Gifts from the clouds

After a few really hot days "something" had to give - and it was both the temperature and the dry that "gave". For absolutely months now my patient husband has been watering my garden morning and night. We have had precious little rainfall since June - just a couple of days when we had showers. That changed this morning. I had just cleared up the driveway after covering it with a thick layer of grass and weeds, pulled out of my gardens when I chanced to look up and noticed the black sky creeping up. Cleaning up was put into high gear and the garden tools stored back in the garage by the time the first rumble of thunder happened. By the time I had showered and changed the rain was pelting down.

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I suddenly remembered my son's washing on the line and raced out to rescue it and put it in the clothes dryer - the fine spray from the impact of the rain on the ground had saturated everything! I came upstairs and spotted our friendly lorikeet looking very bedraggled on the cage over the food dished - the dishes were all filled with rainwater so held nothing of interest for her.

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I took pity and put a small dish of raw sugar on the table - about half a teaspoon full - and looked out later to see the bird and her mate, tucking in with ecstasy written all over them!
A look out the back door and I had to grab the camera again, our rainwater tank was full and running over.

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Not only was the rainwater tank running over but the roof guttering was running over too.

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One thing I have forbidden my nearly 72 year old husband to do is to get up on the roof to clear the gutters! We have a two storey house and that is a long way to fall.
So we have had enough rain in one hour to fill our water tank, top up the swimming pool and wash the dirt and remaining weeds off the drive. We have also had enough rain (33mm in one hour) to ensure that we shall have green grass for Christmas - and lots of noise from mowers on Boxing Day! Its "all good" as my son is want to say!
AJ

An old place with a face lift

Every large town has a water supply and that water supply is also a place where the public are encouraged to visit and to picnic. Our water reservoir has been closed to the public for two years while the dam wall was raised to more than double the capacity of water that the dam would hold. Just before Christmas the construction workers packed their machinery onto trucks and the finished project was opened to the public.

Two days after Christmas and only a week since the gates were opened to the public, Colin and I took my new  little car (a red Toyota Corolla) for a run. I packed a picnic hamper and filled the large thermos flask and with the skies blue - for a change - we drove through the lush countryside to visit the Hinze Dam. We really expected for there to be crowds of people there when we arrived but to our surprise there were only two cars in the large car park beside the picnic tables and when we drove on to visit the Information Centre there were only about twenty cars up there.

This is the view over the dam from the Information Centre. This particular area contains tables and chairs for those wishing to sit and have coffee or lunch here. Below the fence is a series of paths through lawns and areas planted with sedge plants (they are the darker green nearest to the fence).

There is yet another room to the right of this picture that has a huge glass-less window that also looks out over this scene and it is called "the Function Room" and it is where groups of people can meet and do whatever is planned for them (!) It is a very striking location for a meeting.

This was the view of the spillway that we saw when we first arrived at the Hinze Dam. When the dam is full and running over it would be a wonderful sight to see. You can tell from this picture that new vegetation has been planted, in fact there is new vegetation all around the picnic grounds too so once that is all established the place will look quite stunning - I know! It looks pretty good already!

Looking down on the spillway you can imagine just how dramatic the water will look when running down this at speed! There are so many different obstructions that will break the flow and create amazing spray and turbulence that I just can't wait for the dam to fill and for the spillway to be used!

We have some wonderful things to see so close to home!
AJ