The chance to be coached by Roger Federer would surely be a dream come true for any young tennis player. Apart from the Swiss tennis great’s own children, it would seem.

“I’m not the coach, I am the dad and the dad’s advice, as we know, only goes so far,” the 41-year-old Federer laughs. “It doesn’t matter if you’ve won Wimbledon or not, you’re still the dad and sometimes they don’t want to hear what you have to say.

“I try to be funny, but at the same time I also try to be straight sometimes and just teach them. I come in more, I guess, as a technical coach so I try to teach them about all the tennis rackets.”

Federer admits he was relieved when his daughters, Myla and Charlene, didn’t show much interest in playing tennis themselves when they were younger.

When they were born in 2009, Federer was at the peak of his powers on the court and the demands of the tour, constantly travelling the world and spending little time at home, would have made investing time nurturing their development and enjoyment of tennis very difficult.

“I don’t think we were the crazy tennis parents who said: ‘Girls, you’ve got to go and play every day for two hours,’” Federer says.

“But now I really start feeling it now that they are about to turn 14, they want to play more and more and more.”

While Federer is excited that his children are now following in his footsteps on the court – he says the boys, Lenny and Leo, in particular are showing promise – it’s their involvement in his charity work that he finds “very special.”

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of the Roger Federer Foundation, which has helped more than 2.5 million children across six countries in southern Africa and Switzerland.

Federer’s foundation focuses on providing parents, teachers and communities the tools to be able to give children a strong education. His most recent trip was to Lesotho, which in 2020 became the sixth southern African nation to become part of the foundation.

“Any trip into the field is always very special for me, but this one was extra special because it was the first time that all four children could join my wife and my mom as well,” Federer says. “So we had the best time.

“We were there for three or four days traveling through Lesotho, a country I’ve never been to before. So when we got there, it was less of a trip for me, but more a trip for the kids. So it was more catered towards them so they could play with the kids at the schools and run around and play catch and play with a ball and read to one another.

“It was so much fun, honestly, to see it as a dad and hoping that I could spark the fire for charitable work and for my children, I think was very special. So it was a great trip.”

During his visit, Federer played with the kids in the sand, read them books and sat with school teachers to talk about the value of giving the children responsibility. He believes it’s “very important to be hands on” during his time on these trips.

“Just to see the confidence grow in them and just to listen that it’s actually working, what we’re trying to implement, and at the end of the day you have to give them the power,” he says.

On Tuesday, ahead of defending women’s champion Elena Rybakina’s first-round match, Federer was honored with a special ceremony at Wimbledon’s iconic Centre Court.

The eight-time Wimbledon winner was greeted by a rapturous standing ovation as he was introduced to the crowd and made his way into the Royal Box at the All England Club.

It was a fitting celebration of a player that has provided this crowd with countless memorable moments during his 24-year career.

The tearful farewell

On September 23, 2022, Federer took to the court as a professional tennis player for the last time. It was fitting that he did so alongside Rafa Nadal as the duo – who provided tennis fans with arguably the sport’s greatest ever rivalry – played doubles together at the Laver Cup in London.

The photo of Federer and long-time rival and friend Nadal holding hands with tears in their eyes became one of the enduring images of 2022. As the years pass, it will no doubt become one of the most iconic images in sport.

Even as a quadragenarian, Federer says he had every intention of returning to the tour after multiple knee surgeries, but he eventually had to concede that his injury had gotten the better of him.

There was no fairytale ending as Federer and Nadal were beaten by Jack Sock and Frances Tiafoe at the O2 Arena, but after “really, truly dreading” the moment of his retirement, the Swiss superstar says he could not have asked for a more perfect finale to his remarkable career.

“I didn’t talk to anybody about it, really,” he says. “It was just more about getting away from it, but eventually [I had to] decide: where am I going to retire? How painful is it going to be? Or how much of a celebration will it be?

“But it ended up being everything and more for me. I thought it was beautiful and being surrounded by Rafa, Novak [Djokovic], [Andy] Murray, [Björn] Borg, [John] McEnroe, [Rod] Laver, you name it, [Stefan] Edberg, they were all there, my team, my family.

“So it was it was a very, very nice end because I was really, truly dreading that moment of how to go out of the game.”

He set off on a two-year cycling trip around the world with a friend shortly after graduating from high school in 2021.

But just a few months into the journey, Adam Swanson from Minnesota, who was 17 at the time, found himself traveling solo.

