Baptism of Fire

I think it goes without saying that Australia is in a lot of trouble right now.

 

A photo from NASA of some of the destruction we are experiencing on the East Coast

 

2020 has started in what can only be called a baptism of fire. These fires have now been burning for months, and the full scope of devastation is something we can’t even begin to calculate because they haven’t stopped.

At least 19 people have died, koalas are functionally extinct and the loss of so much livestock is going to heavily impact our farmers who were already struggling under such bad drought conditions.

 

Words cannot express how this makes me feel

 

My town is currently 50km from an active fire front that is currently out of control and over 300,000ha in size. Luckily for us, the chance of this fire coming in our direction is low, so whilst we have a fire plan in place at our properties and where Bumper lives, it is unlikely to be enacted.

I’m the goggles. My world is on fire.

 

Being this close to one of the biggest fires has seen many people evacuate to our town for safety. They’ve brought what little they could, including their horses and other pets as they prayed to not lose everything.

The outpourings of help from locals, the rest of Australia as well as internationally has restored some of my faith in humanity and yet I still feel so broken for the people who have everything at the mercy of these fires.

 

Our town at 2pm after “Hell Day”. Temperatures were the highest ever on record for our area (47C/116F) and this was the smoke that blew through from the fire front.

 

Riding will be off the agenda for the next few weeks. The AQI is at hazardous levels and you spend your day feeling as if you’ve smoked a pack of cigarettes. I don’t want B suffering anymore due to me forcing exercise, and I go overseas for 2 weeks next Monday. He can just rest.

 

The forecast has us at hazardous levels for the rest of the week

 

Whilst it’s disappointing to have to back down when things were going so well, that is the last thing on my mind as we try to rally supplies for our volunteer fire fighters and displaced community members. I’m currently collecting non-perishable food to be distributed to residents who have returned to the fire affected communities. We don’t know how long until they will have water or power again, so we’re preparing for the long haul.

Blog posts will still be coming (I hope) but they are unlikely to have much content in terms of riding. Probably more blog posts I am behind on until I return from Thailand.

 

 

In the meantime, pray for us.