Open Day on View Street

What a lot of fun. There was music on three different stages and fairys, very tall men and beautiful butterflys. We enjoyed the antics of an alternative artist who stood on his head after his painting was complete. His painting looked a lot like the art of relaxating (see David's blog). The girls had their faces painted and I enjoyed a yabbie burger.

4.30pm

This will be the last update of a very normal uneventful day in the end. We are now at 33 degrees and 19 km/h wind and no fires here. The best outcome we could have wished for but not very newsworthy.

1.30pm

Still uneventful, Bendigo is experiencing 29.9 degrees and 20 km/h wind.

10.30am

All pretty quiet really. Bendigo is at 22.6 degrees and wind is at 17 km/h. No fires here and the Daylesford fire looks to be the same as earlier as well.

7.30am Update

All quiet on all fronts apart from a small fire in Kangaroo Flat at 7.30 this morning which has been now labelled safe. Last temp recorded at 16.5 degrees. A fire weather warning is current today in the Northern Country, Wimmera,Mallee, North Central and Central forecast districts and parts of the Western,West and South Gippsland and Northeast forecast districts. Temperatures up to 40 degrees, relative humidity down to 6% and winds to 35 km/h will cause extreme fire danger. Rhys's kindy is closed today due to the threat of high temps and bushfires. The girl's school is operating as normal. Today I will only be updating on the presently contained bushfire at Daylesford and hopefully no activity in Bendigo. The Daylesford fire is of interest because it is about 50kms away from where Wayne is working and there is concern that the high winds that are forecast could cause it to jump its containment lines.

Looking hot for Fryday

Tomorrow the weather forecast is for over 40 degrees with 50 km winds so it will be another very high risk fire day. The CFA is gearing up and warning people to activate their fire plans. In light of this for concerned readers who do not have the access to all the news items that I do. I will do 3 hourly updates starting at 10.00am (NZ time) Hopefully it will be very boring with nothing to report.

Out n about in Bendigo

Today I took the children to the Golden Age of Couture exhibition where we feasted our eyes on some beautiful Christan Dior and Yves Saint Laurent gowns from the 1940s and 1950s. Here is a link that you can paste into your browser to view a slideshow of the gowns on display. http://www.theage.com.au/news/photogallery/entertainment/arts/the-golden-age-of-couture/2008/12/03/1228257128617.html
After that I finally took some photos around Bendigo of the lovely old buildings, something that I have been meaning to do for ages.

Bushfire makes a stunning sunset

Red Moon Rising

Wayne took these photos last night. A beautiful red moon.

A story of being in the midst of it

Some of you may be interested to read a couple of blogposts from a travel writer who happened to be staying in Eaglehawk with her Aunt when the fire in Bracewell Street was happening. Here is the link. http://www.cooltravelguide.blogspot.com

One way to help victims of Bendigo Fires

I have just realised that my listing on Ebay was against their rules for charity listings. So although my intentions were good, my listing broke the rules so I have ended it. Anybody who is interested in purchasing the necklace is welcome to either email me or put a comment below. Make an offer and I will still be donating the amount that the necklace sells for to the Bendigo Bank Victorian Bushfires Appeal.

This necklace is also listed here http://www.OzBushfireAppeal.etsy.com

This necklace is made from tiger wire with a quality lobster clasp and genuine Swarovski Crystals donated by The Bendigo Bead Experience.

Aftermath of Bendigo Fires

Here are some photos of areas that the fire swept through yesterday. It was a very sobering sight to see houses that had been burned to the ground and the washing was still hanging on the line. We saw two people sitting on the back of their ute in the driveway where their house used to be and they just looked lost. Our Spotlight store had a lucky escape with burnt grass right up to the wall but no damage to the building. There are a lot of photos but I hope that it gives a realistic view of a portion of the devastation that Bendigo suffered yesterday and the huge scale of clean up and rebuilding that is to come. Where we looked today was just one of the smaller fires. There are larger ones a bit further away that are still burning.

Bendigo Fires

Here is the view from our front porch yesterday afternoon. At one stage Wayne saw a large orange fireball rise up in the smoke. Bendigo lost approximately 50 houses yesterday and a sports stadium according to the news.
Today we can't see any smoke and the fire is contained within perimeters that they are managing to hold on to.

Start of another school year

Here are the two girls about to embark upon another school year. Natasha is Grade 3 and Emily is Grade 1 this year.