Now, after a “few years of unconventional education,” cycling across 20 different countries and four continents, Swanson is finally on his way home, and will begin studying at the University of Minnesota in September.

Swanson, who comes from a family of keen cyclists, has been going on biking tours for as long as he can remember.

Long-held dream

“From when I was in my mother’s womb, in Eastern Europe, all the way up to when I was 14, and we biked across the US, we’ve done at least a two-week cycle tour almost every year,” he explains.

While Swanson had wanted to do a “big bike trip” since he was around 10 or 11, it was the prospect of studying for his college degree remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic that prompted him to start setting the wheels into motion.

For Swanson, the opportunity to explore the world and learn about different cultures was too good to miss and he began making plans to go on a two-year biking tour with his friend Henry.

He says he worked around the clock for his family’s painting company and also spent a few months working for UPS to get the money together to fund his travels.

On August 4, 2021, Swanson and Henry flew from Minneapolis to the Netherlands, where they would begin their cycling journey.

“I did not plan my route,” he says. “I did not train for it. I really just bought the ticket and started when I touched down in the Netherlands.”

From here, the pair cycled over to Germany then into Belgium, France and Italy before heading across northern Italy to Slovenia and Croatia.

However, after a few months of riding through Europe, Henry decided that he’d had enough.

“He’d run out of money, and he was ready to go home,” Swanson explains. “And I was not.”

Swanson then had a big decision to make. Should he return to the US as well, or finish the remainder of the journey on his own?

Riding solo

“When I started the trip, I was thinking if my friend goes home, I’ll probably go home too,” he admits.

“Because I’m not necessarily ready for solo travel. But then he went so much earlier than I thought he was going to. So I decided that I just had to force myself to keep going.”

After a couple of “rough” weeks cycling through Croatia during winter with a limited amount of daylight, Swanson decided to fly to Thailand, where he could “be a bit warmer and have more hours in the day.”

“Once I went to Thailand, I started meeting a lot more people and learning how to solo travel,” he says. “And since then, it has not been a problem at all for me. It’s been really easy.”

Swanson spent around three months riding through Thailand waiting for the borders to open so that he could explore more of Southeast Asia.

But restrictions remained in place in nearby countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam throughout this period, and he eventually gave up and flew to India in March 2022.

Swanson’s father traveled over to join him and the pair spent two weeks touring the country by bike, before he continued on to Nepal solo.

However, cycling through Nepal proved to be particularly grueling, and Swanson recalls exhaustedly pushing his fully loaded bike across the Annapurna Circuit, a trek located within the mountain ranges of central Nepal.

“It took me 14 days to get up and over that path,” he says, explaining that he later discovered that the route was filled with tea houses designed for trekkers to eat and sleep in, so there was no need for him to take so much stuff with him.

“And when I was up there, my tire exploded and I had to fix it with a superglue and Nepali cracker wrapper.”

Once he’d made it safely across the high-altitude path, Swanson rode to the Nepali city of Pokhara, and took a well-deserved dip in one of the area’s rejuvenating natural hot springs.

“That was so nice,” he recalls. “That may be the best moment of my trip.”

‘Unconventional education’

He then flew to Kazakhstan in Central Asia from Nepal and cycled across to Kyrgyzstan.

And while Swanson was bowled over by the landscape of Kyrgyzstan, he admits that riding through some of the more remote parts of the country took an emotional toll on him.

“That country is like a cycle tourist’s heaven,” he notes. “It’s so beautiful. But the central part of the country is pretty much just rolling grass, mountains and nomadic people.

“So I was riding for several days on my own without seeing any people. And no matter how cool that was, just riding with wild animals and these wild landscapes (around me), that was a point where I felt pretty lonely.”

From Kyrgyzstan, Swanson continued across central Asia to Uzbekistan, where he was briefly reunited with Henry.

“He came out to visit me,” he explains. “He flew into Tashkent, Uzbekistan and we biked across Pakistan, Georgia and half of Turkey together.”

Swanson stresses that he doesn’t “really hold anything against” his friend for deciding not to continue with the rest of the trip, and is looking forward to meeting up with him again when he returns home.

“It takes a lot to spend two years doing that (riding through different countries),” he says. “Maybe he just wasn’t ready for that at the time.”

From Turkey, Swanson cycled to Greece, and then on to Italy, Switzerland and Germany.

