Canberra, Bushfires and the Man from Snowy River

If I were to poll all the readers of this blog I bet almost none of you would know the name Banjo Patterson. Be honest now. Perhaps some of you are thinking since reading the title of this entry that he is the “Man”. You’de be wrong – in a way. AB “Banjo” Patterson was the man who penned ‘Waltzing Maltilda’ – Australia’s unofficial anthem. He was, however, the man who also wrote the poem ‘The Man from Snowy River’ ( a copy can be read HERE). It was after spending some time with Jack Riley that Patterson penned the poem and thus Riley, who was an accomplished bush and horseman, was to become known as the ‘Man’. I tell you this story because after travelling from the capital of Canberra (more on that in a moment) we went into the Snowy mountains to the resort town of Thredbo. After playing for a few days in Thredbo (check the pics) we drove out past Tom Groggin Station (where Riley worked) and into the town of Corryong where he was buried. It is beautiful country and in Jack Riley’s days it had to have been wild. It is very, very similar to parts of BC – it is the mountains after all – and Thredbo gave us a taste of home, as well as the coldest weather we have had since being here….7C is cold you know!

Canberra, as Australia’s Capital, does not get the credit it deserves. The city is gorgeous. The spot was picked in a contest and designed in about1913 before they ever built it so the streets and boulevards are huge, tree lined, and really help the city flow. It is a built around a lake and is filled with National monuments, museums and galleries. Many of the attractions are free as well which makes it an important stop for the discerning (read cheap) traveler. We visited the National War Museum, the Canadian High Commission, the National Science Museum, Black Mountain Tower and even sat through Question Period in Parliament. There was some serious arguing, name calling and general bad behaviour while we were there – perfect for watching. Although trying to explain to your nine year old why the ‘leaders’ of the country act like her five year old sister can prove to be a challenge. We can’t say enough good things about the city, it was really wonderful, even though it reached 40 on two of our days there. And those temps bring us to the bushfires.

We were in Canberra, at 40C, on the terrible Saturday that brought much of the destruction to the areas you have all heard about on the news. We were headed in the direction of the state of Victoria when it all happened and it is why we detoured through the mountains to Thredbo. Our first inkling of how big things were was when the valley in Thredbo filled with smoke and yet the fires where a few hundred kms away. We left for Melbourne on the Wednesday after the fires and connected up on the main freeway that links Sydney and Melbourne. Heading into Melbourne we drove at least 50km in smoke and then another 40k or so where the fires had actually crossed the highway and burned out farms along the freeway. Suddenly things were very real to us! Everyone in Melbourne has been affected somehow. The fire area is very close and many Melbournians either regularly go up into the mountains there, or work there, or have places up there. In fact on the tram on our first day a lady asked us where we were from and after talking with her for only a moment she broke down because she had lost a place near King Lake. The emotion was extremely raw. So many of the dead are entire families that stayed in their homes. Some with very young children, who just couldn’t get out because the fire came too quickly. That has certainly added to the burden of all Australians. Melbourne was again full of smoke on the morning of Saturday the 14th as we awoke – a very real reminder that the fires are not out yet either. The spirit of this country has truly come alive though over this tragedy as they have donated like crazy: from time, to goods, to over 100 million in cash is less than 7 days. It is awe-inspiring to be here watching this country pull together to help the families of 187 now dead and more than 7000 homeless.

We have lots of photos again to view, many of Canberra, some of Thredbo and the Snowy Mountains. We have a few from Melbourne (for the sporting crowd I dragged the family to a cricket match at the Mebourne Cricket Ground, seats 95000, where Ayden and I made the big screen!) and finally a few of some of the fire damage we saw along the way in and out of Melbourne

Hope this finds you all well and healthy. A big thanks to the Radtke family for their hospitality in Melbourne. After meeting up with them in Queensland after Christmas it was great to see them again and for the girls to play with Maddie. If you’re ever in Canada….

View the latest group of photos HERE

Love and hugs,

The Martin’s

"Education By Experience" - The Only Way to Teach

Adventure. What is adventure? Why is falling from a plane an adventure for some and sheer lunacy to others. Why, or why isn't, walking on a mountain track to a waterfall considered adventure? I’m not much of a philosopher but it seems to me that adventure can be so subjective. Our grand ‘adventure’ started as just getting our act together enough to get out of Prince George. That, thankfully, has since changed for us and adventure includes a definition that will be changed forever in the eyes of our children, and us. Some of the things we have done in the last while will definitely live on in the memories of Ayden Jane and Sophie. It has been the utmost of grand adventure!

In and around our time at Myella (the Farmstay – see the blog entry below) we have participated in a wide variety of activities that will, yet again, define our trip to Australia.

Perhaps the highlight of all was going to a very special place in the world called Mon Repos. It is a turtle rookery that allows a set number of people each night for 4 months to witness an incredible event. We sat up late into the evening waiting our turn to get our guide to take us onto the starlit beach. When our turn finally came we were fortunate enough to be part of both the emergent turtle hatchlings making their scared dash across the beach to the safety of the water but then also to watch a female LoggerHead turtle come quietly up from the water to build her nest and lay over 170 eggs. The girls were amazed, Marnie and I were in awe. We felt so fortunate to part of this awesome cycle of life. Our pics just don’t do the event justice, but they are there for the viewing.

Our adventures have also included finding fresh water creek pools with incredible waterfalls tumbling from above (we even did some rock jumping!), we saw Goana’s (bigger than 1m) wrestling for territory, climbed around limestone caves, played with 1000’s of soldier crabs, we actually hand fed wild dolphins, saw wild rays, turtles and dolphins in the shallow waters crashing around the most Eastern point of land in Oz, climbed out on skywalks above the rainforest, …..and, whew, more.

Another highlight event we participated in was that we hiked up a small mountain and, as the sun dropped, watched more than 100,000 Bent-winged bats fly around us as they exited their 40m deep cave – all the while dodging pythons who were there to feast on the bats as we watched. Check out the snake behind Marnie’s leg in the photos! This is one of the only places in the entire world that these maternity dens exist – so it was incredible to see this in person.

We had the very good fortune to spend Australia Day here in Oz with the Abrahams. What a great blessing to be with them, especially Todd, to share in the pride of his country. Yes, we had shrimp on the Barbie as part of our celebrations that day. Sadly, we have left the Gold Coast area and headed deeper South, leaving Queensland for New South Wales and parts beyond. With leaving there we leave of course, the A’s. We just cannot tell you all enough how much we have enjoyed our time with them. They were such a blessing to the four of us; guiding, sharing, encouraging and just being there with us on this Aussie adventure. For those of you that know Todd and Leanne and kids, we can honestly tell you that it seems like Australia is the perfect fit for them. Yes, it is far from all of us in Canada, but they are happy, healthy and really working towards a life that fits their ‘blood’! We feel so honoured to have shared so much with them while being here and are so thankful for all their help. Thank-you so much A’s.

As always we have photos – and this posting there are a bunch. I just couldn't trim them down much more so it may take a while to get through them all. Hope you all enjoy. The photos can be viewed HERE.

Take care everyone, hope you are all well.

Jp, Marnie, Ayden-Jane and Sophie