Bermagui Flora and Fauna Reserve

This is the start of our road trip - a two night stay in The Beach House in Bermagui about a 3.5 hour drive east from Canberra on the Pacific coast. We stopped after about an hour for a pie in Braidwood, a typical Aussie country town, then continued to Bermagui. To date we have seen nothing of the bushfires, this was about to change. The area is mainly National Park forestry and in places you could see the lush green vegetation, how it should be. This is in massive contrast to vast areas where there are only charred trunks and brown leaves of burned trees, as if someone had turned off the colour leaving only a brown sepia image of what used to be. So far the damage was mainly to vegetation and eerily a total lack of animal life. The impact on humans seemed limited. This was not the case In Mogo. This small town had a number of buildings turned to rubble protected by metal fencing. It was very moving and I couldn't bring myself to take any photos - it didn't seem right and would not have been respectful to those who had lost their homes, livelihood and even their lives.

Bermagui was thankfully unaffected and the Beach House commands an amazing view over Bermagui Beach. The effects of the cyclone were agitating the sea and producing white breakers and higher than usual tides. We sat on the balcony and watched the local bird life and then Lisa, Dave and Ali went for a walk while I prepared dinner. Bruschetta with tomato,onion, lime and corriander followed by Barramundi fillet with a creamy curry sauce. Finished off with a chocolate dessert from Woolies.

Also today was the 20th anniversary of when we got engaged. Happy anniversary to my wonderful wife.Read more