Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New profile posts
Latest activity
Internet Search
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
General Discussions
The Watercooler
Margeurite
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 9498" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>East, west, home's best.</p><p></p><p>The thing is, I love this place a lot because I was raised in Australia and so it has always been home. But in Australia so much of what we hear is about Northern Hemisphere stuff, from "Mother England" to "good old US of A". Where, in all this, is Australia? What is the Australian spirit?</p><p></p><p>We have some beautiful stuff but we have our dangers, too. Since Steve Irwin died there have been a rash of stingray spearings (that is, spearing by stingrays). There was one a couple of weeks ago, about two beaches south of us here. Nobody is mad at the rays, but it's odd - these things do happen sometimes, no matter how careful people are.</p><p></p><p>I put up a link to a photo of our beach on the Sunday pool party thread and husband asked me, "Did you tell them about the blue-ringed octopus in the area?"</p><p>Of course I didn't. We know they're there, hanging around the rock pools but they're shy and hide away. They're only dangerous if you pick them up and they bite. THEN you need CPR and a respirator.</p><p>On Saturday a 15 year old kid was walking through a scrubby area near his home in the western part of Sydney and was bitten by an Eastern Brown Snake. They did all the right things, got him to hospital, gave a good description of the snake - but he died, yesterday. We've got really great antivenin services for all our snakes (including sea snakes) and spiders, but occasionally we still get a fatality. The Sydney Funnelweb Spider is a real nasty - but we've learned so much about it that since a combination of appropriate first aid and good antivenin, nobody has died since the early 80s, when a small boy died after a spider was hiding in the sleeve of his coat and bit him on the arm. There was a delay in treatment (his dad kept saying, "Stop fussing!") and there was also no antivenin back then. Before that we would have several deaths a year. That spider bite, untreated, can kill in half an hour. A woman not far south of us died when she was bitten on the breast by a spider that had been in the bedclothes. She lasted three hours. We've found these brutes in our backyard and they're really aggressive. They will rear up and attack. Nasty.</p><p>Most of our snakes in this area are shy and will crawl away. Other parts of Australia have aggressive snakes and Saturday's attack was probably a snake that got stepped on and was a bit aggressive due to the hot weather (it was close to 100F out there on Saturday).</p><p></p><p>I've grown up with this. I've grown up knowing instinctively to be aware of where my next drink of water is coming from; to always watch where I put my feet (not just biting beasties, but animal dung on the farm where I grew up) to the point where most Aussie kids are barefoot in summer. Aussies love to tease tourists about how dangerous the place is, but if you're sensible it's a good place to be.</p><p></p><p>Fire is our biggest worry. This is a landscape that has evolved to NEED fire. That's creepy. I just went down to the shops and on the way back there was a lot of fallen bark blown across the road. I try and drive over it (scooter) to speed up its crumbling to compost, but in nature huge chunks of bark just lie on the ground at this time of year, adding to the fuel load. A fire comes along, often started by the almost daily thunderstorms (mostly thunder & lightning, hardly anything wet) and it's like throwing a match onto a pile of oily rags. The eucalyptus and other volatile oils evaporate under the heat and then explode in mid-air. Long after the fire front has passed, hollow trees (we have many) can still be burning, unseen. In the '94 fires, weeks after difficult child 3 had been born so it must have been two months later, we saw one of these chimneys collapse after all those weeks of slow, hidden smouldering, and it set off another small fire. It would have been much worse if the original fire hadn't burnt everything so completely. It actually happened as we were driving past.</p><p>Then a few months later, during a routine morning commute car pool on the road out of town, a small dead branch blew in the car window. It speared the driver right through the heart. Not another mark on him. I don't know how, but he managed to stop the car within a second or two but was dead a second or two later. His passenger was in shock for a very long time.</p><p>Some of our trees are called "widowmakers". They seem perfectly healthy all over, then suddenly, even in still air, a large branch will drop. These leave behind on the tree the hollows where a lot of birds nest. The fallen branch adds to the fuel load.</p><p></p><p>Before Christmas I told people about the fires out of control in Victoria and Tasmania. They even had snow in those areas! But those fires are still burning.</p><p></p><p>We've been lucky in our area this summer. All that wonderful bush that surrounds us is highly flammable, but we've had no scares.</p><p></p><p>I'd love to visit other parts of the world. I love animals and nature, it's great to explore the wilderness in other countries. But despite all I've grown up knowing, I would be very much at risk in another country.</p><p></p><p>I've been worrying about all those people copping those ice storms. I've seen a documentary recently about what happens - really scary. I don't know how I'd cope. I could handle a hurricane more easily.</p><p></p><p>The scary things are when you are suddenly in the midst of nature reminding you of your insignificance. We have bad storms here, we've had disastrous weather that had the city at a standstill for days and weeks. (OK, only fire has us at a standstill for weeks). I still hate trying to drive in heavy storms and torrential rain. Strong winds are really scary when your vehicle is affected by crosswinds. But when you get into strife despite all your precautions - that's scary wherever you are.</p><p></p><p>I take my hat off to you, to be able to drive your son to the hospital in blizzard or extremely stormy/windy conditions. When you're worrying about your child, it just makes it all the more desperate.