On Tour With Frank!!

"On the road again" is more Willie Nelson than Frank but it describes things so well.

Just before leaving Shepparton Merle and I did the mandatory trip to the park where most of Shepps cows graze, they are constantly changing them.. all good fun.

I headed for the scene of January's disastrous bushfires to see how the area was regenerating, nature is
taking care of its own slowly but surely, there are places where the fire was so hot that the trees are all dead, but in most parts there is new undergrowth and either "suckers" growing from the roots of the trees or new growth on them.

Some trees grow new leaves along all their branches and the trunk too, my guess is that wherever the sap boiled to the surface during the blaze the new growth springs forth, they look a little eerie.
I refrained from taking photos of the human rebuilding as I found it a bit sad to see all the for sale signs on burnt out blocks of land where somebodies dreams had stood until recently, there is also a vast amount of rebuilding going on as well but it was all a bit depressing I found.

Next I went for a look at my childhood home at Dixon's Creek, rounding the bend on the still unpaved "Pinacle Lane" the now familiar sight of the lovely vineyards came into sight, back in the days when we lived there only cows dotted the landscape.

The burnt out hillside behind our tiny home came into view, a grim warning about how close the fires had been

And finally the site where once the house had stood.... bare except for some machinery which appeared to be preparing a new home site... whether the house had been destroyed by the fire or simply bull-dozed to make way for a new one I don't know, I felt a strong sense of sadness because it was gone and felt un-inclined to make inquiries..... a chapter had closed.

To lift my spirits I took this photo of a nice crop which will bring joy to a grateful farmer I'm sure.