WEATHER

The weather here shifts and changes as quickly as the land does. Today has dawned overcast with thick clouds. There’s a brighter spot in them below where the sun sits but no beam of sunlight has broken through. And the forecast is such a mix: possibility of dry thunderstorms, a high of 31 degrees (rising from the morning’s 17), perhaps showers later in the day. It’s an odd situation, since in spite of the water everywhere Tasmania is rarely humid. Tomorrow the predicted high is 16, and there’s to be rain.

Thunderstorms of any kind are unusual here, dry ones even more so, and I imagine some cause for concern. Like the mainland, though perhaps not as extremely as in some areas there, Tasmania is prone to bushfires. The forest here is characterized by a fire ecology—eucalypts not only survive fires in a variety of ways, but some of them depend upon it to grow and/or remain healthy. Plants like buttongrass are so flammable they will burn even in water, and it’s not for nothing that the kerosene plant was so christened. So today also has the highest fire danger status—all burning outside is forbidden and tools that might throw off sparks should not be used. A large water bomber is being tested, and the fire service is on high alert.

In Fiji in the past couple of days a bad cyclone has struck, killing some people and forcing many to evacuate their homes. I wonder if the weather we have here is partly an effect of that. I also wonder if the other Harrises will encounter weather delays on their flights to join me—they have a 10-hour stop-over in Fiji on their way …