Having just spent a week in the path of an oncoming NSW fire or 2 or 3 it was annoying how the ABC use to get their people to phone in and pat themselves on the back. I gave up listening and watching internet pages as they were mostly out of date and dangerous.
Dropped the van yesterday to make a run for the last highway open. At least according to the RFS web sight it was open under caution. . The grapevine was much more up to date and it appeared it was shut 12 hours earlier. Then last night saw a mention on traffic live that it was open. Didn't believe it but this morning an interview with a local politician revealed it actually was open.
Bang that window will be shut, sadly for those who had given up listening to the ABC they had finally broadcast some usable info. All those radio reports are for names that are not even on maps. A visitor has no idea where they are let alone form a mental picture of the geography. Bearing in mind that there is thick smoke everywhere.
So the ABC reports are aimed at the locals and fair enough. They omit the tourist. So occasionally a politician will pop up and give useful info like today. Didn't wait for anymore info and made a run for it. The highways were empty. I guess people had stopped listening to the radio because it is not usable unless you are a bush local.
I phoned the van park to get them to pass on the news when we got past the old roadblocks. Yesterdays cold front has pushed fires north thereby making a long front which will attack the coast on Saturday.
The Snowy Mountain highway should be open till at least Thursday for anyone wanting to leave.
For the tourist, those web sites are a useless bureaucratic maze if you want useful and timely info. Who has time to plough through endless pages when all you need to know is whether to implement plan A B or C.
