How is this for dumb luck, we only have one day to check out the Great Barrier Reef and we get hit with this.

I pulled this excerpt from the Cairns Telegraph, you can't make this shit up:

“An unkempt backpacker from the Netherlands by the name of Henrik Von Hughmor caused a major upset to the delicate eco-system of the Great Barrier Reef yesterday. Allegedly the wax used to dread lock the hair of the 24 year old man reacted with the metallic paint of a “Hot Wheels” toy car (embedded in the dreadlocks) and the salt water creating an “oil cloud” within the water. The resulting cloud has caused 97% of the marine life to retreat to deeper water to escape the “cloud.” Eye witnesses stated seeing the blue '57 Bel-Air toy car bursting at the back of the mans head and the resulting “cloud” dissipating at a rapid pace.

“It was crazy” stated Cory Bull from the United States,” I remember looking over and seeing this cloud emanating from that hippies head, then I got spooked as it got close to me, I barely made it out of the water...but I do remember that a lot of the fish took off.”

Lead marine biologist Andrew Fullovit from the Australian Department of Marine Conservation has released this statement “ The Great Barrier Reef will be closed until further notice due to the mystery “oil cloud” released yesterday at 1:30 PM local time. The hydrophobic nature of the oils present in the cloud are spreading at an extreme pace and are affecting approximately 1 sq km every half an hour. Mr. Von Hughmor is being held by Queensland Police for questioning and charges are pending upon full investigation of the incident from the Federal Department of Fisheries and Marine Conservation”

The estimated hit to the local tourism operations stands to be upwards of 500,000AUD per day during the closure. At press time it was not known when the reef was scheduled to re-open.

Mr. Hughmor was seen being taken into custody yesterday at 3:00 PM with the remnants of the toy car tangled within his dreadlocks. A yellow “Telly Tubby”, a “Mercedes Benz' hood ornament, beads, leaves and a full set of plastic utensils (fork, spoon and knife) were also infused into the mans hair.

The full version of the story is here, it also has picture goodness.