February 2008. It's raining, it's pouring... It's been raining a bit lately, ay! (Everyone in Queensland says “Ay!” at the end of a sentence, and even in the middle of one ay!). Yes, it's been raining. Dams that were near empty are filling up and some are overflowing causing floods. A forecaster said on TV, "I know a lot of people have been praying for rain; it might be wise .to stop for a while".

Changing Childers... Having settled in Childers, we decided to change the town slightly by replacing our back stairs with a small deck and butterfly staircase, and also removing a huge tree in the back garden. Both the stairs and the tree were dangerous. The stairs went 16 steps straight to the back door, no landing. It was most awkward to open the door. One found oneself teetering at the top of the stairs trying to open the door on to oneself. Quite a balancing act, especially if trying to hold a bag of shopping as well. Now the door opens on to a safe deck and the stairs descend in two stages. Removal of the tree has improved our view, and we can enjoy it more sitting on the new deck. The old stairs were re-used in the new, and the tree was turned into garden mulch and firewood for the community —it was no good for milling.

Here's the new stairs and the new view...
 

This is how the stairs were...
 

We love the beaches. Now that we live in Childers, we are not far from Woodgate, and it's a beautiful place to walk and swim. A quiet village strung along the foreshore near national parks and the Burrum River. The world's best hamburgers are made and sold in Woodgate. But there are other places. The picture below is one sight I couldn't resist capturing on camera. It looks like a shot taken from the air, don't you think? Actually it is only about a square metre of sand taken close to the surface.

I call this picture “Sandy shapes...”
 

'Bye for now and God bless...

Ron.

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