A Dingo's got my Barbie!!!

Public Service Announcement(s)

As you know I don't blog on Sundays (my Sunday, I don't care what day you've got), some folks think it's because I'm lazy, while others believe I'm part of some weird religious cult (like catholicism), but neither of those are correct. The reason I don't post on Sundays is that as my posts are so rich in content, so utterly thought provoking, so side splittingly funny, that I'm afraid I could cause permanent brain damage to my loyal readers if I subjected them to it everyday. I have therefore taken it upon myself to ensure that you all have at least one day's rest in order for your brains to recuperrate.

However...Seeing as how Lost is coming back (okay, I know it's already back on in the States, but it's not on here yet), I thought I might make you aware of this little gem. This is essential viewing if you have never seen a single episode but would like to start watching in the third season, or if you are like me, and have watched from the beginning but still have no fucking clue what's going on...

Now, as for the little pseudo competition; I did say, and I quote "If anyone can tell me exactly why they are called Percy and Marge there may be a prize in (sic) for you. But I stress, you have to tell me exactly...you really have to earn it!"

No-one got the answer I was after, so here is the why:

I live in near a very small town (I don't actually live in it), where everyone knows everyone (except me, they don't want to know me, and I don't want to know them), and Bobby's owners are both 4th generation locals so they are obviously quite well known (that, and they are the local quirky identities). I knew I would be writing some less than charitable things about them so I decided to use false names, akas, handles, nicknames, fake IDs, noms de plume, aliases (I have left anything out?).

Molly correctly figured out the 'where' their names came from, it was a reference to Ma and Pa Kettle (played by Percy Kilbride and Marjorie Main) which, if you had been paying attention, is what I initially called them in the same post that I actually used their real names (part iii in case you are wondering). So that's why I made it a bit more difficult, after all there was an all expense paid, trip to Australia up for grabs!

But just to prove I'm a good sport Molly, if you give me your details, I'll send you some really tacky, chinese made Australian souvenir.

The results have been tabulated.

Thank you all for participating in my well conceived, brilliantly executed, in depth scientific experiment on blogging trends. Ha ha ha ha! Man I'm such a pudding head, that's too much hyperbole even for me! Ok, let me rephrase that first sentence...After yesterday's monumental dummy-spit because I didn't feel my post got the recognition it deserved, I noticed something interesting. Hmmm, yes, that's seems to be a more apt description of what happened.

So here are the results of the whine experiment :

1. Well researched post of an interesting musical oddity - 20 comments*.
2. Two sentence whine saying there will be no post - 37 comments.

Conclusion: If I really am serious about attracting comments, I should stop posting.

As a thank you for participating in the experiment, I'm having a little competition (Australians are ineligible). Here's the question. "Cartographically speaking, where in Australian do most women sit".

The prize is your choice of either of these gems...

Pretty sweet little prizes heh? (and yes, the t-shirt is brand new, it's an XL so if you have boobs it should still fit).  The competition will close when I get the correct answer.

* The last 6 comments were after my whine so it's not clear if they were just sympathy comments.

MaBloPa post #15

Hmmm, that worked well.

Note to self....don't ever do this again!

Hmmm, there's more to this photo competition thing than meets the eye. At first I was pretty underwhelmed by the entries, but as the day progressed the standard got much better (except for Mary who just made fun of my ears!).

I think I know what the problem was, Ree used a picture that was two stinky old bulls, so people could focus on coming up with something clever. Whereas I unfortunately used a very cute picture of an extremely cute me. This had the unforeseen effect of turning all those maternal minds out there to mush! I should have realised that once you guys saw me in my all conquering cuteness, you would be powerless to come up with something exceedingly clever. Oh well, live and learn.

But even despite turning everyone's brains to mush (except Paul, his was already that way), and even though I didn't quite make it to the 2500 mark, it was still very difficult to come up with a short-list. I was going to have a medium-list instead, but I know my readers well enough to realise that there'd never be a result if I did that. So I've narrowed it down to six for the purposes of voting, but really there's a lot more that could have been on the list.

 

And for all of those who were laughing at my holsters, they were pockets you morons!!

Hmm, that didn't really help my case much did it? Oh well, never mind, at least I know I'm one tough dude.

I'll leave this post up for a day so that you can vote.

Here's some others that I thought were good...

Is that willow tree in a tree?

