11-01-2013, 10:40 PM
1
You think the weather's bad?
Most of you are in winter but here it is summer, not only that it is a hot dry summer. Perhaps you have read about the bushfires? I took these pictures with my phone (hence crap quality) but they show you why bushfires take hold. They are in the ACT just outside Canberra but the state is starting to look like this everywhere. The worse conditions are hot weather, low humidity and windy.On the bright side house insurance covers you for fires but not floods unless you are somewhere that doesn't flood
11-01-2013, 10:56 PM
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Re: You think the weather's bad?
Much as I like the sunshine, Bruce, no way would I like your weather. It must be so worrying and frightening when these fires start what seems like year after year.Are there huge rises in the price of food, especially veg and fruit, at times like this?
12-01-2013, 02:32 AM
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Re: You think the weather's bad?
Are there huge rises in the price of food, especially veg and fruit, at times like this?[/QUOTE]Sometimes. It depends what gets destroyed. I live in Tasmania and last year after the Queensland floods, bananas sky-rocketed in price to almost $8 (£5) a kilo. They are now back to normal at about $1.99.
Here in Tasmania, some livestock has been destroyed but probably not enough to make a big difference to meat prices.
12-01-2013, 09:16 AM
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Re: You think the weather's bad?
Originally Posted by Mags
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Are there huge rises in the price of food, especially veg and fruit, at times like this?
Cyclones (affecting a much bigger area) have had that effect in the past when they wiped out the banana crop and more recently tomato prices rocketed for a few weeks when rain affected the crop in one locality and we had to wait for another area's harvest to start.
While these fires are awful and threaten life they are common and most of them burn without much effect on the general population. For example on the same day as the Tasman fires were destroying 65 houses there were over 140 fires in NSW burning out of control but only one was threatening property and I think one outbuilding was lost. Over 90000 hectares has been burnt in NSW to date - the losses? 21000+ sheep but it will only have a marginal effect on the lamb price.
Some plants even need a bush fire to germinate because they rely on the fact that the competition has been wiped out.
On the plus side these events demonstrate how effective volunteer organisations such as the Rural (Bush) Fire Service and State Emergency Service are. It is a classic example of communities helping themselves and creating a sense of community. Something Australia should be very proud of and an example more dysfunctional societies could do well to emulate.
I will stick to mud and floods thank you .
12-01-2013, 04:02 PM
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Re: You think the weather's bad?
It is well known of the fires and heat in Oz and Tasmania here in Blighty Bruce. Its on the news nearly everyday. I have 4 penfriends over there. One in Perth, One in Melbourne and One in NSW, one in Tasmania. They were all emigrants from here. My poor friend in Tas is 74 now and is in a state of stress as the fires were all around them and she was hoping to sell her house before Christmas and come back to Blighty to end her life here. Now she has no hope maybe of selling her house in the area she lives just outside Hobart. I want to win the Lotto and would help her out. My friend in Kerisbrook outside Melbourne has a small holding so she is worried the fires might spread there as she has some Llamas and Sheep. So everyone in Oz is effected by the heat. I wish we could send you some of our rain over there as we have had enough to fill an ocean the last year.|
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