300mm of rain!!

 18/03/2012
 We came close to being flooded overnight. It was raining heavily when we went to bed around midnight, by 8 am we had had 225mm (9 inches). The creek across the road had burst and flooded our car park setting afloat our wheelie bins, tipping the contents up and down the road. The water had gone by the time we got up leaving a bizarre scene of beer bottles (lots of them) standing up in the car park, some upside down yet full of water. …… weird sight. After I had cleared up you wouldn’t have known we had had a flood apart from the water line along the wall not quite up to the bottom of the unit door.
 After lunch we called for the bus to take us to the boat club and travelling down it became clear how much rain we had last night, the whole area of sugar cane is swamped. So far we have been spared the high winds that were threatened.
 We now have a small group of people at the boat club that we chat to, oddly only one is a boatie and actually lives on his yacht, the rest of the group do regular jobs. It’s nice to be accepted by so many people but it may make things so much harder when we have to leave.
 Back at Clifton, Allen and Lorraine popped round for a drink early evening, that’s the way it is.

 19/03/2012
  After our near miss of being flooded the night before, tonight we weren’t so lucky. We had heavy rain again last night and we have been cut off for most of the day, the main road into Cairns was closed , even the buses struggled to run.  The kids loved it, a day off school. It threatened more rain all day but I managed to get some gardening done and I dropped the pool level by a good 6 inches.
 The rain started to come down heavily around 7 o’clock but the weatherman on T V said the worst had gone by us and that it would be fine by the end of the week.. As he said this we noticed Jane’s shoe floating past the fly screen door. By 8 o’clock it was up to our ankles outside and within a matter of minutes it was creeping through the doors front and back into all the ground floor units.
 There was no point in panicking, it’s just a case of lifting everything of the floor that we could manage and move essential supplies to one of the upstairs units. After moving cases of wine and beer we concentrated on incidentals you find in the fridge. I have moved the van to higher ground but once again the wheelie bins have gone walkabout. Have to track them down in the morning and then start clearing up. There are no carpets downstairs so it will be a mop and bucket job.
 Whilst all this was going on Stumpy suddenly discovered she could walk unaided and climb stairs……..fancy!  


 20/03/2012
  What a wonderful day. Up at the crack of dawn to set about clearing up and a wander around looking for our 12 wheelie bins. That done , out with the hose pipe, mops and buckets to clear away the silt and rubbish left behind once the water receded (it peaked at about 10inches). It seems to get away as fast as it comes. The whole of the ground floor, 3 units, storeroom, laundry and 2 toilets were a complete mess and after a days mopping and cleaning I’m not quite half way there yet. We are forecast to have more severe weather plus a king tide this evening but so far (10 -20 pm) no problems. The State Emergency Service came and sandbagged all around the place ( just like a mini fortress) this arvo, but horses and stable doors spring to mind.  Still we are very secure up on the first floor unless we have a bloody tsunami!
 After a hard day on the mop Allen came round with some of his home brew beer for me to sample. He never volunteered to shove a mop and his home brew is crap, still the thought was there.
 Stumpy seems to be galloping around like a long dog, her reasoning being, crutches are no good in floodwater and silt. A flood 2 weeks ago would have been handy!

 21/03/2012
  It’s P…… off day, no more pink leg, it’s been replaced by a not very sexy black bootee all buckles and Velcro, the strap on and off sort, oooh!! Spent most of the morning at Cairns base Hospital, lucky really as the roads into town were closed early yesterday morning and then not a drop of rain last night now that we are securely sandbagged!
 The surgeon told Stumpy that her leg has healed as best it can for an old woman, well he didn’t actually say that, more like the healing would have been better if she had been 20 yrs old. We celebrated with brunch on  Cairns Esplanade  then a couple of beers at the boat club, with no post flood clearing up back at Clifton. It can wait until tomorrow.

 22/03/2012
 After the storms and traumas of the last few days , today went back to normal, hot sunshine and 90% humidity. I got half the grass cut but spent most of the day cleaning the ground floor units, still loads to do. Stumpy thought she could join in and be back to normal but retired hurt after a couple of hours. Far too soon after a nasty break but she should be able to get in the pool  and swim as opposed to following her floatation leg about.  Living upstairs doesn’t help even if the view is superb. We will move back down in a day or two.