Caroline's birthday

After days of constant rain last week (when Caroline was on a 3-day 'camp' with school – typical!), the weather returned to more ‘normal’ February weather - i.e. hot and humid - at the end of the week. Caroline had a great 17th birthday on Friday, needing a lift home with all the flowers her friends had given her and we had a family meal together before she and Laura went out for the evening – well, it was Friday night!

A big thunderstorm careered up the coast at 1pm on Saturday, putting paid to our 'new' tennis group game at Narrabeen, but by 2pm the heavy rain had disappeared again, so Clive and I dusted down our bikes and went for a 10km bike ride up and down all the local hills. Took us an hour and a quarter, but I’m pleased to say I beat the hills and didn’t have to get off, much as I wanted to a few times! Soon after we got home, the heaven’s opened again, so we were very lucky!

Sunday found us up at West Head on a bush walk, with Laura for company. The map said it was 3.6kms, but it took us 2 hours, so either we got lost or were walking very slowly, neither of which I think was the case, so the cartographer must be mistaken! No mishaps thank goodness, just lots and lots of steps down to Resolution Beach and back up again. It was hot and sticky and we returned to the car like drowned rats, but not having been in the sea or the rain! The paths were quite wet in places after all the recent rain and soon after we’d set off for home, Laura started screaming – she had a leech crawling up her calf, about to start sucking, so we had a quick pit-stop to get rid of it!

Victoria's bushfires

The news here over the past week has been dominated by the bushfires in Victoria which have now become the worst natural disaster in Australia's history. The death toll increased daily from last weekend and is currently at over 180 with many people still missing and hundreds of homes destroyed and survivors left with nothing. There has been a big fundraising effort across the country to support those people from the small bush communities that were devastated.

It's difficult to imagine the scale and ferocity of the fires and it seems like it took everyone by surprise last week due to the conditions. People who live in the bush always face the risk of a bushfire and prior to last weekend most homeowners would decide whether to leave in advance of a fire or stay to protect their property by clearing any debris that would be a fire risk and hose down the house to prevent the embers from starting a fire. However, the apparent speed and heat of the fires in Victoria has raised questions about whether the latter option should still ever be considered and it seems the main advice would now be to always have a plan in place - what to take and when to leave.

Some say that with climate change these situations will occur more often and it once again highlights the power of nature through the regular regeneration of the bush through fire. These bushfires are usually caused by lightning strikes, although some have been considered arson, with the destroyed communities becoming crime scenes and the perpetrators being accused as mass murderers.

A hot weekend

We have had another hot week of blue skies and had also been forecast intense heat in Sydney over the weekend, to match the levels in Melbourne, but although it was hot the coastal breeze didn't make it too oppressive, although temperatures were over 40 degrees further inland. We had agreed to play with a new tennis group on Saturday afternoon and weren't greatly looking forward to it in the heat, but in the event the heat wasn't too bad and the strong breeze was more of a problem, but the tennis standard was good.

We then had some friends around for a meal on Saturday night and had a late night so Sunday was a quiet day of leisure and we headed down to Castle Rock beach in the afternoon with Laura, Rebecca and a friend, to try some snorkelling. The small beach was packed and the water was full of moored pleasure boats all enjoying the Sunday afternoon heat, so although the sea was welcoming, the snorkelling was a non-event.

On Sunday evening we heard the first news about the bad bushfires around Melbourne which had caused a large amount of devastation and a high number of fatalities. This was unusual as although bushfires are a common occurrence this time of year, they don't tend to be at this scale. It sounds as though they were more extreme than usual on Saturday in particular, probably as a result of the long heatwave the south has been experiencing (in contrast to heavy rain and flooding in Queensland) and the high winds. The worst thing is that some were believed to have been started deliberately.

Summer on the Beaches

Sydney has had a hot week and weekend, although not quite at the levels of Melbourne. Sue and I had several trips to the beach in the evenings after work, with Laura joining us one night for a refreshing dip at North Curl Curl - a lovely way to end the day and get refreshed before a warm night!

On Saturday we managed our first snorkelling of the year - we had hoped to do this at Jervis Bay but the water had been quite churned up at the recommended beaches, so we went down to the popular Shelley Beach near Manly and competed for space with the numerous others snorkelling there. It's a protected reserve and also away from the main swell so the water is quite clear and lots of fish, so great to float and watch them all below and close to. I was lucky to also see about 10 small squid swimming along but they are quick and faster than I could keep up!

Sunday was also hot and the day of the first organised bike ride of the year by our 'group'. This was quite a short ride and local, covering man of the bike tracks and paths between Dee Why and Pittwater, including around Narrabeen Lagoon and the Warriewood wetlands, which took us across boardwalks. An interesting ride which introduced us to some good trails that we will use again. Finished the ride off with another dip in the sea and then home for a late lunch and recovery, before a late night watching the Australian Open final between Nadal and Federer - a fantastic game for the first 4 sets, and then capitulation by Federer in the 5th as the match ended just after midnight.