At this point, he rode back to the Netherlands, where he caught a flight to South America and spent four months riding between Chile and Argentina, before flying back to the US.

He arrived in Los Angeles in March 2023, and began making his way toward Minnesota.

Tight budget

Swanson has managed to survive on a budget of around $21 a day throughout the entire journey and says he actually saved quite a bit of cash during his time in East Asia due to the affordable accommodation options.

“I was able to stay under $10 or even under $5 a day for most of my time out there,” says Swanson, who tends to either wild camp or stay in hostels.

“Now I’m in the US, it’s a bit more expensive. But I can kind of equalize it with what I didn’t spend a year ago.”

He’s been riding the same Salsa Marrakesh bike he’s had since he was 14 throughout the trip, and aside from getting “bumped” a couple of times while in Thailand, he was able to make it back to the US without any major incidents.

However, he came off his bike while riding up a hill in California and hitting some algae a few months ago.

“I almost made the whole trip without any crashes,” he says. “I have not really gotten any bad bike injuries on this trip.”

Although the cycling tours he took with his family as a child involved a lot of planning, Swanson has tried not to plan out his route this time round, and enjoys the freedom this gives him.

“I rarely know where I’m going,” he admits, stressing that he does at least scan a map before setting off to ensure that he has the resources needed for the different locations he’s likely to pass through.

“Pretty early on, I realized that it’s best to plan with no plan,” he says. “So, just talk to the locals, and people who are traveling through the area and figure out the best places to go based on the opportunities that present themselves to you instead of planning everything before you get there.”

His parents have been following his progress closely and are “very jealous,” according to Swanson, who has been detailing his adventures on his blog, Two wheels one world.

“They want to do a trip like this in a few years,” he says. “So they’re kind of living through me right now.”

On June 16, nearly two years after beginning the adventure he’d spent years dreaming about, Swanson, now 19, arrived back in Minnesota, where he was reunited with his thrilled friends and family.

As he prepares to start college in September, Swanson admits that he has mixed emotions about the prospect of having to remain in one place for an extended period.

“I am very sad to be giving up this lifestyle,” he says. “I love exploring new places, always seeing new people and roughing it out here.

“It’s definitely going to be a transition to move into the life of staying in one place, studying and staying with constant people (around).

“But I’m mostly excited for it. Not excited for (the trip) to end, but excited for what’s to come.”

Inspectors were at a North Carolina amusement park Monday to continue investigating a roller coaster shuttered since shortly after a dad spotted a crack at the top of one of its steel support pillars.

The Fury 325 will stay closed until inspections and repairs happen, park officials have said. It’s one of the tallest and longest rides in a massive park that straddles the North and South Carolina state line.

“The North Carolina Department of Labor … (has) inspectors on site who are working to gather more information,” the agency said midday Monday. “We will be able to make a full assessment and provide further information as it becomes available. Safety always has been and always will be our top priority.”

Personnel with the department’s Elevator and Amusement Device Bureau were expected to visit the site. The agency didn’t share anything else about the nature of its inquiry.

Wagner reported the incident to the park’s guest services but still felt uneasy after he left, he said, “so, I called Charlotte Fire.”

“They called me back within 10 minutes and advised the ride was shut down,” he said.

State or local governments have overseen fixed-site amusement parks since Congress revoked that authority in the 1980s from the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission. Nearly 40,000 injuries were estimated last year on amusement attractions, including rides, waterslides and inflatables, the commission reported.

According to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA), there were 0.9 injuries per million rides reported in a 2021 Fixed-Site Amusement Ride Injury Survey.

“An excellent safety record is in the best interest of the industry and leaders within it are committed to providing safe and secure attractions for all their guests and visitors,” IAAPA said in a statement.

Fury 325 is “the tallest, fastest, longest giga coaster in North America,” with a peak height of 325 feet and reaching 95 mph, the park says. A “giga” roller coaster has a drop between 300 and 399 feet, according to Kings Island amusement park in Ohio.

The rest of the Carowinds amusement and water park is open Monday, its website says.

All rides, including Fury 325, “undergo daily inspections to ensure their proper functioning and structural integrity,” Carowinds said.

“Safety is our top priority,” it said, “and we appreciate the patience and understanding of our valued guests during this process.”

Festivalgoers got more of an adventure than they bargained for Sunday when a roller coaster ride got stuck at a fair in Wisconsin, leaving them hanging upside down for hours.

