What a day!

[Lou from downunder]

What a day indeed!

Firstly, we, here in the "cold" southern state of Victoria in the land downunder had our hottest day on record.
46.4 C. Thats 115.52 degrees in your language, dudes from the US of A! Thats hot!
Well what better way to spend such a day than in the water?
Went to a little spot I know where I've pulled a goodly amount of rings, chains, pendants and hundreds of dollars, in search of a dive watch that a dude lost some 20 yrs ago whilst diving in from a certain rock.
Even though I knew the exact location, three previous attempts to find it whilst snorkelling proved to be unsuccessful so this time I used
scuba.
Found it in the first few minutes and only a couple of inches down. It stopped at 7 minutes and 29 seconds past one on the third of whenever. A bit worse for wear but still water tight so I will get my jeweller mate to see if we can fire it up again.
After finding the watch I surfaced and while swimming on the surface to the next spot I became aware that something was trying to climb on top of me from behind. On turning I found some crazy dog paying me some serious attention... don't know if it was trying to bite me or what but after some deep, meaningful eye contact it turned and took off.
This spot was a dud so I headed back to where I'd first jumped in. People everywhere so I worked out in deeper water, out of harms way.
Found one of those silver, star sign pendants on a chain, 5 gram 999% pure. They were all the rage back in the 70s.
Eventually out of air I surface and start swimming to the point closest to the car and still keeping offshore a bit so as not to upset anyone when suddenly I'm grabbed from behind. I find I'm being forced under and everytime I turned whatevers on my back turns with me. Then my snorkel gets blocked forcing me to spit it out. Gasping for air I finally manage to break free and turn to find some shaven headed idiot with a stupid grin on his face.
Totally pissed off I say, " what the f*** are you trying to do mate?"
With this he takes off overarming to his mates, one of which says " man, isn'nt that the coolest thing you've ever seen?"
Yeah, I thought so too.
Anyway, to many of them to argue with so I headed off home.
On the way was detoured by the cops around a bushfire. On turning on the news it turns out half the state is on fire.
As I said, what a day!

Lou.

 

[thinkin2]

You did have quite a day, didn't you? At least you found the watch and some silver. Better than anything being found around here right now. Next time some jerk wants to play idiot like that take him under and give him a real thrill. I don't think he will want to play anymore. Hope the fires let up soon and you stay safe.
Jerry

 

[therover]

I cannot stand people who F@@K around in the water

 

[tvr]

Idiots don't even think that when someone is at near neutral buoyancy, carrying equipment and maybe tired that they may easily kill them in seconds by playing games.

Glad you got some good finds, got out of the water ok and hope you all get a break with the fire situation!
tvr

 

[Joel-Winnipeg]

Carry a spear gun next time and take care of the two legged shark

 

[Bobbie]

Too many idiots no matter where you are. Early morning or late afternoon before the crowds, you will find more gold at those times also. Idiots also watch what you are finding and then try to lay claim to it.

 

[lazyaussie]

sounds like ya had one of those day Lou i"v got a nice big stainless steel scoop for whacking people like that. yeah those fires are looking real bad.
lazyaussie

 

[Lou from downunder]

Well unfortunately the state continues to burn.
Whole towns and communities virtually wiped out.
Currently 84 confirmed dead with the body count rising every hour, including a much loved personality and his wife.

Victoria has bushfires every year, some worse than others.
Black Friday back in 39 and Ash Wednesday in 83 were our two worst ever.... until this one.
Fire fronts of 50 miles, currently over 700 homes lost, hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland and forest devastated and huge stock and wildlife losses.
Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see a day even come close to Ash Wednesday.
And the sad part is that a lot of these fires were deliberately lit.

Unbelievable!

Lou.

 

[lazyaussie]

if they get caught they should cook em in a big oven slowly & see how they like it the fire fighters deserve a big pat on the back & a pay rise it"s up to 129 dead now.

 

[aushunter]

Clowns everywhere.
Have you ever had the fools throwing rocks at you also. Got hit once and when I stood up they back tracked pretty quickly.
They thought it was funny throwing a few rocks at the idiot, swinging the detector under water as I snorkeled about.
Not exactly a scrawny lad, they took off when I strolled over there way.Wouldn't take much of a rock to render someone unconscious
and drown in those conditions.
Hats off to the fireys down south, not good at all, too many people lost their lives to the arsonists.
I used to be in the volunteer in the bush brigade 20 yrs ago and ya gotta watch your back.
Never fought anything close to that size though, all of them are pretty well heroes.
Anyway, good on the finds, shame about the clowns.
HH and Goodluck.

cheers
Aushunter

 

[therick]

n/t

 

[R-n-R Magnolia SpringsAla]

regulary to keep the brush from getting too dense also I think to drive game?. Then the Govt. stepped in and made them stop? Ever since then the burshfires have 100 times worse than the small burnings the Abs did? Something I saw on TV or heard when I was there in 91 ? or so. could be way off? Hats off to the firefighters and smoke jumpers what b@lls!

 

[doindadiggin]

Hi R N R mate what has happened in the fire area is the GREEN tree huggers have had the forests locked up therefore stopping any winter backburning cleaning up all the fire fuel but do you know what you wont see one greenie down there fighting the fires and trying to save their beloved forests. also i was reading somewhere that there are a few detectorists who light these fires to gain access to the overgrown sections of the goldfields and that is where these fires are happening now ,.ps it is called GREED. terry in oz

 

[aushunter]

That's exactly what is happening out here.If the Greens get in any outdoor activity will be banned me thinks.
In Northern NSW a certain National park wouldn't listen to the locals about burn offs and it got outta control. Burnt all the wildlife and
almost burnt a small community out.This is going back a few years ago, but what a mess.
Yep, tree huggers are the worst of them all. If detectorists are doing what you say they are doing, it's not going to be good PR for the rest of us.
Apparently arsonists hit again last night and lit 2 more fires. Put that lot up there with Terrorists, or maybe they are worse. I think I'm lost for words.
Sorry guys, but this bloody @#!&&@.
My next post will be on a more cheerful note, heading up the coast this weekend and going to hit a few places I been eyeing off.

HH and cheers
Aushunter

 

[John LA]

n/t

 

[Maui Mike]

Sorry to hear about those fires.. as for the water jerk.. take him down about 15 ft and see what happens .

 

[Lou from downunder]

Yeah R-n-R,

thats basically it.
Whereas once there was controlled burning by Abo's and then by forestry managers to prevent the build up of fuel, of which there can be an enormous amount, now the greens are in control.
They believe that burning off is bad for the environment and dictate to the government on how it will be.
And yet after these sort of uncontrolled wildfires enormous damage is done to plant and animal life, not to mention humans.
It takes years, if not decades for the bush to recover.
There justification seems to be the fact its a "natural" occurrance, not something initiated by humans.
It seems that in their eyes anything that we humans do is bad.
Small comfort for the 200+ that have lost their lives in this lot of fires.
It seems that in their eyes human life is not that important.

Lou.