Once Jemby Rinjah

Something that most people, who have only heard about the recent bush fires from a distance, may find it difficult to imagine is the patchy nature of the disaster. As you travel along roads that traverse badly burned locations you happen upon vegetation that is little more than ash and lumps of charcoal. Then, as you move further along you encounter patches of woodland that seem almost unharmed. Still further, you see stands of trees whose undergrowth has burned and lower trunks have blackened while the upper branches and crowns seem basically sound. And yet all are collectively described as a bushfire destroyed area.

Such is the lower section of Evans Lookout Road.

Pictured above is what remains of a successful Eco Lodge and convention centre where the fire was at its most savage. I can't walk into the grounds but from what I can see, except for a single storage block, almost everything is gone. There had once been 10 secluded double storey cabins linked by elevated walkways to three central lodges containing restaurants, meeting rooms, display areas and offices.

I am particularly aware of what it had been because I had once been engaged to create a portfolio of publicity stills, poster designs, illustrated information booklets, display ads and promotional brochures. I also returned from time to time, to shoot weddings there.

The two extras are from the Evans Lookout precinct, just down the road. The destruction, while still evident, is nothing like what it had been at Jemby Rinjah and all infrastructure appears to have emerged unscathed. A week or two back you may remember me publishing one of Pelorus Jack's pictures of a water bombing plane in action - as an extra. Jemby Rinjah was the place that had been on fire at the time.