New iPhone, iPad launching later this year?

According to Digitimes, Pegatron Technology will be producing the next-generation iPhone in preparation for a September launch, while a 10-inch iPad from the same supplier could hit store shelves in the fourth quarter.

Just about everyone expects Apple to launch a new iPhone later this year, but according to a new report, the company might also unveil a new iPad.

Taiwanese Apple supply partner Pegatron has scored the production of Apple’s next iPhone, as well as a new iPad, Digitimes is reporting, citing sources. The blog, which has become well known for its rumors, claims Pegatron will need to have the next iPhone available for a September launch. The new iPad will be ready for a fourth-quarter launch, according to the site’s sources.

Digitimes added another wrinkle to its report, saying that the new iPad will come with a 10-inch display. It’s not clear if the blog was simply rounding up, and the device will feature the same 9.7-inch screen found in Apple’s current iPad, or if the Cupertino, Calif.-based company will be offering up a slate with a legitimately 10-inch screen.

One of the biggest questions surrounding the Apple ecosystem right now is when the next iPhone will actually launch. Some rumors have pegged the release date at October, while others suggest it’ll launch over the summer. A few rumors have cropped up claiming a September launch.

Rumors of another iPad launching later this year have also popped up at times, though the focus of those reports has revolved around a 7-inch Apple slate. Digitimes cited the 7-inch iPad, as well, in today’s report, saying that that option could hit store shelves in August.

Apple has stuck to its customary silence on the matter, deciding instead to let the rumor mill build up the hype for it. Still, CNET has contacted Apple for comment on the Digitimes report. We will update this story when we have more information.

source: news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57430896-37/new-iphone-ipad-launching-later-this-year

Google+ for iPhone gets first big visual overhaul

The company has given its Google+ app for the iPhone a new coat of paint, replacing a design that didn’t quite match up with its Web counterpart.

If there’s one thing to be said about Google+ for the iPhone (iTunes), it’s that it hasn’t looked as good as its Web counterpart. With an update today, Google is hoping to change people’s opinions on that.

In a new version of the software that went out to Google+ users for iPhone today, the company has overhauled the look and feel of the app, making text bigger and adding a kinetic feel as photos float into view as users scroll down.

In a blog post about the update, Google Senior Vice President Vic Gundotra called it “a mobile app with sense and soul.”

“We’re embracing the sensor-rich smartphone (with its touchable screen and high-density display), and transforming Google+ into something more intimate, and more expressive,” Gundotra said.

The update comes on the heels of Google more deeply integrating Google+ inside of its Gmail Web e-mail service. Yesterday the company rolled out a way for users to view and respond to a Google+ comment thread, as well as +1 posts that are sent to their in-box.

Gundotra says that the Google+ app for the company’s Android platform will arrive “in a few weeks” with “a few extra surprises.” Still missing is a version of Google+ for Apple’s iPad. However, unlike earlier versions of the app, the iPhone version can be scaled up using the iPad’s x2 mode.

source: news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57431185-94/google-for-iphone-gets-first-big-visual-overhaul/

Facebook's IPO and the people getting rich off it

NEXT week’s much-anticipated Initial Public Offering (IPO) of social networking giant Facebook has caused all kinds of speculation about its value.

Predictions have put the company’s value at anywhere from between $US75 to $100 billion.
Whatever end of that scale it is, Facebook’s emergence on the US stock market will make some smart kids very rich, and some rich people much richer. Our look at the social network’s big players reveals how the right connection at the right time can make you a billionaire.

At the centre of Facebook’s 800 million friends is a tightly connected core network of former and future co-workers, mentors, and benefactors.
There are veteran investors, whiz kids and their outmanoeuvred former friends, hardened executives and even rockstar artists, but they all have one thing in common – a very nice boost to the bank balance headed their way, courtesy of the social network.

See who’s making how much from the IPO with our special interactive below, then keep reading to explore the Insider Network. (Interactive will not appear on some mobile devices)
We start where Facebook started – Harvard University and Mark Zuckerberg.
The Facebook Group

It began with the Facebook founders – four young students with an idea – and an old schoolfriend who inspired it.

Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes were Harvard roommates, and the three were friends with Eduardo Saverin. They got the idea for Facebook from Zoo Buddy, a rudimentary social network created by Zuckerberg’s old school friend Adam D’Angelo.

