This is an amazing photo taken by one of Michael's colleagues. It is taken from the Eastern area of Melbourne looking outwards.  This is not sunset, it is fire, in every direction, as far as the eye can see. And these fires are still more than an hour drive away, so its impossible to imagine how enormous and intense they are at the site.  

 

As Dep Prime Min. Gillard said, this is "A tragedy beyond belief, beyond precedent, and really beyond words".  I know its difficult to imagine from the other side of the world just how horrific it is here, but let me assure you, you've likely seen nothing quite like this, ever.  There are tragic stories that have come out of this that you really can hardly stand to listen to; firefighters making the heartbreaking decision to flee towns in the last seconds in order to save themselves while they had people banging earnestly on the sides of their fire tankers begging, screaming, yelling for them to go back to houses where they knew people were trapped (& would most certainly die); firefighters seeing children engulfed by roaring flames while running down their streets trying to escape; the list goes on and on... 

But at least the outpouring of assistance has been incredible as well.  On international, federal, and local levels.  Queen Elizabeth is even making a personal monetary donation to the relief efforts, in addition to the official British assistance being offered. We're not quite the British Royalty, but nonetheless, I'm going down today to drop off old clothes, toys, and misc stuff:)  Its about time, I needed to clean this clutter out and this is a great cause.