Christmas 2001

Most Christmas Days the family gathers out at Len and Judy's at Silverdale. 2001 was no different except that Sydney had been battling bushfires for a couple of weeks and Christmas Day started out hot and windy. We'd watched the fires up on the mountains the night before and we woke to a thick pall of smoke hanging over Emu Plains.

Liz decided to head out to Silverdale early in her car, Charlie and I decided to go later in the QEIII. A good decision as it turned out.

At Wallacia we were stunned with this menacing scene heading east across the mountains and wondered if it would reach Warragamba and Silverdale.



Right in the middle of Christmas dinner all hell broke loose. The firestorm had jumped the dam and was heading straight for Warragamba and Silverdale. Everyone except Len, Greg, Charlie and I gathered the valuables and pets and drove to Emu Plains, taking 2 hours due to road blocks etc.

We stayed to save the house and it was a terrifying 2 or 3 hours before the danger had passed. The house was safe but Silverdale was a disaster area with many houses destroyed and those remaining had no power, no phone and no way out of the area. All roads were blocked.



For the next 2 days the QEIII became our home and our base. We had scanning radios so we could stay up to date with the latest emergency news and we had power for lighting and our gas cookers. Importantly we had plenty of ice in the esky and plenty of beer.