Of those, only Zuckerberg still remains on the Facebook payroll.
D’Angelo came on as chief technology officer for Facebook before leaving to start up question and answer website Quora.The Quora team now includes several ex-Facebookers.
When Moskovitz left Facebook to start up Asana, he used his connections well, and the start-up shared many of the same investors as Facebook, including Peter Thiel, Sean Parker and Marc Andreessen’s firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Andreessen, a high-level venture capitalist and Facebook boardmember, is the co-founder of Netscape, and his venture capital firm also has stakes in Groupon, Twitter and Zynga.

Chris Hughes has fewer Silicon Valley links than his former classmates. The 28-year-old is majority owner of liberal magazine, the New Republic, and was behind Barack Obama’s online 2008 presidential campaign.

source: news.com.au/business/the-insider-network-facebooks-ipo-and-the-people-getting-rich-off-it/story-e6frfm1i-1226313699540

Optus reports $787 million profit

OPTUS has managed to lift its annual net profit by 1.5 per cent to $787 million despite intense competition from its telco rivals.

The result for the year to March 31 was unveiled as Optus, which is owned by Singapore Telecommunications, announced its fourth quarter net profit also rose 2.1 per cent to $267 million.

However, revenues dipped 1.1 per cent in the quarter to $2.296 million.
Optus said its revenues had come under pressure from intense competition during the quarter and a mandated cut in mobile phone termination rates from 9 cents a minute to six cents.

The year to March 31 operating revenue was up 0.9 per cent to $9.37 billion, supported by mobile revenue growth of 1.6 per cent.

Optus boss Paul O’Sullivan said that despite the fourth quarter operating revenue loss, the telco was still competitive.
The number of Optus mobile subscribers lifted 4.6 per cent to 9.068 million in the year.

“The Australian mobile market remains highly competitive and has been further impacted by lower termination rates,” Mr O’Sullivan said.

“Despite this, Optus demonstrated the underlying strength of its mobile business with continued postpaid customer growth in the quarter.”

“Looking forward, we believe we are in a strong position to compete more effectively and drive sustainable growth for our business with a number of key mobile network investments, a new brand position and a restructured cost base.”
Optus’s results were announced as SingTel said its net profit for the year to March 31 was $S3.989 billion ($3.17 billion), up 4.3 per cent on the previous corresponding period.

Operating revenue was $S18.825 billion ($14.95 billion), up 4.2 per cent.

source: news.com.au/business/markets/optus-reports-787-million-profit/story-e6frfm30-1226351799503

THE Australian share market has closed higher, boosted by a better-than-expected unemployment rate and expectations that another cut to interest rates will be forthcoming despite the stronger jobs figures.
Australia’s monthly jobless rate unexpectedly dropped to 4.9 per cent in April, when economists had expected it to rise to 5.3 per cent, up from 5.2 per cent in March.

At 4.15pm AEST, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 20.5 points, or 0.48 per cent, at 4295.6 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index had risen 21.6 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 4353.8 points.
On the ASX 24, the June share price index futures contract was 14 points higher at 4294 points, with 33,716 contracts traded, according to preliminary calculations.

CMC Markets sales trader Ben Taylor said the unemployment number was encouraging to investors who were also pondering the negative factors of slowing import growth in China and the continued uncertainty over whether Greece would proceed with economic austerity measures.

“The unemployment read was better than expected, and that’s sent the market higher,” Mr Taylor said.
“Even after the unemployment data came out a little bit better than expected, I think people still do expect a rate cut.
“I think people are buying this market on the idea that the Aussie dollar will continue to fall, and our prospects will get better once the (official interest) rates are down around three per cent.

Among the major banks, National Australia Bank was four cents lower at $24.57 despite its six-month profit rising to a record $2.83 billion.

ANZ was down 97 cents to $22.15 after the stock went ex-dividend, Commonwealth Bank gained 24 cents to $51.90, and Westpac added six cents to $22.90.

In the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton was 29 cents higher at $34.62.
Rio Tinto was 71 cents richer at $61.94 as Rio’s chairman told shareholders that he was more confident about the global economic picture than he was six months ago.

Among other stocks, News Corporation rose 89 cents to $20.16, and its non-voting stock advanced 93 cents to $19.96 after third-quarter net profit rose 47 per cent.

Singapore Telecommunications was steady at $2.53 as SingTel-owned telco Optus said net profit for fiscal 2012 rose 1.5 per cent to $787 million despite intense competition from rivals.

