PK, sounds like life down under is treating you well. Hope the fires have left you alone.
My wife's sister and her family are in Bright and were evacuated twice from their home. Sounds like things have calmed down a bit and all is safe in their area again.
"The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong, it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair."
-Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless