Book Junkies Are The Same Everywhere

Today was the first day of the annual Lifeline BookFest (used book sale) in the Brisbane Convention Center. Oh, be still my beating heart!

It fills two large halls at the convention center and has more than 2 million books loosely organized into three areas -- high quality, priced, and un-priced.

The "high quality" are the books in the best shape. They range from $5 - $10.

The "priced" are a little more ragged (but not torn up) and are $2 - $5.

The "unpriced"....well, I never even made it there!

Our beginning was not auspicious. I suggested we drive since Jeff is still on crutches and would have to spend his time there hobbling around on concrete floors. I knew he'd be exhausted by the end. The convention center has underground parking and there are several more parking lots in the area. I checked the convention center website to confirm parking availability.

The problem? The convention center is on the Southbank, which got heavily flooded 3 weeks ago. Underground parking lots took it particularly hard. The convention center parking lot was open -- for about an hour. By 9:30 am, it was full. I suspect huge parts of it still aren't actually dry and clear.

The other parking garages? Not even open yet. We drove around and around and finally went home.

I'm frustrated that the promotional material, especially on the web (which is quick and easy to update), didn't mention that the parking garages were mostly unavailable and people should take public transit. They've been closed for almost 3 weeks. It's not like they didn't know this would be a problem.

I'm frustrated that the signs for the parking garages still say they're open -- including the electronic signs which (again) should be quick and easy to update -- until you try to pull in and discover they are physically blocked.

I'm frustrated that the convention center sign tells you there's additional parking in the nearby Parklands .... whose signs tell you to go the convention center for additional parking.

We came back to the 'hood, parked near a bus stop, and took the bus.

Another frustration -- where the hell is handicapped access? As near as we could tell, there was one handicapped access point on the vast 2-block long southside of the convention center.....somewhere in the parking garage. God bless Jeff for being a trooper and dealing quietly and patiently with a lot of steps.

OK, enough with the frustrating parts. Let's get to the books. Acres and acres of books. Tabled into rough categories such as "travel" and "scifi" and "fiction". Yes, the "fiction" category was quite large.

Veterans know to bring something to carry your books in. We brought a backpack and a grocery roll-a-long. I saw lots of the grocery roll-a-longs. I saw backpacks. I saw suitcases. I saw shopping carts. I saw a wheelbarrow! These people have been here before.

We also saw a number of people wearing cotton gloves. Either they are perusing the rare/out-of-print book section or they are a tad fastidious. If it's the latter, a barn-like structure full of other people's books must be a bit overwhelming.

Some general observations:

* The travel section had a lot of Bill Bryson. His books sometimes get re-titled here. In the US, you would read "In A Sunburned Country" if you wanted to read about his adventures in Australia. Here, you'd read "Down Under". Same book.

* I wish the sci-fi collection had been larger. On the other hand, we got there about 11 am on opening day (it opened at 8:30) and it had already been visibly picked over. Sci-fi nerds will get up early for cheap books!

* The childrens book section was always chaos and mayhem -- and that's just on the tables!

* The crafts/homemaking/cooking section had a very steady stream of people around it. It could be tough to get a spot to peruse!

* The guy working the PA system was great. He regularly made announcements for lost spouses and children who were ready to go home if mum & dad would just finish up already! The best was for a "foreign visitor" (from New Zealand). His wife needed to remind him -- via the PA system announcer -- that they could only get 20 kg of books and she'd already picked up 18 so he could only pick up 2.

I had filled up my grocery roll-a-long in about 30 minutes. I had to stop and re-assess my loot, putting 3 books back eventually. Jeff ended up with....nothing. He was tired and sore. I'm sure we'll be sharing some of mine.

Checking out was an interesting process:

Step 1: handed my books to a lady who flipped through them and added them up....in her head! Wrote the total on a slip of paper (which she handed to me) and slid the books to...

Step 2: a lady who put them in a white plastic grocery bag and forwarded it on to ....

