Well I'm back

and in Victoria, where the weather has been unexpected to say the least.

It has been devastating to see the footage of the floods up north, and to see them slowly work their way down the eastern side of Australia. I just can't even begin to imagine what some of those people are going through. I have been in several natural disasters. A major flood. I was in Mackay three years ago when we had some 630mm of rain in 10 hours, and the entire city flooded. I also felt a fair brunt of Cyclone Ului. However I have never seen or experienced anything the magnitude of that which has occurred in Toowoomba, Brisbane and other towns and cities. Devastating doesn't even begin to describe it. And much as I am glad that I am not located in those cities, as most people who aren't would be, my heart bleeds for those who are. To see everything you own washed away is crushing. To see loved ones washed away defies all definition. How do you recover from something like that? The range of emotions experienced by those who were a part of this monumentally historic natural disaster is staggering. I have no words.

Victoria has experienced some flooding also, as have other states. And this on the driest inhabited continent on earth. And what makes it even more difficult to comprehend is the fact that in many areas residents were still on water restrictions, and if those restrictions had not been in place the reservoirs would not have been as full and the flooding may not have been as severe. But that is all speculation. Should have would have could have. And nothing anyone says now will change what has occurred. But the spirit Australians have shown in coming to the aid of their fellow Aussie has, once again, warmed my heart, as it did after other natural disasters, and those that were caused at the hands of idiots with matches. You can quell the spirit but it will never die. It will experience pain but it will rise like a phoenix from the ashes, or the equivalent in terms of water, and we will all go on. As life does. The scars will remain but we keep on going because that's just what we do.

The last 10 days have had much happen in my life and that of my children, but those memories will remain to be told another day. Today, as over the last week or thereabouts, thoughts remain steadfastly with those affected by the floods, whether directly or indirectly. And my thoughts are with them all.