The Great Flood of 2011

It has been such an interesting week that I have had to change the title of this installment as unforseen events turned a short, slow story into the headline of a century. Last Saturday, Jan 8, we went down to the Gold Coast to see Disney Live’s “Princesses” show. It was a live stage musical with Mickey and the gang telling short versions of “Snow White”, “Cinderella” and “Beauty and the Beast”. The convention centre was full of little girls in their favorite princess outfit. We all enjoyed the singing, dancing and stories. After the show we discovered that there is a monorail in the Gold Coast that runs from Jupiter’s Casino to a shopping centre. Since we have a young boy who loves monorails, we rode it a couple times with a break for lunch. Last Sunday it appeared it was going to be a quiet week so I had already labelled my blog “Princesses” since it was obviously going to be the main event of our week. 

waiting for Disney Princess show to start

 Before Christmas we ended up with our first family pets. Aunty Kat gave the kids her two goldfish. They had really enjoyed feeding them every time we were at Kat’s house so this was the next logical step it seems. Alex named his fish “Golphy” and Ellie demonstrated just how sharp she is by naming her fish “Flushy”.

We don’t have a dryer so I am very attuned to the changes in weather. With all the rain we have been having the last two months it has been difficult to get the washing done sometimes. Last week I was sitting upstairs on the sofa with the kids when it suddenly struck me that it had started to rain. With a load almost dry on the line, I didn’t want to lose another batch. I jumped up shouting “Its raining, the washing”. The kids just burst out laughing at me. My concern over rain and washing is still a running family joke.

Sunday night, Jan 9, we were having dinner over at some friends house. Paul and Michelle have twins, a boy and a girl, who are exactly between Alex and Ellie in age and they get along really well.  The live in New Farm, which is right along the river, in a ground floor apartment just a few metres from the riverbank. We were sitting out on the patio watching the river go by, the rain falling and the bats flying around the huge fig trees. They moved here from Oregon and were commenting that the rain here in the last couple months was much worse than the weather in Oregon.

Wednesday evening, Jan 12, they were all over at our house for a BBQ. The rain had stopped the day before but it was more than a visit for dinner and some play time. They were here to stay for a couple days, evacuees from the Great Flood of 2011. All the rain in the last couple months was too much for the Brisbane river. The last great flood in Brisbane was in January, 1974. Partly as a result of that flood they built the Wivenhoe dam upstream. As a result of almost ten years of draught in the region, 18 months ago the dam was at 17% capacity. The story goes that the experts were saying it would take ten years of above average rain to get back to 100%. By Tuesday, 18 months after being at 17%, the dam was at 200%! As a result of months of rain, not even the dam could keep back the floods anymore.  

Tuesday morning, Jan 11, with pouring rain, I took the kids to Chipmunk’s, a large indoor kids play area.  After a fun morning of playing, sliding, and climbing, they made an announcement about roads closing and flooding. I thought maybe we should get in the van and head home. As we were leaving, Emma called to say they were evacuating the Central Business District (CBD) and she was taking the train home.  As we pulled into the wall of inching traffic, the radio announced that Strathpine was one of the towns that everyone should evacuate to avoid the rising creek. We managed to outrace the flood home and it only took an hour-and-half to get home to find Emma was already home. I headed to the grocery store to get some supplies and many of the shelves were already bare. Wednesday morning Emma went to the store to get some more food and it took her an hour-and-half to get through the checkout line.

