Marge the rains are here

Most of you will know of the rain and storm event that has dumped large amounts of water and blustered and buffeted Central and South East Queensland with at times very damaging winds. Fortunately we were spared the tornadoes that have hit other areas of SEQ but we have had our share of rain. So far according to the BOM we have had 441mm since 9am on Friday the 25th. It's been very wet!

On Saturday and part of Sunday we were unable to get out due to the flooding. The Queensland department of Transport and Main Roads had a webpage of road closures. The information as of 8.00am Monday has us flooded in with no road out of the areas between Chuwar and Brookfield, although this information was not exactly accurate.

This bridge on Pullenvale Rd was flooded.

Map of flooded roads

Our house as shown with the blue cross is in the middle of the areas that were unable to get out due to road closures as shown by the red lines on Moggill road, the Moggill Ferry, Mt Crosby road and Kohlo road. By the time we got up and about Monday morning we were able to get out via Moggill Rd.

The extent of water inundation here

When we bought our house we were very cautious and selected a house that would not be flooded by storm water and river flows, the above photo shows our water inundation at its worse. This was due to a blocked ag drain pipe - a job to fix when the rain stops, aside form that we have been untouched, there is however quite a bit of debris to be cleaned up that has been blown in by high winds. We were lucky compared to so many others, some are still without power now!

One of the roads to the girls school was flooded by the Pullen Pullen Creek, school was cancelled Tuesday but open again Wednesday. The trip to school for Rosie was a long one due to a long detour caused by a fallen tree that was finally moved later Wednesday arvo. There is currently plenty of work for tree and shrub mulchers and removers.

Fallen tree Grandview Rd.

Poor Emily has a terrible case of gastro and has been unable to get to school, we are off to the Doctor today, four days of sickness and vomiting is too much, there is no way she will be better for school Friday.

We were without phone, internet and 3G services, these were gradually restored by very busy Telstra workers yesterday we got 3G and landline back and finally this morning we have interwebs access once again. You don't realise how much you rely on the web, for example we had only limited access to emergency mobile coverage when we needed to contact the school. We had no phone books and had no way of finding their number without the yellowpages website. Thankfully my Mum was able access their website to relay info for us via intermittent and unreliable sms access.

Dead Carpet Python

The rain caused quite a bit of activity from the local reptile population, a couple of turtles were run over on the roads escaping the wet and we saw a carpet python that we believe had drowned on the side of Pullenvale road. When Emily and I went for a run along the creek on Saturday morning (before the deluge) we saw what looked like a Saw Shelled Turtle Elseya latisternum, it was very different to the long necked turtles we are used to seeing and had a nasty looking mouth, it is also known as a Serrated Snapping Turtle.

On Tuesday a small Green Tree Snake Dendrelaphis punctulata tried to come inside to escape the wet, when I went to have a closer look at him he decided to escape my attention by climbing the gas bottles, thankfully they are non venomous and usually harmless to humans.

Green Tree Snake 

Last night we signed contracts for a swimming pool, Rogers Pools were the builder we chose. They commence by seeking planning approval immediately and earthworks commence as soon as planning approval is obtained. The contracted completion date is the first week of April, but hopes are high for an earlier completion. This will allow the girls to hammer the pool over the school holidays at the end of term one. We are pretty excited about the pool, however the amount of landscaping and work that I have to complete does not fill me with joy. I stupidly raised the idea of building some gabion pillars to  use as a basis to form a living wall to act as a privacy screen for our pool. Does anyone know how to build gabion pillars? If not I am sure I will be able to provide detailed instructions over the next few months!

There will be plenty of updates while the pool is being built, keep an eye out for the blog posts.

Plenty to do!

The beauty of living in a new City or town is that there are so many new activities to enjoy! Yesterday we headed into the Queensland Museum, then had another swim at Street's Beach. At the Museum there was a Dinosaur exhibition, and a science exhibit similar to Scienceworks in Melbourne.

Emily and Rosie with a Fossilised Stegosaurus plate. 

Emily and Rosie really enjoyed the Dinosaur stuff, some of the fossils where of particular interest,  Coprolite seemed to amuse the kids as you would expect! Quite a few of the science exhibits also struck a chord with the girls.

Rosie the T Res and Emily the Raptor - Hilarious stuff!

