Megalong in Smoke

Once again I return to the theme of fire. Where I live, bushfires are dominating everyone's thinking. Indeed, it is difficult to find anywhere that is not affected in some way, at least by smoke. When the ever present winds change direction and the blue skies return for a time, it is easier to put it all aside and think of other things ... but such situations are becoming rarer.

Breathing masks and apparatus of various kinds feature strongly as you enter hardware stores. Sydney Harbour, which would only be blanketed by smoke under extremely rare circumstances, is in that state pretty regularly right now.

The Jamison Valley (i.e. Ruined Castle) fire (of which I have been posting images these last few days) seems to have stalled in the lee of Narrow Neck ridge to some extent and is provoking less immediate concern. That, at least, is good news. Most of the smoke affecting us currently, is coming from a couple of genuinely HUGE blazes further south, most notably in the Warragamba Reserve. These do not threaten us directly in the Blue Mountains but are certainly causing problems with air quality.

This picture is looking sou sou west across the Megalong Valley from Cahills Lookout. There does not appear to be fire IN the valley but it sure is copping the prevailing smoke.

I am going to continue to blip reports on the local fires as developments occur. I hope you will bear with me. I am grateful indeed for all of the comments and messages of sympathy and moral support that I have received via this journal. Please do not feel it necessary to continue to do so because I understand that it gets tedious to try to find new things to say on an ongoing subject. I'd just be pleased if you could call by to check out what's happening whenever I report on the fires.