Fires in Australia

I searched the index AS TO WHERE I'd let you all know about the effects some days the devistating fires in Australia are ALSO affecting us here in New Zealand some 2600 miles away. (4200 km )
We see on our evening TV news the horror our Australian brothers, sisters and the wildlife are facing each day and the tragic toll the fires are having on all aspects of life. The smoke drift I guess you call it is appearing
in our usual blue skies -orange. I took some photos. Even the Moon had an orange glow.

Donald,

Those are some strangely beautiful, tragic pictures.  So terribly sorry for you guys.

Eric

How are people doing recovering from the bush fires?

I helped evacuate several people from East Gippsland (Mallacoota/Genoa) when they hit. It is still surreal to me, I went back a month ago to help with some replanting and I am on the council to help guide redevelopment along with many others. It is scary to see that the smoke was even reaching NZ! Here are some pictures from my time helping, this was right at 7 months ago.

Many people stayed with me in Melbourne until the roads finally opened back up in February. It is sort of insane because we were packed in like sardines to the house I rent, so we didn't have a lot of room and were living off of the supplies I had on hand. I went to go stock up after they went home and that is when I heard and found out about covid because the store shelves were literally stripped bare.

I built my farm in Missouri just for these sorts of things, ironic that I would be on the other side of the world when I needed it most. At least I can rest easy knowing it was helpful to those on it through all of this. Now I am even more determined to get a farm near Melbourne and help protect more against these sorts of things while helping to restore the planet. I just hope I can find others that feel the same way.

Picture dump:



It was surreal and terrifying how red it was, I am not one to panic but I could feel in my heart we needed to get everyone away from there. It was amazing how many tourists refused to abandon their vacations assuming we were overreacting.



This picture was during the middle of the day!



This is right after the fires swept through before they doubled back onto the area. I didn't take this one, but one of my friends did who stayed to help protect the elderly that could not be evacuated.



This is some of the aftermath on the property of people I consider family. Many of my friends lost their homes. With a lot of extra love we are hoping the apple tree bounces back this Spring.



Where that fence was also included a lovely rose garden and a massive succulent and herb garden which are all now gone.



Unfortunately everything in the shed was lost but we are very thankful this house was not lost.

I really hope 2020 chills and lets us recover. Not sure if people wanted to see what happened or not, but I thought sharing might raise awareness a bit. I have noticed there is not much activity here from fellow Australians that I have seen. My heart goes out to all those who have suffered from these fires and I will keep doing everything I can, despite covid to safely help in recovery.