Step 3: the lady who tied off the bag and taped the tie shut so you couldn't surreptitiously add more books to your bag without paying. She then slid the bag along to....

Step 4: the lady who actually took my slip of paper with the total written on it (and then took my money). My final tally? 8 books for $52, which included one Bill Bryson.

It seems on the surface like this is cumbersome but it did keep things moving along (at least when I checked out).

I quickly found Jeff, who was flagging. We found the "handicapped" exit (elevator plus a mere 8 steps) and took the bus home. I napped the nap of the book-enhanced.

Is It the Flood Or Is It Opportunism?

I stopped by the closest grocery store -- an IGA -- for a few things this afternoon. Was shocked when they rang me up that the small red onion was $1.80 and the red bell pepper was $3!

Stopped by the larger neighborhood grocery chain -- Cole's -- an hour later and discoverd that the same red onion and red bell pepper would have been half those prices.

I'm willing to accept that fruits and veg will be more expensive because many of the suppliers are in Queensland and were hard-hit by the flooding. But, really, twice as much?

I've also seen mangoes for everything from $2 - $6. I'm becoming....suspicious.

Australia Day for Non-Australians

Yesterday was Australia Day. It's a country-wide holiday that commemorates the day Capt. James Cook landed in Sydney (I've seen Aboriginals marking it as "Invasion Day"). While the Constitution of Australia came into force on 1 January 1901 (which meant they were a unifed country, not just a set of colonies) that doesn't get much press. Australia Day is the much bigger day.

(On the other hand, do you know that the United States didn't really become the United States until 1789, when we got the constitution we currently have? It's not like we get all excited about that ourselves.)

It's celebrated a bit like our 4th of July. It's a nationwide holiday. Everyone heads to the beach or a BBQ. The Australian flag is everywhere. Well, everywhere on people -- being worn as a cape, on t-shirts and bikinis, as temporary tattoos on faces and body parts. I didn't see it flying as a flag in as nearly as many locations!

It's also the end of the school summer/holiday break (Queensland students went back to school on the 24th; most others go back to school on the 31st). Since the school year runs January - December, this is the beginning of a new school year. So this is also the last "fling" of summer break for students.

So it's a big day out (though there is another day that's officially known as the Big Day Out, though I haven't figured out what that's about yet).

Jeff had the day off and we haven't formally been to an Australian beach yet (not to do beach-like things anyways) so I suggested a road trip. We drove 2 hours south to Byron Bay. It's known for its beach, it's lighthouse, and it's woo-woo vibe. I just had to check it out.

We started at the lighthouse. It was a brilliantly sunny day and hot but not too oppressive. Plus, there was a regular beautiful breeze everywhere. The lighthouse is more than 100 years old and just gorgeous against the blue sky and the blue of Byron Bay. It has a very small visitors center and display area but Barrie -- the volunteer on duty -- had lots of good information about whaling, about lighting the lighthouse, and navigating the coast near here.

More impressive? Barrie and I worked for the same company at the same time! He retired from GE Information Services in the early 90s. I left GEIS in 1996! He was the head of the Australian division; I worked in corporate HQ in Rockville (which he was quite familiar with). That came as a surprise because GEIS was never a large part of the GE empire and I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist any more.

The other thing that Byron Bay has going for it is that the point of land out by the lighthouse is the eastern most point in all of Australia. So, while I stood there I was as close to home as I could get without getting wet or boarding a plane. I thought of all my US family and friends. :)

(Standing on the eastern-most part of Australia.)

We drove down to the center of town to the information center for a map and a place to park. It's a pretty little town. Lots of cafes, shops, restaurants, shopping, pubs, etc. We walked towards the beach, looking for a pub or cafe that actually looked out on the beach. We found one that was quite busy. Bouncers and a BBQ, full of people cruising for a place to sit like a parking lot at Christmas. We scored two bar stools quickly (luckily for the guy on crutches) and had drinks while we gazed the blue of the bay and covertly pondered the Gym Apes leaning awkwardly against the bar.

