Thanks for thinking of us over here. Weather hey? If it's not one thing it's the other.

The fires are mostly in Victoria and in New South Wales. They're States south of me. I forget how long the Victorian fires have been burning, but it'd be close to 55 days without let up. Sound unreal I know, but it's true.

Sydney copped a blast in the last couple of days and they had fires very close in a national park in the suburbs. Scary to watch on the tv. I lived for a number of years in the Hinterland here and one year I had fire burned around my property. The house was old colonial style wooden thing (very beautiful but fire fodder). I, fortunately, was the only property in my area to have slashed and cleared the acres and the fire brigade was able to use my fenceline and backburn from there. I also had a little dam. It was very scary at the time, and esp. so for the donkey I had living there who ran amok while all this was going on. It was so scary to watch the embers burning in the middle of the night. I couldn't sleep of course and even after it was out, I kept looking at the landscape. It was so foreign. All the lush green was gone and it was just black and red and bare. 6months later, it was lush and green again. Amazing.

I'm further north and we have a bit of a different climate up here. In the south they have like a temperate climate where they get most rainfall in their winter months. We're more tropical and get most rainfall in our summer months. The temperatures down south this year have been awfully high.

We have those water bearing helicopters now. Called "Elvis". You all in the USA send them over I think. I don't think we have many of our own. I heard yesterday that lots of firefighters here from the USA and of course, our neighbours in New Zealand have been giving a helping hand.

Australia has always burned. The Aborigines used to do it on purpose to revegetate. Lots of our species of eucalypt seeds have evolved to the degree where they actually need fire or intense heat to open. Many other species have developed underground root systems that allow revegetation. The tree might burn to a crisp, but the roots will be cool and safe underground and they'll sprout anew. Problem is these days, that lots of people choose to live in areas where it can be pretty dangerous in fire seasons. The love of the bush can be a hazardous thing.

All those little animals ... so sad.