The Fires...

Hi everyone, I know some of you have been concerned about the bush fires over here in Australia so I thought I would just do a quick post to assure you that I am safe and well away from the danger areas, thankfully. However, it has been horrific, over 130 lives lost, homes are completely wiped out, in some cases children have lost their lives, the loss of wildlife, I have heard, is just tragic. Now, Australia is a huge country but nevertheless I still found it quite eerie that down in Victoria and all the way up to parts of New South Wales it is roaring with massive, fast moving fires and higher up in Queensland they are fighting floods, deep floods too! What is happening to our planet? Also, the other day here in Victoria, we had the warmest day on record and that was 46 degrees Fahrenheit! I mean it's just crazy stuff and quite scary I think! I have just heard this morning that the fires have started up again in a couple of areas due to very strong winds during the night last night so they have evacuated the high school and also moved most of the animals from the animal sanctuary over to Werribee Zoo and also the people of the town are being evacuated. I have also heard of a fire being started not all that far from me, being deliberately lit??? What is that all about? I just don't get it, who could possibly think it's fun to light fires that kill people and take away their homes, their memories, everything. On a positive note, the police have been very strong in saying that their fire investigation team is fantastic and that they have no doubt they will get whoever started these fires (another one at least was deliberately lit and it killed many people, I am not sure of exact number) these criminals will get the book thrown at them and the police have such high tech methods now of identifying who started fires that they are just positive they will indeed catch whomever did it. I also heard some news that was quite distressing and that was that there was looting going on after the fires, people that had abandoned their homes were having things stolen from them. Some people had to sleep in their garage/sheds as they had some quite expensive belongings in there and didn't want them stolen. Anyway it's all been quite distressing, very difficult to take in that it's actually happening as ferociously as what it is. You see the footage on TV and it just looks so frightening, I don't know how our firefighters get as near to the fire as what they do, they must be just so hot in those suits, they are so brave and just deserve so much respect for what they do, it would be a terribly hard job. The footage on TV looks like something out of a high action thriller or something, it is just so difficult to imagine that it's really happening. When they interview people that are at the scene or have been at the scene, they are just overwhelmed and shocked, it doesn't seem real to them either even though they were there. So, although I am safe and sound, there are many who are not, many who have lost lives, many who are in hospital covered in burns and many who have lost everything. Australians, as usual, have been digging deep to help out, I am always so proud of my fellow Aussie's because they are always so generous not only with the finances but with hard work and all sorts of other support too. Even Jacks school has sent home envelopes to collect money for the bushfire victims. I think it's fantastic. Jack went straight away to get his money box when we read the notice, he got out $10.00 in change which is quite a lot for him to give and he happily put it in the envelope and then started to tell me who else he thought might put some money in, it started with Dad and went through all our friends and family, I was very proud of him and of his school for instilling good values in him. Anyway, I have no doubt that everyone will help as much as they can and really that's all you can do, we all bond together when something like this happens which is good for morale. Anyway dear one's I will leave it at that and post again soon. Take good care.