Hey everyone.

As I'm sure you're all aware Queensland has been really copping a flogging with all the rain, bad weather and flooding.
I hope that this hasn't affected too many of the dubbers on here.

I currently cannot attend work as it is a lovely little island in the middle of a swamp on the outskirts of Rockhampton.

Here's a few pictures of work.


The main slab area where all the sheds are built is raised up around 2-3m above the level of the surrounding land. As I said above, work is built of a swamp

You can see stacks of off highway truck tyres in the middle of the picture. These are 3-4 high. There were a few single ones left sitting around, I have been told that they have floated , not sure how far, but I certainly wouldn't want a 3m tall tyre floating through my front yard





Another shot where you can see some slightly smaller wheels have floated away, two have crossed the street and are near the house at the bottom right





The water tanks in the foreground give an indication of the depth, only the tops are just poking out of the water.





The water is only a few inches deep in the workshop, with some sections being over a foot deep.





Our brand new parts warehouse (you can tell by the roof)
is one of the only places that's high and dry, just.





Because work is literally the only high spot for kilometres around I've been told that the sheds are full of hundreds of snakes, in the last flood that was this height in 1991 Steve Irwin came up to the workshop and caught most of them. Perhaps Bindi is due for a visit in a few weeks time?











And now here's some pictures of Rocky.














This is Depot Hill, the area of Rocky that has been hit the worst.





Callaghan Park Horse Racecourse.





The river.











Here's a shot of the barrage, this image to me really show the sheer quantity of water that is flowing down the river. I've been trying to find a comparison shot with the river at normal height but no luck so far.
Normally the water flows through the barrage and drops a few metres into the river. At the moment it's flowing pretty well straight through with no change in level.






Smiley

You know what they say about water. If it's brown drink it down. If it's black , send it back. I consider my self lucky. I am surrounded by water and have been for quite some time. Though i am living on an island. I can still get to work by ferry. My boy is in Townsville and says some foods running out in the shops. I have a old mate in Rocky but is lucky his hostel is high and dry. Pictures say a lot words cannot!

Bloody hell mate you are sure coping it rough up there, hope all comes out ok.

So Smiley, does this mean you have more buggy building time?....... :P

In the second picture, is that a real life size TONKA truck that is under water with just the top of the tip tray poking out of the water?

Wow its hard to believe thats rocky,i lived in gracemere for 2 years and worked in rocky,my sister inlaw still lives there and works for highway 1 truck centre,hope all works out better soon thanks for sharing the pictures,have you got any of gracemere i would be keen to see it looks???
cheers shane.

I didn't think that much rain could pour down in one hit. I know the damage and losses wil be great, but hopefully over time (not too long) that the clean up gets underway and normality (whatever that is) sets back in.

I'm sure all here and everywhere else send their best wishes to all of you guys (even though you're Queenslanders) and hope for a speedy recovery.

It's all not surprising realy - I haven't seen a drought yet that didn't end in rain.

Amen to that 65, hope it comes good eventually Smiley.

By the way, ouch that musta hurt when the front wheel came off!

Cheers, Marc.

I looked up Utube and a search for

"797 tire changing" shows just how big these tyres are.

Thank Smiley for the photos. Truly amazing indeed.

Bugger about the snakes. I'd be happy to catch them for you but I now live in Lake Macquarie (NSW).

My Mum and Step Dad live at Alton Downs NW of Rocky near the Airport and have been stranded for about three weeks now. They can access Gracemere but its an 80k drive. The first couple of times they drove it they got lost because its all back roads and through private properties.

My Dad is a Beef Farmer at Emerald, 3 1/2 hours drive west where I grew up. He has also been cut off for three weeks but he has choppers to get him around they use for mustering. He enjoyed the peace and quiet of floods. Gives him time to read instead of dealing with day to day hassles.



The Fairbairn on the Nogoa River has been running for three months now and isn't going to let up anytime soon. They just got another 14 inches above the Dam and it now running harder than ever before. This then flows into the Dawson and then the Fitzroy which means a drop than flows over the Dam today will pass through that barrage in the last week of February.

I call my parents, and brother, also in Rocky and they have some fairly interesting stories. I remember as a kid growing up in Emerald my Dad used to make me swim our round trees in the swollen river so he could lay fish nets. Nothing else to do but catch fish to eat. I don't think we ate red meat for about 7 months. He bought and filled 4 freezers. Ah, memories.

B.