The phrase "digging a hole to China" has endured, no doubt, because kids like to dig holes and parents like to ask where they're digging to.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In Australia, China usually comes to mind. In the UK, Australia is usually the digging destination.
Anyhow, we were chatting to reader Anita, who asked us whether we liked the word "antipodes".
Topics: "Doesn't that refer to Australia and New Zealand?"
Anita: "Yes, but it also refers to any parts of the Earth that are diametrically opposite."
Which got us thinking. If we dug a tunnel from Newcastle directly to the other side of the world, where would we come out?
Perhaps we should have been surprised [we weren't] to find a website dedicated to this exact question.
We typed "Newcastle NSW" into the website's search bar. Lo and behold, if we were to dig a tunnel directly to the other side of the world - through the crust, mantle and core - we'd emerge in the Atlantic Ocean, near the Azores archipelago of Portugal.
Lonely Planet dubbed the Azores "the other Eden" and "Europe's secret islands".
Developed areas on the islands cover only five per cent of the land. The rest includes conservation areas and marine reserves. It's quite the environmental wonderland.
The islands are about 1500 kilometres from Portugal, 2000 kilometres from Morocco on the African coast and, across the Atlantic, about 2000 kilometres from Newfoundland in Canada.
There's your next holiday sorted.
A Dog's Life
Mount Hutton's John Ure recently shared his thoughts on why dogs were smarter than humans.
The gist of his point was that dogs can easily understand his commands like "toilet, dinner and bedtime", but he had no idea what their yaps, barks and growls mean.
Pete Rawling says his mate Raffa's dog is also pretty special.
"Raffa has a bitzer who understands both English and Spanish commands," he said.
"Raffa has a disability and 'Chika' has been trained as his support dog. She is super intelligent and has a bag full of tricks. She understands everything he says but will often 'tell' him when she wants something like dinner."
Huh. A bilingual dog.
Paleolithic Dogs
Speaking of dogs, reader Joanne has been feeding her dogs a snack called "real kangaroo sticks".
These sticks are "grain-free" and they include "spinach and kale".
They're also "gluten-free" with no artificial flavours and colourings.
The packaging said the doggy sticks "help to replicate the Paleolithic-style diets their ancestors consumed in the wild".
"The absence of grains may also assist dogs with sensitive dietary needs."
Joanne said: "He's a very modern dog".
