85-year-old was treated to a heart-warming surprise.</p> <p>“We were asked to take her to Blue Mountains as it was quieter and even though she had dementia as soon as we walked outside she said the fresh air was beautiful,” Ms Andrews told the<span> </span><em>Western Weekender</em>.</p> <p>“As she was not at risk and just receiving treatment and we had a quiet moment, we decided to take her to the lookout to show her the view on the way.”</p> <p>She added that she never could’ve predicted the impact the moment had on Ms Collins and her family.</p> <p>“We wheeled her down and as she was looking around she had this moment of clarity and said she remembered coming there a long time ago with her husband,” Ms Andrews said of the experience.</p> <p>“She had this beautiful glow and look of happiness on her face so I took a photo to send to her daughter Kim, who said the family was overwhelmed that we would take the time to do that.”</p> <p>Ms Collins said it was “lovely” that the paramedics thought to take her there.</p> <p>“It made me feel special. It makes all the difference when you are treated with patience and kindness,” she said.</p> <p>After two years on the pandemic frontline, Ms Andrews said paramedics pride themselves on providing high levels of care to each patient.</p> <p>After sharing the photo on Facebook, NSW Ambulance were flooded with comments on the “beautiful gesture”.</p> <p>“Thank you for being so generous … the world is a better place having you both in it,” one woman commented.</p> <p>While another wrote: “It’s these special moments that make the job mean something. In all the usual nightmares that we all face, it’s these times that have the biggest effect on us. These times and these memories where you become a part of someone’s journey – whether it’s the beginning or the end, it’s these moments that stick with us forever.”</p> <p>“So much respect for our first responders. This is the most beautiful act of kindness,” added another.</p>

Caring

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Mountain biking gives this Tasmanian town a sustainable future. Logging does not

