Photo: Grace Quast Whatever you do, don t call it tequila! says Black Snake Distillery founder Stephen Beale, who makes a spirit from wild agave plants that grow along the creek at his family farm in Narrabri, about 500 kilometres north-west of Sydney. Agave is a weed out here. The plants grow from pups [offshoots] that washed down from a farm upstream where they were planted a hundred years ago.
From those weeds, Beale and his partner Rosemary Smith make a tequila-like spirit at their solar-powered distillery. Beale explains that tequila is made in just five states in Mexico and, by definition, must be made from blue agave (Agave tequilana).
Eight British tourists are suing a South African safari park after they became trapped by a pride of wild lions when their tour vehicle overturned.
Eight British tourists are suing a South African safari park after they became trapped by a pride of wild lions when their tour vehicle overturned.
The group are claiming hundreds of thousands of pounds for injuries and post-traumatic stress allegedly suffered when they were exposed to the “threatening conduct of the lions” at Sanbona Wildlife Reserve northeast of Cape Town.
One of the animals also stole a boot from the tourists, they say.
Papers lodged at Cape Town High Court claim that the injuries were due to the irresponsible actions of Natasha Van der Merwe, a park employee.
Beyond the button: Exotic mushroom growing takes off in Australian sheds and suburbs
Richard Cornish
Photo: Richard Cornish
Out back of Ballarat in Central Victoria, on a hill scarred by gold mines, sits a brand new shed. Small, clean and clinical like a Bond villain lair, the shed is home to exotic fungi farm The Mushroom Connection.
Owner Jason Crosbie was a fungus enthusiast, working in IT, until last year when his vision to make a living off mushrooms became a reality. On his Ballarat hill, Crosbie grows a range of mushrooms such as blue oysters, king brown, shiitake, enoki, and lion s mane, harvesting about 80 kilograms per week for restaurants and food stores.