Is All Calm Down Under?

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Chris/Darwin
Date: 08 Jan 00 - 06:11 AM

2Metre Max

Yes, my youngest son and his girlfriend introduced me to the Carnival Stage bar, and I spent several pleasant hours there, listening to the music coming out of the Carnival Stage.

Helen, my eldest son and his family (including 2 grandkids) live in New Lampton (a suburb of Newcastle for people unfamiliar with the Hunter valley). We spent several pleasant days there (including Christmas) catching up with them and other friends in Newcastle.

Regards
Chris

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: 2MetreMax
Date: 08 Jan 00 - 04:44 AM

Chris, a lot of the Mudcatters probably don't have a clue what (or where) Woodford is. Did you happen to drop in to the Carnival bar perchance? Weather-wise Woodford, Australia's biggest folk festival delivered it's usual wet&dry with a weeks worth of rain during the final construction phase and the first couple of days of the festival finally giving way to sunshine and the influx of very well behaved crowds to enjoy this incredible smorgasboard of Australian culture.

Personally I've returned to the "Wet North" and it's become a mite sticky. No cyclones on the horizon but it's certainly the season and if recent years are any guide we're not that far away from a flood or two! 2Metre max

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Helen
Date: 07 Jan 00 - 07:55 PM

Cris, Do you mean to say you passed through Newcastle and we didn't get a chance to meet? You would have had the honour of being only the third Mudcatter I have met in the "real" world. Let me know if you are over this way again.

Also, Callie, I've been meaning to ask where you live, too. You said you are on the east coast.

Helen

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Chris/Darwin
Date: 07 Jan 00 - 09:03 AM

After spending a couple of weeks on the East coast - yes, it was pleasantly cool! Armidale had an ice shower for Christmas, but Newcastle and Woodford were very comfortable!

Back home it is the usual wet season weather - you know, 33 deg C, 80% humidity, just perfect!

Regards
Chris

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 06 Jan 00 - 05:54 PM

G'day,
From Sydney, slightly to the south of Helen, same story. I haven't been in the pool yet, no tan. Still, better than too hot.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Helen
Date: 06 Jan 00 - 05:13 PM

Well Bugsy,

Over here in NSW (east coast, Oz) it has been cool & sometimes rainy, usually overcast almost every day for weeks. We seem to have gotten past the point where it would be sunny on weekdays & rainy *every* weekend, though, so that's a blessing. We have hardly had any hot summer days yet - still waiting.

Helen

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Bugsy
Date: 06 Jan 00 - 02:27 AM

Right now it's more than calm in the West of Aussie - it's DAMNED HOT!!!!

I'ts been in the upper 30's C since before Christmas. that's over 2 weeks of 95+. They keep telling us that there's going to be a storm but it just clouds over, gets more humid then clears away to "Another fucking perfect day" as they said in "White Mischief"

Still the old tan's firming up.

How's the weather where you are?

Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 06 Jan 00 - 02:08 AM

Refresh for Bob Bolton to hopefully view. Regards, John

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 20 Dec 99 - 09:02 PM

Ah, Slim Dusty! Pub With No Beer was written as I recall by Gordon Parsons and is arguably one of Australia's best known songs. Slim has written some fine songs - my favourite is the first one he ever recorded in 1947 or 1948 'When The Rain Tumbles Down In July'. The Bushwackers have recorded a version, and I often think of it as the basis for a bluegrass rendition. The lyrics to this song are very reminiscent of the traditional Australian bush ballads. I must get around to posting them here - maybe I have?

Not my favourite, but also well known is '(I'd Like To Have A Beer With) Duncan'. There was a recent thread on this.

A late friend of mine used to sing 'The Pub With No Dyke'. As I recall the lyrics were posted in Singabout a few decades ago, causing quite a controversy as to the gratuitous lewdness of the words. I can't find my copy, but I'm sure that Bob Bolton could come up with it.

Slim was the first professional performer I ever saw up close as he used to do the side-show circuit of the bush Pastoral and Agricultural Shows when I was a kid. Maybe the US equivalent is County Fair?

Regards, John

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Bugsy
Date: 20 Dec 99 - 08:10 PM

A "Free House" is a pub which is not owned by the Brewery. In WA until a short relatively recently, all pubs were owned by WA's only brewery. Swan Brewery. That has now changed and many pubs are now owned by the landlord. Swan Pubs could only sell the Company's beer. Thus for many years the only beer available in WA Pubs was, Swan Lager, Swan Draught, Emu Bitter, Emu Export, an Kalgoorlie Stout. This situation has now, Thankfully, was rectified by the introduction of a couple of boutique breweries who opened the doors to International breweries. This prompted Swan to begin to import Interstate beers into WA.

We now have more beers, both imported and domestic, than you can poke a stick at!

Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Fortunato
Date: 20 Dec 99 - 03:29 PM

Bugsy, Can you please explain what is meant by: "And a free house"?

Cheers,

Fortunato

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Willie-O
Date: 19 Dec 99 - 08:55 PM

Well, a pub with no roof is better than one with no beer...roofs can be replaced, unlike lives. Anyone who's lived in an isolated spot knows the population of the crossroads where the pub happens to sit is irrelevant to the business if the next one is a hundred miles away.

