Why New South Wales is far from burned out...

Having battled drought, bush fires and flooding, rural regions in the east coast Australian state are back and open for business, says Sarah Marshall

A cool, autumnal breeze whips through the coiled wrought iron balconies of country village Berry, forcing Sydney day trippers to huddle into their light jackets as they nibble cinnamon-dusted goodies from a 55-year-old doughnut van. But like a prodigal son returning home after a lengthy absence, the milder temperature is a welcome relief from months of intense, dry heat.

All along the south coast in Shoalhaven and inland in an area of rolling hills and green pastures known as the Southern Highlands, the air is lighter, the clouds a little closer and the sky just a bit bluer than anywhere else.

Up until a few weeks ago, it was a very different story. Months of severe drought tarnished the landscape with a rusty brown glaze, and violent, raging bush fires tore through forest and farmland, leaving both physical and mental scars. Smoke cloaked vast areas of New South Wales, across Sydney, the Blue Mountains and beyond, suffocating the sun and draining all colour from the atmosphere.

Now the recovery process has started, and businesses heavily dependent on tourism are keen to spread the message that their doors are again wide open.

Entrepreneurial winemaker Rajarshi

Ray, who runs the Silos Estate in Berry, is still reeling from the after-effects. Horrified by events, he transformed his property into an evacuation site, providing a roof for up to 50 families forced out of their homes by advancing flames. “We had some in our hotel and others camped in the grounds,” he recalls when I visit his carbon neutral, solar-powered cellar door, reached by a road sparkling with fragments of recycled glass bottles. “We even had a hundred sheep, horses and alpacas. It was like Noah’s Ark.”

His generosity has been costly, with evacuees staying up to three weeks, but he refuses to put a price on what he deems to be community service. More damaging was the smoke – and recent heavy flooding – which destroyed his crop of white grapes and forced an early and limited harvest of reds; only 10% of the fruit was salvaged.

A committed environmentalist, the former city worker was responsible for installing the first Tesla electric car charging station outside Sydney, and claims to produce only one wheelie bin of rubbish per week. Clearly, he sees the connection between Australia’s worst bush fires in decades and climate change. “I’m utterly astounded by people that don’t,” he sighs.

But he also has faith in nature’s resilience, reciting the words of Australian poet Dorothea Mackellar: