Surviving a Black Saturday

THIS part of Victoria was badly beaten on February 7, 2009, when fierce bushfires burnt across our state destroying hundreds of properties and claiming the lives of 173 people who strayed into its destructive path.

Healesville, the peaceful settlement positioned at the heart of the Yarra Valley, was literally surrounded by flames on Black Saturday and threatened for days as a troop of fire fighters battled to bring the fickle blaze under control.

Just across the Black Spur, the infamous line of mountains that challenge even the most confident driver with a road that twists and turns beneath a canopy of towering gums, Marysville was all-but destroyed when another fire blew out of the bush beside town.

I left Healesville after breakfast and headed across the  Black Spur to visit this region belted on Black Saturday, and to find a couple of stories that could run Escape to encourage visitors back to a part of Victoria that depended so heavily on tourism before the 2009 fires.

I'm staying at a B&B tonight, a rural estate called Saladin Lodge, a idyllic property that welcomes visitors with a blend of country hospitality and urbane style.

This place sits at the very spot where the Murrindindi Fire burst out of the forest on the afternoon of February 7 and split to follow the highway north and south to burn across the top of Buxton in one direction and Narbethong in the other.

Kim Rycroft owns Saladin Lodge, and she was one of the many Narbethong residents that lost property that day.

She was in Melbourne on Black Saturday, but the friends looking after her country block fled when the fire crossed the road and then raced the flames to Yea in search of safety.

Kim's cottage was destroyed, as were the stables and historic outer buildings on her Narbethong property, but the fire jumped across the half-built shell that now houses Saladin Lodge.

It took her a couple of years to get back on her feet, to clean up her block and finish the B&B, but now Kim welcomes guests who stay in the comfortable suites that look across the recovering bush.

The undulating hills that surround Saladin Lodge are scarred, with a jumble of black trunks and branches still showing just how ferocious the Black Saturday fires were, but a carpet of green is slowly settling on the burnt land as new leave take hold.

The burnt trees are dead, and will fall in their own good time to be replaced by the saplings now growing in their shadows, and when I was walking around the Saladin swimming hole one of the trunks fell on the neighbouring hill, falling with a loud crack. 

Kim told me her story at dinner tonight, taking more than an hour to share the details of that dreadful, and it was fascinating to hear a version of the story from one of the people who survived the historic event.

We’ve all heard the stories from that day time and time again on the news, but those versions were sanitised and lacking the emotion that comes with a face-to-face telling.

Sitting on the spot where it all happened, looking across the recovering landscape, and hearing from a person so acutely affected by Black Saturday was both fascinating and horrifying.

@ Healesville

Can you tell that Healesville sits at the heart of one of Victoria's premier food and wine regions?

Harvest in the Valley

AUTUMN means more than vintage in the Yarra Valley, it's also when the region's farmers harvest the crops that have thrived in the rich soil during the warmer months.

Vintage in the Valley

VINTAGE has started in Victoria's Yarra Valley and I was visiting Moet & Chandon today when a delivery of freshly-harvested grapes came in from the vineyard.

It's a rare thing to see a winery's machinery in action - the equipment sits idle for most of the year as the red and white varieties ferment in the barrels and bottles - but today I saw the crushers working as tractors dashed around moving the plump fruit along the production line.

Moet & Chandon has been in the Yarra Valley for 16 years, planting the first vines on the rolling hills east of Melbourne in the 1980s to take advantage of the cool climate and rich soils, and now the Greenpoint grapes go into the company's sparkling varieties.

While some wineries like to keep the gates closed, and visitors away from the sharp end of the operation, Moet & Chandon is keen to welcome visitors to the estate to sample the wine while enjoying this beautiful part of Victoria.

There are guided and self-guided tours to be done, wine lovers can visit the cellar door to sample and purchase the sparkling varieties, and there's the new Tasting Bar for a more relaxed sampling experience.

There connoisseurs can try a flight of sparkling wines that include the signature vintage brut that's considered to be this estate's trademark drop, the more unique sparkling shiraz, and the prestigious cuvee riche which is made from the juice produced in every block's first press.

The other option is the Greenpoint Brassiere, the estate's relaxed restaurant, and that's the perfect place to sit on a sunny day with the tables set inside floor-to-ceiling windows that provide a view across the vines to the bush-covered mountains in the distance.

@ Yarra Valley

A FEW more photos snapped while exploring the Yarra Valley this afternoon.

Trip #4 (2012)

SOME good stats from my two-day jaunt to New Zealand...

Flights - Three in 2 days

Kilometres flown - 5312km from Melbourne to Wellington, Wellington to Christcurch, and Christchurch to Melbourne

Total kilometres flown in 2012 - 46,942km

Hotels - Peppers Parehua (Martinborough)

Total hotel sin 2012 - 13

Countries visited -New Zealand

Total countries visited in 2012 - It's up to three

New countries visited - Still holding on 49

Next I have four domestic trips, three in my home state and one to Fremantle on the west coast.

@ Martinborough

HERE'S a collection of photos I snapped during my day exploring beautiful bucolic Martinborough.

Peppers Parehua

I'M making what can only be described as a quick trip to New Zealand's North Island to see the brand new Peppers Parehua which sits on the edge of Martinborough between the velvet-green paddocks of a dairy farm and a pretty block of pinot grapes.

It's a quick hop because I'm only in the Land of the Long White Cloud for less than 48 hours, just enough time to have a quick look around the town and attend the gala opening dinner.

I am staying in one of the Winemaker Suites at the back of the peaceful property, and from my window this afternoon I could see a winemaker wandering the long lines of grapes sampling the fruit to see if it's time for vintage to start.

It is so quiet here, the only sounds I can hear from my private veranda is the soft whisper of the breeze drifting through the leaves of the old pines and the odd bird canon firing to scare thirsty critters away from the fat grapes. 

 

Trip #3 (2012)

Home from the Flinders Ranges, so here are the stats...

Flights - Two in 6 days

Kilometres flown - 1282kmfrom Melbourne to Adelaide and home again

Total kilometres flown in 2012 - 41,630km

Hotels - Clare Valley Country Club (Clare), Rawnsley Park Station (Flinders Ranges), Hotel Grand Chancellor (Adelaide)

Total hotel sin 2012 - 12

Countries visited - One...Oz

Total countries visited in 2012 - Still only two

New countries visited - And yet another big round donut