Wonder, Fireworks and Vegemite

Lighting fireworks on the beach in Darwin on July 1. It's the one night of the year when it is legal to set off fireworks in the Northern Territory. David Maurice Smith for The New York Times

The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. This week's issue is written by Natasha Frost, a reporter in Melbourne.

At The New York Times, we call it "counterprogramming": stories that may provide a breath of fresh air for readers exhausted by tales of hardship, peril and acrimony.

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These stories come from Australia and New Zealand a little more often than you might expect. The countries, like anywhere else, have their own challenges, and we cover those too. But one of the great pleasures of covering this region, as my departing colleague Yan Zhuang wrote last week, is the capacity to write about joy, beauty and wonder.

Here are stories from the bureau that you might have missed from the last 12 months.

The Times went inside the world's only Vegemite factory to celebrate the national yeast extract spread's centennial.
Damien Cave, the Sydney bureau chief, took a pandemic-delayed journey to Australia's Ningaloo Reef in a 21-foot recreational vehicle. Difficulties abounded — but so did sherbet-colored sunsets, whale sharks and a renewed belief in the gods of serendipity and adventure.
In Western Queensland, dinosaur discoveries have sent tourists flocking to paleontological digs.
Each July, residents of the vast and unpopulated Northern Territory have five hours when they can set off as many fireworks as they like. "You can't tame the territory," one reveler told The Times.
A community of secular Yiddish speakers in Melbourne keeps the language alive around multigenerational dinner tables, on stages and in classrooms.

In March, tens of thousands of tourists descended on the tiny Western Australian town of Exmouth for a rare total solar eclipse, one of very few places where the spectacle was visible from land.
Caroline Kennedy, the U.S. ambassador to Australia, celebrated and commemorated the life of John Joseph, a Black American gold miner who was buried in 1858 and who helped forge Australian democracy.
In central Australia, a visitor learned how Indigenous custodians and conservationists are working to protect an ancient land and its animal denizens.
For the first time in living memory, kiwi — New Zealand's national bird — hatched eggs in the wild in the area around Wellington, thanks to a multiyear conservation effort.
Melbourne, home to thousands and thousands of urban bats, installed custom-designed showers to help these foxy-faced creatures cool down on dangerously hot days.
Early in the year, a Japanese tourist who goes by Uni set off on an improbable journey, traveling more than 2,000 miles across Australia on a child's scooter. "I thought it would be a good challenge," he told us. (He made it to his destination by June.)

The Australia Letter is taking its annual summer break. We'll be back in January. In the meantime, enjoy the holidays — and don't hesitate to send us your own examples of antipodean wonder.

Here are the week's stories.

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Australia and New Zealand

Holding an illuminated magnifying glass over a section of the world map.

To craft each creature with sufficient detail, Anton Thomas drew mostly under a magnifying glass. Abigail Varney for The New York Times

A World Map With No National Borders and 1,642 Animals. Anton Thomas, an artist-cartographer in Melbourne, Australia, spent three years on an obsessive labor of love with few parallels.
Australia's First Cyclone of Season Nears Amid Rash of Extreme Weather. The storm is part of a stretch of wild weather the continent has been experiencing, which includes heat waves, fires and floods.

Australian Court Tosses Conviction of Mother Accused of Killing Her 4 Children. Kathleen Folbigg, who spent years in prison, was pardoned in June, after an inquiry found that her children had most likely died of natural causes.

Around The Times

Benjamin Netanyahu stands at left behind a brown lectern, while Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz, his arms crossed, sit at a table. Behind the men, all dressed in black, is a row of Israeli flags.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, with Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz, two members of his war cabinet, in Tel Aviv in October. Pool photo by Abir Sultan

To Fight Hamas, Israel's Leaders Stopped Fighting One Another. For Now. A team of rivals joined together in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet. But beneath the veneer of unity, there are political differences and old resentments.
Madonna's Latest Experiment: Looking Back. Her Celebration Tour is the pop superstar's first retrospective, one which thematically explores her past and perhaps offers a glimpse of how she will chart her future.
Getting an IUD Hurts. Why Aren't More Women Offered Relief? One of the most effective birth control options is also known for the excruciatingly painful procedure to insert it.
My Jewish Charlie Brown Christmas. The Peanuts special is the most overtly Christian TV holiday classic. So why does it speak to James Poniewozik, The Times's chief television critic, so deeply?

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