<p>In the late 19th century it was tin mining that drove the economic life of Derby, about 100 km from Launceston in north-eastern Tasmania. But the mine has long closed. From a peak of more than 3,000, by the 2016 census Derby’s population <a href="https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC60149">was 178</a>, with a 20% unemployment rate.</p> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431452/original/file-20211111-17-1hl4tek.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" alt="Map of Derby's location in northeast Tasmania." /> <br /><span class="caption">Derby’s location in northeast Tasmania.</span></p> <p>What has saved Derby from becoming another <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-21/world-class-mountain-bike-trail-transforms-derby-from-ghost-tow/9677344">mining ghost town</a> is finding a more sustainable mountain resource: mountain biking.</p> <p>This transition could be considered a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-08/mountain-bike-boom-a-boon-for-country-towns/9153572">role model</a> for the world, a story of hope for mining communities seeking to transition away from unsustainable resource extraction to something more about maintaining balance with nature.</p> <p>But there’s something competing against this vision. As in many parts of Tasmania, and elsewhere, the forests through which the Blue Derby Trail Network trails have been built are still threatened by logging.</p> <h2>Origins of the the Derby venture</h2> <p>In 2015, with funding from the federal government, two local councils (Dorset Council and Break O'Day Council) opened the first 20 km section of the Blue Derby Trail Network, a system of mountain-bike trails that now extends 125 km through temperate old-growth rainforest, catering to a range of skill levels and riding styles.</p> <p>There are easy trails such as “Crusty Rusty”, a “mostly undulating” track with two crossings of the local Cascade River. There are extremely difficult trails, such as “23 Stitches”, 800 metres of “fast, descending jump trail, littered with dirt jumps, rollers and tabletops”.</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3MJEoTyXbcg?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <br /><span class="caption">The 23 Stitches, rated ‘extremely difficult’</span></p> <p>The attractions of Blue Derby Trail Network were quickly acknowledged by interstate and international mountain-bike enthusiasts. By 2017 Dorset Council mayor Greg Howard was boasting the trails were attracting <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-12-26/mountain-bike-trails-driving-major-change-in-derby/9276384?nw=0">30,000 visitors</a> a year, with the initial investment of $3.1 million returning $30 million a year.</p> <h2>Turmoil amid renewal</h2> <p>Logging of Tasmania’s public forests is overseen by the state-owned business known as Sustainable Timber Tasmania (previously Forestry Tasmania). It manages 816,000 hectares of public forest designated as “Permanent Timber Production Zone land”. This area represents about 12% of Tasmania’s total land area and 24% of its forests.</p> <p>Each year Sustainable Timber Tasmania is required to extract 137,000 cubic metres of sawlogs from these forests. It maintains a “Three Year Plan” for what parts of Tasmania it is going to log. It updated this document in July 2021.</p> <p>This plan includes logging two coupes (<a href="https://www.sttas.com.au/forest-operations-management/our-operations/three-year-wood-production-plans/3yp-north-east-region">CC105A and C119A</a>) covering 85 hectares that border the Blue Derby Trail Network by the end of the year. A third coupe, covering 40 hectares, is scheduled for <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7070498/protesters-descend-on-mountain-bike-trails/">clear-felling in 2022</a>.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431419/original/file-20211111-21-jy54dd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431419/original/file-20211111-21-jy54dd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="Part of the Blue Derby trail system." /></a> <span class="caption">Part of the Blue Derby trail system.</span> <span class="attribution"><a href="https://www.ridebluederby.com.au/" class="source">Blue Derby Pods Ride</a>, <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" class="license">CC BY</a></span></p> <p>Local views on this logging are mixed. Dorset Council mayor Greg Howard has said <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-31/derby-mountain-bike-trail-logging-concerns/12502316">it won’t make any difference</a> to the mountain bike trails. Conservationists and others are more defiant. Local conservation group Blue Derby Wild has <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7070498/protesters-descend-on-mountain-bike-trails/">organised protests</a>) involving cyclists, hikers and activists.