As I spend most of my time in forests then by necessity I usually camp under trees and just take the risk.
However very close to my current campsite I came across the following (see pic). As you can see the gate is made from steel tube but a falling branch has landed directly on it and significantly deformed it. As best I can tell the culprit is the branch directly behind the gate and it is not large perhaps 150mm diameter.
A salutary reminder of what even a smallish branch falling from a decent height will do to a human body
good old widow makers, but there is an up side plenty of good fire wood.
Mike Harding said
02:03 PM Aug 18, 2022
Or coffin wood!
Wouldn't there be a delicious irony in having your coffin made from the wood of the falling branch which killed you and then being cremated :)
86GTS said
03:34 PM Aug 18, 2022
Mike Harding wrote:
Or coffin wood!
Wouldn't there be a delicious irony in having your coffin made from the wood of the falling branch which killed you and then being cremated :)
Can be arranged if requested prior to death.
yobarr said
03:58 PM Aug 18, 2022
Mike Harding wrote:
Or coffin wood!
Wouldn't there be a delicious irony in having your coffin made from the wood of the falling branch which killed you and then being cremated :)
Reminds me of an incident a few years ago in Kempsey, NSW, where the local rural mail contractor was killed when a tree fell onto his car. His infant son was in a capsule in the back seat area, and escaped injury when Dad was killed less than a metre away. Fortunately the child will have no memory of the incident, but just goes to show that you never know when your number's up. "Live for today, and live in clover. 'Cos when you're dead, you're dead all over.". .
-- Edited by yobarr on Thursday 18th of August 2022 04:03:34 PM
Bobdown said
04:38 PM Aug 18, 2022
Gundog wrote:
good old widow makers, but there is an up side plenty of good fire wood.
Double the weight when it's green, I've seen a branch off a Karri tree stuck a metre in the ground (wet).
Fell from a great height and took a tractor to pull it out, definitely widow makers.
Ubique 68 said
05:13 PM Aug 18, 2022
Are you still stuck so to speak? Or is the way out much easier.
86GTS said
05:53 AM Aug 19, 2022
In 2007 we were camped at Lake Hattah in Hattah-Kulkyne NP NW Victoria, we were camping with our off road camper trailer. The whole campground is surrounded by River Red Gums.
At the entrance was a newly erected sign warning campers of the dangers of falling limbs.
A huge wind event came thru on day two, raising a dust storm.
The sound of falling branches was deafening. It only lasted around 15 minutes.
After it had passed thru we walked around the area & saw hundreds of fallen branches.
The size of some of them was mind boggling, some would have weighed as much as a cement truck.
The newly erected sign was flattened by a limb about a metre in diameter.
Luckily we were out in the open & were the only ones camped there.
Possum3 said
07:34 AM Aug 19, 2022
The fact that these eucalypt branches, or whole trees for that matter, can cause massive destruction when they fall (not if) should mandate their removal in suburban backyards and be permitted to remove if within 15-20 meters of a building. Suburban and Shire Councils place onerous restrictions on the removal of trees that they become too expensive to be made safe.
With the current trend of allowing houses to be built on 250 square meter blocks of land it is imperative that the "widow makers" be outlawed.
There are many native trees that do not have the potential to destroy and kill, usually without prior warning - Lily Pili, Melaleuca and Wattle varieties for example.
This has been a bug-bear of mine for many years both as a SES Officer and owner of a rural property that derived income from Eucalypts - even more so since a massive tree destroyed my rural house 12 months ago.
Cupie said
10:22 AM Aug 19, 2022
One house that we built was on acreage on the outskirts of town & there was an enormous red gum on the block next to us about 20 feet from our house.
During a rather wet period it was blown over, roots & all and fortunately landed parallel to our fence. I created a massive job to cut up & remove before a house could be built on the block. Beautiful burning wood I expect.
Great that it missed our house but good also in that it had long been the haunt for magpies who used to dive bomb my wife as she was hanging out clothes on the back yard Hills hoist.
It always looks good to camp in the shade of those massive river red gums alongside a creek or whatever, but to be avoided like the plague (or Covid LOL).
PeterInSa said
10:30 AM Aug 19, 2022
Having seen massive damage from tree branches in the past, we do not camp under trees and if trees are near, I look at the arc that a tree branch can fall and stay outside this area
Whenarewethere said
11:02 AM Aug 19, 2022
Not only branches, Bunya Pine cones are heavy & huge & will knock your block off.
