Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Victoria's Bush Fire

Barely two months back in Feb '09, Victoria was gripped by Australia's worst bush fires in history. I followed the events closely as it raged on for days that ended with 200 deaths. Dubbed as the Black Saturday, this tragic event touched me in particular as I am familiar with many of the affected townships. Worst to hear it was started by arsonists. How could such senseless acts happened over and over again?

An illustration of the spread across Victoria.















Satellite image of smoke dispersion into atmosphere above - the 'arc' stretched over 1000kM gauging from the distance between Melbourne & Sydney!





















Image collection of the fiery firestorms..













What a scary inferno!
















Much beyond these fire trucks can handle.




























With flames leap so high into the air!































Fire fighters watch helplessly...
















A dramatic picture of helicopter dropping 'water bomb', with the sky appeared burning too!
















Fire about to engulf this house in its path!















Smokes reflected color of fires below..














I visited Kinglake just north of Melbourne to see the scale of devastation first hand; won't take long to see trees on both side of roads were scarred black.
















All the way to the hill top as far as the eye can see.
















Under growths were completely burnt out!
















This road sign pointing to a National Park was not spared either.
















An appreciation note to the fire fighters pinned on a burnt trunk.





















Remnants of houses that were once in tranquil country setting.
































Metal roof crumpled and curled like tin foils on the ground.
















Car bodies exposed to rusts after its coat of paint were stripped off.











Many unfortunate deaths were trapped in cars, a last ditch attempt to escape! I would have done the same. How did it happened? Did the engine stalled by the fire or escape route blocked by fallen trees?

















At the town center, support and relief services were set up to help residents cope with the aftermaths.
































Many trees survived miraculously the wrath of the fires.





















A consolation is to see signs of recovery as nature begin to repairs itself.








Thursday, April 16, 2009

Kite boarding at Port Philip Bay

Port Philip Bay is a huge bay to the south of Melbourne with a size of 1,930 sq. km & a coastline of 264km. The bay is however very shallow - 24M at its deepest and more than 1/2 its area less than 8M. It is 2.95 times the area of Singapore with only 655 sq. km!

















The eastern shore is popular for city folks to get away on weekends and a string of townships spread along the bay front.

So the sea is practically at the door step. Once in a while I love to drive down the bay area - take a walk along esplanade, lunch out & enjoys the sea view with the breeze. There is always a magic feeling by the sea - its vastness, hear the waves and watch the sea birds seem to nourish the soul. It is a great place for recreation and I discovered kite boarding is getting popular here too.

Looking back at the city skyline from Brighton - Eureka Towers, the tallest building on left.
















There are several marinas too.
















These "parachute-like" sails surely caught ones eye, how not to check it out and catch some of their actions!
















With so many kites zipping around, must be pretty skillful to avoid physical contacts!
































Preparing the kites to take off...
















Launching is similar to taking a kite into the air...





































Once airborne, it is taken almost vertical & towed towards the sea.





















The skate board worn at water edge...





















... and off he went!





















Steering the the kite to land.
































With gusty winds they leap easily more than 10m into the air, really having great fun!




































































A stylish holiday home that caught my attention.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Another face of Melbourne - A Graffiti Capital?

It never occurs to me Melbourne is a graffiti capital though I came across such claims. I still don't agree - reason being graffiti is not visible in general. No where close to what I saw on New York's subway or trains.

Nevertheless, as I drove through Brunswick Street (northern part of city) recently, I saw some nice ones on the side streets.





















This caught my attention - pretty good street art I think.
















So I pulled over and checked out a few other eye catching ones.
















































Today I checked out some within the CBD. I was surprised to see this vertical wind turbine atop a building, right in the heart of the city!
















Not one, as I tried to get a better view.





















Five? May be more hidden from view! But have yet to see them spin.. I began to wonder if these are there as ornamental objects.
















Union Lane between Little Collins Street and Bourke Street Mall is quite interesting, graffiti painted from end to end.





















Not all are pretty, I select only the more visual appealing ones.







































































































































This young lady "ducks" and ran as I took the picture.
















Looking back at Union Lane from Bourke Street end.





















Strolling down to Chinatown at Little Bourke Street for a bite ....
















Another come to sight.
















Surely there many more around, where else a better place to check out than Google Images? These are sampled after a little finger walking.












































































































































































































































































































































































































Whether a Graffiti Capital or not, it don't matter to me. There are certainly a lot of artistic expressions in the back streets!
















Hope you enjoy this aspect of Melbourne too.