Big Wet just gets wetter and wetter...

I loaned my glider to a fellow club member who is taking it to a competition, we derigged it in the pouring rain on Saturday.

Falls of up to 160mm closed local roads and highways on Sunday, sparking landslides, power outages and forcing emergency services to issue numerous safety warnings.

As Emerald remained cut off in central Queensland, parts of the Gold and Sunshine coasts and Brisbane copped drenchings of their own.

In Brisbane, the weekend downpour brought recorded rainfall from December 1 to 115mm - only 18mm short of the monthly average of 133mm - six days into the month.

But it is in central Queensland where the big wet is having its biggest impact, closing roads, isolating towns, sparking evacuations, ruining crops and stranding long-haul truck drivers.

Roadtrains which have been taking refuge in Emerald could be stuck there for weeks as council engineers wait for the water to recede so they can inspect damage to roads and bridges.

The Big Wet continues

Its summer here but La Nina means we're getting a lot of rain...

THE Big Wet continues to bring traffic chaos to the southeast with flooding and landslips shutting more roads.

The Gold Coast Springbrook Road at Springbrook has been closed between Pine Creek Road and Austinville Road due to a landslip, while heavy downpours have forced vehicles off the road on the Gold Coast.

Police have warned of travel delays on the southeast's roads and advised motorists and heavy vehicles to avoid the M1 near Mudgeeraba due to the heavy rain. The area has been inundated with 135mm overnight.

The Bureau of Meteorology says Brisbane, Ipswich, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast may all be hit by a storm today.

Brisbane residents woke up to a wet Sunday with heavy falls reported around the city.

Bayside suburbs around Manly, where 66mm fell in 24 hours, are amongst the soggiest.

Gliding Club Day 27 November 2010

Below is the write up from my Gliding Club's blog. I flew in my glider - WUN.

Club Day

An early morning briefing by Ross Hall and Mike Ridge, then great cross country gliding, a sausage sizzle by Keiren and Michelle, and a de-briefing to end the day and everyone went home very happy, even the instructors.

Four more pilots had discovered the excitement of going cross country.

The task was set by Mike Ridge and we all headed off about 1130 into a sky full of low but numerous cumulus.

First objective was, find a good thermal and take it to the top then head off in the task direction to the first turn point, the square dam outside Beaudesert. Once over the hills and into the Beaudesert valley there are plenty of long flat fields to think about while searching for a thermal.

David in WUN and John and Ken in NTT had raced ahead and were well onto the next stage. Ross and Denis in GUE and Richard in WVK flying together made it easily to the square dam but then struggled for a while until discovering lift from the moist air directly over the dam. Adam and Steve in GKX and Mike and Kieren in BGE had not yet managed to get out of the Boonah area.

The next turn point was Rathdowney, up the Beaudesert valley with its long flat paddocks and always in glide of Kooralbyn strip. This is a comfortable leg of the task.

WUN and NTT well ahead, GUE found a big thermal over the hills and was quickly over Rathdowney, WVK could not get anywhere so headed for the safety of Kooralbyn. GKX was now over Beaudesert and on their way to setting the fastest time of the day. BGE failed to get out of Boonah area and was struggling to get back to the strip.

The next turn point was Maroon dam wall and then back to Boonah. The out-landing options from Rathdowney to Maroon do not look very inviting but once past the dam wall there are once again plenty of options all the way back to Boonah.

WUN and NTT finished early, GUE had an easy glide back from the dam wall at 100kts arriving at over 2000ft. WVK managed to find some lift over Kooralbyn and used this to head straight for home. GKX arrived home in just over an hour with an average speed of around 90 km/hr.

The next club day is planned for 18 December. It is great fun, don’t miss it.

Gone Green

Its been a while since blogging so now an update. We have officially gone green by installing a solar hot water system and solar panels on the roof. We thought if we live in the sunshine state then we should make use of the free energy. Our roof is ideally situated to take full advantage of the sun as it faces north. It was really great once the solar power system was installed to see our meter going backwards(!). In a few weeks time we will have a smart meter installed so we can export our excess energy to the grid and earn some money back

Visit to Winery & Lavendar Farm for a lunchtime meal

On Sunday we went out for a lunchtime treat. A meal at a winery near Boonah. The day was a bit overcast but we had a nice meal, glass of wine and a chat with the owner who told us of how he built the winery going $1 million overbudget ($3 million total!). It was his wife's dream to have a winery and restaraunt but she is ill and now he is left to run it.

Centenary Rocks!

On Saturday Inge and I went to the local festival in the park, lots of alternative stuff including solar power, electric bicycles, yoga demos, food and bands playing.
We had a great time.

Poco and Droelie getting on fine

So after a week Droelie has accepted Poco. Its nice to see them together. Here's a few photos of them and us. Its been quite cold the last week with night temps down to 8C so we've had our wood burning fire on every night.