Rock-a-bye Cowboy in the Tree-top

Young Willow finds the perfect angle for cleavage spotting

Slippery when wet.

Don't worry about him dear. His ears make perfect wings.

Shit! There's a whole world outside that there fence? I'm scared!

I hope I don't fall... I'm wearing girl panties!

Oh and by the way, It's is actually Willowtree in a willow tree.

Very interesting.....

I may have been a bit premature in declaring Judy the winner, but the decision stands(if only to demonstrate the correct usage of irony). Except now she's now been awarded second prize, but don't worry, all the prizes are the same anyway . Who'd have thought that my little mini contest would have generated such a mathesophical discussion (or should that be philomatical? I always get those two mixed up) but then it's as it should be as Pythagoras was a philosopher as well as a mathematician.

"Ironic you say?" Yes, ironic I say. I made up this little contest to show my gratitude and to reward one of you for voting for me. The irony is that the person who won the prize was the one person among you who definitely did not vote for me! Judy, you see, was nominated in the same category (mind you she may have voted for me, I voted for her).

And that brings us to the results:

1st Prize goes to Kila for her well thought out corollary.

2nd Prize goes to Judy for being the closest first.

3rd Prize goes to Melissa for single-handedly raising my comment count.

Honourable mention goes to Colette for being such an enigma.

If you want your prize, I need your address, email me.

And here is the explanation...There were two quotes from the Wizard of Oz, the first from the Lion and the second from the Scarecrow both from when they were given their prizes by the Wizard. On the surface, it looked like a simple quote from the movie illustrating that as a result of being awarded a prize saying I'm brainy, I actually got smarter. And that would have done if no-one actually got the real answer.

However, Kila uncovered the deeper meaning. In a perfect demonstration of just how ridiculous that concept is, she pointed out that the quote from the Scarecrow was wrong. The wording was correct, but what he said was completely wrong (which, incidentally Jenn, is why it wasn't said by Pythagoras, you may want to hold off on lowering your goals for a bit).

To explain I'll have to get a bit technical. In it simplest form, Pythagoras' theorem is and is solved by

In English that's "The square on the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares on the other two sides."

Compare that to the Scarecrow quote which is "The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side."

Given that we are talking about a hypotenuse, by definition we are only talking about right angled triangles, and not all isosceles triangles are right angled, in fact only those with one 90 and two 45 deg angles are. Plus, he not only mangled the theorem, it's just plain wrong, as we need the length squared, and not the square root of the length.

Anyone still awake?  Good, then have a look at this...

You have got to be kidding me!

In yesterday's episode of 'As the Dingo Chews' I took you through exciting world of blog contests (and just what can happen if you win one). I also got pretty clever and made a contest of my own that was impossible to win (more on that later). There were some pretty good answers so rather than you having to go back and read them for yourselves, I'll summarise them here for you.

Robin:
It's a tooth from the dog in Tiff's original picture.  And a coin with the number 5 on it.
Oh so close, but no cigar. Plus you were disqualified for not all reading the post carefully.
But then you thought about it some more.
Or maybe a jackalope or unicorn tooth....
Yep, that will win you a prize for sure, if that won't do it, maybe some bribery..
Which reminds me...I have some other stuff I'm supposed to be sending to bluddies...

Laurie:
how do i get into this secret club of presents mailed from afar???
ok so my answers are imprecise and probably wrong. send me some stuff anyway!
Screw the contest, just send me something, anything!

Katie:
I vote for bear claw.... :)
Cool prize.... and interesting coin....
Ah yeah, about that...I put the coin there to show scale, too bad no-one knew how big the coin was.

Swampy:
I like the coin. Is that a kiwi? I know, the Kiwi is a small flightless bird from NZ. Regardless, it's cute. Wow ! ELEVEN dollars. Next time, have her just send $$$.
Another 'fuck the contest' entry, let's discuss the Kiwi and the cost of postage. (there are no kiwis in OZ, except for Bondi)

Tiggerlane:
I just laughed my butt off until tears streamed down my face. 
Man that sounds painful, I would have like to have seen a picture of that! Not everyday you see a buttless woman with streaky cheeks.

Reevesfarm:
I will be happy to send you some for future anger management.
She is offering to send me her kids toys to break, now that's some kinda mom.

