King Waka's Korner: The 2019 Xmas Break we never Had

Currowan Fires

After living down here the past 14 years and have had experience numerous ' bush fires' over that time frame you sort of get use to having to have a escape plan if needed , have that battery operated radio and torch on standby , plenty of food and water ready to go, you know all the things they say on the TV and radio ' in case of a bush fire threat ' but you think nah, ' its not going to get that bad ' or ' we will be sweet ' attitude .....well this one caught out all of us...big time! It was late November and I was talking to one of my mates that is also a volunteer with the RFS and he mentioned this fire that was started by a lightning strike down south, he kept shaking his head and saying this is not going to be good and there is no stopping this, so with the combination of a year long drought, no back burning at all for the past 10 years during the cooler winter months , a ' fire dragon or monster' had started and there was no stopping it till it burnt the whole coast.read below this link from The Canberra Times

-fire-a-monster-on-the-loose/

Thank You Bob Hawke
I drank a 6 pack after fighting
the ember attack!

This fire had 3 goes at scorching us and we were lucky to get away with no damage or loss of property where as many a village , even whole towns were wiped out! The 1st go was on Thursday 20 of December and I was down early for a surf at Sussex and had just got out and back to my car when my phone rang and was told to get my backside home as there was a fire approaching from the west and they expected to shut Sussex Road , so by the time I arrived home there was black plumes of smoke coming toward us and a fleet of water bombing craft buzzing over our property hammering this fire till a late south change came thru and they were able to get it under control...no worries I thought and the next few days there was spot fires, little outbreaks here and there and enough to keep you on edge and listening to the radio and watching the fires near me app for up dates, then with predicated hot weather and winds NYE arrived and it really started to heat up , walking outside our house was like walking into a blowtorch and sure enough as predicted the fire again cranked up , fueled by extremely hot winds and again all we could do was listen to the radio and scanner and watch the app for updates. I was more prepared this second time round and after a group meeting amongst the surrounding neighbors , we all agreed to stay and fight to save our houses if need be, well with the approaching fire in site and water bombers ( planes and helicopters ) flying overhead again there was a knock on the door at 1.30 pm from a fire fighter asking if we were staying or going and how many in the house? Its getting real now and the day was starting to turn into nigh time , I walked out side and all I could hear was a huge roar & everything had gone black, my son and I both had goggles and masks with hoses in hand when the ember attack started , it was like shooting stars falling out of the sky , hot embers trying to light up dry material which last for what felt a eternity , with both my son and myself hosing down the house and stomping out anything burning on the ground and was one of the most scariest things I have ever experience and luckily again and south change saved the day by cooling things down , a really eerie feeling walking around in this dark red glow !! Of course the power and internet was long gone but we had our trusty battery radio and lights but it was still a sleepless night till the next morning till we could see the overall damage to the area , and we were lucky with our street not getting toasted but along the main hwy it was a different scene with fire damage everywhere but they did save the progress hall and fire station & fuel station!A week later we were fried again but from the north and this one was taking out the nearby winery when again a southerly change saved us but unfortunately it jumped the Shoalhaven River and also into Kangaroo Valley inflicting major damage! We have came out of this fairly good, loss power for only a couple of days twice and no major structure damage but if you just drive north or south its just sticks and ash !
It was the Xmas Break we never had!!!!

Thru my Eye's

VIEW FROM OUR PLACE

XMAS BUSHFIRES 2019 from adam williams on Vimeo.

SUSSEX TO WANDY
Going Home Saturday from adam williams on

BENDALONG TO WANDY

bendy to wandy from adam williams on Vimeo.

MILTON TO WANDY

milton to wandy from adam williams on Vimeo.

TABOURIE TO BAWLEY

tuckerbox to bawley from adam williams on Vimeo.

Manyana

The view from my mates house....freaking scary!!

LAKE CONJOLA
FOOD & WATER DROP

Neal rang me and asked if I would help him on a food and water drop for any of the local wildlife that might have survived , so after passing the roadblock at the entrance of Conjola Park I jumped into Neal's trusty buggy and we headed into Conjola itself and onto the caravan park to fill the tubes with water, then just a quick run up the beach to Buckleys where we set up 2 stations of food and water , everything is just toasted, saw a snake track on the beach , plenty of white man middens( beer bottles) and a coffee mug that I saved.

John Hall and the Gate Keeper/ Super Hero Paul Gleeson