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An award-winning German solar car that last week travelled 3000km from Darwin to Adelaide is now heading for Sydney as the next stage of an odyssey to circumnavigate the world.

The two-seater solar electric car, SolarWorld Gran Turismo (SolarWorld GT), is currently en route to Sydney in the final stage of its crossing of Australia. The solar car is expected to arrive at the Sydney Opera House on Wednesday 2nd November.

SolarWorld GT last week successfully completed the first stage of its Australian odyssey by participating in the World Solar Challenge, a 3000km journey from Darwin to Adelaide, which attracted 37 solar cars from 20 countries. All 37 vehicles were powered by the same amount of energy required to run a hair dryer!  SolarWorld GT won the Design Award for the 2011 World Solar Challenge.

After leaving Australia, SolarWorld GT will drive through New Zealand, then traverse several countries from four more continents, comprising North America, North Africa, Europe and Asia. The circumnavigation of the globe will cover about 34,000km with two equatorial-crossings over one year.

OhReally (2007) Credit www.ActionPics.bizOne of South Australia’s best known yacht races, the Milang-Goolwa Freshwater Classic will be held on the weekend of January 21-22, in 2012 after a five-year hiatus because of drought and low water levels.

The Marina Hindmarsh Island Milang-Goolwa Freshwater Classic race will be a spectacular finale to Goolwa Regatta Week, which starts the week beforehand on Saturday January 14 and will offer many community activities on and off the water during the week. 

Racing is open to many off-the-beach monohull skiff and catamaran classes as well as trailer-sailer yachts and vintage river boats. There is a $500 Cash Prize for the special Friday night pre-race event, the ‘Doser Freight Dash For Cash’  short race knock-out series that is sailed right in front of the club marina.

The Goolwa Regatta Yacht Club (GRYC) is relaunching the race with great local support now that the River Murray waters are back and flowing.   GRYC Commodore Don Richardson said the event has attracted strong corporate sponsorship with local developer, The Marina Hindmarsh Island, stepping up as Principal Sponsor for the next five years.

Paul DelaneyAn Australian conference on albinism this month learned how one man with albinism had become an internationally successful professor of astronomy – despite having a severe visual disability.

More than five per cent of Australia’s nearly 1300 albinos attended the Albinism Fellowship of Australia biennial conference in Melbourne on October 8 and 9. The two-day event – dubbed SPF for Spectacular Platinum Festival – covered topics ranging from genetics, visual acuity and brain development to professional opportunities and human rights.

Albinism is an inherited condition present at birth, characterized by a lack of pigment that normally gives color to the skin, hair, and eyes. The condition, which is found in all races, may be accompanied by eye problems and extreme sensitivity to sunlight. In Australia, the incidence of albinism is one in 17,000 – giving the country a total albino population of less than 1300 people. In South Africa, the incidence of albinism among the white population is one in 15,000 – while the incidence among the country’s black citizens in one in 3900!

If you’re goin’ to Rundle Street East, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair on the last Sunday of October because flower power, paisley pants and hippie highs are back in fashion with Woodstock Revisited.

The corporate charity show, which kicks off at midday on Sunday, October 30, will occupy the north west corner of Rymill Park, opposite the Stag Hotel.

As well as a stack of music, munchies and a drop or two of patchouli oil, the show will have bars available for anyone whose psychedelic supplies have passed their use-by date.

Woodstock Revisited 2011 follows the sold-out success of four previous Woodstock events held at the former Waterfall Gully home of Alan Greig and Jane Mitchell, who last year moved to the Fleurieu Peninsula to run Leonard’s Mill.

If you think the current generation of politicians is a pack of pretenders, they’ve got nothing on the crew lined up to entertain the reconstituted hippies, yippies and Adelaide Hillbillies for this afternoon of Peace, Love and “limited edition event merchandise”.

Roger Daltry will front The Who, courtesy of John “Swanee” Swan, while Joe Cocker will croak out a few tunes, thanks to the man behind this year’s Woodstock show, Mastermind Music’s Shane Witham. Janis Joplin (Jackie Yeo), Carlos Santana (Peter Lymbo) and even the guitar-biting maestro himself Jimi Hendrix (Chris Finnen) will fill out the bill.

They’ll get by with a little from their friends, a talented band including Phil Smith on piano, Steve Williams on guitar, Rob Norman on Hammond Organ, James Stewart-Rattray on bass, Livv Bafile on drums and Rowland Creighton on percussion. There’s even a horns section, Dave Brooks (tenor sax), Nick Miller (trumpet) and Michael Cousins (trombone), and a pair of “heavenly angels”, Deb Brunotte and Louise Pearson.

As well as performers including The Boomers, Bluescasters and Brother T & Band, the line-up has even slipped in Bah Na Na.

While organisers promise their show will go on, rain or shine, they probably hope for no repeat of the acres of mudfields that blossomed on Max Yasgar’s farm after rain inundated the original Woodstock.

General admission is $59.95 but if you want to go the whole hog, the all-inclusive VIP ticket will set you back $250. Line up to buy ‘em at Venuetix. For every little detail, check out www.woodstockrevisited.com.au.