Tasmanian Bush Fires - a firsthand account

 

Americans are very familiar with wildfires, especially in the western part of the country. We forget or perhaps are oblivious, however, to similar natural disasters throughout the world. Case in point...the devastating bush fires which have been ravaging Australia and in particular, the fires which continue to rage here Tasmania.

To date, homes and property estimated at over $42M have been lost and over 35 bush fires are still burning. With a total island population hovering around half a million (Boston's estimated population is 625,000), that's a devastating figure. One Victorian firefighter has lost his life. 150,000 acres of bush and farmland have burned and several fires are still out of control. Though conditions are easing here in Tasmania, fires in New South Wales and Victoria continue to blaze on the mainland.

I “met” Jackie Zanetti, a New Jersey-born girl now gone Tasmanian, via e-mail when she asked to publish one of my recipes in her cruising club newsletter. You know how it is with e-mail. After you exchange a few, you feel like you've become friends even though you've never met. Jackie mentioned that she and Alex had been caught up in the bush fires that have devastated parts of the Tasman Peninsular while out on a sailing holiday on their 36' Jeanneau sloop, Chaika. I asked her to share it with us. Here are excerpts and photos from her frightening narrative.

Friday, 4th January 2013. We were anchored in King George Sound near Norfolk Bay and the Tasman Peninsula. By mid-afternoon, we noticed smoke getting much closer and local ABC radio was sending out warnings for Dunalley. The wind started to pick up (WNW) and ash started falling all around us. By 3pm, the wind had increased to over 20 knots funneling up the sound. The smoke became denser and closer and we then noticed we were dragging our anchor in a soft mud patch. Ash was falling on Chaika. Long charred strips of bark were falling in the water around us. A dead bird with singed wings floated past.

When we spotted the first fire on shore, we were faced with a decision whether to stay or leave. With the twin risks of embers hitting the boat and dragging we decided to leave, but where to go? Winds were now northerly, gusting over 30 knots, so we decided to head back to Sommers Bay, southwest of Murdunna.

After a wild ride back to Sommers Bay we dug our anchor into a good sandy patch, put out 50m of chain, and prepared ourselves to stay and defend Chaika. We put a couple of buckets with water and rags out in case of embers. As evening came on, we could see the local residents evacuating to the waterfront. Cars and utes (pickup trucks) with dinghies on trailers lined one side of the shore and a few people with sit-upon kayaks waded out from the beach. One kayak had a toddler inside with three adults standing in the water wearing survival back packs. They stood in the same spot in thigh deep water for over two hours.

As the smoke grew thicker a water bombing helicopter flew over several times to fill up from a nearby dam. We could see that the fire was moving quickly southward to the east of us and just around dusk the top of the ridge to the east started flaring up with flames rising high into the sky. The heat and the roar of the fire, even though it was on the other side of the ridge, was frightful. We sat in the cockpit, drinking lots of water and waiting to see whether the fire would come down the hill towards the bay. We were prepared to take people on board, if requested.

Around 11pm it seemed to be easing and moving further south. Alex went below to get some sleep while Jackie kept watch. Occasional gusts would whip up the flames or a tree falling would cause a shower of sparks and embers over the hill, but the flames came no closer.

At 12:50am, the wind suddenly shifted to the south and within 15 minutes the temperature dropped by 10°C (19°F) and a strong fetch started to roll into the bay. Chaika began to pitch and swing wildly. Alex came up to review the situation. He saw that we were now dragging toward the shore, so he quickly started the motor and began driving slowly upwind to take the strain off the chain. He maintained this from 1am till nearly 5 am.

By 5am on Saturday, 5th Jan., the winds had eased further and in the predawn light we decided it was time to head home. We could see fires still smouldering over the hill, but it looked like Sommers Bay itself would be spared. We were very fortunate that our lives were never at risk although we felt sorrow and distress for the folks we’d seen who still didn’t know whether their homes were spared.

All photos and bushfire text by Jackie Zanetti.

For her full story, click here. Thanks for sharing, Jackie.

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Days and Ways to Celebrate

A daily list of mostly obscure holidays and fun ways to celebrate them.

Winnie the Pooh Day

It's A. A. Milne's birthday (January 18, 1882). Read a Pooh story or listen to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band sing “House at Pooh Corner” Hey, don't be an Eeyore!

Tasmania's Wooden Boat Centre

Franklin is the oldest township on the Huon River. It's a tiny little port town about 10km from Kermandie. Situated on Shipwright's Point, it boasts an antique shop, a post office, a cafe and the Wooden Boat Centre. We'd read about the Centre which is “dedicated to preserving the traditional craft/trade of wooden boat building.” They have an interpretive center with viewing windows through which visitors can watch the students and craftsmen at work. Mary Anne had business in that direction and offered us a ride.

Shipbuilding is part of the culture and history of Tasmania and the Wooden Boat Centre proudly contributes to the “celebration of the traditional values around wooden boats, boating, the (Huon) river and its life.” Established in 1990 as a wooden boatbuilding school, the Centre offers accredited courses in the craft and is “the only school in the world in which … students undertake the construction of a full-sized, sea-going cruising vessel built in solid timber as their major learning project.” That made me think schooners and barques, but the boats we saw, though definitely seaworthy, were in the 20-30' range.

The courses offered include building and/or restoring your own wooden boat. A sponsor will either commission a new boat to be built or provide an old wooden boat that needs restoration and the Centre takes it on as a project. That's pretty impressive. We were hoping they had something in the works when we visited and we were in luck.

