Sydney  - With the eucalypts still burning and the cost in lives from Australia's worst forest fires climbing towards 200, the recriminations have begun.

Sonja Parkinson, whose Kinglake home was among more than 750 houses destroyed in Saturday's blaze north of Melbourne, blames state authorities in Victoria.

"We saw the fire and heard the roar over the hill. We saw the orange flame. There wasn't any warning," she said. "We were listening to the radio the whole time and they didn't know."

Sydney  - The body count reached 173 on Tuesday in Australia's devastating wildfires, more than doubling the death toll from the country's previous worst forest fires in 1983.

Authorities in the south-coast city of Melbourne said army bulldozers are clearing the path for forensic teams to enter hamlets cut off by Saturday's inferno.

In tiny Strathewen, which only had a population of 450, 26 bodies have been found so far.

Melbourne, Feb. 9 : Cricket Australia has said that no disciplinary action will be taken against either Simon Katich or Michael Clarke for their dressing room altercation.

It described the incident as a "private issue" dealt with internally.

The governing body opted not to take any action after Katich allegedly grabbed Clarke by the throat in a row over the singing of the team song after their Sydney Test win over South Africa in early January.

Melbourne, Feb. 9 : Victorian Premier John Brumby has announced there will be a Royal Commission into the weekend bushfires.

He made the announcement while touring bushfire-devastated areas today.

Government sources said it had not yet been decided who would chair the commission or when it would start.

One of the key issues to be considered by the inquiry will be Victoria''s decades-old "stay and defend or leave early'''' bushfire policy.

An emotional Brumby said the Royal Commission would look at all issues.

Melbourne, Feb 9 : Residents in a rural area of Darwin have given a rather saucy name to one of their streets-Dildo Boulevard-after a 30 sex toys were found in front of a house on February 6.

It was when Robert Johns and Laurelle Bates left for work in the morning that they discovered the mysterious toys.

"It''s a real mystery. We have no idea where they came from. I know they aren''t new. They look used," News. com. au quoted Bates as telling The Northern Territory News.

Johns revealed that the number of sex toys had decreased in 24 hours after he counted them on the day they were found.

Melbourne, Feb 9 : Aussie model Miranda Kerr has been a well-known face on the catwalk, and now there is talk of her becoming a fashion ambassador for Australia.