Not surprisingly, the tragic death of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, topped Yahoo!7's searches for 2006. Another dramatic event ended much happier when trapped Beaconsfield miners, Brant Webb and Todd Russell, emerged from underground safe and sound. Our concern for other hot topics showed up in the number of searches on real estate, jobs, petrol prices, daylight saving, drought, and WorkChoice.

Australians responded to the bravery of two very different celebrities - Belinda Emmett and Bindi Irwin - to make them our most searched for female celebrities. Kylie Minogue proved she is still popular and Suri Cruise may have forecast her future popularity!

Steve Irwin proved how much he was on people's mind, while the untimely death of motoring legend, Peter Brock, saw him the second most searched on male.

Whether it was happy news or scandal we loved to follow the lives of famous couples. Uber celebrities, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, had to take second place to Belinda Emmett and Rove McManus. And the intrigue of an acrimonious divorce saw Heather Mills and Paul McCartney rise in the ranks.

While Peter Brock was the most searched for sports personality of 2006, Australia's growing fascination with soccer saw the Socceroos and the World Cup jump high into the top 10. But it still wasn't enough to knock cricket out, thanks to the anticipation of a close Ashes series.

Runescape, the massively popular multi-player game proved it has a huge support base by topping our Products searches. But a lot of Aussies are obviously also planning their great escape and searched for caravans to help kick-start their dream. Rain water tanks appeared in the list for the first time reflecting our growing concern with water usage.

The outstanding bravery of accident victim, Sophie Delezio, saw her rank highly in our news searches for 2006. Nature's fury in the form of cyclones and bush fires also made an impression.

But our hip pockets were definitely also on our minds with interest in petrol prices, tax cuts, and industrial relations at an all-time high in political and news searches.

Even though she didn't release a single during 2006, we still love to find out the latest on Britney Spears! But local band, The Veronicas, joined her on the top 10 list without the aid of any personal dramas.

Our love of a good day out was proved by thousands of searches on musical festival, The Big Day Out, and the Royal Easter Show. But we still can't resist a good award ceremony with the Academy Awards and the Emmy Awards remaining popular.

In years to come the infamous 'turkey slap' incident may be all people remember of Big Brother 2006, but it was more than enough to project it to the top of the most searched for TV shows.