The Limerick Leader is one of those great regional titles with local knowledge and the occasional huge national story. They publish a West Limerick edition which this week includes a special feature on Newcastle West, the biggest town in the area.
I was drawn to the “Things to do in Newcastle West” section.
Eager to see if there was anything on the list I hadn’t done, I was surprised to fall at the first hurdle:
1. Discover the Bogey Hole: a hand-hewn ocean rock pool …
Hold on just a minute, thought I, there’s a hand-hewn ocean rock pool in NCW and no-one told me!
… carved out of a cliff face by convicts in the 19th century under the direction of James T. Morisset, the military commandant in Newcastle from 1819-1822, who used it for his personal bathing.
I’m no local historian, but this didn’t sound right. The later reference to scenic “Newcastle Beach” (NCW is landlocked) sealed the deal.
From where, one might wonder, would such a top 10 list originate? Why, here it is, verbatim apart from the addition of the word “West” in the title, on the website of Travelodge Hotels Australia.
So that would be the top 10 things to do in Newcastle, New South Wales.
A Clatter of the Law 
I knew Limerick considers itself to be at the centere of a large, quasi autonoumous, self governing republic but this is stretching the point…
On further thought, maybe this is a new strategy to attract tourists with poor geographical knowledge. We could publish articles like this and change the name (eg. Top 10 things to do in NCW? 1. Visit the Eiffel Tower).
Oh dearie me. An entire article lifted out of the intertubes. I suppose that’s what happens when you try to run a paper by remote control.