Jenni in KS:
Is that an echidna on the coin?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echidna
Bingo! Yes it is Jenni. But what you really deserve a prize for is posting a comment that was actually shorter than the post itself!

Pamela:
I don't have my glasses on  - and I'M LATE for work as usual.
Seems to me I've heard this excuse before.

Pamela:
I don't have my glasses on  - and I'M LATE for work as usual.
Now I know I've definitely heard this one before!

Pamela:
awww..i found my glasses. that is  shrew money if I ever saw it. and its a sabre tiger tooth.
You were doing better without your glasses.

Mary:
Dog tooth. Wierd.
Yes, and yes. But sadly I can't give you the prize, because while you got the dog tooth right, you spelled weird wrong (and I said it had to be exact)

Mark:
Clearly an elephant tusk - pure ivory, shrunk by Rick Moranis to look just like a canine canine - not a typo, but both meanings: dog and tooth between incisor and premolars of a mammal.
Surprisingly close, well except for the ivory and being shrunk by Rick Moranis. And yes, I did know that it wasn't a typo.

Mrs Tiggerlane:
Very strange that so few noticed #1 - the coin is NOT part of the gift!
It's WILLOW'S COIN! I'm not THAT generous!! (Well, actually, if you guys were guessing correctly, you would understand how generous I really am...)
Thank you Tiff for pointing that out, seemed pretty straightforward to me, but it obviously wasn't.

Wolfbaby:
dinasore tooth.. ohhhh or dinasore claw
that she dug up in a whatcha call it... ya know those dig thingys;)
Good ol' Wolfie (I just love it when you talk technical), you always give it your best shot, it's a shame you're usually firing blanks.

MJD:
This is a very interesting prize and phenomenal presentation and dialogue about the prize. I will pass on guessing about the prize; I do not need some old broken cat's canine tooth. Thanks any ways.
No tooth for you!! (said the tooth nazi)

Claudia x 3:
But where did the tooth come from?  Please don't tell me it's from the dog!
Ok, I won't tell you that. And thanks for bumping my comment count.

Robin:
I forgot to mention earlier that Tiggerlane has beautiful handwriting and a smokin' signature...she's destined for stardom.
Back off sister! That tooth is mine!

Christene:
A dingo canine? A shiba inu canine? (Speaking of which, is that really a dingo in your ... er... blog button?... er... picture?... And by the way, does my Shiba Inu look like a dingo or does your Barbie eating dingo look like my Shiba?
Hello Christene and welcome. The colouring is similar, and some of the conformation, but dingoes don't have the thick fur of the Shiba Inu or a curly tail, plus they don't come from Japan and they were around  before both the Akita and the Shibu Ina (so I guess yours looks like mine). And yes, that really is a dingo in my picture, and yes, it does have my Barbie.

Gawilli:
Is this a puppy tooth from Poo Woo?
What the fuck!? There's something fishy going on here! There's no way that exact combination of words could be in the same sentence without some kind of cheating!!! I figured that someone would guess that it was a dog tooth, but I wasn't worried because no-one would say that it was a puppy tooth, nor would they actually say Poo Woo's name (all of which I required for a correct answer!)

So Congratulations Gawilli, and if you want some crap sent to you, send me your address.

 

 

Errr, I won a prize, ummm, Wow!

Recently I won a contest held by Tiggerlane, the Neophyte Blogger. Upon identifying the mystery object (notice I didn't say 'guessing', I knew exactly what it was), I received an email requesting my mailing address and informing me that my prize was one of great value.

Now being the mercenary prick that I am, I naturally assumed that meant it was worth a lot of moulah. It never entered my mind that Mrs Tiggerlane meant intrinsic value. So after a couple of weeks passed, my priceless prize arrived...

O.k.a.y...so it's not as big as something very valuable should be. Wait! I've got it! It's her grandmother's antique gold and diamond wedding ring! Must be, unless it's shares in the Real Estate Agency. I know, I'll check the customs declaration, that will tell me...

Ezqueeze me?? A photo of a dog and a button?! Ok, the photo can't be worth much, but it must be one of those rare "I voted for Dewey" buttons, they must be worth something...

Hmmm, this damn thing's getting smaller by the minute, must be the even more classy and rare lapel button rather than the gaudy and more popular chest job...

WTF!?! Where's the fucking button?! Oh wait, there's something else...

It's a goddamn box of paper clips! Hang on, there's a Post-It note stuck on the box, what does it say?...