Byron Bay, like a lot of this part of the country, is quite young. This was a heavily 20-something crowd. All cruising for a drink and/or a pick-up it seemed. Made me glad to be way-the-hell past my 20s!

After finishing our drinks (and feeling guilty about occupying prime seat real estate if we weren't going to keep drinking), we decided to give the beach a try. We'd hoped for a bathhouse where we could change but there was none so we decided to spend our time on the beach in our shorts and t-shirts.

There was a broad swath of parkland between us to the beach and there were as many people hanging out there, cooking out or just having a snooze, as there were on the beach. What was the advantage to the park? Shade. You can't ignore the power of the sun here. Though the day was comfortably in the low 80s, the sun was fierce. You can feel it on your skin in a way you don't usually in DC, even on our hottest days. Skin cancer is rampant in Australia and even the bikini-clad babes were opting for the shade as much as the sun.

Even with crutches (and the sign warning about "blue bottles"), Jeff was game for the sand so we spread our towels and plopped ourselves down, alternating between book-reading and snoozing. Jeff looked up "blue bottles" on his Blackberry -- an Austrlian nickname for the Portugese Man-o-War. They won't kill you but they can make you supremely miserable.

Oh. Well. Yes. Perhaps we will stay close to shore.

Well, OK, we had to wander into the surf a little. Jeff's crutches (and the fact that we weren't wearing our bathing suits) limited our incursion to the ankle-level. The water was warm and full of tiny little blue floating thingys: the blue bottles of the warning I presume. There were about the size of a US nickel, dark blue, with a fringe of tiny tentacles. Apparently, they are the juvenile version. They were actually quite pretty. We avoided them nonetheless.

After a little more time on the beach, we gathered up our gear and went in search of some dinner. There were some tempting take-away (carry-out) places but Jeff wanted to sit down. Quite a few places were closed which is surprising for a major holiday in a tourist town until you remember that the owners have to pay a holiday-bonus rate to their employees. For smaller restaurants, it's cheaper to just close for the day.

We ended up at a sushi-go-round restaurant, which I enjoy. Sushi is never cheap but I really have to watch myself at sushi-go-rounds. All you have to do is snag a plate as it goes by if it catches your eye. The plates have a ring of color around them that tells you how much each plate costs. The prices ranged from $2.50 - $6 per plate.

It didn't take me long to accumulate a nice little stack of plates next to me (organized by color, natch, which gave the waitress a smile when she came around to write up our check). The food was excellent so we were glad for the choice.

Our car was parked next to a small park where a band was entertaining a small crowd, maybe 2 dozen people, and hosting a free BBQ. They also introduced themselves as we walked by -- 5 Americans and one Kiwi. That got a few murmured comments from the crowd about it being Australia Day but no one felt strongly enough to leave.

We drove home and yours truly was in bed by 8:30. With no sunburn! We call that a successful day.

The Kindness of Strangers

It's been interesting to watch how this city recovers from a flood. I spoke to a man in church, Wayne, whose home was inundated up to the second level. I have heard variations on his story repeated dozens of times in the news and around the neighborhood.

On Wednesday morning, January 12, after the rain stopped, he returned to his home (they had evacuated) to assess the damage. As he stood there, shell-shocked and dazed, two cars pulled up. Out of each car, two men emerged. These two cars arrived there simultaneously by serendipity. The occupants of one car had never met the occupants of the other car.

They asked Wayne if he could use some help. Wayne, still in shock, said yes, he probably could.

For the next 8 hours, these strangers shovelled mud and swept water and carried out broken furniture (the couch was so water-logged it took all 5 men to carry it out) and pulled up ruined carpet and repaired what they could. Other strangers showed up with food but the working men kept going, politely declining the food.

From 9 am to 5 pm, these strangers worked their tails off, in mud and water and stink and mess. At the end of the day, they wished Wayne well, climbed back in their cars, and disappeared.

