Yep! That was def A WEEK!!!

Well I promised to write my blog weekly this year, Rain, Hail or Shine.... Two out of three ain't bad!!!

Where to start, well as The Sound Of Music says: Start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to start....

This last week feels like six months as last Monday feels like a lifetime away. But from my very distant memory it went a little like this.

On Monday, I booked another Holiday, as you do in times of drama! hehehe. I personally think Holiday should be my middle name hehehe.

I have booked a week away in November with my friend Barb Dart for my birthday this year, and we have booked at Peppers Bale at Kingscliff, which will mean this time I will be swimming, drinking and eating there legally. Not so sure it will be that much fun doing it the right way this time around, but hey you gotta do what you gotta do!

Peppers Bale Pool

Now my friend Barb lives in Ipswich! So at this stage we were very excited (and still are considering...) to go away together in November. And on a side note: can I just add that Barb, her Mum and her two boys (her dogs) are all safe and sound as is their house!!! They did have to go to stay with friends but didn't have any damage.

Monday night Jake and I packed up our backyard and stored it in the shed and even talked about getting some sand bags and where we would put them. The sandbags didn't eventuate as the queue's the next day were atrocious.

Tuesday I got ready to go into work, drove to Aspley (about 20mins from here) and just missed my bus! Strange how things work out, but waited for the next bus, hopped on and as it starts its route from here, we were just sitting waiting for more people and I got to talking with the driver and another passenger about should we even be going into work and I had a missed call on my phone. So I rang back and it was work and they told me not to come in. How nice is that! So I asked the driver not to leave and the other lady who worked for Dept of Health said to me, yep I am going to get off too. So that's what we did.

I rang Jake from my car and then remembered that I had plans on the Tues night to stock up on food, so I went back into the shops there and did a huge shop, got caught in very very heavy rain but wasn't going to wait around for it to stop, got some cash out, got drenched and drove back home. Just down the road I got some petrol and helped two English people in a car find their way back out to the highway, as they were driving north to Eumundi for a few nights at a B&B. I told them about the highway being closed at Caboolture, so not sure what happened to them after I got them back out onto the highway.

Then I switched on the TV and that's where I spent the next few days. I have to say that in times like this what you honestly realise is that all that matters is that you have your family around you, close by, just together. Nothing else matters.

I spoke to Jake a few times that day and eventually his work let him leave, thank god. Took him two hours to get home from the other side of the city as he works at Morningside. I cannot being to tell you how relieved I was to have him back home.

There have been many pictures on the internet of animals trying to escape to higher ground. In our own backyard I spotted the biggest Praying Mantis that I have ever seen! Take a look:

Tuesday night they evacuated the other end of our road which is prob about 5-10 mins drive from us, so a while away, but from this we decided to pack a bag just incase. Then that brings you to thinking about Embee, what would happen if they wouldn't let you bring her??? So safe to say Tuesday night was an anxious nights sleep!!! Later in the week the pet shop down the road from us were selling Dog Life Jackets! Currently I haven't bought one, but I could just see Miss Embee Louise floating in a stylish life jacket :) But if you had told me that I would consider buying one I would never have believed you.

This is a pic of of the end of our road, Dohles Rocks Road.

I could go on forever but this time around it's not my story to tell and I thank God for that one! But if it had kept raining my story could be very different. We are not linked to the Brisbane River, but we are not far from the North Pine River and across the road from our house is bushland, which is part of the Petrie Paper Mill where the North Pine River flows through.... but as I said, for now it has stopped raining so we are very thankful for this! There was however some damage to the bridge across the North Pine River and I believe this bridge is still closed.

This is a pic I took of a Van in the River, at the other end of our road on Thursday morning!

I had just turned 7 when the 1974 floods hit Brisbane. I remember only a couple of things but we were living at Paddington with my Grandparents, not far from Lang Park/Suncorp Stadium and living on a hill, we were fine. I remember my Grandad pointing out houses that had gone under in our area, driving up to Mt Cootha where their creeks were at full force, but that's prob about all.

