From todays paper, a photo of fire damaged vineyards in Australia Yarra valley, just outside Melbourne. The bushfires, Australias worst in history, have tragically killed more than 100 people so far. Smoke from the fires has spread so far that even the air/sunlight quality in NZ has been affected. The state of Victoria has been gripped by a drought and heatwave for weeks and temperatures in Melbourne had been forecast to hit 47C yesterday.
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Ironically, at the same time, the state of Queensland, in the north of the country, is largely under water in the worst series of flooding to hit the area in decades. The Australian airforce has been flying in food and other supplies to cut-off areas.
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The heatwave in the south has all but ruined large numbers of vineyards crops, making 2009 a year to forget. Original predictions of a much needed reduced Australian crop have since taken a more pessimistic turn. You can read more about it in Wine Spectator.
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