Eight passengers were left suspended when a mechanical failure stalled the ride at the Forest County Festival in Crandon, Wisconsin, the Crandon Fire Department said.

Videos on social media and video taken by WJFW show a rescuer climbing up the side of the Fireball ride, while passengers wait upside down.

The passengers and the crews there to help them were harnessed to keep everyone safe during the rescue, Kostichka said.

An off-duty firefighter with specialized ropes rescue training happened to be on the scene and advised the Crandon Fire Department on potential rescue options, according to a joint news release Tuesday from the fire department and Crandon Area Rescue Squad.

Due to the height of the ride, special equipment and rescue teams were called in to help, the news release said.

Passengers waited for a ladder truck with a 100-foot platform to come from 45 minutes away, the release said. Firefighters from three cities assisted the Crandon Fire Department in the rescue.

The first passenger got back to solid ground at 3:20 p.m. CT, about two hours after emergency crews were dispatched, the news release said. The last passenger reached the ground at 5:01 p.m. – more than three hours after the ride stalled.

“Families are being reunited with people as they come down off of the ride from the rescuers and everybody seems to be doing as best as they can, given the circumstances,” Cook told WJFW.

Nine patients were treated by emergency medical services and one person was transported to Aspirus Rhinelander Hospital by ambulance, according to the release.

Ten fire vehicles, nine ambulances and 50 people from three counties helped rescue the passengers, the fire department said.

The ordeal came two days after a father spotted a crack in a steel support pillar at the top of a roller coaster at Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina. That ride was closed for inspection and repair.

Crandon is in northern Wisconsin, about 30 miles east of Rhinelander.

At least 25 people have been killed after a bus carrying a wedding party burst into flames after crashing in India’s western state of Maharashtra on Saturday.

Mahamuni said the injured were being taken to Buldhana Civil Hospital.

Police believe the bus crashed due to rain at around 2 a.m. local time on Saturday as it was going from Yavatmal to Pune and its diesel tank then caught fire.

News 18 translated a tweet from Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde in which he expressed condolences and offered compensation to the relatives of the deceased.

“Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has expressed deep grief over the horrific accident of a private bus on the Samruddhi highway near Sindkhedaraja in the Buldhana district,” the tweet read.

It said the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund would provide around $6,000 to the families of each person killed “in this unfortunate incident”.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert will miss the Kentucky Derby next year after Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI), the organizer of the horse race and owner of the famed racetrack, extended his suspension through the end of 2024.

The decision was “based on continued concerns regarding the threat to the safety and integrity of racing he poses to CDI-owned racetracks,” the company announced Monday.

Baffert, who has trained six Derby winners, tweeted that he was at a loss to understand this latest action and said he has been “open, honest and forthright.”

The suspension stems from the disqualification of the Baffert-trained horse Medina Spirit in the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Medina Spirit tested positive for a banned substance after initially being declared the winner of the Triple Crown race. Baffert was initially given a two-year ban by Churchill Downs in 2021.

Churchill Downs, which owns several race tracks in several states including, Louisiana, Kentucky and Virginia, released a statement Monday expressing its disappointment with what it calls Baffert’s “continued disregard for the rules and regulations that ensure horse and jockey safety.”

Baffert “continues to peddle a false narrative concerning the failed drug test of Medina Spirit,” the company’s statement reads.

Officials said Baffert signed an agreement before the race, attesting that he would abide by Kentucky racing rules.

“The results of the tests clearly show that he did not comply, and his ongoing conduct reveals his continued disregard for the rules and regulations that ensure horse and jockey safety, as well as the integrity and fairness of the races conducted at our facilities,” the company said.

Medina Spirit, who was a 12-to-1 favorite at post time, was first across the line in the 2021 Kentucky Derby. But a blood sample revealed betamethasone – an anti-inflammatory corticosteroid sometimes used to relieve joint pain – in the horse, which is not allowed on race day under Kentucky equine protocols.

Baffert said Monday that the horse was not injected with the drug and it was in a topical ointment used for a skin infection.

pic.twitter.com/zcM7X2Olqi

— Bob Baffert (@BobBaffert) July 3, 2023

Churchill Downs officials said: “A trainer who is unwilling to accept responsibility for multiple drug test failures in our highest-profile races cannot be trusted to avoid future misconduct. Mr. Baffert will remain suspended from entering horses at all racetracks owned by CDI through 2024.”

