Have a look at my top Dam

[Aard Vark]

This is my top dam after all the rain.





This is normal


Here is the road out of here it is clear today


Hope everyone had a safe and exciting time over the Festive season

[Gob]

Wow!!

[Lord Jim]

Aard, what kind of animal is that in the second picture?

It looks like an elephant....

[oldr_n_wsr]

Looks like some kind of dog, bloodhound perhaps.

ETA
What's the net for?

[Miles]

Is that a corn crop in the first pic? If so is it yours and is it sweet corn?

[Aard Vark]

That is Chops our Neopolitan Mastiff.

What looks like corn is the over grown dam next door. they just let the reeds overtake and it is just a hive of snakes now.


The fence in the water is to keep our ducks in. Works great when the water is at normal hight.

That was the shade tree

[Gob]

What's the score the at the moment Aardy, we hear waters are starting to go down again.

Some terrible flooding in QLD at the moment, houses inundated up to their eves.

[Aard Vark]

The roads were clear in two days and a lot of water has just soked in. Making the ground very boggy.

We are lucky the shed is high enough up the hill to be safe (most of the time I am told)
Only a few houses near here were afected and most were built in the last few years since the last big flood.

The worst damage was fether out - Dalby is about 1 hour from here.

[alice]

I read somewhere that the area of Queensland that is flooded is larger than the total land area of a couple of Eurpean countries together - I think it was France and Germany
And now NSW is copping it as well.

Are you near any of the rivers that are overflowed? - Is that road out from your place normally a causeway or bridge?

I know they were trucking water into Dalby 'cos the water treatment plant went under.
And they said the area was nearly out of food.

How are you for fresh water, and for food supplies?

I have a friend who has a reasonhably large business in Qld - to do with the mines. They're in Victoria at the moment, with family for the Xmas / New year celebrations. I don't know if they would be able to organise getting supplies in for you, but I'm sure they'd be willing to try to sort something out, if you're in need. I'm meeting up with them over the weekend, so let me know and we can try to sort something out, if needed.

Other than that, they're talking about the prices of food going up heaps, because of all the crops being wiped out. So let us know if you want anything that'll help you through it all. (even just seeds or cuttings etc, so you can do some homegrowing of some of the fast growing stuff, to supplement).

Apat from this current flood situation, the area you live in looks beautiful


****added at 4.30 pm - approx hour and a half after above post****
Aardvark - just letting you know that they've set up a disaster relief payment scheme: check and see if you're eligible:

THE federal government has announced new hardship payments for victims of Queensland's floods.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said people whose homes had been flooded or damaged would be eligible for disaster relief payments of $1000 per adult and $400 per child.

The payments will be managed by Centrelink and victims can call a special hotline on 180 22 66 from 8am on Saturday to register.

The payments cover all of the state's disaster declared areas.

http://www.news.com.au

[Aard Vark]

alice Thank you so very much but we are fine now and there are others who need help far more than we ever did.

That road is the main one into Gatten and out to the hyway. We were stuck here for two days but most of the flooding around here was gone by the 29th

But if your mate knows of any good jobs in the mines for a will Aardvark please let me know

[rubato]

I love the homage to Christo's "Running Fence".





yrs,
rubato

[rubato]

That is one big-ass serious looking dog you have there.

Not a lot of people dropping in unannounced around your place.

yrs,
rubato

[Aard Vark]

Chops is only 68 kgs and Gummy is a slender 45Kgs but for all that size and power they are so gentle and affectionate, I couldn't see then hurting a fly. Execpt for stepping or sitting on they are just masive lap dogs.


Only the power bloke to read the meater.
It was so boggy he said his car was at the end of the street. It was stuck in someone's yard and he was walking the rest of the road till a toe truck could get him out. a total of 7Km or 3 1/2 miles, he looked like crap when he got here.

But the posty took a few more days to attempt a run. everyone got a note in the box saying the mail is at the post office.

rubato looking at thatlong sheet of canvas I could use some of that to drop in the driveway. Might hold the mud together so we can bring the 4x4 down to the house and not have to leave it near the gate

[Lord Jim]

Just saw this....Things are looking pretty bad:

– Fri Dec 31, 3:37 am ET

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Floodwater rose across a vast area in Australia's northeast on Friday, inundating 22 towns, forcing 200,000 residents out of their homes, and closing a major sugar export port.

Flooding has already shut coal mines in Queensland state and its biggest coal export port, forcing miners such as Anglo American and Rio Tinto to slow or halt operations.

The worst flooding in about 50 years has been caused by a "La Nina" weather pattern, which cools waters in the eastern Pacific and has produced torrential rain over the past two weeks across northeast Australia.

In the southern states of Victoria and South Australia, meanwhile, soaring temperatures and tinder dry conditions have sparked bushfires.

