Photos from the edge

I hadn't downloaded my photo's from my phone when I posted my last few blogs so I thought I'd share some with you. Obviously I don't have a whole lot of photos from the heart of the bushfire zone because taking snaps up there would have been nothing short of insensitive. However I have some photos from 'the edge' attached with stories you might find interesting.

The above photos were taken from teh cellar door of De Bortoli Winery. Verity and I used to enjoy visiting here when we lived in Melbourne. You find it on the left of the Melba Highway as you drive out of Yara Glen. i thought I'd drop in on my way up to the relief centre on the second day I was there just to see how they dealt with that horrific Saturday. As i drove towards the cellar door i could see the smoke haze hovering over the fire burnt vineyards off in the distance. Up on the hill from the cellar door lookout you can see the entire scrub on the hill blackened. What wasn't burned in the fire was scorched by the sun on that Saturday. Staff told me they spent late afternoon dousing spot fires while a wedding reception was being held in their function room.

We drove past this old pub on the Tuesday night and I thought I'd take a quick pic as I drove back past the next day. It's on the corner of the Melba Highway/Flowerdale turnoff (Just past Kinglake). The pub was flattened by the fire, it was an icon and popular local hangout. On Tuesday night locals gathered in the carpark with beers in each hand. It was a necassary ritual for them to reclaim community and some of the normalities of life amongst so much that had been taken away.


On the Sunday before we left Melborune Verity and I visited one of her favorite spots just up the road from where we used to live, Sassafrass. We walked down one of the bushwalk paths and I was astounded at how think the growth was. It kind of set you on edge a bit knowing how quickly the fire ripped through scrub on the next range across the Yara Valley.



The next day Verity dropped me off in Upper Ferntree Gully to have coffee with a friend. Afterwards i walked down to Burwood Hwy to meet her in the car and as i walked I found myself walking the path through the Ferntree Gully fire zone that very nearly ripped through the Dandenongs on that 'Black Saturday'. It's amazing how close it got to the National park and the houses.

'One last look' says Verity as I indicated I'd like to get back down on the flats because this fire danger day was making me nervous. Verity looks out from the lookout in Olinda in disbelief at the hills across the Yara Valley still burning 16 days later. Half an hour later we were at the bottom of the Dandenongs in Ferntree Gully among the wailing CFA sirens and seeing the smoke fo the new Upwey fire in our rearvision mirrors.




Mark