Fuel supplier and distributor Caltex Australia scraped off one cent to $13.39 as it said an ongoing review of the future of its loss-making refineries is focusing on the Kurnell refinery in Sydney.

Construction giant Leighton Holdings was 17 cents higher at $19.35 after it was awarded $800 million in gas and water infrastructure contracts in Queensland.
On Wall Street on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 97.03 points, or 0.75 per cent, to 12,835.06 points.

source: news.com.au/business/markets/shares-to-open-lower-on-overseas-leads/story-e6frfm30-1226351648880

US stocks fall as Europe doubts bubble to surface

Fear of European debt is once again playing havoc with Wall Street.

Stocks pitched down Wednesday in the United States as borrowing rates climbed for Spain and Italy, a sign that investors are losing confidence in those countries’ finances.

Spain’s 10-year borrowing rate leapt to 6.06 percent from 5.70 percent early Tuesday. Many fear that Spain, strangled by high unemployment and a real estate collapse, could be the next nation to require financial rescue.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down as much as 184 points before recovering about half of the loss. Still, the average has fallen for six consecutive days, its longest losing streak since last summer.

The Dow soared 2,624 points, or 25 percent, from Oct. 3 through May 1 as European leaders appeared to get a handle on the debt crisis. Last fall, nations that use the euro agreed to enforce budget discipline across the region.

Since May 1, when the Dow closed at a four-year high, worries about Europe have resurfaced. In elections on Sunday, Greek and French voters ousted leaders who had imposed tough spending cuts to soothe investors.

In the six losing days that ended Wednesday, the Dow gave back 444 points — one-sixth of the points it gained during its eight-month rally. The Dow closed down 97.03 points, or 0.8 percent, at 12,835.06.

Greece, without a government since Sunday’s elections, appears increasingly likely to exit the euro currency union or be forced out. The resulting uncertainty could cause turmoil throughout global markets.

The spring decline has become a motif on Wall Street. In 2010 and 2011, the Dow climbed in the first three months of the year, then flat-lined or lost ground as events overseas overshadowed modest economic growth in the U.S.

The market today is tame compared with last summer, when the Dow routinely swung by hundreds of points a day.

But the atmosphere is starting to resemble last year’s as traders sell anything deemed risky based on the latest headlines from Europe, said Peter Tchir, who trades a range of investments for his hedge fund TF Market Advisors.

“The concern in Spain is at such a high level that people trade the indexes or big futures contracts and are less discriminating about what risk they’re taking on,” he said.

On Wednesday, prices fell for commodities such as energy, copper and silver that are needed to sustain broad economic growth but are less valuable when the economy is weaker and demand wanes.

Benchmark crude oil, which sold for about $110 per barrel earlier this year, fell below $100 last week and kept sliding. It closed below $97 Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, continuing its longest decline since last July.

Commodity prices also were under pressure because the dollar rose against the euro, sending the euro down as low as $1.2910, its lowest point since Jan. 23. Commodities are traded in dollars, so a strong dollar makes them appear more expensive to investors who hold foreign currencies.

European stocks are having one of their worst weeks in months. London’s FTSE 100 index is down 2.2 percent this week, its worst performance since December. Stocks in Athens are down 10.8 percent, the most since August.

Cash flowed into ultra-safe investments such as U.S. Treasurys, pushing the yield on the 10-year note as low as 1.80 percent, near a seven-month low. The yield finished the day at 1.84 percent as stocks moved off their earlier lows.

One reason that demand for Treasurys is increasing: As Europe deteriorates and hiring in the U.S. slows, traders believe that the Federal Reserve is more likely to engage in another round of bond-buying to juice the economy.

Bond-buying by the Fed lowers bond yields, pushing more cash into stocks and commodities. When traders expect the Fed to act, they buy bonds to take advantage of the extra demand that the Fed’s buying will create.

Economic indicators and corporate earnings in the U.S. continue to signal recovery, albeit a choppy one. The government said after trading began that U.S. wholesale stockpiles grew in March at their slowest pace in four months, a sign demand is too weak for companies to ramp up production.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index and Nasdaq composite average both closed well above their lows for the day. The S&P fell 9.14 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,354.58. The Nasdaq dropped 11.56, or 0.4 percent, to 2,934.71.

Tchir expects the market to grow more volatile as traders track deadlines for indebted European nations to repay bond investors or raise cash. For investors who benefited from the recent rally, he said, “I think it’s time to take money off the table.” There’s too much of a disconnect between the Dow’s recent four-year high and European markets that are scraping three-year lows, he said.

