Experiencing the Blue Mountains after fires

Views from Hassans Walls Lookout | David Hill
Views from Hassans Walls Lookout | David Hill
In his brilliant book Burning Bush - A Fire History of Australia, the American scholar Stephen J. Pyne writes that nowhere else on earth is a continental forest system dominated in the same way the forests of Australia are dominated by eucalypts. The Australian bush, Pyne says, owes its peculiarity more than anything else to this strangely fire-loving species of tree that burns "readily, greedily, gratefully". "Eucalyptus," he opines, " is not only the Universal Australian, it is the ideal Australian - versatile, tough, sardonic, contrary, self-mocking, with a deceptive complexity amid the appearance of massive homogeneity; an occupier of disturbed environments; a fire creature."
 
Nowhere does this description seem more apt than in the Blue Mountains, gifted World Heritage status in 2000 in part because this landscape boasts an astonishing variety of eucalypts - about 100 - and is a natural laboratory for studying their evolution. (It is also the droplets of eucalyptus oil these trees put into the atmosphere that make the Blue Mountains look so blue.) A Botanic Gardens Trust scientific paper notes: "In the Mountains' diverse plant communities, you can trace the changing nature of the Australian environment - from geological shifts and climate variations through to the impact of Aboriginal settlement and European colonisation."
 
This variety and evolutionary journey exists because, for millions of years, much of the bush of the Blue Mountains has burned with regularity as the climate evolved and it has adapted to this burning. And for people who live in the Blue Mountains - about 80,000 these days - fires have been a part of their life, the dates of major conflagrations embedded in their psyches - 1936, 1944, 1957, 1968, 1977, 1994, 2001, 2013 and now this summer.
 
The great Australian writer Henry Lawson, who briefly lived in the Blue Mountains back in the 1880s, realised that those eucalypts and the fires they fostered meant the Australian bush was a place like no other that shaped the unique character of Australia’s people - especially mateship. In his short story The Bush Undertaker, Lawson wrote: “And the sun sank again on the grand Australian bush - the nurse and tutor of eccentric minds, the home of the weird, and of much that is different from things in other lands.”
 
Man-made climate change means the bushfires the Blue Mountains have just experienced were unprecedented in their scale and ferocity, but once again they did not burn everything. There is also great beauty in a burnt bushland that is regenerating, as it inevitably does. And the fires once again brought out the best in the Australian character. In the Wollemi section of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, a heroic firefighting effort saved the canyon that is the only wild home of the famous Wollemi pine - a "dinosaur tree" that is a relic from ancient Gondwana.
 
In the Valley of the Waters near Wentworth Falls, a Blue Mountains Adventure Company guide can still take you through a fragrant eucalypt forest spared by the fires to experience the magic thrill of Empress Falls Canyon. Its cool, deep pools, its sculpted rock walls, its rainforest vegetation, its water jumps and its waterfall abseil are unchanged.
 
On the honey-coloured sandstone cliffs that tower above the Megalong Valley, Blue Mountains Adventure Company can still take you on a stunning Boars Head abseiling and climbing adventure. To the east, in the Jamison Valley, Blue Mountains Adventure Company can still take you on iconic bushwalks that include stunning clifftop vistas, babbling creeks and cascades, glades of magestic silver-trunked Blue Mountains ash and cool, green rainforest of sassafras, coachwood and tree ferns. You can still stand where the great naturalist Charles Darwin stood in 1836 when he visited the Blue Mountains - “on the brink of a vast precipice” - and like him declare the view “quite novel and extremely magnificent”.
 
Rains have returned, the fires have been controlled, the air has cleared, areas of the Blue Mountains National Park have reopened and even the fire fighting authorities are urging people to once again visit the Blue Mountains to help a tourism-dependant region hit hard by a lack of visitors.
 
People can now safely return to many natural areas that were not burnt. And in areas that were burnt, green shoots of regeneration are already starting to show. These areas will slowly reopen to the public as well when it is safe and environmentally responsible to do so.
 
Blue Mountains artist Jenny Kee had her Blackheath home saved by firefighters but her beloved bushland garden - the artistic muse for her famous fashion designs - was blackened. She told The Sun-Herald newspaper that despite the devastation caused by the fire, the regeneration of the bush is already bringing her great joy as she watches noisy cockatoos and kookaburras return and scorched tree ferns send out fresh green shoots. Kee believes every Australian needs to see the “magic" of this regeneration for themselves. “As much as we love the green and the beauty of the bush before disaster, it’s also important to look at it after the fire just to see what happens,” she said. “It shows us what is possible. Every time I see those shoots - that green - and you see how tough, how hardy the earth is, you also see how tough we are as people … I just still feel so optimistic for this country."
 
The blue in Blue Mountains will once again be about colour, not spirit. 
 
Come on an adventure with Blue Mountains Adventure Company and see for yourself!
 
Written by Dan Lewis - BMAC guide since 2014
 

Comment (0)

Your comment will be visible after the administrator's approval.







b i u quote


Save Comment

We respectfully acknowledge the Dharug, Darkinjung, Dharawal, Gundungurra, Wanaruah, and Wiradjuri language groups as the traditional custodians of the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and thank them for sharing this beautiful land with us. Our Reconciliation Action Plan outlines our commitment to building respectful relationships, creating meaningful opportunities, and addressing inequalities that have historically existed.

