*The Blue Mountains of Australia, October 2013.*

I’ve been watching the news about the Australian bushfires with some dread: a little over 6 years ago, I was able to visit this beautiful country with Tourism Australia, so I have a special place in my heart for this amazing place. Bushfires aren’t uncommon in Australia (in fact, when I visited the Blue Mountains in 2013, we had to drive past some of them on the way back to the airport); however, the devastation this fire season has been unprecedented.

It’s been hard for me to look at the images of the devastation (especially the wildlife that has been hurt), but I have donated to causes in the hopes that my few dollars will make a difference. And although rain is finally coming to Australia, the rain might bring its own problems, including possible flooding and landslides from the newly burnt land.

As I’ve been following the news, it suddenly dawned on me that I’ve been relatively silent about this crisis here on the blog (although I did say something on Twitter a week or so ago). So as Australia leaves the new cycle, I thought I would share some of the organizations that could still use your help. They’re at the bottom of this post, below some of my favourite photographs that I took of the area while I was there.

Thanks for your help, friends.