European stocks rose into the close, recovering some earlier losses. Indexes in France and London closed down less than 1 percent after steep losses earlier.

In corporate news:
— Chiquita Brands plunged 28.9 percent after the banana purveyor reported first-quarter earnings that were far below the expectations of Wall Street analysts.
— Macy’s lost 3.8 percent after the department store chain made an earnings forecast that fell below Wall Street projections.
— Walt Disney Co. rose 1.6 percent, the most of the 30 stocks in the Dow, after the whimsy-production conglomerate said its fiscal second-quarter earnings outpaced expectations.

source: dailyfinance.com/market-news

Sony reports record annual loss

TOKYO: Sony Corp. racked up a record annual loss of 457 billion yen ($5.7 billion) in its fourth straight year of red ink as the once-glorious maker of the Walkman and PlayStation struggles toward a turnaround under a new president.

The electronics and entertainment company, which also makes “Spider-Man” movies, reported Thursday a loss of 255 billion yen ($3.2 billion) for the January-March period – its fifth straight quarterly net loss to round out a fiscal year that was the worst in its 66-year corporate history.

The latest red ink was worse than 1995, which followed Sony’s ambitious but disastrous purchase of Hollywood studio Columbia Pictures.

Sony’s recent troubles were worsened by factory and supplier damage in northeastern Japan, ravaged by the earthquake and tsunami last year. Sony also suffered production disruptions from the flooding in Thailand.

Quarterly sales inched up 1.2 percent on-year to 1.6 trillion yen ($20 billion). Annual sales plunged nearly 10 percent to 6.5 trillion yen ($81 billion).

Sony has bled money for eight straight years in its core TV business, bashed by competition from Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea and other Asian rivals.

A soaring yen that erodes the overseas earnings of Japanese exporters like Sony has also added to the damage.

Sony is aiming for a comeback under Kazuo Hirai, appointed president last month, who has headed the gaming division and built his career in the U.S.

Sony forecast a return to profit for the fiscal year through March 2013 at 30 billion yen ($375 million), banking on the growing smartphone and tablet business, as well as a recovery from last year’s disasters.

Sony had recorded a 260 billion yen loss the previous fiscal year.

The latest results were better than the 520 billion yen ($6.5 billion) annual loss the Tokyo-based company had projected. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated a more optimistic 430 billion yen ($5.3 billion) loss.

Sony said sales improved in its film business, lifted by television and video-on-demand for the “Spider-Man” series, but profits fell slightly, despite the popularity of “The Smurfs” and “Bad Teacher,” offsetting the failure of “Arthur Christmas.”

source: dailystar.com.lb/Business/International/2012/May-10/172916-sony-reports-record-annual-loss.ashx#axzz1uSHNJaNc

Sony's television business has lost money for the past eight years

Japanese electronics maker Sony has reported a record annual loss as natural disasters last year and a strong yen hurt its earnings.

The firm reported a net loss of 456.7bn yen ($5.7bn; £3.5bn) for the year to the end of March, compared with a 259.6bn yen loss last year.

The company said falling demand from developed markets also affected its earnings.

However, it forecast a profit of 30bn yen for the current financial year.

But despite the company sounding upbeat, some analysts said the firm was likely to face tough times even in the year ahead.

“There is no respite in sight for them. Demand from Europe has been falling and the yen continues to remain strong,” Nitin Soni of Fitch Ratings told the BBC.

“These factors are contributing to the fall in profitability.”

Double whammy
Sony’s production and sales were severely affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March last year.

The twin disasters resulted in supply chain disruptions and a shortage in power supply in Japan, forcing Sony to curtail production.

Its fortunes were hurt further by floods in Thailand later in the year, which saw its factories in the country being affected.

A strong Japanese currency, which gained as much as 10% against the US dollar between April 2011 and February 2012, further added to its woes.

A strong yen hurts earnings of firms when they repatriate their foreign earnings back home and also affects sales as it makes their goods more expensive to foreign buyers.

Growing competition
Aside from the impact of the strong currency and natural disasters, analysts say the firm has also lost ground to its competitors in key areas.

Sony’s TV division has been making a loss for the past eight years, hurt by the likes of Samsung which has been steadily increasing its global market share.

At the same time, Sony’s video games unit has also been facing growing competition not just from other gaming console makers, but also from the rising popularity of smartphones and tablet PCs, and the improving quality of games available on those devices.

