Feb. 19

We met two of the other couples staying at the B&B, and got advice on the return route from them, both fairly local out for a weekend. Both reassured us that the area we wanted to see was relatively unaffected by the recent fires in the area. So we headed up to the Grampions, to see some mountain scenery and hopefully some kangaroos. The first leg was a quiet Sunday morning drive through farming country. We stopped at the information center at Dunkeld to get some local info, where we found that our information about the recent fire wasn't exactly correct. All but a couple of roads were still closed, and the route we took for the first part went through what looked like the center of the fire area. We saw our first kangaroo just outside town, dead at the side of the road. Mike saw another one but it hopped away before the rest of us saw it Luckily, we quickly came across another one and stopped. We've decided that this one was really a wallaby, but definitely quite a sight for us. It was an interesting if somewhat sad drive, seeing all the destruction. Too similar to what we've seen in the US, both in California and in the Yellowstone area. There were plenty of signs of hope, green shoots poking their way through, but no sign of animal life.

We continued north beyond the fire area on a gravel road, driving for about another hour, but by then it was mid-afternoon. Probably all the animals were sleeping during the heat of the day, but we didn't see anything else except a few birds. So we headed back for Melbourne, arriving early in the evening. Bill and the kids walked to the nearby pizza place and picked up dinner, and we settled down to watch a little bit of the Olympics and catch up on email. Tomorrow's an early morning, with a flight to Ayers Rock. That means an early bedtime for me, I'm doing well but tired at night. Don't want to start tomorrow tired!