Almost finished!

I just can't believe it, I am in my penultimate week of uni. I have just 6 lectures left and then it is all over. I am working like a mad woman at my final meditation essay. (1200 good words - 2000 needed).

I have a good draft of my short story written, to hand in for editing tomorrow and today my wonderful meditation lecturer sent me my 'take-home' exam a week early. I explained that I was going away to Alice Springs next weekend and requested an extension. He suggested that he send it to me early, so that I can get it out the way and enjoy my holiday. I have completed 3 of the 5 questions (200 words each) and tomorrow just need to work on the other 2 questions.
I must admit to feeling a little pressured, but by this time next week it will almost be over.
I will still have one more take-home exam to complete, but both it and my short story are only due on June 15th, so will have some breathing space.

I have loved this whole experience and am now considering what courses to do next semester. Definitely, another Religions course, but am also now considering a History course, rather than another writing or English one. First focus however, is to get through this one.

So wish me luck and hang in there for the next post, it could be a few days.

Nature at her best!

After nature giving us a hammering with the weather after the last couple of days, we got to see her at her best this morning.

A male and female King Parrot called at our seed feeders. These very shy and beautiful birds are very hard to photograph as they scare really easily. So I sneaked outside and managed a couple of photos, before leaving them to feed in peace.

Time to stop now!

334mm in just 3 days!

Monday night we had 32mm

Tuesday night we had 70mm

Wednesday morning 8am until 6am Thursday morning we had 232mm.

It has been a lot of rain, but luckily this time no strong, damaging winds.

Our rain guage did not get emptied enough, and this photo tells the whole story.

This is our dry season as well, the weather man is sure annoyed with the world!

Old Flood, new flood

This year's flood and last year's flood!

They had to replace the old swings with new ones, but they are in the same position as they were.

I guess we had a lot more rain this time around.

Oh what a night!

Mom and Dad to the rescue!

Even until last night, Mom and Dad were still helping me around the house. I was banned from getting wet, so I didn't get sicker than I am.

Luckily the rain eased overnight and finally stopped. Very cloudy skies this morning, but no more rain. Possible showers for today.


We have a tiny, baby Native Minah bird that is very tame and it found a little spot on the verandah to huddle. A little while later, I heard a tapping and it was banging against the glass door. I hope it survived the night.

Flooding again

This morning when I left home with Elizabeth, I said to her: "I should have brought my camera with me today, look at the creeks."

Overnight and yesterday we had over 100mm, then from 7am today until when I finally got home at 4pm, after an adventurous day; we had, had another 145mm.

Mom and Dad, took the children to school this morning and Elizabeth and I headed off to university. They decided to leave carving club at lunch time, as the rain had been really heavy and by the time they got home, our pool was overflowing (despite Dad and I emptying it this morning) and the front was flooding again. This time the water had made it up onto the tiles.

You can see the wet water mark.

Dad, then spent the next two hours swinging a pick and Mom digging a ditch, to relieve the water, as it had nowhere to go.

At 1pm, Mom got hold of me, and a few minutes later Matthew phoned from school to say that the school was being evacuated. It was flooded and they were having electrical problems. Mom, then tried to get out of our area, only to find that our only access road, was cut off by flood waters across the road. With some careful, driving she managed to cross and get safely to the children.

Elizabeth and I meantime started off home in the rain, we could not see any further than one car ahead of us and at times not even that. Mom had suggested we not even try, but I wanted to be home with my children. I drove really slowly, but a detour sent us about an extra hour out of our way. A normal 40 minute drive took us over 2 hours. I am so glad that I did leave when I did, as within 20 minutes of our leaving two major roads were flooded and we would have been stuck at the shopping centre for the night.

We arrived back at the creek, across the road and just made it through home. Elizabeth, Sarah and I then did some more clearing of water out front, but now are leaving it in the hands of God, as more rain is expected.

Ivan of course is AWAY! He is always away when we have major weather events. Nevermind, we are all safe and dry at home. Better off than many houses. In some areas 85 roads are closed, there have been mudslides and major flooding.

Tomorrow we are all staying home. We will work around the property to fix it up and hopefully stay warm and start drying out.

Well Done Sarah!

Our Sarah performed in her very first Flute Eisteddfod today. She played a lovely piece called "The Bear went over the mountain." Her confidence and mature attitude is amazing to watch and the judges comments were excellent.

"A nice, rich tone. The tempo was kept strict and the tuning was good. Promising." 82%

I am so proud of our talented daughter. Well Done sweetheart, keep up the good work.