OT: Our Australian Friends & the Weather

[kteague]

Happened to catch the news and saw some footage of the flooding in Australia. Sure hope our forum friends and families aren't near the worst of the weather. Thinking of you.
Kathy

[Hawthorne]

Yes, we should certainly be concerned for those people in the part of Australia that is flooded so badly. Last I heard it was an area the size of the state of Texas and getting worse!

Many areas are without electricity and no possibility of getting it back soon. Those on cpap will be suffering and certainly at risk. Many people have been evacuated and some may have access to electricity and a cpap machine again.

WE can only hope and pray that the flooding will stop and things can get back to normal soon. It won't be in the next short while though. It is a terrible situation for everyone affected.

[Marietjie]

THE STAR TRIBUNE, AUSTRALIA ......
The rain has also caused at least 400 million Australian dollars ($403 million) worth of damage to crops across the state, including sunflower and cotton, that were just recovering from months of drought, said Brent Finlay, president of farmers' lobby group AgForce.

"These crops were looking fantastic two months ago, and all that's been taken away from them," Finlay said. "It's just devastating. This was going to be the crop that got a lot of farmers back on their feet after the drought."
And in the Australian news they tell people to look out for crocodiles and snakes!!!

South African weather conditions are very similar to that of Australia - I am worried..... in the past, our area also experienced floods after a long drought. This is the 4th very dry summer (water restrictions - some places with completely no water) We are all talking about it - a flood is coming!
I am also very sorry for all the Australians - for damage to their property, farms, roads...etc.

[billbolton]

While things are certainly grim in North Queensland right now, Australians are generally pragmatic about the extremes of our "wilful, lavish land"......

My Country

Dorothea Mackellar, 1885-1968 (written in 1904 while she was feeling homesick in England)

The love of field and coppice,
Of green and shaded lanes.
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins,
Strong love of grey-blue distance
Brown streams and soft dim skies
I know but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

A stark white ring-barked forest
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon.
Green tangle of the brushes,
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When sick at heart, around us,
We see the cattle die -
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady, soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the Rainbow Gold,
For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back threefold -
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze.

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land -
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand -
Though earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.


SAID HANRAHAN

John O'Brien [aka Patrick Joseph Hartigan], 1878 - 1952 (written circa 1921)

"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
In accents most forlorn,
Outside the church, ere Mass began,
One frosty Sunday morn.

The congregation stood about,
Coat-collars to the ears,
And talked of stock, and crops, and drought,
As it had done for years.

"It's looking crook," said Daniel Croke;
"Bedad, it's cruke, me lad,
For never since the banks went broke
Has seasons been so bad."

"It's dry, all right," said young O'Neil,
With which astute remark
He squatted down upon his heel
And chewed a piece of bark.

And so around the chorus ran
"It's keepin' dry, no doubt."
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"Before the year is out."

"The crops are done; ye'll have your work
To save one bag of grain;
From here way out to Back-o'-Bourke
They're singin' out for rain.

"They're singin' out for rain," he said,
"And all the tanks are dry."
The congregation scratched its head,
And gazed around the sky.

"There won't be grass, in any case,
Enough to feed an ass;
There's not a blade on Casey's place
As I came down to Mass."

"If rain don't come this month," said Dan,
And cleared his throat to speak -
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"If rain don't come this week."

A heavy silence seemed to steal
On all at this remark;
And each man squatted on his heel,
And chewed a piece of bark.

"We want an inch of rain, we do,"
O'Neil observed at last;
But Croke "maintained" we wanted two
To put the danger past.

"If we don't get three inches, man,
Or four to break this drought,
We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"Before the year is out."

In God's good time down came the rain;
And all the afternoon
On iron roof and window-pane
It drummed a homely tune.

And through the night it pattered still,
And lightsome, gladsome elves
On dripping spout and window-sill
Kept talking to themselves.

It pelted, pelted all day long,
A-singing at its work,
Till every heart took up the song
Way out to Back-o'-Bourke.

And every creek a banker ran,
And dams filled overtop;
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"If this rain doesn't stop."

And stop it did, in God's good time;
And spring came in to fold
A mantle o'er the hills sublime
Of green and pink and gold.

And days went by on dancing feet,
With harvest-hopes immense,
And laughing eyes beheld the wheat
Nid-nodding o'er the fence.

And, oh, the smiles on every face,
As happy lad and lass
Through grass knee-deep on Casey's place
Went riding down to Mass.

While round the church in clothes genteel
Discoursed the men of mark,
And each man squatted on his heel,
And chewed his piece of bark.

"There'll be bush-fires for sure, me man,
There will, without a doubt;
We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
"Before the year is out."

[kteague]

Bill Bolton, thank you for that insider glimpse into your country!

[mars]

Well posted, Bill.

and whilst the average male Australian is considering what to do next about the flood, fire or drought, he will probably be having one of these -

http://www.jacksonsongeorge.com.au/Beer ... e_Menu.pdf

....or two.....or three......

and not many non-Australians know how well beer is entrenched in our culture -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1nxxVe5pTs

the fact that some of the ads make no sense at all is simply an indication of what I said above

And on a more serious note I thank Kathy, Hawthorne and Marietjie for their concern. I live in the middle of a bush-fire area, and am not looking forward to a hot dry summer. The floods in Queensland will affect all of Australia for a long time to come.

cheers

Mars

[Hawthorne]

I have friends in Australia (Melbourne so away from this flooding) and I know what a hardy resilient people the Australians are. It's an extremely beautiful country, in my opinion and a rugged one, in many parts, with very unpredicatable weather.

I have never visited and probably never will now but wish I had when I was younger and more able!

I heard that the water will peak today so things will begin to improve - slowly but surely.

I am hoping so!

[snnnark]

yeah, its just a pity they can't play cricket!

[runs away fast]

[mars]

Hi All

This flooding is getting........... has got........really........ really ..........bad.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/

and the rains are still coming, and moving south,

but, of course, nowhere near the bushfires in Western Australia.

Mars

[Gadget_OSA]

yeah, its just a pity they can't play cricket!

[runs away fast]

We're just in a bit of a lull. Keep runnin'

[Dimples]

Please pray for us - - - 10 confirmed dead, including 4 children, 80+ still missing, 1000's of homes lost, 1000's and 1000's evacuated, whole communities isolated . . . . and it's still raining, with the worst yet to come.
Meanwhile on the other side of our country there are terrible bush fires, and many homes destroyed
Our beautiful country is certainly a land of extremes.
But we're a tough lot, and we'll stick together, we'll help each other, and we'll get through it.