Two days later, the "official" city volunteers were finally able to get there (red tape being what it is) but at Wayne's they weren't really needed any more. There was still cleaning to be done but Wayne and his family could take care of that.

All over Brisbane, all over Queensland, the official response, while well-intentioned, was no match for the unofficial response. A lot of the clean-up / clean-out work in private homes and small businesses was done by neighbors and by strangers who just.....showed up.

Australians still need help. They still need money. God help them, they need tourists, desperately (our guest room is still wide open!). But when it came time to get right down to it and make it better immediately, they did it for themselves.

God bless them, every one.

The New Digs

One week ago we moved from a 1-bedroom apartment right in the heart of downtown (think....14th & K NW in DC) to a 3-bedroom townhouse in New Farm, the next neighborhood over. (For less rent!)

Here's the pics, just in case you want to come visit. ;)

What the townhouse looks like as you come down the driveway. We're on a "pipestem", so there's 4 townhouses off this same driveway. We're down at the end.

What you see when you come in the front door. It's a two level townhouse. The two smaller bedrooms and the 2nd bathroom (and garage) are on this level. Notice: color and art on the wall!

The guest bedroom. Double bed.

From the guest bedroom, you've got your own TV and direct access onto the back deck.

Looking into the guest bedroom from the back yard.

The guest bathroom (with tub)

The other half of the guest bathroom.

The third, and smallest, bedroom is now my office. A real office with a real office chair! This will make my writing better, yes?

The office has direct access to the backyard as well. It also has a couch/single bed as a back-up additional sleep surface.

The view above my desk.

The living room, dining room, kitchen, and master bedroom are upstairs. This is the living room from the top of the stairs.

Dining room from the top of the stairs.

Kitchen. See the refrigerator? No? It's a built-in; specifically those two door handles to the left of the stove and microwave. Yep, a side-by-side. Jeff is beside himself.

The upstairs porch, just off the living room. It includes a grill! Those louvered frames open up (the top half) fully so we've got a wide open space there if we want it.

The master bedroom. Kitty: see how well Ozzie fits in??

Finally, the master bedroom has a side-by-side closet plus a walk-thru closet to the bathroom.

Social Media Actually Done Well

The buzz in the last year for "new" ways to market has all been about "social media". Specifically, Facebook and Twitter and, to a lesser extent, blogs.

I've seen plenty of practices and businesses go this route, with limited success. Here are a few things I've noticed:

1. It takes more time than you think it does. Figure out how much time you think you'll need to spend on this every week (you need to post at least 2-3 times a week on FB or Twitter and at least 8-10 times a month on a blog to be worth it). Now, triple that time.


Do you have that much free time in your current schedule? If not, what are you willing to drop from your schedule to make room for it? I don't recommend dropping "sleep".

2. You need to come up with something new and interesting each time. And it can't be just new and interesting to you. It has to be new and interesting to your reader. Which means you have to have some idea of who your reader is likely to be and what they find interesting.

3. You have to give something of value through your postings. Just posting "hey, look, I'm here!" is fine....for the first few days. And then you have to have new content. New valuable content. Sit down and make a list of 50 topics you'd like to blog/FB post/tweet about. That will get you through the first 3 months (a number of those topics will not pan out once you actually sit down to write about them). Then you have to come up with more!

4. It helps enormously to have visuals to go with your posts. You can use clipart, sometimes and with limitatations. Do you have visuals -- photos, original art, etc. -- to go with, say, 40% - 60% of your posts? Are you willing to start carrying a camera with you? And to think creatively about how to capture good images?

5. Ideally, you've got a multi-tiered social network thang going on -- website, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. and they all point back and forth to each other.

Kinda exhausting, isn't it?


OK, enough with my bitching and moaning. I want to point you to an example of an organization that's using Facebook right now incredibly well: The Queensland Police Service.

During the current flooding crisis in Queensland and, specifically, in Brisbane, everyone has been scrambling to get current information. How far as the water spread? Who's cut off? What roads are open? What roads are closed? When is high tide? What is the peak supposed to be? Who should be evacuating? Where are the evacuation centers? What resources are available? What about this/that/and the other thing rumor that I heard? Where or how can I help? Etc. Etc. Etc.

