The Big Wet

Birdsville Racetrack — or should I say Lake ....

Something very unusual is happening outside at the moment — it's raining! I know it's been raining everywhere in Australia (practically), but it's been a good six months since there's been a drop of rain out here. In the last day we've had two and a half inches, which is a LOT. The station owners will be very happy, but there are some very unhappy campers around here. Not only is the camping ground rapidly disappearing under a lake, but all roads out of here are shut, so they're well and truly stuck and may be for some time, particularly if it doesn't stop raining soon.

I'm sure it was caused by the "Birdsville Gift", an annual sports carnival that was held yesterday. A bunch of professional runners was bussed out here Thursday to compete for $10,000 prize money (why is still a mystery to me), plus a bunch of less serious events for the locals. I competed in the Over 40 Women's 80 metre race, and came 4th — alright, there were only four people in the race, but I was roundly cheered for giving it a go. The Beerbelly Cup was fun, but the golfing event was most popular, around 40-50 people whacked golf balls across the oval, (some several times, at $5 a ball, or $10 for 3) the winner being the person to hit their ball closest to the flag. The prize was $2000, so worth a go, though some people barely managed to hit the ball at all, to the amusement of onlookers. All good fun.

The winner of the 1600 m race — looking very professional indeed.


The winner of the Beerbelly Cup — not quite so professional, but enthusiastic.


Even less professional — me, bringing up the rear of the Over 40 Women's event.



It started sprinkling about 10 am, and gradually worked up to a major downpour by about 7 pm, when people were heading to the Graham Connors concert in the Community Hall. It was still a novelty at this stage, no-one minded. Graham Connors was very entertaining, he's very popular in this part of the world. One lot of people came up from Langhorne Creek in SA (about 1500 km), another group came over from Windorah, only 400 kms away. There was lots of singing along and dancing in the aisles, washed down by large amounts of FourXXXX Gold. (I love going to the pub and asking for a pot of Gold!)

The novelty was wearing off by this morning when the bedraggled campers started coming in to the Bakery for breakfast and coffee. About 10 am, Neil, the local policeman, phoned to say all roads out of Birdsville were shut. Some people had left earlier for Windorah, and are now stuck out there for the duration, possibly days. The runners' bus is still outside the Motel, and Graham Connors plane isn't going anywhere tomorrow. There's no use me putting in a grocery order this week, the truck won't be coming up from Adelaide with the Birdsville Track shut. Good thing the freezer's reasonably well stocked, although I could really use a few fresh green veg — frozen veg just aren't up to scratch, I've decided.

Latest weather report at 5 pm today, nearly 3 inches, half Birdsville's annual rainfall, and still raining solidly. I'll keep you posted.

It's raining — there's a lot of water around.






The rain will do wonders for our garden — if it doesn't drown first ....