Category: Life in Australia

Severe Weather Warning

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDN21037.shtml

Bureau Home > New South Wales Severe Weather Warning 1

Warnings Information

IDN21037
Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology

TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST

Severe Weather Warning

for DAMAGING WINDS and DAMAGING SURF

For people in Illawarra, South Coast, Snowy Mountains and parts of Metropolitan, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands and Australian Capital Territory Forecast Districts.

Issued at 4:43 pm Monday, 27 July 2020.

COASTAL LOW BRINGS DAMAGING WINDS AND SURF TO CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN PARTS OF COAST TODAY
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A deep low pressure system lies off the Illawarra coast and is expected to remain slow moving, bringing damaging winds, rain and large wind-driven waves along southern parts of the coast. Conditions are forecast to ease overnight or during Tuesday morning as the low weakens and moves east.

DAMAGING WINDS, averaging 60 to 70 km/h with peak gusts in excess of 90 km/h are expected along the parts of the Illawarra and the South Coast districts, possibly reaching the far southeast of Sydney this evening.

DAMAGING WINDS are also possible for parts of the Snowy Mountains, Southern Tablelands, ACT, Southern Highlands and the coastal ranges of South Coast this evening. For Alpine areas above 1900 metres, winds may average 80 to 90 km/h with peak gusts in excess of 120 km/h.

Winds are expected to gradually ease overnight or on Tuesday morning, as the low gradually weakens and moves east.

VERY HEAVY SURF which may lead to localised damage and coastal erosion with wind-driven large sea waves is likely for coastal areas south of Sydney, especially in the south-facing surf zones.

Beach conditions in these areas could be dangerous and people should stay well away from the surf and surf exposed areas.

A Hazardous Surf Warning is also current for coastal areas between the South Coast and Hunter Coast. See http://www.bom.gov.au/nsw/warnings/hazardoussurf.shtml.

Although rainfall rates have eased across the southern coast, steady rain is continuing in the region tonight. A Flood Warning is current for the Deua River and St Georges Basin on the South Coast. A Flood Watch is also current for the South Coast river catchments.

Locations which may be affected include Wollongong, Nowra, Bowral, Batemans Bay, Eden, Cooma, Mount Ginini, Perisher Valley and Sydney.

Bellambi AWS recorded 91 km/h wind gust at 12:58 am Monday.

Kiama AWS recorded 96 km/h wind gust at 1:51pm Monday.

Ulladulla recorded a 113 km/h wind gust at 10:22 am Monday

Moruya Airport AWS recorded a 91 km/h wind gust at 9:24am Monday.

Montague Island recorded a 117 km/h wind gust at 1:46pm Monday.

Point Perpendicular AWS recorded a 98 km/h wind gust at 3:37pm Monday

Wollongong Airport AWS recorded a 98 km/h wind gust at 2:05pm

Jervis Bay Airfield, High Range (Wanganderry) and Mount Ginini have also recorded 89 km/h gusts today.

The Batemans Bay wave rider buoy has recorded significant wave heights of 5-6m today, with a maximum wave height of 11.6m earlier this afternoon.

Many locations through the Hunter, Sydney Metropolitan, Illawarra and South Coast districts have recorded in excess of 100 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours.

The State Emergency Service advises that people should:
* Move vehicles under cover or away from trees.
* Secure or put away loose items around your house, yard and balcony.
* Keep at least 8 metres away from fallen power lines or objects that may be energised, such as fences.
* Trees that have been damaged by fire are likely to be more unstable and more likely to fall.
* Report fallen power lines to either Ausgrid (131 388), Endeavour Energy (131 003), Essential Energy (132 080) or Evoenergy (131 093) as shown on your power bill.
* Stay vigilant and monitor conditions. Note that the landscape may have changed following bushfires.
* For emergency help in floods and storms, ring your local SES Unit on 132 500.

The next Severe Weather Warning will be issued by 11:00 pm AEST Monday.

Warnings are also available through TV and Radio broadcasts, the Bureau’s website at http://www.bom.gov.au or call 1300 659 210. The Bureau and State Emergency Service would appreciate warnings being broadcast regularly.