Whilst eating some lunch we witnessed something I feel the need to share. The coffee shop had a challenge to customers that involved balancing a coin on a lemon floating in a bowl. If you could place the coin on the lemon using only one hand and have it stay there for five seconds you would receive a free coffee, if the coin fell into the bowl it was gone. I happened to see one little unfossilised coprolite give it a go. His first attempt with a coin that was provided by his mother was unsuccessful. What happened next I could not believe! The kid stuck his hands in the bowl grabbed a coin and had another go, no luck so he did it again, five more times until he got the coin to stay on the lemon this time using both hands. Once finally successful he gained the attention of the barista and pointed out his success. The barista then as per the challenge offered a coffee to kid's mother who accepted it with just a little too much excitement, saying well done (insert prats name) what a good boy! It was just a little too much for me given she was watching the cheating little turd. The little prick then had the temerity to pocket the successful coin he had grabbed out of the bowl, Mum didn't bat an eyelid - way to set an example for your kids and all for a $3.50 coffee, horrid people!

All the girls then cooled off at Street's Beach, I would suggest to all and sundry that swimming at this venue on weekends should be avoided. The extra chlorine dosed into the pool to cope with the enormous number of weekend visitors was very noticeable.

We have had some more wildife visitors, including many Water dragons (Physignathus lesueurii), mainly along the creek, but they also frequent the odd swimming pool in the area. Emily and I walked the dog the other night and saw dozens of Black Flying Foxes (Pteropus alecto) I also disturbed one in our fruit trees out the back. The loudest of our neighbors are no doubt the Double drummer cicada (Thoppa Saccata), you do get used to the noise.

 Today we got busy in part of the front garden, there was a mismatch of plants and it badly needed some TLC, we visited a couple of nurseries and got a couple of pot plants for the front entrance and some succulents and grasses for the small garden to the right of the entrance.

Silver Plum Bromeliads

We removed some near dead Gardenias and Dianthus, that weren't particularly suited to the garden bed they were planted in. There were a couple of other tree Aeonium and Cordylines that we broke up and replanted and spent a hot afternoon planting Pedilathus, Kalanchoe and Euphorbias.

Front garden when completed

We are hoping for some cooler weather so that we can get right into the gardens.

Charlie has thus far found the hidden fence to be an impenetrable wall of pain! The receiver collar has an LED light that flashes to indicate if he has received a correction. Friday night he had been on the end of a correction after following the dog from next door, so when we headed to the Museum yesterday we left him out and drove around the block to see if he would escape. He did try to get out as the collar indicated but he had not crossed the boundary and was sitting on the front step wagging his tail upon our return.

Today we went to the nursery and again we left him out, this time he didn't try his luck and was again waiting on the front step when we returned, the same thing again this arvo when we did the groceries. The Hidden fence is a ripper and Charlie has pretty quickly learned he cannot escape sans being zapped beyond his current pain threshold. He has one final training session this week, not that I think he needs it.

Charlie Now Contained?

Today we had our Hidden Fence installed...

Peter cutting the drive for the loop wire.

The installer (Peter) started at 7.00am and by about 10.30am we were training Charlie with his new collar!

Those of you that know Curltriever Charles, would be well aware of his innate ability to escape, whether it be through a 140mm gap under my old front fence (see the photo of our old house and the front fence to see the gap), or over the side fence, or by chewing through chicken wire he always seemed to find a way out. 

Since we arrived we have been watching Charlie with a keen eye and any lapses were punished with his usual stealth. He has thrice disappeared on us, once to be kindly returned by our neighbours opposite, on another occasion he eventually returned of his own volition smelling of something unworldly - his ability to find something days dead to roll in is second to none!

The last successful escape effort came on Sunday when we headed next door for a BBQ lunch. We knew Charlie would not be able to stop barking on the chain so we locked him inside. Karren had to go back home very shortly after we had left and as she returned she saw Charlie climbing out the front window after he had skilfully removed the fly wire screen - without damaging it! He saw Karren then motored on and took off down the street to where he was sure I would be - along our walking track near the creek. When he heard me calling and realised I was not in fact walking the creek without him he came home post haste! We shut every window in the house and went back to the BBQ wondering if a little zap would work to keep him contained.

