pommie bastard

I thought it was hot enough but seeing CANBERRA parts of NSW, VICTORIA and WA on fire could be the Aussies like it hotter .
The locals tell me that the school holidays and bush fires always happen at the same time , now what did my mum tell about not playing with matches.
Feel for the people that lost their lifes and got burnt out in Canberra but was it preventable ,had they never heard of fire breaks in a country where bush fires are common no chance of the Parliament there getting burnt down its underground , pollies looking after themselfs again I wonder?
Any chance of you Poms having a whip round for the poor souls who had no insurance you rich countries always help the worse off.

dotty

What really gets me about this Bushfire Stuff is the "Who can we blame" attitude that is on now. All you hear on TV is people whining about who is to blame,(read) who can we sue for money. For heavens sake in a country that has temps between 35 and 40 degrees in summer, preceeded by a drought, the only person to blame is Nature.

Massive bushfires are part of Australias climate. So are storms that defy anything we can imagine. Natures to blame but in the great Aussie fashion its being turned into lets get money. Anyone can insure their house against fire, so why whinge if they didn't want to pay house insurance like the rest of us.

How the heck can the government be expected to predict where the next fire storm will break out? Sure resources in most departments of this country are stretched but you can hardly have fire crews on standby in every street in the Country.

Why dont people face the fact we live in the harshest climate in the world and start taking responsibility themselves. Bushfires are not new, the've been part of Australia for centuries. Its a wild rugged boiling place and that should not be a surprise to those who live here.

I have sympathy for those who died or lost homes but not for the give me a hand out brigade who dont pay their premiums then expect the rest of us to pay up.

By the way, at this time of year (39 degrees) I wonder how many are calling it perfect climate or boiling hell hole.

pommie bastard

Your are right blame is not worth talking about , but steps to prevent this happening would help , cutting back scrub away from housing also using a bit of common sense about where people can build would be good start.
The weather here right now is bad news 40c plus as you say its a hell hole its not liveable , sod my luck I have the flu too.
The drought is doing more damage here than foot and mouth did in the UK , farm products are a big part of the countries exports not good news for anyone living in Australia.

Perth Helena

Nature along with poor bush clearing practises, thanks to tree huggers. The Aborigines had it all figured out, as did a bunch of scientists who predicted this would happen years ago. Nobody would listen to them because people like the lush forested look & go all ape whenever there's a controlled burn in winter and a bit of smoke gets in their eyes. There needs to be something/someone or a combination of mistakes to blame or else they'll live through this again, and again.

I haven't heard any calls for lawsuits. Just devastated people who want to know why it got so bad, so out of control, so quickly and why there wasn't help available quicker. Seems like a natural reaction to me.

And in great Aussie fashion, people will donate money, clothes, household goods, and their time to help them out. There'll probably be some celebrity benefit/telethon too. We're not all such horrible people as you love to constantly point out.

True, but sometimes it takes something like this to wake some people up. Others say they can't afford it. I suppose if you're on welfare and live in state housing, you might have that excuse.

That's the key - firestorm. It shouldn't be a firestorm if governments are allowed to carry out proper forest management practises. Maybe they'll learn from this and create situations where we'll just have bushfires, not firestorms. Bushfires are more manageable in most cases. Firestorms are completely out of anyone's scope.

Well, it is summer. And it's Australia. Australian summers get hot. I don't know about where you are, but in Perth it rarely stays very hot for too long, unless we get a heatwave which happens maybe once a year. Yesterday it was a lovely 28, today a hot 36, tomorrow a sizzling 40 maybe, then down to 29 and 27 the next day after that. Up and down, up and down. The other option would be a summer that doesn't feel like a summer - mild, blah days, maybe quite a bit of cloud, rain or drizzle, some feeble sunshine and barely warm temperatures, ... nah, much rather what we've got here thanks.

jeannie

I have never heard of anyone Immigrating to CANBERRA why is that ???????

colind

Hi Jeannie

Canberra doesn't hold the same attractions as other Australian capital cities. It is primarily an administrative centre stuck in the middle of the bush between Sydney and Melbourne...so not near the beach, tends to get very hot in summer and very cold in winter. Only 300,000 live there yet it is the capital of the country, which probably says it all really.

