Sunday 5th January - Nowra
Well we have survived the night. Luckily we didn't have to evacuate and the highway is now open, although roads to the west are closed. It's a cooler day with a top of only 22.6 and last night was 18.1. The plan was to head to Goulburn though Kangaroo Valley, but this road is closed as the fire is heading that way. So we'll have to head towards Kiama and then take a left turn to Goulburn from there, where we will stay a few nights. Today has been cold, especially when compared to yesterday. Thankfully , it was not as bad as New Years Eve, even though some more property has been lost. Clive went to Mass again at St. Michael's. Over Christmas they have Mass in the multi-purpose hall, due to the crowds that attend. Next week they will be back in the old church again. So after Mass, Clive went and had a look at it as it was open. This church was opened on the 30th September 1877. It has some beautiful stained glass windows behind the Alter and many Christian statues, placed high on the walls, so that they appear to be looking down on you. Clive thought that The Stations Of The Cross suited this old style building.Saturday 4th January - Nowra
Well D-Day has arrived. It got to 38.3 and overnight was 21.7. An eerie sort of day. As of 4pm we are blocked in as they have shut the Highway North from here. The fire has jumped the Shoalhaven River and is at North Nowra. Lots of sirens and they are advising people to seek shelter. The sky has had an orange glow to it all afternoon. It's been pretty dark for most of this time. A cool change came through at 7.30pm, but this is also adding fuel to the fires as the wind is now blowing in a different direction. When fires get to a certain size they can create their own weather systems. This is what this one has done as we can hear 'thunder' and also black rain has fallen. This is water that as it falls collects ash. The car is filthy again. We have our emergency plans ready if required to evacuate. Hand bag and briefcase, where we have our passports etc., will be thrown into a big hessian bag along with our medication. This was a big bag we were given in another park for putting recyclables in. Everything else we need to take is already in the car. We can't do much else until we are told what to do. Mot of the evening was spent watching TV for updates on the fires. A few people have left the park, but most are staying.