Our Wicked Walkabout

We took a slower pace today in Mallacoota… aka Coota. We first headed out the WW2 Radar Bunker that we discovered yesterday by the airport. It is only open one day a week, for two hours. We expected to be the only people there.. turns out we were wrong.

It opens at 9:30 am… we were there 10 minutes later… and there were already a lot of people there. On Bicycles, motorcycles, and cars. Busy place

We then headed into town to explore, and well…. Find the church 😂

The Church in Mallacoota is the Community Church. All the denominations share the same building. The Uniting and Anglicans share a service, and the Catholics have a separate service.

They also have a thriving Op shop and Cafe! There were about 10 tables all with people enjoying a cuppa, conversation with neighbours and the view!

We then did a bit of shopping on main street. I needed more Tylenol (acetaminophen) … which is called Paracetamol here, (acetaminophen is an American name)… I did not know it was regional thing, the things you learn!

We then headed back to our Bnb. We knew that the area was hit by the bush fires of 2020… it is apparent where we are staying that there are a few empty lots, where houses used to be.

We thought this might be the reason for the shared modern looking church … we were right… the churches did all burn down.

Rick found the following article, which tells the harrowing story:

Bush fire in Mallacoota

Our hosts told us later that this house and the neighbour’s were the only left standing on this hill. He was a volunteer firefighter, his wife went to the docks!

The town of Mallacoota has a permanent population of about 1000 which becomes 10,000 in the summer holiday’s (I believe it, there is a caravan park on every corner). The town lost 128 houses in the fire, about 1/2 the town. There is only one road in or out, once the fire blocked that, there was no escape but the ocean. Really puts those signs I have seen that say “wild fire place of last resort” in perspective.

After hearing the stories, I felt a need to paint the trees… that survived!