“Hell, it was hot. The wind is rushing in at about knee height to feed the fire. It tips you over – your legs are going one way and your body is going the other. It’s almost impossible to stand up.”
Realising they wouldn’t be able to defend the house Bob, 60, who is ex-Air Force, and his wife, Narelle, had to get out fast. But the cars were stalling. “There was no air to run on. The fire followed us all the way.”
The next day, when he came back, Bob’s house had “vaporised”. All that was left of his contented life in this densely forested wilderness were brick stumps and a pile of tin. Months later, Narelle still wakes in the night unable to breathe, thinking there is smoke. She couldn’t return to look at the wreckage of her home. “She didn’t feel safe.”
There are still crashes in the night as dead, hollow trees fall.
Nymboida in the Clarence Valley, 44km south-west of Grafton, was a beautiful place – lush, fertile and green; the clear river, trees tangled in vines, gullies of rainforest teeming with birds and wildlife. It attracted people like Laena Stephenson, a marriage celebrant, who came to bring up her children in nature.
This story is from the February 2020 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.
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This story is from the February 2020 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
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