Healesville Animal Sanctuary

One of the native zoos in Victoria is between Ferny Creek and Kinglake. We visited this animal sanctuary on our way to Kinglake. They evacuated the animals to a few zoos in the state during the fire days of February. They are well known for their breeding program of native, endangered animals. We enjoyed the platypus exhibit ... these unique mammals are difficult to view in nature. Unfortunately the young Tasmanian Tigers were hiding from us... too bad. They are also seriously endangered because of the disease chlamydia.

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/brigittewiebe/Healesville#

We are off to Brisbane and the coast of Queensland and NSW for the next ten days. I'll write more and post more pictures when we get back.

Seven Months After

Two weekends ago we drove north about 40 kilometres to Kinglake, one of the communities devastated by the bushfires in February. The two roads that wind up through the hills there are surrounded by blackened trees. Regrowth is noticeable against the blackness -- bright green moss is growing along the forest floor, nourished by the nutrients in the ash. Fern trees have sprouted. Little seedlings are creeping up in the black foliage. A green fuzz of leaves is creeping up the trees.

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/brigittewiebe/Kinglake#

The Bushfires Royal Commission released its interim report in late August. The system that was in place in February was seen to be riddled with faults. Unnecessary bureaucracy. Unclear language when determining fire risk. A policy of advising people to stay and fight. Ungraded fire conditions. Emergency response systems that collapsed. Two different fire response units, one for public land and one for communities, that did not communicate with each other. A list of at-risk areas was released, and the Dandenongs are included. The Victorian government was quick to change some of its rules related to managing the bush. Within this area, people are now permitted to remove trees within 10 metres of their homes, and dead trees up to 30 metres away. This could create an area of clear space around dwellings, hopefully giving more chance to defend against a smaller fire. Very little could have been done to defend against the maelstrom that occurred on February 7.

A community group has been formed in the Dandenongs. Residents of the town of Sassafras, concerned by potential risk for the upcoming summer, spearheaded the development of the group. The CFA is listening, and the State Government responded with the new 10-30 rule. In the past, people had to obtain Council permission to clear anything from their blocks, regardless of closeness to the dwelling. This will allow people to clear fuel from their yards without having to go through a bureaucracy.

Another big concern relates to the roads. They are narrow, winding without room to pass, many are not "through" roads (dead ends), the trees within the bush are known to come down in high winds, and the tourist traffic that shows up on weekends completely crowds out the little towns. It would be almost impossible to retreat in the event of a fast-moving event like that which occurred last Feb. 7. We've already had some high spring temperatures of 25 degrees which coincided with blustery winds. Trees came down. It is important to balance nature with safety. People live here because of the beauty, the huge gum trees, the greenness and the life. Right now they are trying to find a balance between the gorgeous landscape and its potential danger.

Lost Cat

I cannot resist posting this picture... some international students in Melbourne hoped to find this "cat's" owner... the cat is actually a possum! And possums aren't that friendly to humans!

Media Watch

Recently, several amazing stories have aired on ABC Radio National. I thought I would send the links to the site so you could have a listen. As well, the last episode of "The Farmer Wants a Wife" is on tonight. This is the 3rd time round for this particular series ... lonely farmers from around Australia apply to the program to participate in a nationally aired meet/choose/decide on your life partner show. It has its cringe moments, but it's quite sweet. It's been fun for us to see another side of Australian life.

First...a great show aired today on ABC's All in the Mind, one of the sessions at Adelaide's Festival of Ideas. Called "Sex, Knowledge and Science", it explores how we do science. Does gender matter? Does it affect how we create scientific fact? Why are we called mammals? Give it a listen:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind
I am more than intrigued because I spent some time during my pre-master's courses trying to figure out the ideas of one particular professor, and I never could. I would not have managed an A in that course if I had sold my soul. So now I know why... he was promoting a philosophical scientific view that was misogynist at its core.

If you are interested in the importance of maintaining language and culture (remember German School?), you will be intrigued by the story of the Adnyamathanha people of the Flinders Ranges of modern South Australia. To transcent the horrors of the past, to teach new generations a history and lore and belief that transcends the white invasion, check out this show. Through song and story telling the Adnyamathanha are able to keep their songlines alive. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/awaye/


The Farmer Wants a Wife is a commercial mainstream television venture, if you can call a nationally aired dating show a mainstream event. We watch a few of these shows, to get the flavour of non-American television... early on I said to Tom that the last thing I wanted to do in Australia is watch American television. American in the U.S. category, that is, because everyone here refers to the U.S. as "America". It's almost a waste of breath to point out that Canada is also "American"... our kids have tried, at school, and they usually get blank looks. And many kids refer to Canada as "Canadia", as in Australia! So we do try to view a bit of Aussie television, and the Farmer series has been fun.


http://channelnine.ninemsn.com.au/thefarmerwantsawife/

The Picture -- Victoria Market

Just got this photo from Roberta. It shows the size of the picture... this weekend it will be wrapped more securely and then taken to Pack and Save to ship off to Canada to my mom's. What the picture doesn't show is the relatively high winds that were blowing that day. I had to clutch that thing tightly so it wouldn't take off and sail with me back to Ferny Creek.

Target Words

For all you word lovers out there... here's a great word puzzle. Roberta really enjoyed them when she was here. We frustrate ourselves daily (or occasionally enjoy the reward of finding the 9 letter word) with this puzzle. There's a new one every day.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/puzzles/2009/08/26/target.html