“The core issue is that Sony is fast losing its leadership in technology to rivals,” said Mr Soni of Fitch Ratings.

“It is not coming out with any new products or devices which can combine all their assets such as music, entertainment and gaming and have a mass appeal.”

source: bbc.co.uk/news/business-18015791

Space veterans offer NASA their Liberty launch system

At a time when NASA’s human-spaceflight budget is frozen and likely facing cutbacks, the company that built the space shuttle’s solid rocket boosters says it has developed a complete astronaut transportation system using America’s existing launch facilities.

If NASA lends its support to the system, known as Liberty, the project could end America’s dependence on the Russians to fly its astronauts in as little as three years.

Virginia-based Alliant Techsystems, also known as ATK, says Liberty would be a complete commercial crew transportation system, including the spacecraft as well as ground and mission operations. All of its elements would meet NASA’s requirements for carrying humans, ATK says.

The Liberty rocket would build on the work that ATK did on the Ares 1-X, a launch vehicle that was being developed for NASA and went through a suborbital test launch in 2009. The Ares 1-X project was canceled a year after that launch, due to NASA’s shift to commercial options for resupplying the International Space Station, but Liberty would take advantage of some of the same elements.

The Liberty rocket’s first stage is a five-segment version of the solid boosters that lifted NASA’s space shuttles safely into space 110 times following the Challenger accident. Its second stage is from France’s successful commercial rocket, the Ariane 5.

Liberty’s lightweight composite spacecraft is from the future: Little-noticed engineering experiments at NASA’s Langley Research Center suggest that the space agency could adjust to tight-money times by using weight-saving composite spacecraft rather than the traditional aluminum structures. ATK built such a test spacecraft for NASA, and has struck a deal with Lockheed Martin to outfit the craft with its spaceflight systems.

ATK signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement with NASA last September, which opened the way for the company to work with the space agency to refine the design. Now ATK says it’s ready to proceed with Liberty, using existing facilities. The company and its partners plan to seek NASA funding in an upcoming competition that will result in the selection of one or two integrated space transportation systems for further development.

Several other companies are expected to join in the bidding for NASA’s commercial crew launches. Boeing, for instance, has a group of aerospace engineers with mountains of experience building its CST-100 crew spacecraft. The CST-100 is to be launched by United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5. Two other companies – Blue Origin and Sierra Nevada Corp. – are working on their own spaceships that could be launched on an Atlas 5.
Meanwhile, SpaceX is offering its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft for NASA’s use as a crew transport. SpaceX is currently preparing to send a different version of the Dragon on a Falcon 9 on what could be its first unmanned cargo run to the space station, with launch set for as early as May 19.

SpaceX and United Launch Alliance use a type of fuel combination – liquid oxygen plus kerosene – which is different from the liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen system that NASA’s shuttle orbiters used at Kennedy Space Center. SpaceX and ULA currently operate from their own launch facilities down the road from Kennedy Space Center, at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

For NASA to launch the Falcon 9 and Atlas 5 from its pads, the space agency and commercial companies would have to make costly modifications to the fuel facilities at Kennedy Space Center. This would require installing new fuel storage and management systems, akin to the systems that NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia have been putting into place to handle Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Antares launch vehicle. Those efforts have encountered cost overruns and schedule delays because the task of building a new launch site is proving to be more difficult than expected.

SpaceX and United Launch Alliance should have the freedom to develop their promising systems at their own facilities, while Liberty launches from the same pads that sent Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon; Tom Stafford, Deke Slayton and Vance Brand to meet the Russians in orbit; and Charles Bolden, Hoot Gibson, Charlie Precourt, Bob Cabana Sally Ride, Eileen Collins, Rick Hauck and Bob Crippin to add to the space shuttle’s legacy.

Liberty’s mission is clear: Save taxpayer bucks and return Americans to their own spaceship for less cost per seat than it’s costing for astronauts to thumb a ride on Russia’s Soyuz.

Quick facts about the Liberty launch system:

• Capable of sending seven crew members and cargo to International Space Station.
• Composite crew module would land over water, and would be reusable for 10 flights.
• Crew module would be equipped with the Max Launch Abort System that was developed at NASA’s Langley Research Center and tested at Wallops Flight Facility.
• Test flights to begin in 2014, first crewed flight in 2015, available for NASA by 2016.
• Liberty could be used for space tourist flights as well as flights to private-sector space stations. Price per seat projected to be lower than the $60 million that the Russians are charging NASA.
• Development would proceed even if NASA provides no support, but without NASA funding, there’s “no way I can meet a schedule” for the first crewed flight in 2015, Liberty program manager Kent Rominger says.