Several local TV stations have been broadcasting nothing but flood information around the clock for the last several days. But even that isn't fast enough or complete enough. That's where the Queensland Police Service comes in.

So, let's start with the state police's website. If you click over to it, the very first thing you see is a link to their Facebook page. And not kinda over on the side. It's square (and large) in your face.

When you go to their FB page (which I've had up and open full-time for the last few days) notice:

* they post new information 10-20 times an hour. There is somebody typing their fingers off somewhere.

* the information is from multiple sources -- TV stations, their own media department, the premier's (think "governor") office, highway patrol, search and rescue, evacuation centers, the mayor's office, the electric company, everyone. They are clearly wired in to everyone and everything.

That didn't happen overnight. Those connections were well-established before this crisis hit.

* their posts are short, sweet, and to the point. Frequently no more than 1 - 3 sentences. Even their longer notes are very focused, specific, and direct.

* while they can't quite break themselves from the passive voice (they are still a government agency, after all) there is little confusion about what you're to do with the information.

* each post also references their Twitter accounts. They are encouraging you to connect in multiple ways and making it easy to figure out how to do that, without beating you over the head with it.

* they are not using their page to glorify their own efforts. They are honestly using it to keep the public up to date. AND to try to manage their own needs (please quite rubber-necking and get off Coronation Drive!, for example).

* they have a clear idea of what their audience (desperately) wants and needs and they're doing a good job of supplying it.

* they don't only deal with "official" announcements. The address rumors quickly and directly. That's freakin' brilliant!


I can't tell you how grateful I am for this page and whatever nubby-fingered person(s) have been making it happen. It has helped me stay calm during this crisis by helping me stay informed. It's also provded me quite a primer in how to do a public-service Facebook page well.

A Wet Day Of Sunshine

What a day.

We woke to brilliant sunshine. After weeks of rain, it was a bit disorienting. I decided to walk up to a convenience store for a few supplies.

We live right between two of the major north/south streets in New Farm: Brunswick and James. Lots of people were out walking around. Some were off to the shops. Some were headed to see what was happening with the rising waters. Some clearly just needed to get out of the house and into the sunshine. Cars were moving up and down Brunswick.

The convenience store wasn't as stripped as I'd expected. The news reports would have you believing you can't get milk, meat, bread, produce, or (most likely) toilet paper if you didn't buy it last Saturday. The convenience store had everything it usually has (besides the local paper), though it was quite low on bread. I picked up a few bottles of water and other essentials (OK, cookies), though they were sold out of the local paper. I never did find a copy today. I decided I'd wander down to the river and see how things were going.

As I headed downhill on Brunswick, I noticed commotion at the major shopping thoroughfare (sort of the commercial center of New Farm) with Merthyr St.

Turns out the police had Brunswick blocked for 2 blocks, starting at Merthyr. There were roadblocks like that at random places all over New Farm. It was for water covering the road, but not necessarily from the rising river exactly. It seems the storm drains, which normally empty into the river, were backing up all over the streets.

The roads were only blocked to vehicles. Plenty of people were pushing their way through the water to get a look-see at the action. I decided to join them.

Once again, I was wearing my water shoes, which made wading through the water a lot easier. The muddy water was anywhere from ankle- to knee-deep. It was actually cool and refreshing. While the water was muddy, I wasn't muddy when I walked out the other side.

I walked through the New Farm park (and more standing water) to the river. It was over the riverside path and up onto the grass. There were quite a few people wandering down by the river, snapping pictures, and taking in the day.

On my way back (through the same water on Brunswick), I heard the sound of rushing water on a side street. Oh, dear, I'd forgotten that the shopping center/strip mall on the corner of Brunswick and Merthyr has underground parking and the water was rushing down the ramp into the garage. The garage was about half full of water.....and one very sad looking car.

