So now we've been here in Brisbane for nearly 3 months (wow, already?) and in Torbreck for 2 months. We've unpacked and set-up the essentials, yet feel we've barely scratched the surface, especially when we dare to look at the two whole rooms stacked wall to wall to ceiling with unopened boxes and stuff. But we'll get there eventually, I guess. Or perhaps a lot of it will stay boxed and sealed until we find a more permanent (non-rented) home before the end of the year...?
January was an interesting month to say the least. After weeks of nasty inclement weather, Queensland seemed to find itself in a near perpetual state of disaster. First there was the massive statewide flooding, then Brisbane itself was incredulously smashed by its own angry river, then finally a couple of tropical cyclones to top it all off.
Nasty January storms...
And weeks of unrelenting wet weather.
Our return to Brisbane seemed to coincide with some pretty bizarre extreme weather events, the Brisbane floods obviously hitting closest to home.
From our luckily safe and elevated position up in Torbreck, we watched the Brisbane River swell and swell, and witnessed all manner of things being carried downstream at alarming speeds: dozens of pontoons, some with boats still attached (!), rainwater tanks, trees, and plenty of undistinguishable flotsam & jetsam. We watched whole CityCat ferry terminals being gradually broken up and washed away, and we watched as the campus of the University of Queensland was inundated and slowly turned into one massive brown lake over the course of several days.
On the far right of this photo of the Green Bridge is a CityCat dock that slowly disintegrated over several days...
(click on the pic for a zoomed in view)
...carried off downstream bit by bit until all that remained was one solitary stump.
On the left, you can make out the white pointed roof of the St Lucia CityCat ferry pontoon, and the two white sticks of the terminal's roof behind it. The damage sustained by the CityCat ferry system was massive, especially these terminals further up the river.
On the right, you can make out a pontoon floating downriver.
West End was one of the most severely affected suburbs. Between where we're standing and the line of trees, there's a road and a park completely deluged by the swollen Brisbane River.
Nearby, many of the roads through South Brisbane and West End were cut-off and the Southbank Parklands were completely closed because of flooding and power outage. Even the Gallery of Modern Art found itself flooded :(
A lot of businesses in the area sandbagged their doors and windows, but to little effect if the floodwater did actually reach their shops - they were still flooded and coated in mud. And so many homes and apartment blocks went underwater. It was all very surreal.
Melbourne St, West End - looking back towards the city
Melbourne St, looking back towards West End
From Cordelia St, looking back towards the Convention Centre, South Brisbane
Merivale St, near the Southbank TAFE campus
Everything was disrupted, even the simple act of going grocery shopping at the supermarket - as we found out when we went to the Coles at West End one morning to buy food in case our electricity was cut-off. We were there when the supermarket opened at 8am (along with a big crowd of people doing the same thing) only to find that the fresh produce section had literally been stripped bare the day before, as had most of the deli & meat sections, as well as the shelves for milk, bottled water, tinned food, candles, and toilet paper!!! Again, it was very surreal.
The empty produce section at West End Coles
No bottled water left at all!
No fresh vegetables either...
Or fresh fruit.
It was a weird feeling being in Brisbane at the time - the definite smell of floodwater in the air, the sound of constantly hovering helicopters, and the 24-hr news coverage that had to be turned off after a while to save one's sanity. And knowing that so much had been destroyed and lost, it was hard to fathom the magnitude of the costs and effort now needed for cleaning up and rebuilding entire suburbs, towns, and cities across the country.
DD had spent half the week helping his sister's family sandbag, and later evacuate, their riverfront home in Yeronga (which in the end was fortunately spared inundation by mere inches), so he had witnessed firsthand the ugly and shocking reality of the impact and aftermath of the flooding. He came home one evening with some pictures taken during the day's clean-up efforts, and I could scarcely believe the devastation reeked on the suburb - it looked like a warzone.
Still, it's amazing that in the face of such tragedy, so much human kindness and comraderie and compassion is brought to the fore, as witnessed by the hoards of volunteers who came from everywhere and selflessly offered their help in every way they could. The sense of community was remarkable.
And some could even find a glimmer of humour in it all, such as this sign at the Manly Farmers Market that I spotted the following weekend:
And now we're already into March, most things have returned to their normal state of affairs, and life just continues marching on, doesn't it?
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So for us, December was all about moving interstate and finding a new home. January was all about the crazy unpredictability of extreme weather patterns (while trying to settle into the new home). And February, well, February was all about preparing the aforementioned home for that newest of new things...
So what indeed will March bring?...
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To be continued in Part 3
