1/1/2020
Readers, you know that I try to keep this blog light and bright and normally at this time I’d be shouting “Happy New Year!” from the rooftops but I find it hard to be positive. As you’ve probably read in your newspapers and newsfeeds and witnessed on your televisions and I direct this to overseas readers, this country is burning, uncontrollably. We watch the news broadcasts with tears in our eyes as towns that we’ve visited and had happy memories of are obliterated. Many of the towns, and that isn’t an exaggeration, many that we visited in 2019 have now been ravaged by fire.
We cut short our own Christmas break in Yackandandah to return home, Woody had a bad feeling about visiting the Upper Murray area as we had planned. What had been cool weather had become a heatwave and what has now been described as a ‘fire tornado’ has killed one fire fighter and continues to destroy that area around Cudgewa and Corryong.
The fire we saw start in Bruthen in November when we were staying in Lakes Entrance has cut off the whole of the East Gippsland leaving residents stranded and homeless.
The Sapphire Coast of southern New South Wales that we visited in March is a red inferno of smoke as fires generate more fires by hurling embers.
The list goes on, since September when we were witnessing fires in Qld and NSW, Sydney and the Gold Coast have been choked by the smoke of surrounding fires. Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania the list goes on. The tally of land burnt is now measured in the thousands of square kilometres, a thousand homes had been lost before these latest Victorian and South Coast fires broke out and the death toll continues to rise.
Our hearts go out to the firefighters and emergency workers who are working tirelessly and to the kindly folk who are caught in this horror. All I can say to local readers is please, stay safe and alert.
itchingforhitching 
Your sentiments are timely and when we live in an area that has been spared from the fury of Mother Nature our hearts go out to the thousands effected and pray that it will soon be under control. If only the rains would come. It is not a time to be traveling
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Yes, bring on the steady soaking rain, but not floods.
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No not floods, but we do live in a land of extremes
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You have encapsulated my feelings exactly. I would add that I usually watch the fireworks at midnight on TV, with enjoyment, but last night I thought they were an abomination.
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I know what you mean. We watched from a friend’s balcony. The sight was beautiful but we were subdued. Driving home at 2:00am there were no revellers walking the streets other than one poor bloke who dropped his take away while crossing Nepean Highway. Bless him.
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We watch with horror from our damp little island at the disaster overtaking your continent. It seems so horrifying that there’s no end in sight, and that this may be your ‘new normal’. Climate change is frightening for everyone – flooding is the challenge here. I hope it’s not too late to act, and that we all play our part – and that includes those with the power to make bigger changes.
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We place our hopes in the hands of the young, they can see better than some of our leaders. Best wishes and good health for 2020 Margaret.
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Thank you. And to you.
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A very important post, Lindsey. We all need to know your experience
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Having personally lived through fire that burned all around us twice(thankfully our house was saved by heroic pilots dumping water over it) and having lived in fear of the wildfires devastating Greece every single summer, I’ve been following events in Australia with great trepidation and sadness. The experience is pure hell and the devastation untold. I pray and hope that changing weather will soon put a stop to it all. I’m so sorry this is happening….
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Thanks Marina we live in worrying times. Stay safe and best wishes for 2020.
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I’m so sorry this is happening. I’ve been watching the news from here. I feel bad for “wishing” and “hoping” for relief but I don’t know what else to do.
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Thanks so much for your thoughts. We live in such a beautiful but fragile world.
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So true. I keep watching for relieve. I hope it is near.
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