This blog entry isn't about foods, or anything healthy. But it is something I wanted to share with people.
4 years ago today, Victoria suffered its worst bushfires in history. 173 people lost their lives, 2030 homes were lost and townships were burnt to ashes.
The fires tore apart communities and families, but the volunteers and Australian spirit of helping those who survived was absolutely amazing. My husband’s cousin lost his home and it was truly inspiring to see how much support he got from the community to help rebuild his property. My dad was one of the brave CFA volunteers who helped with these fires, as was my father-in-law and brother-in-law. This photo of my dad was taken by a Herald Sun photographer while he was out in the field. It's a shame I never got the original photo.
I can't believe its been 4 years already. My thoughts are with those families who lost loved ones and their homes.
This summer, Australians have been watching the news in awe, seeing all the bushfires occuring in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales, as well as record breaking heatwaves across the country. Australia is known for its hot summers and for bushfires to occur, but unless you experience it in some way, I don't think you can fully understand the extent of what these fires can do and what these people are going through.
I haven't been in the front lines, but I have experienced bushfires first hand and it was an eye opening and life changing event. I wrote about it in late 2008 and would like to share with you my experiences:
I just wanted to make people aware of something that happened in January this year. You may recall a sweltering day in Melbourne when all the power went out and everyone was without traffic lights, trains were running wild and homes were without air conditioning. BOO FRICKIN HOO. That day was put into perspective for me due to an event which happened close to where the power outage happened.
I'd first like to write about my parents. Last year my country born and bred dad decided he was fed up with the city life and wanted himself and my mum to move to the country. After some counselling from her beloved daughter, mum thought this idea would be fantastic. They started looking in the town of Mansfield - near Mt. Buller. After a month or two, they found a perfect home in the small township of Tolmie - 17 acres, mudbrick, handmade home and one of the most serene places I know. They sold their family home in Camberwell and made the treechange. Dad did the country thing and joined the CFA. He had the local fire chief over for a beer where they were talking how they had not had a fire in this region for 80 years.
The following week they had a fire. A big one. Lightning strikes! Dad went into red alert, but could not help out as he had not performed the fire induction. He did work in the radio station however. These fires were not close to mum and dads however they needed to remain vigilant for burning embers. My boyfriend Jarod and I went up one weekend for ember watch but all we experienced was smoke. These fires destroyed a lot of bushland, but the worse for my parents was yet to come.
Lightning stikes twice! This time, a few km from my parents. I had remained fairly calm (checking the CFA website for fire updates every 10 minutes at work) until my mum wrote me an email talking about the heavy smoke and the burnt leaves and ash falling in their property. I left work 20 minutes later to go up and fight the fires. The smoke was ridiculous. Everything was eerilie calm that night.
The next morning we headed to the CFA meeting to learn how close the fires were. These poor guys had not stopped since the fires in November - they saved other peoples homes and sacrificed their own. The fires were close to the township. Everyones face told a similar story - fear, worry and death. Dads cousin and one of his mates Neil and his came up to help clear the bush away from the house. We were on standby and everything was ok until that afternoon. The smoke got even heavier, the sky went yellowish and outside all you could here was the constant noise of what sounded like a plane going overhead - that was the fire. Dressed in old clothes, poised with a mop and bucket to put out fires, I watched the glow on the horizon of a ridge 500m away get stronger and stronger. I was scared. Neil told us if the fires come, the flies will first leave, then the birds, then the wind will get cool. I saw no flies, I saw no birds. I waited for a cool breeze. Ashes were getting heavier and as I sat on a rock watching the glow over the ridge I was thinking Bring it on... get it over and done with! when a miracle happened. The wind changed direction and the fires proceeded back towards the bush (right where the power cables broke and Melbourne was left without power!). After many yays, mum realised she flooded the house (she left the bath on, which needed filling in case the fires came to the house) and I called work to let them know the danger was over... sort of.
We were getting ready to leave when the wind changed again. We saw the fires climbing over the ridge. Neil said to us "if you're going to leave, you need to go right NOW." Do I stay or go? A difficult choice. We left, being told there was nothing we could do, but in hindsight, I wish I stayed, as I spent most of the night worrying. In the car on the way home, I was very worried. We listened to the ABC radio fire update, but mainly heard about people complaining how there was no power and they were unable to cook that night. Jarod and I couldn't believe the selfishness and small mindedness of these people. Even the radio host was fed up with them.
That night in Tolmie, the fire came over the ridge. It came within 50m of the pub - 1km away. CFA trucks drove up the driveway and asked my parents what needed saving. Mum told them where all the beer was stored, so that was top priority. The CFA made sure the fires never reached my folks, but my heart goes out to the many souls who lost their homes, livestock and land.
My parents are fine now - loving the country life. It makes me realise how many people in Melbourne have no idea what is going on in the world and are very full of themselves. I've attached some pics Jarod and I took when the fires were nearby (and we weren't in immediate danger!) I hope you enjoyed this blog - I just wanted to tell one of the many stories which happened north of Melbourne while people were complaining about food going off in the fridge.
4 years ago today, Victoria suffered its worst bushfires in history. 173 people lost their lives, 2030 homes were lost and townships were burnt to ashes.
