An exciting weekend

Jeanette, Matt and Evie came to visit us for the weekend.

They flew into Avalon on Saturday morning and I went and picked them up.  We came back to Tani no Uchi, where Jim was waiting for us.  Pies from the local bakery for lunch.  Then Lindsey and Ian came down and she, Jeanette, Evie and I went out and about, and Ian, Jim and Matt headed to Buninyong. We reconvened at Hill House later, played with the dogs (who LERVED Evie) and then left Lindsey and Ian to their own devices and came back to our place for roast chicken (and veggie koftas for Jeanette) for dinner.

So far so not very exciting, apart from the Diwali fireworks at around 9:30 at the University.

Not very exciting, I agree. Though I must say that Evie has developed into a very good dinner conversationalist.  She has some very interesting things to say, especially to say she's only 11.

Sunday morning saw us eating fruit, cheese and toast for breakfast.  We had arranged for Lindsey and Ian to come down to our place at around 12:00 so were just sitting about and relaxing as the morning progressed.

I went into the study to do something - and saw smoke billowing around.  I thought I should go and investigate.  Went to open the front door and saw a Rather Large fire, over there, behind the trees.  I went to have a look.  Jim followed me down.

So.  Behind this block of units is a scrubby reserve.  The reserve comes down to the road behind the units opposite us,  but narrows to a suburban block size.  On the other side of that is a fence, and beyond that is a large block of land with lots of trees, a house and many outbuildings.  At least one of the outbuildings was on fire. I could hear fire engines in the distances.

The fire got larger.  The clouds of smoke got blacker.  The flames got higher. And now there were banging noises, such as those of small explosions.

One of the cypress trees caught fire.

Wooooosh.

I came back and said to Jeanette, Matt and Evie that they should get their stuff.  We were heading off.

They already had their stuff.  They hadn't brought much for an overnight visit and were holding their bags and waiting.

I grabbed my iPad, laptop, the passports and my wallet, the house keys and the car keys. We all leapt into the car and headed off.

On this occasion we went up to Lindsey and Ian's place.  I wouldn't do that if it were a bushfire.  I would head to Ballarat or Melbourne. If I couldn't get to those places I would go to the muster place at the University or IBM.  But on this occasion the danger came from the tree.  Had it fallen our way it might easily have reached our place.  I have no wish to be squashed by a flaming cypress tree!

Lindsey and Ian had been watching the fire from their hill (Ian had rung me to tell me about it, in case I hadn't noticed) so weren't particularly surprised when we all rocked up. We still went to the Lake for lunch. And very nice it was too.  We managed a potter around part of the lake and a wander in the botanical gardens, where are the busts of heads of all the Prime Minsters (apart from the last two although I'm sure they'll be along; the last two lasted such a short time that the sculptors haven't had time to keep up!)

When We got back to our place 4 hours later, prior to taking Jeanette, Matt and Evie back to the airport, there were still several fire engines, many police cars and two Scene of Crime vans in place.

If nothing else, it was a good practice should we have to evacuate in an emergency.  I knew what I had to get and where things were.  We were in the car and moving out within 3 or 4 minutes. Other people were also in their cars and moving out. Something to think about in the event of a big emergency. The roads will be busy!  We would need to think about where we were going if a bushfire comes through, but my Fire Action Plan worked well enough. (My fire action plan has always been: Run Away; and we did :-D)

Jeanette, Matt and Evie are on their way back to Sydney.  I got breathalysed in a Booze Bus operation on he way to the airport.  I was as clean as a whistle.  Not a drop of alcohol had passed my lips over breakfast or lunch.

In the end it was a much more exciting weekend than any of us had anticipated!!!

I have some musings to put down, but I'll do that on another occasion