Yes,  I am still alive and kicking (ok, so maybe not kicking). Since I have been back so many people have said ‘what a shame you couldn’t finish the trip’ and yes, seeing some of Roger’s photos of the beautiful clear water, I occasionally agree with them.

But you know something, you don’t have to sail half way around the world to have an adventure,  you can find them right in your own back yard, if you look hard enough.

So it was a normal Saturday and I could have chosen to stay in and watch tv. But a paddock burn had been arranged on the estate and they needed all hands on deck (damn old habits die hard). Now a paddock burn, for those of you not accustomed to Australian bush life, is where, before the spring and summer arrives, they burn back all the tall winter grass in order to minimise the chance of a bush fire. It is a controlled (well that’s the intention anyway) burn, so everyone has to help keep it under control.

So, as I was saying, I could have stayed on the sofa, but instead, I donned my boots, gloves and cap and headed for our South Paddock, where everyone was meeting for the briefing.

As is usual in any Australian activity, there was a considerable amount of grog being consumed (not by me I hasten to add) and some of the volunteers were in danger of self combusting.

We were given our instructions and equipment, which in my case was a gunny sack which had been soaked in water, to use to beat out the fire.

Everyone piled on the back of Col’s truck to save walking the kilometre or so to the where we were starting the fire.

As it was my first paddock burn I was allowed to set my first (intentional) fire, so I simply struck a single match and dropped it on the grass, within seconds we were off.

All was going well until the wind swung round (just like sailing) and was blowing the fire in the direction of the Pacific Highway, so it was down to all of us to stop it, some of us had backpacks for spraying water and the rest of us were beaters.

The smoke was acrid and sparks from the fire were flying everywhere, the crackling from the burning saplings sounded like firecrackers going off.

We managed to keep the fire from spreading and thankfully the wind swung back in the direction we wanted.

It is such an awesome spectacle, the bright orange flames lighting the trees against the backdrop of a starlight sky. 

Someone had reported the fire and it wasn’t long before we had the attendance of the local fire brigade, offering their services. But they were happy we had it under control. In fact we had called them earlier in the week to advise them that we would be having a burn back and they were happy with the provisions we had made.

Two hours after I dropped the match, it was all over bar the shouting, so I hitched a ride on Keith’s tractor back to my car and headed home for a well earned bath.

I was so pleased I had gone, not only was it an amazing experience (and as close as I want to get to a bush fire) , but it also gave me a much better idea of how to deal with a bush fire, which considering we live in a fire zone, is no bad thing.

So you see, it’s really all up to you, you can have all the adventures you want right on your door step, you just have to get off the sofa first.