Tag Archives: queensland

Saturday mourn

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Light at the end of the tunnel

Mr FD became an orphan today, due to the passing of his mother. I wrote a few weeks ago that she had fallen and broken the neck of her femur, and at 90 no one expected a good outcome.

She continued to be in pain and the doctor decided this week to order an xray to check her injury. Normally, a mobile x-ray unit would come to the care facility and take the xray, but thanks to Queensland Premier (akin to a Govenor) Campbell Newman’s gutting of our health care system there are no longer mobile units. So, the poor thing had to be placed in an ambulance and taken to a hospital for the xray.

Naturally, the journey increased her pain and so they gave her more morphine, but this resulted in her blood pressure dropping to 65 over 30. They took her to ICU and stablished her, but sent her back to the care facility the same day. After that time she no longer communicated with us, stared vacantly and moaned in pain from time to time. Last Sunday she was able to have a very long and clear conversation with Mr FD, so the change was rapid and stunning – thank you Campbell Newman (and no, I never voted for him).

So, from Wednesday all we could do was hope she would pass soon to relieve her ordeal. We were on our way to be with her this morning when Mr FD’s sister called to say MIL had just died.

MIL was actually in a care facillity where old nuns go to live out their last days and so the place is steeped in religion. We were forced to endure a funeral procession through the facility and out to the hearse. It was touching, stressful and comical all at the same time.

An old nun with a violin appeared and she led the procession. MIL’s room was not far from the front entrance, so to allow a procession we had to procced to the opposite end of the hall, out through the garden and then back into the building down the length of the main hall to the entrance. They told us we had to go through the garden and SIL was concerned because she had seen a tree snake out there the day before, but the old nuns had to have their procession.

So out we go. The nun playing a maudlin tune on a wobbly violin, followed by the undertakers wheeling the coffin. Then walked Mr FD and his sister, followed by me and SIL’s friend (she is of Russian decent and looks like she has had to many vodkas and more than a little like the grim reaper poor thing). We walk out into the garden and SIL catches sight of a blue tongue lizard, and she starts to giggle. She has always suffered with a nervous giggle and here she is following the coffin and trying to suppress her giggle.

All the residents are lined up down the hall as we proceed out. A few that knew MIL or SIL stopped SIL to give her a hug, or to press Mr FD’s hand, just to prolong the moment, but eventually we reached the exit and had to stand waiting as the coffin was placed in the hearse.

One undertaker drove the car, but the other walked in front of the car as it left the grounds and continued down the street. He walked ahead until it drew out of sight.

More hugs from unknown nuns and other residents before we could escape. All too much niceness for me I am sorry to say, so I was back to our car and reefing open the door at the first possible moment.

The circle of life complete.

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Second time around

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Then we followed with desserts.

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I celebrated with a glass of chardonnay as well, something I couldn’t have done until I completed my course of medication, so it was a celebration in more ways than one!

Afterwards we drove to a lookout that overlooks our little Village – and yes we could see our house from there!

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While we were there I learnt from my sister that our paternal greatgrandmother had grown up on a farm only a short distance away. Her name was Hermine and she married my greatgrandfather Herman – yes Herman and Hermine!

Today was a beautiful autumn day and though the photos are a little hazy, I think the beauty of where we live is still evident.

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grey skies and soggy feet

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Overhead the poor man sitting on his patio (above) talking on his mobile and saying that the water was starting to drop. He has blue plastic pushed into all the weep holes in the walls of his house.

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The frogs were in absolute frog heaven as we passed this area of grassland (below). They were croaking in absolute harmony and delight. There must have been a horde of them but they were all well hidden from our sight.

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We lost town water, but were able to switch over to tank water. The power is still on which is amazing and I hope it stays that way, but anything can happen. Rain has been interrupted by periods of sunshine today, so maybe the worst is over for our area. As we passed the local high school which is being used as an evacuation centre Mr FD remarked that “There is a lot of agony in there”. Many of those within would have been flooded in 2011. The main business area is under water so life in general will be disrupted for some time. I fear some won’t make it back again. Cities down stream are yet to peak but expected to be lower than 2011.

