Canberra Burns January 2003

Saturday 18 January, what a day!

Colin decided it was time to look for a new car and has been chasing a V8 Wagon. We went down to Pennant Hills in Sydney to check out a '98 model. He bought it. We thought it might have been a bit cooler after the 37ºC we had been putting up with all week in Queanbeyan. All the way through, we felt the temperature rising. When we left Pennant Hills, the temperature was 49.5º. A trifle warm.

We drove home. Around Goulburn we noticed the smoke. As we got closer to Lake George a wall of smoke filled the background.

We tuned the radio to 666AM, the local ABC to hear of the devastation that was occurring.

Coming through Sutton Forest was like driving into Dante's Inferno, the sky billowing with black and red smoke creating eerie landscapes.

At times, the whiteness on the gums and roadsigns glowed with ultraviolet light. We couldn't catch the intensity on the image, but all the whiter areas in this picture had ultraviolet halos.

The violence and intensity of the fires meant that many people were unable to save any of their property. As at 9.00pm on 19 January, 4 people are dead and 388 homes destroyed in a twelve hour period.