Authorities warned of possible "catastrophic" fires if conditions worsened and holiday travelers were asked to prepare evacuation plans.

"We're asking people to have a plan, how they're going to get to where they're going...a plan to get away...if a bushfire happens to threaten," said South Australia rural fire chief Andrew Lawson.

Firefighters, helped by cooler temperatures, contained small fires late on Friday, but meteorologists said readings could soar again above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in the next few days.

In Queensland, authorities warned of rising health risks from floodwaters, along with the danger of crocodiles and snakes in flooded homes.

"This disaster is a long way from over," Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh told reporters.

"We now have 22 towns or cities that are either substantially flooded or isolated. That represents some 200,000 people spanning an area that's bigger than the size of France and Germany combined."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard toured the sugar city of Bundaberg, which closed its port on Friday after flood debris was washed downstream into shipping channels and damaged navigation beacons.

"This is a natural disaster across Queensland," Gillard said, announcing a A$1 million ($1 million) government contribution to a flood aid appeal which now totals A$6 million.[six million bucks for a disaster of this magnitude? Seems like a drop in the bucket...so to speak...]

The closure of Bundaberg has disrupted shipments of sugar from Australia, a leading world exporter. The port normally ships about 400,000 tonnes of raw sugar annually, with three 30,000-tonne vessels due to arrive in the next few days.

"If the port is closed for only a few days it won't be a big issue but any extended delay would cause some concern," said Brian Mahoney, an executive with Marybrough Sugar Factory Ltd.

INLAND SEA CUTS COAL, SUGAR EXPORTS

The inland sea that now stretches across Queensland is dotted with the roofs of flooded homes, islands of dry ground crowded with stranded livestock and small boats ferrying people and emergency supplies.

Bundaberg resident Sandy Kiddle hugged Gillard as she told of seeing her house flooded.

"It was just a sea of water and I thought the beach would never come to our house," Kiddle told Gillard at an evacuation center.

Emergency authorities in Queensland said the flooding was not expected to reach a peak in some areas until Sunday and would not recede for at least a week.

Australia has endured its wettest spring on record, according to the national weather bureau, causing six river systems in Queensland to flood. Swollen rivers in New South Wales state have also caused flood damage to the wheat crop.

Possibly as much as half the Australian wheat crop, or about 10 million tonnes, has been downgraded to less than milling quality because of rain damage. That has tightened global supplies and sent prices up about 45 percent this year, the biggest surge since 2007.

The floods have also pushed coking coal and thermal prices sharply higher and tight markets are keeping a close eye on further disruptions. Queensland's ports have an annual coal export capacity of 225 million tonnes.

Australia is the world's biggest exporter of coking coal used for steel-making and accounts for about two-thirds of global trade. It is also the second-biggest exporter of thermal coal used for power generation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101231/wl_ ... lia_floods

[alice]

alice Thank you so very much but we are fine now and there are others who need help far more than we ever did.

That road is the main one into Gatten and out to the hyway. We were stuck here for two days but most of the flooding around here was gone by the 29th

But if your mate knows of any good jobs in the mines for a will Aardvark please let me know

I'd love to put in a word for you, mate. Unfortunately he gets asked that all the time, and he's pretty good at fending people off. At the most he'd just offer the name or address of where to send a resume.
He offered a little more help to my kids, if they were interested - he'd make sure they got an interview with the right person, but after that it was up to them to 'sell themself'. He'd maybe put in a good word, but that was it - he won't put his 'name' as a personal recommendation for anyone. (As it happened, none of my kids were/are interested in that type of work.)

Good luck with the weather and the floods. And I love the look of your property

[Aard Vark]

alice I would never honestly ask anyone to drop a job in my lap. I wouldn't leave my little farm just yet have to much to do. need to find something local.

[loCAtek]

Best of luck in the New Year Aardy !

[liberty]

That is Chops our Neopolitan Mastiff.

What looks like corn is the over grown dam next door. they just let the reeds overtake and it is just a hive of snakes now.


The fence in the water is to keep our ducks in. Works great when the water is at normal hight.

That was the shade tree

Be careful because as I am sure you know Australia has some really bad snakes. I believe you all can proudly claim ownership of three of the five most poisonous snakes in the world.

Also, the land looks a lot likes up land Louisiana a in a typical winter.

[Gob]

A very funny read...

[Aard Vark]

Be careful because as I am sure you know Australia has some really bad snakes. I believe you all can proudly claim ownership of three of the five most poisonous snakes in the world.

Also, the land looks a lot likes up land Louisiana a in a typical winter.

Snakes we haven't had many only three Eastern Browns, 1 Gay anld a Red Bellied Black. It the Browns we have to watchout for they get realy big and agressive.

As for Louisiana I will have to take your word for that. The land is good in our garden we have corn, silver beet, cellery, or you name it I think it will grow.