Living on Waranga Basin: Around the block

Cloud roll 02-May-2007 photo album

Fri, 04 May 2007 10:08:16 GMT

On Thursday morning, at about 0800, a cloud roll went over and photos I snapped are in an album.

The cloud was moving very quickly in a south-easterly direction (i.e., moving eastward and sliding south-easterly) so by the time I'd walked down the road with dog on his morning walk, snapped most of the photos, and returned to thespot at which I took the first photo, the roll had gone over.

And did it pour rain? No, not a drop.

Rushworth Bird Festival, Easter 2007

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 10:25:54 GMT

The Rushworth Bird Festival is part of Rushworth's Easter Saturday community festival.

See rushworthbirdfestival.spaces.live.com for more details of what's on and when on Saturday April 7.

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Rushworth Bird Festival, Easter 2007

Rushworth trees under stress

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 09:08:30 GMT

The median strip on High Street in Rushworth (said to be the site for shops in the really early days) is grassed and has some old deciduous trees.

But the long drought is having a sad effect on these trees, one in particular, which has been losing its leaves over the past couple of weeks. The photo below was taken last week on Tue or Wed, Feb 6 or 7, 2007):

Technorati tags: Drought, Rushworth

Bushfire photos

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 08:54:33 GMT

There's an album of a few photos taken by one of the volunteer firefighters who was attending to bushfires down in Gippsland around Howitville near Dargo.

Here's one:

Technorati tags: Victorian bushfires 2006-7, Gippsland, Victoria

Victorian bushfires (demo of embedding a video)

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 23:34:37 GMT

Windows Live Spaces has had an update so we can embed videos in a post.

So here's a YouTube video of the Victorian bushfires taken in December. The fires are still going but have quietened down due to a bit of rain.

Over a million hectares have burnt and on the eastern side fires are uncontrolled. Fortunately we haven't had really hot weather with strong northerlies. About 8 inches (200 mm) of rain are needed to make sure the fires are put out.

Rain - promised, hoped for, what we've got

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 22:23:25 GMT

While the townies (ie., those living in Rushworth) have enjoyed some good falls (i.e., the rain can be measured in millimetres, not drips or drops), out here we've been missed and bypassed in comparison.

Yesterday afternoon, however, we got the edge of a rain event (the new lingo from the weather people) that passed to the northeast. It was probably just as well we only felt the edge - there was a lot of huff and puff (strong, gusty winds).

This morning the radar is/was looking very favourable but we're yet to experience what it's promising (light to moderate rain falls). Here's the radar from a few minutes ago (The Waranga Basin is between Tatura and Bendigo but closer to Tatura).

Rain - it didn't here this morning but this evening it might

Thu, 18 Jan 2007 08:46:30 GMT

There were about 4 buckets of rain this morning out here while in Rushworth, they had about 8 mm. What are we doing wrong out this part of the world?

Anyway, here's what the radar is showing at the moment (it's moving our way) so we might get some tonight.

Happy New Year

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 22:40:37 GMT

Here comes 2007.

Best wishes for 2007 to one and all.

What will be the biggest event for excitement in 2007? How about it rains for a complete day instead of just a few minutes... and once it starts for a day, steady rain for a few weeks to catch up.

Smoke on the water - more

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 08:39:22 GMT

This morning the smoke was back - not as bad as it was a week or two ago, but it was here.

Over the past five or six days, winds have been from the sou'-west and swinging to the south so we've been smoke-free.

However, overnight the high pressure system moved further eastwards, bringing winds around to the sou'-east and thus moving smoke over here.

Although the fires have subdued somewhat due to a few millimtres of rain and cooler weather, they're still burning.

The weather forecast for the next week or so has more hot weather arriving (in the mid thirties) so that will mean the fires becoming stronger again.

Technorati tags: Victorian bushfires

Smoke on the Basin - More Today

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 08:54:35 GMT

The fires over at Mansfield, Whitfield, Jamieson, and surrounding areas, produced smoke on the ~~water~~ Basin all day today (Wed 13-Dec-2006), as well around Rushworth and other towns. There was just enough strength in the easterlies to bring plenty over. The forecast is that the winds will go around to the north - and that means higher temperatures .

Here's the sun trying to poke through this morning at about 0800:

Technorati tags: Victorian bushfires 13 December 2006

Smoke on the Basin

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 08:27:27 GMT

Smoke from the bushfires to the east of Waranga Basin arrived overnight as a light wind went around to the south-east and east.

