Amazulu

Very sad news overnight - RIP heroes

Tomorrow morning we'll be taking some beer, wine, soft drinks and snacks to the volunteer fire fighters up at Kalamunda fire station. We couldn't live where we do without them

BEVS

spouse of scouse

A lovely thing to do, I'm sure they'll appreciate it

moneypenny20

The husband climbs in and cleans the bottom every time ours has run dry. This last time there was very little there. The filters and downpours are cleaned regularly. The water out of the tank is miles nicer than the town water. Indi the cat in charge won't drink town water until it's been boiled and cooled. Tank water gets her immediate seal of approval.

BEVS

No.Not really.

LittleGreyCat

Reading through this and contemplating.
We were thinking of visiting October/November 2020 but it looks as though the fire season in a bad year begins around the start of November.
Is September/October a better time?
Looking at Sydney, Blue Mountains, Tasmania, Melbourne and Canberra in the plan.
Melbourne and Canberra we haven't visited before.

Dreamy

Fire season this year started in August on the East coast of Australia. I seem to recall that there were already significant numbers of fires burning by September last year too.

All you can do is be prepared for the worst - be flexible with plans where you can, have good travel insurance, take notice of local fire information when you're here - and hope for the best!

livinginreality

Sad to see my home town has now been affected by fires in South Oz.Evacuation in process.

BEVS

It isn't getting any better sadly.

Victoria bushfires: thousands told to evacuate vasteast Gippsland fire threat zone.

mikelincs

Quite a bit on the BBC this morning about cancelling the New Years event in Sydney and sending the money on the firefighting, but as the Sydney authorities said, the money is already spent, yes more money for firefighting, but let the celebrations go on, there isn't a lot to celebrate in the area at the moment. Stay safe everyone.

spouse of scouse

Truth be told Mike the Sydney fireworks attract criticism every year, primarily due to the cost. The counter-argument is usually that tourist dollars outweigh the cost.

quoll

My grandkids were down there with their mum. The plan had been to head back via Goongerah and Cabanandra where they used to live and where they have friends and family - before they got totally burned out 5 years ago. Deja vue for them. Their great uncle lives there and isn't evacuating so I hope he makes it. The girls left Yesterday afternoon and are now back in Canberra but my son had a lot of persuading to do.

BEVS

Bah! Hate all this for people.

spouse of scouse

Grr, people shouldn't need to be persuaded to leave an area under imminent threat. I'm glad your grandkids are safe quoll.

quoll

Thanks! Me too.
They were in Marlo but their usual plan is Cabanandra for New Year - their mum's birthday with the extended family. Marlo is probably very safe but once the roads get closed there's no telling how long they'd be stuck there for. At least they had all evacuated the year they burned out and in hindsight my son is very grateful for that. Apparently there was one chap who stayed to fight and he had a wealth of experience and machinery available but apparently he's been totally screwed up with PTSD ever since and his family have really suffered.