Tomorrow, Tuesday Nov 12, 2019 is looking very bad for south-east Australia (especially New South Wales, but also parts of Queensland, Victoria and South Australia), and this was clear at least four days ago. The reason for this is the ‘synoptic’ pattern of atmospheric circulation that has been predicted for Tuesday – and how this… Continue reading How You Can Predict Bushfires in Australia – Four Days Out
Tag: Australia
A Short Walk in the Lamington Kush – The Stintson plane wreck, Australia
“If I had a camera I could take a photo and show guests what my uncle’s legs looked like after he found the Stintson”. ****** Between teaching my groups of American students ecology up at the rainforested O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, and in the adjacent Lamington National Park, it often seemed like there were a couple… Continue reading A Short Walk in the Lamington Kush – The Stintson plane wreck, Australia
Australia’s Bunya Mountains and Alternate World Histories
Could the Bunya Mountains be the one place to turn your preconceptions of human nature on its head? *** I recently finished Bruce Pascoe’s book ‘Dark Emu’. It’s an accumulation of the abundant evidence that Australian Aboriginals practised what was, by any objection definition, agriculture – and on a large scale. It’s not just a… Continue reading Australia’s Bunya Mountains and Alternate World Histories
Tracking in the Ancient Dunes of Kings Canyon, central Australia
A camp-fire, such a simple pleasure, second-nature to a lot of us, and yet a whole new experience for some people. Our Emu Run tour arrived in their private camp site near Kings Canyon, Watarrka National Park, towards sunset. We had driven from Uluru for hours along dead-straight roads, flanked on either side by a… Continue reading Tracking in the Ancient Dunes of Kings Canyon, central Australia
Caterpillar Dreaming – Hiking Australia’s Larapinta Trail
The 220 km Larapinta Trail is a bit of a con…. ________________ It’s a funny thing, despite the Larapinta Trail being regarded as something of a toughie, just about any one I mentioned it to had either done it, or done part of it. Officially, it runs for 220 km along the MacDonnell Ranges, to… Continue reading Caterpillar Dreaming – Hiking Australia’s Larapinta Trail
That Bare-Foot Guy on the Overland Track, Tasmania
“Has any one seen the guy in bare feet and a track-suit? He’s mad” ++++++++++ Kate and I were reasonably experienced back-country walkers and we were expecting some bad weather on Tasmania’s Overland Track. We had carefully selected clothes, a tent, and sufficient food for our walk of over a week to the south. In… Continue reading That Bare-Foot Guy on the Overland Track, Tasmania
Travelling with Landscape-Awareness
Over ten years ago I taught visiting American classes at the University of Queensland. The itinerary of one lucky class was to be taken to a remote location for what was a pretty genuine ‘wilderness experience’. It was located on the ‘Youth Enterprise Trust’ property on the boundary of Carnarvon National Park. When I joined… Continue reading Travelling with Landscape-Awareness
Tim Flannery and Megafaunal Extinction Shuffle-puck
Are Australian lives and property being burnt as a result of something that happened tends of thousands of years ago? In 1994 an influential book, ‘The Future Eaters’, was published by the Australian paleontologist Tim Flannery. One of the goals of the book was to explain why an event several thousand years ago (the extinction… Continue reading Tim Flannery and Megafaunal Extinction Shuffle-puck
Australian Grasstrees – ancient registrars of fire
In Australia there are trees that look like inside-out chimneys. Strong but sensitive – a fungal attack can leave them as a pile of mush within days, and, often as not, they won’t survive being transplanted from the wild. But, you can burn them to a crisp – and they will re-sprout, again, and again,… Continue reading Australian Grasstrees – ancient registrars of fire
Australia’s Fatal Fire-Flume
The first time I came to Brisbane in the hot part of the year – I couldn’t believe how anyone could survive there. The nights were oppressively, putridly hot, and full of bitey-insects. Then I ended up living there and suffered for years. I would cocoon myself in a mosquito net, and poke a fan… Continue reading Australia’s Fatal Fire-Flume