I am sitting here with all the doors and windows closed trying to keep my house as cool and as smoke free as I possibly can. The air is thick with smoke from the many bushfires currently burning around Tasmania. My eyes are stinging slightly and I am thankful that I have good lungs, I am also thankful that there aren’t any fires burning close to us.
Friday was a horror day for Tasmania. It was over 42 degrees up here in the midlands, my temperature gauge is in a shady spot on the front verandah so I have no idea what the temperature was out in the full sun. But it was hot, very, very hot.
The wind was blowing a gale, the tops of some of the dying eucalypts were snapped off by the wind, turning them from potential firewood into widow makers.
Some other trees simply snapped in half.
My raspberries, shrivelled on the canes.
Spiders succumbed to the searing heat and fell, dead onto the concrete path. Poor black house spiders killed by the heat radiating from their own house. I also found dead lizards, beetles and other insects. It was a hard day for everyone.
I stayed inside and tried to distract myself with the cricket, but of course there was no distraction large enough to work, as Tasmania burned.
This was the view from my front door, looking towards the west. The smoke is from the large bushfire at Lake Repulse in the Derwent Valley.
This was the view from the balcony, looking south east towards the large fire at Forcett.
On the Friday night, the wind finally dropped a bit and I took this photo, which ended up on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald.
Tasmania is still burning.
The Red Cross has set up an appeal and you can donate by clicking onto the image below.
Thank you for all your facebook messages, emails, tweets and DM’s enquiring about Veronica and myself. We are safe for the moment, though it is heartbreaking to see the devastation of my small island state.
Once the weather settles down a bit and the scale of the catastrophe has become apparent, I will be organising a fundraiser for the Primary school at Dunally, as I know first hand how traumatic it is when your child’s school burns down.
Pray for some rain for us internet, lots and lots of rain.
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I always feel so helpless whenever our great country has bushfires. So glad you’re ok, but so sad for those who are not.
Praying Kim praying x
As always you sum it up well and convey the weight in your heart using words and pictures. I knew that photo was a winner when I saw it, you have a great eye. Stay safe.
42 degrees and tassie doesnt make sense :/
So glad that you and yours are safe, I was worrying. Which makes me feel a touch guilty. I am so sad for those who are not, who have lost homes, livelihoods, schools…
I will be donating to the Red Cross and hoping so much for rain. Lots of it. Australia wide.
Praying
Oh Kim..you knew I was asking about you all down in the beautiful state called Tassie. It’s horrible watching from a media’s view of events unfolding & having no inkling of where places are nor people’s towns. It was good to hear from V on Saturday. Especially chuffed for you with the front page but would rather not have the reason.
My teacher colleagues in Australia have all been commenting about the school via twitter. I will do anything that may help the school’s recovery from the dreadfully loss. Thank you Kim for sharing. Staying aware that the fires are yet to settle – stay safe. Sydney is in for its share of the 40s tomorrow & many of our blogger friends are living with the catastrophic fire conditions warnings right now – Al Tait, Lori, Lisa Warren to name a few. Denyse x
So horrible. Stay safe. 🙁