Anatomy of a ‘mega-blaze’

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-27/gospers-mountain-mega-blaze-investigation/12472044?nw=0

As the first Black Summer inquiry prepares to report,  we reveal the inside story of Australia’s biggest bushfire.

By Kevin Nguyen, Philippa McDonald and Maryanne TaoukUpdated 27 Jul 2020, 5:05amPublished 27 Jul 2020, 5:05am

It burned for 79 days and remains seared in the memory of all who feared and fought it.

The statistics are staggering. Over a million hectares burned; a hundred homes destroyed on Sydney’s doorstep.

Gospers Mountain became famous as Australia’s first “mega-blaze”.

But behind the smoke, flames and evacuations, there is still much to learn about the monster.

The ABC has pieced together data, imagery and interviews to form a new narrative of the fire.

The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) and National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) contributed information and access to operational commanders, some speaking for the first time.

We can reveal the fire’s starting point, and how close Sydney’s suburbs came to disaster.

Firefighters tell of raised hopes as the flames faltered, and despair as backburns backfired.

This is how the mega-blaze unfolded.

Please go to:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-27/gospers-mountain-mega-blaze-investigation/12472044?nw=0

A Sunny Sunday in Sydney

I copied this Blog now with Pictures!

auntyutaDiary  March 12, 2012 1 Minute

We arrived at 10,30 am at Martin Place station to meet Angie and Roy at 11 am. We walked along Macquarie Street to their hotel and Peter took some pictures along the way. When we arrived at the hotel they offered us refreshments straightaway. And we soon got into talking amiably.

Later on we had Japanese lunch with them at the Opera House. The sky had cleared for the day. In beautiful sunshine we walked up to the Opera House. Peter took some pictures. When my lunch arrived Peter took a picture of that too. I had ordered a vegetarian roll. It looked beautiful with the avocado on top and cut up in small pieces. Somehow I managed to eat all this with chopsticks! I spiced every piece with soy sauce, horseradish and ginger. Delicious! The others had ordered something with fish. They all commented that my dish looked much more colourful.

After lunch we walked through the Botanical Gardens and Peter took some more pictures. By 2 pm we were back in Macquarie Street where Angie and Roy were staying at the InterContinental.They had tickets for a concert for later in the afternoon at the Opera House. So it worked out well that they could have a little rest before going out again. Peter and I wanted to catch our train back home from Martin Place. We had had a lovely day with two people we had never met before. But some of Angie’s family are known to us. They all were emailed some photos of yesterday’s meeting. One of Angie’s sisters, who lives in England, already emailed back saying she and her husband were planning to travel to Melbourne next year to see their two sons there and meet other family members. It’s such a small world! Peter worked out that a lot of the descendents of his paternal grandparents already live in Australia.

Angie and Roy travel today, Monday, to South Australia and to the Barossa Valley. They stay in Australia for two weeks only. During this time they also plan to fly to Alice Springs (to see ULURU), as well as to Cairns and from there back home to America. I think in Sydney they had had only three days.

Our Garden

Our Garden looked like this in 2013!

auntyutaUncategorized  January 15, 2013 1 Minute

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Just before Christmas we planted something new at the side of our house which belongs to our private backyard. Now, after less than one month, we took some new pictures of our plants who amazingly survived pretty well the 41 C heat last Tuesday. When you compare the picture of the plants when they were little with the pictures what they look like now, you can see the growth that has occurred is very remarkable.

This is a trial post for inserting new pictures. I was finally able to upgrade my post. My VISA debit card wasn’t accepted. Peter helped me out with PayPal. This worked all right. It’s a great feeling to be able to publish some new pictures!

The visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon 1890

https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/898/

On the way to see the Queen of Sheba we also saw this picture:

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

On the wallaby track
Frederick McCubbin - On the wallaby track - Google Art Project.jpg
Artist Frederick McCubbin
Year 1896
Medium oil on canvas
Dimensions 122.0 cm × 223.5 cm (48.0 in × 88.0 in)
Location Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney

On the wallaby track is a 1896 painting by the Australian artist Frederick McCubbin. The painting depicts an itinerant family; a woman with her child on her lap and a man boiling a billy for tea. The painting’s name comes from the colloquial Australian term “On the wallaby track” used to describe itinerant rural workers or “swagmen” moving from place to place for work.[1] The work has been described as “among the best known and most popularly admired of Australian paintings”.[1]

A print of it hangs above our bed. Since we have prints of both of these paintings we are very familar with them and are always overjoyed when we are able to see them again at the Gallery.

