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This is in Surfers Paradise, very close to where I live in Queensland. I've seen it action, and I've seen the spew bucket off to the side - most people don't make it though, so there's a permanent vomit slick around the ride.

In the background, at the end - you can see the Surfers Paradise meter maids. They are employed by the chamber of commerce to walk around parking lots in their bikinis and put coins in expired meters - as a goodwill gesture.

You don't get much classier than those blokes. They look and sound like they could be from these parts. Makes me proud to be a Queenslander, home of the roo-shootin', pig-huntin' type.

Victoria Bitter or more commonly known as VB is the only mainstream beer to successfully penetrate across Australia’s culturally entrenched state beer obsession. It can be seen on tap from outback Western Australia, to old Sydney town and the Northern Territory. But perhaps the extent of its success is perhaps best emphasised in Queensland where XXXX once completely ruled the state’s beer drinkers. Nowadays, you would be hard pressed to find a Queensland pub that did not have both XXXX and VB on tap for all to enjoy.

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Funny, yeah - but this wouldn't play here in Queensland. There are Crocodile Hunter RIP T-shirts for sale everywhere around here.

The vid was ok, but either way he'll certainly be missed...but the irony is that with him dying the way he did and doing what he loved...he's become larger than he ever was when he was living.

I don't agree with everything he did, but I respect the fact he had sincere passion for what he loved and was able to pursue it and share it with the world. He really affected many people's lives for the better, put Queensland on the map and made many people in the mainstream more aware of wildlife conservation.

KRIKEY! We'll miss him!

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It's quite surreal for me to see all this Queensland coverage on the Sift. I'm on the Gold Coast, 80km South of Brisbane. His zoo is on the Sunshine Coast, 80km North of Brisbane.

THE Crocodile Man, Steve Irwin, is dead. He was killed in a freak accident in Cairns, police sources said. It appeared that he was killed by a sting-ray barb that went through his chest, Queensland Police Inspector Russell Rhodes said.
He was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas where he had been filming an underwater documentary when it occurred.

Ambulance officers confirmed they attended a reef fatality this morning at Batt Reef off Port Douglas.

Mr Irwin, 44, was killed just after 11am, Eastern Australian time.

His American wife Terri learned for the tragedy from police in Tasmania, where she had been trekking in Cradle Mountain National Park.

His friend and manager John Stainton said Mr Irwin was filming some segment for daughter Bindi's show on the reef between sessions filiming the main documentary.

It is understood Mr Irwin was killed instantly.

A source said Mr Irwin was already dead when his body was brought onto the Isle.

A source said Mr Irwin's body was being airlifted to Cairns Hospital in North Queensland for formal identification.

An Emergency Services Response Management spokeswoman said they received a call about the tragedy at 11.11 am, Australian Eastern Standard Time.

The response unit left in a helicopter for the Batt Reef at 11.18am and arrived shortly after.

Mr Irwin was pronounced dead at the scene immediately, the spokeswoman said.

Steve Irwin's activities went far beyond his universally-known roles as an international TV star and owner of Australia Zoo, north of Brisbane.

They includes assisting Australian Quarantine Inspection service with advertising campaigns warning travellers not to bring foreign matter into the country, and he was becoming a vocal critic of the slaughter of Australian wildlife.

The federal government recently dropped plans to allow crocodile safaris for wealty tourists in the Northern Territority after Irwin intervened, taking Environment Minister Ian Campbell on a tour of croc infested Cape York.

At the time, Irwin told Australian TV program A Current Affair that: ``Killing one of our beautiful animals in the name of trophy hunting will have a very negative impact on tourism, which scares the living daylights out of me.''

The Prime Minister John Howard considered Irwin a friend, inviting him to a barbecue at The Lodge for US President George W. Bush in 2003.

Irwin was a devoted father to his two children Bindi, 8, and Bob, 3.

"Bindi is the reason I was put on this earth. All I want to do is be with her and all she wants to do is be with me. We have such a great time together and it's not just a father and daughter relationship, it's also like I'm a big brother and she's my little sister,'' he told New Idea magazine in 2005.

However the previous year Irwin had created a furore when he took 'Baby Bob' into Australia Zoo's crocodile enclosure while feeding a four-metre salt water crocodile.

Irwin burst onto the media scene with his documentary The Crocodile Hunter in 1992, and his over-the-top persona soon made him a star. In 2002 he burst on to the big screen on Crocodile Hunter: The Collision Course, soon achieving A-list fame.

His celebrity friends include Russell Crowe.

Despite his worldwide popularity, closer to home Irwin got bad press after he was controversially paid $175,000 for a quarantine ad.

Irwin was named Queenslander of the Year in 2003.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,20349534-952,00.html

wow, the older google news I can find is 2 hour ago. Crazy.

"Aussie media and CNN are reporting that he was killed by a stingray barb that went through his chest. He was swimming at north Queensland's Batt Reef at the time, where he was filming an underwater documentary."

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"The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) was called about 11am (AEST) and an emergency services helicopter was flown to the crew's boat on Batt Reef, off the coast near Cairns, with a doctor and emergency services paramedic on board.

Irwin had a puncture wound to the left side of his chest and was pronounced dead at the scene."

hehe, please for the love of god don't drink fosters. No aussies do, it tastes like crap!

VB = Victoria Bitter which is a pretty standard (nothing better to drink) kinda aussie beer, mostly drunk by sydney siders and melbournians. XXXX is a Queensland beer, because they don't know how to spell beer, but is still one of my favourites.

Bottom line, Fosters is sh*t!

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It's hard to even find it in the liquor stores here. Every state has it's own beer, in Queensland, it's "xxxx" pronounced "Four-X" in Victoria it's "Victoria Bitters" And the states like to make fun of each others beers.

Here in Queensland, I'm a traitor and drink Victoria Bitters, also called "VB" My father-in-law says this stands for "Visitor's Beer" because that's what you unload on them so you can drink the 4X.

As I'm just a transplanted Yank, here only 7 years, I haven't worked out all of the intricacies of which beers you can drink, where and on which ocassions. Australians take their beer drinking seriously.

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Yes - I am Down Under! It's my Aussie wife's pet name for me, though she didn't tell me what it meant for a while ... We live on the Gold Coast of Queensland. I'm US/Aussie Dualie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dag