Whatever is that unusual sound on the roof? Big fat raindrops are bouncing off the ash laden tin roof and gurgling into the downpipes. We have a wet deck and the smell of damp earth is as good as the smell of bacon cooking right now! We got 4mm of beautiful rain. It’s not enough to reverse the drought or even fill the water tank but it is somehow a reinforcement that things will become normal again. As sure as Summer follows Spring the rain will return and grass will regrow, streams and rivers will fill again, the duck pond in Berry will lose it’s open jagged cracks and fill and the kids will once again feed the ducklings. It won’t happen overnight but it will happen. But for now, after the last horrendous couple of months it is a welcome change and will hopefully help put out these monster fires, at the very least it will dampen them down and give fire fighters some time to get on top of containment lines. What a dreadful start to 2020 it has been with so much devastation of our bushland, towns and villages and half a billion animals killed. Our local heroes, the men in the field fighting the fires are totally exhausted. I really hope they have found strength in all the accolades the entire country has bestowed upon them. The free coffees and lunches, the friendly toots and thumbs up from appreciative people as they pass them in their trucks and the outpouring of thanks from hand written signs on the sides of the roads to the amazing contributions from so many people both as donations of clothing and furniture, food and animal feed and the many many millions of dollars donated from both Australia and overseas. It shows the very best of people under the very hardest of circumstances and it makes my heart sing. What is it about a crisis that brings out the best in people? The collaborative way we go about bringing as much help as possible to those in need? Over 200 beds were made available in Berry for evacuees last week, the air conditioned local library and Sport and Rec were made available for people on a 40 degree day with catastrophic fire conditions. Icy cold watermelon and icy poles were distributed by people happy to help in any way possible. Weddings scheduled to be held on parents properties who were evacuated were quickly relocated to safer areas – Silos Winery and the amazing Raj and Sophie opened their doors to help in any way they could. All their accommodation was made available to evacuees and free animal feed and accommodation for animals large and small too. A relocated wedding? Sure – nothing was too hard for them. Truly generous and wonderful people. Please come down to Jaspers Brush and support them if you can…

There are so many images of people escaping to beaches or rivers as the fire burnt down to the waters edge. Firemen ridiculously close to a wall of fire, 4 of them dying in the line of duty as burning trees collapsed on them or their trucks. Dying far too young trying to save their beloved country from a disaster that could have been even more immense without their efforts. Sad funerals with tiny children wearing their fathers medals and uniforms, way too young to understand how their lives have changed but they will grow up knowing how good and brave their fathers were.

Now that the immediate local danger is over our thoughts and actions have turned to helping those displaced by the fires, both humans and animals. Lots of locals have been galvanised into making food and water stations for the native animals who have lost their food habitat. Local plumbing suppliers have donated all the piping and volunteers are making drinking stations and then going out into the bushland and placing them at strategic places, leaving a spray painted orange circle on the trees to let others know it is a maintained station and gradually the animals are discovering them. Local farmers have donated all their fruit and veggie odds and sods not pretty enough to sell and garlands of fruit and veg have been made and placed in the trees. The trees have already started regenerating which is wonderful but it will take far too long for those animals who are already starving and we are all hoping that these man made stations will tide them over until the leaves and fruits etc are back in abundance.

Half a billion animals have perished, whole species may have been wiped out and there will be more deaths still through lack of available food and water. It is almost impossible to imagine. Sometimes pictures speak louder than words….

Scenes like this are heartbreaking but luckily there have been lots of lucky survivors who have been rescued and are being treated before being released back once healthy. Koalas are being rescued and set up in special centres like the one below where their limbs are dressed and they are housed in soft portacot type houses with gum leaves and water for when they are peckish!

At our place we had two scary days when the fire came within spitting distance of The Meadow. Seeing the plumes of smoke rise so high and near made us anxious enough to stay home and prepare just in case but the fact we are surrounded by open land means we were always going to be pretty safe. It is when that Southerly change happens that things can go a bit crazy and embers can be blown in a different direction altogether causing fresh outbreaks of fire where you least expect it. I was sent indoors once the change came through as the skies darkened and the smoke was thick which my lungs really don’t like. The boys sat outside on ember watch but luckily they never needed to pick up a hose. Definitely a few days we will never forget.

In between the extreme bouts of fire danger there was Christmas! The entire Clan came together for 4 days of eating, drinking and chatting (mostly all at once) add in two babies under one year of age and it was basically bedlam!

Luckily the bubs were pretty much on the same sleeping and eating schedule and the kitchen was a flurry of pureeing and chopping of baby size hand held foods. Broccoli, contrary to popular belief, was a big favourite! I wonder how long that will last!!

Feeding the adults was slightly more labour intensive but with so many eager cooks in the house we all pitched in and managed to sit down and enjoy some lovely meals together. Liv’s Mum joined us for the festivities so we could all share in the grandbabies first Xmas and she seemed to cope okay with our crazy noisy family although I’m sure she would have really appreciated the peace and quiet once she got home!!!!

One other consequence of the bushfires was the complete lack of real Christmas trees available for sale and we were reduced to decorating a small artificial one for the first time in 35 years! All the beautifully wrapped gifts made it look much more festive thank goodness!

Having my entire family under one roof was so special and worth all the preparation and planning and cooking. Tom announced that he is home for good from London and he has loved finally meeting and hanging out with his little nephew and niece (he also likes that he can give them back!) and the babies think he is the bees knees as he throws them up in the air and is generally the fun uncle we thought he would be.

Having the babies there together was definitely Double trouble but also double the pleasure and it will be so much fun seeing them grow up together. They both love the pool, the chickens, Bailey, riding with Pa on his ride on mower, coming into our bed first thing in the morning and pulling Pa’s beard until his eyes water and generally exploring all the nooks and crannies that you forget babies can get into! So far there have been no accidents or hospital trips but they are certainly very fast at getting from where you put them to where you don’t want them to be!!!

Happy Days Indeed

So as the whole East Coast of Australia eagerly anticipates the forecast drenching of rain with crossed fingers, we begin a new year and a new century with fresh hope of things to come and a perfect time to make any changes in our lives that we need or want to. A time to take action instead of all the finger pointing and blaming of politicians and make real changes. That starts at home.Whilst we sit in our air conditioned rooms with all our devices streaming through the internet and drinking purified water and using power at the touch of a button we blame politicians for not doing enough about climate change. Maybe if we didn’t demand all the comforts of the modern world things would be a bit different in 2020 but we always want our cake and to eat it too. Perhaps if we all changed just one thing each this year, even just becoming more aware of the repercussions of our lifestyle, things will slowly change so that my little grandchildren and their children will inherit a country and a world that is still beautiful to live in.