Bushfires strike fear into the hearts of most Australians. Caravanners are constantly on the alert for signs of smoke, the smell, a certain golden glow that cannot be described, even the shadows that take on an eerie quality. This week while on a Caravan Club muster we found ourselves once more on alert. We can be thankful, but to those caught in nature’s path the losses to homes, livestock and livelihoods have been utterly devastating. Our hearts go out to them.
March 2nd 2019, Toora, Vic
To the south of us Wilson’s Promontory National Park is on fire. Back in Melbourne there are major fires in the Bunyip region in the outer eastern suburbs. It’s hot 37 degrees but we can be thankful that the wind is minimal.
In the evening the sun sets, a crimson ball in a purple smoke haze.
March 3rd 2019, Toora, Vic
We wake to a van filled with smoke. The Tarra Bulga fire has grown, still out of control. The rising sun is still a crimson ball and everything is bathed in a golden glow. We’re quite safe where we are but the smoke becomes so bad that we are forced inside for most of the day. The phone continually beeps with updates and ‘Watch and Act’ warnings. Faces nervously peer at fire maps. Families ring making sure we’re all safe and vice versa. A coating of ash is on the cars and vans.
itchingforhitching 
Oh dear. Is it safe to travel away from it? Don’t leave anything to chance, a high wind can move fires at unbelievable speeds.
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Thankfully we were in a safe place but certainly copping the smoke.
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You are right there is an eerie colour to the sky and a feeling in the air on days of high fire danger that you can only describe when you are near it. Certainly an uneasiness about it.
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We had a club Muster in Traralgon a few years ago when the open cut coal mine caught fire. The highway was closed and we just had to stay put and wait it out with hoses at the ready. The park was being used as an evacuation centre and the choppers were refueling at the airport behind us. There was a hospital beside us so we figured that we couldn’t be in a better protected spot.
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Wow too close for comfort. Luckily I’ve never experienced danger that close on the road, only at home unfortunately- but all was safe in the end. Good house insurance and some irreplaceable memories stashed and the pets and us are out of here if anything happens in the future!
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How frightening. And a phenomenon that seems to be on the increase throughout the world.
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Sadly yes
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Stay safe L.
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All good. Worse for those closer to Melb.
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Thinking of you. I find fire very frightening. In Athens our garden was burnt twice, thank god pilots dropped water on the house and saved it both times. But because of pine woods, it’s a danger every summer. Stay safe!
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Those firefighters are angels in fluoro.
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Just be careful and ready to move at a moments notice. Sounds very scary.
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Our last house was in a bushy area and summer was worrying.
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So sad to see large parts of Bunyip State Park damaged. We rode our horses through much of the devastated areas when we lived in Gembrook. It will take years for the bush to recover.
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It’s just awful, but I think this is the new normal as things get warmer.
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