australia

“You better go before we leave because we’re not stopping.”

Sounds like a fair warning before a road trip, but it’s that kind of authoritarian driving that keeps people from discovering the oldest settlement in Australia. Sound crazy? It’s not.

ABC reports that an Australian man, Clifford Coulthard, looking for a bathroom stumbled across 49,000-year-old evidence of Australia's oldest human settlement. So next time someone tells you that they can’t stop because they’re “making great time,” remind them that their are ancient civilizations to be uncovered.

via Make a Gif

"A man getting out of the car to go to the toilet led to the discovery of one of the most important sites in Australian prehistory,” said Giles Hamm, an archaeologist and PhD student at  La Trobe University.

“The site, known as Warratyi, shows Aboriginal Australians settled the arid interior of the country around 49,000 years ago,” says ABC. “Some 10,000 years earlier than previously thought.”

Coulthard and Hamm were surveying gorges in the area when they made the discovery, so it helps to kind of know what you’re looking for. Regardless, the excavations at the site have been successful, thus far. The crew has found 4,300 artifacts and 200 bone fragments dating back 46,000 to 49,000 years ago.

Road trip passengers, when nature calls, answer.

via Gif Sec

Leave it to another Australian to get himself snacked on.

Somehow a teenage boy got bitten by a crocodile and the whole attack was inadvertently caught on camera:

No word on whether his friends with the camera had soaked his swimsuit in cold cuts prior to their dip, but who the heck films underwater and swims with crocodiles?

In a move as bold as one Banksy would make himself, his former agent (and current enemy), Steve Lazarides, is holding a Banksy exhibition in a car park in Melbourne, Australia from Oct. 7 through Jan. 22, showcasing over 80 works from different private collections.

BANKSY. MELBOURNE. From 7th October - bit.ly/Banksy-Melbourne #Banksy #ArtOfBanksy #banksymelbourne

A video posted by The Art Of Banksy Melbourne (@banksymelbourne) on Sep 11, 2016 at 3:28am PDT

Lazarides likes to do sh*t for shock value even though that's a juvenile way to do art. He and Banksy haven't spoken in ages, including at a recent Massive Attack concert in March when they kept their distance from each other.


Art by Banksy

They are mainly hyping the exhibit as rare, in that the works are privately-owned so it's unlikely to know when they will be shown publicly again, but the bottom line is that Banksy isn't going to benefit from this exhibit, as he explicitly states on his own website (pictured below) that he has no connection with Lazarides.



So if you want to support the artist then you should try to fund public art all over the place, so that people like Banksy can make a decent living.


Art by Banksy

Melbourne's Federation Square has been taken over by an 11-and-a-half metre (37.5-foot) baby named 'Ping Pong' made by Australian artist Felipe Reynolds:



The artist wanted the baby to "incorporate everybody in it," he said, "I wanted it to not be white, not be black, not be female, not be male - just be as inclusive as possible, so everybody can relate to it."

According to the Fed website:

"Interaction is key to experiencing this unique inflatable. Through a camera rigged to The Atrium screen (operating between 7am – 10pm) members of the public will find themselves part of the installation. Upon interaction the frame will be flipped horizontally, so it looks like the baby is sitting on the ground and the visitors become the human mobile. On weekdays from 10am – 4pm, during the school holidays, play with the baby via 4 giant rattles (1.5 meters) based beneath the inflatable."



Well, I think we can all relate to it being creepy, if nothing else.

While walking on Broome, Australia's, Cable Beach, a woman stepped into a giant bird-like footprint of a Tyrannosaurus-like dinosaur that had been revealed by receding sands on the highly-popular tourist beach area.



The area has had dinosaurs discovered there before, but never in such a high-trafficked area, around so many tourists. Current theories are that the dinosaurs are actually still living amongst us, dressed in mumus, and getting their hair braided while on beach vacations, or training for Australian Navy exercises.



Read more about the discovery here.


Actual photo of Labor Day on Cable Beach:



Watch out, Olivia.

In Australia, It's Magpie Swooping Season, so prepare yourself with this instructive video:

Record your attack and check Attack Maps here.


One seriously pissed off Magpie



And watch your back!

Australian Badminton player Sawan Serasinghe drowned his Rio loss sorrows like only an Olympian can: with an 8,000-calorie gorgefest at Mickey D's.



His fans don't seem too upset about it yet...



...but just wait until that 8,000 calories hits his thighs

It started with four members of the Australian women's water polo being struck down with a virus just days out from the opening ceremony.

Then a fire broke out in the underground carpark of the building where the Australian olympians are staying.

The team is also plagued with thefts of uniforms and laptops.

What a way to start the games!

Close to 65,500 Aussies consider The Force their official religion. That's close to all the Sikhs and more than the Seven Day Adventists, Salvation Army, most Orthodox churches in Australia.

Guess which group is the most upset about the Rise of the Force Followers? Yep, the Atheist Foundation Of Australia! Oh, the irony... Atheist Foundation Of Australia!

(IMAGE: GETTY/MASHABLE)

For the price of A$49, an Australian man won a tropical island. It's a tropical resort on the Micronesian island of Kosrae.

The island has a population of over 6,500 people and is part of the Federated States of Micronesia.

The winner will be the owner of a tropical resort, has his own residence, can take five cars, a pick-up truck and two ten-seater vans for a spin. Not too shabby...

To read more, go to http://mashable.com/2016/07/27/man-wins-tropical-island/#fRx31kwL.aqN

Finally a Pokémon GO! pop song, thanks to Australian art rock band The Stiffys.

Just in case you are planning a trip Down UNder - Margot Robbie defines 50 Australian slang terms for you (not?) to use

Australia's prime minister,Malcolm Turnbull, just came up with a new campaign premise that 'Veep' fans will be a little too familiar with. He talks about keeping continuity... but also changing, something that Julia Louise-Dreyfus's character on 'Veep' also promised. 

You can see him explain it right here:



Actors and creators involved on the show, 'Veep', commented on how surprised they were that this turned into a real political talking point.  Maybe they were too good at parodying politics? 


via @simonblackwell, @frankrichny, @OfficialJLD

Adelaide local, Steven Wilshire is a gosh darn Australian hero. This dude set up a personal sprinkler system for a lil koala that quite frankly, undeniably, was having a tough go of it with the heat. Bro move.