Monday, December 04, 2006

Caloundra fires

These are photos of a bushfire at Caloundra that happened whilst I was in Newcastle. Fortunately there were no deaths, loss of property or injuries to anyone. Except the bush itself which will re-generate quickly.One does not want to think of any animals that were injured or perished in the blaze. Hopefully none.



It was a great contrast that while this was happening here in Caloundra, the southern East Coast was experiencing unseasonal cold weather, hail and snow down as far as Ballarat had snow, parts of Melbourne,the blue Mountains and just outside of Newcastle where I was at a place called Barrington Tops.
The snow fields had more snow than they had in the ski season.



You may be able to recognise that these two photos are taken at approximately the same place where my first photos posted of Caloundra were taken. It certainly looks less peaceful and serene than the day those photos were taken. This makes the fire look a little closer to civilization than what it actually was on this side. It was a fair way back behind those high rises.




It was closer on the other side, it was not all that far from the facility that I work at, quite near a school and another aged care facility that needed to be evacuated. I am very glad I was out of town, it must have been very frightening. Everyone tells me that the smoke was so hard to deal with, I can well imagine that to be so.




Firefighting is much improved with these fine tuned firefighters on site. They have been a great boon in Australia fighting bush fires. At the same time as the fires here, there were bush fires in the Blue Mountains sadly these did do some damage to peoples properties. They were actually having to do a lot of back burning with both lots of fires to bring them under complete control. The news was that once they had back burned at the blue Mountains site the fire was contained when it ran to the bottom of a deep gorge.



I am full of the utmost admiration for the firemen as well as all the men and women in the emergency services who do such a great job of protecting us from these dangers. They seem to just get on with what they need to do without any thoughts of the risks they themselves are under. I did not take these excellent photos myself of course, a friend emailed them to me.




A little levity now, I found this intriguing.



DORMITORY:


When you rearrange the letters:

DIRTY ROOM

PRESBYTERIAN:
When you rearrange the letters:


BEST IN PRAYER

ASTRONOMER:
When you rearrange the letters:


MOON STARER

DESPERATION:
When you rearrange the letters:
A ROPE ENDS IT

THE EYES:
When you rearrange the letters:


THEY SEE

GEORGE BUSH:
When you rearrange the letters:


HE BUGS GORE

THE MORSE CODE:
When you rearrange the letters:

HERE COME DOTS

SLOT MACHINES:
When you rearrange the letters:

CASH LOST IN ME

ANIMOSITY:
When yo u rearrange the letters:

IS NO AMITY

ELECTION RESULTS:
When you rearrange the letters:

LIES - LET'S RECOUNT

SNOOZE ALARMS:
When you rearrange the letters:

ALAS! NO MORE Z 'S

A DECIMAL POINT:
When you rearrange the letters:


IM A DOT IN PLACE

THE EARTHQUAKES:
When you rearrange the letters:


THAT QUEER SHAKE

ELEVEN PLUS TWO:
When you rearrange the letters:


TWELVE PLUS ONE


AND FOR THE GRAND FINALE

MOTHER-IN-LAW:
When you rearrange the letters:


WOMAN HITLER



Yep! Someone with waaaaaaaaaaay
too much time on their hands! (Probably a son-in-law)


17 comments:

Jack K. said...

Great photos. Glad to hear there was no injuries or deaths.

As for the animals, most of them probably were able to evacuate. They seem to have an uncanny ability to get out of harms way.

And I agree, someone has way to much time on their hands. lol

Gattina said...

Frighting photos ! fortunately nobody lost his life and me too I better not think about the poor animals.

I very much enjoyed the second part lol ! I wonder who had the idea to find that out ! Amazing.

Merle said...

Hi Margaret ~ Good post and great photos, even if you did not take them. At present there are about 50 fires in Victoria, most in places that are inaccessible high country
places and they expect some to burn all summer.Most are not near homes
thank godness. I got that same joke today with the rearranged letters, it's very clever really. Thanks for your comments, glad you enjoy the jokes. Take care, Love, Merle.

Peter said...

Hi Margaret, there was a time when Victoria and Tasmania had the franchise on summer bushfires, but they seem to be everywhere now-a-days.

Jeanette said...

Hi Margaret
great photo's of the bush fires so pleased there was no loss of lives
its going to be a bad season for bush fires the country side is so dry. Take care

Gattina said...

Hello again, just saw your comment ! What happens for the cats ? It's not difficult at all. You copy and paste the logo " little cat on the toilet" on the top of your cat post, write something or put a picture, go to my blog, click on Mr. Linky (giving your link) and that's all !your comment you left already.
As everybody starts from my blog, they will come to you automatically when your name is in Mr. Linky

JunieRose2005 said...

Hi,

I just LOVED those rearranged words-and it was new to me! :)

Junie

Lee said...

Being close to bushfires must be the most frightening thing to experience. I know when there were a few fires in areas around here where I am, I could smell the smoke at night and it sent chills down my back. I would continually be looking out my windows.

PinkCat said...

A very dramatic post and the music is so fitting. Incredible photos that just make it seem all so unbeleivable. I never realise how bad wild fires are until I moved to Arizona and have seen first hand what they can do.

I am glad that you were away at the time.

I love the words. Too funny.

Take care xx

Gwen said...

Hi Margaret..Thanks for popping in
great pics,those fire-fighters sure need all the help they can get. Will talk again soon.

Carole Burant said...

What very scary photos showing all that smoke from the fires...I can't even imagine how frightening it must be to have them so near!! My neighbour is a volunteer firefighter and it's amazing the danger they put themselves into...I have a great admiration for them too!! The rearranged words are just hilarious!! hehe

Bob said...

That smoke look sreally horrible Margaret, it must be really hard working in the heat, smoke and dirt as well as having to put your life at risk while doing it.

Merle said...

Hi again Margaret ~ Thanks for your
comments, glad you liked the joke about the man changing places. I am
so pleased with how the garden looks and that the tomatoes are starting to ripen. Flowers on my capsicums too.
Take care, Love, Merle.

HORIZON said...

That fire looks scary- glad no one was hurt and yes it looks very close to the city there.
Love your rearranged words. l liked the ELECTION RESULTS one :)

Meow (aka Connie) said...

I'm thinking this Summer is gonna be so scary with bushfires. There are huge ones happening here in Victoria at the moment ... the smoke haze here in Melbourne is unbelievable.
Have a great weekend.
Take care, Meow

DellaB said...

very scary - we could see that smoke from down here on the Gold Coast. Victoria looks to be in real trouble at the moment, they say the only way the fires will be put out is if it rains, and there is none in the forecast. Praying for those poor people; I would not, could not, move to live in a fire-prone area.

very funny, the re-arranged words - your son-in-law?

thanks Margaret
:-)
Della

Jim said...

Hi Margaret -- Those firefighters are most dedicated. I might be that dedicated but I'm not one to put my life on the line to fight fires.

I'll take the way God made those words. People can sure mess them up!
..