joybells2's Blog

The fires are still burning. Two boys were caught (CCTV did it) trying to light a fire in the town, as if there wasn't enough to contend with!!! The hard-working volunteers - men & women - did a controlled burn on the southern part of town, to protect the houses that abut the National Park. Trouble is the southerly that arrived yesterday was strong & very blustery, which would have made it harder for them. Went to the airfield which is presently a hive of activity, planes lining up to be filled with H20, real assembly line it was. Land, taxi, line-up, fill-up, taxi, take off. Over & over. The 'copters land with their huge H2O baskets carefully laid on the ground, amazing how they do it. They come in to refuel & they pick up their water from the ocean. They & the fixed wing pilots, are real seat-of-the-pants flyers. It was great seeing just how professional the whole operation is, especially when most are RFS& SES volunteers. They are all true heroes.

There is some good news though, most of the Australian bush needs fire for seeding etc, but the one that truly benefits are the grass trees -xanthorrhoea -which is an uniquely Aussie plant. Like many of the native plants here, it is rather weird in appearance, has no leaves as such, but sprouts thin, bright green reed-like "leaves" from the top of a dark-brown "trunk", which is made up of burnt leaves, surrounding its central stem. When it flowers it sends up a tall spear-like ,beautiful, white flower, beloved by the honey-eaters, especially the rainbow lorikeets, followed by the seed-eaters. The flowering season after a fire is more spectacular than usual. It's due in January, hope the ones that were affected by the fire will have recovered enough by then. There are thousands of them in the National Parks around our town. Another tip for getting Australian native plant seeds to sprout, soak them in smoke "flavoured" water, gives them that " bushfire" nudge they need.