tribute to the bushfire victims

On my last day of freedom before starting work, Sarah and I decided to go for a trip out into the bush. Partly to get out of the city for the day, but also to visit Marysville, which was almost razed to the ground by the fires on Black Saturday (7^th Feb 2009). At first I felt a bit funny about going, like it was voyeurish or something, but Marysville was once a picturesque village whose economy ran entirely on tourism. Without people going to visit and spend money in their (one remaining, and somewhat understaffed) café there is no way they will ever be able to get back on their feet.

It was humbling. Even though I had never seen Marysville before the fires, it was easy to see what had gone because of the (sometimes peculiar) items that remained. Many of the houses were reduced to a brick chimney-stack, an alarmingly twisted piece of tin roof, and concrete foundations. Bizarrely, most of the mail-boxes and front picket fencing remained almost completely in tact; there were fences and benches that were burned only on one piece - looking like a bite had been taken; signs for shops that no longer existed swung untouched in the wind; a play frame stood untouched in the rubble; the police station sign (the police station completely gone) was melted only on one side; a park bench sat untouched next to the incinerated pay-phone; the playing field looked lusher than any grass I have seen since I arrived in Australia. Everywhere, trees were standing (surprisingly green); some of the brick buildings were still standing (though a couple were new-builds); and weirdly, one lone weatherboard house stood untouched in a clearing.

They’re doing a lot of cleaning up, and there’s dust everywhere while they ‘dozer the rubble so they can rebuild. The regrowth of the natural area (trees, plants, grass) has been so quick that the whole area is so green that you could almost think that it happen years rather than months ago. It took me a while to realise the track that I was looking down was once a proper street. There are so many trees. It really must have been terrifying.

We also headed to Kinglake, which looked much the same, and beyond, to where no one had been living, and where the regrowth hadn’t occurred. The trees were a see of blackened stumps as far as the eye could see over the undulating land. It was strangely beautiful. Driving through the bush was interesting – so many remnants of old fires, trees with blackened trunks everywhere. Fires are just part of the natural circle of life in the bush, it is just such a shame when they destroy the livelihoods and lives of so many people.

 

Just a little background – on 7^th Feb max temperatures in and around Melbourne were up to 23 degrees (celcius) above the February average, and in many places was the hottest day on record. Melbourne City recorded 46.4 degrees, but the highest temperature reached that day was 48.8 degrees. Unfortunately, there were also fierce hot dry winds – gusts of 115km.h were recorded in some places. Though the wind speed did drop later when the wind changed direction, there were still gusts in excess of 50km/h for some hours afterwards. 

Southeast Australia has been in drought for some time now, and the relatively low humidity and super hot temperatures had dried out the bush to the point where it was like tinder just waiting to be ignited. Bushfires in Australia spread as a thin front of flame – they normally pass a spot in 30-60 seconds. Unfortunately, when the wind suddenly changes direction (and because of the natural flow of air, it normally changes by 90 degrees), the long side of the fire suddenly becomes the front of it. Terrifying.

This year, more than 170 people died, and 2000 homes were destroyed. In previous bushfire years the death toll has been less – Ash Wednesday 1983: 71 in Victoria and South Australia, and 62 in Tasmania in Feb 1967. Now that I am working for the Bureau of Meteorology, I now have access to more information than I did before, and I am realising just how tragic the bushfires in February were. Previously it was a little hard to compute.

and finally, a holiday

After 10 weeks off work you’d have thought I’d be getting bored of doing nothing, but you'd be wrong. I have enjoyed this last 11th week off so much that it’s going to be difficult to get back into work. So difficult… haha.

It’s been a busy, busy week or so. But fun.

On Friday last week my friend Phil arrived on the Melbourne leg of his mini world-tour. He was here for a few days, so I have had some fun having the odd meal and drink with him. Also, a trip to Melbourne Zoo! I felt that I really had to get some blatant tourism in. We got there really early, and managed to avoid the school kids and screaming children for the first couple of hours. I got a tiny bit worried when a kangaroo grabbed my scarf (they're cute but kind of scary), couldn’t find the cassawarys (I'd been told to look out for them), and was shocked by how small the duck-billed platypus was (I have been the focus of much ridicule since I admitted that I thought they were enormous, whale-sized creatures). We finished up with an awesome meal cooked by Janet and Henry, our friends from Oxford who now live in Port Melbourne – from whence I almost missed the last tram home. Lesson learned… always be aware of what time it is!
This past week has also seen me get really into Aussie rules footy. I just need to work out what team to support. It’s tough! Everyone has an opinion, and there are so many teams (mostly Melbourne based), but no one seems to support the team for where they’re from. I have been to two AFL games this week. Unfortunately, both of them Collingwood (Magpies) games as I was with Collingwood supporters, and both of them saw the Pies getting absolutely slaughtered first by Saint Kilda (Saints), then Carlton (Blues). Still, I’m more or less down with the rules now, general admission tickets are cheap and it’s always a fun afternoon!

