Colo/Wollemi revisited again, under fire

[juju]

About 25 years ago my partner and I walked down Canoe Creek with full packs and heavy lilos. We camped on the beach at the bottom of the track and the next day floated down to the Wollangambe to spend the second night and then on to Bob Turner's Track at Hungryway Creek the next day. I walked down Bob Turner's Track seven times in three years from 1985 to 88.
Last week I returned with my 13 yr old son. We drove along the Putty road looking for the trail to Bob Turner's and somehow missed it, ending up on the Grassy Hill trail to the Canoe Creek descent, thinking it was Bob Turner's. (after 7 goes you'd think I would recognise it straight away...) Well after driving 8ks to the track start, I realised it was Canoe Creek and damned if I was goin' back so off we went down the steep hill to the Colo.
Canoe Creek is graded hard (didn't have a grade before). We found it difficult and my legs were shaking by the time we completed the descent. We had a lovely swim down below before a taxing ascent back to the car and 9pm camp around at Weeney Creek.
The next day my legs wouldn't work but I made them and we walked back down to the Colo via Bob Turner's with overnight packs. While we were down there swimming up and down the river (we had a fantastic time) helicopters carrying buckets were flying in the sky over us all day and we realised there was a fire somewhere not far away. There was no hint of smoke in the gorge. We made sure the helicopters could see us and they didn't alert us to any danger. One of them dropped down right into the area we were camped in to refill his bucket. That night we talked a lot about what we would do if an emergency developed. I'd like to know about other walkers' experiences with bushfire?
When we came out the next day the servo on the Putty Road told us there was fires all over the place and the nearest just over the range at Rylstone and Kandos. The park closed that day because of fire danger.
Interesting doing a walk that I did so long ago...by the third day of walking I realised that most of my seeming dissability (mainly with the steep terrain) was lack of confidence. My ability seemed to improve with more experience. Most of the walking I've done since having children has been on well maintained tracks or fire trails. So perhaps it's not old age creeping in - I just need to do more rough stuff!

[Drifting]

We were walking on Mt Buffalo on the day the fires started on there in 2003. We saw a tiny spot fire on the mountain near Buffalo River in the morning- the sort of thing a couple of passes with an air tanker wouldn't fix. We decided to stick to our plans, and we spent the day up on the plateau- the last day before it was closed to the public and burnt. Throughout the day, the fire stayed static, and we were able to monitor it clearly from the track we were on. It stayed in that little patch, with National Parks admittedly doing nothing, for several days, until what we now call "Catastrophic" conditions came along, and the mountain's never been the same since.

[juju]

I skied in Mount Buffalo years ago - lovely there. It's really sad when a favourite place is burnt.It was just awful when the Royal National Park in NSW copped it some years ago.
Everyone up our way (NSW mid north coast) caught the burn off bug this winter (after the Vic fires) and the valley we live in was full of smoke, so instead of occasional fire threat we all get respiratory problems, and not much has been said about long term damage to ecosystems destroyed keeping us safe.
I was talking to a friend who was a fiery in the Blue Mountains about what to do if caught out in a fire. He said dig a hole if you can and get in it or build a wall of dirt or rocks against the fire or find a cave facing away from the fire. He said you may have to burn off a clearing as a breaker, which would take courage, and wet everything you've got and get under it. The radiant heat is the killer and lack of oxygen.