Bushfires

Today has been a national day of mourning in respect of the bushfires that ravaged areas of Victoria 2 weeks ago.

Black Saturday as it is now referred to has had a huge impact on the country. As you can imagine, we have had wall to wall coverage and every TV channel broadcast the memorial service that was held this morning. People congregated in all of the major cities to pay their respect. It was interesting to hear the Queen referred to as the "Queen of Australia" by Princess Anne who addressed the service on her behalf (see previous Blog about how much more prominent the Royal family seem to be in Australia than in the UK!).

It has been interesting to follow the BBC Blogs of the event.

Whilst the news has been dominated by the Victoria fires, we have also had a few a bit closer to home. The was a fire set by a "fire bug" between Newcastle and Sydney and there have been a few fires in the Hunter Valley. We can, on occastion, smell smoke and the horizon is hazy from smoke.