Offbeat

A 43-year-old man who tried to save money on a 40-kilometre taxi ride has instead ended up 390km away after climbing onto metal racks beneath a B-double trailer that didn't stop where he thought it would.

The crew survived what became the world's longest raft journey across 14,000 kilometres from Ecuador to the NSW North Coast.

As the population of the Japanese village of Nagoro shrank, many buildings in the town were left abandoned. Tsukimi Ayano is one of the few residents left and has come up with a novel way to populate it — with dolls.

Let's find out how much you remember from the week that was.

Warren Clancy is about to realise a vision formed when he stumbled on a beautifully crafted boat laying abandoned on a Darwin shoreline two and a half years ago.

More than 200 items of memorabilia from late pop superstar Prince are going to auction, including his iconic white puffy shirt from a performance of Purple Rain.

The tagged southern elephant seal, affectionately known as Neil to locals, is stopping southern beaches resident Amber Harris from getting to work — and it's given everyone in her office a laugh.

A herd of goats has "annihilated" weeds posing a fire risk in inaccessible terrain in a third of the time they were given to get the job done. Now the landowners have bigger ideas.

Kimba the lion was found in a rural area after a hunt by local authorities. 

Lion handler Rony Vassallo says he personally checked on the cage an hour before the lion went walkabout, and "everything was in order".

Have you been paying attention to the news this week? Test your knowledge with this week's quiz.

People travel from far and wide to watch yabbies race at the Packsaddle Roadhouse in a very different Melbourne Cup day race, where those competing may also find themselves on the menu.

The owner of a Northern Territory tavern says he wants a public holiday held to celebrate the event, now in its eighth year.

Police believe the 18-carat commode may never be recovered. 

Tens of thousands of ancient coins recovered from the seabed off Sardinia were only found when a diver saw something metallic out of the corner of their eye.

Another week, another news quiz to test your knowledge.

Eighty-five years ago this week, families across the United States settled down around their radios for what they thought would be a regular evening — then Martians attacked. 

How a bunch of Australian hobbyists hit the big slime and became officially recognised ghoul hunters. 

A GPS tracker on Earl's collar has shown he can run faster and longer than all the other top working dogs in Australia. His owner Alex says he'd be lost without the loyal, hardworking kelpie by his side.

A Halloween fan says Australians need to move on from the argument that the day "is an American thing".

A self-described sorcerer named Shanrickael has been turning heads and opening minds on highways across Far North Queensland.

A hitchhiking wizard named Shanrickael the Sorcerer has shared his story about turning heads and opening minds on highways across Far North Queensland.

Australia's favourite yeasty spread celebrates a milestone this week, Britney Spears releases a book and the prime minister has dinner with the US president. Test your knowledge with this week's quiz to find why these events are significant.

Police say the man posed motionless until closing time, before robbing a jewellery stand in a Polish shopping centre.  

Misha the show dog ran away from a serious crash about 60 kilometres from Broken Hill in May. Her owners have been rewarded for never giving up hope she would be found.