Baffert claimed in a tweet that he was told the use of the ointment is permitted in the rules and the Kentucky Racing Commission has the Medina Spirit case before them.

“In no way does this involve a ‘disregard for the rules,’” he wrote. He called the allegation of peddling an incorrect narrative “patently false,” saying he has been silent on the matter.

When first suspended by Churchill Downs, Baffert filed a federal lawsuit. In February, a judge denied the trainer’s request to overturn the suspension and three moths later, the same judge dismissed his suit. Baffert had argued his suspension had a negative effect on his business and reputation.

Baffert missed the past two Kentucky Derby races. But in May, his horse National Treasure was victorious at the Preakness Stakes, earning a record-extending 17th Triple Crown victory for the trainer, who is third in all-time winnings.

Baffert had another horse, Havnameltdown, euthanized on the track this year at Pimlico after it sustained a “non-operable left fore fetlock injury” in an undercard race on the day of the Preakness.

Medina Spirit collapsed and died during a workout in California in December 2021. The colt’s Kentucky Derby victory was nullified in February 2022.

Brazilian authorities said on Monday that soccer star Neymar was fined 16 million reais ($3.33 million) for breaching environmental rules during the construction of his coastal mansion in southeastern Brazil.

The luxury project violated rules regarding the use and movement of freshwater sources, rock and sand, local authorities first alleged late last month and confirmed on Monday.

A spokesperson for Neymar declined to comment on the matter.

His residence is located in the town of Mangaratiba on the southern coast of Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro state.

Mangaratiba’s environmental body said in a statement on Monday that environmental infractions were made “in the construction of an artificial lake at the mansion.”

Besides the fine, the case will be probed by the local attorney general’s office, the state civil police and environmental protection office, among other environmental control bodies.

Coco Gauff suffered a shock defeat in the first round of Wimbledon on Monday, whilst there were mixed results for her US compatriots elsewhere at the third grand slam of the year.

World No. 7 Gauff lost in three sets – 6-4 4-6 6-2 – to fellow American Sofia Kenin in a match which continued late into the London evening.

Kenin, who won the Australian Open in 2020 and is a former world No. 4 before injuries hampered her career, delivered the tournament’s first big shock, showing her teeth by breaking early in the first set.

Gauff, 19, did battle back to take a hard-earned second set but was blown away by world No. 128 Kenin in the decider.

“I knew I had to play my best to win,” the 24-year-old Kenin told reporters. “I just took it point by point, not getting anxious or excited. I really battled out there. I’m so happy I was able to finish it before it got dark – I didn’t want to come back tomorrow.”

Gauff, who made her Wimbledon debut at the age of 15, says she will use the defeat as motivation for her career going forward.

“She had nothing to lose,” Gauff said. “I knew, coming in, she would play with a lot of motivation. It was all about how I would play today and how I would take care of my end of the court.

“Defeat makes me want to work even harder. Right now I feel very frustrated and disappointed. I feel like I have been working hard, but clearly it’s not enough.”

Kenin will face 21-year-old Xinyu Wang in the second round.

Gauff and Kenin were two of 19 US players in the women’s draw at Wimbledon.

The highest seeded amongst the American players was Jessica Pegula, who beat compatriot Lauren Davis in a three-set battle.

Pegula, the No. 4 seed, failed to convert three match points in the second set tie-break as both players dealt with windy conditions.

Eventually, Pegula, who has never made it past the third round of Wimbledon, was able to eke out a tight final set and advance to the second round with a 6-2 6-7(8) 6-3 victory. She will now face Spain’s Cristina Bucșa.

Elsewhere, five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams was beaten in straight sets – 6-4 6-3 – by Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.

Williams looked to have suffered a nasty injury in the opening set when she slipped and fell, grabbing her knee in pain. However, after having treatment, Williams was able to continue.

But the 43-year-old, playing in just her third tournament of the year, was unable to overcome her fellow wildcard Svitolina.

“Grass is inherently going to be slippery, Williams said afterwards. “You’re going to fall at some point.
It was just bad luck for me. I started the match perfectly. I was literally killing it, then I got killed by the grass.

“It’s not fun right now. I felt like I was in great form coming into this tournament, and great form in the match.
It’s all very shocking at the moment. This is sports. I’m hitting the ball well. Hopefully I can just figure out what’s happening with me and move forward.

