Wow, how exciting that would have been. Nice pics for the memory book. I have been told it is all over in a few minutes too.
Legendts said
06:52 PM Jun 28, 2014
Did you enjoy the "black" snow?
barrie said
06:53 PM Jun 28, 2014
Dougwe that's right it lasted about 15 mins ,they run around the perimeter lighting it from both ends .Deffo a highlite for us
barrie said
06:54 PM Jun 28, 2014
Jeff it's dark so we have not seen it yet but the wind was in the right direction
Dougwe said
07:02 PM Jun 28, 2014
I have never been able to get my timing right to witness that, maybe one day.
barrie said
07:07 PM Jun 28, 2014
We had no warning's so we were lucky
jules47 said
07:16 PM Jun 28, 2014
Wash you van down - that black ash is deadly on paintwork!
Used to live in West Cairns when I was a kid - canefields all round - spectacular sight! That was in the days when cane was cut by hand with a machete - we had about 12 cutters camped on our block - lots of fun.
barrie said
07:21 PM Jun 28, 2014
thanx Jules was not awhere of that ,good job I brought the wife a new hose nozzle to use
jules47 said
08:45 PM Jun 28, 2014
Enjoy your trip Barrie - what's your destination?
barrie said
09:01 PM Jun 28, 2014
Heading South along the coast very slowly.
GaryKelly said
07:49 AM Jun 29, 2014
I hope you had the snags ready and a pair of very long tongs.
Oma said
10:09 AM Jun 29, 2014
The cane fires are no where near as prevalent as they used to be. For those who are wondering, they first started burning cane to kill the rats which caused Weals disease. Over the past few decades however farmers stopped burning to leave the cane trash on the fields to conserve moisture as well as stop weeds etc. Not all farmers can do this because of type of soils eg one of our farms, if it had too much trash the ground would stay wet & cold therefore the cane would not ratoon. A couple of photos from our farm home many years ago. One photo shows Bruce lighting the fire by walking around the perimeter then & draws into the middle very quickly.
Should have said that these fires were at Bucca, 30ks from Bundaberg.
kandagal said
10:19 AM Jun 29, 2014
Jules, Didn't know you lived in Cairns when young. West Cairns? I lived on Hoare St when it was still a dirt road. Area was called Enmore Estate in those days.
jules47 said
10:42 AM Jun 29, 2014
kandagal wrote:
Jules, Didn't know you lived in Cairns when young. West Cairns? I lived on Hoare St when it was still a dirt road. Area was called Enmore Estate in those days.
In 1954 Alice - can't remember the street name, but it was next to a bank manager, who had a high set house, we lived in a very small house - really just a shack on 1/4 acre - outdoor dunny - used to go through back fence through neighbours to get to the made road to catch the bus to school (Catholic - think it was the only one in Cairns at the time) - lived there about a year - Dad used to drive buses. We also had a dirt road, but there were several made roads around, with quite a few houses.
Wouldn't it be funny if we were neighbours!!!
Sorry for hijacking your post Barrie!!!!
dING said
11:29 AM Jun 29, 2014
Brings back some memorys
Of driving Haul out of the cane
And last job of the day was
Burning for the next area to harvest
kandagal said
11:30 AM Jun 29, 2014
No, Jules, we weren't neighbours. Mostly because I had moved away before 1954.
Golddetectornomad said
11:37 AM Jun 29, 2014
Can I hijack as well Jules?....I went to Edge Hill State School Cairns in 1954/55.....lived at Edge Hill near the sanctuary...still had crocodiles along our school boundary and horses wandering the streets..........Enmore Estate was next along as I recall..past the old Chinese market gardeners with the shark fin tails hanging from their verandahs....I guess you were still in nappies when I was a school kid?...?....or was I in uniform when you were still in liquidform?....... I well remember those cane field fires with rats and snakes coming out at a rapid rate everywhere..plus the thousands of flying foxes flying overhead every night from their daily pillages.....Hoo Roo
-- Edited by Golddetectornomad on Sunday 29th of June 2014 11:39:40 AM
barrie said
07:58 PM Jun 29, 2014
Well once again we are surrounded by controlled fires and we have black snow.The farmer was taking the kids from our camp on his harvester today how cool was that for them and a huge thanks for the farmer. Home Hill ready does like the tourist and go out off there way to make you welcome
This happened only a few minutes ago ,another tick off the bucket list.
Our van is the one in the picture
Used to live in West Cairns when I was a kid - canefields all round - spectacular sight! That was in the days when cane was cut by hand with a machete - we had about 12 cutters camped on our block - lots of fun.
The cane fires are no where near as prevalent as they used to be. For those who are wondering, they first started burning cane to kill the rats which caused Weals disease. Over the past few decades however farmers stopped burning to leave the cane trash on the fields to conserve moisture as well as stop weeds etc. Not all farmers can do this because of type of soils eg one of our farms, if it had too much trash the ground would stay wet & cold therefore the cane would not ratoon. A couple of photos from our farm home many years ago. One photo shows Bruce lighting the fire by walking around the perimeter then & draws into the middle very quickly.
In 1954 Alice - can't remember the street name, but it was next to a bank manager, who had a high set house, we lived in a very small house - really just a shack on 1/4 acre - outdoor dunny - used to go through back fence through neighbours to get to the made road to catch the bus to school (Catholic - think it was the only one in Cairns at the time) - lived there about a year - Dad used to drive buses. We also had a dirt road, but there were several made roads around, with quite a few houses.
Wouldn't it be funny if we were neighbours!!!
Sorry for hijacking your post Barrie!!!!
Brings back some memorys
Of driving Haul out of the cane
And last job of the day was
Burning for the next area to harvest
Can I hijack as well Jules?....I went to Edge Hill State School Cairns in 1954/55.....lived at Edge Hill near the sanctuary...still had crocodiles along our school boundary and horses wandering the streets..........Enmore Estate was next along as I recall..past the old Chinese market gardeners with the shark fin tails hanging from their verandahs....I guess you were still in nappies when I was a school kid?...?....or was I in uniform when you were still in liquidform?.......
I well remember those cane field fires with rats and snakes coming out at a rapid rate everywhere..plus the thousands of flying foxes flying overhead every night from their daily pillages.....Hoo Roo
-- Edited by Golddetectornomad on Sunday 29th of June 2014 11:39:40 AM