Canberra
January 2003
Here are the pictures I took with my el-cheapo digital camera.
The fires had been building for nearly a week. By Wednesday the smoke was so thick I didn’t want to ride my bicycle, so I hitched a lift with Paul.
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The view from my office window. I’d guess visibility is under 2km. |
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By Friday the smoke had cleared a bit. I caught these two beautiful scenes on the cycle home. Little did I know the horrrible events that were to follow. |
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Saturday was Claire’s birthday. For something different we went out to the science centre. Nice and air conditioned, but at about |
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2 We grabbed some food on the way home so we could enjoy a birthday dinner
with her, but it was somewhat overshadowed (literally) by the unfolding
events. This, and the next scene show what could be seen from the roof of our
house. We weren’t suffering too badly at all, considering what other people
were going through. The worst we had
was the very unpleasant smoke, and the high temperatures. |
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I went for a cycle around our suburb to check the status. We’d heard about one house being burnt, but that didn’t make sense since the fires weren’t that close to us. (It proved to be an unrelated fire.) I carried my little camera around with me, but at some point dropped it. I was sure it was lost! Eventually I came across a couple of women walking along the track, and asked them if they’d picked it up. Yes! Well, it doesn’t look like a camera, so they must have been fiddling with the buttons. Here’s a nice shot of her foot. Tuesday, I returned home early from work after reports of threats to our area. We packed a few things ready for evacuation , but didn’t really think it likely. We didn’t, and now (Wednesday), it’s looking pretty clear. All that remains – I think - is for things to return to normal. I’m still gravely concerned for some close friends of mine after two separate incidents. Rod, |
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See Cameron’s web site with more pictures. www.barneutral.com |
