It's been a busy weekend but its been a great one!  At our exchange teacher weekend in Sydney, I met an English girl that really cracked me up!  She was Rachel from Albury and her husband, Steve, started out on the city tour with Howard and the boys but then broke away to tour the city sports facilities on his own.  Anyway, after our boat cruise on the Saturday, we were sure that we would try to get together sometime this year.   This weekend turned out to be our first get together...let me start at the beginning!

On most Friday afternoons, you can find several of the teachers at the Exies Sports Club across the road from the school.  We stop for a visit and a bag of chips and maybe something to wash it all down with.  This past Friday night, Cody and Kent started their AFL (Australian Football League) season with practice at the Exies Oval and a sausage sizzle.  Kent went home with Dean for a sleep over, Cody brought his friend, Zac, home for a sleep over and Rachel and Steve met us at the Exies for supper and drinks.

Saturday found us dropping off Zac and Cody (hey....isn't that a TV show back home??) and picking up Kent.  We toured the town of Yenda and could see the devestation that the town has faced on every street we drove.  The cool, grey day matched our energy level so we headed back to the farm after a quick stop for lunch and groceries. 

After naps and a phone call home, we prepared for even more company for supper.  Our good friends, Cass and Cook, brought Cody home with them and we also welcomed more new friends, Kerry, Ian, Zena and Luke Draper.  They have also just arrived in Griffith, from England, this past January.  Ian had accepted a job at a chook farm, their sea can has just arrived after 12 weeks (darn pirates!!) and they are having a new house built.  Zena is in year 4 and Luke is in Khye's kindy class. 

We had a great evening of visiting, playing cricket, eating and drinking.  Khye's new dart gun proved very entertaining for Luke and the rest of us!  The professional AFL season began on Saturday night too so the the males were very involved with that!  One of the best parts of the evening for me was realizing that 14 people had come from 3 countries to gather around these 2 tables for a meal and it was so enjoyable and casual and fun.  A sense of humour really does bring people together too!

Sunday was a casual day of eating, relaxing, playing sports, doing laundry and baking.  I even snuck into school for a couple of hours to get organized.  Rachel and Steve spent the weekend with us too.

On Monday, Rachel came to work with me.  She observed and helped in my class and then in Khye's Kindy class.  Steve worked at the library and then joined us at the school where he spent the last hour in Cody's Year 6 art class!  We all came home again to a crockpot supper, sports and quad rides.  Colt took Rachel and Steve out to see the horses on the quad.  Steve helped Khye with his math and letter sounds homework too.  The boys are really loving all the extra adult attention this weekend.
 
Early this morning, Rachel and Steve headed out to Cootamundra for a school soccer tournament.  Their Albury team was meeting them there and they were going to meet up with Cook who was taking our GEPS team as well. 

Tonight we have all been in a bit of withdrawl.  There were no extra hands to help with dishes, laundry or homework and there are no foreign accents anywhere!  It was a great weekend with our new friends and we really loved getting to know them.  We hope to see Rachel and Steve again soon when our adventuring leads us that way.  Cheerio for now!

JJ 

Welcome back, everyone!  It's been a busy couple of weeks around here since the flooding has subsided and life is full on as usual.  We are back to work and routines. 

March 16-18 was our first weekend without sport.  Don't worry....we didn't relax, we enjoyed a night out with our teacher friends for St. Patrick's Day, the boys attended 3 birthday parties and we hosted Khye's party at the Griffith swimming pool.  His party was a great time.  Khye invited all the boys from his classand almost all of them came.  We brought food and balloons to the pool and let the boys enjoy themselves for 2 hours.  The parents were able to sit and visit for most of the time.  It was nice to meet more people in our school community.

The rest of our 2nd week back was routine as usual.  School was a bit busy and you can check out a few new pictures there in the next week.  We had parent/teacher interviews, Cody's 1st (and last) school cricket game, and my Year 1 class presentation.  

   

Thanks to Auntie Linda and Uncle Gregg who sent a yummy Easter package this week.  It was Cody's turn to open a package and I can tell you they were all excited!  The chocolate and candies were gone by the end of the evening!  We hope you have a great Easter too.  Looks like the bunny will have to find us in a hotel in Tasmania!  Hope he can swim to all these islands we've been living on! 

It's been another busy weekend.  We'll write another blog update soon. 

You know the tension was high because everyone was wondering if we would make it out of here in time to play the last cricket games of the season and make it to all their friends' birthday parties!  Late Friday night, a plan was created and we hoped for the best. 

Saturday morning saw the boys up early in their cricket whites and saw me rushing aroud packing suitcases just in case....  We left the house just after 8am and met our friend/Cody's cricket coach just north of the road closed signs. 

