The rain that came, stayed mainly in the drain

For most of the time that we've been here, the weather has been really quite rainy. I mean there was the drought before we came, and when we arrived, most places really did look pretty dried out. It was the worst drought for years, in fact it had lasted for years. Everywhere was dry. Dams were almost completely empty etc. There is an enormous groundwater basin under Queensland and New South Wales, built up over the millennia, since the movements of the continents. They discovered this about 30 years ago. It was HUGE! In fact this basin (called the Great Artesian Basin...(remember from Geography?)) was so big that it covered (or more precisely was under) 22% of Australia. Well guess what? Now its nearly empty. Ooops!

So this drought was starting to worry the powers that be, and an increasing level of water restrictions were applied. I've mentioned these I know, so I'll not go into them again. The authorities were SO worried, that they started REALLY REALLY thinking! (I know its hard to believe). So there I am, parched, watching TV about the drought. It was a panel, what the TV people call an 'in depth discussion'. Like most TV in depth discussions, it lasted perhaps 17 or 18 minutes when you take out the adverts, the introduction, the bullshit.

The 'professor' from some Uni in Adelaide, the water professional from Queensland water, the politicians from both sides, the 'hard question asking' presenter all put their points of view across and you know what they suggested? They suggested that it would be a 'sensible' idea to pipe the water out of the Murray river, to Queensland and the Northern Territory!!!!! Have they learned NOTHING? I was staggered at this suggestion. I thought they must be kidding! But no...they meant it.

No one was happier when it rained than me. Idiots!

But now everywhere looks lush and green. Some places are REALLY lush and green, almost tropical. The much warned of high temperatures and humidity have really not been all that prevalent. In fact its been pretty much like an extremely wet English summer so far. Most days are overcast, grey even. But its not been 'cold' at any point. That's the main difference weather wise.

So now, its been raining everyday for months. Now I'm getting really sick of the rain. People are getting flooded out everywhere, people went home early today because they were getting emergency calls from their wives....imminent disasters everywhere. We had 4 inches of rain in some places today.....in 1 hour! So where am I going with this?

Er, the rain has been happening in the 'wrong place'. There are no facilities for catching rainwater out of the drains. We are STILL on level 6 water restrictions! South East Queensland is serviced by three dams; Wivenhoe, Somerset and North Pine. Wivenhoe is at 19.33% capacity, Somerset is at 71.24% and North Pine is at 27.47%. Averaged out, they're only 31.53% full!

Now THAT's what I'M talking about!