This year it was a very brief visit of us to the Art Gallery. But it was worth it. It was very good that our daughter could take us there.

Our Visit to the Art Gallery of NSW

Our daughter took us to the Art Gallery on the 4th of July this year. On the pictures, that Caroline took, you can see that I now ‘advanced’ to a walker! My walker is actually a ‘rollator’ and has wheels so it can be pushed. I can walk very well with it. Gives me some kind of balance. The good thing is that this rollator can be folded and fits into the back of the car.
In Google it says: “Do I Need a Walker or Rolling Walker? Walkers are needed for a myriad of reasons. If you experience shortness of breath, arthritic pain, or can’t walk and carry objects at the same time. If you are afraid of falling, being alone and becoming socially isolated, you may need a walker.”
I must say the reasons why a Walker is needed, do all apply to me, all of them! To buy such a thing was really an excellent decision for me. Now I can go out on daily walks without having to be scared of falling and also being able to take a rest whenever I feel getting out of breath.
Without Caroline’s help we probably would not have made it to the Gallery on that day. We stayed with Caroline and Matthew in Sydney from Friday night to Saturday on that weekend. It was great to spend some time with them. But we observed ‘social distancing’ with them as much as possible!
Caroline and Matthew live in Marrickville. Peter did drive there from Dapto and back the next day. It is good that for the time being he still has his license for because of the virus we would not like to go on public transport.
Caroline offered to drive us to the Gallery, this is why it was not a problem to get there. Also, we stayed there only for a very limited time. Caroline was able to park right in front of the Gallery, which was lucky.
The above mentioned pictures Caroline sent me in an email. But sorry, so far I was not able to transfer them from the email to this blog. Maybe I can do this another time.
I published here an update from the Gallery regarding Covid-19:

Our Daughter Gaby in three Pictures

Acceptance, Resilience and Strength!
Today we remember our daughter Gaby. On this day eight years ago we received the sad news of her passing from this life to Eternity. We are still sad that she is gone, but I don’t think we are grieving anymore. She mastered her life in a great way. A while ago I saw someone on TV saying that a disabled person needs three things to make a go of her or his life: acceptance, resilience and strength. Gaby had buckets of it. In the words of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, we are responsible for the climate around us. She lived her own life and created a climate around her in which so many people felt they are in the presence of a remarkable person. She had accepted the conditions of her life and had the resilience and strength to act accordingly.
Look at her face in the first picture it is very mischievous.
In the second photo, she is not even one year old but showing already signs of her outward-looking and inquiring mind.
The third picture was taken after a great night out with a friend of hers.
In all three pictures, there is nothing sad about it. We are so happy that we were able to share our life with her. We still love her so much. RIP Papa and Mama
Peter wrote the above today. Here are the three pictures:
PS: When the last picture was taken, Gaby was already close to her 55th birthday!
I think in the first picture she is 50 years . . . .

With Love from Gaby, Dave, Bonnie & Clyde

This is a copy of what I published July 12, 2014. I did try to reblog it but this time this did not work. This is why I copied the whole lot. It does bring back memories!

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Gaby came down with poliomyelitis on her fourth birthday. That was in 1961. When she was 32, in 1989, she left institutional care and moved into her own home in Merrylands West, a Western suburb of Sydney. David (Dave) became her full time carer. But as a quadriplegic with breathing difficulties who needed to sleep in an iron lung, she needed several people to come in on a daily basis to look after her diverse needs.

Anyhow, Gaby was happy to leave the home for disabled people and move into her own home. 40 year old David did for nearly twenty years a marvellous job in doing whatever he could for Gaby. But in the end his health deteriorated more and more. It became impossible for him to the the things for Gaby he would normally have to do as her carer. It was a rather sad situation. Gaby knew that David needed help but she did not know how to provide this for him.