</p> <p>This battle between logging and outdoor recreation in Derby exemplifies the conflict between extraction and conservation affecting communities across Tasmania, Australia and the world.</p> <h2>The value of mountain bike tourism</h2> <p>This week more than 180 Tasmanian tourism businesses signed <a href="https://tasmaniantimes.com/2021/11/on-forestry-tourism/">an open letter</a> calling for the state government to end logging in native forests. The letter says:</p> <blockquote> <p>Brand Tasmania promises an island at the bottom of the world where ancient forests and wild rivers await to reconnect people to their wild side, through nature based tourism experiences found nowhere else on earth.</p> </blockquote> <p>Mountain biking has become an increasingly valuable part of this tourism mix since the late <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00222216.1997.11949800">1990s</a>, when communities in iconic destinations such as Moab, Utah and Whistler, British Columbia began building mountain-bike trails.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431415/original/file-20211111-21-1hob0f3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431415/original/file-20211111-21-1hob0f3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="Mountain biking in Canyonlands National Park, near Moab, Utah." /></a> <span class="caption">Mountain biking in Canyonlands National Park, near Moab, Utah.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></p> <p>While the size and value of the industry internationally is difficult to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1354816620901955">assess</a>, mountain bike tourists are <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1356766719842321">typically affluent</a>. They travel an average 12 nights a year, spending US$130 to US$23O each day of their visit. A <a href="https://www.auscycling.org.au/nat/news/mountain-biking-australia-economic-and-participation-analysis">study</a> published in March 2021 (commissioned by the group AusCycling and funded by the federal government’s <a href="https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/territories-regions-cities/regions/regional-community-programs/building-better-regions-fund">Building Better Region Fund</a>), estimates Australia’s mountain bike market is worth <a href="https://www.auscycling.org.au/nat/news/mountain-biking-australia-economic-and-participation-analysis">about A$600 million a year</a>, supporting more than 6,000 jobs.</p> <p>How does the mountain-bike tourism compare with the value of logging? Again, while there are no studies that directly quantify this, comparisons between logging and ecotourism more generally point strong to the latter. A study on the economic contribution of ecotourism versus logging in the <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Securing_the_Wet_Tropics.html?id=N9UshWGGUAIC&amp;redir_esc=y">Wet Tropics of Queensland area</a>, for example, found ecotourism was worth up to ten times more than logging.</p> <p>In Tasmania, the tourism industry directly employs about <a href="https://www.tra.gov.au/data-and-research/reports/national-tourism-satellite-account-2019-20/national-tourism-satellite-account-2019-20">21,000 poeple</a>, compared with about 2,500 in logging (at the time of <a href="https://www.tffpn.com.au/forest-facts/">the 2016 census</a>).</p> <h2>Clear-cut choice</h2> <p>Derby has been pioneer in mountain-bike tourism. Communities looking to emulate its success include <a href="https://lalarrbagauwa.harcourt.vic.au/">Harcourt</a> in Victoria, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-05/york-trails-adrenaline/100350674">York</a> in Western Australia. and <a href="https://aboutregional.com.au/mogo-locals-worry-about-the-impact-of-logging-on-mountain-bike-tourism/">Mogo</a> in New South Wales – which is also battling logging plans threatening the mountain bike trails.</p> <p>Mountain bikers predominantly seek out destinations based on the quality of the trail systems, the attractiveness of the terrain and appeal of the natural <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jsm/30/3/article-p265.xml">scenery</a>. But just as important is <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14775085.2016.1164069">support from the local community</a> and <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/cog/tri/2014/00000018/00000001/art00002">politicians</a>.</p> <p>In Derby the choice between logging and sustainable tourism should be clear-cut. Mining didn’t last. Nor can logging. Long-term protections are needed now.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166176/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/richard-buning-943392">Richard Buning</a>, Lecturer in Tourism, School of Business, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-queensland-805">The University of Queensland</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/mountain-biking-gives-this-tasmanian-town-a-sustainable-future-logging-does-not-166176">original article</a>.</p>