Given Sunday's turn of events I wasn't sure that relying on a small receiver collar and a signal loop wire would suffice! After lengthy and detailed discussions with the installer regarding the fence systems efficacy and Charlie's escape ability we decided to give it a go.

The installer went about his work this morning and after negotiating our garden irrigation, retaining walls and other unseen obstructions we were ready to flick the switch and get Charlie trained. The method included getting the collar fitted correctly, getting him aware of the flags, hearing the warning beeps as he enters the controlled zone and then feeling the correction as he gets further into the controlled area.

Flags indicate the start of the controlled area around the boundary

Initially he did not give a flying fig about the warning beep, nor the initial correction, in fact he did not even flinch, he just stood there unfazed! Peter decided it was time to increase the receiver from level two to three (of seven). His first correction on level three gave him quite a fright, no audible sign of discomfort but he certainly knew he had to get away from whatever had caused the zap. Three or four more introductions to the controlled area and associated zaps had him feeling a little scared and unhappy, it was now time to simply walk him around the safety zone of the yard for 10 minutes enforcing the area was his and zap free.

Look at my shiny red collar

Early in the afternoon we headed out for a second session, we did a similar thing, tried to get him up to the controlled area, with at first a beep then a correction, he did not like it at all! From then on he would not go any further into the controlled area than the warning beep, the third session was even better, he would not get close enough to feel a correction, the warning beep was more than enough. I now knew a couple of things, firstly the system works, secondly Charlie is a very smart dog, stubborn and single minded but very smart! 

After each session it was really important to play with Charlie in the safe zone to reinforce that it is good in the yard, just bad to go near the flags that indicate the controlled zone around the boundary. He is now playing fetch with the girls quite happily in the back yard seemingly not worried about the collar when there are no flags in sight.

There will be two or three more session each day for the next three days then we will let him outside while we remain inside to see what happens, if he passes that test he will be further tested one more time when the installer returns with his dogs to try and tease Charlie into crossing the controlled boundary. Finally after a month or so we will gradually remove the flags that indicate the boundary - our hidden fence system will then be complete.

For those of you that think zapping the dog is cruel, think about how much pain is associated with being run over!

It's HOT in Brisbane Too!

This week we have been watching the news from Ballarat and hoping that all our friends and family have been keeping safe from the heat and fires. It's really sad to see homes lost in Chepstowe and Snake Valley, the CFA and volunteers are as usual amazing. My thoughts were with Craig McInnes, a mate I used to work with who is Snake Valley CFA Captain, who has more than 30 years service with the Snake Valley CFA. Knowing Narra I am sure that every effort would have been made to save lives, homes and belongings.

The weather in Brisbane has been quite warm but not ridiculous, and a 35 degree day in Brisbane seems a lot more bearable than in Ballarat, maybe it's wishful thinking or maybe there is something that is making actually making a difference, not sure will let you know... that being said today was a shocker!

Karren has been busy with curtain makers getting quotes for new curtains and shutters, the prices of these things rival precious metals. Some of the quotes have me wondering exactly how much gold is used in the manufacture of said window furnishings! We have a couple of quotes to go, hopefully we can find a supplier who isn't aiming to source all of their retirement savings from this one job.

I had to clear the lower part of our back yard so that the hidden fence could be installed to stop our roaming hunter from making his jaunts off into the bush and adjoining houses looking for prey, of which there is ample sufficiency. Fences on the other hand are as rare as rocking horse poo around here. I started with the whipper snipper and after a couple of hours I had to give it a rest or face melting into the ground, I was soaked from head to toe with perspiration, I have had saunas where I have not perspired as much. I came back inside to escape the heat, we had to fire up the A/C to cool down a little. After running the A/C for four and a half hours the temp inside had dropped from 35 degrees C to a quite acceptable 29 degrees.

The block is now pretty much ready for the hidden fence to go in. A hidden fence uses a buried wire that sends a signal to a receiver collar worn by the dog, when mutley tries to cross the boundary he gets an audible signal to stop, if he proceeds further towards the boundary he gets a small electrical zap (I actually had the unit zap me to see how powerful it was, it was less than a static electricity shock). This is supposed to stop him leaving our block, given how stubborn he is, only time will tell if it is successful. The hidden fence installer is 100% confident, he has not had one failure! We will also use his remote control training collar to stop him trying to eat cane toads. Once he is trained with his collar and the hidden fence we will fit a dog door to the laundry so he can come and go as he pleases.

