Some people (and probably anyone in Australia) will be aware of the devastating bush fires in Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales over the last few days. Houses have been lost but at least there has been no loss of life yet. We are not personally affected. There are fires to the southeast of us. The westerly winds mean they are not headed this way but this afternoon we had a howling dust storm with winds of about 50 km/hr. It wasn't pleasant, but better than a fire. Everyone needs rain - desperately.

Anyway, back to the thread …. One of the high profile losses has been the heritage-listed Binna Burra Lodge in the mountains behind the Gold Coast. Binna Burra is in a rain forest area although the predominant vegetation is what is known as wet sclerophyll forest. Binna Burra is/was a pleasant place to stay. In the last few years my wife and I have spent a few days chilling out at the Lodge on a couple of occasions. Yesterday the fires destroyed it. It will be rebuilt, but it is still a sad loss. The lodges we stayed in had external walls of beautiful slab timbers with shingle roofs. They blended with the environment. I guess that always carries a risk. Images of the burned out lodge are on the net. But here are a few of our memories (all shot with the Q, Q10 or Q7)

The late afternoon view from the paved patio area outside the cliff top dining room. It was a great place to take in the sunset while enjoying a glass of wine.


Typical wet sclerophyll forest. As well as the obvious flora it is teeming with bird and animal life.


A banksia. These are beautiful shrubs or small trees. As a side note - fire is generally needed to burst their seed pods and start the next generation. But 'cool' fires are the rule. The very 'hot' fires we are having at present can destroy everything.


Yellow-tailed black cockatoos in the canopy. The shot was taken with the original Q and an adapted Pentax/Cosmicar 8-48/f0-1.2 lens. The shot is heavily cropped because the cockatoos were high up and some way off. The Q performed brilliantly with the assistance of the very fast lens.


Mrs PJ1 leads me off on a rain forest track.


On our last stay at Binna Burra they put us in a two bedroom apartment (with the second bedroom in the loft). It had a small balcony and we took a pic for our grandchildren. They were planning to stay there with us at some time.


They were also renovating the lodges when we were there the last time. We bought a couple of shingles. Ah, well ... the thought was there.

[RobG]

Unfortunately, the weather people don't believe we can expect even an average rainfall in the next few months, but we can expect above average temperatures. We are paying the price of global-warming energy practices, and reduction of rainfall being caused by loss of transpiration from too much land-clearing. Weather experts around the world seem to predict an increasing likelihood of weather extremes becoming the norm.

Sadly, yes. It's quite likely that without drought-breaking rain soon, some outback towns will have to be evacuated. I read recently that water was being carried by rail to Lithgow, just on the western side of the Blue Mountains from Sydney, in order to keep a coal mine running. It was also mentioned in connection with these bushfires that Stanthorpe and Tenterfield are very low on water supplies.

[carlb]

Of course it's nothing to do with climate change according to certain sections of the govt. When we get bushfires like this in late winter/early spring then it seems inevitable that it is indeed shaping up as a potentially catastrophic Summer. I just hope I'm wrong.

[K2 to K50]

Sadly, yes. It's quite likely that without drought-breaking rain soon, some outback towns will have to be evacuated. I read recently that water was being carried by rail to Lithgow, just on the western side of the Blue Mountains from Sydney, in order to keep a coal mine running. It was also mentioned in connection with these bushfires that Stanthorpe and Tenterfield are very low on water supplies.

All true - some of those towns are facing the prospect of needing to truck water in daily at huge cost before the end of this year. A very scary and intolerable situation.

Day zero approaches for Stanthorpe as locals face prospect of levy to cover cost of trucked-in water - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

That article was a month ago, before the fires. Firefighters are facing the prospect of having no water supply to fight fires in many of these areas. The last line in that story is ominous:

"But the Bureau of Meteorology has warned the town is unlikely to receive the soaking rain needed in the coming months." (the Bolding added by myself)


It is difficult to imagine what the people in these towns must be thinking and feeling, to find themselves in such a situation.