Australian Surfer saves kangaroo before become the victims of shark

A man who went out for a morning jog ended up rescuing a kangaroo from shark-infested waters.

Neil McCallum was with his son at Kirra Beach, Queensland, when a small kangaroo jumped into the ocean. “We were totally dumbfounded,” he said. Soon the kangaroo was caught in a riptide.

“I realised if we didn't do something, that little roo would either drown or become lunch for some big hungry fish,” he said.

So he decided to act fast. He ran back to the family home, situated further up Kirra Beach, grabbed his surfboard and headed back to rescue the roo — but not before waking his wife and asking her to grab the video camera.

“I tried to get the kangaroo on my board a few times but he slipped off, so then I herded it over to a sand bar and he hopped through the water,” McCallum, 48, said.

He hauled it on to the board and took it to a sandbar. The kangaroo “bounded back off down the beach — but not before he looked back at me ... as if to say ‘Thanks for that, mate,'” McCallum said.

Kangaroo expert Pat O'Brien, from the Wildlife Protection Association of Australia, said the fact that kangaroos can swim is a well-kept secret.

He said during the recent floods in Queensland a kangaroo was found by fishermen swimming seven miles offshore after being swept out to sea by floodwaters.

“They are actually very good swimmers and even though people might not see it, they seem to go swimming quite often,” O'Brien said.

2009 UEFA Champions League Final Man U -vs- Barcelona

The 2009 UEFA Champions League Final will be the 54th final of the UEFA Champions League football tournament and the 17th final under the current format. The final is to be played at the 72,698-capacity Stadio Olimpico in Rome, the home of Roma and Lazio, on 27 May 2009, for the fourth time following 1977, 1984 and 1996.[1]

The match will be contested by Barcelona and holders Manchester United, who are the first defending champions to reach the final since Juventus in 1997, and will be looking to be the first team to retain the European Cup since Milan in 1990. This is the fifth year in a row in which the final involves at least one English team

Pre-match

The 2009 UEFA Champions League Final logoThe Stadio Olimpico in Rome was selected as the venue for the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final at a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 4 October 2006. The committee – who decided the venue for the 2008 final and the 2008 and 2009 UEFA Cup Finals at the same meeting – based its decision on a number of factors, including stadium capacity, safety and security facilities, and accessibility.[35]

As with every UEFA Champions League final since 1999, the 2009 final was given its own unique visual identity, designed to give a distinctive flavour of the host city. Designed by London-based design and branding agency Radiant, the theme for the 2009 final was revealed on 25 October 2008, and it incorporates several iconic Roman images; the logo is centred around an outline of the European Champion Clubs' Cup, upon which is written "MMIX" – "2009" in Roman numerals; around the base of the trophy is a stylised laurel wreath, and in the background is a simplified image of the interior of the Colosseum. An alternative logo consisting of the UEFA Champions League logo surrounded by a laurel wreath was also released. The entire theme is based on a colour scheme of deep red and silver-white.[36]

Although the usual capacity of the Stadio Olimpico is over 72,000, this was reduced to approximately 67,000 for the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final. Approximately 10,000 tickets were made available to the general public, with recipients determined by a random ballot following an application period that ran from 2 March to 16 March 2009.[37] Each club was also allocated approximately 20,000 tickets for distribution to fans.[37] Manchester United chose to limit ticket applications to season ticket holders, with preference given to those who had attended more of the club's Champions League away fixtures that season.[38] Barcelona, meanwhile, allotted 80% of their ticket allocation to fans, with the remaining 20% going to the club's corporate sponsors. Unlike United, however, Barcelona opened ticket applications to all members of their supporters club.[39] The remaining 17,000 tickets will be retained by UEFA for the "European football family", which comprises UEFA itself, the local organising committee, UEFA's member associations, and its commercial partners.[37] Tickets for the 2009 final will be similar to bank cards, with an integrated chip storing the ticket holder's personal information in order to prevent the trade of counterfeit tickets.

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