The smaller waterfalls are falling over the edge of the cliff and them simply being blown back into the air by winds that are reaching speeds as high as 75 mph. Look at the shot of the city ferry taking people to work rocking in the high winds. I bet it was a veritable Barf-o-rama in that ferry.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Apparently, in a 24 hours period, a month’s worth of rain has fallen in Sydney. If waterfalls flowing upwards isn’t enough to call in sick for work, I don’t know what is. The coast is has also seen waves as high as 16-feet. I bet the surfers are out in droves.

[via Gizmodo]

This hunky good-looking kind-hearted Australian plans to walk from Perth to Sydney while in costume. That’s around 4,100 kilometers or 2,547 miles, and while he’s covered up all over in his suit, too.

It might look like a pretty easy thing to do, but there’s no doubt that it’s going to get pretty hot and stuffy in that suit, especially during the warm and sunny afternoons. Proceeds from Paul’s trek across Australia will go to the Starlight Foundation, which is a charity organization that dedicates its time and resources to aid sick and hospitalized children. You go, Paul!

[via Geeky Gadgets]

Chris’ hoverbike uses two propellers that are powered by a 1,170cc 4-stroke engine to hover. Apparently, it’s spec’d to reach speeds up to 173mph and go up to 10,000 feet(!), in theory. That could be quite dangerous, don’t you think? It can hold enough fuel to allows its rider to fly up to 92 miles at a time. The frame is made out of kevlar that’s reinforced with carbon fiber. Both propellers turn in opposite directions, so the hoverbike doesn’t need a tail rotor to stop it from rotating.

The control look like something you’d find on a motorcycle. Chris hopes to go into production in about a year, and his hoverbikes will sell for around $40,000. It will be classified as an ultralight plane, so people will be able to fly without needing a pilot’s license.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

For now, the hoverbike is still a prototype and hasn’t undergone flight testing yet -having only been operated in a ground-tethered mode so far.

[via Gizmag]

The crew set up four HDTVs, each connected to a different console. Can you guess which console was left out? Nintendo’s armada of handheld systems was also on hand. There was also a booth with a video camera inside the caravan. According to Excite people could share their memories of playing Mario, and their clip would be posted online.

If you want to envy Excite even more, check out the rest of the pictures at Vooks. Am I not a gamer too, Nintendo? Where’s the love? I’d settle for one of the cardboard standees, you know.

[via GoNintendo]

My Hubble will premiere at the Biennale of Sydney 2010. It’s a life-size recreation of the Hubble telescope constructed from lasercut plywood and steel.

Hennessey used 7 different images of Hubble to create this, rather than use a 3D model.

It took about 3 months to build. Hennessey has always been fascinated by scientific phenomena, which inspires him to create his intricate space-ship sculptures. Be sure to check out Peter’s website to see his other creations.

[via Designboom]

It looks awesome, but I was surprised at how complicated this high-tech art really is. Since Solar Equation is a balloon, it bobs and sways with the wind. Simply projecting images onto a fidgety surface would not be cool at all. So, according to Switched, “Lozano-Hemmer and his engineering team had to develop a 3-D tracking system to monitor the position of the balloon.” This system monitors the balloon’s position an amazing 30 times per second, and then coordinates with the servers to which the projectors are connected to, ensuring that the projected animation is always smooth. But that’s not all; this sun is interactive too! Want to mess with the animation of Solar Equation? There’s an app for that. Visitors can use their iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad to. change the animation in real-time.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

So what’s the use of a second sun? Lozano-Hemmer says, “while pertinent environmental questions of global warming, drought, or UV radiation might arise from the contemplation of this piece, Solar Equation intends to likewise evoke romantic environments of ephemerality, mystery and paradox.” In other words, it can stand for whatever the hell you want it to, or you can just look at it and admire it’s sheer beauty. And then shake your head and say, what a huge waste of electricity. Solar Equation will be on Federation Square until July 4.

[via Switched]

The customized Xbox 360 was created by Richard Taylor and the Weta Workshop. It features a miniature Master Chief blowing a hole through the side of the console. It’s only appropriate since the Halo franchise and the Xbox brand are pretty inseparable. As a matter of fact, I  bought my original Xbox to play Halo, and play it I did.

