cleanup starts

I think these photos speak for themselves. The organisatgion is amazing. Places to pick up rubber gloves and cleaning equipment, people leaving tools out for others to use, registration stations for volunteers, while everwhere within cooee of the river is covered in thick, sticky, foul mud. We have loaned out our gumboots and are doing child minding. everyone is doing something to help.

ghost city

Have just been down to Boundary St, West End, usually a buzzing, busy spot where people gather each day to catch up, eat, drink coffee, visit Avid Reader, our wonderful local book shop, buy the paper, listen to music, have a beer abd generally take part in the great community that we love. But today it was really eerie. No shops open, no people, and you could see from one end to the other right down the shopping strip. All services, including doctor's surgery were closed. Only the pub, full of people either celebrating a dry house or drowning their sorrows, was open, a worker sitting on a pile of sandbags just outside the door, having a smoke.

I didn't walk down to Melbourne St, which was full of brown water this morning. I've had enough. Had a fleeting moment of regret that I didn't have my camera with me, but only fleeting. Then went off in search of a shop that sold food and was in luck. Both of the supermarkets we use were flooded - West End and Fairfield - and none of the smaller shops are open. Now I'm home with the television on - again.

moving pictures

...and it keeps on rising

Like many other people this morning, we went out to view what is happening in our watery city. You can see by the two photos above how much the Brisbane River has come up in 24 hours. The patch of green in the right hand photo is the top of the trees in the left.



The river is running incredibly fast, and along with it pontoons by the score that have been ripped adrift; a floating restaurant that has ended up crashing into one of the bridges; white goods; trees; and much much more. And all the while the sides widen, creeping up streets with stealth and determination, submerging all in its path, like Drifters Restauarant on the opposite bank. The street are abuzz with energy as everyone falls into conversation with whoever is nearby. It's almost like a party atmosphere, but with a crappy ending in store that people are determined not to cave in to. The worst is yet to come, tomorrow they say. The house we evacuated yesterday is now under water, with only the tops of bus stop signs in Fairfield showning this morning. By now they, along with everything else, will have disappeared.

talking about the weather

It's all we are talking about at the moment. We keep swearing we won't but it's impossible not to. We wake up every day to rain amd go to sleep with the same accompaniment - the sound of rain hammering down. It's not cold, tho the wind has a cooling effect, but EVERYTHING is damp. There's no escaping it - the air is full of moisture which varies according to whether you are inside or out. There are queues a mile long at every laundromat dryer in Brisbane, thousands of pairs of gumboots were sold at the Woodford Folk Festival, every book and piece of paper feels thick and soft, and it's summer. A summer like no-one here is familiar with and which everyone wishes would just stop.
Things have really gone from bad to worse with the devestation in Toowoomba, where my aunt lives. And we are all holding our breath here as the dam that supplies Brisbane water is 43% over capacity.
This is certainly a very different summmer experience to Lima East, but it's still not as bad as waiting for fires to come over the hill.
Off to sit in a darkened cinema today with mum. At least I can pretend the sun is shining.

Well, since I wrote that a few hours ago the heavens opened wider, Claudia turned around and went back to her place with mum, and flood warnings are going out all over the lower lying parts of Brisbane, which, given the winding nature of the river, will be many households, and sandbagging has started. With a king tide to come tomorrow we are all holding our breath. The photo does not really capture the ferocity of the rain, but will give an idea of the day. Radio warnings are going out saying not to go out in your car, so here we are. More toast, coffe and reading.

Later: Well, have just been down to Fairfield, a low lying suburb on the river, to evacuate the house of friends who are away at the moment. A team of us ferried stuff out to the cars and van as the Brisbane River steadily rose at the end of the street. Word is that this will be worse than the '74 flood, the one everyone talks about, and it came up to the guttering of the house next door to our friends' place. God, it's terrible, trying to decide what to take, but we got a lot including photos.

