General Chat

no - that would be polluting the environment :-D

Looters are everywhere ........

...... there was major damage by tornados in parts of the US around Christmas.

Looters appeared the day after.

Sadly, now that the police and fire-fighters have been able to get into Yarloop and do a thorough search, two bodies have been found in two different properties; both believed to be men in their seventies.

On a more positive note up to seventy fire-fighters from the Eastern States are expected to be active from today. The other poor so an so's have been at the fire non-stop since Wednesday

how sad


I wonder when firefighters from out of country will start arriving?

They are here, Sylvia. Expected at the fire front this morning, together with fire crews from the North of WA. The problem is there is now only one road open to travel from Perth. The two other roads are closed, and one of them has lost several road bridges so it will be months before that one opens even if the fire is brought under control soon.

Milk is already being rationed here, and petrol is becoming scarce. Dairy farmers are being prevented form taking there milk to processing plants so it is just being dumped.

And Bunbury wants to be the second capital city of WA! :-S

oh dear ..... I hate to hear about milk and other food being dumped.

I haven't heard anything yet about firefighters from here coming down there.

My apologies, Sylvia, I misread your earlier post regarding out of country fire-fighters.

I don't think that any requests for overseas personnel have been made. There is a contingent from the Eastern States here now and crews are beginning to arrive from the North of WA.

The main logistical problem is getting them to the fire. There is only one road open, the Albany Highway, which runs from Perth to Albany.

As it is our school holiday period this road is usually busy, but with the extra traffic I believe that the road is extremely congested.

The crews from the north will be ok as they will be bringing their own appliances so can travel down the old coast road and fight the fire at Waroona

I've been trying to think whether we drove either of the 2 closed roads when we were there in 2006. I know we drove the Albany Highway, but can't find any notes that say which of the other roads we used from Perth to go to Denmark and back .............. OH wasn't driving, so I didn't have the map continually open!

If you travelled from Perth the chances are that you would have been on the Albany Highway. It then would have depended on whether you went to Albany first, or Denmark. If the latter, you may have turned off the main highway at Mount Barker.

Otherwise you could have travelled on either of the other two roads to Bunbury and then on to Manjimup and Northcliffe (where there was a major fire this time last year) and then along the coast to Denmark

we were being taken by our friends to their cottage near Denmark ............ but they are also wildlife biologists and botanists, so we did all kinds of detours to look at plants!

which is why I think we may have used on of the other roads for at least part of the way.


I'm certain that we did drive one or other of the currently closed roads when OH and I did our exploring back in 1975 :-)

The road less travelled was always our choice

We didn't emigrate until 1982, but even when we moved to the south west in 1986, you always had to be careful which road you used. Old coast road went through Mandurah which was always a bottle neck at holiday times, whilst the south west highway was a good road but extensively used by heavy goods vehicles.

Now the old coast road is part of the Forrest Highway. There is a good article in Wikipedia regarding the highway and a bit of history about the old coast Road:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Highway

In October 1975, we drove from Melbourne to Perth and back in a white 1966 VW Beetle, with our 18 month old bouncing around on the sleeping bags piled on the back seat. A friend lent us a tent they had bought in the US, with a sewn in floor.

We camped all across the Nullabor, both ways, and had only the odd night or two in a motel. After Perth, we drove south to Albany and then to Two Peoples Bay Nature reserve, with an introduction to the Warden there .... and he attempted to show us the Noisy Scrub Bird, of which there were only about 50 birds.

Then up to the Stirling Ranges where the camp ground owner took us on an evening ride to see kangaroos. OH was standing in the back of the pick-up, and was lucky that the guy standing next to him saw the upcoming low branch and dragged OH down. I guess that campground has now gone, it was privately owned but was within the NP.

Then up to Kalgoorlie, Coolgardie and back across the Nullarbor

The Nullarbor was still unpaved ..... and we met a bank of 6 graders coming towards us at one point, filling the road. OH had to drive over the ridge of gravel at the edge of the road to get out of the way! The grader drivers just laughed and waved at us!

This is the closest camping site to the Ranges now

http://www.stirlingrange.com.au/

rather more upmarket than the one we stayed at ..........

....... although it did have a toilet block with hot showers!

Incidentally, Two Peoples Bay suffered a bush fire on New Year's Day.

It was started when some idiots at the Two Peoples Bay camp site set of illegal fireworks on New Year's Eve. The fire is still burning, but has been contained and controlled

stupid fools!

we've had fires here as well because of fireworks set off on New Year's Day ...... we had a very dry summer from April thought to October, and not as much rain as normal since then, so areas are pretty dry.

I hope the noisy scrub bird is still there

Fire contained but still out of control.

Cooler weather and overnight rain have also helped.

Authorities hoping to open one road in the next day or two after the trees on either side have been inspected.

great news!!

it is indeed, Sylvia.

Unfortunately, the weather towards the end of the week is expected to see temperatures rise to the high 30's again