Cape Canaveral correspondent Jay Barbree is in his 54th year with NBC News. Barbree is a former finalist to be the first American journalist in space and the only reporter to cover all 166 flights by astronauts from Cape Canaveral. He has won NASA’s highest medal for public service and the National Space Club’s 2009 Press Award. Barbree also has written several books about the space effort, including an updated version of “Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America’s Apollo Moon Landings,” published by Open Road Integrated Media and available from Apple iBookstore, BarnesandNoble.com, Amazon.com, Sony Reader Store and Kobo Books

source: msnbc.msn.com/id/47363362/ns/technology_and_science-space

A wild river valley outside of Sydney

On the doorstep of Sydney, Australia’s most populous city, the bucolic pleasures of the Hawkesbury River tease visitors with hints of long-lost prehistoric wonders, a pub with no beer and some of the most

audacious wildlife to be found anywhere in the world.

The 120km river reaches the Pacific Ocean at Broken Bay, 50km north of Sydney. A journey back upstream charts a meandering course past isolated hamlets and homes reached only by boat, colossal rocky cliffs, seemingly impenetrable bushland and fertile plains that were important both to Australia’s indigenous people and colonial settlers who arrived in the late 18th Century.

“If a dinosaur suddenly stuck his head out of the trees you wouldn’t be a bit surprised,” said Ann Howard, a historian who lives on Dangar Island, a tranquil speck on the lower Hawkesbury River. “You don’t have to go very far up the Hawkesbury before all the houses fall away and you’ve just got these great towering sandstone cliffs. This is a drowned volcanic valley, so the river is very, very deep. As high as the cliffs go up, it is as deep as that in the middle of the river.”

Our adventure began at dawn with the sharp thrust of a trusty motor, aboard a small metal boat along the banks of Popran National Park. We boarded under the railway and road bridges near Mooney Mooney, past the quiet township of Milsons Passage, and sailed toward Spencer, the self-proclaimed ”Hub of the Universe”.

A prawn trawler glided across the murky brown water, but mostly the river was ours. The air was thick with the din of an insect chorus, while the wind arrived in waves through the bush. In ancient times, the Dharug Aboriginal tribe came to this part of the Hawkesbury to fish and perform ceremonies, leaving carvings on the cliff rock that can be seen from the river.

British settlers arrived in 1788, needing to feed a growing penal settlement to the south at Sydney Cove. The authorities decided that the lush banks further up the Hawkesbury would be perfect for farming, and thus the river became known as “the granary of the colony”. Over the years, the region became an axis of intrigue; with tales of colonial pirates, shipwrecks and escaped convicts.

Today the Hawkesbury River valley is home to those wanting to escape a busy, urban life, as well as legions of tourists. Accommodation is mostly found in rental homes that are ideally perched overlooking the water.

On Dangar Island, located near the mouth of the river where the Hawkesbury meets the Tasman Sea, there are no cars. Only about 250 people live on the island, and a fleet of wheelbarrows transports essentials delivered at the ferry wharf.
“We have no traffic here, but we can get to an international airport in a couple of hours,” Howard said. “I don’t think there are many places around the world like that.”

Australia is full of a wondrous array of fauna and flora, but travellers must have a very keen eye to spot the shy and sleepy inhabitants of the Hawkesbury. It is rare to see a koala, although rock wallabies and goannas are more obliging. Many species are nocturnal, so be prepared for parades of curious possums looking for food after dark and a magnificent night time symphony of wildlife in the woods.

Barbeques stir the interest of kookaburras, large native kingfishers with a maniacal laugh, which sit patiently in the trees before swooping boldly to gobble up any unattended meat. Beware the squadrons of mosquitoes, and breathe easy knowing the suitably shaped logs submerged in the gloom are not, in fact, prowling crocodiles (it is, thankfully, too far from the tropics to see the real thing).

Of course, there are other ominous threats lurking beneath the water. Aggressive bull sharks are known to inhabit sections of the river system and have killed swimmers in other parts of Australia. But Tony Lavidis, who runs Hawkesbury Expeditions and Charters, believes the risks are minimal.

source: bbc.com/travel/feature/20120413-a-wild-river-valley-outside-of-sydney