Melbourne's Hottest Day
We all knew it was going to be hot, very hot. The FCC Chinese New Year was rescheduled as the predicted 43C was deemed too hot for any outdoors event. The evening was cool but the temperature started climbing quickly. I had organised to pick up my new bike. Unfortunately they only opened up at 10 so I had to ride home later than I’d wanted. By 10.30 it was already 38C. As soon as I got home I said let’s close all the doors and not go outside again for the day
Around lunchtime the wind began to howl, and the temperature climbed rapidly. I was shocked when I saw 45.8C on my indoor outdoor themometer. Without air conditioning we were doing well inside at 32C. We whiled away the day watching DVDs, playing games, having a bath and not doing much at all. Fortunately Camille was oblivious and just played happily in the nude all day.
Soon the smoke started billowing overhead. We listened to 774 and heard how fires were starting up all over the state. News reports confirmed this. We all realised it was serious, but as yet we didn’t know just how bad.
Around 6.30pm the change came so we opened up the house and were able to sleep quite comfortably. During the night I woke up and went downstairs to listen to my radio and heard the shocking news. The whole town of Marysville was gone. Just wiped out. Stunned I went upstairs to wake Tim and tell him the news.
Of course there was far worse news to come. Kinglake, Narbathon, Strathewen and all the other small communities were gone. Whole families. 200+ perished. Beautiful happy families and smiling faces we saw in the papers in the following days. We’re all totally shocked as we try to imagine the fear and terror they all suffered.
I found out that one of my colleagues at work Laurie Carter lost his home at St. Andrews. Everything. Just gone. Harder still for Laurie given that he built his home himself and it was a true labour of love. As the fires were surrounding him all that we can be grateful for was the his family was safe.
A southerly blew for a few days after the fire so there was no smoke in the city even though the fires are so close. The wind has now changed and we can smell the smoke everywhere. The sky has a eerie grey tinge to it and the sun is like a great big red ball of fire. And still the CFA are battling to control the fires, some 1½ weeks later. We’re all just lost for words during this sad time.
Around lunchtime the wind began to howl, and the temperature climbed rapidly. I was shocked when I saw 45.8C on my indoor outdoor themometer. Without air conditioning we were doing well inside at 32C. We whiled away the day watching DVDs, playing games, having a bath and not doing much at all. Fortunately Camille was oblivious and just played happily in the nude all day.
Soon the smoke started billowing overhead. We listened to 774 and heard how fires were starting up all over the state. News reports confirmed this. We all realised it was serious, but as yet we didn’t know just how bad.
Around 6.30pm the change came so we opened up the house and were able to sleep quite comfortably. During the night I woke up and went downstairs to listen to my radio and heard the shocking news. The whole town of Marysville was gone. Just wiped out. Stunned I went upstairs to wake Tim and tell him the news.
Of course there was far worse news to come. Kinglake, Narbathon, Strathewen and all the other small communities were gone. Whole families. 200+ perished. Beautiful happy families and smiling faces we saw in the papers in the following days. We’re all totally shocked as we try to imagine the fear and terror they all suffered.
I found out that one of my colleagues at work Laurie Carter lost his home at St. Andrews. Everything. Just gone. Harder still for Laurie given that he built his home himself and it was a true labour of love. As the fires were surrounding him all that we can be grateful for was the his family was safe.
A southerly blew for a few days after the fire so there was no smoke in the city even though the fires are so close. The wind has now changed and we can smell the smoke everywhere. The sky has a eerie grey tinge to it and the sun is like a great big red ball of fire. And still the CFA are battling to control the fires, some 1½ weeks later. We’re all just lost for words during this sad time.
posted by Vicki Goodman at
10:20 AM
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