The console will be auctioned off at eBay in order to raise money for the David Peachey Foundation. Microsoft will match the donation and donate an extra $10,000 to Cure Kids.

[via Born Rich]

These origami tigers were designed by the Australian firm LAVA and they were made to raise the awareness of tigers as an endangered species.

They are powered by low-power LEDs and were constructed out of aluminum as well as Barrisol skin. This makes them really striking day or night. They stand a whopping 8.2 feet high by 23 feet long. However, they only weigh 441 lbs, which isn’t much considering their size.

They kind of look unreal, like a cartoon that’s decided to appear in real life. For some reason, I’d expect them to morph into robots, or something like that.

The origami tigers are being set up in front of the Customs House in Sydney, Australia, where they will be on display from February 11th through March 14th, 2010.

[via DesignBoom]

The X-Cool Calculator looks like something you might play some old Genesis or SNES games with, but it really just does basic math. The primitive 8-digit LCD screen is also good for spelling “800813S.” The guys over at Australia’s DealsDirect claim that the two-handed operation makes “calculating that much easier,” but I really have my doubts that you’ll be buying one of these if you have any serious equations to solve.

Want one? You can grab the X-Cool Calculator here for $12.95 (AUD), which works out to be about $11.50 (USD), which is actually a few bucks more than buying an old SNES controller, and a calculator and taping them together, a la FOTC’s camera phone.

[via NewLaunches]

Amazingly enough, Polly still had room in her stomach for other stuff. James told the Melbourne Herald Sun, “The vet said it wouldn’t be that many, but when they operated there was half a gravel track in there as well.” And it gets better – but not for Polly – as James also revealed that her dog is a veteran swallower of things no one but a garbage truck is supposed to swallow. Her previous guilty pleasures include a computer mouse, gardening gloves, a large rubber band and several rolls of fax paper. Sadly, no cracker.

[image via ihasahotdog]

That’s the British for you. Let’s hope the Australians respond by beating England at the tournament.

[via Forever Geek]

When I first stumbled onto these images over on Justin James’ Flickr gallery, all I could figure out was that they’re a) giant Tetris pieces and b) they were seen somewhere on the streets of Australia. Given a land mass of over 7,686,850 square kilometers, I figured it might take some legwork to find these in person.

A little sleuthing revealed this photo which provided the missing link in finding the true location of these massive falling bricks.

It turns out if you happen to be wandering the streets of Sydney, you can find these oversize, illuminated Tetris block sculptures floating over your head as you walk through the narrow corridors of Abercrombie Lane.

Further exploration revealed that Giant Tetris (aka “One More Go One More Go”) is actually part of an outdoor art exhibition called Live Lanes – By George! which runs through January 31, 2009. The larger-than-life installation was put together by the guys over at Gaffa Gallery, who clearly have fond memories of the classic brick-stacking puzzler.

You’d better get over there quick, before all of the blocks fall to the ground and fill up the entire alley.

Australia’s Silverbrook Research has circulated a video of the prototype device in action, churning out pages at an astounding thirty pages per minute in full color, sixty pages in black and white:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Their “Memjet” technology claims to achieves these stellar speeds by using a print head that spans the entire width of a page. The printer has a target retail price of $150 and a cost per print of $0.02 to $0.06 which would be substantially less than today’s inkjet printers.

[via Texyt via Engadget]

I guess Sony Australia’s boss, Michael Ephraim, wanted to make sure we didn’t run out of choice sound bites. According to an interview with Australian newspaper, The Age, Ephraim was quoted as saying that the price of the Nintendo Wii was “a lot to fork out” for its target market, and that even though the Xbox 360 had done “fairly well” at launch, that it was focused on too narrow of an audience and “pricey.” Keep in mind that the price he mentions are in Australian dollars, but the gist of what he’s saying makes no sense at all to me.

He claims that once you add accessories, the price of the Wii is higher than advertised. He neglects to mention that same holds true with all three consoles, and I’d expect that you’d need to add on about $200 to the base price of each system for typical accessories and a couple of games.

Let’s look at the base prices for each console (in US Dollars):
Wii: $249
Xbox 360: $299 to $399
PS3: $499 to $599

I guess he’s never heard of the old “people in glass houses” saying.

[via gamesindustry.biz]