Fire and water

Like most ex-pat Australians, especially those from Melbourne I’ve been agonizing over the bush fire tragedy over the past two weeks. To see the beautiful township of Marysville reduced to rubble invokes fond memories of holidays there, last time befriending a koala that made its home in a gum tree adjacent to the decking where I enjoyed my afternoon glass of red. Sadly the resort where I stayed then is totally destroyed. So many townships made familiar my fishing weekends have fallen victim to the fires from Redesdale, near Bendigo to Buxton and even as far as Yarram.

When I left Melbourne last July we had already experienced a 10 year drought and water restrictions were severe. We could only water the garden by hand for two hours a week from 6am to 8am, showers were limited to 4 minutes and washing water was saved to bucket onto the roses. Here’s a copy of an email I sent recently to my sister who lives on the Central Coast of New South Wales which describes my dramatic change of environment.

“Ah, Margaretta, bath time, one of the delights of Japanese life. Our bathroom is about 3m x 2m and the whole room is the bath really. The shower is attached to the wall, one low fixture for sitting on a stool and a high setting for a stand up shower. The tub is the same as a large Aussie bath. The concept is that you shower in the room to get clean before relaxing in the tub. The main thing here is no shortage of water. I remember when I first arrived being shocked at seeing a restaurant owner hosing down his outdoor furniture, coming from Melbourne where you could water your garden for an hour twice a week at about 6am in the morning, I felt a twinge of guilt at the sight. Now of course I'm used to the extravagance. By the way Sapporo also boasts some great spa resorts and it's not uncommon to go to a bath house for the day or to stay over. The resorts are quite beautiful, the bathing facilities superb in both public and private bath rooms that you can hire by the hour. You can even sit in a hot tub outside at this time of the year with the snow falling around a beautiful garden setting. The food is great in the resorts too.
Love d”

For those whose lives have been devastated by the Victorian bush fires you can donate to
http://www.redcross.org.au/vic/services_emergencyservices_victorian-bushfires-appeal-2009.htm