Difference between revisions of "Bemm River"

Revision as of 13:21, 10 June 2006

Like so many cities, towns and structures in Errinundera, Bemm River takes advantage of its natural environment.

We are now in the southern lowlands of Errinundera, just below the plateau escarpment. The tributaries of the Errinundera and Combienbar Rivers tumble over the edge of the plateau in beautiful waterfalls – First Creek Falls being the most famous. Eventually the two rivers join to become the slow moving Bemm River, meandering through dense warm temperate rainforest. At 1000 metres below the plateau the temperature is much warmer and the forest quite different in type.

The Bemms consider themselves forest folk just like the plateau dwellers. They too live in house trees connected by magnificent skywalks. Someone canooing down the river may think they are in a pristine wilderness until they round a bend in the river and see graceful parabolic fingers stretching from all directions out of the tree canopy to cross the river.

The big advantage that they have over their compatriots, however, is the temperature. Bemm River is the nudest place in the country. To dress for important occasions is to be considered terribly uncouth. Patrons and performers of the city’s several orchestras, opera companies and chamber groups never wear clothes to performances unless an unusually cold snap has struck. When this does occur the Bemms go overboard and dress outrageously. If you have to wear clothes, then treat it as a bit of naughty fun, seems to be the reasoning.

The Bemms are more prone than the plateau folk to altering their environment. Back from the river itself you will find many public monuments and stoneworks between the trees. They love ampitheatres and watergardens and statuary. Some of them date back over a thousand years, showing that the love of ornamentation has long been a feature of Bemm River life. A walk between the trees is a serene antitode to the pressures of daily life. The style is never grand but always graceful and intimate. Vines trail from the trees, bright green moss covers everything and staghorn ferns grow wherever they can obtain purchase: on tree trunks, walls, rocks and statues.

The Bemm River Recreation Reserve (known as the B Triple R) was one of the first large stadiums built when football was introduced to Errinundera and has therefore been well and truly overtaken by later developments. Built on an island in the centre of the river, the stadium expanded over the years so that, now, no trace of the island is visible from the riverbanks. The stadium gives the illusion of rising out of the river itself. Indeed, it can only be accessed via skywalks that bring the fans into the stadium through its roof. A new stand has increased the capacity to 35,000 and the facilities, while not bad, are only adequate.