Be careful what you wish for...

For the last 6 months we have been hoping and praying for rain. The situation up the Sunshine Coast was becoming desperate. The tanks were almost empty, neighbours were buying in water. Grass was given up on, precious plants were wilting and struggling to survive, some had to be sacrifed for others. The normally lush green hinterland was looking anything but green. A dry spell not seen for years.
Well as the saying goes, 'Be Careful what you wish for....as it just may come true!'

On Thursday morning the heavens opened up as ex-cyclone Oswald made it's way down the entire Qld Coast wreaking havoc in it's path.

We lost power about 11.00am Sunday morning as a huge gum tree had fallen down across our road bringing down power lines. It was dinner by candle light.

Power has yet to be restored in our area.
The creek at the other end of our road had flooded over a low set bridge, so there was no way out or in.

Come Monday morning, we decided to take a drive around to see how bad things had played out over night. Much to our relief, the fallen tree had been somehow moved to the side of the road and at the other end the water level had decreased allowing us to make it into Eumundi to find a favourite cafe with power and serving coffee only. That coffee tasted so good!
Home to begin the clean up...apart from sodden ground and fallen branches and leaves, we considered ourselves extremely lucky as only 50km up the Hwy houses and businesses were under water and tragically we heard 3 people had lost their lives in flood waters.
I returned to Brisbane to find much of the same deluge and King tides lapping up over the bottom of our street delivering tonnes of seaweed as well as a few sea turtles.
Tonight and tomorrow the people of Brisbane will once again wait and watch and hope this river of ours doesn't bring the disasters of 2011.

On this Australia Day weekend, while other parts of the country are still recovering from horrific bushfires and we on the east coast endure floods I'm reminded of a verse from my favourite poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 'My Country'.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!

 

Stay safe everybody and help your neighbours where and when you can.

 

Bec x