“I think what makes this one hard to process is I’ve had so many injuries. I’ve been missing from tour for quite a while. This is not what I want for myself. This kind of fall, I didn’t do anything wrong.

“I just went for the ball. There’s nothing I can really do about it. Those kinds of things are hard to process emotionally, mentally and physically on the court.

“I’ve played through a lot of injuries and won a lot of matches injured. It’s almost a specialty of mine. I just couldn’t figure it out today.”

A ball flies down the fairway, watched by a mob of kangaroos with passing interest.

In a nearby water hazard, a three-and-a-half-meter long crocodile swims lazily by. On the green, a venomous snake uncoils out of the hole and slithers away into the long grass.

The golfing experience in Australia can be – quite literally – a different beast. In a country teeming with wildlife, the sprawling expanses of its myriad courses offer ideal habitats for an array of land-based, aquatic, and airborne species.

A strong wildlife presence does not make Aussie golf unique: the histories of professional events being interrupted by various creature cameos – from squirrels to seagulls and deer – are well-documented.

Few countries, however, boast a range of animals as dangerous as Australia, a reality that poses challenges to the courses that many of them call home.

‘Roos in the rough

Thankfully, one species of the nation’s most iconic animal is very little trouble at all, even for a course that accommodates hundreds of them.

More than 300 Eastern Grey kangaroos enjoy total freedom of movement at Anglesea Golf Club, situated on the Great Ocean Road along Victoria’s stunning southern coastline, an hour’s drive from the center of Melbourne.

The hopping marsupials were the original residents of the area, with the farmer only selling the land for the course – opened in 1953 – on the condition that the kangaroos would be allowed to keep living there.

Seventy years on, the course remains teeming with ‘roos. It’s a reality fully embraced by the club, which runs a popular kangaroo bus tour to give visitors a deeper insight into the lives of its beloved locals.

“Because they sit up, scratch themselves and use their ears very expressively, people relate to them so easily and quickly … they’re a little bit human.”

Yet the kangaroos may actually require less upkeep than people, effectively “managing themselves,” Lacey added.

With no fences around the course’s perimeter, the ‘roos can roam as they like, free to venture off into the surrounding bush and streets. This typically only applies to males however, as females and joeys (young) tend to stay rooted to a particular spot on the course.

The occasional narrow footprint in a bunker is the extent of damage. As vegetarians, the kangaroos exist on a diet of grass – predominantly the longer type around the course’s edges – bark, and leaves.

A potential poo problem is naturally solved by mowers spreading the manure around, providing free fertilizer for the fairways. If a ball does settle in a sandy footprint, players are afforded a drop.

The club provides only two broad guidelines regarding its kangaroos, such is their docile nature: no feeding and no petting. Regular players are well-accustomed to their presence, knowing they need to move the ‘roos from the fairway if they tend to be a low-hitter.

That can be easier said than done. The course’s kangaroos have no interest whatsoever in golf balls and are so comfortable around people that they often won’t move unless players get within a meter.

Arm waving and vocal cues are likely to be met with a blank stare, but the flap of a golf umbrella has been found to be an improvised fix for getting the kangaroos to move if they’re at risk of being hit.

Because even if the kangaroos don’t care about the golfers, the golfers care deeply about the kangaroos.

“The players never tire of the ‘roos,” Lacey said.

“If there’s a baby just coming out or having a little jump, you just stop playing and watch that with your mouth open, even when you’ve seen it hundreds of times.

“They are infinitely fascinating and players just love them.”

Water hazards

There is no need for a no-petting rule for other animals that commonly inhabit Australian golf course – chief among them, crocodiles.

The country’s warmer northern states of the Northern Territory and Queensland serve as ideal habitats for saltwater crocodiles, known locally as “salties,” which can grow up to six meters (19 feet) in length. There are thought to be more than 100,000 saltwater crocodiles in the Northern Territory, according to regional government estimates.

Queensland’s cooler temperatures make it less of a croc hotspot than the Northern Territory, yet their presence in the state’s waterways remains a daily – frequently dangerous – reality. In May alone in Queensland, human remains were found inside a crocodile; weeks later, a snorkeler survived a saltie attack by prizing its jaws off his head.

It brings a new meaning to the term ‘water hazards’ at Queensland’s various golf courses, including Half Moon Bay Golf Club near Cairns, situated on the state’s north-eastern tropical coastline and carved out of the thick coastal scrub between the Coral Sea and swathes of rainforest-covered mountains.

