Fire road

There’s a couple of disadvantages to being in tree country.  One minor, the other major.

There’s a mist first thing and the grass is covered in dew.  The chairs, left out over night are damp.  I wander down to the inlet and catch the mist rolling in from the sea.  The slight rise in humidity is a consequence of living among trees.  Out in the bush we saw no morning mist.  And no damp chairs.

Since we started this odyssey, we’ve travelled east from Perth, then south to the Southern Ocean before turning west.  Now we continue to travel west for about 100 miles before turning north to our last campsite at Margaret River on the Indian Ocean.  We’ll stay here for 4 nights, before heading back up to Perth.

The road twists and turns from Walpole and we begin to see Vineyards stretching across the hillsides.  More forest and then a sight, both beautiful and horrifying.  A few weeks before we arrived in Australia there was a forest fire in this area and we come across the remains of the inferno.  We follow blackened trees on our right hand side for some 10 miles or so and then reach the point were the fire jumped across the road; we are surrounded.  

Majestic trees, perhaps 20-30m in height are reduced to stumps.  Others have kept their shape but lost their colour as black trunks and branches are offset by golden-brown foliage against a blue sky.  And then an odd sight; like soldiers on parade, grass trees form lines along the roadside, their erect black columns topped by bright green busbies, as the tops regrow. 

We want to stop and blip but it’s too dangerous.  Eventually we come across a side-road abandoned to the fire and pull off.  As we get out of Matilda the smell of burnt timber is everywhere.  But close to the ground new shoots are emerging.  After only 4 weeks or so, nature is fighting back.

Margaret River, when we finally arrive, is a shock.  It’s full of cars and people.  Quite unlike the other places we’ve been to this last week.  It’s a very popular destination for people from Perth; rugged coast line, vineyards and walking and biking trails through the forests.  And being friday, the campsite has families down for the weekend.

The plan for tomorrow is to head down to the lighthouse at Cape Leewin.  This is the very point where the Southern Ocean and Indian Ocean meet.  Anniemay is expecting a dotted line out to sea.  We’ll see.