Join Newsletter
<img src='/portals/World%20Expeditions/Icons/brands/small/ADS.jpg' class='brandPopoverIcon' alt="Adventures South"> <div class='brandPopoverBrandName'>Adventure South</div>
Adventure South NZ is unrivalled in their geographic coverage, originality and overall quality of adventures holidays in New Zealand. Choose from walking, cycling, winter or multi-activity holidays, on either the North or South Island.
<img src='/portals/World%20Expeditions/Icons/brands/small/AWH.jpg' class='brandPopoverIcon' alt="Australian Walking Holidays"> <div class='brandPopoverBrandName'>Australian Walking Holidays</div>
Australian Walking Holidays specialises in small group guided walking adventures. Since 1982 we have been guiding small groups of travellers on Australia's finest walks across our tropical, coastal or red centre landscapes.
<img src='/portals/World%20Expeditions/Icons/brands/small/GCT.jpg' class='brandPopoverIcon' alt="Great Canadian Trails"> <div class='brandPopoverBrandName'>Great Canadian Trails</div>
Great Canadian Trails specialises in active holidays in Canada. With both guided and supported self-guided options available, our unique itineraries draw upon some of Canada's most inspiring parks, trails and landscapes from coast to coast.
<img src='/portals/World%20Expeditions/Icons/brands/small/HUM.jpg' class='brandPopoverIcon' alt="Humac Challenge"> <div class='brandPopoverBrandName'>Huma Charity Challenge</div>
Huma enables those with adventurous spirits to challenge themselves and make a difference for a cause close to their heart. Travel, fundraise and meet life-long friends on one of Huma's meaningful and unique challenges around the world.
<img src='/portals/World%20Expeditions/Icons/brands/small/WB.jpg?v2' class='brandPopoverIcon' alt="Walkers’ Britain"> <div class='brandPopoverBrandName'>Walkers' Britain</div>
Walkers' Britain (formerly Sherpa Expeditions) have specialised in walking and cycling trips in the United Kingdom and Europe since 1973. Explore iconic trails and destinations on a self guided or small group active holiday with Walkers' Britain.
<img src='/portals/World%20Expeditions/Icons/brands/small/WB.jpg?v2' class='brandPopoverIcon' alt="Walkers’ Britain"> <div class='brandPopoverBrandName'>Walkers' Britain</div>
Walkers' Britain (formerly Sherpa Expeditions) have specialised in walking and cycling trips in the United Kingdom and Europe since 1973. Explore iconic trails and destinations on a self guided or small group active holiday with Walkers' Britain.
<img src='/portals/World%20Expeditions/Icons/brands/small/TAS.jpg' class='brandPopoverIcon' alt="Tasmania Expeditions"> <div class='brandPopoverBrandName'>Tasmanian Expeditions</div>
Tasmanian Expeditions is the most experienced operator of treks and adventure travel holidays in Tasmania. We own and operate the most comprehensive range of adventure holidays available across Tasmania's varied landscapes.
<img src='/portals/World%20Expeditions/Icons/brands/small/UTX-new.jpg' class='brandPopoverIcon' alt="Utracks"> <div class='brandPopoverBrandName'>UTracks</div>
UTracks are the active European holiday specialists. Whether you prefer cycling or walking, 2-star or 4-star, small groups or self guided, land, river or sea – UTracks can help you to explore Europe exactly the way you want.
<img src='/portals/World%20Expeditions/Icons/brands/small/WYA.jpg' class='brandPopoverIcon' alt="World Expeditions Schools"> <div class='brandPopoverBrandName'>World Expeditions Schools</div>
World Expeditions Schools is our specialist division dedicated to organising tailor made overseas school group adventures. Specialists in Service Learning projects, choose from more destinations than any other school group provider.
<img src='/portals/World%20Expeditions/Icons/brands/small/YOM.jpg' class='brandPopoverIcon' alt="Yomads"> <div class='brandPopoverBrandName'>Yomads</div>
Yomads offers adventures for the 20s and 30s on six continents. Designed as a way to bring young and likeminded travellers together, Yomads caters to those interested in lightly structured and active trips that allow freedom to roam and explore.
<img src='/portals/World%20Expeditions/Icons/brands/small/ACT.jpg' class='brandPopoverIcon' alt="Australian Cycle Tours"> <div class='brandPopoverBrandName'>Australian Cycle Tours</div>
Australian Cycle Tours specialises in high quality self guided and guided cycling experiences in a selection of the most beautiful regions in Australia.
<img src='/portals/World%20Expeditions/Icons/brands/small/WEX.jpg' class='brandPopoverIcon' alt="World Expeditions"> <div class='brandPopoverBrandName'>World Expeditions</div>
The pioneers of original, worldwide adventure travel holidays since 1975
<img src='/portals/World%20Expeditions/Icons/brands/small/TJX.jpg' class='brandPopoverIcon' alt="Trail Journeys"> <div class='brandPopoverBrandName'>Trail Journeys</div>
Self-guided cycling experts on New Zealand's Otago Rail Trail and more
<img src='/portals/World%20Expeditions/Icons/brands/small/BMAC.jpg' class='brandPopoverIcon' alt="Blue Mountains Adventure Company"> <div class='brandPopoverBrandName'>Blue Mountains Adventure Company</div>
The original Blue Mountains canyoning, hiking, climbing and abseiling experts
<img src='/portals/World%20Expeditions/Icons/brands/small/GWNZ.jpg' class='brandPopoverIcon' alt="Great Walks of New Zealand"> <div class='brandPopoverBrandName'>Great Walks of New Zealand</div>
Explore New Zealand's most spectacular wilderness regions with the self-guided hiking experts
<img src='/portals/World%20Expeditions/Icons/brands/small/NAA.jpg' class='brandPopoverIcon' alt="North America Active"> <div class='brandPopoverBrandName'>North America Active</div>
USA Canada hiking & cycling tour specialists, choose from self-guided or guided trips