Nina, it will be fun, as there is nothing like home and old friends to create the enviroment for relaxing… Although some good bush walking swimming is what I really need.

On this trip I will travel with my banjo, and pine for the guitar..the risk of damange is ever present, as I once had a favorite guitar damaged in Hong Kong .. alas it’s always a risk.

Thank you for your well wishes and I hope you have the opportunity to take a break. Have you ever been to the highlands(Genting/Cameron?) I loved the couple christmas’s that I was fortunate to experience in Malaysia.(Penang)
jumpa lagi…:j

Ruth, the past has proven fire to be a natural phenomena, with the ecology of Australian bush, adapting to it.

However the effects of climate change appear to be accelerating the process that spawns fire, the lack of water due to a long drought has created a virtual powder keg. The wildlife is at risk and a number people have given their lives fighting fires this season, and January is the real bad time for fires in OZ.

I have fought bushfires and feel for those who are in the front line now.
My friends and I will cook some good music while reflecting on the loss.. Thank You ..:j

Well there were serious bush fires in mountains around the north of the La trobe valley ,where I was born,and my dad and sisters still live(200k east of melbourne )
A series of fires conbined into one front and subsqently caused considerable ecological damage over hundreds of sq kilometers.

On my return the sky was grey and the air was rich with a choking mix of humidity and smoke. I flew into Melbourne airport, hired a small economical car and headed down the South Gippsland highway reorienting myself with the foibles of RH driving again.

I activated my Australian mobile phone headed to the south coast to stay with my longtime friends Peda and Ruth who not only have a great house that is a block away from the ocean but are excellent musicians and totally unfazed buy my need just chill out with them for a couple of days before catching up with rest of the family

The trip coincided with the 5th the anniversary of my mothers passing, this was making me ponder, I was working in Saudi Arabia when she died, a problem associated with being an absent family member is the guilt you feel, for not feeling guilty. Although I have a good relationship with my sisters I opted just to do couple of day trips to see my various family members, I love my family however no way I could live with them, and course the beach, well! After coming from the snow bound region of Alberta Canada was just like a bewitching siren to me. The good news for me was that all my nieces and nephews were healthy looking good and going places
Anyway what I going to say before I started digressing was that the rain came down in torrents it was fantastic huge drops of warm water that cleared the sky freshened the air and quenched some of the fires. Anyway that was the first week, The other 5 involved going over to Perth seeing more friends in a with a background some red wine and lots of music. I traveled back to Victoria accompanied by my (25y) of event organizer while I was relegated to that of chauffeur. We revisited family and friends. She stole the show, I sat and listened it worked well