Let it Snow!

[charlene]

http://www.thestar.com/news/starweat...australia.html - photo at link

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA—Kangaroos are a common sight for Australian vineyard owner Bill Shrapnel. But a winter storm this week was the first time he’d seen a ’roo in the snow.
Shrapnel guesses about 30 of the “timid” and “watchful” creatures live on his 77-acre Colmar Estate vineyard in Orange, New South Wales.
But before he peeked out his back window Thursday, he had never seen one of the kangaroos in the snow.
“They just turned up and started to feed. The younger ones boxed with one another as if it was just another day.”
A surprised Shrapnel snapped a photo, which his daughter shared on social media.
Shrapnel, 62, and his wife Jan moved to Orange earlier this year from Sydney, which hasn’t seen snow since 1836.
While the couple had prepared for their first winter, he says, “having it snow three times in a week is not what we expected.”
The winter storm caused traffic accidents, school closures and power outages around the state on Australia’s southeastern coast.
Thredbo, a ski resort in New South Wales, recorded 30 cm of snowfall, and highs in Orange and other wintry towns were below 5 C.

[joveski]

its been snowing up to the south east of queensland. what a nice cold snap if you like this weather!. i'm getting a big laugh out of teenagers bitching and moaning that it's too cold. weel leave your summer clothes and your latest iphone behind and rug up!

[Dave, Melbourne,Australia]

I'm not sure if that animal photographed at Orange in the state of New South Wales is a kangaroo or a wallaby. It would be easier to tell if it was video footage or if it was photographed front-on. It does look out of place on snow. So did the occasional kangaroos and wallabies I've seen on quiet, sandy beaches on the Great Ocean Road (2 hours south-west of Melbourne).

By the way, the town of Orange (2-3 hours west of Sydney) got its name as follows according to Wikipedia:
In the late 1820s, the surveyor J. B. Richards worked on a survey of the Macquarie River below Bathurst and also of the road to Wellington. On a plan dated 1829, he indicated a village reserve, in the parish of Orange. Sir Thomas Mitchell named the parish Orange, as he had been an associate of the Prince of Orange in the Peninsular War, when both were aides-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington, whose title was bestowed on the valley to the west by Oxley. Legal occupation by graziers began late in 1829, and tiny settlements grew up on the properties and in connection with the road. In 1844, the surveyor Davidson was sent to check on encroachments onto the land reserved for a village, and to advise on the location for a township. His choices were Frederick's Valley, Pretty Plains, or Blackman's Swamp. Blackman's Swamp was chosen, and it was proclaimed a village and named Orange by Major Thomas Mitchell in 1846 in honour of Prince William of Orange.

And plenty of snow has fallen near Melbourne recently. This morning, Melbourne had 0.6degC (33degF) and Ballarat, 1 hour to our west, had -6degC (21degF).

[joveski]

its not much warmer out there now in melbourne!