Ukrainian children's author and refugee Hanna Bilyk doesn't know what the next chapter in her life will bring so she is simply living day by day and cherishing every moment with her daughter in Launceston, northern Tasmania.
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"Make the most of every moment" - that is the message Ms Bilyk wants to share, after her ordeal fleeing war-torn Ukraine and being reunited with her daughter, Iryna Bohlscheid, and three grandchildren.
"Please look after your family and cherish every moment you spend with them because you do not know when the last time will be," Ms Bilyk said.
"Do not postpone your life for tomorrow, appreciate every minute and enjoy it now."
Before the war, Ms Bilyk lived in a small apartment in the Kyiv neighbourhood of Troieshchyna, on the city's northern outskirts and near a major power station that would become a Russian target.
When the invasion started, chaos and panic quickly overtook Ukraine's capital with the main train station overrun with people desperate to flee.
Leaving at that time did not seem like an option, Ms Bilyk said.
Moving to and from shelters was also dangerous and an added fear was Russia bombing large dams that would have flooded districts of Kyiv, drowning people who had sought refuge below ground.
Ms Bilyk weighed the risks and decided to stay in Kyiv and hunker down in her apartment, where she had stockpiled food and water, hoping to survive the first wave of bombing.
"I was especially scared on the second day of the war when the Russians were trying to destroy the nearby power station," Ms Bilyk said.
"We could constantly hear and feel explosions from the missiles that were flying in the air and exploding somewhere nearby.
"The walls in my apartment would shake and I had to hide in the bathroom in case a bomb would fall on the building.
"I slept in the bathtub from the start of war until the time that I left.
"When missiles and bombs are flying around things start shaking like during an earthquake.
"You could feel the cold power of death in the air."
Escaping a direct hit was no guarantee of survival as missiles ignited fires and shockwaves from bombing caused buildings to collapse, killing people trapped in shelters below.
"People were scared, everyone was scared - everyone knew someone who had died," she said.
"You would just read the news and then think - 'Will my life be taken next?'"
After eight days of terror, Ms Bilyk decided to leave and try to reach safety in Tasmania, to be with her daughter.
"After we survived the first wave it became obvious that the Russians had run out of supplies and there was a small window of opportunity to leave," she said.
She scrambled belongings into a backpack hoping to board a train from Kyiv to Lviv, in western Ukraine, then another across the border to Poland.
The train rides were extremely crowded, stressful and slow - stopping for curfews and to avoid bombing.
"We were just like cattle in a barn," she said.
"I was feeling really sorry for mothers with little children who were also on the trains."
After finally reaching Lviv, she then had to fight to board a train to Poland.
"I missed three trains because there were many people in the front of me," she said.
"It was a very emotional and exhausting trip.
"When my daughter called me I did not even recognise her voice because I was so stressed."
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Once in Poland Ms Bilyk stayed in a refugee centre while she and her daughter made plans for her final leg to Tasmania.
Mrs Bohlscheid immigrated to Australia in 2006 and lives with her husband and three children in Launceston, which she describes as paradise.
"My love for Tasmania grows every day - this is a true paradise," she said.
But she said watching the war from afar and not knowing whether family and friends were safe had been nightmarish.
"If someone would ask me about the war I would burst into tears," Mrs Bohlscheid said.
"My days were starting with texts to my mother and my friends in Kyiv to see if they were all still alive.
"I could not sleep for days.
"I would check and text messages after each air strike - it was a nightmare. It is still."
Mrs Bohlscheid drove from Launceston to Sydney to meet her mother on arrival, to enormous relief for both.
"I could not believe we made it. I honestly wasn't even sure if I would ever be able to see her again in the light of all COVID lockdowns and then the war," she said.
Ms Bilyk is settling into Launceston life and studying English.
Places such as City Park remind her of home and even the winter weather is a respite, compared with the minus 10 degrees Celsius she experienced in Kyiv before she left.
One of Ms Bilyk's passions is writing poems and children's stories in Ukrainian to help preserve the language and to also promote traditional art.
"I am going to continue my writing career and hopefully publish more books for children," she said.
Organisations supporting war-torn Ukrainians:
