Fremantle:6160/10:05:56pm [Passionfruit's my current favourite]

The temperature was in the high 30s but, in and around Perth WA, the heat is almost always mitigated by the afternoon arrival of the Fremantle Doctor and today was no exception. After some discussion we decided to take ourselves to Joe’s Fish Shack on the harbour for dinner. After making short work of the delicious seafood plates and a couple of bottles of cold white wine between the five of us we wandered along the pier in the comfortably warm night air until the bright lights of the gelati bar beckoned us closer. I’d like to say that I was able to pass up temptation on this occasion but it would be totally not true.

135. Guilty pleasures

3109: Doncaster/7:02:05pm [Stylised]

This clever design of a chrysanthemum caught my eye because of the lovely colour contrast between the turquoise glass and chocolate timber. It was almost enough to make me go in for a massage…but not quite.

72. Curvy

Southbank:3006/2:18:24pm [Go on, ask me]

There must be something you would like answered. Now’s your chance. Can’t promise I know all the answers but I’ll do my best to find out.

360. Who put that there?

Doreen:3754/7:27:18pm [Bushfire sun]

The days immediately after the bushfires were mild and clear but as the week progressed the wind changed again and we were blanketed in smoke. It is expected to stay around for most of the next week. As the sun began it’s journey towards the horizon, the light became burnished and golden. The sun shimmered red through the haze. As it sinks lower a sunray has a harder job to push light through the atmosphere and loses violet, blue, and green light on the way. The blue tones are scattered and re-radiated in all directions. The red light that remains shines through relatively unhindered giving us this eerie effect.

289. Smoke

[Can't take credit]

These are not my photos but they are two out of the many taken since Saturday that, to me, best represent the events that have overtaken our small corner of the planet. The first photo was taken from Doncaster by the Menherin family at about 8:15pm and displayed in this photo gallery of the Age newspaper. Taken about an hour before I wrote this post on Saturday night, it was the glow you can see in this photo – from the far left to about two thirds of the way along the photo -  that we were seeing from our balcony. The inferno on the right of the ranges was not visible to us and I would have felt a lot more than unsettled on that night had I been able to see it as clearly as this.

If you look at this photo carefully, around the middle of it and to the left hand edge you can see a black patch of darkness with a brightly lit strip of road to the right which is Williamsons Road. You may also be able to make out a dark strip that runs across from left to right which is the valley through which the Yarra River flows.  In that small patch to the left of the road and a few kilometres over the ridge is where we live. The bushfires are only 22-24km (around 15 miles) to the north-east of us. The towns that have been destroyed are ones we all know well. We all know someone who has lost their home or who is assisting in the relief efforts. Our family is just so lucky that no one that we know who lived in these places has been lost. But for more than 181 people and their families and friends, the opposite is true. We are all just so saddened and shocked but what is certain is that these communities will rebuild and that the rest of us will be there to help them do it.

Donations to the relief effort can be made through the Salvation Army or The Australian Red Cross.

This photo, on the front page of  Tuesday morning’s Herald Sun, is one that made me cry. It is of  fireman David Tree of the Mirboo North CFA and was taken by Russell Vickery. There is also a video of David’s brilliant act of compassion to the koala here taken by another CFA volunteer,  Mark Pardew, using his mobile phone. But be warned, it might make you cry too. I heard David interviewed on the radio and he said that as he was helping her with the water bottle the koala put her paw on his hand. This is so remarkable because these cute looking marsupials are notorious for their bad tempers and can inflict very nasty injuries with their claws. This koala, named Sam, was quickly collected by one of the many wonderful volunteer Wildlife Rescue teams and taken for treatment. She has burnt paws and is expected to make a full recovery.

We are so grateful for the all the phone calls and emails we have had from our friends and family across the world as well as the readers of this blog. Thank you so much for your love and concern.

