News & Updates from Vicki Avcin ~ AusCrafts · Page 49

Im not a gardener by any means so I get really excited when anything in my garden survives and then flowers.

I really dont know how people get all their gardens to flower at one time because mine seem to come out in dribs and drabs.

I have 3 orchids that I wait patiently for each year to display their lovely blooms. So in the photo the white one flowered last month, sadly only one spike this year when normally it has two or three, and the brown/reddish and yellow ones have finally flowered this week.

So all I can do is admire them while they are open.

Well after a week of forecasts of severe storms, big hail and flooding rains we were all keeping our fingers crossed for some rain that would fill dams and put some moisture back in the ground.

You can see on the photo that we were in the target area to get something (red area)…. Anything! All the weather Facebook pages were reporting this as well as the Bureau of Meteorology and slowly reports came in from various places of heavy rain and hail.

Great its coming but the photos of the ominous black clouds indicating the storm front was coming didnt really and we waited, tracking it the storms/rain on the radar.

But as usual as it got closer all we got was a thin cloud line and only a little rain.

We did get hail on Wednesday, about the size of a pin head and 16mm of rain. Once again our dome worked well.

So although we have a tinge of green in the grass, we are still very much in the area that is drought declared.

More storms are forecast for Saturday and Sunday but I dont think anyone round here is expecting much to happen.

Showers maybe. All the talk of La Nina weather pattern does keep our hopes alive as it covers all our wet season which goes through till next year.

What it all means is that our fire season is still very active and we are still getting turned out to fires.

Maybe that will change soon! Fingers crossed!

There is a plane that comes over Hervey Bay every couple of weeks that causes controversy every time she flies over.

This strange looking plane is the RAAF E-7A Wedgetail .

Based on a Boeing 737-700 it has this surfboard like fixture on top which is an advanced Multi-Role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar.

These planes provide Australia with one of the most advanced air battle space management capabilities in the world.Their visits to Hervey Bay are training runs although many have their own version of why they are up here.

Currently the favourite excuse is that they are looking for Victorian numberplates (cars) that have escaped Victoria being that Victoria is locked out to all the other states due to Covid-19.

But in fact it is all a normal part of their training exercises. The plane will do several circuits around the Bay and do touch and gos at the airport. We have them fly directly over our house at about 1000 feet which makes for an awesome sight.

Rather noisy but none the less rather exciting to see these big birds fly over. They come from Williamstown airbase in NSW and fly back in a single mission. They are capable of covering four million square kilometres during a single 10-hour mission.

Wednesday 7th October 2020 was a bittersweet day. My husband was presented with his National Medal for his time in the Fire Service. The National Medal is given for 15 years service of exemplary time serving in the service.

It unfortunately was a different presentation this year, due to covid-19, as no family were able to attend. Not even wives/partners. Normally it is a day for family to attend to celebrate at these presentations. Was hoping for some official photos but they havent come through yet so had to make do with taking a photo when he got home.

While he was down being presented with his medal, I was at home, sadly watching a livestream of my ex First Officers funeral who had passed away suddenly just over a week before.

With restrictions still on the numbers that can attend funerals meant I couldnt attend that either. But I am so proud of my hubby receiving his medal. It is a huge honour to receive it.

Well one thing this year with all the issues surrounding Covid-19 is the fact that here in Queensland weve not been subject to the lockdown laws that have been happening in other states here in Australia apart from not being able to travel to other states.

This has seen people taking holidays due to businesses closing down for the duration as social distancing laws have not enabled normal operations.

So for the second time this year friends weve not seen since we left Brisbane in 2004 are taking trips within Queensland rather than going interstate.Weve just had a visit from another lot of friends that hit the road and toured outback Queensland and on their way back to Brisbane they have called in for a stay over.

John used to be our local councillor and we worked together in the Chamber of Commerce.So not everything has been totally negative this year with a couple of months ago having another lot of friends who stopped over on their way home from touring also.

Was a fantastic four days with lots of reminiscing about the good old days. We also met and got to know Lea his partner whom he met since we had last seen him.