On the way home, we stopped to talk to the man supervising the road closed signs.  He told us that the Wigelli road was almost dry and that we could handle it in the van.  So, after a couple of hours at home, we loaded up again and made our way back to Griffith for one of the birthday parties and the evening cricket games.  We used the highway all the way to Griffith and only had to drive through water at the creek at Wigelli.  It was much safer than Brian's idea of 4x4ing in our mini van! 

Today (Sunday) saw Howard taking the 4 boys back into Griffith for another birthday party/swim.  (Khye's party was cancelled for today and will be rescheduled soon.)  The highway is now completely dry at Wigelli and the grader was working on clearing off the dirt that is blocking the road.  We expect it to be open tomorrow morning!

I've added more pictures under More/Flood and More/Cricket.

That's all for now.  Looks like it's back to work/routine/normal tomorrow!  Talk soon.
JJ

I can't believe it but our baby is 5 years old today!!  (That also means that Robert Stachniak is 65 years old today!!  Happy birthday, RS!)  

We had a quiet day as it was flood day #4 and we had no where to go!  Our day included playing, resting, eating and more playing!  At lunch, we had cake and presents.  (Howard and Cody got both on Wednesday when they drove through the water into Griffith and made it out again 1 hour before the last road was closed!!)  At supper, 3 of our friends made a very brave, crazy, long journey out to the farm for supper.  They scurried back before dark.  

Thank you to everyone who called, texted, e-mailed and sent cards/parcels.  It was a very special day for Khye.  The birthday party with his friends has been cancelled due to the fact that we can't get there (!!)  but will be rescheduled as soon as possible!  

We have just finished our 4th flood day at home.  Nope, not a snow day but a flood day.  We are still boxed in here at the farm.  All of the roads around us remain closed.

Still dry, safe and happy here at Boongarra Farm.  Here's today's (Wednesday) update on the surrounding flood situation.

Our friend, Cass, called last night and we were expecting directions on an alternate way to get into Griffith.  Instead, she informed us that all roads from Leeton to Griffith have been closed....yep, we're right in the middle.  The village of Wigelli was the area that we were worried about on Monday afternoon.  The reports this morning were that the water is higher than the railroad line.  Seems like good enough reason to close the highway!  (I'm also worried for a student and family in my class who live and farm right at Wigelli.  On Monday morning, he told me that some of his sheep were stranded on a bank.  There has been A LOT of water since then!)   

Griffith  is now unaccessible from the east and south.  And so...another unexpected stay home day!  I am happy and relieved to spend another quiet day at home but am feeling bad that we aren't doing something to help.  Howard is even worse.....he alternates between playing with the boys, mentioning that he could be helping fill sand bags, and going for drives around our area. 

I don't know how unaccessible or closed the roads really are because there are still occasional semi fuel tankers passing by the farm as well as other vehicles.  ***Howard just called.  He and Cody are off on another drive (he really is anxious/bored/edgey) and they have made it into Griffith on the back roads that Cass told him about last night.  He said they drove through some "pretty good water".  I hope they get themselves home "pretty darn fast" because the water is travelling north to south and there's no telling how fast that might be!*** 

The city of Wagga (2 hours away) did not flood last night as expected and the water peaked at 10.56 m.  A huge sigh of relief there.  North Wagga was completely submerged a couple of days earlier. 

Locally, Beelgangra and Yoogali (AGAIN) and parts of Griffith have been evacuated.  (Jim is staying at Fiona's.)  Wade High is unofficially closed.  Some teachers on our staff are staying with friends and family in Griffith, other teachers are in evacation centers.  Some teachers are hosting friends in their homes. As far as I know, our school is running the best that they can.  I am told that the line ups at the petrol stations yesterday were down the block and the grocery stores are empty....no milk, bread, fruit or veggies anywhere!  (Except at the Jackson farm where they drink 4-6 litres a day and the husband stocked up with 18L!) 

The littlest Jackson is turning 5 on Friday.  It's a waiting game to see if we'll get to town by then.  Currently, we have no sugar and no cake mixes so will have to get creative to make a birthday cake (then again...who knows what Howard will do in town!) .  Also...no presents yet...hmm.  Don't tell Khye but there is also no mail (birthday parcels) and his party on Sunday is highly questionable at this point.  But then.....let's put that all in perspective.  We are happy, safe, dry and are in no danger. 
 
We'll update more latere tonight when Cody and Howard bring their news and observations.
***Update:  4:45 pm.  Howard and Cody are home.  They travelled south of the farm, west on Wilga road and north on Kidman Way.  They expect it will be closed very soon.  They made it home safely and brought with them cake mixes and birthday presents! (and toilet paper?!?)!  Yah...party on!***

Love, JJ




 
 

Thought I better send an update quickly because I know lots of you are wondering what's happening over here.  We're glued to the TV and radio to get all the latest details and will pass a few of them on to you right now.  It won't mean much to most of you but this is mostly for Vince, Mary and the girls.  

