It was a shocking day yesterday here in the Adelaide Hills. It was one of those sizzling hot Summer days, the temperature reached 45C. (113F.) and an evil North wind blew fiercely. It was the first catastrophic Bushfire day declared in yonks. For the first time in 4 years I was worried, so dragged out my stash of 'Go, Don't Stay' treasure tubs, ready to grab if we needed to make a quick exit.
I've shoved the normal irreplacable stuff in them, old family photos & letters, the wedding album, computer hard drive etc. I told MOTH to lob the Insurance file in too & anything else he thought really important. Returning a couple of minutes later to close the lid, this is what I found. How different we are.
We dodged a bullet, but sadly, our friends in Tassie did not. Son #2 & his girlfriend are on a camping holiday there & are somewhere on the East coast. I've just heard that the beautiful coastal town of Bicheno is under immediate threat. We've tried calling his cell phone lots today, but haven't been able to make contact. I'm sure he's OK, but would like to hear that directly from him. If you happen to read this post mate, CALL HOME!!!
Addendum 8th January - ' Hey yeah no, haven't had my phone turned on since last week. Camping on the beach, it was awesome, saw the bushfires in the distance but we weren't worried. When I turned my phone back on I had 1,782 missed calls, dunno what the problem was, everything's cool. Back in Hobart today, flying home tomorrow. See ya.'
This from the same son who only took t-shirts, shorts & flip-flops to backpack around Europe in December/January! Thanks everyone for your messages of concern. DFAT now issues a travel warning when they know he's on the move anywhere around the globe!