It’s a course humming with wildlife. Overhead, there’s a sprawling array of birdlife, from the vibrant crimson finches of the lagoon grasses to the great-billed herons that wade among the mangroves. Underfoot, snakes, including pythons and venomous taipan and brown species, and lizards, specifically monitors and goannas, explore the long grasses.

Turtles and a range of fish frequent the course’s various waters, but of all the animals around the course, it’s the crocodiles who draw in the crowds.

“Crocodiles seem to be a tourist drawcard and people want to see them. Other animals, turtles and birds etc., are welcomed sightings but not something that seems to draw people to our venue.”

Operating in the course’s favor is a “crocwise” nature built into the majority of the club’s players. The Queensland government’s guidelines, such as standing back from the water’s edge when fishing and never feeding crocodiles, have become common-sense for locals.

Crocodile sightings can be reported to local rangers via an app, online, or by mobile. If it is declared as a “problem” crocodile – based on its location, size and behavior – it is targeted for removal with the aim of relocating it to a licensed zoo or and farm.

The last big crocodile to be removed by rangers from Half Moon Bay was in 2019. Despite their enduring popularity at the course, daily sightings remain a novelty.

Yet vigilance remains essential, especially for the two groups most at risk: those unaccustomed to the dangers of the local wildlife, and those searching for golf balls away from the open fairways and greens.

“The challenges are specific to risk management,” Mackrill added. “We have a number of inquisitive patrons that are not adverse with the dangers some of this wildlife.

“Complacency during a round of golf also can lead to some dangers, (if) players put more attention into searching for their golf ball then the potential of being close to a hidden animal.”

Hissing hole

Sometimes though, it’s inquisitive wildlife that brings potential danger to patrons.

Amanda Jayne is a member of The Coast Golf Club, a links course perched on the sea cliffs of Sydney’s stunning coastline. In June and July, golfers will frequently putt to the backdrop of humpback whales and their calves mid-migration.

On one blistering Saturday in January though, the spectacle was front and center.
Waiting for her friend to putt, Jayne was holding the 2nd hole flag when she noticed a chrome black shape, four feet long, slithering across the green towards her.

The visitor was a red-bellied black snake, a venomous – albeit generally shy – species of the elapid family native to Eastern Australia.

Jayne’s playing partner, terrified of snakes, bolted. Yet Jayne stayed just long enough to put the flag back in before the snake eased into the cup and coiled itself around it. Showing no sign of aggression, the serpent kindly poked its head out for a photo opportunity.

“But I was calm, just put the flag back in. It wasn’t until after the event when I thought, ‘Oh my god, I just came that close to a red bellied-black.’”

The snake was so tightly tucked in that it could not be seen from eye level, so Jayne’s group alerted the clubhouse and continued with their round. A few holes later, it disappeared back into the bush.

Several more of the snakes have been spotted since, but while caution is required, they are often a welcome sight. Red-bellied blacks prey on eastern brown snakes, a highly-venomous, more aggressive species that – should the grass be scorched or cut too low – can effectively become “invisible.”

For Jayne, originally from England, it’s simply par for the Aussie golf experience.

“You live in Australia, and they [dangerous wildlife] all live here,” Jayne said.

“It doesn’t matter whether you’re on a golf course, whether you walk in bush lands – wherever you are, you know they’re there, you just have to be cautious.”

Seven people were injured on a Hawaiian Airlines flight to Sydney, Australia, on Friday when the plane was buffeted by severe turbulence, the airline confirmed.

When the nearly 11-hour flight landed in Sydney, airport medical personnel tended to the injured, which included passengers and crew members, the spokesperson said.

Three of the injured were released after being assessed on scene, and four others were taken for further evaluation, the airline said. Those four included one passenger and three flight attendants.

The three flight attendants have since been released, the spokesperson said. Hawaiian Airlines said it has been in contact with the passenger but was not able to provide an update on their condition as of Monday evening.

“Our immediate priority is to continue to care for our passengers and crew affected by this turbulence event, and we thank Sydney airport first responders for their swift assistance,” the airline said.

The Federal Aviation Administration said it is investigating the incident.

There have been several reports of dangerous – and in one instance fatal – turbulence in recent months. In March, severe turbulence on a private jet resulted in the death of a former White House official, just days after 7 people were transported to hospitals after a separate commercial flight hit significant turbulence.