Moose2 said
12:24 PM Aug 19, 2022
Mike Harding wrote:
I had that happen to a farm gate on our place. Parts were repurposed into some garden art...so not a total loss.
Green branches are always falling down but there's also plenty of trees blowing over given the soggy round. I've got some huge piles of logs drying out for future firewood. Some I've slabbed to become future rustic garden furniture.
Craig1 said
12:47 PM Aug 19, 2022
They are looking into making Bunya Pine Cones a more readily available bush food
Whenarewethere said
12:52 PM Aug 19, 2022
Craig1 wrote:
They are looking into making Bunya Pine Cones a more readily available bush food
Better they become a meal than you!
My sister has two of these trees in her garden.
Mamil said
11:13 PM Aug 19, 2022
Not anybody I know, but these pictures were circulating online a while ago, and I saved them to remind me never to camp under a tree...
As I spend most of my time in forests then by necessity I usually camp under trees and just take the risk.
However very close to my current campsite I came across the following (see pic). As you can see the gate is made from steel tube but a falling branch has landed directly on it and significantly deformed it. As best I can tell the culprit is the branch directly behind the gate and it is not large perhaps 150mm diameter.
A salutary reminder of what even a smallish branch falling from a decent height will do to a human body
good old widow makers, but there is an up side plenty of good fire wood.
Or coffin wood!
Wouldn't there be a delicious irony in having your coffin made from the wood of the falling branch which killed you and then being cremated :)
Can be arranged if requested prior to death.
Reminds me of an incident a few years ago in Kempsey, NSW, where the local rural mail contractor was killed when a tree fell onto his car. His infant son was in a capsule in the back seat area, and escaped injury when Dad was killed less than a metre away. Fortunately the child will have no memory of the incident, but just goes to show that you never know when your number's up. "Live for today, and live in clover. 'Cos when you're dead, you're dead all over.". .
-- Edited by yobarr on Thursday 18th of August 2022 04:03:34 PM
Double the weight when it's green, I've seen a branch off a Karri tree stuck a metre in the ground (wet).
Fell from a great height and took a tractor to pull it out, definitely widow makers.
Are you still stuck so to speak? Or is the way out much easier.
At the entrance was a newly erected sign warning campers of the dangers of falling limbs.
A huge wind event came thru on day two, raising a dust storm.
The sound of falling branches was deafening. It only lasted around 15 minutes.
After it had passed thru we walked around the area & saw hundreds of fallen branches.
The size of some of them was mind boggling, some would have weighed as much as a cement truck.
The newly erected sign was flattened by a limb about a metre in diameter.
Luckily we were out in the open & were the only ones camped there.
With the current trend of allowing houses to be built on 250 square meter blocks of land it is imperative that the "widow makers" be outlawed.
There are many native trees that do not have the potential to destroy and kill, usually without prior warning - Lily Pili, Melaleuca and Wattle varieties for example.
This has been a bug-bear of mine for many years both as a SES Officer and owner of a rural property that derived income from Eucalypts - even more so since a massive tree destroyed my rural house 12 months ago.
One house that we built was on acreage on the outskirts of town & there was an enormous red gum on the block next to us about 20 feet from our house.
During a rather wet period it was blown over, roots & all and fortunately landed parallel to our fence. I created a massive job to cut up & remove before a house could be built on the block. Beautiful burning wood I expect.
Great that it missed our house but good also in that it had long been the haunt for magpies who used to dive bomb my wife as she was hanging out clothes on the back yard Hills hoist.
It always looks good to camp in the shade of those massive river red gums alongside a creek or whatever, but to be avoided like the plague (or Covid LOL).
Not only branches, Bunya Pine cones are heavy & huge & will knock your block off.
I had that happen to a farm gate on our place. Parts were repurposed into some garden art...so not a total loss.
Green branches are always falling down but there's also plenty of trees blowing over given the soggy round. I've got some huge piles of logs drying out for future firewood. Some I've slabbed to become future rustic garden furniture.
Better they become a meal than you!
My sister has two of these trees in her garden.
Not anybody I know, but these pictures were circulating online a while ago, and I saved them to remind me never to camp under a tree...
More effective than a Russian tank!
Used to regularly camp under trees, but since we got the Sat-King open space is required at all times.