There seemed to be no classes in session, so we were able to wander through the work shed on an informal tour and get a hands-on, up-close look at the works in progress. Five boats in different phases of completion were awaiting attention in the workshed. A big issue nowadays is access to the rare woods originally used in Tasmania's boatbuilding history...King Billy pine and Huon pine are “rare as hen's teeth”, quipped our guide. Restoring old boats like Clara, a current project, is an excellent alternative to starting anew. At 120 years old, Clara will hopefully be good as new and back to her original self in time for the upcoming Wooden Boat Festival in February.

The rich, distinctive smell of the recently cut wood was wonderful. Planks and chunks of wood stood on end, waiting their turn to be employed. Woodworking and shipwright tools hung on the walls. Feeling the smooth timbers and admiring the boats close-up gave me a feel for the knowledge and patience required for this craft.

I especially liked the clinker (aka lapstrake), a small open boat with overlapping planks, the size of a dory. The guide explained the process of steaming the planks to make them pliable enough to be bent into shape. The beveled planks are so tightly fitted, that the copper nails still used to attach them is all that is required to make the boat water tight. This boat building technique traces back to the Vikings.

We'll miss the bi-annual Wooden Boat Festival in Tasmania, but you can check out their website to learn more.

I also increased my nautical vocabulary with the help of a small quiz I took in the Visitor's Centre. Words like futtock, sny, joggle and trunnel were new to me and will be good for Words With Friends. I had to look them up. Oh...and you were thinking I'd share the definitions? I will... tomorrow.

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Days and Ways to Celebrate

A daily list of mostly obscure holidays and fun ways to celebrate them.

Rubber Duckie Day

Yup, rubber duckies have become the iconic symbol of bath time since Jim Henson as Ernie on Sesame Street sang Rubber Duckie back in 1970. Or learn about those 29,000 rubber duckies that fell off a freighter and floated around the world.

Up the Huon River to Kermandie

kermandie hotel entrance

Tony has always said his two favorite islands were Lord Howe and Tasmania. So when he told us that he and Mary Anne had taken over management of the Kermandie Marina and Hotel complex in Tasmania, it really wasn't a surprise. We first met them in Sydney. Tony is an avid sailor and had been following our blog as we crossed the Pacific. He got in touch when we neared Australia and we've become good friends.

The Kermandie Marina is at the junction of the Kermandie and Huon Rivers, not far away from Cygnet, so it only made sense to head up river 10 miles or so to pay them a visit. Easier said than done when the wind is whipping up the channel to Cygnet at 25 knots. We stayed put an extra day in Cygnet waiting for the winds to subside, then headed up river to Port Huon and into Hospital Bay in the early morning when things were calmest.

The Huon River is wide and deep here. The air was still thick with a brown, smoky haze from the current bushfires as we wended our way around Poverty Point and headed north/northwest up river. Small boats were moored in many of the little nooks and inlets along the river's edge. Fish farms lined the riverbanks on both sides and we kept a close lookout for their marking buoys. The area is hilly and treed, with large patches of dry bush which looked potentially dangerous with the current wildfire plague here. Orchards sprawled up the hillsides...this is fruit growing country. The area is sparsely settled and landholdings look to be large and spread out.

port huon

We rounded Whale Point and the tiny town of Port Huon came into view. A large jetty extended out from the port buildings and a large PORT HUON sign proclaimed we'd arrived at our destination. We anchored behind the moored boats just as the winds increased to 25+ knots. For once, our timing was good for the winds; but poor for the tides.

kermandie marina

Kermandie Marina is reached via a well-marked, narrow, shallow channel and we felt uncomfortable navigating its shallow depths with our 7'2” draft. At high tide, there would be a couple of inches to spare. High tides were unfortunately at 0445 and 1800. We opted to anchor in the bay and visit our friends via dinghy. We did, however, take advantage of the marina's hot showers which were thoroughly appreciated.

olive may

The historic Olive May was tied up at the marina. Built in Tasmania in 1880 out of local Huon pine, she's the oldest Australian charter vessel in survey and visitors can book passage for a ride up the Huon River.

The marina faces a beautiful wetland area. Birds are abundant here. Gulls, cormorants, black swans, grebes and ducks swam and darted in and out of the reeds and cat tails that cover the marsh. A kookaburra laughed from a tree branch on the river bank.

kermandie hotel entry

The Kermandie Hotel, just across the street from the marina, was built in 1932 to accommodate the local timber, orchard and river workers. It's a charming country hotel. Each room has a different homey décor and it would be a fun, pleasant place to stay if we didn't have our “hotel room” with us.

Recently renovated, the Sass Restaurant & Huon Lounge offer a varied menu featuring Tasmanian grown fresh produce, fish and seafood. We had the local salmon for lunch and it was wonderful. The name Sass is short for sassafras, a native Tasmanian timber, in which the walls are paneled. The Lounge has a funky “retro” décor, a bit of country-modern fusion. It would be a comfy place to sit, read a book and sip a cuppa on a cool day with the fireplace at your back and a view of the marina out the large front windows.

There's a pub on site and a bottle store (liquor store). Guests have access to the swimming pool at the Aquatic Center across the street. There are gardens and picnic tables on the front lawn. It's an all-inclusive place as far as we were concerned.

Tony & Mary Anne Purkiss aboard Nine of Cups

A couple day's stay is all we could manage. Wish it could have been longer, but Tony and Mary Anne are busy folks and the clock's ticking for us to get a move-on.

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Days and Ways to Celebrate

A daily list of mostly obscure holidays and fun ways to celebrate them.

International Thank You Day

This is a day when you go out of your way to be polite and kind. Try it... it's contagious.