The last couple of years here have been hard. With little rain, lots of heat and no hope of a break. Many have privately said, their best year was the one where they didn't plant.
It's tough living on the land in Australia.
We don't have access to water, other than bores, there's no town water and our personal supply is from tanks. We came close this last week to needing to buy water. 30 000 litres is a lot to replace. (And expensive too!)
We live in a beautiful spot, but don't be fooled by the long grass, because it's on rocks at the edge of the driveway. Look beyond and you'll see a bare, red dirt paddock. It's been like that since about May when they last harvested. They haven't seeded it. Nothing much can grow in these conditions without regular irrigation. The ground has a parched, baking smell to it. It's harsh (and starkly gorgeous) as well as unforgiving. In the last week, a bucketload of records have fallen though, including the hottest September day on record. It hit 40 degrees here last week. Then it came, building frantically in fluffy white clouds that turned dark and ominous. |
It wasn't a pitter patter of light drops. Nope. It was a deluge at times, water in the gutters overflowing and splashing to the concrete. Every drop precious.
In all, we received over 2 inches in a day. For us, an amazing outcome.
Our water tanks aren't full, but we have over 2 rings in the them. From under half a ring to that means we gained probably about 2500 per tank (we have three of those tanks) which means we should be fine now up to Christmas so long as we go easy with the water.
I love rain. It's the giver of life!
So in honour of the fabulous rain, I'm going to leave you with this song. Hey, Rain!