I want to thank you for the concern you’ve shown me from the bush fires that have ravaged many parts of Victoria. One of my co-workers lost his house (a guy I’ve never met in another department) in what has become known as, Black Saturday. That terrible day when over 200 people lost their lives. Luckily, he and his family are safe. Australian’s have been inspiring by raising millions of dollars to help the unfortunate people and the government has been swift to lend financial and hands on support. The rebuilding efforts have started and schools are the first thing to be constructed in those towns that were scorched from the face of the earth. Marysville, a town I had visited, is still a crime scene and has been ruled arson. A heart wrenching place where many lost their lives. One arsonist has been caught and is lucky to be in jail as the surviving people from the Kinglake fire would give him the fate he deserves. Unfortunately, some fires still rag on. There were some flare ups in the last week. These new fires were even closer to the city. Some are within 40 kilometres (25 miles) of downtown. A person in my group, that I know well, had the fires come within a kilometre (0.6 mile) of his property, but luck was on his side and his home was spared.
To give you an idea of how close these fires really area to the city. Every morning when I walk outside you can smell smoke in the air. On Valentine’s Day haze was so bad it blanketed the city. You could see grey soot hanging in the air covering everything near and far. You could smell the smoke and even feel the ash on your skin. It was a day when the wind never really cleared the air and some people wore cloths over their faces. Most days aren’t that bad but the mornings when the air is still you can see and smell the smoke, even still today. There is one good thing to come out of this tragedy. The sunsets have been spectacular! Incredibly red with no clouds in the sky. Red like Rudolph’s nose.
On a happier note I did have one VERY fun weekend to tell you guys about. The weekend of the
21st,the URS social committee organized a Surf Trip down in Lorne. Its south of Geelong and at the start of the Great Ocean Road, where I travelled last November. About 35 of my co-workers went, with friends the group totalled over 50. We had rented 7 or 8 house and I got put in the 20 something house, with no kids. Fun was had by all and of course we drank a lot! After arriving Friday evening the group met at the local pub for dinner and to distribute the house keys. I was staying with the house organizer, Peter Cohen, which made my evening much easier. Back at the house the night was spent drinking and teaching some Australians how to play Bullshit. A drinking card game where you try to get rid of all of your cards and lie to do it. At some point we stumbled to our sleeping quarters and in the morning I made my house mates french toast and home fries for breakfast. After getting ourselves ready for the day those of us taking the 2 hour surf lessons headed down to the beach. The day was slightly overcast and not too warm. This was the first time I had done more than stick my foot in the ocean in a long time and I was a little scared it was going to be frigid. After spending 17 years in Oregon I hoped the Bass Strait would be a little warmer than the northern Pacific. People had warned me about the Antarctic currents keeping a chill on the waters even in summer. As you can 
see from the photos we were given full wet suits and they helped a quite a bit. After our instructions on the beach we grabbed our boards and set out for the waves. At first the water was cool on my feet. But as I stepped in I quickly realized nothing was going to go numb. Something I’m very grateful for! As it turned out surfing is easier than I thought it would be but still was a challenge. I found the hardest part was just getting balanced on the board while waiting for the next big wave to come in. After a few tries my instructor changed my board from 8’6” to 9’6” long and that helped buoy my body a lot more. I made many attempts at actually standing up. Some ended in a face plant, if I was leaning to far forward. Some 
landed on my butt if I was too far back. A few times was just avoiding other beginners in the water. Every time I got washed under I came up laughing and wanted to get back out there as quick as possible. A couple times I had it just right and was able to get up on both feet and release my hands from the sides of the board. I wasn’t really standing, it was more like a low squat but I’m counting it all the same! After a couple hours you got a lot more tired than you’d think and we headed back to dry land. See if you can spot me in the group photo? I’m the one with the really bright tan! There were a lot more people there but some had wandered off before the picture got taken. Later the different groups of friends all ended up at a local cafe for lunch where we refueled ourselves. Then we relaxed at home before the big work bbq in the evening. The group moved to one of the houses for a old fashion PAR-TAY. Complete with laughing loud 
people, music and drinking games. When I finally tumbled out of there on my way home there were hundreds of beer bottle scattered all over the place. I was very thankful the party had not taken place at our home. Sunday was spent drinking a LOT of water and slowly making our way back to town. We stopped at some little town for lunch and at a famous surfing spot Bell’s Beach (seen in the last photo). I did what I think every one else did that evening and crashed hard into bed early. Another weekend where Monday came all too fast! Surfing is something I had never done and it’s my hope that it wasn’t the one and only time I get to go.
Not much else has really taken place. The next blog should be a little more interesting because on Friday the 6th I fly up to Sydney to meet up with my friends Shawn and Jim from Portland for the big Mardi gras festival. I’m not sure how much of it I’ll be able to report here. I’m trying to keep this blog rated PG but I’m sure I’ll be able to find something for everyone.It’s been 6 months now since I arrived in OZ and I can hardly believe how fast the time has gone. You’ll all be happy to hear summer is fading in the southern hemisphere. A few weeks ago it was light until 9:30 and now it’s dark at 8:30. The nights are getting cooler (THANK GOD!!) and on some mornings you can feel the cool crispness in the air that reminds you autumn (they don’t say fall here) is just around the corner. Spring is on its way to most of you and I’m sure you’re all looking forward to it. (Despite the fresh snow storm in New England this past weekend) I for one am looking forward to the snow and thinking about a trip to New Zealand to play in some..... We’ll have to see what the future brings so keep reading my blog and I’ll keep thinking about all of you....
PS I think I got all the birthdays last time but if I’ve forgotten someone my deepest apologies and most heartfelt HAPPY birthday wishes!... (Also I'm in all of the surf photos so double click on them to enlarge if you want a good look at me.)
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