Domestic Travel

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New Gold Mountain review: a compelling murder mystery shines light on early Australian multiculturalism

<p>The beautifully shot and evenly paced New Gold Mountain, the new series from SBS, is an 1850s-era murder mystery set in the Ballarat goldfields during the gold rush heyday.</p> <p>In 1851, gold was discovered in Ballarat – a little known pastoral outpost of the British empire. News of the strike quickly spread and the town rapidly developed. Initially, the first arrivals came from other parts of Victoria. Others followed from other Australian colonies. Soon after, international arrivals came from all regions of the globe and in 1852 many arrived from Southern China in search of gold.</p> <p>New Gold Mountain focuses on this Chinese-Australian goldfields experience, primarily from the point of view of Leung Wei Shing (Yoson An), the brooding headman of the Chinese miners and his relationships with his younger, errant brother Leung Wei Sun (Sam Wang) and his loyal assistant Gok (Chris Masters Mah).</p> <p><iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/r-8U7AmNp-U?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>The narrative is widened to include Belle Roberts (Alyssa Sutherland), the English widow turned newspaper proprietor; Hattie (Leonie Whyman), the resilient Indigenous woman trying to get by; and Patrick Thomas (Christopher James Baker), the troubled Irish miner whose wife’s disappearance drives the plot.</p> <p>In their own ways, each character is caught between different cultures, friendships and allegiances in the rapidly forming goldfields frontier society on the far side of the world.</p> <h2>A Chinese Australian tale</h2> <p>Chinese migration patterns to Australia were largely based on regional associations, particularly in the localities of Toi Shan, Sze Yup and Sam Yup in Guangdong, Southern China. These regional associations and “brotherhoods”, as they are referred to in the series, were labour recruiting mechanisms similar to the one Wei Shing runs at this Chinese camp.</p> <p>Here, Cheung Lei (Mabel Li) brings into play the connections, allegiances and complexities between Chinese gold seekers in the Australian colonies and their backers in China.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425586/original/file-20211010-25-7hpfvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425586/original/file-20211010-25-7hpfvp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="Production image: a white woman and an Asian man talk." /></a></p> <p>On one hand, relations between key characters and groups (primarily between the Chinese and Europeans) are typified by racism and hostility. But there is also cooperation, as Wei Shing and Belle unite to solve the murder. Sometimes there is brutal friendship, as when Wei Shing and the Chinese protector, Standish (Dan Spielman), finally establish exactly where they stand with each other.</p> <p>Director Corrie Chen and creator Peter Cox pull no punches while maintaining a compelling murder mystery and this lively ensemble offers a nuanced reading of the Australian goldfields experience, telling a mature and ambiguous account of the frontier.</p> <p>The other stars of the series are the distinctive former mining landscapes and Sovereign Hill providing the visual backdrops for the 1850s goldfields society. You can imagine how startled recent arrivals from the bustling South China trading ports of Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau must have been on disembarkation. The flora and fauna – literally everything – was so different to home.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425633/original/file-20211011-23-vtq501.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425633/original/file-20211011-23-vtq501.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="A Chinese man stands amid red lanterns" /></a></p> <p>Chen explores this shock in a moment of brief magical realism with Wei Shing’s encounters with a kangaroo. It seems the bush sees all. The Chinese miners and their Indigenous and European counterparts were all coming to terms with a landscape broken by mining and colonised by a disparate society coming to terms with its own experiences and opportunities. New Gold Mountain evocatively captures this moment.</p> <h2>The gold rush on screen</h2> <p>Australian goldfields life has been shown on television before, notably <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071046/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_7">Rush</a>, the Victorian gold rush era drama from the 1970s.</p> <p>But the obvious cultural point of reference is <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348914/">Deadwood</a> (2004-06), David Milch’s multi-layered historical narrative based on the 1850s gold-rush town in the Black Hills Indian Cession, a region that subsequently became South Dakota.</p> <p>Much of Deadwood centres on the business dealings between the Chinese headman, Mr Wu, and the corrupt saloon owner and town powerbroker, Al Swearengen. The inherent racism of frontier life is apparent, as is the mutual respect the two men have for each other as they seek to benefit from nefarious business dealings.</p> <p>Similar complex, intertwined plots of shifting alliances and a mutual desire to win money run through New Gold Mountain.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425627/original/file-20211011-21-1dkjedm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425627/original/file-20211011-21-1dkjedm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="Production image: a Chinese man looks for gold in his hands." /></a></p> <p><span class="caption"></span>On closer viewing, the series also shares a watermark with the New Zealand made <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195822/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Illustrious Energy</a> (1988), directed by Leon Narbey, which also explored the goldfields experience from a Chinese perspective. Other Australian colonial stories have been told in John Hillcoat’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421238/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">The Proposition</a> (2005) and Jennifer Kent’s recent <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4068576">The Nightingale</a> (2018).</p> <p>Yoson An’s smouldering portrayal of Wei Shing resembles Jay Swan’s character in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7298596/">Mystery Road</a> (2018–). Both are extremely resourceful, conflicted and move between different worlds while confronting the ghosts of their own respective pasts in remote Australia.</p> <h2>Historical voices together</h2> <p>New Gold Mountain emphasises the little told history of the Chinese on the diggings. The paradoxical nature of the colonial gold seeking era is best understood when all the historical voices are heard together. If one story dominates, much of the historical themes which help to explain Australian society in the present day are missed.</p> <p>The show also reminds us of the complex enduring relationship between China and Australia, which has often been driven by the mining industry.</p> <p>But, ultimately, it’s a cracking murder mystery that reminds viewers the first Australian multicultural moment happened in the mid-19th century – not the 20th.</p> <p><em>New Gold Mountain premieres on SBS Wednesday 13 October.</em></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/keir-reeves-872184">Keir Reeves</a>, Professor of History &amp; Director Future Regions Research Centre, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/federation-university-australia-780">Federation University Australia</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-gold-mountain-review-a-compelling-murder-mystery-shines-light-on-early-australian-multiculturalism-169527">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: SBS</em></p>

TV

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Heroic mum fights off mountain lion with her bare hands

