Living in Australia has many advantages as I’ve come to realise and the Australians are all very proud of their nice long warm summers. Yet, the once thing that summer in Australia brings with it are bushfires. Many of them aren’t deliberately lit but start because of extremely dry conditions, great heat, strong winds and are often caused by lightning or broken glass lying in the bush.
I find this aspect of living in Australia incredibly scary and traumatising. I remember my very first summer in Australia, when we had only just moved into our house in the Blue Mountains and within a week or two huge bushfires started. The fire brigade came around and knocked on everybody’s door to tell us, that in case of a change in wind direction the fire would be here within two hours. We should get ready to evacuate or make a plan of how we were to protect our house should we decide to stay (and let the fire wall pass above us … shiver!) So Michael spent is Christmas Holidays raking up dry leaves and sticks from around the house. We filled all large available containers with water. Packed all our valuable belongings into the car and listened without interruption to the fire updates broadcast on the radio. I was in a trance and totally depressed.
This time we aren’t immediately affected as the fire is on the other side of the ridge, but nonetheless it’s only about 10km away from us and the fire brigade has advised all residents in our area to prepare their properties. So again we’ve got a big 200L drum full of water sitting in the garage all garden hoses are inside the house or garage (so they won’t melt in the fire but be available to rescue the house once the big fire wall has passed), we keep hearing water bombing helicopters continuously flying over the house and again I’m checking the fire updates a few times a day.
But I do have to say I’m coping a lot better this time. I think I’ve come to the realisation that all my earthly treasures aren’t worth worrying over so much. We’ve done what we can and we’re insured and the only thing I’d probably really fret over is our little “library” … hahahaha!
Nice to see another post! It’s a shame that the topic has to be so scary. I must say that one of the things about living in Europe is that nature seems so much safer here – no spiders, no snakes, no bushfires! Just cute little rabbits, squirrels and foxes in the park. But living in the Blue Mountains you get lots of the positives too, so I guess that’s the price you have to pay, unfortunately.
How’s everything else been going? How’s the German speaking going? Have you started the playgroup that you were thinking about?
Did you mum and brother come to visit? I saw some photos in Flickr of 2 people who might have been them… I hope you had a nice time with your visitors.
Anyway, say hi to Michael and the girls for me. Have a great summer! Keep in touch
Hi Alex,
thanks for not giving up on me … yes blogging hasn’t been high on the priority list lately, so I’m amazed that I’ve still got at least one reader after months of silence.
Interesting point you had about nature being ‘safer’ in Europe. I think that generally very true, though, having said this I can remember a day when my dad took us walking in the forest and we had to hide behind trees because a whole pack of wild pigs came running through just about 20m from us. I really didn’t feel safe then!!