Living in the Fire Zone

Last Saturday, 7th February was a day I’ll never forget. Hot as hell, dry as a bone, and ridiculously windy.. we felt like we were walking around in an oven. Seeking some relief we went to Doncaster Westfield – who’s 1000s of car park spots were entirely full, and they were just directing traffic around the car park structure and back out onto the road. We eventually got a park on a street nearby, and headed in for a movie.

Stupid idea. Well, great idea, but everyone else had it to, and the line for the movies was over an hour long. So, we wandered around Big W for nearly an hour, oohhhing and ahhhing at all the novelty junk we had no intention of purchasing. Sitting on the couches, watching the LCD TVs in the electronics section, playing with the tiny display tents, looking at all the ridiculous car accessories – you get the idea. Eating in the over-packed food court up on the top level – you could see the extreme weather outside, the pink/grey sky and the extreme winds. I felt like I was in a sci-fi movie, where global warming kept everyone indoor huge enclosed cities. When we finally left in the middle of the afternoon, it was even hotter than before, and smoky.

We rushed home, towards the smoke, to find evidence of a huge bush fire nearby..

the heat's not visible, but the wind is...
the heat’s not visible, but the wind is…

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Still, unaware of how close and dangerous the fires were, we grabbed some people and headed down to the river for a swim. Just before we left I took a glance at the thermometer stuck on the post under the veranda – 47C in the shade!

The river was great fun. Here’s some shots of Brad with little Josh from Montana, and Ni-Vanuatu (Vanuatu-an) Bible Translation Committee Chief – Peter.zat-003

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I took these shots below, just yesterday afternoon. It took almost a week for the smoke to settle in to stay. zat-006

The sun, red like blood. zat-007