Remember the rain I told you about last post? Well, upstream from us, up in the hills further north-west of Granite Glen, it rained even more. And so, as happens when the rain-sodden earth can no longer drink the wetness in, the water slid off. And down. Down gullies, and creeks, and eventually, our river.
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Our river used to be full – it was dammed almost 40 years ago and the water backed up, almost 20km, past our house. Our formative years were spent looking over that water, and we would spend whatever “down time” we were allotted waterskiing from our house all the way to the dam wall, and back. It was fabulous and we were fit!
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Things have changed since then (both in the river and on my thighs!). Drought stole 99% of the water from the river – seriously, the dam is still officially just 1% capacity. And despite the recent damp weather, this level has not changed. The ground has been too thirsty. Until yesterday.
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We have an old bridge near our house – a bridge that spent many years underwater but has been exposed (and used) for the past 15 years or so. And after we picked Dash up from the schoolbus, we checked to see if the river had “come down”. Our luck was it – it literally came down as we stood there. Not quite a wall of water, but impressive nonetheless. It was a photo opportunity I was unable to resist. So I grabbed our little camera (cause my beloved D100 is away) and did my best.
All was still – weed between the old bridge boards sat still and calm.
Then the tiniest of trickles arrived, bending the grass gently as it meanered under the weathered timber.
SSB and TLW kept an eye on the swell of brown water making its way toward us… (note to self: try not to think how rickety that bridge looks…)
The trickle became a little rush, bubbling in its rush downstream.
And swelling out across the river bed…
Hondo the pup is bemused by the soft roar and white froth starting to form…
OK guys, that’s close enough to the edge! This bridge is not exactly solid!
That noisy stuff is getting bigger, man, what’s the go here? Yap! Grrr.
Do you think Mum will EVER get sick of taking photos of us? (Not on your life kids!) Hang on, Dash thinks he sees a RAT… and Mum almost drops the camera… (she’s saving that photo til later, when she can stand to look at it!)
Water laps the bottom of the boards and its time to go home!
6 Comments
debby
The funny thing is that when I looked at SSB holding TLW standing at the edge of the bridge, I thought, “Ack, get back, get back.”
Thank goodness you were there to say it in person.
Anonymous
ha ha – I wanna see the photos of you waterskiing!
Did it go over?
BTW – Its me, jeanie – blogger just doesn’t know me at the moment…
Raising Country Kids
Green! I have forgotten what green looks like (not to mention running water). We’ve had a very dry winter here, and I’m longing for the rains of springtime. Beautiful colors in those photos.
Pencil Writer
Bush Babe, I was so honored to see that you included my blog on your list of blogs to check out! Thank you! Wow!
34 years ago we saw over 12″ of rain in one day–after several days of heavy rains already. That 12″ day the local lake filled up. The dam had been constructed for years, apparently–we were new residents there–and predicted it would take like 5 to 10 years for it to do so. One day. And thank Heaven the dam was in place! Our apartment complex had terrible destruction due to rushing flood waters! We got a pass, however. thanks, again. We were on the ground floor on the high end of the complex!
Like Debby said, so glad your lovely family was cautioned to step back from the brink!
I really enjoy your blog, pictures, etc. ALSO, when I saw picture of you, SSB and TLW on your Bush Baptism, I thought: They look so familiar! Where might I–in Louisiana–have seen you and your husband–in Austrailia somewhere? Maybe on Steve Irwin’s TV program?
Bush Babe (of Granite Glen)
We are really appreciating the green I can assure you all – it has been dry as toast and sepia hues round here for such a very, very long time… that’s why you are getting so many grass-and-rain photos now! Pencil Writer – I don’t get to my blog favs as much as I would like, but I do get there (and lurk a bit, I admit!). Love them all, but my life gets a bit full on here. Jeanie, there will be NO waterskiing pics (at least of me) as they make me cry (oh those thighs!). keep smilin all. BB PS I was never on Steve Irwins show but did know him. More on that soon. Have no idea where you would know me from – my blog front?? heh heh
Jenni
Lovely photos! How wonderful that you caught the change in the river just as it was happening.