We were living in Blacktown in 1994 when Sydney was almost surrounded by bushfires to the North,  Lane Cove and the Royal National Park and to West in the Blue Mountains. While we were never threatened, we could stand at our back step and see the orange glow of the flames in the distance. The sky was like dusk in the middle of the day. Charred gumleaves floated in on the hot wind. News of it went all around the world and relatives in Germany contacted us to see if we were ok. They'd seen pictures of the Blacktown fire engines in their news.

We were living in Penrith at that time. It was simply horrific to see the glow of the fires in the distance, and the smoke was just everywhere.A real nightmare.