Badger Galore
Staying ‘Up Over’ for a while.
Fire Update.
So...the fire to the north of us, that threatened the town last Friday, has been extinguished. This is quite incredible given how dry the ground is and the strong winds we have been having.The fire to the south at Ballandean is still burning but has been contained. The 'Firies' on both counts have done an amazing job under very trying circumstances. The town has rallied to help those who have lost homes or suffered damage. Donations have flooded in from across Southern Queensland. The Council has lifted water restrictions for a week to allow people to clean and wash smoke damaged homes.The weather forecast for the weekend is once again higher temperatures and strong winds (and of course no rain!) so the fire risk is high again.We are off to Brisbane for the weekend. The Brisbane Festival is on and we were due to visit the 'Fire Gardens' in the city Botanic Gardens but it has been cancelled following all the recent fires elsewhere. We will visit Ikea, markets, wander in the city, catch up with Will's family and return home on Monday via Currumbin for this years 'Swell' Sculpture Festival.
Two days after the day after.
So...the Stanthorpe/ Applethorpe fire is still burning but is apparently contained and causing less concern. I drove into town yesterday and though the flames had got quite close to parts of the town the devastation was not as bad as we were imagining on Friday night. It had jumped the highway in a few places but had been put out before it could do further damage.Some schools were closed today in town and to the north of Stanthorpe.I was back at the 'Book Cave' and this afternoon heard that there was now a fire at Ballandean. This fire is to the south of us and a bit more worrying. The winds have been terrible today but are supposed to die down a bit tonight.They always seem to spring up while I am at the 'Book Cave'. Perhaps I should stop going.We had a wander in the dark after dinner to see if we could see the flames from this new fire across the valley and yes, there was an ominous orange glow upon the horizon. The wind is supposedly blowing away from us and yet it did feel like it was blowing at us from the direction of the fire! It is a long way away but we are just a little spooked by the wind and the tinder dry surroundings.There is a bad fire down on the coast near Tracy too. Looking at the map it has almost reached Angourie where we went walking with Tracy the last time we were down visiting her. Apart from the devastation to the bushland I just fear for all the wildlife caught up in it all.As if Australia wasn't bad enough with all it's flippin' deadly creatures. What has this new Australian citizen gone and done by joining this crazy gang of people who think living here is fun?