QLD floods

Dear Family and Friends

The old year has gone and the new one is well on its way with 50% of Qld currently under flood and the wet season only just begun. It feels quite strange and in some ways quite emotional to see places that we have recently been to under water. The big bull at the large roundabout as you enter Rockhampton is all that's visible of that intersection. We called in to have lunch there so we don't know the city well but we took a short drive around the town seeing the river and thinking we will come back at some time. Imagining it under water is hard but the TV brings the reality of it home very quickly as to how bad things are there and every where else that has been affected by the floods. We continue to get the tropical rain but not every day and we have had a couple of nights where it has rained continuously. The ground is quite soggy underfoot and we have had to lay bricks and make a pathway to get from the van to a path ed area as it was getting too boggy and wet.

We have been busy mowing the three acres while Robin and Pauline are away and it is certainly growing very quickly. By the time you finish it's time to go back and start again. Ken says you can see the grass growing it's that quick.

Yesterday we went with Peter and Erica specifically to see Barron Falls which is near Cairns and not far from Kuranda where we took the train ride up and the cable car down. When we first saw them it was just a small waterfall, nothing you would say was outstanding and then recently I was looking through a tourist book and they showed a picture taken in the wet season and I thought we should go back and see it again. This time we drove and Erica and Peter came along for the drive. And it was well worth the drive and the hot muggy weather. This time it was spectacular and even Peter and Erica had never seen it with this much water going over it. So we took photos and you can see for yourself the difference. It hardly looks like the same set of falls.

We drove home via Mareeba and had a great lunch at the Ant Hill Hotel for just $10 each.

Today I went and had morning with a retired Major from the Atherton Salvation Army as we have a similar interest in sewing. It was a lovely morning hearing about her life as a missionary in Africa.

I have spoken to Pauline and it looks like they will come home Saturday and fly to Nambour as there is no way they will get their motor home through the flood waters. It could be many weeks till it will be reopened and then major repairs need to happen as there are craters left where the water has washed away the road.

We are stranded here ourselves but it is a nice place to be. If we were needed by the kids at all we would have to fly down as it is the only way to get from here to there.

Leanne and Tim are coming up toward the end of January for thee days and we are so looking forward to seeing them. I can't wait.

That's about it for me for now

love to one and all and God bless

Ken and Lyn