Snakes in a School

Where there's water, there's always frogs.

Where there's frogs, there's always snakes.

A Lesson in Geography

It's been an interesting day, one way and another.

I set out pretty early, with jobs in Millmerran and Goondiwindi. I'd done this trip heaps of times before. An hour down the Gore Highway to Millmerran - to do the first job there, which easily left enough time for one school visit during the afternoon in Goondiwindi if I didn't stuff about.

It had rained steadily all weekend, so I stayed tuned to local ABC radio, usually the most reliable source of road information as I drove south-west.

There were lots of reports of flooding on the Warrego, at Dalby and Warra, but this wouldn't be an issue. I was heading down the Gore, not the Warrego. The Gore didn't get a mention.

I noticed a lineup of semis at a service station east of Millmerran - something I'd not seen before on this road.

The reason for the lineup was soon revealed. The road was closed at the Cecil Plains turnoff. The news has been broken on the truckies' CB network, so they'd stopped where they could get a feed and a shower whilst they waited for the Condamine to go down. The bloke in the high-vis jacket at the barricade reckoned it needed three or four hours at least.

Millmerran wasn't going to happen.

The bloke in the high-vis suggested I backtrack through Pittsworth, across to Leyburn, and access Goondiwindi via Inglewood. I dragged the iPad out and had a look at a map. Three possible routes came up when I interrogated the maps, and the rivers weren't marked.

I phoned Millmerran and broke the bad news. They were philosophical. Quite a few kids and teachers were also floodbound.

Because the rivers weren't marked on the iPad map, I wasn't completely confident this alternative route would work, as I knew I had to cross the Condamine somewhere.

I've learned not to trust the Condamine. It royally stuffed my trip from Roma to St George when it was up at Surat a fortnight ago.

Sure enough, I came across another "road closed" barricade at the alternative Condamine crossing.

By now, I'd had enough of back tracking, and decided I wasn't going anywhere without being absolutely sure the road was open. With this in mind, I pulled up at the next school I came across (Ryeford) to make sure.

It's no use asking school principals about local roads. Generally they're people who have been transferred from elsewhere. The Teacher Aides are usually fonts of wisdom in these situations. They're locals.

So it was at Ryeford, where a helpful Aide sent me down the Pratten road, where the Condamine crossing was a high level bridge. This took me through Leyburn, where I asked at the school again, and where another Aide reassured me the road to Inglewood was open. She was right.

I got to see Inglewood again after a slight gap of 45 years. I started teaching here in 1968, but was transferred to Goondiwindi after three weeks because the school lost a teacher.

It hasn't changed much, although the school looks much larger.

Goondiwindi was reached at about the time forecast on my official itinerary, so the day wasn't wasted. I'll have to try to fit Millmerran in before term's end.

I'm getting more than a little browned off by the constant flooding.

As I said - an interesting day.

Now there's a bloody cyclone brewing up north.

Queensland - beautiful one day, submerged the next.....

Still Scamming

Regular readers (and those who commented) may remember this post.

The saga continues.

I've had three separate attempts at scamming since. Here's my update on the original post -  

Update - They're still at it.

Since this was posted, I've received the following texts -
From - leonme44@gmail.com - Hello seller Do you still have the listed AD(car) on drive.com.au for sale? get back to me.
From - pat.crs1102@gmail.com - Hello ,is your car advert still available for sale and what your firm selling price ? contact me
From - poliver46@gmail.com - I will like to know if your car is still available and to know the firm price, please get back to me
I replied to each saying I would only negotiate personally or by direct phone contact. There was no response of course.
Each of these is obviously a scam. Why would you text a seller when you have his phone number and could call? In addition, their use of English is clunky and characteristic of someone who is not fluent, meaning they're probably offshore.
I don't know who is thicker - these spivs who are dumb enough to think someone would fall for this, and those who actually do.
The sad story is, some must be taken in, otherwise the scammers wouldn't continue to try their ripoffs.
Scamdex is a useful website.

The Big Wet

Toowoomba's in the red bit.

The last time I saw a BOM radar scan like this one was in January 2010.

I hope we're not in for a repeat. It is moving very slowly, which means that the heavy concentrations of rain have time to fill local catchments. The ground is so sodden, after heavy rain about this time last month, so it won't take long.

My bride is spitting chips because she can't get the washing dry, and the laundry smells of wet dog.

I'm getting dirty looks from both dogs as if they think I'm responsible for the rain. I may be pack leader in their eyes, but I can't control everything.

Collecting my son from work and getting my daughter to orientation at USQ this evening could be interesting.

Room at the Inn

Below is an excerpt from today's parish newsletter.

It describes activity in our parish in support of refugees. It's been going on - fuss-free and largely unnoticed for more than a decade.

I'm posting it in the hope that what is reality in rural and regional Queensland will perhaps be considered in light of the fear and bigotry that too often passes for comment on this issue.

Remember - Toowoomba is a very conservative community.

For what it's worth, I've been a member of the Social Justice Committee for a long time. They're a great bunch of people.

Big Chooks

There are worse things than sitting in the sun at 7am at Cunnamulla.

It's a balmy twenty something degrees, there's a gentle easterly wafting, and the light is gentler than it will be later in the day.

We're off to St George today - "we" being two newly-graduated therapists traveling with me beginning their careers supporting kids with disabilities in schools out here. Three hundred kilometers of pretty boring ten foot bitumen has to be negotiated before we get there.

Traveling with them is refreshing. It's great to see the world I've grown familiar with through younger eyes. They notice a lot of stuff I take for granted, like the families of emus (Cunnamulla chooks) we encountered yesterday near Wyandra.

Not Robinson Crusoe

It's not uncommon on Bolt's blog, together with many of the more extreme rightwing sites loose on the interweb, to read that we are doing a Robinson Crusoe when it comes to Climate Change policy.

I've blogged on this before, but that was some time ago.

This site graphically dispels the myth, and provides up to date information.

H/T Chris.

Update - 

Somebody is Robinson Crusoe in this picture - (Nicked from an ALP website and digitally enhanced).