It's still hot and humid!

 February 4

BUT ...........

Life goes on and for some people there is no respite from it. Daily life must go on. 

Monday and Tuesday the forecast was that we would be drenched by the aftermath of Cyclone Kirrily. Kirrily however, decided to head due west of Townsville and dropped inches  and inches on western Queensland, before heading south. She is only today, fading away in the far south west, at Birdsville. Much welcome rain has been received on the western cattle and sheep properties, but there has also been much flooding. Because of the flatness of the country out west, the floodwaters will be slow moving. Property owners will be isolated for weeks. Whilst the media ramps up their situation, this is the 'wet season' and welcomed.

The historic, Blue Heeler Pub, at Kynuna, a hundred kilometres from its closet town, has three feet of water through it. Now that is sad. Note how flat the surrounding countryside is. 

If you have Instagram you might like to follow Wendy Sheehan of 'bulldust_and_mulga', to experience just what life is like on 250 000 acres of mulga, hills, boree, mitchell grass and the rain they have received.

Because the radar looked totally onimous on Tuesday morning, the Gaiter Girls cancelled their walk. I did a very quick 3 km locally, but in hindsight, could have gone much further.

The Hungry Hikers met at Minnippi Wetlands at 6.30 am on Wednesday, and were grateful for the cloud cover and breeze, which kept the humidity low until we had completed our nearly 12 km walk.

Here is the sunrise colour just before I departed.  Alas, as I set off, the sky was a spectacular molten scene, but there was no time for me to stop.

Minnippi Wetlands Circuit

The trail wasn't always clear and some tracks were terribly water logged and exited from.

Morning coffee was beside a small lake. The birdlife was lovely.

Magpie Geese

Thursday morning I was wake at 4.30 and popped outside to see what the sky was doing, hoping for a repeat of the day before.

Not sensational, but still awesome!

This lovely lorrikeet in a garden I passed, was happily having breakfast.

On Friday, Stanley and Stanlietta welcomed a group of my friends as they came to lunch. Some of you will know that we are 'The Pigs', all teaching friends, who have been meeting regularly for over 20 years. All but Liz, is retired. As always, it was an afternoon of laughter and friendship.

[All about the 'Pigs', June 2, 2019 - https://outandabout3.blogspot.com/2019/06/friends-and-year-of-pig.html]

Any spare time has been spent scanning and editing the photos from the box of memories. I have to share this one of my 3 year old Dad, taken in 1918, walking along the bank of the Brisbane City Botanical Gardens. The Kangaroo Point Cliffs are in the background. I thought he may have been pointing to the iconic, Story Bridge, but then researched and found that it didn't open until 1940. It would have been a major endeavour for his family to make this visit. I can only imagine it must have included a sea journey. There was no road and definitely no railway.

A comparison photo recently taken.

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