Living the moment…

flooding 2013 style

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blue bird

The flood waters are creeping down the main street of The Village. The locals are taking it in their stride with a horde of sightseers down watching the waters rise. In true Aussie spirit a group are sitting on the veranda of the pub, surrounded by flood water and drinking their way through the flood.

An automated telephone and text message came through to evacuate to the local high school but as we are much higher than the high school we are staying in our house (and probably wouldn’t get across the duck pond to get to it anyway!). We checked flood levels to ensure we were above known flood levels before we purchased the house.

We still have power, which amazes me. I hope it continues, but we are well stocked for torches and candles if need be. I froze water in large blocks to keep the freezer cold if the power does go out – I learnt a couple of things from the last flood even though it was in the city! This is when it pays to have a landline and a telephone handset that doesn’t work off electricity because if the power goes and mobiles go flat it is nice to have the old fashioned but dependable landline.

I suspect that school won’t be resuming on time, with Ipswich flooding to peak once at midnight on Monday and then again late on Tuesday. If it does, I know one teacher who will probably be absent!  Brisbane is expected to peak at noon on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. The Village is upstream from both and we are experiencing a peak tonight.

From our top garden terrace we watched the water gradually spread out across the plain and The Village. It really does look like an inland sea.

Tomorrow is another day, and we all hope the sun shines and everyone stays safe overnight. Two major floods in two years is traumatic and life destroying for so many people, some of whom are still to have their homes rebuilt after the last flood in 2011. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.

It doesn’t rain, it pours.

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umbrella 1

Queensland is in flood again, and while we are high and safe we are about to be cut off, if we aren’t already. Mr FD and I made a fast and very efficient trip to the local supermarket to stock up on milk, bread, eggs and extra dog food so we should be able to weather the next couple of days if nothing unexpected happens. Hopefully the power will stay connected as we haven’t purchased a generator as yet, but we did okay with the bbq in 2011 and a small battery generator to charge phones so fingers crossed. The reports are that once the rain clears in a day or so, it should all clear fairly quickly.

We are learning the joys of entertaining a large energetic puppy in wet weather. Augie Dog has been fairly well disciplined still asking to go outside to toilet, though he has been given the option of a puppy pad on the patio. We just have to whisk him inside quickly once his business is done, as he has discovered the joys of the muddy bare areas in the lawn. Luckily we have made a game out of rubbing him down with a towel and so he cooperates most of the time.

Reports of tornadoes in some area on the mid north coast of Queensland, and the warning is out for most of south east Queensland for more of the same. The wind has been building over the weekend and has been blowing a gale for awhile.

AS I WRITE THIS I HAVE JUST CAUGHT SIGHT OF AUGIE THROUGH THE WINDOW. HE IS COVERED IN MUD FROM HEAD TO TOE AND IS SITTING LOOKING AT ME QUITE JOYOUSLY . IT WAS MR FD’S WATCH.

IF WE RUN OUT OF FOOD, WE ARE FEEDING MR FD TO AUGIE.

 

I shall return later, I have a man to beat with a stick.

 

 

A day in the north

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Fly from Brisbane to Cairns and there in time for breakfast! Of course, it did mean getting up at 3am to make a 6am flight, and two and a half hours sitting silently between two men, one built like a mining truck and the other hiding behind his hoodie (I started to suspect that he had smothered beneath his own hood, until his hand went up beneath the hood to deliver a fruit mint. I knew it was a fruit mint because I could smell the flavour, orange), but the breakfast and pot of tea at the hotel took the edge off of any remaining pain!

Breakfasting in Cairns!

First impressions of Cairns?

A large country town nestled between the mountains and the sea.

Tropical colonial architecture.

Adelaide is the capital city of the state of South Australia; a long way from Cairns in Queensland – the era of the steamship!

The nicest smelling hotel I have ever stayed in!

Free plug ….hint, Mr Pullman.

My television had a personal welcome message for me.

The best stocked mini bar I have ever seen (and prices to match)

yes, top left is a pack of condoms…NO!