I wandered past the main neighborhood grocery store, Coles, only to find the shelves of perishables empty and employees out front with styrofoam coolers full of fish trying to sell the last of the fish. As I was taking pictures, the lights all went out. The electric company had cut power to that end of New Farm.

I called Jeff, who told me we still had power and he was jones'ing to get out of the house. We agreed to meet at what may be our new favorite neighborhood bar, the Alibi Room, about 2 blocks from our house.

We weren't alone. The restaurants and bars up on that end of New Farm were doing a brisk business, especially if they had food and someone to cook/serve it. We had a beer and then went across the street for a bite to eat (excellent pizza and risotto).

Jeff then announced that he wanted to see the river and the flooding. Since he'd driven to the bar, we were able to drive around and check things out.

While the police are regularly reminding the public that this isn't an audience-participation event, what are you doing to do? Curiosity (not to mention cell phone cameras) have all of us wanting to take a look at what's really going on. This is also historic. The Flood of '74 is the standard against while all flooding has been measured and this flooding looks like it will match, if not surpass, that.

There are bluffs at points around New Farm and they were all crowded with people getting a high-level view of the river coming out of the CBD. We ended up down closer to the river, near the part of the river walk that is serviced by a length of floating walkway.

Sadly, the lengths of the floating walkway where it attaches to the land have been destroyed. The word on the radio is that the city may have to take down the entire walkway to keep it from rising above it posts and careening down the river.

We also stopped on the other side of the neighborhood where we could get down close to the river. There were probably 15-20 people sitting on the banks watching the river -- wider than most of these people had ever seen it -- flowing by at a stunning rate. The river was at high tide and it was rushing past, carrying logs, huge chunks of styrofoam from floating docks, and other debris.

When we returned home, we found our neighbors hanging out in our shared driveway. We spent the rest of the evening out with 8 or 9 neighbors, drinking wine and sharing stories. The odds are that we will not be flooded up here but the next high tide is at 4 am and I'm not sure how well I'll sleep tonight.

The sad truth is that this city I've come to be very fond of is not going to be the same city come Monday morning that it was this past Monday morning.

The riverwalk that I've enjoyed so much has been smashed in places and torn up in others.

The southbank -- with its manmade lagoon, beach, restaurants, performance spaces, and museums -- is overrun with river water and mud.

The downtown/CBD is closed down and being inundated.

The Suncorp Stadium -- where big concerts are held -- is flooded, like a large nasty pool.

Business have been destroyed. Homes are wrecked. Food distribution is severely disrupted.

The ferry system, which makes public transportation just more fun, will be out of service for months. At least half the ferry docks have been destroyed.

Worse, the airwaves are full of the stories of people making heroic efforts to save friends, neighbors, and total strangers from raging floodwaters. They don't always succeed. I just heard one man talking about struggling to save a family from a car caught in the flash flood in Toowoomba. They saved the father and one child. They couldn't save the mother and another child.

43 people are still missing from the flash flood on Monday. There's not a lot of hope that they'll be found alive.

How does a community recover from that? How do you recover from watching a mother and child be swept away, despite your very best and most heroic efforts?

It will take days to get the water out of the buildings, weeks to clear out the mud and debris, months to rebuild the docks, repair the roads, and fix everything that's broken.

Worse, they'll be finding bodies for probably another week or two.

I sit in the driveway, counting my good luck and enjoying the (dry!) company of my neighbors. But we are surrounded by a disaster. That's not hyperbole. It's a disaster and it's not done yet.

It breaks my heart.

Just In Case....

9 pm, Tuesday

The news doesn't get any better. 75% of Queensland has been declared a disaster zone. (Remember, that's a state the size of Alaska.)

The power company will be shutting off power in select areas of the downtown/CBD tomorrow as a precaution against rising water. Most businesses in the CBD have closed down. I suspect there's at least a 50/50 chance that the apartment building we were living in just a few days ago has been evacuated (all 41 floors!). I'm glad we're not there any more.

