VIC HIGH COUNTRY - IS THERE USUALLY FIRE BANS THERE IN NOV / DEC ?

Thanks for the info. Mike . You raised a very interesting point regarding campers receiving the info of the implementation of a ban . I guess the authorities would take this into account before prosecuting people , but they are still using fires in a period of danger - a big problem .

Maybe there needs to be UHF repeaters which give out this info or a dedicated High Country FM radio station with Fire Ban news and general info regarding roads and tourist events .

Cheers ,

Willie .

Discovering if a TFB is in force, if you're in the bush, is a significant issue and, imo, one neither the CFA or the ABC take seriously enough.

UHF CB is all but useless in many areas of the HC due to it's "line of sight" nature,
often you'll only get 2 or 3km from it.

What I would like to see the ABC do is to set specific times when they broadcast TFB info. The start of the weather report, which always follows every news broadcast would be a good slot. Certainly a year or two ago they just seemed to broadcast it when they remembered - some news slots would carry it, others wouldn't? Sometimes it was broadcast just before or at the start of the news other times at the end?

Having said that; TFBs are often a matter of common sense - when it’s 35C+, the wind is blowing and everywhere is tinder dry it's pretty damn obvious a fire is a bad idea and believe you me Willie when you're _deep_ in some of that country you _know_ that if a bush fire comes through you won't have a hope in hell of getting out before you become toast - that tends to discourage one from lighting fires on bad days :)

Enjoy the High Country - no doubt I'll be somewhere up there during Nov/Dec if you ever decide to do an Amateur Radio licence we could arrange to meet up for a beer - hopefully around the fire :)

Mike Harding

PS. This map:
www.cfa.vic.gov.au/about/locations.htm
gives the CFA areas (although not well) the ones you will be concerned with are Gippsland and North East.

In February or March I had a ranger walk into camp and hand me a brochure advising that it was a total fire ban. We were in Buckland Valley State Forest near the Alpine National Park - the ranger was visiting every camp along a 20km stretch of river!

Gas stoves are a no-no on TFB days, so be prepared to eat cold beans from a tin!

An FM or UHF repeater broadcast would be great. When I was living in California, the USA-equivalent of 0.5W UHF radios (called FRS - Family Radio Service) all had pretuned weather stations in them - anywhere in the country, you could receive a 24 hour local weather broadcast. Was fantastic when you were in the mountains.

Dave ,

I went down and purchased the Hemma Map and a book "4WD Tracks of the High Country " and have been right through them looking for tracks that run along rivers .

I will be entering across the Murray at Tom Groggin and travelling across to Taylor's Crossing , then on to the Mitta Mitta . From there across to Snowy Creek , then down to Mayford ,then to the Dargo ,then to the Wonnangatta and Humffray Rivers .

Then there is a heap more to the west and north of of that , but I don't think I will have time for any more . Does any of that sound god or bad ?

I cannot believe what a vast area it is and why I have never planned a trip there before this . I think the Vics have been keeping it a secret .

Cheers ,

Willie .

Allan ,
I thought it might be a good idea to get up there early in the season to get to the streams before they had been flogged over Christmas . Do yo think I am making a mistake ? Will the rivers still be too high to get across and to dirty to fish ?
Thanks ,
Willie .