Monday, February 13, 2012

Blackall in Flood

Like Roma, Mitchell and St George, our little outback town flooded but not to the same extent. Several years ago, the council relocated many of the houses in flood prone areas. There are a number of businesses still in the flood area but being the style of building they are, impossible to relocate.

My friend Lorelei took these photos and emailed them to me in Brisbane. They were taken about 5 hours before the expected flood peak of 10pm on Saturday 4th February. She said it was amazing to stand in the street and watch the water slowly but surely inch up higher and higher.

Like every small community, everyone pitches in and supports those in need.





Living out of town, we don't get to see this for ourselves so I am always grateful to friends like Lorelei who send photos.

To Brisbane

Can you believe it...February already and just to add to it, almost halfway through the month?? In no time at all we''ll be told how many days it is 'til Christmas. Easter is still 2 months away and yet Easter eggs are already available in Brisbane.

We recently had a quick trip to Brisbane...that turned out not to be so quick.

At the end of January we went down for this:

Yep...tickets to see Ronan Keating. Sharon Corr was his special guest. The concert was terrific and I loved every bit except for the old girls from far NQ who were seated right beside us. Boy did they have good lungs and they yelled and screamed between EVERY song Ronan sang!!! Martin was sitting right beside the noisiest one and he covered his ears every time. If they were in their 40's or 50's I could understand but they were in their 60's!! I will admit I found their behaviour really quite embarrassing.

It was wonderful to spend some time with our boys and their partners. Nathan adores his big brothers and misses them very much.

Ally and Adam

Craig and Kathryn have a baby due in early June....we are all so excited and Nathan can hardly wait to be an uncle again. As you can see, Kath is blooming.


Two days later we headed home from Brisbane, only to get no further than Roma, after a truckie called us on the radio to say the police had closed the road due to flooding. We spent the night in Roma, hoping to continue on the next day, but it wasn't to be. Then we heard that Roma was to get a good drenching and knowing that it's notorious for flooding, decided the best thing was to head back to Brisbane.

We took Nathan to the movies (his first time) to see Happy Feet 2...a really lovely movie. The Sunday was Nathan's 8th birthday. We had a family barbie at Craig and Kath's place. Nathan chose his birthday cake...it was rich chocolate with fancy icing and a little plastic Happy Birthday on the top. He was lucky to receive some really cool presents.

On the Monday the main highway home was still closed. After making a few calls, we decided to head home via Taroom and Emerald, staying with Mum at Clermont. Finally we arrived home last Wednesday, a week after leaving the first time! It was a long way but the country looked absolutely magnificent albeit rather soggy.

Now we are trying to get back in to our school routine. We are a bit all over the place at the moment but we'll get there. We had a hiccup this morning as our school phone and the headset aren't working properly but a new one is in the mail.