So by now I've gone way past excited all the way to "boy do I wish I had kids so I could break some of their toys" pissed. Now I've got to go back and read the card...wait there's a card?

Well I did what I was instructed and here's what I got . If anyone can correctly identify it, and by that I mean exactly (just like the original contest said) I'll give you a prize that's just as valuable, but you must be exact.

Oh yeah, there are four things I should point out: 1) the coin is mine, 2) there never was a photo of a dog, 3) eleven fucking dollars for postage! and 4) I think the prize is pretty neat.

So you want to think eh?

My bluddy* Jen pinged me with the Thinking Blogger Award...nannee,nannee,nannee, that's about five times so far, and you bastards thought I was shallow! Well bum to to you!

So seeing as how I make you all think, how about thinking up a caption for this....

Too hard? boo hoo, try this one then...

Come on, don't let me down, I went to great lengths to get these pics. Okay you got me, I just like pictures of trucks and I couldn't figure out a way to make a post about it (even though it has been alleged that I can make a post out of thin air). But I did make an effort to get these pictures.

I noticed the truck as I was driving to Scone to buy supplies, and as I continued heading south I kept thinking that it would make a good post, what with those cars stacked on top of the squashed cars and all. So after about 5 miles, I decided to turn around and go back to get a picture. I assumed that as it was parked outside a truckstop that the driver was having something to eat, and if I didn't go back then and there, I wouldn't get another chance. So I went back and took the pictures and then continued with my journey South.

But sadly when I downloaded the pictures, it turned out to be just a truck parked on the side of the road. And to add time wasting insult to wasting petrol injury, it was still there when I came back a few hours later. But I'm nothing if not tenacious, so leave a damn caption! If someone does a really good one there will be a prize (maybe it will motivate me to finally send the prizes I already owe!)

Just so this post isn't a total loss, here's a GPP (gratuitous pet picture)...

OK, here's another one...

Maybe just one more...

A few notes on the pet pictures:

First pic - It sends me crazy when he does this! He spends about 10 minutes arranging the pillows into a little mound before he finally settles down.

Second pic - Aww how cute, conjoined puppies. Notice the Hitler mustache that Bentley has? He gets that sometimes after he's been on the trail of a wascally wabbit, he gets so intent on following the scent, he wears down the fur under his nose completely, sometimes it will even be bloody (there's some tough grass around here)

Third pic - What is this cat doing? Actually he's looking at the second picture, except he's doing it in real time.

*(bluddy belongs to Robin who came up with it after Little Miss Moi got the ball rolling with blister and bliend)

All is revealed

No amount of soaking or scrubbing can get rid of baked on crud like the dogged determination of a beagle in search of food (Buddy always gives up after the easy stuff has gone). Oh yeah, Buddy is wearing a collar too but you just can see it.

Once the fat has been licked off, Buddy will lose interest. Bentley on the other hand will spend a long as it takes to get everything off except the telfon (which doesn't work any more). The thing you have to rember to do is washing the pots (or in this case the frying pan) as soon as he's finished. You have to do it immediately because he gets them so clean that if you leave it for later you can get confused and think you've already washed them. One more thing, they only act as a team when it's a clean up, someone said that their bowls got pushed together...if that had happened they would be fighting right about now.

And yes, the other thing is a plastic shopping bag holder well done everyone, though unfortunately there is a push to do away with plastic shopping bags. And before you tell me this is a good thing for the environment, it's not about the environment, it's about profits, let me remind you that plastic shopping bags can be made bio-degradable, unlike the garbage bin bags I'm now being forced to buy.

We have our winners!

Sorry folks, the contest is now closed on account of I've got three correct answers and that's all the postage I can afford. The winners are Marnie, Karmyn and Katie. And the answer of course is....

Yep, it don't get no better than when you combine the world's best food with the world's best delivery mechanism! With this combination and some of the other astronaut food I've shown you, you can have breakfast without ever having to use crockery or cutlery.

In case you're wondering how Marnie won without even giving the answer, she actually did give the correct answer yesterday, but it was before the question was asked, so I edited it out make it fair, and not spoil the fun. But since she was banned from the first contest, I'm awarding her a consolation prize for accidental brilliance. Sorry if you didn't win anything, but there's always next time.

