Clothes Labelling

Much to Hannah's amusement/bafflement, I decided to label my clothes before we head off. My reasoning is that given we'll be washing & drying them along with a dozen other people with similar hiking clothes, it'll probably help avoid someone accidentally grabbing some of mine.

I've learned a good lesson in the process:

Never label your clothes at night while watching a movie after a glass or two of wine.

It leads to labelling your name on the outside of some of your clothes.

And where are you from?

I bought us some passport holders that could be described as kitsch Australiana, but not quite Ken Done. They were $18 each from a shop in Port Melbourne and they made me smile. My eyes went glazy upon sight of them, as I floated off into an imagined future where I was a ghostly form passing through international airports, clutching my red kangaroo.

P.S. Please don't use my passport details for evil.

Bushfire Season (cont)

I don't think there's anyone in Australia that doesn't know what's happened over the last few days. But for the non-Aussies, we've just had the worst bushfires in Australian history. There's no need for me to describe it any further: Google has thousands of articles here, here's the Wikipedia page, and here's a collection of photos.

We're not directly affected by the bushfires, but here's a few ways that make me realise that it's a small world:

• Two weekends ago we were hiking in Bunyip State Park (see here). In the next weekend or two we were planning on hiking around Marysville. Obviously we won't be heading out that way again anytime soon.
• My sister's fiancee is working with emergency services out there, and he said the media are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. The reality in these towns is horrific.
• We live 300 meters from the Alfred Hospital where they're bringing most of the burns patients, and we've heard a few of the helicopters bringing new patients in over the last few days.
• My Dad and his mates often ride their motorbikes through some of the areas that have now been burnt out.

In terms of how people can help, here's a few possible ways:

• Red Cross's Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009
• Red Cross Blood Donation
• The Salvation Army’s Victorian Bushfire Appeal
  
• Wildlife Victoria Bushfire Appeal
• RSPCA Victoria Bushfire Appeal
• Coles to donate Friday 13th Feb's profits to Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund

Bushfire season

It's bushfire season in Victoria. A week or two back the forecast was for the hottest week in 100 years, and we've just had our second driest January on record.

It was only a fortnight ago that we went hiking in Bunyip State Park, and this park is currently on fire. Articles here and here. It's a beautiful part of the world, so I hope it recovers quickly.

Park rangers are recommending that people stay out of the state/national parks at the moment, so we'll switch to doing our longer walks around local parks & rivers in the 'burbs.

Offtopic: I always imagine park rangers as looking like Aragorn, carrying a sword, wearing a hooded cloak and having a fashionable amount of stubble, but I've always been proven wrong when I see them.