When It Rains...

"i was at the beach, i was at the beach, oh ho ho. now we ALL want to move to australia."

And who can blame you?!

It rains here sometimes too, Claire.  (And no, you haven't been the first to complain.  Lori was already reminding me to be gentle over a year ago!)

What we don't have are those grey, dark days where it's not really raining but just cold and miserable.  The days where the school insists on sending the kids out onto the ashpalt for recess so that they can huddle in the misty drizzle.  Because it's good for them, mind you - all that fresh air - and, I suspect, having been raised by a German father myself, because it teaches them that life is tough and you just have to endure it. 

First Day of School.  Before the downpour began.

I also strongly suspect it has something to do with lack of staff and needing to herd the kids together for a few minutes so that the teachers can take a coffee break.

And we don't have those days for four seasons end to end either.

The sun shines, 39C (102F) in the shade.

King's Beach, Caloundra.  Beginning of January.

And two weeks later it pours.

And pours and pours.

We are talking about a downpour of 270mm in 24 hours at Caloundra, on the Sunshine Coast, in the last 24 hours.    (No, I have no idea what all these mms are really about either, but a typical really rainy thunderstormy day seems to drop about 4 mm.  So 270 is A LOT!)

We are talking about unremitting rainfall the entire week.

We are talking floods of Old Testament proportions.

Both main roads out of our neighbourhood are flooded and closed.  (Although we managed to bring the kids to school this morning so all is not lost.)

They've called off the Australia Day celebrations tomorrow and the pool is almost flooded.

There ARE sadder things than an unused pool.

The pool is almost flooded.  That's like complaining that your child is underchallenged in school.

Cmon.  Let's think of some REAL problems here.

Because, honestly Claire, I still can't complain.

Aussie girl.

I belong here like I have belonged nowhere else.  A country of extremes, of highs and lows, of flood and drought.  There's no middling greyness - there is sun and there is rain.  If ever a country were to be called bipolar, Australia would be it.

And, true to my underlying competitive German nature, I can also say, that although we whip your ass in beach and sunshine, when it comes to rain, we certainly give you a run for your money there too!