Life In Australia

I though I’d return to the drought theme. I haven’t written about it for a while, but it hasn’t gone away – in fact it’s now the worst drought Brisbane has seen in one hundred years.

Normally we would get storms in the afternoon or night in the summer but there were very few this year. There seems to be no relief in prospect. Winter is the dry season so everyone is hoping for a wet spring and summer.

The water level in the dams fell below 30 percent a couple of weeks ago, bringing with it a total ban on using hoses outdoors. I see today that the water levels are at 29.5 percent. We’re still allowed to water our gardens but it needs to be done with a handheld watering can.

One of our neighbours is having a tank installed to collect rainwater from their roof. It’s something we’re probably going to get done too.

The Bureau of Meteorology says last year was the hottest ever in Australia. I believe them.

The heat we can cope with (almost). This is Australia. We came for the blue skies and the heat. What’s harder to cope with is the lack of rainfall. Water is life and without it we’re finished.

Queensland had 25 percent less rain than usual last year. The dams that store water for Brisbane are two thirds empty, hence the water restrictions I’ve been writing about in the last few days. More rain would be really welcome.

Most other states also got less rain than usual, but not as bad as Queensland.

Long term, I’m sure Queensland will be okay. It’s subtropical and usually gets plenty of summer rain. Unless there’s a truly tremendous shift in climate, that shouldn’t change.

In the worst drought in Brisbane’s history, it looks like my fellow citizens have been saving enough water to delay the start of level 3 water restrictions. We’ve now been spared until mid-March at the earliest.

Normally we get rain on summer afternoons - often dramatic lightning storms - but we’re not getting them this year. The water levels in the dams that feed Brisbane are falling.

Brisbane City Council had told us the city needed to cut water consumption to 920 megalitres a day. We’ve done better than that, cutting to 860 megalitres a day. We’ve been rewarded by the delay of increasingly severe water restrictions. I just hope we get a bit of decent rain between now and March.

According to today’s Courier Mail, fines for using a sprinkler on your garden have doubled from $75 to $150. If you’re caught using a sprinkler a second time the fine increases to $225. Third time you’re hit with a $300 fine.

Apparently 6 people in Brisbane have been fined in the last 10 days or so.

It’s not going to affect me. I’ve always used a hand-held hose.

Hand-held hoses are going to be banned in a month’s time if we don’t get more rain. Getting rain in summer shouldn’t be a problem in Brisbane - it’s our wet season, but in these days of global warming …..?

I thought I’d write about the weather in my first ever blog entry, after all it seems to be one of the main reasons most of us Poms up anchor and move here. Today in Brisbane, it’s hot. Yesterday in Brisbane it was hot. Tomorrow in Brisbane it will be hot. I need to add humid to each of these descriptions too.

For anyone who has lived in Britain all their lives with the odd trip to the Costa Del Sol thrown in, you’ll find summertime in Brisbane a new experience. When my parents arrived to visit us and they got off the flight in the early morning, one of their first questions was “when does the day start to cool off”. They were a bit disorientated about the time - poor things. They thought it was early evening. I felt almost cruel telling them that the sun had just risen and it was only going to get hotter…… and hotter…… and stickier as the day went on. So if you’re a pom thinking about joining the stampede to the subtropics, the first thing you need to think about is that old saying - “if you can’t stand the heat……” Because for three or four months every year here, the heat and humidity feels like it will melt you.

Blimey, I’m beginning to sound like the proverbial whinging pom. Quickly cuts to a fresh train of thought. The good news is that the heat can’t be that bad - we’re still here after a couple of years - and loving it.