</p><p></p><p>I hope you can sort out your son's eye problems soon so you can help him get on with his life without having to be constantly interrupted by more procedures.</p><p></p><p>If ever you visit down under, do let us know so you can drop in.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 9498, member: 1991"] East, west, home's best. The thing is, I love this place a lot because I was raised in Australia and so it has always been home. But in Australia so much of what we hear is about Northern Hemisphere stuff, from "Mother England" to "good old US of A". Where, in all this, is Australia? What is the Australian spirit? We have some beautiful stuff but we have our dangers, too. Since Steve Irwin died there have been a rash of stingray spearings (that is, spearing by stingrays). There was one a couple of weeks ago, about two beaches south of us here. Nobody is mad at the rays, but it's odd - these things do happen sometimes, no matter how careful people are. I put up a link to a photo of our beach on the Sunday pool party thread and husband asked me, "Did you tell them about the blue-ringed octopus in the area?" Of course I didn't. We know they're there, hanging around the rock pools but they're shy and hide away. They're only dangerous if you pick them up and they bite. THEN you need CPR and a respirator. On Saturday a 15 year old kid was walking through a scrubby area near his home in the western part of Sydney and was bitten by an Eastern Brown Snake. They did all the right things, got him to hospital, gave a good description of the snake - but he died, yesterday. We've got really great antivenin services for all our snakes (including sea snakes) and spiders, but occasionally we still get a fatality. The Sydney Funnelweb Spider is a real nasty - but we've learned so much about it that since a combination of appropriate first aid and good antivenin, nobody has died since the early 80s, when a small boy died after a spider was hiding in the sleeve of his coat and bit him on the arm. There was a delay in treatment (his dad kept saying, "Stop fussing!") and there was also no antivenin back then. Before that we would have several deaths a year. That spider bite, untreated, can kill in half an hour. A woman not far south of us died when she was bitten on the breast by a spider that had been in the bedclothes. She lasted three hours. We've found these brutes in our backyard and they're really aggressive. They will rear up and attack. Nasty. Most of our snakes in this area are shy and will crawl away. Other parts of Australia have aggressive snakes and Saturday's attack was probably a snake that got stepped on and was a bit aggressive due to the hot weather (it was close to 100F out there on Saturday). I've grown up with this. I've grown up knowing instinctively to be aware of where my next drink of water is coming from; to always watch where I put my feet (not just biting beasties, but animal dung on the farm where I grew up) to the point where most Aussie kids are barefoot in summer. Aussies love to tease tourists about how dangerous the place is, but if you're sensible it's a good place to be. Fire is our biggest worry. This is a landscape that has evolved to NEED fire. That's creepy. I just went down to the shops and on the way back there was a lot of fallen bark blown across the road. I try and drive over it (scooter) to speed up its crumbling to compost, but in nature huge chunks of bark just lie on the ground at this time of year, adding to the fuel load. A fire comes along, often started by the almost daily thunderstorms (mostly thunder & lightning, hardly anything wet) and it's like throwing a match onto a pile of oily rags. The eucalyptus and other volatile oils evaporate under the heat and then explode in mid-air. Long after the fire front has passed, hollow trees (we have many) can still be burning, unseen. In the '94 fires, weeks after difficult child 3 had been born so it must have been two months later, we saw one of these chimneys collapse after all those weeks of slow, hidden smouldering, and it set off another small fire. It would have been much worse if the original fire hadn't burnt everything so completely. It actually happened as we were driving past. Then a few months later, during a routine morning commute car pool on the road out of town, a small dead branch blew in the car window. It speared the driver right through the heart. Not another mark on him. I don't know how, but he managed to stop the car within a second or two but was dead a second or two later. His passenger was in shock for a very long time. Some of our trees are called "widowmakers". They seem perfectly healthy all over, then suddenly, even in still air, a large branch will drop. These leave behind on the tree the hollows where a lot of birds nest. The fallen branch adds to the fuel load. Before Christmas I told people about the fires out of control in Victoria and Tasmania. They even had snow in those areas! But those fires are still burning. We've been lucky in our area this summer. All that wonderful bush that surrounds us is highly flammable, but we've had no scares. I'd love to visit other parts of the world. I love animals and nature, it's great to explore the wilderness in other countries. But despite all I've grown up knowing, I would be very much at risk in another country. I've been worrying about all those people copping those ice storms. I've seen a documentary recently about what happens - really scary. I don't know how I'd cope. I could handle a hurricane more easily. The scary things are when you are suddenly in the midst of nature reminding you of your insignificance. We have bad storms here, we've had disastrous weather that had the city at a standstill for days and weeks. (OK, only fire has us at a standstill for weeks). I still hate trying to drive in heavy storms and torrential rain. Strong winds are really scary when your vehicle is affected by crosswinds. But when you get into strife despite all your precautions - that's scary wherever you are. I take my hat off to you, to be able to drive your son to the hospital in blizzard or extremely stormy/windy conditions. When you're worrying about your child, it just makes it all the more desperate. I hope you can sort out your son's eye problems soon so you can help him get on with his life without having to be constantly interrupted by more procedures. If ever you visit down under, do let us know so you can drop in. Marg [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
General Discussions
The Watercooler
Margeurite
Top