It's hard to imagine anyone marked 'tornado', 'earthquake', 'plague' and 'pandemic' on their 2021 bingo card, but alas here we are.
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Throw in a premier's resignation and you get the full maelstrom of news from the past week. Or even just the past 24 hours. Things move quickly these days.
If nothing else, the rate at which these disasters seem to be hitting has left us shy of asking the age old question: What's next? Put quite simply, we probably don't want to know.
But even as the destruction weighs on us, there are a few constants in the world. Puppies will continue to make us smile. Snakes will continue to intrigue us. Humans will continue to inspire us.
And with that segue, here are the videos that made us forget the world for a few moments this week.
Police puppies
A litter of six German Shepherd pups have become the newest crime-fighting team in the NSW Police.
Named by the patients at the Sydney Children's Hospital Cody, Carrie, Carol, Cali, Charger and Coops will begin their training to one day assist police by sniffing out illicit or explosive materials, finding missing people and joining police pursuits.
They certainly are the cutest little police officers we've seen so far.
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A tale of two snakes
Tis the season for snake stories.
October and November is generally the mating season for the slithering types. So the males will often try to prove their dominance, as became apparent in this roadside confrontation caught on film.
Two male red belly black snakes were having at each other near Moss Vale in the Southern Highlands.
Snake catcher Ray McGibbon intervened, and said the display was likely a result of the two showing off for a female snake somewhere nearby.
Snake sightings have started early this year, with a huge volume of callouts since August. Last week we brought you footage of a six-foot brown snake in a school near Brisbane.
So let this be your warning. Watch out, snakes about.
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There's something in the sky
Look up. It's a bird. It's a plane. It's the Westpac Rescue Helicopter flying over Dubbo, NSW.
A shiny new rescue helicopter has been deployed to the Central West city to assist with the COVID-19 operations.
There is something so satisfying about seeing a brand new helicopter hovering above a hospital landing pad.
As a bonus this week, we have some other sky spotting footage that brought us to wonderment.
A Chinese rocket launch was seen over Australian skies on Monday. It was in equal measure fascinating and terrifying, but we'll let the footage speak for itself there.
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Through a lens
Our Forgotten River series has wrapped up this week and if you haven't checked it out already, then you definitely should. It's our largest and most ambitious multimedia series to date.
This week to round out our coverage of the Darling River policies, politics and people, photographer Dion Georgopoulos put together this stunning showcase.
The river has never looked so beautiful.