Water: don't hose down your driveway to cool it down. Water your plants with a watering can, or with a hose only at off-peak times. It's okay to wash your car in your driveway if you use a bucket of water and a rag, not a hose (and no, do not tip the bucket over your car.) Limit your showers to four minutes. A waterproof timer for this is available from all good hardware stores. (No, this is not satire.)
Clothes: Melbournians wear black. There's no rule against colours, but if you always wanted to just wear black all the time without standing out for it, here's your chance.
Spiders: here in Melbourne there is only one particularly dangerous one, the redback. It's a little black spider with a bright red streak on its body, and if you see it don't try to catch it, just avoid it and call pest control. If it bites you, current first aid advice for healthy adults is ice and rest and something to puke into and to seek medical advice if it gets really bad. If you're not a healthy adult, then seek urgent medical advice, because they can kill young people, frail people, and elderly people. There is a very effective antivenom available, and the last recorded death from them was in 1956. So don't panic.
Swimming: the really big danger the flags and lifeguards are there to prevent isn't the sharks. It's the riptides. I'd rather face a shark.
Air quality: Melbourne's air is not wonderful for asthmatics. We have one of the highest incidences of asthma in the world. If you have asthma, watch out for that and get ready to see your doctor to get your medication adjusted if you need it. The air quality is worst in bushfire season (January and February) and this is the case all over the state, not just in the parts that are actually on fire. On the bright side, just about anyone from Melbourne is familiar with the symptoms of an asthma attack and knows how to treat it, and the odds aren't too bad that they can lay hands on a Ventolin puffer if you don't have yours.
Emergency services: the number is triple zero, 000. That covers fire, ambulance and police, all over Australia. It works on mobiles too, but 112 is better for mobiles because it'll work even if your phone's out of range (so long as it's in range of some other provider's tower.)
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Clothes: Melbournians wear black. There's no rule against colours, but if you always wanted to just wear black all the time without standing out for it, here's your chance.
Spiders: here in Melbourne there is only one particularly dangerous one, the redback. It's a little black spider with a bright red streak on its body, and if you see it don't try to catch it, just avoid it and call pest control. If it bites you, current first aid advice for healthy adults is ice and rest and something to puke into and to seek medical advice if it gets really bad. If you're not a healthy adult, then seek urgent medical advice, because they can kill young people, frail people, and elderly people. There is a very effective antivenom available, and the last recorded death from them was in 1956. So don't panic.
Swimming: the really big danger the flags and lifeguards are there to prevent isn't the sharks. It's the riptides. I'd rather face a shark.
Air quality: Melbourne's air is not wonderful for asthmatics. We have one of the highest incidences of asthma in the world. If you have asthma, watch out for that and get ready to see your doctor to get your medication adjusted if you need it. The air quality is worst in bushfire season (January and February) and this is the case all over the state, not just in the parts that are actually on fire. On the bright side, just about anyone from Melbourne is familiar with the symptoms of an asthma attack and knows how to treat it, and the odds aren't too bad that they can lay hands on a Ventolin puffer if you don't have yours.
Emergency services: the number is triple zero, 000. That covers fire, ambulance and police, all over Australia. It works on mobiles too, but 112 is better for mobiles because it'll work even if your phone's out of range (so long as it's in range of some other provider's tower.)