At about 6.30 am, the sun was blocked out and until 8.30 am when I left to travel the 10 km into Rushworth, the other side of the Basin could be seen. However, during the morning the smoke thickened in Rushworth itself as the wind dropped and on returning home at about 2 pm, the smoke had completely blocked out the other side of the Basin.

The photo below was taken at about 5.30 pm from the edge of the Basin about five minutes walk from my block. Visibility at that time was about 500 m at the most.

At the time of writing - 1915 - there's just the slightest breath of wind and the smoke haze is still thick.

Tomorrow the expected temperature is 40 degree C as the wind swings around to the north. Sunday's weather is prediced to be similar.

With no rain in the near future to slow down the fires, authorities expect some of the fires to join and create a firefront of 100 km.

Click the map below to go to Windows Live Maps. There are some pushpins where home is (about 150 km away from the fires) and major fires are burning around Whitfield in the Ovens Valley, Mansfield and Jamieson.

Technorati tags: Victorian bushfires 8 December 2006

Waiting for some rain

Sat, 11 Nov 2006 10:33:05 GMT

The Weather Bureau have forecast some rain and some is showing on the radar but it's not getting to the ground here.

Open Gardens Rushworth Sun Oct 29th - testing Event Plugin

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 10:07:23 GMT

We'll do two things at once - announce the Open Gardens event and use the Windows Live Writer Event Extension (we used to call these types of things plugins). Well, here goes...

What:	Rushworth Open Gardens Rushworth "Friends of the children" are having a walk through the gardens day on Sunday 29th October 10am-4pm. There will be 5 very interesting gardens to view on this day all different in their own right.... $10.00 gets you into all gardens cheap day out for all, kids are free so come along and have a great day.
When:	Sunday, October 29, 2006 (all day)
Where:	Five gardens around Rushworth Rushworth, Vic 3612 Australia

When I clicked on Insert Event... from the Insert pane on the right of Live Writer's screen, up popped a dialogue which I could have used to search for an event or, as in this case, I made a new entry for Rushworth Open Gardens, filling in details such as the name of the event, its date and location. I was also able to attach a photo and link to the site where the event is being promoted. All very easy and convenient .

Eildon Weir wall repairs 1929

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 06:08:43 GMT

Over the past few years of drought, the original wall of Eilden Weir (now called Eildon Dam) has been visible. As well, one tower of the original spillway has also appeared from the murky depths. This old wall is behind the new one built in the 1950's when Eildon was expanded in capacity (along with other dams such as the Hume Dam on the Murray River above Albury).

The photos below appeared on the front page of The Australasian Pictorial, July 27, 1929 (this newspaper, among others, was found in a box when cleaning up).

The writeup accompanying the photos was:

Costly Repairs to Eildon (V.) Weir

Two picture illustrating the work which is being done at the Eildon Weir to repair damage caused through susbsidence of the clay and rock fills on the upstream side of the dam. So far 1,500,000 pounds has been spent on the weir and the repair work is estimated to cost between 250,000 and 300,000 pounds.
At the top is a view of the dam with the tram tracks and general repair work.
Below is a more intimate view of the core wall, showing how the filling has subsided. The tram tracks carries truck loads of rock to build up the sunken filling. Because the core wall is 4 ft. 6in. out of line at the top it is feared that the wall may have been fractured horizontally between the bedrock and the top of the filling.

Interestingly, just a few years ago the Hume Dam had to be repaired to solve a similar problem (the Hume must have been enlarged by building up the old wall, whereas Eildon Dam had a completely new wall and spillway).

Still some rain

Sun, 16 Jul 2006 06:58:59 GMT

There's still some drizzly sort of rain coming down. This morning the dam had an extra foot or so of water so there's also been some good runoff after the ground initially soaked up the first lot of rain. It's not cold and the onion weed must be liking it as it's already putting on some growth so that will put some cover on the ground.

Smoke on the water

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 09:21:36 GMT

It's that time of the year when many farmers take the easy way out and clear stubble from last year's cropy by burning. The pollution from smoke around a large area is unacceptable. As well, the fires also burn any chemicals the farmer has used to spray his crops and no one, AFAIK, has analysed the smoke to tell us what's in it.

A rainbow over Waranga Basin

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 09:16:57 GMT

webDotWiz put his head out the front door a few afternoons ago and saw a rainbow - he hasn't seen one here for ages. And that's easily explained - there hasn't been much rain!