I’ve also managed to catch a band called The Skylines twice this past week. A friend is in the band and I’d had other friends bigging it up no end for months. It had a lot to live up to… and it did! Awesome evenings had by all (except for the poor souls who missed their last trams home (detecting a theme here?) – I’m lucky because my last tram is THE last tram) with lots of shapes pulled on the dance floor. I’d walked past the bar so many times and never even noticed it was there… Melbourne is just one of those cities.

Other than that, I have spent the week in various coffee shops; found awesome cheap food in the form of dumplings at Camys Shanghai Dumplings in China Town; tried out Danny’s Burgers – the burger bar opposite my house which is always full regardless of what time it is – which is just too good for it’s proximity to my house; actually got my lazy butt out for a run along the Merri Creek and discovered the el cheapo gym down the road from my house; saw the New Star Trek movie (better than I expected), watched more episodes of How I Met Your Mother and Entourage in one sitting than I care to admit to (not sure when I became a TV junkie), had a bit of a Wii tournament where I managed to more or less destroy my shoulder again taking a swing at a baseball; and interviewed for a new housemate as two of mine are moving out in June. Unfortunately (for my back/leg and also for the poor guy who was viewing the house at the time) I managed to fall down the stairs whilst carrying a cup of coffee. Top tip: don’t walk down wooden stairs wearing socks and carrying a cup of coffee, especially if you have a hangover and are talking to someone at the same time.

On Thursday, Sarah took me for a drive to the Dandenong mountain range out to the east of the city. It was great to get out of civilisation for a little while, even if the weather was really rubbish. We drove up to a town called Olinda, where we ate at a coffee shop that served steak pie swimming in pea and ham soup. It’s actually an awesome combination. Who knew?! We headed up to the view point on Mt Dandenong, where we discovered the view is a bit restricted on a cloudly day (but still pretty remarkable - see the photo), and took a walk through the forest (where we randomly came across an old plane crash site), before heading down to the town of Sassafras for cream tea and then back to the city.

it all falls into place in the end

It’s been a while since I last posted… mainly because I haven’t done much! My days have mostly been days of job hunting/working/feeling mildly guilty about not ‘making the most of it’. Money was getting tight, and I was starting to wonder a little. The job market imploded. Recession has hit here, big time. I have never been so relieved as when today, I had the call to tell me I have a 3-month contract. I feel a million times lighter. A million. Best of all, I don’t start for another week. While I need the money, I can’t say I am anything other than happy to kick back and relax and enjoy myself without having to job hunt. 11 weeks of not working… I think that might actually be a record, even for me.

While the UK basked in the May Day bank holiday, we plodded along as usual here (well, if I’m honest, it didn’t make all that much difference to me). Victoria didn’t even get the public holiday that the rest of Australia got at the end of April for ANZAC day (a kind of remembrance day for the Australian and Kiwi troops killed in the war). I pretty much entirely missed ANZAC (but unfortunately not the rain or the complete lack of public transport). Though it did cause some amusement to watch while friends got obsessed about the AFL match that day: Collingwood (Magpies) vs Essendon (Bombers). I have friends who support both; it was starting to get a little vicious.

I managed to catch the end of the German film festival (which I didn’t know was on), and discovered that the jazz festival (which replaced the comedy festival) entails the appearance of random jazz playing musicians along the sidewalk restaurants of Hardware Street. Personally, I think they should always be there. I have also discovered that what constitutes a relatively warm spring day back home is bloody freezing over this side of the world!

After a really cold spell (in my defence, it did get down to 4 degrees one night…) it got warm again, at which point I discovered the botanical gardens. They are beautiful. I really think I could just lose myself in there. It reminded me in a way of the hours I used to spend wandering through Stanley Park in Vancouver. It was a great feeling to find that tranquillity again. I have also discovered how close I live to Merri Creek which runs for miles through the northern part of the city – a great place to go for a walk and literally seconds away from my house. Unfortunately, finding out that your shoes give you blisters an hour and a half into walking AWAY from your house isn’t such a great plan...

So, just to make the Brits happy back in blighty – yes, it’s really that cold (even having lived in Canada) and no, we don’t get the whitsun bank holiday either! No clue what the week has in store for me but I'll try to make it more fun (though still on a budget - I won't get paid for 3 more weeks!)... til next time then. Love to you all