The most comfortable hotel bed I have ever slept in!

Huge pillows, and a pillow menu!

All the staff appear to be foreign and I spent my time misunderstanding most of what they said and nodding my head as if I understood (I have no ear for accents, my deficit not theirs!)

All the food is over cooked and dominated by MEAT! Everyone must be on a protein diet!

The city looks depressed with vacant store front after store front.  Where have all the tourists gone?

tropical flora

Spa bath with a view of the television, right next to my bed!

loafing along familiar streets

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Visited my Mum in her new abode. She was playing hoy (card game) when we arrived, but she was more than happy to escape back to her room with us. Very social place though – this is their activity schedule for the month of May:

Mother Flamingo Dancer has a really lovely room, with a large sliding door opening onto a private patio. We plan to get her a comfy chair so that she can sit and look over the garden and wave at all the old men going for their walks!

This is the view from her room. The turret is not the Flamingo Dancer ancestral home, as one would expect, but a church. Why it is a turret, only heaven knows. They did add a cross and not a flag pole just so that worshippers know they are in the right place!

Afterwards, we went to a local cafe for lunch, where we were given the largest servings I have ever received in any restaurant. Each plate was enough to feed three people. We felt guilty that we couldn’t eat all the food, as it seemed such a waste.

Those gigantic things on top are mushrooms (they look like small kidneys, I know) !

In the January 2011 floods, the waters went through the cafe, and it actually was measured at the level of the crimson chair rail.

The building was a bakery for many, many years. My mother visited it in her childhood, and I can remember it from my own early childhood, when I would visit my grandmother who lived further down the same street. It is lovely to see it being used again, after a number of years of being neglected. It has some lovely features.

And they have filled the display windows with an assortment of vintage and antique memorabilia.

I couldn’t resist taking a photo of the mailbox next door. Form and function over beauty, for sure!

We stopped for a coffee on the way home. There is an emu farm not far from the coffee shop and it seems some of the locals have made it onto the menu!

An no, I do not eat emu! With a face like this, could you?

not quite another day like all others

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This week is the anniversary of the horrific floods of 2011. The media has been making much of the event. On Sunday night there appeared to be a replay of an interview with one of the victims, and a media effort to simplistically assign guilt to one action, or lack of action.

The hell that hit many areas that week can’t really be allocated to the actions of a particular individual, or one specific cause. Well, beside the rain! Like many events in life, a number of conditions and actions came together in a very cataclysmic event. While it is human nature to blame infrastructure and governments, rules and regulations, there must also be a look taken at the responsibility of the individual too.

Many of the people overtaken by events were long time residents, and in my opinion should have taken more care abut where they chose to live. I don’t think anyone should buy a house, or land, without checking flood maps. There was a major flood in 1974 and many of the homes deluged in 2011 were deluged in 1974.  Is there not an element of buyer beware?

It can not be denied that successive councils and local governments should not have allowed people to build new homes on the banks of flood prone creeks and rivers. The land should not have been developed, and the people should not have moved there. We are all too wise in hindsight now.

The tragedy is ongoing. Many of the people who survived those fateful days have suffered post traumatic stress, family breakups and often are still homeless. The body of my cousin is yet to be found. My niece is yet to move back into her house. Her family is still living in a modified stable, more due to insurance fights than lack of effort.

There have been committees, hearings and reports ever since. Rules and regulations have been changed. Terminology has be updated and made more descriptive and informative. A new town on higher ground is under construction. Life goes on, for most.

Horrible things happen to people every day of the year. Some times it is to an individual, a family, a town, a nation. It is only when we are directly involved that we really pause to reflect on the event and its aftermath.

The events of 2011 taught me that life can, and does, change in an instant. The most basic thing I can do is to be personally responsible for my decisions and actions, and to learn skills that will not only make me resilient, but allow me to flourish.

I also need to make my vote count, perhaps for local government even more than national government as that vote impacts every element of my daily life and even my survival.

I will value what I have and enjoy it in every possible moment by taking time to reflect and to not only be grateful but to live a life that has active goals, big and small.

They were tough lessons to learn.