christmas

Dear Family and Friends

Christmas Day and Boxing Day have been a wash out for us. It has rained very heavily since before Christmas Eve. Water was laying everywhere here and on Christmas day the rain was so heavy we decided not to go into Atherton for church as it is a round trip of nearly 100klms and there are a lot of little creeks and rivers that have been turned into raging torents. Good job we didn't as we probably wouldn't have got through and if we had got through we wouldn't have got home again. Radio reports were saying the road between Ravenshoe and Atherton were blocked by both water over the road and mudslides. Boxing Day was no better so again we did not go to Church. It was very strange not attending a service at all over Chistmas. We have continued having heavy rain here but clearly nothing like what they are getting further south. We couldn't have got to Cairns even if it was urgent as the roads were blocked off by water in a number of places. The further south you go the worse it gets.

We have been thinking of Sharon and Ricky, our friends from Willow Gemfields, thinking they would be flooded in but when we rang there was no answer and we realised they had plans to go to Brisbane for Christmas so they won't be able to get home for a while as the floods are quite severe around Emerald and Sapphire.

We are snug and cosy in the van but it is a different story when we step outside as there is a puddle of water right outside our door that you cannot step over so our feet get a bit wet, especially after it has just rained. Robin and Pauline have a large pond which has been empty for quite some time, it is a good two or three feet deep, and it is now full to overflowing. A good indicator of how much rain we have had.

We ventured into Atherton today and on the way in you could clearly see where the water has been. We were amazed how high the water got in places and the force of it laid flat trees and long grasses right along where the once little creeks flowed beside the road. Our decision not to go in for church was a wise one.

This is only the beginning of the wet season so there will be more to come.

We had a nice day together on Christmas Day but we did miss the kids and the grandkids, and thanks to Skype we got to see everyone and wish each other a merry Christmas. I hope we never have another one where we are separated from all our family, it's no fun.

That's my news for the moment.

So once again love to all and God Bless.

Ken and Lyn