Road Trip 3 - 4 April 2009 - Healesville, Narbethong, Marysville

During February 2009, Victoria was engulfed by bushfires. 7 February 2009 has become known as Black Saturday where many lost their lives. We had travelled to Marysville about 7 years ago and stayed at a timeshare unit in Woods Point Road up near Steavenson's Falls. There were beautiful sculpture gardens in this tiny town of very friendly people with a hotel, a strip of shops and a bakery. My son and I saw snow fall for the very first time in our lives at Marysville and we excitedly travelled up the hill with carrots, scarves and gloves to Lake Mountain to build our first snowman and try a rented toboggan. A favourite memory of those mountains was the snow capped tree ferns. They were so green and the snow so white and clean. So we drove up to the area in April for a visit, not to pry, or invade anyone's privacy. We bought fuel, had lunch at the local pub at Narbethong / Black Spur and bought some drinks, snacks and ice blocks along the way. All of the people we encountered were genuinely happy to see people coming back to their community where they live and try to work with what's left. There was no need to ask questions about what happened, it was all around us.

Nature is an incredible thing, the trees are starting to show signs of regrowth, the soil will be turned, the wildlife will return and we hope to go back again and see the regeneration of this once beautiful area.