Thursday, November 12, 2009

So a Kangaroo, a Sea Turtle, and a Great White Shark walk into a bar….

I had started another post, but got sidetracked by this:

A chiropractor in Australia was “just swimming along” in the ocean near Cairns, Australia a couple of days ago when his left arm came crashing down on the back of a ‘very large’ sea turtle that he had somehow failed to notice swimming alongside and slightly beneath him.

The impact against the hard turtle shell hurt his shoulder.

I’m sure the turtle wasn’t thrilled either.

It was the same shoulder that the chiropractor had hurt the week before, when he accidentally CRASHED INTO A KANGAROO while mountain biking nearby.

No word on the poor kangaroo.

All these athletic exertions are because said chiropractor is in training for a marathon swim. He and a friend are going to swim about 1430 miles along the Great Barrier Reef next  year to promote awareness of global warning.

(‘Promoting awareness’ on his part seems like a really good idea.)

He has elected, however, to do the swim without the solar-powered shark cage he’d originally planned to use for safety. He says the cage would be ‘too restrictive’  and the swim wouldn’t be as much fun. He’s also concerned that he could get trapped in the cage and be at greater risk for injury. Now he’s planning to use electronic shark shields instead.

Personally, I think it’s the sharks who should be worried.

VERY worried.

I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.

Here’s a link to the story in the local Cairns newspaper:

http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2009/11/12/75485_local-news.html

And a special thanks to all my twitter-friends in Australia, who just KNEW I’d want to know about this!