Victoria Ellis

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Victoria Ellis

A Darwin bus stop with graffiti scribbled on its walls and chewing gum stuck to a metal bench — it's not a romantic setting for a meet-cute. But that's where two backpackers on a working holiday visa in the Northern Territory first laid eyes on each other. Only later, when the pair started working together at the ironically named Heartbreak Hotel, did their love truly blossom. "We became friends and then we just got together," Peruvian Franco Arias says.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Victoria Ellis

From banana peels and bread crusts to spinach leaves that go slimy at the bottom of the packet, most households waste food. Each year Australians waste more than seven million tonnes of food across the supply chain, costing $36.6 billion to the economy. But a Darwin-based, Indigenous-owned-and-run enterprise is working to change that. Billy Feeny is the director of EcoMob, which takes food scraps and transforms them into a nutrient-rich soil amendment.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Victoria Ellis

Tonnes of rubbish washes up on Australia's northern shores every year. Indigenous ranger groups are using drones and artificial intelligence to help find and remove ghost nets and debris from Northern Territory beaches. Some rangers would like more funding and support to deal with the problem. Australia's north is known for its endless, pristine beaches and unique wildlife. But tonnes of rubbish floating in the sea is spoiling beaches and putting protected species at risk.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Victoria Ellis |Alistair Bates

Outback Australians are being warned temperatures are hot enough to damage their electronics as heat records tumble. Remote regions have been sweltering in extreme heat, with temperatures nudging 50 degrees Celsius in central, northern and western Australia. At Lambina Station, 450 kilometres south of Alice Springs, cattle producer Gillian Fennell said temperatures had reached 47C this summer.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Victoria Ellis

Discarded batteries, ancient rubber tyres and drums of oil are the kinds of waste sitting on Australia's remote cattle stations that could have a brand new life if a researcher's plan comes to fruition. When you live hundreds of kilometres from the nearest tip, getting rubbish off the farm can be a mammoth task. South Australian cattle producer Gillian Fennel said there was lots of discarded materials and broken objects at her station 450 kilometres south of Alice Springs.