<PING> All the sewists from OZ

I've been trying to send out rain down their on a wing and a prayer, all day. Not worked yet, sorry to say...

Fingers are crossed.

I was watching the evening news earlier and some officials think the fires are actually arson. So far, there are many deaths, which in that case would be murder. So Sad! I hope, at least, the sewists in the area are safe. Emily

I'm in New South Wales, I'm fine. It was rather hot over the last weekend, 41C in the sun on Sunday afternoon...

Last I heard on the news the fataliy count was about 170 down in Victoria, most of the fires there were deliberately lit.....

There are also bad floods up in far northern Queensland

It didn't quite get far enough Kate, it only made it to far north Queensland... :-)

Yep despite the sad situation down south and way up north and the fact that it seems I've caught a cold that DS brought home from school, my sense of humour is still fine.

Thanks Beverly. I'm a long way from the fires you would be seeing/hearing about but there is one fire in my area which is not a danger ATM. I only know about the location of one other Aussie poster here and she's from Sydney so should be OK.

I can't recall ever seeing pics of anything so ghastly in this country and somewhere here is always on fire it seems.

I'm in Oz, but not Sydney. Now I'm wondering who the other poster is...

Ash Wednesday was bad, and the bush around Sydney after some of the fires a few years ago took quite a while to recover, but yes the fires in Vic are the worst ever.

I'm in Sydney and we are fine but concerned for those affected. I was in Melbourne for the bad fires in 83 and that was bad but this is much worse. I have friends very close to the affected areas and they are ready to evacuate. In Sydney we are between the fires in Victoria and the floods in Qld. My family is in England and they are suffering the other extreme with snow. Funny old world!

Great to hear it. We've got flooding in the UK too...

Rain came in the conservatory a bit at the back, and we have the usual leak in the front hall too. I need Dan the Man to come out and fix it.

I'm in the northern suburbs of Melbourne - the Kinglake fires are 45 minutes from us. Others are about the same distance to the north. We are in no danger at all, we live well in suburbia. We watched the helicopters carrying water flying overhead on Saturday. It was a terrible sight, seeing them coming back over again and again. It has been a terrible loss to so many.At Kinglake, a co worker's good friend, his wife and 2 children died. A worker in another department is unaccounted for, believed dead. A family friend's 2 nephews lost everything but the clothes on their backs. My brother - in-law's nephew was visiting friends on the weekend, they had to abandon their car and get a ride with a fire truck - the family lost everything. At Bendigo, we know a family that survived the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983. The parents weren't close this time, but their son has lost his house, their eldest daughter's house is the only one left in her street and the younger daughter watched the fire rip through the houses on the opposite side of the street before the fire turned.

The fundraising effort so far has been phenomenal. Over $10 million has been donated to the Red Cross since Sunday. Donations of food and clothing have reached a point where they can't be stored or distributed, so welfare organisations are asking for cash only at the moment.

If you are looking for information about affected family or friends, the international phone number to call is +61 3 9328 3716.

And please spare a thought and/or a prayer for all the volunteers involved - Country Fire Authority firefighters, the Country Womens Association (providing food), the State Emergency Service, Red Cross, the Salvation Army, RSPCA, and everyone else giving their time and energy to help.

For up to date news,

Just been watching a bit on TV with an expert saying that the only way to control bushfires in Oz is to manage the fuel loads in the bush. I whole heartedly agree with this, unfortunately the greenies in this state just want to lock up the forests and not let any one in to do what is necessary to prevent such fire-storms occuring again. The greenies are blaming it all on "global warming", if there is global warming then it's not the sole cause of these fires.

I saw a very brief interview with the Australian PM. He said the fires were nothing short of mass murder because so many were caused by arson. I have never understood the kind of mentality that would deliberately start something like this. Very sad.

I too have been hoping really hard that the rains will migrate a bit and help put the fires out.

Thanks everyone for checking, and thank you Beverly for sending up the "how y'all?" post. ;)

Sharon

This has really been an unusual winter/summer for severe weather. I'm glad the Oz regulars "here" are Ok.

Beverly

Many prayers are/have been sent to all the workers over there from my entire family. Emily

Just got this - a heartwarming video from Down Under:

Beverly

There was another story on our local news. A koala came up to someone's porch and got in the (looked like) dog's big water bowl. First he drank out of it, then he climbed in and sat down. Looked like he was in a hot tub. ;) They took pictures but made no sudden moves to scare him, just let him be. That was before the fires broke out when it was so horribly hot and dry.

Sharon

Meg Frost put those pix on her blog,