The Outback in Sydney

This was what what Sydney looked like yesterday morning.

A combination of severe drought in South Australia and strong westerly winds brought fine, iron-rich dust right to the coast. The air quality was 17 times worse (whatever that means) than usual, and several hundred people called for ambulances for respiratory problems. There’s also concern that if the Olympic Dam uranium mine in South Australia is allowed to go open-cut, tailings containing carcinogenic alpha radiation may be deposited by similarly strong winds over the country’s most heavily populated corner.

Still, it made for a pretty amazing morning.

One Response to “ The Outback in Sydney ”

Comments:

Soeren Kemmann says:
September 27th, 2009 at 5:14 am

Hey Aidan,

it’s me, Soeren, yes, still here, still alive.
First of all, sorry for the long time I haven’t written you guys down under. Hmm … my excuse … I’m afraid there is no valid reason. Nevertheless, belief it or not, but when I’m reminisce about my time in Sydney and Australia, I’m always remembering the great time and how much you helped me!
Australia, or to be more precise, Sydney, is popping up “Here, There and Everywhere” (yes, it IS from “The Beatles” ) in my life.
As you can imagine I’ve finished my studies and I’m working (at Fraunhofer … something between research and industry) and guess what … on Monday a delegation from NICTA (the institute I’ve worked for in Sydney) is visiting our institute (including my former supervisor) and we will discuss possible collaborations!! Maybe/Hopefully I can benefit from that by having a chance to visit Sydney again!?
Hmm … OK … I’ve lost track of what I originally wanted to say … let’s get to the point (which hasn’t been a real point until now). Your “red days” I’ve seen pictures in the TV and (of course) your pictures! That is … don’t know … somewhere between crazy and amazing. I hope you and your family are fine? Having said that do me a favour and send kind regards to your parents (and Oscar) and Paul and Loraine! Or as she would write it: Send KIND REGARDS to her
Well, there is so much more to tell you (for example that I’ve been to Oktoberfest and met an australian guy who had 6 Mass … “no comment on that” *g*) but this is a blog not a private email … so I would suggest you send me an email to the provided address (so that I have your current email address!)