To our Aussie friends

[derailed]

Yes, we are thinking of you, and hope that the fires end soon. Too much pain.

[crazycanuck]

Some good news from the area scorched by the bushfires..

RAIN!!! A smidgen bit but it's given firefighters some help.http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...5-2862,00.html

[RoadRaven]

The news here in EnZed has been full of this neighbourhood tradgedy, and locally school kids have, of their own initiative, begun fundraisers to send money over the Tasman.

A poignant story - I was in a shop the other day and on the counter was a red see-through heart with money in it collecting money for the Heart Foundation. A 3-4 year old was standing nearby with his mum and kept pointing and asking if that was for the fire-people.

Some of you have asked if this was arson. The investigators say some fires were deliberately lit, they are treating the starting points of fires as criminal investigation scenes and if caught, are promising that arsonists will be charged with murder.

[xeney]

We've been glued to the news here in my family, because my sister and three of four Australian nephews live in rural Victoria. They are on the opposite side of Melbourne from the majority of the fires, but there were three fires in their area as of yesterday. One nephew is stuck up north and can't get home because of the fires.

Thinking of the TE members in Oz. Stay safe.

[crazycanuck]

Xeney, i'm sorry to hear your loved ones are in the area I can imagine the stress they'll be under at the moment and hope the fires are under control before it warms up again next week.

I don't know if they''ve told you about local papers but www.heraldsun.com.au is a good bet.

One of the owners of my fave cafe received some bad news regarding the fires. His brother in law's family were killed in one of the fires. The owners are from Melbourne and since it's dear to thier hearts they're holding a fundraiser in a couple of weeks.

[pinkbikes]

Honestly I have found it hard to comprehend the scale of the fires and the lives they have taken. Although we have a very bad bushfire season, and we are to some extent a bit de-sensitised to the damage they do and the lives they take, I think the sheer scale of these fires and the huge number of lives they have taken have touched a national nerve.

When I went to bed the first night they were talking of 30 dead and I was shocked. When I woke the next morning and they were talking numbers up over 100, I was really gob-smacked. But it is just hard to comprehend as they keep finding more.

And then the unspeakable evil of the arsonists who are STILL continuing to light fires! It is all just a bit too close to home.

It's funny, but the Australian people are kind of low-maintenance in many ways - sort of "no-frill" sometimes. And the amazing thing is how the people in north Queensland who are flooded have donated so much to the people down in the fire zone. So many times I have heard it said that at least they have a home to go back to, even if it is wet and muddy and will need a lot of work to put to rights. But they sympathise with those who have no house to go home to.

I must say it has completely distracted the nation from the world's economic woes. The big supermarket chains all donated their profits yesterday to the appeal, and when I last heard, the Red Cross Appeal had raised nearly $85M, which is absolutely amazing given our relatively sparse population. It makes you proud when everybody pulls together like that.

[sundial]

I hope many people will donate their time and money to help the victims of the flood and fire. My prayers continue for those caught in this disaster.