Like last year I have a reason to worry,
as Cyclone Nathan is heading for Cooktown in Queensland, Australia.
The family is well prepared and had put all loose items inside. But we do hope that the water won't cause any damage Last week the land around my daughter's house was flooded, but the house was still dry. I am really, really concerned about the situation over there.
The VERY DESTRUCTIVE CORE of severe tropical cyclone Nathan, with
maximum wind gusts forecast to 250 km/h, is expected to make landfall
between Cape Melville and Cape Flattery early this morning.
Under that footbridge you see in the distance, are crocs. This is the road where my daughter lives. So crocs can invade her property.
Cooktown Botanic Gardens. Established in 1878 the Gallop Botanic Reserve
encompases 62.3 Ha (154 acres) on the edge of Cooktown and contains the
Cooktown Botanic Gardens and walking trails to Finch Bay and Cherry
Tree Bay.
Natures Powerhouse
Nature’s Powerhouse is an innovative building located in the beautiful, heritage listed Cooktown Botanic Gardens
and includes the Cooktown and Cape York Peninsula Visitor Information
Centre, Vera’s café, a shop, Charles Tanner Gallery and the Vera Scarth-Johnson Gallery.
The Cooktown and Cape York Peninsula Visitor Information Centre
provides comprehensive visitor information and accommodation and tour
booking services.
The Vera Scarth-Johnson Gallery displays the only collection of original botanical illustrations of flora from the region. Many plants can be found in the gardens.
Walking with my daughter in these gardens is always a wonderful experience. She tells me about the trees and bushes. In all the years she has lived in Cooktown she has learned a lot about the vegetation of Queensland .
Foxtail Palm
Everywhere we see those signs with extra information. The gardens have changed every time I came to see them.
Vanilla Orchid, the vine of which grows in a zigzag pattern.
Like many orchids, the vanilla bean orchid is an epiphyte, and lives
on a host tree without drawing nutrients from it. The vine clambers up
to the treetops in a zigzag fashion, exhibiting long succulent
lance-shaped leaves. Each blooming branch will bear one to two dozen
creamy blooms, for a total of several hundred flowers on a mature vine.
Native Country Mexico Size In its native habitat, a mature vanilla orchid vine can grow to
300 feet or greater. However, you can keep your vine to a manageable 20
feet in greenhouse conditions. Training the vine laterally instead of
straight up allows you to get more vine in a smaller space. Growing Conditions The vanilla orchid grows best in bright filtered shade and high
humidity. Ideal temperatures are between 60-70 degrees F at night, and
80-95 degrees F during the day. The plants are not frost tolerant.
With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting
ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar. This week we are looking
for words beginning with B.
We often have a meal here in the Nature Powerhouse
This is my favourite part of the Botanical Gardens
Evacuations begin as Cyclone Ita bears down on Queensland coast
Premier Campbell Newman cuts short visit to China to oversee preparations for storm which could bring 240km/h winds
Cyclone Ita churns off the coast of Australia. Photograph: Cyclone Ita
It poses
a significant threat to sparse communities between Cape Grenville and
the Lockhart river, with strong gusts, storm surges and heavy rain
beginning on Thursday. The storm comes three years after category
five Yasi ripped through Queensland, causing $3.5bn worth of damage and
lost tourism earnings. Yasi unleashed its wrath about 1,000km south of where Ita is forecast to cross. "The
winds won't be as strong as Yasi, but it will be the worst we've had
since," Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Andrew Cameron said.
I rang my daughter in Australia yesterday ( Wednesday), not knowing that they were busy putting up shutters and securing the things around the house, because they are expecting cyclone Ita. They live near Cooktown. I am praying that they survive and won't lose their house and that they won't be flooded. They will all hide in the smallest room when it arrives on Friday, four pm.I follow the news on Face Book.
All
staff and guests have been evacuated off Lizard Island on the Great
Barrier Reef as a precaution. The last time the resort was evacuated was
during Yasi, although the island wasn't affected. Premier
Campbell Newman has also cut short his Asian trade mission with prime
minister Tony Abbott and will fly home on Thursday to oversee
preparations for Ita.
Those in the small Cape York communities likely to be affected spent Wednesday stocking up on supplies and clearing yards. Peter
Scott, mayor of Cookshire council, which covers 80% of Cape York, says
Ita could be one of the worst storms to hit the area in decades. "Residents need to be ready and have somewhere safe to shelter," he said. He said there was a good supply of food and fuel.
Meanwhile, local district disaster management groups are holding meetings across the state's far north on Wednesday.Far
north district acting chief superintendent Brett Schafferius says there
are no plans for evacuations but extra police will be sent to affected
areas. Staff from Emergency Management Queensland (EMQ), including a swift water rescue team, will head to Cooktown on Thursday. Road and electricity resources have also been sent to the state's north. Before forming into cyclone Ita, the tropical depression led to 21 deaths in Solomon Islands last week.
