There was once road rage, and then came trolley rage and now there's surf rage. An Australian surfer has been banned from riding the waves on nine Sydney beaches for harassing several people, including a church minister and a local lifeguard after clashes in the surf. The surfer, John Dunne, 34, is facing 29 counts of assault, stalking and malicious damage to property.

An Australian woman has collected nearly $75,000 after cashing in a lottery ticket more than a decade after it was bought. The woman, who asked not to be identified, collected her winnings this week after discovering the ticket lodged in a greeting card she found in her home, a spokesman for New South Wales state Gaming Minister Grant McBride said on condition of anonymity he said was departmental policy. The lottery ticket - known in Australia as a scratchy because gamblers have to scratch the ticket to see if they have won a prize - was bought in 1992. The winner was doubly lucky as lottery officials are in the process of reining in the length of time people have to claim their winnings.

A prisoner in Australia didn't dig, or bust his way out of prison. He made his escape by losing so much weight, he was able to squeeze though a hole he made in a brick wall. Reuters reports Robert Cole was in the Sydney jail for stealing and assault. He lost around 30-pounds so he could slip through the hole next to a window in the hospital of the maximum security prison.

A lightning strike killed 68 dairy cows waiting to be milked on an Australian farm. The farmer, Warwick Marks, 57, said the lightning strike killed half his herd of 150 Jersey cows at his dairy farm outside Dorrigo in northern New South Wales state.

In a bid to prevent beach-loving students from skipping classes, an Australian high school makes surfing an approved subject. Byron Bay High School will introduce surfing as a recreation course starting next year, reports The Associated Press.