Catastrophic Fire Danger

I hear that parts of Canada are experiencing unseasonably warm weather so I don’t feel quite so bad posting about the heat here. But seriously. This weather is just getting ridiculous! I have the day off and got up early to get a run in before the heat got unbearable. Unfortunately it was already 28 degrees at 7:30am. There’s no escaping it! We have also been placed under a Catastrophic Fire Danger warning by the NSW Rural Fire Service (http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/dsp_more_info_latest.cfm?CON_ID=8771 which sounds very scary. As far as I can gather this means that anyone who lives near any kind of forest is supposed to go elsewhere until the danger clears. There’s no relief in sight and the water situation is getting dire really quickly. The Lachlan River which runs through Forbes is expected to go dry by February. Madness.

Tonight Greg, Ang, Phil and I are hosting an Environment Department end-of-year party between our two houses. Hopefully things cool down a bit before people start showing up!

The heat is on

November continues to be an extremely hot month. The past nine days have seen temperatures consistently reach the upper 30s and it appears there is no relief in site. The locals say this is the sign of a very hot summer to come. I have heard stories of a time when temperatures hit the mid 40s day after day, peaking in the low 50s.  I can’t even imagine that kind of heat! Perhaps we are moving to WA just in time!

The Next Move

Well, it’s official. Phil and I are moving to Perth! Late last week I was formally offered a position with the Australia-Pacific Environment team working as a Senior Environmental Advisor. My main function is to provide support and guidance to each of the nine Barrick sites throughout the region as they implement a variety of environmental programs. The regional Environment team is very small (just myself and my new boss, Ben) so the work is bound to be challenging, however I am terribly excited about it all. Ben is fantastic to work with, Perth is amazing and I am excited to take what I have learned at Cowal and share it with the other sites! At the moment I am unsure of my start date although it sounds like it could be early December. Ben is here this week to assist with some work at Cowal and we will be negotiating a finish date with my current boss. The current plan is for Phil to stay in Parkes for a few more months to finish up his work at NorthParkes and hopefully find work with Rio Tinto in Perth. Once again the Christmas season will be a very busy time for us. And I couldn’t be happier!