SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: Australian media indulged in some April Fool's Day humour on Tuesday (April 1st), carrying hoax reports of Sydney residents' brains shrinking due to mortgage stress and ads for "no chair" airfares.

Sydney radio station 2UE reported that the Pope would conduct a special mass for homosexuals during his visit Down Under in July and that the Catholic Church may enter a float in next year's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper said that a new Japanese restaurant was controversially offering a 10-course whale tasting menu as an April 1 special.

And in Melbourne, the Herald-Sun tabloid said that cars would be ferried down the Yarra River during peak times to ease traffic congestion.

Meanwhile, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's website revealed that Sydneysiders had smaller brains than their Melbourne counterparts because their grey matter was shrinking due to mortgage stress caused by high house prices.

Internet search firm Google announced a new feature which would allow computers to see into the future and provide headlines on share prices and sports results in advance (www.google.com.au/intl/en/gday/index.html).

And Richard Branson's budget airline carrier Virgin Blue advertised "no chair fares" in which passengers paid half the normal ticket price to stand for the duration of a domestic flight.

The ads, which were run on the front page of newspapers, added that passengers would be entitled to a free calf massage for flights over two hours.