After our visit to Dorrigo and Coff’s Harbour, we chose to spend the next two days staying put at Tony and Liz’s. Monday was so hot (about 95 degrees) and humid that it made us very lazy and we spent our time mostly in the pool. Christine and I had gone for a walk in the early morning, looking at the fire damage and marveling at how quickly vegetation was regenerating. By the time we got back to the house, we knew we didn’t want any further exertion.
I had asked Tony if I could copy some of his photos and videos and he graciously agreed. I think he is still somewhat in shock related to the fire. While the house was never in imminent danger, his property took a direct hit and it must have been just totally frightening. Here are some of the photos and videos from those three days in November.
Remnants of fire 
Tony and family 
Still smoldering 
Heavy smoke down the driveway 
Thick smoke along the road 
Trees took down lots of fences 
Burned fence posts and downed gate 
Downed trees everywhere
Tony’s grandson Josh flew up from Tasmania to help. Josh is a firefighter and so he was extremely helpful. After the bushfire came through, it was important to ensure smoldering trees and vegetation were wetted down to prevent embers and flareups from happening. Tony put water drums, generator and pump on his tractor and went around dousing hotspots.
Equipment on tractor 
Smoldering areas 
Dousing hotspots
This video shows the scorched earth. Unbelievable to see how a fire takes every leaf, shrub, blade of grass, anything that was growing from the dirt.
This video shows Josh, Tony’s grandson, dousing hotspots.
This video shows the house two doors down unfortunately engulfed in flames.
Liz keeping the garden soaked 
An exhausted Tony
I really can’t imagine the terror this bushfire caused, but as I said in an earlier post, Tony and Liz’s planning, preparation, and maintenance prevented it from becoming a tragedy. I have the utmost respect for them both.
We had an unexpected visitor on Monday afternoon. Tony and Liz had gone off to attend a farewell party for them. They have retired from their cleaning business and the council had a nice luncheon for them. When they returned home, Tony was showing us the cake they had, bringing home half of it. We were all up on the veranda in a section called “the office” (because it gets the best cellular signal and so everyone with a cellphone sits at the end of the veranda), Tony was showing the cake, and as he started down the outside steps, he said, “oh, look at this.” Of course, we all did just that, and here’s what we saw.
Tony had warned us that there may be snakes around. Little did we know that one of them would be coming up the stairs. We watched it for a long time as it looked around for a place to hide. It clearly could smell us and feel the vibration we were making on the veranda and going up and down the stairs.
Diamond python 
Looking for a place to go 
Trying to hide
It was amazing to watch this snake. It really was quite beautiful. It just wanted to hide, so it worked to curl up its entire body between the timber and the tin of the siding. And it actually managed to do just that. It was almost difficult to see once it had finished curling itself up into the space between the siding battens. Watch this video to see the final bit of tail curling into the space (it may take some time to load).
Finally, the snake was all tucked into its hiding place.
Tony doesn’t like snakes, so he ignored the thing and went about his business. Lou, Ray, Christine and I watched for a while to see what it would do, whether it would try to make a run for it or stay put. Liz thought we were all ridiculous and so she got a hook and plucked the thing out of its hiding place. She knows to hold a python by the head and the tail so that it doesn’t encircle any part of you. As she was holding it, we all gingerly went up to touch the snake. It really was a beautiful thing, smooth and muscular. Liz said it was a baby, only about 4 feet long, and that there are many much bigger ones around. I’m just as happy to have had an encounter with a baby. Liz took the snake off to the hay shed so it could help to keep the rodents at bay.
After all that excitement a storm blew through and the temperature drop dramatically. A rainbow appeared over the cliff.
Rainbow 
A mere hint of a double rainbow to the left
Tuesday the weather was very much cooler, upper 60s, and so we put on long pants and sweatshirts. Christine was itching to get clippers and prune some of the vegetation. That’s one of her favorite things to do, so she worked on a palm for a couple of hours.
I spent some time trying to figure out how to set up Tony’s powerline extender. This is a gizmo that turns an electrical line into a data line, kind of like a DSL using the phone line, put rather converts the electric line into a data line. With paired extenders with the adapter, supposedly if you plug the extender into an outlet that is on the same electric line as the adapter, you should get internet. Well, I got it working between the apartment office and several places in the house, but couldn’t get it working out in the gazebo where he really wanted it working. He also thought that he could take an extender out to Bert and Ernie’s main control panel and plug it in and get internet. That couldn’t happen because the electric lines go through several junctions and switch boxes, so that the extenders can’t get the powerline signal. It really does need to be on the exact same electric wire in order to work. I was disappointed to not be able to help him accomplish what he thought this gizmo would do.
Wednesday morning was our departure. It was a quick departure because, although retired now, Tony and Liz agreed, very reluctantly, to do one more stadium cleaning job for a 3-day event happening this weekend. They had to be off fairly early in order to do pre-cleaning of the facilities and put out about 300 waste bins around the stadium. Tony didn’t want to do this job, but felt somewhat obligated to do so because of the relationship they have with the office people at the council. So off they went for their final (we all hope) cleaning job. Just imagine what a stadium and stadium grounds look like after a 3-day event with thousands of people not bothering to place waste, cans and other debris into bins. With 300 bins around, you’d think people would use them, but no they don’t. All the trash also needs to be sorted and packed and then the grounds and stadium need to be cleaned. It’s a huge undertaking. So again, we all hope this will be their final event.
We enjoyed our time with Tony and Liz so much. What wonderful people they are and what they have created is just amazing. Their home and gardens are truly an oasis. We are very grateful for their wonderful hospitality.
On our way out, we stopped to take a picture of their property entrance and noted its name, Krishanda Park. This is made up of parts of their 3 kids’ names, Kristen, Shane, and Linda. I think that is very cool.
