I was born and raised in the suburbs of Melbourne, but my love of the Australian bush is part of the reason I now live beyond the fringes of the city. I have two daughters and a son (who all grew u...view moreI was born and raised in the suburbs of Melbourne, but my love of the Australian bush is part of the reason I now live beyond the fringes of the city. I have two daughters and a son (who all grew up one day when I blinked) but I haven't been able to consider having another pet since Spud died. We live in a community affected by the Black Saturday bushfires. You have to look for the silver linings - but my son doesn't agree with me that the destruction of his childhood plastic-crap collection falls into that category. When I hear of another community, somewhere in the world, that has been affected by yet another extreme natural disaster (symptomatic of our damaged climate) my heart bleeds for them.view less