One of the interesting things about Australia is that they readily admit they have a drinking problem with "Bottle Shops" on almost every corner (there were 26 in the small town of Port Douglas!) and beer and wine sold in grocery stores as well. On the highway you will pass a sign declaring "Police in this area are targeting Drink Driving" one minute and then go past a drive through bottle shop, like the Thirsty Camel store pictures below, the next minute.
The day we chose to take the "Great Ocean Road" we had perfect weather and stopped at a number of surf stores, scenic viewpoints and expansive beaches along the way. This picture is from Surf Beach and Danger Point, so named due to the number of shipwrecks that occurred along the coast here. Those little dots in the picture are surfers and people walking along the shore with the tide out. It's hard to imagine from this small picture the size and beauty of this stretch of beach but trust me it was amazing.
This is Bell's Beach where they have the Rip Curl Pro surfing championships next month. You can see some a number of spectator grandstands in the top right corner of the picture but again it's hard to grasp the scale of it from a small picture.
Other sites along the 5 hour 150 km winding drive include the Aireys point lighthouse.
At one point we stopped at a stand of Eucalyptus trees where a number of cars had stopped and people were pointing up into the trees. We counted 10 Koalas right in that one spot, hanging in the trees right above the highway. Here are two of the cute animals right next to each other.
Some of them were sleeping but some were moving around in the tree tops like this one, swaying and peering down at us from the end of a branch that looked hardly big enough to support him (I know it's a him due to the marking on his chest).
One of the most photographed and spectacular sites along the road is the 12 Apostles, which is a series of 6 limestone towers (there used to be 12 at one time) carved by the waves from the surrounding cliffs.
On the next day, we drove from Melbourne to Wodonga and passed through the King Lake area that was absolutely devastated by bush fires a few weeks ago which we all heard about on the news. Pictures do not really reflect the devastation and I really cannot describe in words what it was like to see the miles and miles of burnt trees, charred forests, burned out cars and leveled homes, knowing that many people died in the fires.
It was a perfect storm situation with 4 years of draught conditions, the halting of planned burning of the under brush due to "Greeny" protests, high winds and 46 deg C temperatures to boot. Here is a picture of a once stately home with a garage off to the side and only a few pieces of metal remaining.
Here is a picture of what's left of a brick house where the entire contents have been burned out so that very little remains. In some cases you would see a burned out house next to one perfectly intact, followed by another burned out shell. I suppose that chance decided which way the winds would blow and which houses would be destroyed and which ones would remain but regardless everyones life has been changed forever.
This is Bell's Beach where they have the Rip Curl Pro surfing championships next month. You can see some a number of spectator grandstands in the top right corner of the picture but again it's hard to grasp the scale of it from a small picture.
Other sites along the 5 hour 150 km winding drive include the Aireys point lighthouse.
At one point we stopped at a stand of Eucalyptus trees where a number of cars had stopped and people were pointing up into the trees. We counted 10 Koalas right in that one spot, hanging in the trees right above the highway. Here are two of the cute animals right next to each other.
Some of them were sleeping but some were moving around in the tree tops like this one, swaying and peering down at us from the end of a branch that looked hardly big enough to support him (I know it's a him due to the marking on his chest).
One of the most photographed and spectacular sites along the road is the 12 Apostles, which is a series of 6 limestone towers (there used to be 12 at one time) carved by the waves from the surrounding cliffs.
On the next day, we drove from Melbourne to Wodonga and passed through the King Lake area that was absolutely devastated by bush fires a few weeks ago which we all heard about on the news. Pictures do not really reflect the devastation and I really cannot describe in words what it was like to see the miles and miles of burnt trees, charred forests, burned out cars and leveled homes, knowing that many people died in the fires.
It was a perfect storm situation with 4 years of draught conditions, the halting of planned burning of the under brush due to "Greeny" protests, high winds and 46 deg C temperatures to boot. Here is a picture of a once stately home with a garage off to the side and only a few pieces of metal remaining.
Here is a picture of what's left of a brick house where the entire contents have been burned out so that very little remains. In some cases you would see a burned out house next to one perfectly intact, followed by another burned out shell. I suppose that chance decided which way the winds would blow and which houses would be destroyed and which ones would remain but regardless everyones life has been changed forever.
In some cases the owners were allowed and almost encouraged to stay based on government recommendations, which I am sure are being reviewed, but this fire storm had a life and ferocity of it's own like none that had ever been seen before. Even though more than a hundred people perished we heard many stories of bravery and sacrifice so that a number of people were saved that otherwise may have died. It's not a sight that we will soon forget or ever want to see again.
1 comment:
It must have been somewhat overwhelming seeing such devastation up close. We followed it on the news and were saddened from afar.
Chuck and Cath
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