Debbie.

So unless you've been living under a rock.... a rock on high ground, then you are probably aware of the passing of cyclone Debbie and the devastating results of the masses of rain that followed. We have friends who have lost horses and houses and it's still not over, as I'm writing this a close friend is moving all her low lying belongings as well as all her animals because Rockhampton is about to see water levels that it has not seen since 1954. 

We count ourselves so very lucky here, floods on our country is an annual event (almost every year), which means stock needs to be moved to high ground and the pantry needs to be stocked to last sometimes for weeks. Our house is high on the hill, so we have no cause for concern for our own safety, only that of our stock. 

This is the Stanage Bay Road, from the bottom of the hill we are on looking towards Half Way Creek at about 0830 Thursday. 

Above is Half Way Creek, it was 0.8M in this pic I think. It stopped raining here on Thursday morning at 0630, this was that afternoon at 1730. 

Above is the road from Half Way Creek, looking back towards the house. It looks like the bottom of a river bed now.

Above was Friday morning.

The biggest drama that I had was the loss of my drone. It was really a pretty silly thing for me to do but I was determined to get footage of the flood water before it went down any further. I sent my drone out on the Thursday morning but it was blowing a gale. I decided I would just take off from the ground and hover, which it handled pretty well, so I thought "she'll be right". I had to steer pretty hard to go into the wind and even then I was getting blown away, on top of that, the reception was not the best. I told it to return home (auto cue), but what I didn't realise was the the return to home feature didn't have the same forcefulness that I was using. Unbeknown to me, it went behind the house, out of service and out of commission. LOST! I was not a happy and had resigned myself to the fact it was gone as I had no idea where to even look. After 3 days of searching, my darling husband, acting as spotter, found it. It was in the paddock beside where we were searching, just through the fence and in an area that I didn't even think it would be. I was so lucky that J and G-man had come with me because I would never have seen it on my own!

This was the area that I was searching for my drone, we found it way over to the left of the photo. 

With the lower country covered in water, we have some new house guests which I must say I'm enjoying, we don't often have cows around the house, unless they have something awry like a hoppy leg or a poddy calf and it's nice to see our babies.

Making the most of the running water. 

Cool dude, you can actually see his new back tooth in this pic, poor thing is getting about 3 or 4. 

What else do you do in rainy weather but eat some scones?!?

A few nibbles in the afternoon. Someone's got to do it! 

Above it Half Way Creek Friday morning at 0.4M and below is Ti-Tree Gullies and you can't see the guide posts. 

 

Above and below, same flat an hour apart! This was Thursday morning. When we woke J decided to go and shift the cattle in this paddock because of the rising water, but we should really have just slept in because no sooner had it peaked then it was back down again. Local rain had meant that Half Way creek flooded before the Herbert Creek and so it rose and fell very quickly.

This morning we went to check on our little crop and the silk sorghum is going gang busters. We measured over 10 inches and the gage had overflowed. The humidicola is also coming along, although it will be a while before it gets a real go on I think. It's had a perfect start though! 

I've also discovered the best pizza base EVER!! OMG it was delicious! Never again will I buy a ready made base! 

So that's what we've been up to the last couple of weeks. Sitting out the rain, eating too much food! Watching the odd movie, shifting cattle and checking on receding water. How did you fair in the cyclone? I hope everyone is safe and not suffered too much damage and I'm terribly sorry to those who have. We are still flooded in and it might be a while yet before we can get into town, not that I'm minding the solitude, sometimes it's nice to know you won't be caught with your pants down ha ha.