Do We Stay or Do We Go?
We were called back home because of a serious bushfire threat. All the way home on the drive from the city, a large smoke plume was visible. Luckily the plume indicated the fire was headed south, the opposite direction from our home.
At last, we made it home and sat on the ridge watching the fire burn the tranquil valley below. As we watched in horror, news swept through the small crowd gathered with us on the ridge. A change was rapidly approaching and the wind would soon change direction.
We waited and watched. Suddenly, it happened. The wind swung around from the south bringing swift cool Antarctic gusts. We watched as the fire changed direction and began heading towards us. It surrounded a home on the other side of the valley. Water bombing helicopters swooped in. The Southerly wind change swung the massive smoke plume around and into our faces. What was once clearly visible became obscure.
We could hear a number of massive helicopters overhead and in the valley below but could not see their efforts or targets. Sirens wailed in the distance.
A light fall of soot and ash started to descend like a snowstorm from hell. We dispersed and patrolled our properties, looking for sign of ember attack, hoses at the ready.
Under a soot and ash choked sky we wait. A eerie silence has fallen. No longer able to see the approaching firestorm front. We must decide now, do we stay and fight or do we leave our properties in the hands of fate and the sheer determination and effort of volunteer fire fighters? Stay or go?
Hell's Fury
The warnings came a week in advance. Saturday Feb 7, 2009 would be the hottest day ever recorded in Victoria, dry wild winds would rage and fires would blister the landscape.
At 2pm on Saturday, the thermometer outside my home nestled in the forested mountains overlooking Melbourne registered 115 degrees (46.4 C). Winds whipped the window awnings causing them to snap and pop like sails on a yacht at high seas. Smoke from nearby fires choked the valley and obscured the afternoon sun but provided no respite from the intensity of its heat. Our Mountain home with its flat tin roof proved to be more oven than hospice. We all gathered semi-naked around the single air conditioner for comfort.
We watched as Elvis, the giant Erickson S-64 Air-Crane Helitanker traverse across our windows, back and forth, carrying water to nearby bush fires. And we listened with trepidation for the local volunteer fire station’s alarm to sound and we waited for winds to change, to bring back the familiar cool mountain breeze.
Luckily for us and our neighbours, the fires did not reach our valley. But more than1000 other families were not so lucky. They have lost their homes and some, more than 136 at this stage, lost their lives.
The fires still burn and no doubt more will experience loss and grief. Our hearts go out to those who have lost and suffered.
I've Been Everywhere, Mate
Recently my niece sent my daughter Flat Stanley for a project at her school. Flat Stanley spent a few weeks with our family traveling around Australia. I came across the original version of the I’ve Been Everywhere song and thought It’d be great to include it in Flat Stanley’s adventures because of the strange sounding Aussi place names. While researching the song, I ran across a Texan version. So, for my own enjoyment (and hopefully yours too), I’ve embedded versions of I’ve Been Everywhere from my two homes – Australia & Texas.
Now, did you catch the name where I spent each summer and school holiday as a kid? – Telephone, TX
And what about where I work each day? – Dandenong, AU
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Reconciliation
“The true essence of reconciliation is more than making friends with nonindigenous people. Our motto is united Australia, one that respects the land and the heritage of its indigenous peoples and provides justice and equity for all. I think reconciliation is about changing the structures that govern us and trying to influence opinion leaders in whatever way we can.”
Jackie Huggins
Vote to Stamp Out Ignorance
“Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away, and that in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.” Martin Luther King Jr.
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