In Ipswich (a suburb 25 miles out from the CBD) they are predicting the river to crest at 22 meters. That's 72 feet. The TV broadcaster stumbled when he gave that number; he clearly thought that had to be a mistake.

The house that was our 2nd choice (after this townhouse) is in a neighborhood currently being evacuated. It was at the bottom of a hill too. We fer shur would have been dealing with water!

I want to keep watching the news to keep up on what's happening, especially now that it's nighttime. But it's also making me anxious, which isn't going to help. Jeff and I have talked about precautions.

He's found our two (!) flashlights (both with working batteries, believe it or not!).

We've filled all the water bottles we have at home.

We're charging phones and laptops to make sure they've got a full charge in case the electric is cut off. I think we should expect to lose power for some part of tomorrow if not longer.

If we have to evacuate, he grabs the electronics. I'll do the clothing. We'll both grab non-perishable foods.

We have a high tide tomorrow afternoon and Thursday afternoon. Everyone says the critical day will be Thursday.

I'm working on remaining calm but I've never been in the middle of a natural disaster. I've been on the edges, like the tail end of hurricanes working up the coast to DC or the odd blizzard but nothing like this.

Damn, It's Wet Here

Tuesday, January 11, 4 pm

Most of you have heard that there is a lot of flooding in Queensland. The truth is, it's been raining more of less continuously since before Christmas. We'll get a day or two of sunshine but otherwise, rain. Our last day of sunshine was New Years Eve I think.

The international media was reporting flooding in "Brisbane" last week but, in fact, that flooding was anywhere from 300-700 miles from Brisbane. As a point of reference, Queensland is about as large as Alaska. So, some of those reports were the equivalent of saying there's flooding in DC when the flooding is actually in Cleveland.

However, in the last 2 days that's all turned around. The flooding has moved to Brisbane. Brisbane's last devastating flood was 1974. As of this afternoon, they've said this will be as bad as or worse then '74. There was a horrible flash flood last night about 80 miles west of here. The pictures are devasting and quite a few people were killed

If I'm understanding the reports on the radio, the weather bureau is expecting high tides of 10-30 feet above flood stage. PLUS there are 3 large dams upriver from Brisbane. They are currently at 150-180% of capacity and the government must release some of that water.

And the worse of it isn't expected for another 48 hours.

Just past high tide. These trees are always in a little water but you usually see lots of mud too.

On Friday we moved out of the downtown/CBD and into the New Farm neighborhood, about 2 miles from where we were. New Farm is surrounded on 3 sides by the river but it's hilly and the land rises steadily away from the river. We are quite a bit above the river and I don't honestly expect any river flooding here. We're just too far away.




View Larger Map

But flooding from rain? I haven't ruled that out. We're high enough up that it's very unlikely that we'll be affected directly but I won't be surprised by power outages, water disruptions, internet disruptions, etc. The new house appears to be pretty waterproof and the builders of this little pipestem put a LOT of thought into drainage. Given how the land lays, we should have huge puddles and standing water and we don't have any. I'm very impressed.

The view from our front door.

Nonetheless, I packed a "grab and go" bag this morning and it's sitting by the front door. Passports, meds, socks & underwear, a good book. You know, the essentials.

Jeff's office was closed today at about 10:30. There were fears of the lower levels of the building being flooded. The city has opened an evacuation center about 2 blocks away from his office. I don't think he'll be going to work tomorrow.

I walked down to the river earlier today and through the New Farm park. I was really glad I was wearing the water shoes my mother-in-law gave me a few years ago. The ground was completely saturated. Even on what looked like solid ground I found myself in water up to my ankles.

Yes, that's my foot. In the grass.

We haven't lost power or water but the internet -- challenged under the best of circumstances -- is really struggling. It's been up and down all day. I've been posting on Facebook whenever I can but access comes and goes. If you can't reach us electronically, don't panic. It's just the internet whimpering.

Yep, this Australian year is going to be quite the adventure.