I'll be posting my Fun Monday post on my Monday (your Sunday) as a reminder that it's on. Don't forget, the list is in the sidebar on the right (I put it at the top).

Holy Crap!!

I can not believe you guys got the answers so quickly! It's no point holding this over until everyone gets a chance to answer seeing as the correct answers have already been given (and it's not a subjective thing like Ree's photo naming, which I think I should have won more than I did, especially the one with the camera for a prize).

The Answers are:

Question 1. The Swaggie was never actually named, however as a joke a lot of us call him Andy because of the the line "And he sang, as he watched and he waited til his billy boiled", which many of us sing as "Andy sang as he watched..."

Question 2. While the reference to the shearers' dispute is correct, it not the link to the German tradesman (or more correctly 'Journeymen') that I was looking for. Yes in fact it refers to the term (and the practice) of 'Auf der Walz' where tradesmen, usually carpenters but also masons, upon completing their apprenticeship don a specific uniform and spend the next three years and one day traveling and learning more about the trade. References to the Germans calling their coats Matilda are new to me but are probably true, however the swag has also been called a Mathilda. Here's another link about the Walz if you want to read even more crap about it.

For those of you too busy, too lazy, or too disinterested to follow the links (and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being any of them), here's a few photos to provide CliffsNotes...

 

A German Tradesman and an Aussie Swagman (Ithink from tourist park)

A group of Walzers  and a group of Swaggies.

Yeah yeah that's fine, but who won!!

Ok the winners:

Katie got the name right (I'm beginning to suspect she has some Aussie blood in her), and as that one was almost impossible to find through an internet search, she gets the Fridge magnets. What that doesn't make any sense at all?

Mary got the Auf der Walz question correct and even pasted the explanation (although I don't know where she got it) so she gets the tea towel.

And finally, because Pamela gave a pretty acceptable answer, even though it wasn't the right one (and an even better sob story about her mother), she gets a tea towel too.

So send me your mailing address if you want your prize, Katie I've already got yours so you don't need to.

Contest Part 2.

Well, here we are at the business end of the contest. This time there are only two questions but they are reasonably difficult.

Question 1.  What is the name of the Jolly Swagman?

