Floods swamp South Australia

Floods swamp South Australia : "'It was bone dry a couple of days ago,' a local said. 'The damn backs up to the hotel and water is running into the kitchen area.'"
Australia can be a land of extremes and surprises. If the photo of the two little boys splashing in the red, torrential Todd River has gone around the wrold, people will wonder what on earth is the matter with us. The are places where it doesn't rain for years and then when the rains come everyone and everything is so relieved and joyous. Some kids grow up and don't see rain and then it rains and the water is so magical no matter how much red earth is in it. It can be as it has been here...so dry, so dusty, so relentless and then the rains come and everyone is chirping. The birds get so excited. The domestic pets are so confused. The spiders are out, the snakes are away hiding and it's ...Australia. The drought, the fires and then the huge, humungous rains and you go from one extreme to the other. The poor guys fishing down at Kingston have lost their 4WDs in the king tide which hit there. They wouldn't have been thinking about fishing for their vehicles. Kingston is a beautiful spot on our coast for fishing. The police and SES are out there checking they have all the men and will account for all the vehicles and then they will have to haul them off the beach. It's not what you want, it's not what you plan but it brings out the community spirit. It means you can live the life of adventure at times. Some people love all that rescue type work. It means so much to them and we are grateful for it. They can really pit their wits and skills against this country and that is very much us. The flooding will have to be dealt with. The damage will be heart breaking but everyone will haul together. Hopefully we have learnt the lesson of asking city people to help out and organising rally points if the country folk need anything.