To visit or not to visit...1yr on

[crazycanuck]

We decided to visit KingLake, a town that bore the brunt of the Kilmore East fire. It would have been interesting to visit Marysville, the town that bore the brunt of the Murundindi Fire area but one place is enough.

A few observations & excuse the long thoughts...:
1-We didn't realize how close the area is to Melbourne- It's only a 35min drive from where we were staying with friends. In addition, Kinglake is on the outskirts of a smallish but well populated suburb & right near the Kinglake National Park.

2-On the drive there, it became obvious that anyone trying to escape the fire really only had one road. The main road we took(pic below) was in the main fire path, surrounded by trees and would have been blocked. It's narrow & windy with no room for errors . Some of the drops!

3-We didn't want to look like ghoul tourists so we observed specific things in the town on our way in & out.
The yellow ribbons on the very large burnt tree across from the shops-Only 4-5 shops which is normal for a small community in Australia
The village(reducing now as homes are rebuilt) on the oval
The rebuilding happening & the for sale signs on many pieces of land on our way out of Kinglake, Kinglake West & Strathewen.

The day prior to visiting, I read an article regarding from the Vic Bushfire Commission that the towns never should have been built in the first place 50yrs ago.It made me ask these q;s and more...
Should Australians live so close to bush near major cities?
The stay or defend policy-
Land clearing policies on private & crown land

Here are a few photos from the outskirts of Kinglake(first couple heading in & then out) just to give an idea of the area. I couldn't bring myself to take any photos in the town itself out of respect for the locals.