Australia’s Fires: Crackenback, Canberra, and a change of plan.

The bushfires in southeastern Australia are domestic and global news and they intersected with our own travels this week. So, this is a post to share the experience we had on the periphery of the devastating fires that are still burning and have so far claimed 28 lives.

For context, I grew up with the constant threat of bushfires. It is a part of growing up in rural Australia. But, unless you lose a loved one, your town is wiped out or you are directly affected somehow you just try to do your best to comprehend the grief, isolation, and long term devastation that fills families and communities crushed by bushfires (or any disaster).

The biggest memory I have of bushfires in Australia are the 1983 “Ash Wednesday” fires in Victoria and South Australia. I was 6 years old and have some partial memories of the fear my parents and our town of Naracoorte experienced as the fires neared (but never hit) our town. I have far more memories of the stories told about the deaths, damage, velocity and scale of the fires for years afterwards. The “Ash Wednesday” fires killed 75 people, injured 2,000+ people, destroyed 3,000+ homes and buildings across more than a million acres. My mom remembers ash falling on our lawn while I was in school down the road.

The scale of the current bushfires is enormous, straining (overrunning?) the resources across multiple states. The simultaneous nature of the fires has exacerbated events further as neighboring states that usually surge resources to the state fighting fires have needed to use all resources locally. It seems as though todays ongoing nightmare is an accumulation of years of buildup with a sense of desperation to extinguish the fires mixed with disillusionment that we couldn’t prevent it from happening in the first place.

Our original plan after spending New Year in Melbourne was to spend 4 days at Lake Crackenback in Victoria. This is an outdoor adventure resort in the mountain range that stretches along the eastern coast of Australia. From there we planned to head to Canberra, Australia’s Capital City, for 4 days of exploring. With the fires evolving we monitored the situation closely during our time in Melbourne. As the time to go neared the fires had grown to the point that all the roads into the mountains from the west (Melbourne side) were closed. Lake Crackenback was still out of the direct fire path, but we couldn’t get there easily and were a bit uneasy about where the fires may go. So, we decided to swap the order of locations and head to Canberra first. We hoped a few extra days may calm things down in the mountains and allow us to then carry on to Lake Crackenback. Keeping in touch with the staff at Lake Crackenback resort felt like the clearest on-the-ground information so we were excited by their confirmation and assurances that it was business as usual.

We did the seven hour drive from Melbourne to Canberra along the Hume Highway. The smoke came and went at different times during the drive, but definitely was heavier at times then we were expecting. We even met another American family of 5 traveling around the world at a playground pit stop along the way! We arrived in Canberra and settled into a hotel near Parliament House. I was a little concerned by the amount of smoke but also really looking forward to touring Australia’s capital city as a family, lots to learn and enjoy! The first full day in Canberra was a behavior cluster with everyone being super tired from the travel day prior. That aside, we had fun exploring Questacon, the children’s national science exploration center. After that we went to the National Library where we had lunch and looked at a lot of books! We then headed to the hotel for the promised swim and then out for some dinner before trying to get everyone to sleep early. Bedtime wasn’t early, but ultimately successful when I turned on the television and watched the England vs South Africa test cricket match – it was so boring for Scarlett and Nora that they decided sleep was better!

That day was very hot and windy, the type of weather that is very bad for getting fires under control. Overnight the wind direction shifted, which brought cool relief but also pushed the fire smoke into the city. Whitney and I awoke a few times feeling like the hotel was on fire as the smell of smoke was so strong. There was even a false fire alarm at the hotel at ~1am which put everyone a bit on edge. When daylight arrived we saw smoke covering the city like a blanket. Visibility was less than 100 yards (~90 meters). We had hoped to tour Old Parliament House and the National War Memorial this day. Our concerns were building on whether we should even be in Canberra and what options did we now have. The air quality was so poor that government buildings and local businesses were starting to close down. To complicate matters further, the day before the engine light came on on our rental car. As it was now Sunday we weren’t sure which options, if any, we would have to get it fixed. We took the girls down to the indoor pool for a swim while we worked on a plan. I called a 24 hour mechanic and he was nice enough to come and check out our rental car. After checking the car, including removing the warning light, he said we were ok to drive to Sydney or Melbourne if we wanted too. That was a relief. We also called Parliament House and they were still open, but not sure if the poor air quality would force them to close early. By now we had also learned that the fires had spread further in the mountains and forced the Lake Crackenback resort to close under an evacuation order. So with no place to go it was either stay in Canberra or head back to Melbourne. If Canberra had been clearer and tourist sites were staying open we would have likely stayed a few more days and explored the city more deeply than planned. But, with the opposite situation unfolding we decided to leave Canberra early and head back to Melbourne.

We got the girls out of the pool, dressed and packed up our stuff. We then went to Australia’s Parliament House on the way out of town and were fortunate to time it for a morning tour. I am so glad we did! The tour guide was amazing and Scarlett particularly really got into the tour along with Whitney and me. Nora seemed to enjoy it and Hazel hung out as always. From there we had an awesome lunch in a popular Canberra spot that was still open, drove past the War Memorial and then headed off to Melbourne.

The drive back to Melbourne was a bit more intense. The smoke seemed to now suffocate the entire road, versus only 48 hours before when it had been widely varied in its intensity. Below is a 15 second video from the road. Having left after lunch we arrived in Melbourne at ~10:30pm and the smoke seemed almost nonexistent as we went to sleep. We awoke to a wet but smoke layered Melbourne. No where near as blanketed as Canberra but noticeable.

During the long, smoky drive back we scrambled to adjust our plans. I have a great childhood friend who lives in Townsville, Queensland. We were planning to visit them in February/March but with some unexpected downtime figured this may be a good window! We looked at flights, asked our friends if the unplanned visit could work, and we made the leap! So we spent the night in Melbourne then flew up to Townsville in far north Queensland, which is ~1,700 kms (~1,000+ miles) north of Melbourne, to see our friends the next day. Seeing friends and the warm air of Townsville was a welcomed change from the fires and smoke suffocated southeastern Australia.

I will be interested what memories Scarlett and Nora have of these few days. We had lots of discussions about the smoke, the fires and the impact it was having on the people and towns impacted. We met families in the hotel pool in Canberra who had been evacuated from their home and were not sure when (if) they would be able to return. We were very thankful to have the option to leave it all behind and easily shift our plans for the days ahead, an option we know most others did not have.