The Brisbane river was rising slowly and they were predicting it would surpass the flood level of 1974. The peak was predicted for 0400 on Thursday morning for Brisbane. We woke up Wednesday to a beautiful sunny day. Unfortunately it was too late to stop the coming flood waters. Paul and Michelle's apartment was just at the expected peak level so they hightailed it out on Wednesday as the power was switched off to come stay with us. Our suburb is far enough north of the river and high enough that we didn’t get any flood water. We watched in awe the footage of things being washed down the river, including floating restaurants washed away. Thursday was another gloriously sunny day and the only good news was the waters had not reached the record level of 1974. Unfortunately huge swaths of Brisbane were underwater by then. The underground car parks in Emma’s building which is right next to the river were completely flooded and the whole CBD was a ghost town. The scenes of devastation are heartbreaking. The waters have started to recede and the entire city has come out to begin the cleanup. The CBD is still closed and it might be another week until Emma can get back to work at her office. Some people are heading to the firm’s office in Melbourne so they can do some work and Emma will work between home and a temporary serviced office until the CBD is up and running again. One of the stories from the flood is a goldfish that was flushed out of his bowl when the flood waters flooded the house and after the waters receded a couple days later he ended up in the bathtub. He has been renamed “Lucky”. The waters completely inundated some neighborhoods with water over the roofs and up into the second story of many homes. Some shopping centres were completely underwater and SunCorp stadium, the major stadium in town looked more like a location for a swim meet than a football game.  There are still many bare shelves in the stores as 75% of Queensland has been affected by flooding and much the infrastructure is flooded or damaged. Paul and Michelle, John and Julia went home Friday when the power was turned back on at their complex. They were fortunate that they had no flooding, not even their underground car park.  We had a fun couple nights flood sleepover, but that was tempered with the fury and might of the flood waters we saw going on throughout Brisbane and the surrounding valleys.  The clean up will take months and years.

In the midst of the events going on around us, I finally heard from the Australian embassy in Washington DC that my visa was finally all set. In order to issue my resident visa, I need to leave the country for at least three business days. The closest and cheapest option for me is Vanuatu, so I am heading off for a little holiday by myself on Tuesday, Jan 18 for 5 days.   Emma will be able to now report on how it feels to be a full time working single mum!

One last note on rumours that I am somehow connected to “unseasonable weather events” as the Omanis so politely called Cyclone Gonu. It is true we survived Cyclone Gonu in 2007 back in Oman, the biggest storm to ever hit the country, just a few days before Ellie was born. And now we have survived some of the biggest floods to ever hit Brisbane. We did have one of the quietest hurricane seasons they have ever had while we were in the Caymans. It has been an unforgettable week and I am inspired by the spirit of Brisbane and its people as they have jumped right back up after the great flood of 2011. 

Christmas for boys and girls

On Tuesday, Dec 21, the kids and I made the 1000 km drive down to Sydney again. We did it faster this time than last September, the kids are getting better at bladder control and I had the super secret weapon, “Toy Story 3” for the DVD player. The kids love the movie and we only had a few episodes of “how much longer” and “are we there yet?” We took the Pacific Highway down and stopped for lunch and some playtime in Coff’s Harbour again. We stayed with the Creech’s again and had a wonderful time. Katherine (Aunty Kat) was down from Brisbane for Christmas and had brought her two dogs. The kids were delighted to have three dogs around (Bonnie lives there). Emma was originally due to fly down Thursday evening after work but had to fly down to Sydney on the Wednesday morning to close a deal in Sydney. While she had two crazy days at work, we were glad to get to see her when she came in late and before she headed off in the morning.

The Christmas spirit was in the air and the kids could not get enough. They were singing carols non-stop (“Jingle Bells”,”Rudolph”, and “We wish you a Merry Christmas” are the three they know!) The kids helped Emma make a gingerbread house and wrapped a lot of presents. On Christmas Eve James and partner Heidi flew in from Brisbane, (lots of visitors from Brisbane) and some friends of the Creech’s came over and brought their two boys who were close in age to Alex and Ellie. After meeting the kids Ellie then asked “Where is the girl?” She can’t understand why some families don’t have a girl for her to play with. It is always interesting to see the differences between boys and girls. Alex was quickly racing around the garden with the boys playing all sorts of games. Ellie won’t play with kids until there has been a formal declaration of friendship as she runs after kids asking “Will you be my friend?” or “Will you play with me?” Of course the boys don’t stay still long enough to hear the question or answer. Ellie finally joined in and by 2130 she was so worn out she begged to go to bed. She put out some carrots and water for the reindeer and was out. The boys finally left around 2200 and after putting some cookies and milk out for Santa, Alex was finally asleep. The master plan was a late night might buy us some sleep the next morning. A few more hours of “grown up chores” and the grown ups were finally off to bed.

