A family left their Mogo home with only two baskets of clothes, a few Christmas presents and their two dogs before fire destroyed it on New Year's Eve.
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"I didn't know what to do," Janette Glover, grandmother and guardian of Ethan, Kyle and Leroy Beer, said.
She turned on the sprinklers on the roof, packed up the car, and left.
As they departed, the air was hot and windy, and the sky was red and full of smoke.
"I thought we'd be going back," Ms Glover, who had lived at Mogo for 26 years, said.
She and her son took the boys east to stay with family as the flames burnt their material memories.
The boys didn't appear to be stressed at the time, but she worried the ordeal could affect them later.
The family registered at the Hanging Rock evacuation centre and then stayed at the Batemans Bay Coachhouse Marina Resort, before applying for a house.
They have been living since in a holiday home at South Rosedale - a bushland suburb which lost many homes in the fire.
Ms Glover said she was afraid of the fire hazard at first, with bush surrounding their temporary home. It was a lovely house and the beach was close by, but she wanted to be home again.
"I prefer to live at Mogo," she said.
"I've been there for a while. We're not in each others' pockets. They (neighbours) are there if you need them."
She plans to rebuild, and has been in contact with an architect.
"I'm just looking forward to moving back home," she said. "Every day, you think of the stuff you've lost."
Ms Gover finds solace in repotting plants and looks forward to gardening once resettled.
It had been a tough time for the brothers, who dealt with the loss of their home and possessions, a relocation, and were forced to learn from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leroy, 14, and Ethan and Kyle, 15-year-old twins, rarely missed a day of school when life was more normal. Now it was harder to study, Ms Glover said.
When familiar faces from the Clontarf Foundation's Moruya Academy visited, the boys were grateful. Director Charlie Shannon said many students relied on exercise books, workbooks and stationary to study, and staff wanted to check in - while observing social distancing requirements. "The feedback from parents and carers has been very positive, with many grateful they can now work with their young men to ensure continuation of their education," Mr Shannon said.
Staff dropped off Easter treats too. The not-for-profit organisation, based at Moruya High School, aims to improve education, discipline, life skills, self-esteem and employment prospects of young Indigenous men. The agency's goal is to equip boys to participate more meaningfully in society.
Ms Glover said the boys looked forward to sport, excursions and breakfasts with the academy, and counted down the days when they could return to school full-time.
