MASSIVE FLOODS IN OZ

Two weeks ago we had a solid week of torrential rain. The good old 1 in a 100 year flood, which was not what we anticipated after living here for only a year. We watched the mighty Macleay river across the road rise rapidly to an uncomfortable height and levels that had not been witnessed since 1952. There were a few tense days, but we were grateful to be living in the higher end of our little hamlet, however the lower part of the street did flood with quite a bit of water over the street and through a few homes there. The village of Smithtown on the other side of the river did not fare so well however.

You will notice some differences in these two pics. The pic above was taken only yesterday after replacing all the lavender outside the front fence, and includes the new lovely post—toppers. The torrential rain for over a week was enough to kill the lavender, which was once a pretty site along the nature strip. The pic below was taken in the midst of the big wet.

Check out more pics of the finished posts and garden at the end of this Blog post.

Sad to watch the lavender die. I then cut it all back in the hope that it would rejuvenate. But.....

The following pic was taken on our street and only about 50 metres from our front gate. The river slightly edging its way across the road.

Clearly our back yard has a low spot in front of the Alfresco area, which is why we have re-done the Alfresco since the flood.

This pic shows the nightly Macleay on the right, rising rapidly. Smithtown is on the far right and that little township suffered quite a lot as they are lower than we are at Gladstone. To the left of the main river, is normally grassy fields and then on the far left of the pic, in front of the white fence, is our street, and the flood waters covered this end of the street even more after this pic was taken. So pleased that our little cottage is on the higher part of the street, about 300 metres from where this pic was taken.

The following three pics were taken at Wauchope where it got smashed by the flood. This was once a beautiful playground and lovely picnic area and walking pathway. Sad....!!!