Wet and Wild

Ok...I deserve it. The incessant rain for three weeks I mean. There I was in January and February saying how amazing the wet season was because it wasnt wet at all - just lovely days of sunshine with a few showers thrown in to make it green and lovely. Then the wet season arrived in mid march - just in time for the holidays and for our southern friends to arrive. And when I say wet I mean wet. In total we had just on 2 metres of rain and it was the rainiest season in 70 years or something. Funny thing was it didnt feel that wet at the time - not that much different from those rainy periods in Sydney.

Ofcourse the damage it does to the roads is enourmous and then the council get their graders out just about now and fix up the roads for another year so the tourists etc can come back up and go exploring. The other downside is that with about 98% humidity nothing dries at all. Yuk. Mould/damp etc. I have discovered this weird thing called a Hippo that is a bright pink container you stick in the cupboard and it collects the excess damp in the air. After 3 weeks it was full - a litres worth!!!!! Mmmmmm.....................................

My other memory of our first wet season will always be the night I went to the local Camber of Commerce and Tourism AGM and somehow found myself the President of the damn thing a couple of hours later. So I trot home feeling good about life, step out of the car on our concrete driveway and go slithering into a whole lot of bushes in a most ungracious manner! Oh yes the dreaded moss that had built up made a beautiful skating rink for the new Pres, who definitely came down to earth with a bump!

Anyway.. our lovely friends the Walshs experienced the wet and our inability to take them anywhere as all the roads were awash. The kids didnt mind as they just wanted to do things together and play so that was fine. They got out of here in a hurry back to the delights of Port Douglas before the roads closed.

Then the Fields tried to arrive and at the last minute decided not to take the Bloomfield track (only passable in the truly dry period in a serious 4 wheel drive) in their little white Hyundai (!!!) and opted for the safer inland route. They struck problems on the first day however because the Little Annan river was over and there was no way through. So back to Port D for a night and they made it through the next day.

I have included a couple of pics of the river to show you as whole trees were racing through the water which the day before had been a little trickle. And now that the wet is mostly gone it is lovely and cool and the famous Cooktown wind has returned for the dry season.