Lower Plenty:3095/2:22:23pm [Fuel load]

This is what our previously beautiful front lawn looks like after three weeks of hideously hot conditions. If you look carefully you may be able to see the wisps of brown sticking up through the carpet of eucalyptus leaves. The shrivelled white flowers fell from the Agapanthus plants that edge the garden beds. These plants are considered very tough characters and usually endure the summer with an attitude of “Hot? Ha! Bring it on, baby”. To see them with their heads drooping, the leaves burnt and their blossoms strewn across the ground really brings home to us just how hot this last couple of weeks have been. And 35 days without rain means that the leaf carpet is tinder dry. It is just this excessive fuel load that fuels bushfires. I am not complaining, mind you. After the death and devastation right on our doorstep, I am fully aware that I have absolutely nothing to complain about.

127. Grass, turf, Lawn

[Unsettling]

I have twice been evacuated from my home of the time due to bushfires and on two other occasions have been watching fire approach and waiting to be given the order to go. For fifteen months I taught in a rural primary school and became an expert at scanning the sky around me for signs of smoke and knowing what to do in the case of a fire emergency. In our locality, on the edge of metropolitan  Melbourne, our protection from fire is provided by the Country Fire Authority, with a core of permanent firefighters supported by a large group of volunteers. Tonight, over 3000 of them are out fighting to stop fires from engulfing people and homes after a day of 47C temperatures and 100 knot winds. It is impossible to express our gratitude to them for the scale of their efforts.

As we sat on our balcony watching the smoke clouds and a fiery orange glow over the Kinglake Ranges to the north-east there were helicopters flying back and forth but it was too dark to know if they were emergency services or news crews. The late news has confirmed fatalities from these fires. Even though we are well prepared and have a fire plan in place, on days of Total Fire Ban I am  constantly on edge. Today was no exception.

Montsalvat:3095/8:34:11pm [Not quite day's end]

Yet another scorching day with little or no relief. To celebrate a friend’s birthday we went out for dinner. Yes, food that someone else cooked and cleaned up afterwards. I cannot put into words how utterly fabulous that was. And an ice cold glass of a gorgeous Marlborough Savignon Blanc was the perfect accompaniment. As the sun began to set we headed off to this unique artists colony that we are lucky to have right on our doorstep. We joined a few hundred other locals with their rugs and outdoor chairs to enjoy “Mamma Mia” under the stars. While we waited for darkness to fall, I amused myself with my camera. It really was a very lovely night.

311. Sunrise, Sunset…

Greensborough:3088/1:48:15pm [High above me]

It was getting hotter by the minute but seven weeks of house arrest recovery meant that some essential errands had been piling up. Greensborough shopping centre has efficient refrigerated air-conditioning and so does my car. The evaporative air-conditioning at home was struggling to be effective. So I took myself and my slow moving feet out for a couple of hours. Sitting in the food court with a magazine and a cold drink was at odds with the view above me where the relentlessly blue sky and searing sunshine was a harsh reminder of what was going on outside.

363. Windows

[Attitude adjustment]

When the official city temperature, taken in the shade last Thursday, reached 45.1C (113.1F) it was clearly hotter out here on the city outskirts. The thermometer in my car, which has never been wrong in six years, was reading 49.5C (121+F)! And when, on Saturday, we were remarking how cool and fresh 33C (91F) seemed, it should come as no surprise that any inner reserves I may have been drawing on after surgery, completely deserted me.

The 4 pins holding my toes straight were taken out on Hellishly Hot Thursday. In a surgery where the air-conditioning was broken. And the air-conditioned haven of my home? Without power for nineteen hours as a transformer in our street exploded under the strain. And in all the excitement I failed to drink one thousand litres of enough water to stay hydrated. Hello sunstroke, with all its attendant symptoms.

My one woman pity party is over. I am better. My feet, not so much. Still plenty ouchy, but I am wearing real shoes even if they are the ugliest pair on the planet. And tomorrow? Tomorrow I am allowed to get in the pool. Watch for the splash.