I want to say thank you to all those who have been contacting me from interstate and overseas, concerned for our welfare, and that of our daughters.

We are all safe and not in flood’s way, thankfully.  I know that so many others have not been so fortunate.  It is so strange to have such wet weather during our summer season – at least in the south eastern part of Australia. The north eastern part of Australia often has heavy rains at this time of year – monsoonal weather, although never as intense as this – at least for a long, long time.

For around 13 years we’ve suffered a drought here in Victoria and summers have been harsh, hot and unforgiving. It was almost 2 years ago we had those awful bush fires.  The CFA is anxious that everyone still remain alert though – with all the rain, it means a lot more fuel has grown, when we do get the hot dry weather.  In the meantime, when we do hear the CFA sirens it usually signals either a car crash on the wet slippery roads, or a tree fallen onto a house or something else.  Even on our own property we’ve lost many branches and during 2010 in the heavy rain and winds we lost 5 gum trees just in our park area.

I have two sisters, a niece and nephew all in Qld.  One sister and my nephew have been stranded in that surrounding roads were blocked by floods. While they were safe in their respective places and their homes untouched, they couldn’t go to work or leave their towns because of the floods. The waters are now receding and they’re able to travel further now.

We do know of a family in Rochester, a town that had to evacuate just 2 nights ago and we haven’t yet heard if they’ve been touched by the floods. And there are still flood warnings happening in our state, mainly along the major river lines.

So, once again, thank you very much for your concerns and offers of help.  If you would like to contribute in some way, then you can donate to the Queensland Flood Appeal or keep an eye out at Google in case there is one set up for Vic.  We were amazed to see some of the areas affected by floods here in Victoria are places we drove through often whenever moving back and forth between South Australian and Queensland.

Postnote:  I’ve heard from the family in Rochester.  Their daughter and partner have lost everything – their house had the waters halfway up the walls and they were in another state when they got word it was imminent.   This daughter is my niece from my first marriage.  If you want to assist Fiona and her family in any way, please get in touch with me so I can forward contact details.