It was 41C (108F) today and the rest of the week should be similar. I'm very optimistic that the water will evaporate faster. Then I suppose that pigs might fly!
Steve took our friend Marion out to see the water yesterday and took his Mother on Friday. He asked again if I wanted to come and I said no, as before. I have put off going to see what I nearly lost! But I changed my mind today and went.
As we were going through some fairly deep water on the road, we spotted a boat coming out from behind trees in one paddock. One man was pulling it, one man was sitting and the third man was crouched over the outboard motor, trying to free it from a great tangle of weeds and junk. Serves them right ------ who in their right mind would take an outboard motor through dirty flood water in a paddock!
Although I have looked at the photos that Steve took every day and have kept up with the comings and goings of the water, it was still a shock. I'll never again use the word "flooded" flippantly, like "I flooded the laundry" when the washing machine overflows. There isn't a lot of water left immediately around the house but it's very muddy. Steve put down some paving stones so that I could get up the ramp into the house.
The water trapped inside the levee bank is pumping out very well. The water outside the bank is running into the Piccaninny and although it has dropped about 6" in our yard and in the paddocks, it's still quite deep and running swiftly. It's boiling along the P creek. That's a pretty amazing sight. On our side, it goes under the road and when it comes out on the other side, it becomes two whirlpools on either side, with a straight flowing strip down the middle. The whirlpools come back to our side, do a big spin towards the bank on either side and go back under the road to flood the paddocks opposite us.
The water at Dominic's house is running away swiftly, down into the Piccaninny, of course. His drive has some water over it but his next door neighbour is using it, as his own drive is not negotiable.
We took a drive 5 miles up the road towards Kerang. Most of the land in between is flooded but there are a few farms that have completely escaped.
The road at Nine Mile Creek is very broken up. Just after the broken bitumen, there was deep water over the road, so we assumed there was likely to be more around the corner. A car came from behind us and ploughed into the water, very fast. It made a number of leaps into the air, followed by thuds back down. Idiot! I imagine that the road was very damaged underneath.
The view of the water was breathtaking. It stretches as far as the eye can see, on both sides of the road. A marooned house is built on a high spot, which has become an island. The people have a boat tied up to a post at the roadside. I wish they had arrived home with their groceries while we were there!
More photos, including one of a young man who rode his motorbike through the water as we were on our way home. As he passed us, I noticed that he was dripping from the neck down.
Motorbike
Was the sale before or after the flood?
The Milnes Bridge Church, no longer used.
The dairy below belongs to our nearest neighbour, Amos. Note the levee around it. Another protects his house. Most of his farm is flooded and thousands of bales of hay are sodden. He and his wife stayed at home; they have left a tractor near the road so that they can get in and out. Fortunately, they managed to keep the water out of the house.
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