This Newsletter Is A Covid-Free Diversion - Travel Is Our Gig This Week

We're away this week, staying on the outskirts of Busselton, in the southwest corner of Western Australia. We're having a bit of R & R to escape Covid madness. However, it seems even well away from Perth, people can't let those face coverings go. Enough people still wear masks to remind you that Covid, hey, you can't escape it.

International readers who have never been to Australia often don't realize the size of Western Australia. Our state is big, in fact enormous, and is the second largest state by area globally. Yesterday we went on a 40-kilometre round trip bike ride between Busselton and Dunsborough.

The map insert shows the route in blue. On the larger map, you can see about a third of Western Australia and how tiny the region is where we are.

Australia is very much a coastal region. As you go inland, there are large desert areas, so other than farmland, there is little to attract major settlements.

The images above are typical of the coastal region south of Busselton. The town of Busselton has seen rapid growth with a population of 30,000. That is big by West Australian standards. Busselton boasts the longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere, more than a mile long.

Today we drove inland for about an hour near the little town of Nannup. We hired a canoe and ventured onto the Blackwood River with its lovely pristine surroundings. Here you are one with nature; total isolation.

Getting away from it all allows you to appreciate what you have in your life and to have gratitude. For all the nonsense we've had the past two and a half years, we thought things were missing in our lives. When we take a look, we find that nothing is really missing.

Some people go on about specific segments of society being privileged. I'll admit I'm guilty. Being able to experience the environment in this part of the world does make me feel privileged.

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While visiting the quaint town of Nannup, I read about its history. Something that I read struck me as very interesting.

“Menaced by bushfires in 1928, settlers had to battle hard against the flames to save their properties. More bushfires, fanned by strong winds, swept across the region in 1935 burning out over 100 hectares (247 acres) and destroying one house and a barn. More bushfires were burning in the district over the course of several days in 1937, resulting in the stables and the sheds at the local race course being burned down, the destruction of large amounts of feed for stock, and the loss of telephone lines.”

“Bushfires once again struck in 1950 with several large fires burning only a few miles from town. The outbreak destroyed nearly 30,000 acres (12,141 ha) of jarrah and karri forest. The fires were brought under control reasonably quickly; they were believed to have been deliberately lit.”

So, global warming/climate change enthusiasts would have you believe that natural disasters like bushfires, floods and severe storms are recent due to climate change. Sorry, but these events have always happened. The weather today is not that much dissimilar to the past.