Silence is Golden

I read in a letter to the Editor of the local 'Trader' last week of the writer's concerns at the number of jets flying over Emerald, day and night, seven days a week, and the associated noise. I have noticed the same thing at Gembrook for some time. We must be under a flight path that is becoming busier because I don't recall this level of air traffic before the last few years. The jet noise is not particularly loud as the planes are high and it isn't noticed above other noise, but it is loud enough to grate when it's otherwise quiet.

More annoying is the increasing road traffic noise of cars and trucks. AND MOTOR BIKES. For some reason lately it seems every weekend all the bike riders in Victoria gather in convoy and drive up and down Launching Place Rd. Added to that, I have neighbours who indulge in motor bikes. One in a particular, a man in his twenties, has a machine without a muffler and for some reason he starts it up about once a week and revs the bejiminy out of it till it is warmed then flies up and down the minor road between the properties for several sprints. This only goes on for about 15 minutes so it isn't worth complaining about, particularly when considered in light of the constant drone up the main road.

Another neighbour's son in his late teens has a drum set and practises in a steel shed for his rock band a couple of times a week. It only lasts for a half hour or so each stint so on it's own it is not worth complaining about, especially as I make my own share of noise with mower, whippysnipper and chainsaw on a regular basis, as indeed do all my neighbours.

If that isn't enough, there's a Rhodesian ridgeback dog immediately next door that doesn't like me going anywhere the fence. It booms loudly at my encroachment and keeps it up till I'm well away. And then the helicopters come over with their particularly reverberating blades, in higher numbers every year. I think they are police, ambulance and fire season ones. Sometimes one circles round and round for quite a while. Who would know why? Then there's the hooting foolishness of Puffing Billy who gets into the act most weekends. And screeching cockatoos. And wailing young King parrots nagging their parents for food.

There's no doubt Gembrook is no longer the quiet sleepy town of earlier times. Noise has escalated. I'm sure it isn't good for human stress levels and general well being. I think noise pollution is a bigger problem than is generally recognized. At least the heat wave conditions of mid January gave me some respite as man, beast and bird hid away. The cold and wet of winter will do the same.

Peace and quiet soothes the soul. Silence is golden.