Drought, stock-feeding over christmas and New Year and cattle on the road, then floods. Who would have thought January could bring so much changeable weather. Another flood has arrived as I write this and although at this stage it does not appear to be as large as Christmas 2011-12, every flood event brings with it a unique set of circumstances. Like many we were certainly not expecting a big rain event and so we watched and listened nervously when heavy rains from Oswald decimated parts of the eastern seaboard and the stories of cattle washed many miles downstream in central Queensland floated across the airwaves. 

First came the winds a fortnight ago which toppled trees over fences, blew down sheds on neighbouring properties and ripped through the back of our woolshed. Then the rain began. While we received a handy fall which varied between 60 and 70 mm over various parts of the property, it was by no means drought-breaking and we held our breaths while looking for that elusive smudge of cloud in the west. It didn’t come.

To the east of us however the heavens opened up filling the river systems. Currently 7,000 acres of Murki is underwater. The Whalan Creek which sits at the back of the homestead rose quickly yesterday and spread westward. With our sheep close-by (crutching starts tomorrow) and most of the cattle safe we are fortunate in that this flood will be quite beneficial for us. I say that quietly cognisant of the damage and stock losses which have affected many others. We may have some infrastructure damage and erosion however that is hardly important when compared with the burdens suffered by others.

Twenty minutes drive away where I live we await flood water down the Boomi River which flows from the MacIntyre River out of Goondiwindi. Behind us the Weir River peaked last night and the reinforced levee bank which was hurriedly built up by a metre held by a good foot. There is an awful amount of water swirling over the border and we were fortunate that the Boomi and Weir systems did not peak at the same time.

It will certainly be interesting to see how much water we get at our place over the next couple of days.