To watch the devastation on TV this week has been heartbreaking. You feel both relieved and guilty at the same time that your place has been spared. It seems strange when you go out on my side of town and see life just moving along as though this hasn't happened. But I guess life must go on, the economy must keep moving on for Queensland to continue.

I work in the heart of the city and at this stage word is that we go back to work tomorrow, but in staggered shifts so that people are not all on the road at the same time.

Yesterday I had to collect my Mum from her retirement home to take her to the doctors, where she lives was fine, although initially they had been cut off twice on the highway but they live on a high point there and actually had other places calling them, so she was in a good place and safe.

So Mum is staying with us just for a couple of nights and tomorrow I have to take her to Redcliffe Hospital for a check up on her broken shoulder that some of you know about that happened at the end of October. She is doing much better but can I just say its been a tiring few months since it happened..... but as they say things happen for a reason and we have moved her up to the next level of care, which I think is a good thing and she is very happy up there.

I think without my Grandad being around to look after her up there, well she just needed that extra bit of help and companionship and so she is much more happier being surrounded by people at Sunset Lodge. I know Grandad would be happy to know she is doing ok :)

So tomorrow we do the hospital thing, which is such fun!!! and then I will return to work on Tuesday. I have asked if I can maybe volunteer through my work to help with the floods, so we shall see if this is at all possible. I work for the Department of Infrastructure and Planning,for the Queensland State Government so as you can imagine my work will be very busy for some time to come.

Baby Jake too has been doing his bit and yesterday went over to Fairfield to help out a lady who he works with that lives there and had a two storey home. They lost their lower level and one the second level it went about a metre up the wall. He worked very very hard helping out all day and last night when I got home he was passed out on my lounge! And today was like an old man with a sore back and took him a while to get up and walk around.... poor old boy!

The old man asleep on my lounge!

And speaking of last night a good friend of mine, Sandra had her 40th birthday party. To be honest I didn't think it would go ahead as they live in Hemmant and had experienced bad flooding the week before our floods!! They had stayed put this time around and rode it out and lucky they were fine as was their house.

Here is a pic of Sandra and I, the long and the short of it! hehehe

I felt quite strange getting ready and going out, but I know it was important to Sandra that her party go ahead as they had many interstate people arrive during the week for it. And I have to say I had a very lovely night! Lots of laughs, some good stories and I made two new friends - Sharon and Lee from Perth! I may be even seeing Sharon in a couple of weeks with a little something that Lee her husband and I have cooked up, but more on that in a later blog! A girls gotta have some secrets hehehe.
I also received a call to cancel a hotel booking that I had in the city for February. Obviously they have realised that they wont be ready until the end of Feb for bookings, poor things. They are right on the River so I can imagine will have alot of work to do to fix things.

It's been a big week to say the least. On Thursday night I woke up to hear heavy rain on my roof. It only lasted a few minutes and normally I would love that sound, but now it brings mixed emotions. A feeling of being anxious mixed with a tinge of being scared. Who would have ever thought.

It's made us all remember how proud it is to be a Queenslander, how our community spirit has always been there, maybe not always on show but is there in times of need. It brings to the forefront how important your family are and that at the end of the day its not about what car you drive, what phone you have, what clothes you own. It's a about having the people that you care about just with you in times of need. Of being all together, no matter what. These are the the things that matter most in life.

It's also wonderful to hear from friends that are worried for you, that check to see if you are ok and need anything. And it's also being able to help out a friend in need, for just being there supporting them.

Life is def a roller coaster of emotions, experiences and all you can do is strap yourself in and experience all it has to offer, even though at times you may feel like giving up and wonder why these things come along. I guess at the end of the day these are the things that shape us into the people that we are, the good, the bad and in this week, the Muddy!

Take care my Groover's, keep safe and dry until next week!

Love

Me xxx