What a crazy week it has been. Insane, really. The fires have taken over our lives. Everyone is living by the Fires Near Me app, and I also have an air pollution app. Most days the air has been hazardous, which is the highest level. The fires ravaged the coastline on New Year's Eve, and we were in a blackout which ended up lasting 30 hours. 89 homes were lost at Conjola just a few kilometres away, and there have been some deaths. This fire is an absolute monster, like nothing we have ever seen before. It is hard to describe the impact this has had on our community. The highway is closed in both directions, there are hundreds of people, if not more, trapped here and living out of their cars. I'll add a photo of the line of people just trying to get into the supermarket to buy food. I got savvy and as soon as the blackout hit, I grabbed the kids and raced down to the bakery to buy loaves of bread. There have been people forced to evacuate to beaches, and the fire fighters couldn't get fuel because there was no power at the gas stations to pump the petrol. The scary thing is, they are predicting worse for Saturday. There was a message put out today that they are expecting Nowra to Ulladulla to get hit, and Bateman's Bay and south will be ravaged. There is nothing they can do. The whole town of Bermagui has been evacuated, and the police are trying to escort people up the coast, but the roads keep closing. So, we are all just holding tight to get through Saturday. The kids and I ran down to the bakery again today and bought three more loaves of bread. We have a pantry full of non-perishables, but we are running out of fruit and veg. They are expecting another blackout along with the fires on Saturday. There are people trapped out in smaller communities that have been cut off from the highway, and other amazing people of the town have been taking supplies out in boats to reach them. It is all craziness. I am trying not to be worried. We are less likely to burn than others, as we are in Ulladulla and not completely surrounded by bushland. But, there are trees everywhere, and you just never know. Fingers crossed for us and our little community.
We had to say goodbye to Uncle Jay on Friday. He went back to Sydney with Uncle Sting, and is heading back to China. We had a family dinner at the golf club on his last night, and Carmie was beside herself when she had to say goodbye. She is such an emotional thing, she was sobbing for a good half hour! She loves her uncles.
We have had lots of inside time again, of course. We got the kids some desks for Christmas, for their bedrooms. They are big student desks, with hutches on top, and Jeffrey had to build them, which I was very impressed with. There was no cussing or swearing either! The kids are stoked with them, particularly Carmie, who has gone on a drawing spree and has decorated her room with all her new drawings. She really needed somewhere private to sit and write and draw. Arley of course still pesters her, but he is getting used to knocking and being told he can't come in!
Arley is totally hooked on playing the Wii, which I don't love, but it is also really fortunate because we are trapped inside. At least he is moving his body - some days he is exhausted from all the Wii exercise! He was rather difficult during the blackout and a little more like his old antagonistic self, which goes to show it really is all stress related. He regulates himself with the iPad, and his ran out of batteries really quickly, and he had huge anxiety over it. On the second day of the blackout he was a little better. In the afternoon the smoke cleared a little, so we took the opportunity to take the kids to Narrawallee park for a play. We saw a fire start across the inlet at Conjola, and it's still raging now. And then the kids climbed down the slope and found a giant snake. I got them up to safety quick smart, but they actually tried to resist me!
Because the kids got new desks, we removed their little kiddy desks from the family room. The room looks so different now, and Jeff and I actually got all upset because we realised they are getting older and we won't have those years back, nor will we have them around forever. It made me so sad thinking about it, I can't even imagine what it will be like when they do finally move out of home!
Keep us in your thoughts this weekend :)
This is a photo of people trying to buy food at the supermarket.
New desks before the hutches were put on :)
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