South to Wandong

Wandong sunset from Mount Piper - an inactive Volcano

Foot Fungus!
One man and his dog.
One man and his beer.
During the day of Saturday February 7th 2009 intense winds pushed bushfires through the hills north of Melbourne. Tragically many farms and houses were engulfed by flames within a short space of time and many people and animals lost their lives.

Luckily, despite fleeing at the last minute, all survived from the Dowse family but here are some images which demonstrate the intensity of the fires. Above is remnants of the family cars alloy wheel, melted into a pool and solidified into this shape.

Below - the countryside regenerating.
The family home after the fires.Above, note the glass has melted. Even the oven door glass melted leading to an estimate of the temperature in the house above 1000 degrees.

Below the countryside regenerating and remnants of an old tractor.


The only vertical part of the house structure which remained viable following the intense fires was this pillar. The brickwork was crumbling and was pulled down.