HALLOWEEN PUPPETS
It only takes spoons, pencil, paper and glue to make your next spooky Halloween character
make it a cat
Take the broom and cut strands of it to make whiskers of the cat
Take velvet paper of two colours and wrap the spoons with it
Fix plastic bottle caps on the two spoons for hats
THE NINGALOO COAST of Western Australia has the country’s largest coral reef. Located approximately 1,200 kilometres north of Perth, this 260-km-long coast received the World Heritage tag in 2011.
The site derives its name Ningaloo from the Wajarri language of the Aboriginals, meaning “deep water” or “high land jutting into the sea.”
The coast has numerous sub-terranean features. It has karst caves, dolines and water bodies that are home to a wide variety of sub-terranean species.
The highlights of the diversity of this area is that it includes a lagoon, a reef, an open ocean, the continental slope and the continental shelf. Besides shores, sandy beaches, estuaries and mangroves, this reef nurtures tropical as well as temperate marine flora and fauna.
A major attraction of the Ningaloo reef is the grand congregration of hundreds of whale sharks during mass coral spawning events. The ecosystem supports fishes (500 species), corals (300 species), molluscs (600 species) and many other marine invertebrates.
A garden of sponges in the deeper waters of the coral reef has been discovered at the site recently. The smallnosed sea snake, which was thought to be extinct 17 years ago, was spotted in the reef in December 2015.
The exotic area has often been targeted by real estate developers. Mauds Landing, a major breeding ground of loggerhead turtles, was feared to be occupied for construction of a resort that would have acutely damaged the ecosystem. Author and resident Tim Winton then voiced protest against the project. A prolonged opposition finally ended all prospects of commercial construction in the area.