CBC radio runs excerpts from various international shortwave braodcasts overnight--which is why at 5:30 one Sunday morning, I heard a lot about the life, times and music of one Slim Dustie, (sp?) whom I'd never heard of but I gather he'd be the most long-lived Australian country singer...wasn't responsible for the execrable song in question was he? And they played his version of "Pub with no beer"--did he write it?

He kinda reminded me of Stompin Tom Connors, a Canadian icon of independent-minded real country music (unplayable on "New Country" radio, needless to say).

Bill C

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Callie
Date: 19 Dec 99 - 08:44 PM

What IS weird about the weather on the East Coast this year is how cold it's been. Yesterday was practically snow weather!

Thanx for all your concern Mudcatters.

Callie

ps: shrimps on the barbie? I always thought it would mess up her hair, but maybe Mattell haven't thought the concept through enough

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 19 Dec 99 - 07:56 PM

G'day,
I agree with you about the song John. One of those I keep trying to forget.

Shimbo, have you ever had a shrimp on the barbie? The only Aussie I know of who has was Paul Hogan. What's a shrimp anyway? We found the ad very amusing. I saw a re-run of it a few days ago & judging from the "shrimp" he chucked on the barbie it must mean "small prawn".

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 19 Dec 99 - 07:19 AM

Blackcat, the destruction of Darwin in Christmas 74 was a serious tragedy which I won't dwell on here. I don't think I could ever attempt to write a song about a real cyclone afterr a well known country singer recoded a song called 'Santa Never Made It Into Darwin'. Good idea - awful execution. Regards, John

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: InOBU
Date: 18 Dec 99 - 09:58 AM

Well here in New York, with the great scare of Yk2 being trumpeted from every cheep newspaper and TV station, maybe we should have shown a little forsight and built some underground storm celler like - non computorized - music pubs, to ride out the storm.
Cheers, awaiting word on the financial challenges of the lamented lost pub.
Larry

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Shimbo Darktree
Date: 18 Dec 99 - 09:29 AM

Chris/Darwin has not explained to the non-Aussies that beer there
comes in a bottle not common to the rest of the world. In the rest
of Aus, you can buy beer in bottles called stubbies because
they are small. Darwin is a hot place, and there stubbies are a trifle
larger ... about the size of a small brewery ... and called Darwin
stubbies. I'm surprised Chris omitted this interesting snippet,
because it explains a Darwinian's concern at the loss of a pub.
Have one for me, Chris.
Shimbo

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Chris/Darwin
Date: 18 Dec 99 - 07:35 AM

I'll drink to that!

When Cyclone Thelma wandered down the coast last December, Darwinites "battened down the hatches" as it were, removing loose articles from the gardens, in my case decking the gum trees nearest the house, and generally made their houses as secure as possible.

When it turned into a Category 5 (200mph+ winds), which is more destructive than the Building Code allows for, most people planned their escape (shall I keep my PP&M records, my old 12 string, will my Kaftan fit in the boot of the car, etc).

In the event it kept going, and all we got was 29 inches of rain in a couple of days, and 100kph (60mph) winds, which blew over a few trees, but otherwise caused no concern. My impression was that, if it had turned towards Darwin as a Category 4 (about the strength of Tracy in 1974) most people would have stayed. I intended to. Fortunately our pubs are pretty strong, and many locals decided that any excuse....

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: InOBU
Date: 17 Dec 99 - 12:18 PM

Well fellow Mudcats: I seems God spared the masses, though, there is an apparant need. Where would we folkies be without ancient pubs? Perhaps one of our Down Under Sisters and Brothers could find an address for the roofless pub, find out if the insurence covers the loss, and if there is a need, we can start a thread to send a couple of bucks each, and help put the roof back on, so if we ever find ourselves on a walkabout that way, there will be a place to play a wee bit of music, and for those of you with functioning livers, raise a glass or two, How bout it Mudcatters, Save the Whales, Yes, Save the Rain Forrests, Of Course, God Save the Queen (at least for GeorgeH - for the rest of us the toast goes, I give you the Queen - you can bloody have her...) But all those and so many more have their constituants. MUDCATTERS SAVE THE WHIM CREEK PUB!
Cheers
Larry (Save the Otway Forrest of Austrailia) Otway

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Shimbo Darktree
Date: 17 Dec 99 - 11:35 AM

I lived in Karratha (one of the towns mentioned) many years
ago, and the population then was around 10,000 if memory
serves me right, which it frequently doesn't.
Cyclones are common in the tropical areas of Australia, and
are a yearly occurrence. Sparse population is what keeps
injury and death down, and the residents have learned to take
it in their stride.
For Blackcat2 ... when we get cyclones, we make sure that
the beer is in a safe place, and the ute (pickup truck)
is tied down. We folkies also pack our guitars in crates
of polystyrene beads. Then, when the cyclone hits, we send
the women and children out to keep the shrimps on the barbie :)
For Folk1234 ... you are thinking of a willy willy, which
are frequently very localised twisters. I live in Brisbane
(yes, John) and some years ago a willy willy hit a small
suburban shopping centre two blocks away. It demolished
one shop, and damaged another two. Everything else was OK.
And thank you for your kind thoughts.

