It's a long way from the streets of Belmont to the jungle of South Africa, but Lake Macquarie export Tanya Hennessy has made her way onto Channel 10's popular show I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here.
The radio presenter turned YouTube sensation joins the likes of AFL legend Billy Brownless, TV and radio presenter Myf Warhurst and Geordie Shore star Charlotte Crosby for what could be weeks of tough (and often gross) challenges in an effort to win $100,000 for a charity of their choice.
Competitors stay or go based on a regular public vote.
Tanya's competing to win the cash for R U OK? which does brilliant work supporting people who are struggling with their mental health.
"We lose eight Australians a day to suicide and that statistic is not OK with me and we need to do something about it," she said in a video posted on the Channel 10 website.
"This money would give resources to people who do not have it."
It's not the first time the Hunter has been represented on the show - Paul 'Chief' Harragon was runner-up in the second season in 2016.
Putting poison to the test
Here's a question that doesn't come up every day - which of three of Australia's deadliest snakes produces the most venom?
The Australian Reptile Park set about finding the answer last week with what they say was a "worldwide first" venom milk-off.
Snake keepers at the Central Coast wildlife sanctuary milked the venom of a tiger snake, a king brown snake and a coastal taipan in front of a school holiday crowd.
For those keeping score, the coastal taipan produced 2.21 grams of venom, followed by the king brown (1.8 grams) and the tiger snake (0.3 grams).
Changing tune
Speaking of critters, Topics read last week that a new study from the University of Waterloo in Canada has found that deforestation is changing the way some animals communicate with each other in the Costa Rican rainforest.
In very basic terms, the study found that howler monkeys in areas affected by human activity howled in a different way to those that lived in the middle of the forest.
It reminded Topics of a yarn in the Newcastle Herald last week about a magpie in the Hunter caught on camera mimicking emergency service sirens rather than singing the typical maggie birdsong.
Dan sure it's Johns
There's been much conjecture online about whether the bloke snapped at The Growlers gig at 48 Watt Street on Thursday night was actually Daniel Johns.
There were plenty of doubters on Facebook but we're doubling down. A trusted Topics spy in the know is convinced the former Silverchair frontman was at the show - Johns was also in a picture on Instagram posing with two members of Starcrawler on Thursday night, who also played at the venue.
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