Postcript to our Road Trip - The Bushfires

It reached 45 celsius the next day!

No doubt by now many of you will have read or seen news resports of the horrific fires that have swept through Victoria. This is Australia’s worst disaster. The confirmed death toll this morning was 173, but that will rise a lot more. Over 750 homes have been destroyed, 5000 people have been evacuated and vast swathes of land have been destroyed. It has been heartbreaking to watch the news and hear of parents who have lost their children, and children who have lost their parents. The ones who count themselves lucky are those who escaped with their family and just the clothes on their backs.

Many of the areas that Roger and I visited have been badly affected. The Rochford Winery, where we saw Leonard Cohen, is on the Maroondah Highway near Healsville, which has been under serious threat since yesterday. The Tidal River campsite we stayed on in Wilson’s Promontory was evacuated yesterday as a rapidly building fire was affecting the Promontory. We had passed very close to the town of Marysville which was all but wiped out.

The Australians are an amazingly resilient people and offers of help poured in immediately. Funds have been set up to help those so badly affected. Lisa’s firm, Amcor, have offered to match any money raised by the staff. A newspaper group has offered $1,000,000.

On Australia Day I listened to the radio where people were asked what made them proud to be Australian. I think the reactions of people to this unprecedented disaster would make any one proud to be Australian – apart from those murderers (the Prime Minister’s words) who started the fires.

Phillip Island to Mentone- 170 Km - 45 degees

SATURDAY 31 JANUARY 2009

We drove back to Tony’s house in order to clean the very dusty vehicle before returning it to Britz. It had been a great trip with varied countryside and a fantastic way to visit Victoria.

The temperature reached 45 degrees in Melbourne yesterday, breaking all records. Some serious bush fires broke out in Gipsland on Thursday, not far from where we had been travelling. It took about three days to get them under control and about 29 houses, several cars and a wide area of farmland and bush were destroyed. Problems continued in Melbourne with about 750 trains cancelled and power cuts across the city and suburbs to limit the use of electricity, resulting in people being stuck in lifts, air conditioners failing, and the cancellation of the Roberta Flack concert on Friday. About 30 people died due to heat related causes, and many of the vineyards in the Murray River and Yarra Valley areas have lost a most of their crop.

The state of our van at the end of 4 weeks!

Wilsons Promontory to Phillip Island

 FRIDAY 30 JANUARY 2009

The Nobbies, Phillip Island

We drove the 147 Kilometers to Phillip Island, crossing the 640 meter bridge which joins it to the mainland. 

We walked along the boardwalks to The Nobbies in the afternoon and stayed to see the Penguin Parade in the evening.

Phillip Island is home to about 32,000 Little Penguins and is one of the few areas where Little Penguins can ben seen.  Every evening at sunset they come ashore in groups and it was wonderful to see them coming out of the sea and marching up the beach.