A year ago most of the east coast forests and ranges of New South Wales were burning. The roads that we use to travel to our favourite places on the south coast were impassable with fires raging all around them and the towns we most visit. Then COVID hit and travel was forbidden or unwise. So last week we finally had the chance to spend 2 days driving down to Batemans Bay and Mollymook (and back home of course). The forests along the roads are still recovering. Australian trees have evolved to cope with bushfires. Some of them actually need fire to germinate their seeds, so after bushfires you see a burst of these plants, mostly shrubs and wattles. Eucalypts have a different strategy. Under their bark they have loads of what the botanists call epicormic buds. These sprout as soon as growing conditions are right and the burnt tree is covered with what looks like a fuzz of leaves. Eventually normal growth of branches resumes. Most of the trees near the roads we travelled were still in this "fuzzy" stage. Some of the taller trees were almost back to normal. The small, dark plants in the clearer undergrowth are examples of some of the oldest plants on Earth; they are Buddawangs, cycads that date back to dinosaur times. Workmen are still clearing dead trees and repairing damaged roadwork. Let's hope that we now have many summers free of bushfires.
Labels: Bateman's Bay, Mollymook, New South Wales, south coast, trees
Last week we had a look at an exhibition about Australia in the space age. Personally, I thought that lots of stuff that should have been in the exhibition is left out. It does a good job with the early stages where the Woomera rocket range was new, testing British and American rockets. On November 29, 1967, Australia became the third country to launch a satellite into Earth orbit. The WRESAT made measurements of the upper atmosphere and weather. It made 642 orbits before it burned up on re-entry on January 10, 1968. However, there is no mention of the work in the 1980s when Australian experiments flew on the Shuttle missions, and we almost had our own telescope in orbit. I know about that because Dad was one of the Stromlo Observatory staff involved in the Starlab project. The tracking stations at Honeysuckle Creek, Orroral Valley and Tidbinbilla get a good wrap for their efforts supporting the Apollo and later space missions, but no mention is there of the fact that the vital telex communication link was actually in the very building where the exhibition is at present. I know about that because Mum's father was the boss of the communications staff involved. There is lots of stuff about the sci-fi stories and TV programs featuring Australian sites, and about space-inspired fashion, so it's worth a visit if you are interested in that stuff. The big news now is that finally Australia has its own Space Agency. It took a long while to get here, but the Australia-wide combine of industry and universities is up and running. I am a recognized supporter of the Agency, I have one of their badges to prove it.
Labels: Canberra, space