The kids were sleeping on the floor in our room as there was a full house. We told Alex he couldn’t go out when he first woke up as it was too early. He lay there singing Christmas carols until we finally relented. While we were trying to awaken some of the other grown ups, Alex had a peak through the door into the living room and quickly reported Santa had brought lots of presents. The kids were overjoyed with the presents that Santa had brought for them. They were impressed that they had received most of the items on their list to Santa. It took most of the morning to admire all their gifts and there were only two kids in the house! The rest of the Sydney clan was over for lunch with the Sargeants and Mrs J all in attendance. We had a wonderful lunch outside, it was so warm we needed to put up some extra shade, with lots of festive music and decorations. With more present excitement building, after lunch we exchanged gifts and there was another wave of excitement for the little kiddies. Most of the grownups were now ready for a much needed nap. The kids of course were too hyped to sleep so we broke out the slip and slide. While Ellie took a while to get the idea, Alex slipped and slid so much that by the end of the afternoon the slide was ready for the bin.

The rest of our time in Sydney was just as much fun. We went into Sydney for another visit to the sharks at the Aquarium and another ride on the monorail train. Another day we took the ferry into Darling Harbour and went to the Sydney Wildlife World, and a ride on the carousel. The highlight was probably our boat trip around the harbour on a yacht. Some friends of the Creechs’ have a yacht on the harbour and they took us all out for a trip around the harbour with a stop for a wonderful lunch at the Royal Sydney Yacht Club. The kids really enjoyed being on the boat with Captain Greg and Janine. With all the adults around, Emma and I went out for a night out at dinner and the movies. We planned on seeing “The Kings Speech” but didn’t realize it was opening night so we couldn’t get a seat. We saw the only other option “Megamind”. Ironic that the first movie we have seen on our own since Cayman and we see a cartoon! Our last day we went out to the Sargeant’s spread for a swim and a BBQ. The kids had a great time swimming and playing with their three dogs. The loved having so much space to run around and explore.

On Dec 30 we headed north along the Pacific Highway to Yamba, a wonderful town right where the Clarence river meets the ocean. We had four days at the Blue Dolphin resort. We were staying in a cabin right by the pool. There were also lots of campers and there were some serious camping set ups. Some of the sites had Christmas trees and Christmas lights, refrigerators, and most other comforts of home. We spent most of the time in the pool and on the water slides. The kids just loved spending all day in the pool. They also got to feed the pelicans, build a sand castle in the sand castle competition and spend a couple evenings playing on the beach. One afternoon Ellie was “a bit tired” and wanted a break from the pool. Alex didn;t want to get out so Ellie and Emma had a girls afternoon out to town to check out the cute shops. As they were getting in the car, Ellie asked Emma if Alex and I were coming too, and Emma said no we weren’t coming. Ellie replied: “Good, the boys bug me sometimes.” New Year’s Eve once again found us asleep well before the fireworks. Apparently I even missed the loud cheering and shouting and horns at midnight. We were in northern New South Wales which is right now one hour ahead on Queensland time. Since there were so many people at the park that were from Queensland, apparently there was another loud celebration at midnight Queensland time which I slept right through also. Monday January 3 was time to head home. It was only a three hour drive home but we took our time to explore some small beach towns and then had a picnic lunch in Brunswick Heads, another town where a river meets the coast. After lunch we went swimming in the brown river. It is brown because of the tea tree oil that seeps into the river farther up stream. My skin is looking wonderful now! It was nice to get home after two weeks away. In spite of all the rain that Queensland had while we were gone, our house was fine. Unfortunately our mailbox is not waterproof, so some mail was soggy beyond repair.

The kids are so hyped up on Christmas that they are still singing carols, asking to watch the Christmas specials of all their fav shows, and playing Christmas everyday. Other than that, we are all back in our routine. Alex has been at swim camp this week as it is still school holiday season down under. The kids are back at pre-school and in a few weeks will come the big move when Ellie moves up to Kindergarten to join Alex. Since the school cut off date here in Queensland in June 30, Alex and Ellie will be in the same school year!  We have enjoyed everyone’s cards, letters and emails. We are hoping that historic rain and flooding here in Queensland and the historic drubbing of Australia by England in the Ashes are not portends of the year to come.

Wiggle Time!

