Australia Archives - AIB Insurance

Kangaroo Those of you who are keen paragliders no doubt love the thrill and excitement of taking to the air and pitting yourself against the elements in the sky. Once airborne, you are faced with many challenges but this is just one of the many attractions of the sport.

Having spent some time travelling many miles paragliding, you are then faced with the danger of having to make a safe landing. Most paragliders land without a problem but some suffer broken limbs if they mis-judge their landing perhaps due to a sudden gust of wind putting them of course and leaving them stranded in the branches of a large oak tree.

It is no doubt a great sense of relief having put two feet safely on the earth without suffering any mishap. Surely nothing untoward can then happen?

Well, this was not the case for a 35-year-old paraglider over in Australia. Apparently, the man in question had enjoyed a wonderful couple of hours paragliding. He descended and both feet safely touched the ground at the Orroral Valley Space Tracking Station near Canberra. However, even before he had had the opportunity to gather his parachute and get out of his gear he saw a kangaroo skipping hastily towards him. Having then warmly greeted the approaching kangaroo the marsupial then proceeded to attack him not once but twice by punching him.

Fortunately, he did not suffer any serious injury and hopefully the unexpected experience will not have put him off paragliding in the future although he will no doubt be on the look out for any kangaroos in the vicinity of where he next plans to land.

Fortunately, coming face to face with a kangaroo is not something that paragliders taking to the air here in the UK are likely to encounter when landing although no doubt some people have probably come down in a field of cattle and felt a little uneasy.

If you participate in sailing then you may be interested to read that the SV Tenacious, the world’s biggest utilized tall sailing ship made of wood, has recently completed a sailing trip from the UK to Australia. The 65 metre long vessel that weighs 586 tonnes set off from Southampton back in November last year and nine months later, in July 2016, arrived in Sydney, Australia – a distance of 18,000 miles. It is now on a year long tour around the coast of Australia.

One thing that is particularly interesting about this vessel is that it can be crewed by people with disabilities as well as those without a disability. The tall ship with 21 sails that cover an area of 1200 square metres was built for the Jubilee Sailing Trust and was launched back in 2000. 65% of the funding to build the vessel came from the National Lottery.

It has some features that are for the benefit of disabled people who sail it including those in wheelchairs. For instance, the decks are wide and flat making it easy to get around the ship. To get between the decks there are wheel chair lifts. It has a speaking compass that will make it easier for those that are say partially sighted and a hearing loop for those that have hearing difficulties. For those people who are not particularly strong, the hydraulic power assisted steering no doubt proves invaluable. Some of the toilets and showers are designed with the severely disabled in mind. It has a mess room, bar, bunks and some cabins that are suitable for disabled people.

It has a professional crew of 7 supported by a number of volunteers who are experienced sailors. 40 guest crew are permitted on a voyage of whom 8 can be wheelchair users.

So, if you are interested in going on a voyage on the SV Tenacious at some point in the future, why not get in touch with the Jubilee Trust.