We are sort of like a pocket of calm in the midtst of chaos – an island of sanity in a sea of madness, if you like. Bushfires, tornadoes and cyclones happen in other places. Extremes of weather (other than heat) do not happen here. We have the occasional rain storm and high winds that can bring down trees and damage a roof or three, we do not have people being driven out of their homes and being evacuated because of floods or fire. Actually, and thankfully, we are quite boring, really. The local government area incorporates some 1032.5 square klms, with the urban area being 41.2 squ.klm. Surrounded by scrubland and sea our closest forest is some 140 klms to the east of us – Mount Remarkable National Park. It is over ten years since we had major fires there and between us and there is a little body of water called the Spencer Gulf. Queensland has barely recovered from the devastating floods of 2011 and now it’s flooded again. Here we fluctuate between scorching and cold. I have been talking about temperatures in the high 40s and at the moment the temperature is 15c and not expected to go beyond 24c – 28c for most of this week.
My knowledge of Poinsettias is limited to the fact that I was given a red one two years ago by a friend and since the only thing I ever saw were Red ( common in the Garden shops over here) I made the mistaken assumption that Poinsettias were Red. It is a bit worse for ware these days but it is still with us. It went slightly strange and I took it to the garden centre who told me that I was overwatering it. Stop the water. Neve really helped so I decided that if it wanted to live than it better do something and for my part I devastated it but cutting it back almost to the roots – getting rid of everything that looked dead. It lives and is producing new growth and fine new leaves. I have great hopes for it. So not everything is doom and gloom.
In the morning I head off to Adelaide and the Flinders Medical Centre. I should be home late tomorrow night after stopping in at the big garden centre on the way through.
The Queensland floods continue to get worse by the hour and the Cyclone front is moving down the coast and the big concern is that it is heading for Sydney and already the North of New South Wales is feeling the the effects of the rain and wind. Parts of the cities of Logan and Lismore are being evacuated with the river expected to peak at 15 metres above normal. The 2011 flood peaked at 17 metres. The city of Bundaberg is the major concern at the moment and the speed of the water is something like 77 klms per hour. For some it is going to be a very scary night.
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