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.