I have recently returned from a few weeks in Tasmania. Before I write up some trips there, I need to comment about the bushfires.
I spent my childhood in the Blue Mountains, so grew up familiar with bushfires. One summer a fire burnt out the gully behind our house. Another time, a very large fire had been burning way out in the Grose Valley but was slowly getting closer. It eventually approached the street where we lived – and was successfully fought and no houses were lost. Then a day or two later things changed. I can remember being at school, and the day finished early with a special assembly. Our headmaster advised us that the bushfire had suddenly become much worse. It had jumped the railway line and in one day had burnt out a huge area. A lot of houses had been burnt down, and consequently, students living in some towns would not be going home. Instead, their school bus would take them to the local civic centre which would provide emergency accomodation. Quite a number of students at the school found their homes had been burnt.
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