Tuesday, January 29, 2013

A crazy few days

What a crazy few days it has been. On the one hand, it was excellent to see our place after such heavy rain - to see how it handled flooding and where the water ran.

On the other hand, Laidley - our nearest town and the place Lucinda and I have spent a lot of our time since moving here - was hit extremely hard. All the shops we've been frequenting went under, the pool we've been doing her lessons in is now closed, the library where we were due to start reading group this week will be closed for now.

One of the things I still haven't quite gotten used to about Queensland since moving here from Tasmania, is the extremes of weather here. One day it'll be dry beyond belief, the next it rains a little and you feel relieved and the day after that, your entire local area is under water. Just like that.

We were spared anything serious at our place. The photo I posted last of the creek was the highest the water got and still a fair distance from the house block.

Some of the neighbour's cattle did take advantage of a fallen fence to come and visit our garden though.

Some unexpected guests in the garden today- the flood brought down a few fences.

This photo was taken near our place yesterday, showing how quickly the raging torrent that was the creek dissipated. According to the news, the flooding in Ipswich and Brisbane was due to runoff 'swollen creeks in the Lockyer'. Guilty. There was a LOT of water on our property and, just like that, it was gone. 

  The extent of flooding in our area.

The wet weather gave us a chance to focus on a couple of inside jobs. Dan has started working on stripping carpet glue and cleaning the third bedroom, and I even ventured into the pantry to look at what lay beneath the old lino. More lino, with a very retro pattern, and then solid floorboards beneath it. One of our next jobs is to strip this room out and start to try and get it functional again.

We've kept the pantry locked off since arriving here. Today, I ventured in to check what lay beneath the layers of old Lino. Solid floorboards, not verandah boards. #win

Digging around in this house is like being an archaeologist. There's all sorts of little treasures to find, even if your definition of treasure is just a fun pattern on some very aged lino.

12 comments:

  1. HI there! I'm glad to hear you're safe Edwina! I've started reading your blog, but it being school hols til now I haven't had a chance to comment!

    The cattle look as though they're arriving for a party, the one at the front going off in a huff as it can't see any lolly bags! Very cute, hope they didn't cause any damage or eat any precious plants.

    Looks like fun exploring the layers or your new home - just watch out for asbestos though, it can pop up in the most unexpected of places.

    Stay dry and hope the rain eases up now - please send some down to Victoria, just not the flooding type, that's all.

    Cheers

    Lucy

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  2. Hi, I was wondering how you fared over the weekend. Good to hear you came out of it unscathed. And look at how everything has all of a sudden turned bright green - looks like you'll need that cattle to keep the paddocks down. xx

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  3. I was thinking about you when I heard about Laidley. I was worried your adventure was turning into an awful nightmare. Thank goodness you're fine. We all (inc. children) gasped at images of the Op Shop flooded!

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  4. Hi Edwina, glad you are ok on your property..welome to the Lockyer Valley.... we fared pretty well this time, our dam didnt breach but oh the ground is so boggy and smelly, I feel so sorry for the Laidley shopkeepers, I go to one of the hairdressers there and they had only not long ago finished doing the place up, she sold it and now the new owner will probably have to go through the same thing. The sky is starting to look very grey hope that dosn;t mean more rain.

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  5. Hope you are keeping samples from the linos etc - you could end up with a historical collage -

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  6. I'm glad all is well up your way. Lifting up carpet is always scary, you never know what lays beneath. I hope you are keeping bits of the crazy patterns for posterity :)

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  7. Glad to hear you are all safe and well as the images on tv made me worry after you had posted everything is ok.regards Kathy A, Brisbane

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  8. Oh old lino is most definitely treasure! Glad your house was high and dry, those poor people in Laidley though. Hope the cleanup goes quickly. mel x

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  9. Good to know you didn't get hit hard. I suppose with a house that old, you know it's survived a lot of Queensland weather!

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  10. Glad to see you're safe from the flood. I'm ever so pleased to have found your blog. The Lockyer is in my veins and I never quite realise how much I miss it until I see pictures of 'home'

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  11. glad to hear you have been safe from the floods. down here we have been havign discussions "what would be preferable, fire or flood?" and we can't decide. we're not being flippant, just... wowed by the destruction people face.

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  12. Glad to know you and your house survived the rain but it must have been a worry. Any long slithery friends?

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