Welcome to Skywatch Friday where people
from all over the world post great photographs of the sky in their part
of the world. Your Skywatch Friday hosts are Yogi, Sylvia, and Sandy.
Sunset seen from Cook's Landing Place. When he landed here , he and his crew must have seen many sunsets during the time he stayed here for the reparation of his ship "The Endeavour".
Sky Watch is hosted by Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and Sylvia Thank you so much for this great meme, it's always a pleasure to participate, and see all the other skies around the world. If you want to see some other skies please click on the logo in the side bar.
How devastating a tornado is and even a mini tornado we can see in this video and photos.We have recently seen how destructive tornadoes are. A tornado is also commonly referred to as a "twister", and is also sometimes referred to by the old-fashioned colloquial term cyclone.
With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with T.
This is what the cyclone Larry caused in Queensland, Australia in March 2006. The two bottom photos are from newspapers. I have no photos of the tornadoes that recently raged over the USA, but it was on TV and I saw the destructions they caused. I am so sorry for the people who live there. Here is a video of the aftermath of the tornado in Joplin.
My daughter took these photos a few days ago, when she stayed in Gympie with the parents of her partner. They are now on their way back to Cooktown in North Queensland, where they live.
Sky Watch is hosted by Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and Sylvia Thank you so much for this great meme, it's always a pleasure to participate, and see all the other skies around the world. If you want to see some other skies please click on the logo in the side bar.
Continued flooding in Australia's Queensland state has put crocodiles and snakes in closer proximity to the people living in flooded-out areas, prompting authorities to warn the public about the unseen dangers under the water.
Rockhampton residents have reported seeing a greater number of snakes and other animals in the city, seeking higher ground in the wake of the floods. Along the swollen Fitzroy River, which runs through the city, there have even been some sightings of crocodiles, said Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carte.
I telephoned my daughter, who lives in Queensland and she told me that her house in Cooktown was okay. She is staying at Gympie now, where her friend's parents live. Their house is built in the hills and so it's dry. However to get back to Cooktown will take them three days and they have to cover a large area which is flooded. So you understand that I am quite worried and I am so sorry for the poor victims of the flood.
Sky Watch is hosted by Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and Sylvia Thank you so much for this great meme, it's always a pleasure to participate, and see all the other skies around the world. If you want to see some other skies please click on the logo in the side bar.
Click to enlarge! In the summer of 2009 we had heavy rainfall in my country, but that was nothing compared to Australia's downpour.
Why do I post this entry about Australia in "that's My World"? Well actually Queensland's Cooktown has become part of my world, because of my younger daughter, who has lived in Australia for more than 16 years now. She was first married to an Aboriginal man of Hopevale, and got two children by him. His family regard my daughter as a relative, as one of them.Because of her, I am also one of them now! My daughter has always been very interested in the lives and culture of the people of Hopevale in Queensland. So for more than three years she had been writing down the stories of Roy McIver, her uncle by her first marriage. Roy is a gifted artist and has had an interesting but not always easy life. What my daughter did was listening to his stories and record them on audio tapes, then write them down. She printed the stories and her friend Margie corrected them and together they helped Roy to write down his stories. Now the book is about to being launched. I am so sorry that I can't be there, for I know most of the people who will be in the Nature's Power House next week. BTW the title "Cockatoo" refers to the two tribes of Aboriginal people living in Cape York. The white and the black Cockatoos are their tribal animals. It also refers to the black and white Australians
That's my World is hosted by Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy and Sylvia - a Team of experienced bloggers, whom we thank for this wonderful meme. You can see more of the world of other bloggers by clicking on the logo in the side bar or on that's My World
Lake Barrine was created by a volcanic eruption in Queensland Australia.
Click to see more details of the lake, please!
Lake Barrine in the Tablelands, Queensland Australia.
To see slide better, please click on "View all Images", then on "Original View".
A volcano is an opening, or rupture, in a planet's surface or crust, which allows hot magma, ash and gases to escape from below the surface. The word volcano is derived from the name of Vulcano island off Sicily which in turn, was named after Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. Also in Australia there were volcanic eruptions long ago.Many of these eruptions created lakes, which we saw in the Tablelands in Queensland. One of the lakes is Lake Barrine. We walked around it. It is a five kilometers'walk. The Lake was created 10,000 years ago. The eruption must have been enormous. The video you see, shows the eruption of one of the volcanoes on Hawaii
With thanks to Denise Nesbitt, who created ABC.For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar or Here. This week we are looking for words beginning with V.
