Have just returned from a fantastically awesome week up in Tamworth with friends for the country music festival. Was on quite a high from oodles of live music, however nine hours of driving west soon dropped my spirit.
And what an interesting predicament I have returned to. The hospital's been closed due to mold growth on all ceilings - patients have been shipped left right and centre. The road to Broken Hill is closed - it is now a fourteen hour round trip to get there - this usually takes only two hours. Which has all sorts of unusual consequences - the town's banking facilities (atm, westpac and the post office) have almost run out of money. The mail out is being sent to Sydney (12hours) for sorting and sending back, and the mail in is virtually non-existent. And we all get our fresh fruit and veg from Broken Hill, so if this keeps up we'll be living off cans. Fresh bread is a thing of the past.
We have spent some lovely shifts sitting on the verandah watching the darling river rise day by day and meander on past. The locals are conspiring against each other to find the best yabbying spots and the carp are visible from our prime position. Fortunately (gratefully) the airstrip is unaffected so the RFDS can still make it in. Unfortunately we currently have a body in the morgue, so the longer the road is closed, the longer it takes for undertakers/ family members etc to reach us.
In their wisdom the council has dug a big channel to drain the water off the road, so we're hoping it'll be open very soon, though there are rumours the water has just diverted around and is pouring onto sections closer to the Hill. Here's hoping the skies remain clear for the foreseen future (I need to be able to cross the Talywalka to get home). They say there's enough water coming down river from QLD to keep the river high until April.
I finish up here soon and new tales will be coming from remote Western Australia. A new adventure awaits!
[ Last edited 26/01/2011 02:41am ]