<p>A mother in California is being hailed a hero after fighting off a dangerous mountain lion that attacked her son.</p> <p>The woman used her bare hands to fend off the animal after it lunged at her five-year-old son and dragged him along the front lawn of his home. </p> <p><span>The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said the boy was playing near his house, west of Los Angeles, when the mountain lion attacked. </span></p> <p><span>After the mother heard the boy's screams, her protective instincts kicked in and she rushed to the rescue. </span></p> <p>"She ran out of the house and started punching and striking the mountain lion with her bare hands and got him off her son," Department spokesman Patrick Foy told the Associated Press.</p> <p>"The true hero of this story is his mom because she absolutely saved her son’s life."</p> <p>Once the boy was free from the jaws of the mountain lion, he was immediately taken to the hospital where law enforcement were notified of the attack. </p> <p>Mr Foy shared that the five-year-old boy had sustained traumatic injuries to his head and torso.</p> <p>Authorities also confirmed that following the attack, the mountain lion has been shot and killed by a wildlife officer. </p> <p>The officer was sent to the scene shortly after the attack, arriving to find the mountain lion crouching in the bushes with its “ears back and hissing” at him.</p> <p>“Due to its behaviour and proximity to the attack, the warden believed it was likely the attacking lion and to protect public safety shot and killed it on site,” the wildlife department said in a statement Saturday.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Shutterstock</em></p>

Travel Trouble

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The mountain no one can climb

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For a country where mountain tourism has thrived, there is one mountain in Nepal where climbing is forbidden.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Machhapuchhre - meaning “fishtail” - stands at 6,993m in the Annapurna range in central Nepal that is home to three of the world’s 10 highest mountains.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Though it doesn’t stand as tall as other mountains, it stands out as a lone peak and appears much taller than it actually is.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Machhapuchhare also has a double summit, which is joined by a sharp ridge, and towers over the Phewa Lake.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The closest curious tourists can get to the peak is the summit of Mardi Himal, a smaller mountain beneath Machhapuchhare.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The reason behind it’s prohibited climbing status: Lieutenant Colonel James Owen Merion Roberts.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jimmy Roberts, as he was popularly known, was a British Army officer and the first military attach</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">é to Nepal. He made significant contributions to Nepal’s economy and local livelihoods after helping open up the country’s remote mountains for commercial mountaineering and trekking.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Roberts has since been remembered as the “father of trekking” in Nepal.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">His fascination with Machhapuchhare began after he read a dispatch from another army officer, and he would eventually become the first and only person to attempt to reach the summit.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But, his expedition party, reduced to just two people by the end, abandoned the ascent just 45m below the summit due to bad weather.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Following the failed climb, Roberts requested the Nepal government restrict the peak and ensure Machhapuchhare would never be climbed.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">They obliged.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Roberts’ fascination with the mountain and his kinship with Gurungs, who hold Machhapuchhare sacred, and with the people of Chomrong, the last Gurung village before the mountain, may have been the motivation behind his odd request.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Though the reason remains a mystery and Roberts’ association with the peak’s prohibited status has been largely forgotten, the prevailing view now is that the mountain is sacred and therefore forbidden to climb.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Machhapuchhare’s summit is not meant to be stepped upon; it is only to be adored by the eyes,” said Tirtha Shrestha, a poet and long-time resident of nearby Pokhara.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Any discourse, not just on Pokhara, but about the beauty of the entire Himalayas, would be incomplete without mentioning Machhapuchhare. Its beauty has greatly moved poets, authors and artists. In many folk songs, the mountain has been showered with praises. Machhapuchhare, for us, is the epitome of beauty,” he said.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: MountainKick / Instagram</span></em></p>

International Travel

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The monks walking Japan’s mountains

