Love, bubs and life on our little farm

The water currently pouring over our driveway


The paddock between the house and the arena - the water catchment from the properties above us on the hill flows straight through


The dam closest to the house bursting its banks. Our two idiot ducks love riding the rapids in this section

We have had twice our monthly rainfall in the last 36 hours. The rain was orginially welcomed as our water tanks were getting a little low and the winter grass was starting to yellow. but now we are flooding and its getting a little bit stressful.

Half the property is under gushing water - the downside of having a property made up of half a hillside with quite a bit of water catchment. The laundry courtyard that we have dug out in preparation for paving is now a swimming pool. Both dams have broken their banks and are pouring water out into the paddocks. Our piles of delivered soil and paving sand are disappearing into the puddles despite the tarps I have over them.

But most concerning is watching our driveway go under water at the dam crossing. As I drove out taking photos this morning I was concerned that the road might go under. One hour later when I returned from doing the groceries, it was under water. So much so that I had to drive the 4WD through with pace to stop it getting too waterlogged. Needless to say I have emailed Jase and asked him to try and leave work - being an hour away in the city is not where I want him when roads are being cut off, including our own.

I know all will be OK in the long run but I am frustrated - I have put many back breaking hours into lugging gravel onto the driveeway to repair last summers storm damage and now it is all ruined again. Still - my family is alive and well and really I shouldnt complain!

I grew up in Northern NSW - a stunning place and well known for its wet weather and floods. I was often evacuated from school due to flooding and our family property would regularly get cut off. So I have a fair apreciation of flooding.

One thing that I always notice is the difference between city and country people with rain. I experience it alot at work since I commute in from a farm to work with inner city people. One - they barely ever notice or care if it is raining or not, whereas I am always checking the sky and or the BOM site or commenting on the chance that there was rain mentioned in the weekly forcast. Secondly - they love to jump in and complain once heavy flooding rain is occuring - really how is it affecting you? The two steps you have to take between house-car-work that arent concreted were a little muddy? oh poor you, I wish I could feed my poor animals without sinking below my workboots into saturated clay that is like quicksand. The traffic is slow on the way to work? At least you got your car off your place - our place is normally so waterlogged that we would drag the cars out with the tractor. And thirdly - City people love to dig out their pristine Driza Bone coats to wear out on the pavement when they have finally noticed it is "really raining". Trust me I have a Driza Bone - they are heavy, smelly and like being in a sauna - perfect for wearing on the horse in the freezing rain - been there done that plenty of times or for when you are wading through your paddocks but I would never choose to wear one in the City where I didnt have too!

OK whinge over ;) Needless to say I am not a happy chappy today - and mood was not improved when I saw that a tree has fallen on one of our perimiter fences. Something else to add to the To Do list once this rain lets up.

Stay dry and make sure you appreciate your concrete footpaths today!