Not many photos of Charlie without his tongue out!

This morning Karren let Charlie out for his normal dawn ablutions, fortunately he was mid function when a rather large Kangaroo headed down the side of the house towards the creek. Startled but too busy to chase, the look on Charlie's face was priceless, he so wanted to finish what he had started so he could head off after the bemused Kangaroo.

I have applied for a couple of jobs, albeit without any success as of yet. I have had a couple of goes at getting work as a Postie, one as a courier driver and another with a driver for a document storage facility. It is common practice not to inform unsuccessful candidates, which I think is pretty poor given the vast majority of applications are done online! Surely there is a simple system that could email or text the poor buggers who keep getting passed over. I must admit I am finding it a little amusing with all the jobs advertising for truck drivers, everyone without exception is asking for applicants with a minimum of one or two years experience. If no one is prepared to give guys experience where will the drivers come from? Believe it or not drivers aren't born with two years experience! I might just apply to a few of these regardless of the need for experience, maybe I might find an employer who will give an old bloke down on his luck a job? Given the heat today I definitely won't be looking for any outdoor labouring type jobs.

Still Very Busy Getting Settled

We are all still very getting settled into the QLD scheme! There are just so many things to do, we are still trying to get the car registration changed from VIC to QLD, not a difficult process but time consuming. It is a bit of a learning curve trying to find a mechanic you can trust, one you can rely upon to do what is required and nothing more, especially when doing RWCs or road safety certificates as they are called up here.

We have been lucky, in fact spoilt for choice in Ballarat, we found Ballarat Toyota to be pretty good, Eclipse Motors are excellent as you would expect me to say and the work I had done at Reptile Gulch Motors was also very good, so the hunt is on to find a workshop we can trust. I tried the nearest Toyota Dealer and they were too busy, so next was to try the local Ford Dealer (Denmac Ford). They knocked off the two vehicles today and both passed without issue although the Mondeo is almost due for its second set of shoes after 74,000k, thankfully QLD have a fixed price RWC across the state so you know what you are up for. Now all I need to do is get to the nearest department of roads office and change the regos over, get a QLD licence for Karren and I then get the trailer rego'd and we should be legal transport wise. That only leaves the firearms and licensing...

While the cars were being checked over we went shopping for school uniforms for their new school, Pullenvale State School, as a result all we seem to be doing is paying out coin for stuff (see above as well) at the moment. The girls have been super keen to get uniforms sorted out and were rapt to get it all finished off today, new hats, shirts, collottes, dresses, shoes and school bags. The girls are pretty happy with there new garb, a very different look to Pleasant street but I think they look pretty cute.

The girls new school uniform

After shopping we still had heaps of time to waste so we headed into Streets Beach at South Bank (via Translink, the QLD equivalent of Metro) for a bit of a sticky and a swim. It is a great spot for kids to swim and have fun, Emily and Rosie thoroughly enjoyed themselves and given it was only about 28degC and nowhere near hot enough for me to get wet, I was impressed that they were in the water for an hour and a half without looking like wanting to get out! Unfortunately we had to get back to pick up the car so we headed off reluctantly after two hours of watery fun.

Streets Beach

More Streets Beach

Yep Streets Beach

We have had an appointment with a pool builder Rogers Pools to get started on our own pool. Up until today I wasn't sure it would be used enough but after seeing the girls at Streets Beach, I think the pool will get sufficient use to make it worthwhile.

There are so many options and things to consider when building a pool it is a little daunting, mineral or salt chlorination, concrete or fibreglass, cartridge or sand filter, lights or not - colour, what type of fence, what shape pool, What lining pebblecrete or gemtex, what cleaning system and so on, the list seems to be never ending. We will be getting a couple of quotes, Precision Pools are the other mob at this stage and hopefully we will get a pool builder who will do an exceptional job for us.

Nothing new to report on as far as wildlife in the area, in fact I am sure that the little critters are becoming wary of us - particularly Charlie, so apart from Wallabies and Wood ducks not much else is materialising. The frog that has made his home in the down pipe is a little annoying, his calling at night is starting to wear thin, we really need a decent storm with significant rain to wash the noisy little bugger out and it might fill the tank as well.