Drove back from Toowoomba to Mosquito Creek today, having been to see the doctor for my two-yearly medical check-up this morning. My numbers were all good, so I was feeling pretty up-beat. There were also some storms around which was a good thing because we are still in severe drought conditions. I could see a good storm had come through, but about 25 km (16 miles) from home, I ran into this:
I have seen water here before after rain, but maybe only 6 inches deep across the road. This was up to the running boards on my truck not too far in and I guessed it was about 600 mm (2 feet) deep or more out there somewhere, as well as being nearly 200 metres (200 yards) across. It was not flowing fast but I had no desire to ruin a good medical pass by getting water in my engine. I put a rock on the edge and waited to see what the water was doing. In twenty minutes the rock was under water. I waited another twenty minutes and the water peaked then began to fall slowly. But another storm was rolling in so I decided to backtrack about 20 km and try an alternative track home. Only trouble was, I thought there could be even more water on the alternative track, and my "alternative alternative" was about a 100 km detour to the north or south, with still no guarantee the road would be open if there had been the same amount of rain there.
I got close to where I expected to find substantial flood water on the alternative track and there were branches all over the road and then, just where the fallen branches were thickest, half a tree across the road just near a grid. This was about 16 km (10 miles) from home. It looked like some big winds had hit the area but the tree could have been lightning damage. There had been some good rain, but nothing like what had caused the flash flooding maybe 8 km (5 miles) to the north. I counted myself lucky that there was no flooding here or all this would have been under water.
A quick recce told me that I could drag some of the smaller branches away enough to get through. And although the tree was just over a grid, I had room to get around it on the left if I did a bit of off-roading. It was raining again by this time, with lots of thunder and lightning. I put the Nissan into low-range 4WD and proceeded with caution. This was shot through the windscreen at the grid, with the rain falling.
I now had to traverse about 10 km of track through State Forest where the thin soils offer little support for trees. I was not sure what to expect. But there was no more evidence of wind, and even less evidence of rain. Before I got home I was raising dust behind me. But another storm building towards the southwest said I should not give up hope. This was taken about 1.5 km from home.
I got home in bright sunshine. But a line of storms brought me 10 mm of rain this afternoon with maybe a little bit more to follow. Tomorrow should see more of the same. It won't break the drought (and Mosquito Creek will not flow yet) but It should start some summer grass growth for the cattle. I will be happy enough with that. And happy enough to home again.
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