The rain has stayed away since Sunday morning and the farm continues to be dry.  The temperature is mid 20s and sunny....a super lovely Canadian summer day!  Yesterday (Monday), we headed out to work as usual.  The road by the T intersection remained under water although it was down considerably from Sunday morning.  The new surprise was the Wigelli turn.  (This is where we cross the train tracks for the 2nd time.)  The water was completely over the road but we were able to see the lines.  As we came around the 2nd curve, we could see that the water in the creek was at capacity!  Also, the driveway to the Wallace-Chapman farm was non-existent.  

At work, all of the staff made it in except one.  We also had one extra teacher because her school was flooded but they were to report for work at the nearest dry school....are you kidding?!?  They couldn't even have a day off?!?!  She worked in the Kindergarten all day.  

There were stories all day about the Wigelli creek spilling its' banks so the Jacksons were a little nervous about getting home.  I had release (a prep) at 2:00pm so Howard met us at the school and we left right away.  The Wigelli creek had not spilled over at the bridge yet but the water covering the road further down (on the east end of the curves) was twice as deep and twice as long as it had been at 9:00 am.  I followed Howard through and Cody snapped pictures for me.  The water was up to the seal of our doors.  

This morning we awoke at 6:00 am and listened to the radio for road and school closures just like we do in Canada!  There were no busses running from here to Leeton, Murrami school is closed (they have one??), and Yenda and Barellan have been evacuated.  (Yesteday there was talk of parts of Leeton being evacuated but I'm not 100% on that.) Howard got up and tried to drive to Griffith but turned around at the Wigelli turn.

Vince & Mary...we have not heard from Peter, Paul or Cathy and families.  We tried Paul's cell but I'm sure they are super busy on their farms or helping their neighbours.  You might want to contact them.  Marg has checked in with us several times. 
**Paul just called....their houses are all ok.  Paul is helping the neighbour sandbag his house.  *** 


Two hours down the road at Wagga, the river is to reach it's peak today at 10.9 meters.  Much of the city has been evacuated.  One of the Albertan teachers, Robyn and boyfriend Scott (the facilitator of happiness) are working in Wagga.  We haven't heard any news from them yet.  

I just got a text that we can get into Griffith on the Wilga Road so we'll have to figure that out tonight.  Cody's school cricket competition is cancelled again for tomorrow....people have more important things to worry about!

If anything else exciting happens, I will let you know.  Vince and Mary, we'll send you yesterdays' newspapers.

Talk soon.  JJ

I talked to Mom yesterday morning and I told her cricket was cancelled because it was pouring rain.  Wagga Wagga (a city 2 hours away) was going to flood by Thursday but we were in no danger.....Oops!  Looks like I under estimated the power of Mother Nature!  Look at our road 24 hours later!

It has been a very wet week.  Between Sunday, February 26 and Saturday, March 3, it has rained 28 cm or over 11 inches here at the farm.  Yesterday (Saturday) alone was 8.5cm or 3.5 inches!  The kids were crazy at school because they had to stay indoors for much of the week and when they were allowed out, they came back in with soaking shoes and clothes!  The flooding started on the highways yesterday afternoon and, when I drove home from Griffith at 10pm last night, it was completely covering the highway in places.  

This morning, Howard took me back into work (and later picked me up) and I snapped pictures along the way.  Check them out under More/Flood.  The section of the highway that was flooded last night was almost bare today but the highway flooded again just around the corner.  Also, Yoogali, the village directly beside Griffith, was evacuated earlier today.  We saw kids playing with boogie boards on their front lawn and my teacher friend has pictures on Facebook of kids kayaking down her street.  We may not see her for a day or two!

As for Boongarra Farm, it was soggy last night.  When we arrived home, there was a lake in part of the circular driveway and at the entrance of the car port.  It was dark and pouring rain so my pictures didn't turn out.  This morning when I went to get pictures....there wasn't a puddle to be seen!!  Amazing!  Vince says that's what happens when you build on sand!  Whew!  The only water damage to the house is wet carpet long the north facing wall in the music room.  That should dry out quickly.  There has been no rain today and the forecast is for sun for the week. 

While we are very relieved to have missed the eye of this storm, we are still thinking of our Alberta friends in Wagga, Albury and all around NSW.  The floods are to hit their peak of 10m in Wagga on Tuesday.  Stay dry and safe everyone....You are always welcome to join us at the farm if you can get here!