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the ancient forests of Dewa Sanzan in Yamagata Prefecture, Japanese mountain worshippers, called Yamabushi, have been walking the mountainous paths for 1400 years.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Though it is an enjoyable place to hike, the monks are walking in pursuit of spiritual rebirth.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Yamagato lies in the northernmost region of Japan’s Honshu island, and is an isolated, mountainous region prone to heavy snowfall.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mount Haguro, Mount Gassan, and Mount Yudono of Dewa Sanzan - literally “the Three Mountains of Dewa Province” - have been deemed sacred since 593 A.D., when Prince Hachiko fled to Mount Haguro following the assassination of his father, Emperor Sushun. The prince was told the mountain would be where he would encounter Kannon, the Goddess of Mercy, so he built shrines on each peak to keep the mountain gods there and ensure the region would experience peace and prosperity.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The mountains were established as a centre for Shugendo, a Japanese form of worship dating back to when the mountains were considered deities. Eventually Shugendo would incorporate elements of Shinto, Buddhism, and Taoism and form the religion of the Yamabushi.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Historically, the Yamabushi lived on the higher mountains of Japan. They would years on end in the mountains,” explained Timm Bunting, a Yamabushido Project Leader and Yamabushi Master Assistant.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“For example, the Yamabushi who self-mummified to become </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sokushinbutsu</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> (Living Buddha) had to spend at least 1,000 days in the mountains,” he said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This self-mummification process required the Yamabushi to fast for an extended period, and was outlawed more than 100 years ago.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Today, the 6000 Yamabushi still in Japan believe Shugendo’s training in the harsh environment of the mountains can bring enlightenment.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To become a certified Yamabushi, a week-long Akinome Autumn Peak Ritual must be completed. Though its exact nature is secret, the ritual is known to include meditation under a waterfall, nightwalking, and visiting places where the gods live on the mountains and praying. This immersion in the mountains is thought to help the Yamabushi become one with the mountain’s spirit and allow them re-emerge enlightened.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“In walking we are born again. We rejuvenate our life,” said Master Yoshino, a 13th-generation Yamabushi priest and head of the Haguro Yamabushi.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A growing number of people around Japan and the world have rediscovered Dewa Sanzan’s healing energy, and thousands have taken part in Yamabushi training offered in both Japanese and English.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">During the one-day, two-day, or four-day course, participants can only say one word, “uketamou” (I accept), in response to instructions. Phones, watches, brushing teeth, shaving, reading, and writing are also prohibited to help participants partake in self-discovery and mindfulness.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Maiko Ito, a Yamabushido Project Leader, said: “We want people to face themselves, to look at the feet they are standing on, and to feel a connection with nature, society, and the world.”</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Images: The Dewa Sanzan / Instagram</span></em></p>

International Travel

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‘Breathing’ mountains could help us understand earthquake risks

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> As the Earth’s surface shifts over time, oceans have opened and closed while new mountains climb towards the sky.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But mountains can also sink back to Earth, usually due to stress caused by the same collisions of tectonic plates that triggers earthquakes.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">These events happen in cycles, and you could imagine it like the chest of a rocky giant breathing unevenly, explains Luca Dal Zilio, a geophysicist at the California Institute of Technology.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The best example of this phenomenon? The 2,200 kilometres of peaks that make up the Himalaya. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">By understanding the complex forces driving this cycle, the local risk of earthquakes that threaten millions of people living nearby can be more well-understood.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Since similar geological ‘breaths’ have been documented worldwide, the review Dal Zilio and colleagues recently </span><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-021-00143-1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">published in </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nature Reviews</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> could be the key to understanding the processes behind many of Earth’s mountain ranges - and the risks they might pose.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Compiling more than 200 studies of Himalayan geology, the paper looks to lay out the intricate mechanisms behind this ‘breathing’.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The lengthy expanse and geologic complexity of the Himalaya make it a terrific natural laboratory, says study co-author Judith Hubbard, a structural geologist at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.</span></p> <p><strong>Inhaling and exhaling over time</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Himalaya formed from a tectonic pileup about 50 million years ago, when the Indian continental plate crashed into the Eurasian plate. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To this day, India continues moving northward by almost two inches every year. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, the land doesn’t slide under Eurasia, instead causing the Eurasian plate to bulge and bunch and drive the mountains slightly higher in a long inhale.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Eventually, this pressure will hit a breaking point, where the land masses will shift in an earthquake in a geologic exhale, or cough.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A deadly example of this exhalation came in 2015, when a 7.8-magniture earthquake caused a part of the Himalaya to sink by almost 600 centimetres.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Different parts of a mountain range can exhale at different intensities. While some cough violently, others might experience a series of hiccoughs. They might not exhale the exact same way each time either.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Even the same patch can have different behaviours at different times,” says Rebecca Bendick, a geophysicist at the University of Montana. “And pretty much nobody has the foggiest clue why.”</span></p> <p><strong>Putting the pieces together</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To understand how this process works, scientists have to piece together mountain-building processes that happen on varying scales of time - from slow moving tectonic plates to near-instantaneous shifts of earthquakes.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Since these phenomena are measured differently, looking at the shape of the fracture between the two plates can help scientists bridge the gap.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the Himalaya, the fault spanning 2200 kilometres has several kinks and bends remaining from the original collision that formed the range. These features have continued to slowly evolve and can influence how an earthquake progresses today.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the recent review, Hubbard found a paper suggesting that structures surrounding the fault - such as bends beneath the surface - limited the magnitude of the 2015 quake.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dal Zilio says that other structures that might be present across the rest of the range could similarly limit how far a quake might spread.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The ultimate goal is to know what kinds of earthquakes we can expect and what kinds of damage they will produce,” Hubbard says. “If we’re trying to learn about that exhale or cough process but the earth isn’t exhaling or coughing, it’s really hard to learn about it.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To fill in the gaps, some researchers are looking at the scars left from past earthquakes.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">But there are many challenges that present major obstacles, especially when the terrain is too difficult to measure using current technology.</span></p> <p><strong>Shifting forward</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As the cycle of inhalation and exhalation continues, the system will also change and make understanding it even more difficult. Some of the accumulated stress from every inhale will permanently deform the rock, even after the next exhale, as the release of all of the stress would mean that no mountain would still be standing, Hubbard notes.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As India continues to inch closer under Eurasia, other landscape features will also change.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bendick says, “at some point, Nepal will cease to exist”, as the Indian plate’s movement over the next tens of thousands of years will cause the southern border to move ever northward and slowly squeeze Nepal.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“At that very long time scale, nothing is fixed,” she says. “‘Set in stone’ is not the right phrase.”</span></p>

