Expensive houseboat ahoy!

Julian Assange and Rupert Murdoch share symmetry in their nationality, notoriety, and love of publishing. And both are household names in their homeland. After the Levesen Inquiry into press standards in the UK, there seems little we don't know about the modus operandi of Murdoch's British news empire. Of Assange, Australians are still trying to put the pieces together. What they know of the silver-haired founder of WikiLeaks is that he is in a whole lot of trouble holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, that a lot of high profile people support him, and that the Australian Government seems to be unenthusiastic at best about helping him. I'm surprised at this. The first people to settle in Australia, besides the Aboriginal people, were British convicts. And through the fog of legal proceedings to get Assange to face questioning in Sweden and his claims that this is a ruse to allow the Americans to extradite him for espionage, there is evidence that a lot of Australians believe that, as one of them, he has a right to expect his government to protect him from America, if not the questioning in Sweden.

But for those not using Ecuador to escape extradition, there is a completely decadent waste of money called the Orsos Island (pictured), which is the passion project of Hungarian-born Gabor Orsos, a former hotelier who wanted to combine the perks of a luxury hotel with the flexibility of a super-yacht. This super-expensive houseboat offers six ensuite double bedrooms spread over three floors and 1,000 square meters (nearly four tennis courts) worth of luxury living space. Although it doesn't come with an actual tennis court, those longing for some sub-aquatic snooker will be relieved to learn that there is a large games room in the island's "hull." The underwater karaoke suite, meanwhile, is ideal for those who's singing voice is best kept a safe distance from civilization. The island also comes complete with all the usual ocean-bound comforts of the mega-rich: a Jacuzzi, a barbecue, sun loungers, a minibar, a stately dining room, and an aquarium. The price of all this is about NZ$8 million and just because you can afford all this doesn't mean you'll ever need it.