WozzTopia

Spider Cow Queens Gardens

A few months ago (I know I’ve been slack) I visited a friend in Shepparton where I lived for a few years in the early 90′s and while there I just had to photograph the “cows” !! I can not wait to get get back to check out the new additions and the ones I missed last time around.

Shepparton is the fifth largest city in Victoria, Australia. The population of the municipality of City of Greater Shepparton in 2005 was estimated to be at 60,403 residents. The population of Shepparton-Mooroopna is estimated at 38,773. It is located approximately 200 km North-East of Melbourne.

Moooving Art is a mobile, interactive public art exhibit that features life-sized three-dimensional cow sculptures – with attitude! Local artists transform these sculptures to make each piece unique, or funny, or challenging.

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Full image gallery

The sculptures are regularly moved to different locations around the city. You can find the cows in parks and public open spaces, on the sidewalks and in surrounding towns. New cows are always being added to the herd as older ones are put out to pasture’.

Greater Shepparton is the heart of a region that produces 35°o of Australia’s dairy exports, so the cow was a natural choice for this unusual exhibit. There are now over 90 cows wandering about the area, adding colour, and fun, to your visit.

Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation is a Shepparton based organisation with the aim of increasing the level of tissue and organ donation in Australia.  It does this by raising awareness of tissue and organ donation in the community.

The foundation is run by Allan and Kim Turner.  Their daughter, Zaidee Rose Alexander Turner – aged 7 years and 22 days died suddenly on 2nd December 2004 from a burst blood vessel in her brain called a Cerebral Aneurism. The Turner family have been registered Organ and Tissue Donors for 5 years. As a result Zaidee donated her Organs and Tissues at the Royal Children’s Hospital as were her wishes at the time. Zaidee was the only child in Victoria under the age of 16 years and we have been told one of the youngest Australians to donate her organs and tissues in 2004. She was only I of 6 children nationally to donate their organs.

In the year Zaidee died, another 130,000 Australians also died. Only 218 people generously donated their organs or tissues. One in five Australians on the transplant waiting list die before they get a chance to receive a transplant. Currently there is between 1700 to 2000 people waiting to get that important call from the hospital that they have found a donor for their transplant.

You can support the Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation by:

* Registering to be an Organ & Tissue Donor by clicking here:
* visiting the Website and finding out more about the Foundation by clicking here:
* making a donation by clicking here
* Zaidee’s Rainbow LacesBuying a pair of Zaidee’s Rainbow Shoelaces for yourself or
as a gift from your nearest Athlete’s Foot store.
* Buying a box of 50 laces ($100) to use as a thoughtful corporate gift.  Click here for an order form.

21st Century Breakdown

Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown is one of my most-anticipated releases for 2009, due for releases in May. Today I was able to listen to the demo of 21st Century Breakdown (possibly one of their most epic song yet)  and was pleasantly surprised at the familiarity of what I was hearing.

With a typical punk urgency and angst filled lyrics, this song and I am sure the whole album is sure to please die hard Green Day fans and rope in quite a few ones.

21st Century Breakdown is the follow-up to the 2004 Grammy-winning American Idiot, and took Billie Joe Armstrong three years to write. The band has been in the studio with producer Butch Vig (Nirvana, Against Me!) for some months, and is due out mid May.

I really can’t wait I find myself almost champing at the bit.