The next day - not quite as early... we had to head out to go to work again so us toyvoyagers came along for the ride... you wouldn't remember - but this last Summer (in January) we had some scorchers of days... days that easily were 45'c+, very dry heat... and on the 8th of January - a lot of wind... something Sara says she's never seen before... there was a very large bush fire near her, about 30 km South of where she lived so she was safe... but still quite unnerving... it burned a lot of bush where it used to be quite lush.
The night of the 8th, the bush fire approached the highway where they were hoping they could control it... but it jumped the highway and it lead to this iconic photo... which was on the exact same road we're going on now. Can you imagine driving through that? They closed the road for some parts - but they kept it open in patches.. can you imagine driving through that! Scary!
Deans Gap bush fire raged out of control for another month before it was under control and eventually put out. Thank God! Sara says that she drove through this area when it was still burning and you could smell burning eucalyptus trees. The trunks on the trees are very white and when driving through at night usually they're obvious on the headlights... but when driving through, there was burnt signs, and the trunks of the trees were black - quite haunting! Thankfully no one died or lost their homes... very lucky!
This is only a few months ago now... and now it's turning to Winter and it's quite cold... and the regrowth is coming back. It's amazing how much it's bounced back! Australia is a strange country... some of our eucalyptus trees actually require fire to germinate... people actually have to set fire to them to grow more trees... sounds a bit backwards doesn't it?
The top two photos are the regrowth that you can see visible in patches... and the third photo you can see what the trees used to look like - quite lush... but even then you can still see the ground how it's black from the ground burning during that intense heat...
Sara took these photos though as this is a pretty common looking drive between towns on the South Coast... and then the last photo is of a town called Ulladulla.. which is known for it's surfing. Driving through the main part of town there's not too much to see - but we go back frequently enough that I'll get some better shots one of the next times we head through... unfortunately it was a quick drive through on the way to somewhere else... write again soon!