Parking:                              $10
Tickets for family of 4:        $135
Dinosaur tail, feather sword, popcorn and drinks:      $59
Look on Alex and Ellie’s face when they saw the
actual Wiggles drive out on stage in the Big Red Car: $  Priceless

For more than five years we have lived in the cultural hinterlands. Not many bands, shows or other events came through Muscat or the Caymans. (The only shows we have seen are school shows where I teach.) Ever since Alex first started wiggling before he could walk, we dreamed about how cool it would be to take him to the Wiggles. They were never anywhere near us when we visited England or the States. I think one of the first things Emma did when she got here back in June was to buy tickets for all of us to see the Wiggles. Saturday morning at about 0930 we were sitting in a long line of traffic waiting to get into the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. The kids loved the show, but I think Emma and I did more singing and dancing than they did. It is hard to not know all the words after years of watching the Wiggles on TV!

It was a busy weekend of entertainment which was cut short by all the rain and storms we have been having. On Friday afternoon the kids had their Christmas concert at their school. They performed two songs they have been practicing for weeks now. They remembered all the words to “Catch a falling star” and their favorite; “Rudolph”. When Santa came in Alex was the very first kid to run up to Santa and give him a hug. Ellie, as usual, was so terrified she was in tears and couldn’t even look. Santa had presents for all the kids but as we were heading home Alex was checking out the roof wondering where the sleigh and reindeer were hiding. That night Emma had her work party at the showgrounds. They had lots of the fair games and food open for an unusual office party. She came home with bags of candy floss (cotton candy) and other toys and snacks.

Saturday morning we were off to the Wiggles. Saturday night we had the Swarts in to babysit. The kids had been excited for days that Cian and Niamh were coming over for a sleepover. It is easy to forget how quirky and bizarre your own kids are. While we were out they had some misunderstanding with the bath. Alex believes he has discovered that salt water doesn’t make any cuts he may have hurt.  To prevent bath-time wars, we get the salt shaker out and pretend to shake the salt into the tub. With the top on, no salt goes in the bath. The kids don’t notice and are happy. You forget that this might seem strange to outsiders. As they were getting the kids in the bath, Alex and Ellie started explaining how they always have salt in their bath. After a long search they found the salt in the kitchen and actually added salt to the bath. No harm, but we forget how weird that may seem to the outside world. Ellie knows what she wants and is not afraid to dictate her demands. Her bedtime diktat is “milk, in Tigger Pooh cup, warmed up”. Once again there are a raft of unspoken details that go with fulfilling this order. They did finally piece together enough to satisfy Ellie and get her off to bed.

With the kids in safe and fun hands, Emma and I were off to our first real show since we lived in London. It has been so long I can’t remember whether our last show was either Erasure or the Finn Brothers, back in a place where we could go see all types of shows anytime. Five years wait was worth it as we went into town to see the Hoodoo Gurus at the Hi Fi Bar. I last saw them in 1992 in Perth. They were great back then and we had a blast this time. The Gurus have just finished up a world tour over the last year and were still full of energy. “The Break” opened up for them. They are made up of three members of Midnight Oil and the bassist from “Violent Femmes” They play instrumental surf music. They were a good warm up and very interesting. The whole building was shaking to the Gurus and even the next morning my ears were still ringing. We really enjoyed the chance to get out and do something. We are feeling so spoiled with all the choices for culture we have a drawer full of tickets already for the next few months. The next day we had tickets to see the Pretenders and Blondie at Sirromet Winery, but because of all the rain we have had, and more predicted for Sunday afternoon, the show was cancelled. It might have been for the best as we were quite worn out by Sunday afternoon. Lots more concerts to see and plenty of time.

On Tuesday, Dec 21, I will be driving down to Sydney again with the kids. We will do the 1000km trip again in one day. Emma will be flying down on the 23d to join us. We will be at the Creech’s for a week over Christmas. On our way back home we will stop for a few days holiday in the Coff’s Harbour area for some family relaxing at the beach. Hopefully we will be home on Jan 3.  We hope everyone has a great Christmas, Boxing Day and New Years. We have enjoyed all the Christmas cards we have received and look forward to catching up again in 2011.

xmas train

Alex and Ellie with their new Christmas train. Of Course, Uncle Brad was the inspiration last year at Christmas with his Christmas tree train.