International Travel

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Boy climbs UK's tallest mountain after being told he’d never walking again

<p><span>A seven-year-old boy with cerebral palsy has overcome huge adversity after climbing Britain’s tallest mountain for charity, even though his parents were told he’d never walk again. </span><br /><br /><span>Caeden Thomson, from Corby, Northamptonshire, was born 12 weeks premature, and has undergone intense physiotherapy to walk again. </span><br /><br /><span>Despite doctors' claims that he would never properly take his first steps, Caeden nor his family gave up. </span><br /><br /><span>On his JustGiving page, his mother Lisa said he wanted to be able to "give something back", because "he was so lucky for all the things he has had in his life".</span><br /><br /><span>At just seven, he hiked the 1,345 metres to the top of Ben Nevis in the Highlands on Saturday, and managed to raise more than £8,000 for his local NHS trust and disability equality charity, Scope.</span><br /><br /><span>The group began to make their way up the massive mountain at 9am. </span><br /><br /><span>Together, they would reach the summit at 5.30pm, before returning to the bottom five hours later.</span><br /><br /><span>Caeden said: "My body hurts a lot but I'm OK. It was really, really hard.</span><br /><br /><span>"I felt sick and exhausted at the top, and I felt exhausted but happy at the bottom!"</span><br /><br /><span>His mum says her son is "an absolute legend". </span><br /><br /><span>To say it was a “massive challenge” was an understatement for the group, who said it was “much, much harder than any of us expected".</span><br /><br /><span>She said: "There were many hard times along the way. From three-quarters of the way up, the pathway is just massive boulders and very hard to climb, and even at the top we didn't think he would make it down.</span><br /><br /><span>"There were danger areas where carrying was very difficult, so Caeden did have to walk down a lot of it too.</span><br /><br /><span>"The temperature dropped hugely and many climbers said they were turning back. But we made it!</span><br /><br /><span>"We are all super-proud of him, he deserves a medal.</span><br /><br /><span>"Last night no-one could move or celebrate, so today we are resting up and will celebrate tonight.</span><br /><br /><span>"We all love Caeden so much and can't believe his passion for getting to the top."</span></p>

Caring

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Awful twist revealed in death of twin girls in house fire

