Australian Flood Updates

Google Flood Map Take a look at the map to see where the water levels are now. You will see that there is still a lot of water across Queensland and an increasing amount of water through Victoria and New South Wales and there has been a little localised flooding in Tasmania.

I have managed to make contact with about half the temari ladies in Queensland, they are safe and thankful to know we are all thinking of them. None of the temari folk I know in the other states are in any of the flood zones . Our own family managed to ride out the flooding (even those living in Ipswich) and stay safe which we are truly thankful for. Thank you for all your well wishes and kind thoughts for my fellow country people and a special thank you to everyone that have made a donation to the flood appeal. It is wonderful to see the beautiful humanity that neighbours and strangers can show each other in times of crisis, and the general population of Queensland (and many others from elsewhere in our country) are doing their best to ensure these guys get back on their feet as quickly and smoothly as possible. Lots of sports people and other celebrities have donated their time, goods and talents to help with the cause. Tim Cahill (a Socceroo who also plays for Everton) has an Ebay auction running, a bunch of players from the Parramatta Eels and Wests Tigers Rugby Clubs have gone up to help clean up. English cricketers donated their match payments and even Jamie Oliver has begun to cook up free meals in Ipswich. Several people from Perth have organised trucking containers to transport goods donated locally which will be sent East shortly.

Over here in the West we had one of those delightful summer showers on Tuesday, you know the type where the sky is still sunny and bright with small blue patches of sky but there is crackling thunder and the rain drops are big and fat. The weather dropped from 33.55C to 25C we got about 2mm of rain in about 25 minutes, just enough to clean the air and make the world smell fresh and sweet again. It took me back to my childhood when occasional quick rainy spells were a common occurrence in the heat of summer.