[Lakes]

G Day all, after the fires we had around hear, New Years Eve day New Years day& start of 2020. A friend in SA was saying she was sad about all the animals that died. So was I !
I was also noticing a lot of the TV NEWS  showing burnt & rescued Koala Bear's, I was thinking to myself I don't think I've seen any Koala's in this area since I've been here.
So on the pushy ride today, having a coffee after, I asked some people who have been in the area a long time if we had Koala bears here. they said no but  down Bega  they have some. One chap also went on to say, the Old timers story, is that there were a lot of Koala's in the area before the Gold rush days ( gold rush towns around here, MOGO,Nerigunda, Dalmeny, Bermagui to name a few ) before the gold rush they say there was Koala's here & the Chineese miners used to eat Koala bear's, but the guy said that's the story he was told & not sure how true it was.

[CraigB]

Yes it's sad to see all the dead wildlife and farm animals, I had a friend mention that he'd heard on the news it was estimated somewhere around 48,000,000 animals were lost

[mickd]

Hi Lakes,
 Seen old pic's of trappers with cart loads of Koala skins.
Came back from Wagga via the Snowy, its all brown & black,  everything burnt.
Some areas in the more remote sections now resemble a moon scape with all the trees burnt to ground level. Just rocks and ash now. It will never be the same. 

[Dazzler]

Hi Lakes,
 Seen old pic's of trappers with cart loads of Koala skins.
Came back from Wagga via the Snowy, its all brown & black,  everything burnt.
Some areas in the more remote sections now resemble a moon scape with all the trees burnt to ground level. Just rocks and ash now. It will never be the same. 

That's awful. It was dry as when we came through to see you, but it was still a nice drive back then.. (only about 2 months ago!

Yes it's sad to see all the dead wildlife and farm animals, I had a friend mention that he'd heard on the news it was estimated somewhere around 48,000,000 animals were lost

I think you missed a zero. All the reporst ive seen were nearly half a billion.. so more like 480,000,000!

[CraigB]

@Dazzler That quote meant for me You're probably right mate

[Dazzler]

@Dazzler That quote meant for me You're probably right mate

No worries and I fixed the quote.. 

[Lakes]

Hi Lakes,
 Seen old pic's of trappers with cart loads of Koala skins.
Came back from Wagga via the Snowy, its all brown & black,  everything burnt.
Some areas in the more remote sections now resemble a moon scape with all the trees burnt to ground level. Just rocks and ash now. It will never be the same. 

That's No good Mick!
I went down through Cobargo then to Bermagui ( got loaf of Honour Bread ). Bermagui, Tilba & Narooma all extremely lucky to have missed the fires. all the area's mentioned have had some rain since the fires, where grass was burnt at Cobargo it has regrown the greenest green, also grass untouched by fire was still brown from drought.
that area that had Bush Fires near Tumut , had very bad bush fires around 4 or 5 years ago as friends from Narooma RFS & other friends from near Wagga, went there to help fight the fires four or five years back, I went through Gundagi , Batlow Tumbarumba a few months back , Gundagi was brown but Batlow & Tumbarrumba were really lush green was raining there while I visited.
I have not been to Wagga for ages.

[mickd]

All green here as well,  all the ash has acted as a fertiliser.
May need to mow soon,  roos are sticking to the reserve across from us but still drinking from our bird baths