<p>The twins tragically killed inside their burning home had locked the mum outside beforehand, according to their aunt.</p> <p>Three-year-old sisters Aisha and Lailani were trapped inside their home in the NSW Snowy Mountain town of Batlow on Monday morning when a fire tore through it.</p> <p>It has been reported that the pair were playing with a burning pillow next to a log fire when their mum, Tanyka Ford, took it from them and, with her five-year-old son, disposed of it outside according to<span> </span><em>The Daily Telegraph</em>.</p> <p>The mum-of-four was then unable to get back inside the house because her daughters had locked the door, and that’s when three-and-a-half-metre flames tore through the home, reported the publication.</p> <p>“There must have been something else burning in the front room, Tanyka was screaming at them to unlock the door but they didn’t, the poor darlings would have been scared,” the girls’ aunt Tammy Du Bois told the publication.</p> <p>“The girls couldn’t speak, they had their own special language, they adored each other, they were found in the front room huddled holding each other’s hand.”</p> <p>Ms Ford then tried to break through the home’s windows but the attempt was unsuccessful. Her daughters remained trapped inside until a neighbour and emergency crews broke through the front door.</p> <p>Ms Du Bois said the girls were carried out unconscious and her mum, Sharon Du Bois, saw “their heads flopping” and thought they were still alive.</p> <p>Unfortunately, the sisters, who were born premature and slightly “slow to develop”, died at the scene.</p> <p>Ms Ford was left “covered in scratches” from trying to break in, and according to Ms Du Bois, her eyes are “red raw from crying”.</p> <p>Neighbour Carol Flannery, who lived next door when the girls were born, described them as gorgeous and said the family’s life revolved around the sisters.</p> <p>“I was just shocked, beautiful little girls — my heart goes out to the parents and grandparents,” she told the<span> </span><em>ABC</em>.</p> <p>Police are currently investigating the incident.</p> <p>The cause of the fire is currently under investigation, but according to authorities a wood fireplace was burning inside the home at the time.</p> <p>“If there are lessons to learn then we should ensure this doesn't happen again,” Superintendent Bob Noble told reporters.</p> <p>Ms Ford’s brother Levi Ford has <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/sisters-lost-her-twin-daughters-to-house-fire?utm_source=customer&amp;utm_medium=copy_link&amp;utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet&amp;fbclid=IwAR2fBoPgUbPkS_IFp7a20ycmBYAnon7aVCD4s3zEBBxM3rhXPAsL9uh2VGw" target="_blank">established a GoFundMe account to support</a> his sister, who not only lost her twins, but her home and all of her family’s belongings.</p>

News

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Switzerland offers message of hope to Aussies by projecting flag on mountain

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text "> <p>Australia’s national flag has been projected onto the Swiss Alps in a message of hope from Switzerland during the global coronavirus pandemic.</p> <p>It was projected early in the morning onto Mount Matterhorn on Thursday, local Swiss time.</p> <p>The mountain is 4,478 metres high and overlooks Zermatt, a town in southern Switzerland.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">Australia is having a hard time with the bush fires and now the Coronavirus. Today we think of the Australian people and send hope and courage to get through the crisis well. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Australia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Australia</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Zermatt?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Zermatt</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Matterhorn?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Matterhorn</a><a href="https://t.co/qFjiKuZNsE">https://t.co/qFjiKuZNsE</a> <a href="https://t.co/qFKgakRlbp">pic.twitter.com/qFKgakRlbp</a></p> — Zermatt - Matterhorn (@zermatt_tourism) <a href="https://twitter.com/zermatt_tourism/status/1253312079852900355?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2020</a></blockquote> <p>Daniel Luggen, spa director of Zermatt-Matterhorn, said the projections are a message to the rest of the world.</p> <p>"Since almost a month, we're illuminating every night the Matterhorn with different symbols, to give the people hope and show our solidarity to the world," Mr Luggen said in a video posted to Facebook on Wednesday evening, Australian time.</p> <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fzermatt.matterhorn%2Fposts%2F10157945339765605&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=552&amp;height=503&amp;appId" width="552" height="503" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> <p>The projections are a project by light artist Gerry Hostetter and are meant to say “thank you to all the people working hard during this crisis”.</p> <p>"It's empty and quiet in Zermatt and that makes us sad, but soon we look forward to (having) you back here," Mr Luggen said.</p> </div> </div> </div>

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