"We've had fire, flood and fire in the last three years and we hope not to see more," says John Bartlett. Despite the trials of the past three years, John and Christine Bartlett love their home, a patch of paradise, near the Grampians National Park in western Victoria.
"I absolutely love it. When you look around, we are in a sort of a valley and there are mountains all around," John says. In January 2011, Christine and John say their beautiful world came crashing down. Without much notice the floods swept through. "In the time that it takes to boil the jug for a cuppa there was water just gushing like a waterfall across our driveway. We got flooded from both sides of our property instead of just from the creek," Christine recalls.
John says, they were not prepared enough and the whole situation was very stressful. "I'm not a person that cries but I did have a little tear in the eye there a couple of times thinking I have no idea what to do."
"What we were concerned about was what we were going to lose, what we had lost and what was going to happen afterwards," John says openly.
Adding to the tensions, Christine has serious health concerns. "I've got emphysema. It was very stressful, I ended up going to hospital for one night," just after the floods hit.
After seven days in motel rooms and relief centres, Christine says, amid tears, that she will never forget driving down the road and first seeing their property.
"When we came into our place, it looked like a bomb had hit it. It was grey, it was dirty, it was all slushy and, yeah, it was really awful," Christine says emotionally.
Christine has trouble remembering it all. "Just after we got back I collapsed again and they took me to the hospital because I had bleeding in the brain as well as a stroke," she says. Christine was in hospital for about eight days.
John lost "countless thousands of dollars worth of tools" in the floods so they were both very grateful when a small grant came through from the Victorian Floods Disaster Relief Fund. "It helped out a lot. It just took a little edge off the feeling so horrible about what happened, you know. It gave you a bit of a smile that someone was helping you out," Christine says.
Both Christine and John are very grateful to Red Cross for providing personal support over the past year. "It gave me someone to talk to, to vent anything you didn't feel too good about, it was really good," Christine says.
John has also found Red Cross support invaluable. "Red Cross were always there, they wanted to give us a hand and they left a few booklets, they helped us out, a bit of peace of mind. You didn't feel so stressed."
Much of the mess on their property has been sorted out, Christine says, though she points out "we're still cleaning up … still a lot of rubbish piled."
Every morning, Christine and John get up and watch the birds, kangaroos and other wildlife. Christine gets solace from being at one with nature. "I can sit for hours and just watch them," she says.
John says he would not be anywhere else. "We are lucky, yeah. I couldn't ask for anymore. I love it". Christine agrees. "I wouldn't go anywhere else. I love it, I really do … because it is absolutely beautiful."
Photos: Thousands of dollars of tools and machinery floated away and were destroyed in the Victorian floods in January 2011. Christine and John Bartlett are making sure they are better prepared for any possible future disaster. Times have been tough since they were hit by the Victorian floods in January 2011 but Christine and John love a good laugh. Australian Red Cross/Rodney Dekker.
Back to Victorian floods 2011.