Who Needs Venice?
January 27, 2011 
20 Comments
My husband took me for a romantic boat ride a couple of days ago…
He had the chance to take me on a gondola in Venice a decade ago… on Valentine’s Day. Instead he bought me five roses (his Italian was a bit wobbly, I think he meant to get six). And we wandered the streets of that amazing city, studiously avoiding all appeals for gondola trips. Our relationship survived anyway…
So you can imagine how thrilled I was to be offered a personal tour of the floodway beside our house in our rescued dingy…
Actually, I should stop being sarcastic … before I get into strife. (Again).
It was actually pretty magical.
Ready to cast off?
Goodbye flooded corner gate…
Farewell to my husband’s new love: the red four-wheeler.
She takes him places that I cannot even imagine getting – past these roads!
Hello muddy river…
I will try not to think about how ‘normally’ you are just a sandy bed some seven or eight metres underneath this little boat hull…
G’day gorgeous bluegums – man I hope the river eventually goes BACK into it’s proper banks so you survive…
An illustration of just HOW much higher the water has been.
Am trying to imagine the force that jammed this tree so high up into the forks of other dying gums along the original banks of the river…
Scary.
While it makes everything look a little forebidding, if you drop the camera exposure lots, you can even capture that sun-on-water sparkle of the late afternoon…
Brings out the best in those looming clouds too… thankfully the storm skirted around us as we put-putted along!
Oh look – a camera-hog shadow and a gully…
Looks promising… let’s check it out!
I love me some gnarly and ‘not structurally perfect’ don’t you?
(Maybe it’s cause I’m less than ‘structurally perfect’ myself!)
Can you see a whale in these granite boulders? Or do I just have an over-active imagination?
Maybe you shouldn’t answer that!
Back out into the river – and the ‘reverse view’ of this panorama taken during the floods…
Gosh that seems like a lifetime ago…
As we head back to shore, I glimpse an angle I don’t usuallyget to see
of the lovely Lacey and our house paddock…
And back to emerging fences and dry land.
…
Who needs Venice anyway?
YEs! I saw the whale before you even mentioned it!
Stunning photos. You have a great eye and very skillful camera technique
Water level going down, thankfully. Hope the trend continues.
So sorry for the pasture turned to river. Hope you see grass and roads before too long. But those clouds are magnificent and the sparkle on the water is magical. Almost Venice! When the world gives you a river–go boating!
Your gondolier was quite wonderful. You don’t want to get into strife with the likes of that, do you? Really?
debby´s last [type] ..Bull
BB – a vivid sense of imagination – at least this “gondola in Venice” cruise was a bloody lot cheaper and you really could see more than in Venice – YOUR LAND!
I think you probably saw more on this “gondola” trip than you would have seen in the canals of dear old Venice.
Gum trees, now VERY rich pastoral land for the cattle and your horse paddock look far better than what you see in “romantic Venice” and in Venice it does have a certain strange odour????
Not really sure if the romantic outburst of “hubby” meant a Gondola trip in a dinghy at flood times, but I think for him and you it may have meant more – you survived. Great post as usual.
Cheers
Colin (HB)
A few years ago I’d have to pay someone for this informiaton.
Great fun!! and still beautiful!!
I seen the whale!! LOL LOL
I’m going to try dropping that exposure! It sure is pretty. The water in Venice is not as nice as yours. And the gondola drivers are rude. You missed nothing.
Catch the Kids´s last [type] ..An Award!
Oh my these are beautiful yet very sad photos. I hope the water recedes soon.
About the rock yes I see the whale I have an imagination like you. I love rocks. Thanks for sharing. B
Buttons´s last [type] ..Toil!
Thankyou for the lovely voyage……I hope you gave your gondola operator a good tip for his excellant service
What a lovely ride you had! I know that you will be working like crazy over the next weeks and months to catch up and recover from the floods. It is good to take a moment together and enjoy the view
First of all, a belated Happy Australia Day to you.
Secondly, I’m worrying …. since I know Australian snakes are rarely the harmless garden varieties, have the floods rinsed the nasty ones out of their dens and holes? Are they more of a problem with the flooding?
I guess a lot of folks just don’t think about how long it takes for the water to recede once the rain stops.
I saw the whale right away, too!!
Kelly´s last [type] ..Favorite Five – Movie Soundtracks
You, dear sister, have a talent
I probably need to explain that the river runs into a dam which is now full. Very full. And once it stops overflowing (probably soon) it will STAY at that level until Sunwater decides to open the valves to let it out for irrigators downstream. We hope they don’t let it ALL go like they did about two decades ago…
BB
That’s amazing – I’ve seen so much water this past week, seen sights that make me disbelieve my eyes. I am glad you captured these x
Rhu´s last [type] ..I-Love-Lemon Lemon Cookies
BB? That ‘whale rock’? Is that carved? That circle and what appears to be some sort of ‘frame’ to the right of the circle? Just curious.
debby´s last [type] ..Tractor Supply
Carved by Mother Nature, Debby! Do you mean the circle that looks like its eye? All natural…
BB
Bush Babe´s last [type] ..Who Needs Venice
Tinny, gondola… they both float right? lol
Yes! Can definitely see the whale and I like gnarly, less than structurally perfect too
Love your photos!
Wow, that is some amazing amounts of water y’all got. I just can’t get over it!
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