Gaby and David both loved animals. Soon after moving in Gaby acquired a companion dog provided by the people who train dogs for blind people. Dave liked that dog too. They called her Bonnie. A cat named Clyde became Bonnie’s companion. Gaby just adored her animals. They were like her children. She always saw to it that they had everything they needed.

Gaby with Bonnie
Gaby with Bonnie

Gaby with Clyde
Gaby with Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde in front of the gas heater
Bonnie and Clyde in front of the gas heater

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Bonnie is being spoiled!
Bonnie is being spoiled!

I happen to have still a Christmas card from Gaby and Dave with a calendar for 1998 in it. The card came with a book: A Tolstoy biography by A.N. Wilson, first published in Great Britain in 1988. This is a great reference book and a great read. Gaby chose this book for me as a Christmas gift. She did choose very well. She always took great care to choose gifts for all the family for birthdays and for Christmas. Of course her funds were limited. So she always looked for bargains. Quite often her choices were astoundingly good.

This is the outside of the card.
This is the outside of the Christmas card.

And this is the inside of it.
And this is the inside of it.

Gaby moved her electric chair with her chin, she used her mouth stick for phone and computer.
Gaby moved her electric chair with her chin, she used her mouth stick for phone and computer.

Here she looks like having grown up a bit more.
Here she looks like having grown up a bit more.

Here she is in her bedroom getting ready for the day.
Here she is in her bedroom getting ready for the day.

After Gaby lost Clyde, she did get a new kitten.
After Gaby lost Clyde, she did get a new kitten.

Blackie, the kitten, grew into this.
Blackie, the kitten, grew into this.

Gaby is having fun seeing Father Christmas.
Gaby is having fun seeing Father Christmas.

Sadly Gaby lost Bonnie. She was lucky that after some time she was given a replacement dog which she called ‘Honey’.  Honey was quite skinny at first but soon filled out a bit.

Gaby can celebrate Christmas 2003 with companion dog Honey.
Gaby can celebrate Christmas 2003 with companion dog Honey.

Stan Grant’s challenge to Australia: How seriously are you going to take me?

https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/stan-grants-challenge-to-australia-how-seriously-are-you-going-to-take-me-20160406-gnzk7r.html

Stan Grant has faced up to prejudice, poverty, public judgment and private agony. Now, the Indigenous journalist says he knows more – and has worked harder – than any of our frontbench politicians. And he’s ready to take them on.

Karla’s wish is Granted

https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/karlas-wish-is-granted/news-story/db04b5173ffc8889a7021834fc57e264

THREE years ago, Stan Grant whisked his two sons off to live with him and his partner Tracey Holmes in China _ leaving his ex-wife Karla nearly 9000km away from her kids.

Finally, Karla will get them back for good.

The SBS Living Black host, at the centre of a messy marriage breakdown with former Today Tonight host Grant after he was caught with sports reporter Holmes at the 2000 Athens Olympics, will have boys John, 12, and Dylan, 9, back under her roof later before the end of the year.

“They’ve been away for a couple of years now. It has been tough,” Karla said yesterday.

“It’s been a great experience for them in terms of going to school, learning a whole new different culture and meeting kids from all different countries so I think it will help them in the fture.”

Karla, who presented an award at last night’s Deadly Awards, said it had been a mutual agreement with her ex-husband for the boys to join him in Beijing, where he works as a presenter for CNN.

“I’ve got custody of the kids but he asked me if he could take them over there and I thought it would be a great experience for them,” she said.

Karla also added weight to rumours Grant himself may return to Sydney with now wife Holmes and their own son, Jesse, to be closer to his family.

“He’s looking at coming back. I’m not sure whether he’ll be back for good,” she said.

Karla was joined by 19-year-old daughter Lowanna at the Deadlys, where, ironically, Grant’s father Stan Grant Snr picked up the award for Outstanding Achievement in Education for his contribution to preserving the Wiradjuri language.

Other major winners of Indigenous Australia’s highest honour included Troy Cassar-Daley for artist of the year, Anthony Mundine (male sportsperson of the year) and Jamie Gulpilil (actor of the year)

Originally published asKarla’s wish is Granted