Question 2.  What have German tradesmen got to do with any of this?

~~~~~ Now, do you want to see what you're playing for? ~~~~~

As promised, the major prize is a complete set of Aussie dollar fridges magnets. And before I get any stupid questions from my particularly nit-picky readers (if that applies to you, please read the answer, otherwise please ignore), "No, there is no $4.50 note. That's the price tag you moron."

These babies are so convincing, you could probably use them to  pay for your taxi ride from Sydney airport. That is if you could convince the Lebanese taxi-driver that Aussie money is now only three inches by one inch, and it is only printed on one side, and has a big old magnet on the other. Good luck with that.

But just to prove I'm not kidding here's some real Aussie money (most of you have seen this already).

But wait, there's more! Yes you heard right, not only to you get this worthless priceless collection of fridge magnets, you also get this....

This has got to be the biggest tea towel I've ever seen, it's almost half as big again as my normal ones, and it gets better...it's real linen. I put the magnets there to show you the scale, but as I type this, I am realising that I haven't done anything to show the scale of the magnets, so it doesn't help anyway, d'oh! Suffice it to say that if you had a queen sized bed, this tea towel would probably hang over all the sides at once.

Good Luck guys!

Sorry, forgot the explaination

I forgot the explanation of all the terms in the contest (thanks for reminding me Karmyn), so here they are:

1. squatter - A grazier, or station (ranch) owner. The meaning of the word changed later in the twentieth century to mean a person who occupied or resided at a property illegally.

2. troopers - Colonial Police.

3. billabong - A blind channel or meander leading out from a river.

4. coolibah tree - Sometimes spelled coolabah: a species of gum or eucalyptus tree.

5. swagman - An Australian tramp, so called on account of the ‘swag’, usually a chaff bag, containing his ‘billy’, provisions and blankets.

6. jumbuck - A sheep. The term is a corruption of ‘jump up’

7. tucker bag - A bag for ‘tucker’ or food; part of the ‘swag’.

8. billycan (actually just billy) - An open topped tin can, with a wire carrying handle, used as a kettle for boiling water into which tea was thrown.

9. swag - usually a chaff bag, containing his ‘billy’, provisions and blankets.

If you are in any way interested in this stuff, and have the time to read the background, here's probably the best link I could give you...it's to the National Library of Australia's information about Watzing Matilda.

 

We have a winner!

There's no point keeping this going until Friday, given that the correct answer has been given already (several times). The first correct answer I received was actually from Peter, but he emailed it so as not to spoil the fun (thanks Pete). This was followed closely by theotherbear, whose answer I unpublished so that you guys could keep playing. Both of these bloggers are Aussies so it was no surprise they got it right.

There probably should be some kind of consolation prize for Mark for his innovative solution to the problem or Melissa for her total disregard for her reality, but there's not. And I actually thought Fish-2 had it until I realised he had mixed up #7 and #9 (note to self: check out this blog, it looks interesting).
And so that leaves us with... (drum roll please)... Katie as the winner!! (Loud applause and cheering). Katie, I don't know if you're an Aussie or not as you live in the States, but if you want your prize please email me.

Now to the honorable mentions:

What happened to your template just now Pete?  Are you messing with it? - Susan
I thought this was brilliant, disguising her lack of knowledge by feigning hallucinations.

I'll be back............ - Robin
Misread the question, thought it said "What is the Governator's signature phrase?"

boolabong - Pamela
Thought it was something to pretty up a stream  (never mind, it's a private joke).

boolabong - Pamela
Though it was so good she just had to enter it twice.

jackaroos, muster, eucalyptus, aboriginal or sheep muster, lamb, busmen - Wolfbaby.
Actually this was a very good attempt, apart from being almost completely wrong. All these are Aussie terms, they just don't relate to the picture. Except busman of course - I guess the swaggie is sitting at a bus stop. And I've never herald anyone called a sheep muster before, given that a muster is a roundup. It was later corrected to the right answer btw.

Okay, theotherbear totally has "Waltzing Matilda" stuck in my head - Melissa.
I suggest you go and read Melissa's answer (it's too long to put in this summary) as it's very funny. I took ToBear's answer out so the rest of you couldn't see Waltzing Matilda which was the key to the solution, but not before Melissa had seen it unfortunately.

Picture is too crappy to tell... - Mary
Strangely, I consider this to be a correct answer.

I before E  except after C  has so many exceptions - Pamela
Yes I know, but does it have a jumbuck, a swag and a billie?

Man's Parcel - Beth
I'd expect that from you.

Whine. - Vicki
I know it worked for you last time, but I needed a little more for this one.

...Yellow River (Tony Christie)...I win, I win!!!! - Erik
I thought Yellow River was by I.P.Daley.

Let's see if I can beat Stephanie to this: - Susan
Well yes you did, although Stephanie alluded to this a few days ago when I announced the contest. But you still didn't answer the questions.

And THAT's the song I was being snarking about it being the national anthem of Australia.  But it's not.  But it should be. - Stephanie
This was actually put to a vote in May 1977 with the following results:
‘Advance Australia Fair’ 43.2% (2,940,854)
‘Waltzing Matilda’ 28.3% (1,918,206)
‘God Save the Queen’ 18.7% (1,257,341)
‘Song of Australia’ 9.8% (652,858)
As you can see, less than a third of eligible voters wanted a song about a sheep thief to be our National Anthem, it's bad enough that an Irish armed robber is held in high esteem (not by me).

I think you should know, though that Tom Waits does a killer variation of this (very little resemblance to the original) - Mins Sis
Yes in fact I do know this, as I have the CD (I have it on vinyl too), and you're partly right, I would say it bears no resemblance to the original, but that's ok, there are actually three versions of the original anyway.

Man - what words did Susan use to Google that song?  Way to go, girl!!! - Karmyn
Karmyn, that would be "Waltzing Matilda", or even "Australian folk song". Given that Melissa's comment actually says Waltzing Matilda, I'd put my money on that.

Time for the contest.

Seeing as how the prize (fridge magnet) is an ancient (whatever happened to 'i' before 'e' except after 'c'?) artifact that possibly has mythical powers and may even be able to magically teleport you to Australia, obviously this has be a slightly more difficult contest than the rock soap contest. If you do a minimum amount of research you should get it...

Here's what you have to do: Identify all the numbered items in the picture.

The closing date for the contest is 5:00p AEST Friday 9th Feb 2007. And before anyone tries to get cute and ask if that's my time or your time, AEST stands for Australian Eastern Summer Time, so that would be my time.