Hello, Peter! No, I'm not in Oz, just in western Washington State, USA.

I am a great fan of Bill Mollison, and while I don't agree with a few of his opinions and ideas, he has provided much incredibly good information.

Some people don't realize that earth-sheltered homes or survival bunkers take a long time to heat up, and if they're all or partly underground, the cooler soil temperatures will help to mitigate above-ground temperatures, even if they are extreme.

The simple half-underground survival domes that architect Nader Khalili came up with over 40 years ago, created with just a shovel, sandbags and a roll of barbed wire would be workable structures for most of the households in the entire world. They are fireproof and earthquake-stable. I haven't been able to find photos of those first shelters, just his current crop of above-ground shelters shown at his website http://calearth.org/.

But the premise is simple: mark a 10-ft circle on flat ground. Start digging straight down within the circle, filling the sandbags with the soil from the circle. Stack the sandbags alternating brick-style just outside the marked circle. Allow for a doorway. Lay two strands of barbed wire between each layer of sandbags to prevent shifting. Gradually move the sandbags inward to form a dome. Frame the doorway and add a door. In fire areas, I would use ferro-concrete 'timbers' with door hardware built into it. In areas of heavy rain, I would cover the dome with heavy plastic or a layer of concrete, then cover the entire thing (not the door) with a thick layer of soil, one to two feet thick. Plant it with something with a good root system like clover to keep it cool and keep the soil in place.

Sue