I am still on the surfcoast at Lorne editing my novel. Yesterday was the anniversary of the devastating Black Saturday bush fires which swept across Victoria last year. I am sure everyone in this state remembers exactly where they were on that day when the temperature soared to an amazing 46.4 °C (115.5 °F). It was a terrible tragic day when lives were lost and entire towns destroyed. It was a day that none of us will forget.

I was again in Lorne on Black Saturday working on Little Paradise. When I’m on a writing retreat I lock myself away which means no radio, no TV, no news, so I was completely unaware of what was happening. If I had known how high the temperature was going to be I might have been more cautious and left Lorne early. In 1983, another devastating day of fires across Victoria known as Ash Wednesday, burnt right along this coast. I believe the house I’m staying in now was built after those fires swept through Lorne.

Luckily the temperatures have been much lower this year. But I’ve been on my guard as everybody is now. So many amazing stories emerged from the ashes of February 7th. And now new lives and towns are being rebuilt.

My heart goes out to all those were affected.

It is only in the face of tragedy that we learn the true depths of the human spirit.