Red sky

The sunrise this morning was so red and beautiful, but it was gone in the blink of and eye.  It was very uplifting and calming and it reminded me of a red sky I once saw in February 2003.  We had been down to Jindabyne to look at some land and were going to camp in Canberra (to do what we finally just did), but could go no further than Cooma, a town just south of Canberra.

It was 3pm, the sky was dark and red, a thick heavy orange/red.....the air was red, and ash was falling from the sky.  It was as if a volcano had errupted and was spewing volcanic ash and fire all around us but it was quiet, very quiet.  

The road north to Canberra was closed.  The Canberra fires had consumed the outskirts of the city and devastated many families and their houses.  We had no clue as to which direction the fires were coming from or going to.  It was still a long way away, but the intensity of the sky and air was amazing, beautiful and scary.  I can't imagine what the people in the Victorian bush fires are still going through.

So we headed to the coast in our faithful old van and camped there.

I pray that the cool southerly change comes through today to dampen the fires still roaring in Victoria.  Our boys pray every night that the fires will stop and the people and animals won't be harmed.  I will always remember Cooma and how red the sky was.