The fires tore apart communities and families, but the volunteers and Australian spirit of helping those who survived was absolutely amazing. My husband’s cousin lost his home and it was truly inspiring to see how much support he got from the community to help rebuild his property. My dad was one of the brave CFA volunteers who helped with these fires, as was my father-in-law and brother-in-law. This photo of my dad was taken by a Herald Sun photographer while he was out in the field. It's a shame I never got the original photo.
I can't believe its been 4 years already. My thoughts are with those families who lost loved ones and their homes.
This summer, Australians have been watching the news in awe, seeing all the bushfires occuring in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales, as well as record breaking heatwaves across the country. Australia is known for its hot summers and for bushfires to occur, but unless you experience it in some way, I don't think you can fully understand the extent of what these fires can do and what these people are going through.
I haven't been in the front lines, but I have experienced bushfires first hand and it was an eye opening and life changing event. I wrote about it in late 2008 and would like to share with you my experiences:
I just wanted to make people aware of something that happened in January this year. You may recall a sweltering day in Melbourne when all the power went out and everyone was without traffic lights, trains were running wild and homes were without air conditioning. BOO FRICKIN HOO. That day was put into perspective for me due to an event which happened close to where the power outage happened.
I'd first like to write about my parents. Last year my country born and bred dad decided he was fed up with the city life and wanted himself and my mum to move to the country. After some counselling from her beloved daughter, mum thought this idea would be fantastic. They started looking in the town of Mansfield - near Mt. Buller. After a month or two, they found a perfect home in the small township of Tolmie - 17 acres, mudbrick, handmade home and one of the most serene places I know. They sold their family home in Camberwell and made the treechange. Dad did the country thing and joined the CFA. He had the local fire chief over for a beer where they were talking how they had not had a fire in this region for 80 years.
The following week they had a fire. A big one. Lightning strikes! Dad went into red alert, but could not help out as he had not performed the fire induction. He did work in the radio station however. These fires were not close to mum and dads however they needed to remain vigilant for burning embers. My boyfriend Jarod and I went up one weekend for ember watch but all we experienced was smoke. These fires destroyed a lot of bushland, but the worse for my parents was yet to come.
Lightning stikes twice! This time, a few km from my parents. I had remained fairly calm (checking the CFA website for fire updates every 10 minutes at work) until my mum wrote me an email talking about the heavy smoke and the burnt leaves and ash falling in their property. I left work 20 minutes later to go up and fight the fires. The smoke was ridiculous. Everything was eerilie calm that night.
The next morning we headed to the CFA meeting to learn how close the fires were. These poor guys had not stopped since the fires in November - they saved other peoples homes and sacrificed their own. The fires were close to the township. Everyones face told a similar story - fear, worry and death. Dads cousin and one of his mates Neil and his came up to help clear the bush away from the house. We were on standby and everything was ok until that afternoon. The smoke got even heavier, the sky went yellowish and outside all you could here was the constant noise of what sounded like a plane going overhead - that was the fire. Dressed in old clothes, poised with a mop and bucket to put out fires, I watched the glow on the horizon of a ridge 500m away get stronger and stronger. I was scared. Neil told us if the fires come, the flies will first leave, then the birds, then the wind will get cool. I saw no flies, I saw no birds. I waited for a cool breeze. Ashes were getting heavier and as I sat on a rock watching the glow over the ridge I was thinking Bring it on... get it over and done with! when a miracle happened. The wind changed direction and the fires proceeded back towards the bush (right where the power cables broke and Melbourne was left without power!). After many yays, mum realised she flooded the house (she left the bath on, which needed filling in case the fires came to the house) and I called work to let them know the danger was over... sort of.
We were getting ready to leave when the wind changed again. We saw the fires climbing over the ridge. Neil said to us "if you're going to leave, you need to go right NOW." Do I stay or go? A difficult choice. We left, being told there was nothing we could do, but in hindsight, I wish I stayed, as I spent most of the night worrying. In the car on the way home, I was very worried. We listened to the ABC radio fire update, but mainly heard about people complaining how there was no power and they were unable to cook that night. Jarod and I couldn't believe the selfishness and small mindedness of these people. Even the radio host was fed up with them.
That night in Tolmie, the fire came over the ridge. It came within 50m of the pub - 1km away. CFA trucks drove up the driveway and asked my parents what needed saving. Mum told them where all the beer was stored, so that was top priority. The CFA made sure the fires never reached my folks, but my heart goes out to the many souls who lost their homes, livestock and land.
My parents are fine now - loving the country life. It makes me realise how many people in Melbourne have no idea what is going on in the world and are very full of themselves. I've attached some pics Jarod and I took when the fires were nearby (and we weren't in immediate danger!) I hope you enjoyed this blog - I just wanted to tell one of the many stories which happened north of Melbourne while people were complaining about food going off in the fridge.
 |
| View from my parents verandah - this smoke plume was about 0.5km away |
 |
| Watching Elvis - the fire fighting helicopter - take water from a neighbouring dam |
 |
| This yellow effect isn't a filter, this was the light. These are local parrots who came to shelter with us! |
 |
| Yellow sky and smoke in the distance - preparing for the worst. |
No comments:
Post a Comment