Rifling through the shoebox on my back deck, I pulled out my steelcap boots.
It was November 2014 and, as a volunteer for the Donald Country Fire Authority in Victoria, I was gearing up to head out and sandbag properties to help protect them from raging floodwaters.
Suddenly, I felt a stinging sensation on my left forearm, and I spotted a tiny black speck crawling up it.
Must be a bug, I thought, brushing it off.
But as my arm began to pulse with pain, a strange sickly feeling took hold of my