2thick

Sympathy for all those who have lost property and family aside,
I suppose you think that everywhere else in the Western world people ACTUALLY take responsibility for their own actions??Just who are you trying to kid!! People like PB and cronies are either incredibly naive/ignorant or more likely one-eyed and so totally prejudiced that you they can't see that these problems exist everywhere.

It's usually blame your parents / teachers / local authorities/ governments...etc - never your own fault. Reading many of the posts on this forum it's abundantly clear that many people are so concerned about their rights but have little regard for their responsibilities(funny how most of them seem to hate Oz). That's the trouble with all this PC C**p. People should take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences of those actions.

E.g. PB moving to Aus - if you don't like it tough not everybody does. Don't blame anybody else for your own poor judgment in going to what for you is a hellhole. You know you've made a mistake, pull your finger out and move back to the UK, for your wife's sake if nothing else. instead of whinging about how everybody else 'lied' to you to get you there and how s**t it is for you here.

2thick

pommie bastard

Get a life or change the record I was asking the Poms to help out the poor souls who lost their homes in the bush fires.
You are 2thick no doubt about it , what tablets are you on I would half the dose or even maybe double it?
Australia is fine for people who are willing to except a limited outlook on life , we did enjoy the first couple of years but have grown tired of the blandness ofr the Australian life style.

2thick

Well if that was really true you should have had no problem fitting in - problems with your personality? Or has your limited intellect and social outlook prevented you from enjoying many of the pursuits so enjoyed by other migrants to Aus? Perhaps you spent too much time in the sun when you first got here and addled your emm.. 'brain' ? I'd better go and have another stupid pill so I can maintain this discourse with you.

see you later

2thick

pommie bastard

Grap , grasp do I know you apart from your name which says it all do you know me I think not , done the beach very mind expanding , the cafe strips great in summer a few of the ale houses worth a visit thats about it.
Employment now I know whats it like in a third world country , the locals lack wit or conversion also humour is sad , the landscape seen one bit of scrub seen it all .
Yes its great living in a time warp after living in the UK its hard to come to terms with such a bland country and a backward population .
If I did have limited intellect and social outlook then Australia would suit me down to the ground as it will you good luck.

Don

I don't know why some people think life in Aus is life in a desert. Since 99% of the population live on the coastal rim, those summer temperatures are nothing to get worried about - but I guess to someone from the UK might seem extreme. You soon acclimatise. I'm from the UK but live in a part of Europe where temperatures go up to 25+ degrees C in May, 28+ June, 30+ July-August (those are daily averages - highs in July-August are about 38 degrees C). Usually 4 months of 'baking' temperatures but in reality just a couple of restive too-hot-to-sllep nights (without A/C - with it, no problem).

Winter - we usually go down to minus 20 a few weeks but normal winter temps are about -2 or so.

You soon acclimatise and don't even notice the weather as being 'extreme' compared to UK.

Cheers - Don

pommie bastard

You are right in alot of what you say , but after a week of baking weather its does get to you its far easier to warm up than cool down, the people who live in Northern WA on mine sites have summer temps of 40c plus nearly every day this is know to make them go Tropo as the locals say .

jeannie

Pommie have ever been to Alice Springs ?? if so what is it like ????

pommie bastard

Sorry no only seen the flim a Town like Alice , theres a lot of Australia to cover but distances are vast and having the time to drive to these places and the will to want to do it is not for us , driving anywhere starting from WA can be a boring and very wearing task.
We have seen a fair bit of the South West of WA tried going North but found it not worth the petrol money and the landscapes bleak the farthest inland we have driven is a country town called Northham any farther and you will hit the desert .

jeannie

Thanks it was the movie Town like Alice that made me ask never seen it, I did see a film a couple of years ago about the British woman and kids on the move with Japanese guards going from place to place in Australia dont know if that was it ?