Atmospheric
5 December 2019
It has become impossible to disentangle the bushfire reports from the weather reports on the radio recently. The local weather forecasts report wind direction in relation to fire danger, and talk about tomorrow being “sunny and warm, but smoky”.
The afternoon today saw the sun as a dim red disc etched in a weird grey sky. Every so often a black ash smut drops from above and lands in front of you. It feels otherworldly, and the smell of smoke is everywhere. This despite Newcastle being a long way from the bigger fires.
New South Wales has lost 1.6 million hectares of bush so far this season. For any Londoners reading that’s almost 800 Epping Forest’s worth of trees.
This picture was taken at Valentine on Sunday evening and gives some impression of the odd mix of smoke and cloud.
Too Much Information?
30 November 2019
Something I’ve noticed while driving on Australian roads these last 11 months is the density of road sign infomation. This may not be an accurate comparison with my UK driving experience but I feel that Australian signage is very often verbal (rather than symbolic in the UK) and there’s more of it. Perhaps the UK’s proximity to (and standardisation with) mainland Europe where symbology communicates in multiple languages makes it inevitable that information isn’t presented in text. I’m not sure why there is less signage density in the UK though.
Take this example. In the space of a few metres, immediately after turning at traffic lights road users are presented with:
- Left Lane Ends
- Merge Right (well you’d have to if the left lane ends)
- Speed Cameras Used In This Area
- Parking / stopping zone restrictions
- Refuge Island (a warning that pedestrians and cyclists may be crossing)
- A bus stop
- Form 1 Lane (just repeating the left lane ends, merge right message)
- Watch For Cyclists (the cycle lane is also marked on the road surface)
- Speed Limit 60
Quite a lot to take in. You could easily run someone over whilst reading it all on the move.
Afternoon Recreation
22 November 2019
A restful scene on Lake Macquarie, captured during a late afternoon stroll.
One of the great things about Australia is that there’s plenty of it to go around, so you can be less than a kilometre away from a busy suburb and find solitude.
None the less the bushfires, though the worst of them are some way distant, lend a hazy look to the sky and hills that remind us that all is not perfect in paradise.
Light from the Past
14 November 2019
The Hornby lighthouse looks like it should be a OO scale model of an idealised 19th century lighthouse in a Hornby model train set.
It’s the real thing though. It has been on the South Head at the entrance to Sydney Harbour since 1858 and is still active.
Maybe Rod could fit a lighthouse into the harbour of his american city model railway layout.
Low Tide
8 November 2019
One more picture of the Queensland coast between Port Douglas and Cairns. This little rocky beach is a picturesque spot, especially at low tide as shown here.
The ocean always looks so tempting for a swim, but Beware. If the saltwater crocodiles fail to catch you, the box jellyfish and irukandji could get you instead.