All along the river there were people evacuating, cars, utes and moving vans everywhere. The river has broken its banks ... did so this morning, as Charles & I saw when we went for a walk down to West End. For those of you who visited Skinner St, this is where we went down to the river. You can just see the top of the railing and behind that is the walkway round the river...somewhere under the water. And beyond that is the river bank. By the time we walked back up the police were blocking off the streets down to the river. It's a sight to behold. The picture of the sodden city I took on the way home. Arrived dripping wet, changed, and now have to do it all again. A hot shower and dry clothes. Lovely.

christmas break activities

Christmas was a lovely day, even tho it started at 5am, when Remi discovered that Santa had not only drunk the wine and eaten the panforte, but the reindeer had drunk the water. And to top it all off, Santa had left him a note. I thought he was going to explode with excitement.
These pics show a little of the day, and those following, up to last week when it began raining, AGAIN, and hasn't stopped. Thank god we live on top of a hill. It's all running past us to some other poor families.
At least we got a few smims in, both at Southbank and the lovely pool at Yeronga, all greenery and trees and surrounded by bush.
We went twice to GoMA last week to see the 2000-2010 Contemporary Art that has filled the gallery from top to bottom. We took Remi on day 2, and the camera. He did not want to leave the Infinity Room - it was amazing.
Mum has arrived back in Brisbane and goes down to her new house at the end of the week. She looks very well, despite all the upheavel.
Happy New Year to you all. This is going to be a great year!!!

chapter 2 catch up

Well, we drove down to Victoria in 2 days, landing at Tim and Janet's where we had a lovely couple of days with them. It is always so special to see them, especially as their visit to us in Sept was cancelled because Tim was sick. They have lovely healthy vegies growing. some of which we consumed with relish.




After an all-too-short stay, but with every intention of catching up more, and with lots of others on the way back north, we went down to Melbourne to Kristine and John's, Charles picking up his evening suit for Felicity and Chris' wedding, and a Christmas catch-up dinnner with the Braddy family.



Down to Charles' brother's farm in the Western District on Saturday for the wedding that evening, a grand affair for which their garden was at its most spectacularly beautiful. It was a happy occasion for all, magnificent setting, delicious food and lots of dancing. The following morning was brunch, with perfect weather for the entire weekend. Gillian came from Tower Hill and took us back to her place on Sunday afternoon, where it rained and blew a gale for 2 days, until we picked mum up at Avalon on Tuesday. Gillian's house was auctioned, unsuccesfully the next day in Melbourne, which she and Charles attended, and she stayed on until Sunday morning. As you can see, it was tiring work, helping mum sort and pack, as mum's house sold the day after we arrived. From then on it was go, go, go, to get the house packed, garage sale organised, saying goodbye to friends (very hard) and finding a carrier that could move her before Christmas.




Two days into this Charles 93 year old Mum, Edna, was put into hospital with no pulse in her right leg and her toes starting to turn black. The upshot of that was a bypass with a plastic tube in her leg, which got the blood flowing again, but she had heart and lung complications which were a challenge that saw her stay extended far beyond the original week. This, of course, meant that Charles spent lots of time at the Austin Hospital. She has finasally made it to rehab.

So, our planned catch-up-with-friends holiday was cut short and we only had 3 full days in the north-east, staying with Shirley and Kevin and in which time we managed to see, briefly, quite a few people,tho not all, collect a few things from the farm and draw breath for the next leg to Sydney. Shirley and Kevin's place was a beautiful haven , their dam as full as I can remember it.



We were both feeling pretty exhausted, and still had mum's car as well as our own to drive back to Brisbane, so set off early Friday morning. Claudia had flown down to help with the driving, and it was great to see her as well as Mat and Jeff. She hadn't been to Sydney for a very long time, so we did a tour on Saturday that was real Sydney. Ferry to Watson's Bay, lunch at Doyle's, walk up to South Head, bus back in time to put on our glad rags for a night out.




Mat took us to a restaurant in Bondi, balcony seats looking down Bondi Beach. Could't get more Sydney than that. Started with cocktails followed by a magnificent degustation that went on for ever and was uttrerly delicious. It was so lovely sitting in the warmth with people you love, and relaxing, finally.




The next afternoon Mat and Jeff had a Christmas party full of buff boys and glam girls which was great fun, and ended at an hour that enabled us to get enough sleep for an early start the next morning. After 13 hours on the road (lots of coffee stops and back stretches) we got to Simon's where we were fed fresh fish, home made perfect chips and wine. Home on Tuesday, tired and happy. It's great to be home. My next blog will be Christmas.