Its official

I am an idiot.

Here we go again...

Oh dear. The fires have flared up to worrisome levels again. They have been going solidly for close on 4 weeks now, but have mostly been under control for the last two. Yesterday though, two major new fires started and both of them are much closer to the city than before.

The closest fire to us is in Daylesford. Still not super close, but close enough that our sky is covered in red tinged low hanging smoke clouds.

Sit tight.

Normally at this point on my drive home you can see the mountains here nice and clearly. Yesterday though, couldn't see them as they were all smoked out.

Sunrise over the neighbours roof.

Yesterday's sunrise.

Reeeeelaxing

Yeah baby! The weekend is here. The time we look forward to where we can get up when we want, do what we want and just muck around. Love it.

We helped the Reynolds with phase one of their move last night after work. They have got the keys to the house they bought, so it is all on. The pro movers are coming today with the big truck to move the big stuff. Their new house is great. Lots of potential and heaps of space. We thought they would be wrecked from all the stress of moving so we have invited them over for dinner. It will be nice to have the first proper catch up since we got our own house.

The bushfire crisis continues to go on, coming up to 4 weeks now. This past week, the smoke has been blowing towards the city. To give you an idea of how bad it has been getting, here is a picture I took out the window of the car as I was coming off the Westgate Bridge last week. Normally this is my favourite part of the drive as I am presented with a beautiful clear vista of the city on one side and the gorgeous harbour on the other. However as you can see here, it is all dark, gloomy and hazy:


Quite a change from the norm.

You may remember that every now and then I mention Zoriah, a Photojournalist whose adventures I follow. He has just made a most interesting post on his blog about trying to getting over the Gaza / Egypt border. He has a honest and up front style of writing which I really enjoy reading, and he goes to some pretty amazing (and scary) places around the world. Check out his writing and photography work here: http://www.zoriah.net/


Again you might remember a while back that I mentioned I am putting together a photofolio called Skies of Australia. Well, with all the bushfires going on, there has been some amazing skies above us of late. Here are a couple that I have been able to capture. Don't forget that I am only taking these on my Blackberry, so they are are not as good as they could be:




Well, a masssive feed of bacon, eggs, rockmelon, Samoan bread (thanks Lalongo!) and coffee has materialised on the table, so I must be off to fill my belly!

Is it just me or....?

Is it just me or are the weeks totally blazing past? I know that I have asked this question before, but seriously, time seems to be flying past. We are already well into February and staring down the barrel of March.

The fires are still continuing, but they are slowly getting beaten by the fire crews. There are now firefighters from all over Australia, New Zealand, England and America here helping out. The wind has been blowing towards the city for the last week, so there has been a thick haze everywhere. You can actualy see the smoke in certain parts of the city. It is a bit like living in Beijing!

Anyhoo, must go, gotta get to work!

Break my heart

I don't know why, but this picture just broke my heart when I saw it. A wild Koala being given a drink by a CFA man, clinging to him as if to say "don't leave me."


So many sad stories here. Tragedy hangs over us.

Whoa

I write to you somberly now as we have just been through the worst day in Victorian history. From the heatwave that came yesterday there have been massive fires across the state and most of it has been declared a disaster zone.

I'm watching the late news at the moment, there are now 84 confirmed dead and there are many townships that they have not yet been able to access, so that number will increase. More than 750 homes have been destroyed and at least two towns have completely disappeared in the 61 fires that are burning. The news is showing pictures of cars burned out on the road from where people tried to outrun the flames, but got caught. Whole families have been wiped out and peoples lives have been shattered. Most of the people being interviewed on the telly have literally lost everything that they own and only have the clothes they are wearing left.

You might remember a couple of weeks a go I talked about the trip we took out to Mount Dandenong and Kinglake on Australia Day. The area where we drove is now just a blackened smouldering ruin. We have friends up there and there is a congregation in Marysville about 20 minutes away from there. We have heard that our friends are safe, but have not heard about the congregation and its members. We are sure that if anything had happened we would have heard about it, so we are hopeful, but Marysville is one of the towns that has been wiped out. Here is an aerial pic of the town:

It is quite simply carnage. Our friends were saying that they were in a mini convoy trying to get away from the fire when the highway became blocked with trees and flames. In their words, the flames where "licking at their car" as they turned around and headed off to find another way out. Scary. They eventually made it to another town and stayed the night with other residents at an emergency centre set up at a local football ground by the emergency services. Last we heard at about lunchtime today, they were making their way to here to stay with their mum and plan what to do from here. They don't even know if they will have a house to go back to.

To those who have sent text messages to us, thanks very much. We are fine and on the other side of Melbourne City from where it is all happening so are in no danger. I know that some of my texts haven't been going out or coming through properly. Sorry for that, I guess something must be messed up somewhere with the network.

Here is a link to some news articles, pictures and video of what has gone down today: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25023335-1243,00.html

Phew.

Another scorcher

It is official - today is going to be a scorcher!

The predicted high is 44 with hot winds blowing in from the desert. There are official warnings advising people to stay indoors and close to their airconditioners. There is expected to be a massive drain on power supplies as people crank up aircon, fans, evaporative coolers and anything they can find to beat the heat.

The good news is, the Cool Change is due to happen later on in the evening. The Cool Change is the nickname given to the change of wind direction here when it swings from blowing in from the desert to blowing in from the ocean. When it happens, the temperature can drop as much as ten degrees in fifteen minutes. It makes a welcome change to the searingly dry heat.

We have to do some shopping this morning to pick up a few bits and pieces and then I suspect we might end up at the beach, neck deep in water. Mmmmm.

Yours meltingly,

SKB

My first experience with a prostitute

So I am sitting at the lights at the intersection of Victoria Rd and Church Rd yesterday, singing away to Weezer when there was a knock at the drivers side window. I turn and look to my right and there, in the middle of the road, where the tram waiting area is, was a blonde lady looking at me and making the "wind your window down" gesture. So turned down the music down and I wound my window down and said "Hi?". The reasonably respectable looking lady then leaned over the railing and said in a rather monotone voice:

"Hi, I just thought I would let you know that if you are ever looking for a good time, my name is Shelly and I work over there. I do good BLEEP and BLEEP and I have a phone that is on 24 hours."

To which I, after to opening and closing my mouth like a fish on the carpet replied "Duuh, uuh, guuuh. Ok thanks." and promptly wound the window up quick-smart.

Melbourne - the beautiful city. The city of contrasts.