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Published: August 27th 2009
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Burn Off
When bush is being burned off, you can tell with the smoke in the air. In Canada, July 1st is an important holiday. It’s Canada Day, the day that celebrates the unity of our country! In Darwin, July 1st is also a holiday. It’s Territory Day! I think Territory Day is supposed to represent when the Northern Territory was given a certain amount of independence from the rest of the country, it being a territory and all. I’m not totally sure, but it has something to do with the way the territory is governed. But the important thing to remember is that it’s the only day in Australia that people are allowed to buy and use fireworks! And wow, do people go all out! Hillary and I heard fireworks all night, from the second it was dark to the time we went to bed. At least we didn’t have to go far if we wanted to catch some of the action.
Now, as we all know, Australia is a hot country. And it also has a reputation for having some pretty extreme weather. Well, Darwin is definitely a prime example of this. With the dry and wet seasons, it can be pouring rain everyday in February, or not a cloud in sight for all of
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The ground becomes lightly covered in ash. July. The problem with this though, it makes natural disasters fairly common, like flooding and forest (bush) fires. And since we’re here during the dry season, it’s the fires we need to worry about. But a solution was devised by the original owners of this land to help minimize the amount of damage, which is to purposely set fires to certain areas of land to control the damage. By using the controlled fires to clear all the brush, it minimizes the amount of fuel for future accidental fires that may come sweeping through the area. This all sounds well and good, but there is an unfortunate consequence even with controlled burns. The smoke. You can see the smoke in the distance when the government is burning, and for people with asthma, it’s not the most pleasant thing to be breathing in. It just degrades the air quality, like a muggy day in a city with high air pollution. But there’s not much you can do about it. One cool thing though is seeing how far the ash floats. The burned off grass and leaves could float for kilometers and kilometers, before landing smoothly on the ground in one piece. Only
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The ash actually flies a great distance in the wind. to turn to dust the second you touch it. Pretty amazing.
Saturday July 11th, Hillary and I got a real taste for Australian sports. We both went and watched a triple header with John’s (the guy I work with) rugby team. It’s an adult league, with different grades for skill level. The first pair of games were of the reserve grade teams, and the final game (with the stadium lights on) was of the A grade teams. You learn the rules quickly when you watch 5 hours of the sport. Lol We had a good time, and were happy to really experience some local sport. It sort of reminded me of being back at home and seeing a Jr A hockey game, like my hometown’s Aurora Tigers. Good stuff.
Kevin (and Hillary)
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