Blaze Aid

After several years of drought, the people of the Roma/Mitchell region have had three years of floods. This year's was higher than the previous two, resulting in much devastation on the farms. I understand that some farms were left with no fences standing.
We responded to the call for volunteers. The days were long and hot reaching 34 degrees Celsius.
Breakfast was at 6am and by 7.30 all volunteers had left base camp for their day's work.
The following photos show the devastation and the willingness of volunteers.









This next photo is what I call a "classic"



The fence line is so long that they couldn't see the strainer post with the high-viz jacket on. Brandt was about half a mile away holding a standard with a white flag on top. With such vast distances, using the rifle to site the fence line was their solution. I should also add that UHF radios were used for communication.

Now some base camp photos



Volunteers are getting the equipment needed for the day's work.



Chairs ready for the much needed "happy hour" which was at 5pm daily.



One of the farmers was so grateful of the work the volunteers were doing that he gave a box of green prawns. These were entree two nights.

And finally a couple of maps shots to help locate where we were at Dunkeld,



And where we've been



So as you can see we've been going round in ever increasing circles.

Upon our return to Australia in May, we will begin to head North.

Location:Dunkeld

Frogs

Big frogs, little frogs, green frogs, brown frogs.
By the time we left Dunkeld I think I had got used to sharing my shower with frogs. At the beginning I used to try to choose the shower without a frog in it but that didn't work as they just appeared out of nowhere.
One morning there was a commotion as someone had found that there were frogs in the toilet cistern, AND there was a dead one blocking the exit. A brave man was called to take all the frogs away. We then decided it best to keep the toilet lid down to stop them getting back into the cistern. Alas this didn't work. We still don't know how they get there. In the end we gave up and left them to it, just hoping that none blocks things up again.
The following photos tell a bit of the story













As I said they all got in somehow

Location:Dunkeld