Blues and Smoke

Three years ago yesterday, Thredbo village was evacuated due to the approaching bushfires. Yesterday a section 44 was declared in the Snowy Mountains. Several fires supposedly started by lightning strikes had flared in and around the Snowy Mountains. The biggest was south of Cooma airport while the closest to Thredbo was NNE of Tom Groggin – only about 10km from Thredbo. A fleet of helicopters flew over yesterday and I believe were dealing with the fires south west of Thredbo. They flew out last night and back again this morning. There is a thick haze over the entire are but not much smell of smoke. I have been told that most of the haze has been brought in from areas much further away than Tom Groggin. I couldn’t see any smoke coming from that area. Click here to read more of the RFS web site.

Meanwhile the Blue Festival has carried on. In warm to very warm weather the festival has been a great success. Sunburn and flies are part of the Australian life, although I’m sure we’d prefer otherwise. Great music and a great crowd have had everyone in great spirits.

The only shortcomings of this years Blues festival were the number of volunteer ticket checkers who failed to arrive on time for their gigs or who failed to arrive at all. I’m sure the chamber of commerce will have that sorted by Jazz.

Andrea Marr

Jimi Hocking, Andy Cowan and The Others

Village Square by day and night: The Hands and Mighty Reapers

Smoke haze over High Noon

Looking in the direction of the nearest bushfires

More flowers on the main range

Signature Hill and only a dribble in Merritts Creek

Looking down into the hazy village

The Blue Meenies and Dallas Frasca in the square

My favourites and someone elses - Dallas and Jeff rocked the village

I’m going to be in colder climates soon and if I get access to a computer to download photos, I will attempt to do a report from snow-covered slopes. Otherwise you’ll just have to wait until my return.

Stay well, stay cool and please don’t discard a single cigarette butt outside anywhere in Australia. The millions of dollars of damage, the wildlife, personal possessions and families that you could destroy are not worth a single careless, lazy or stupid second.

The NSW State elections are coming soon. Annual passes to enter Kosciuszko National Park are now $190 - well and truly more than double the $88 that they were only a little more than a year ago. Do your bit to return Kosciuszko Park entry fees back to something reasonable? Click here.