And for --seed ... I can see how you spend your time on
the beach!
Regards,
Shimbo

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Áine
Date: 17 Dec 99 - 11:04 AM

I hope that one of you Ozies take advantage of the 'Story of Whim' to write a song about it -- Gee, a cyclone, the pub blowing down, hiding in a shipping container and riding out the storm -- this is the stuff of great folk music!! Come on alison, Alan, Bugsy, y'all better jump on this like a tick on a fat dawg (as they say here in Texas) and write us a great song about The Cyclone of '99!!

-- Áine

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Blackcat2
Date: 17 Dec 99 - 11:03 AM

It's funny that as big of a deal as hurricanes are here in Florida - and how much coverage they get from local news - it's a shame we hear so little about hurricanes in other locals - we barely hear about the one that hit the west coast of Mexico.

I'm curious - what do Aussies do when there's an impending cyclone? - other than batten down the hatches, of course. Do yall "head for the hills" like we're supposed to do here? Or do most people hunker down in their homes and or shelters?

glad this one missed the mark.

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Bugsy
Date: 17 Dec 99 - 04:06 AM

It's 120 miles to the nearest watering hole North or South. Everyone stops there for at least one middy(half pint)it's an unwritten law. When we passed through we camped out the back for the night along with some 20-30 other travellers/holidaymakers. It's quite a busy pub, especially on weekends. And a free house of course though it doesn't carry a great range of beers. Mostly canned lager, etc..

Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Roger the skiffler
Date: 17 Dec 99 - 03:59 AM

I saw the report on Whim Creek which it descibed as a one-pub town with 12 inhabitants. Now villages with hundreds of of inhabitants in UK are losing pubs as uneconomic... so it must be true about the amount Ozzies drink!
Glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been
Roger the windbag

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Bugsy
Date: 16 Dec 99 - 08:58 PM

I live on the West Coast, though 1000 miles south of the area where the Cyclones crossed the coastline. Luckily, the eye of the cyclone passed over a very sparsley populated area of Whim Creek. Unfortunately there stands one of the oldest pubs in the West.

The local inhabitants of Whim Creek ( around ten people) sheltered in the pub as it was considered to be the sturdiest and largest building in the area. When the top floor got blown away, they all took refuge in a sea container in the back yard. There they sat out the storm for some 4-5 hours. Luckily no one was injured.

About 100 kms south, but still in the firing line sits Karratha and Roeburne. These all took a bit of a bashing but againg luckily, no fatalities to date.

I think both cyclones have now become rainbearing depressions, and the various communities are now starting the clear up.

Cyclone John was the strongest cyclone ever to cross the West Coast. Far stronger than cyclone Tracy, that wiped out Darwin in the 70's.

CHeers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: alison
Date: 16 Dec 99 - 07:25 PM

it was nowhere near most of of us.. we are all safe and well on the East coast....... but thanks for thinking of us.....

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 16 Dec 99 - 06:23 PM

Cyclone John crossed the coast of Western Australia at some distance from the nearest small town called Karratha. It was Category 5 which is the highest classification, but was not sufficiently close to any population centre to risk human life or property.

Unless you've been to that part of Australia it is probably difficult to imagine just how large it is nor how beautiful and inhospitable (climatically) it can be. I am guessing but the State of Western Australia has a HUGE length of coastline, which must be 3,000 miles long.

Cyclones (aka hurricanes or typhoons elsewhere in the world0 typically occur with greatest ferocity in tropical waters with occasional strays into the sub-tropics. In the case of W.A. the distances between towns on the coast are immense - say half a day's drive and the largest centre would be well less than 10.000, once you cross the Tropic of Capricorn.

On the Eastern seaboard in Queensland (my State) the population density is much higher, but there is still a significant area of tropical wilderness where cyclones hit without major human effects. Since the destruction of Darwin in December 1974, followed a few months later by the flooding of Brisbane, our preparedness for cyclones is somewhat heightened, with much tougher building codes, better early warning systems, improved flood mitigation.

I used to work for the Bureau of Meteorology. Regards, John

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: Art Thieme
Date: 16 Dec 99 - 06:05 PM

A "whirling Willie" is when God wets his finger and sticks it in our ear (or wherever he wants to stick it).

Art

Subject: RE: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: --seed
Date: 16 Dec 99 - 02:54 PM

I thought whirlin' willies was what Ozzie beach bums did when the surf wasn't up (and there was a shortage of wahinis).

--seed

Subject: Is All Calm Down Under?
From: folk1234
Date: 16 Dec 99 - 02:49 PM

To our dear mudcat friends down under. Is the Great Storm Over? I heard on the news that one of the largest hurricanes ever landed in a remote area of the west coast. Are you all OK? Also, I also heard that hurricanes are called something like "whirling willies" down there. Is that true? Can you explain?