The farmer's Christmas present

I was counting down the days to my trip to the farm. I had planned to spend a few days alone at the farm to get some work done.

The week before my due departure, I was keeping an eye on the weather. It was forecasting rain for the entire period from Christmas day onwards. Not just a bit of rain - up to 40mm of rain some days. That was not a total disaster, as I had some work to do inside the shed, which I could do regardless of the weather. It would also fill up the water tank quick smart. But I also wanted to do some exploring around the farm - this would be impacted if it rained the whole time.

Driving up to the shed, I was surprised to see the water tank was almost full. There had certainly been some rain in the past 5 days since my last visit. The yellow marker on the tank shows where the water level was earlier in the week - about an extra 500 litres to be precise. The tank was now at 1000 litres, but there is still of bit of room left in the tank.

Here's one of our dams which was low on water a week earlier. It's looking like there's a bit more water in it now.

As was the case with the last few trips to the farm, my plan was to do some more work on the floor - specifically, finish the job! Here's the 2nd last board in place ready to be marked up.

I had to do all the cutting inside the shed as it was raining outside. It was a little cramped inside the shed with all the gear for my overnight stay.

Here's the board cut and in place. By early afternoon, the heaven opened up and I was confined to the shed. Luckily I was dry and comfortable - it was a good chance to catch up on some reading and have a micro-sleep.After a bit of a rest, I couldn't resist going out into the heavy rain to have a bit of a look around (with an umbrella and gum boots). All the water channels on the farm were full with flowing water - all heading towards our dams!! :-) Here's a gully near the shed. I have never seen water flow in it.


The next morning was a nice sunny day, with some cloud cover. The thermometer was showing about 28 degrees, which was comfortable. The little bit of extra space in the water tank had been filled up the night before and now the tank was at full capacity, with only room for about 10 litres of water.

Having had enough of working on the floor, I started to do some work on the frame for the water tanks. The plan is to cover the tanks so no algae grows, but still be able to turn the taps on and off on the tanks.



The sunny weather did not last and the clouds rolled in. Here's a photo of a huge storm brewing in the distance. I took a break to have a coffee and watch the weather change.

It turned out to be a huge downfall of rain on my 2nd day at the farm. Later, the weather website which I keep an eye on stated that there was over 60 mm of rain on that day!. Obviously, it didn't take long for the tank to start overflowing. We might not see the tank at 100% again for some time. It was a shame I didn't have a second tank installed as I'm sure we could have nearly filled it.

Confined to the shed again due to the weather, I finished off the flooring. Here are the last pieces. Not as straight as I would like as it was cut in a hurry during a break in the weather. I couldn't cut any more timber in the shed as I didn't have the room and I would have got saw dust in my bed and all over the cooking stuff!

By this stage, the batteries on my cordless drill had gone flat and my options regarding any further work were limited. I took the opportunity to have a rest for the remainder of the day.

As the sun set, the rain continued. In fact, the rain got very heavy and the sound of the rain on the roof was almost deafening. It was not surprising that I had a very restless night as the noise kept me awake - even with ear plugs in.

At least I was still dry, although I had spotted a couple of leaks in the roof, which is not surprising given the extremely heavy rain.

By the next morning, the weather had cleared a bit and I had only had a few hours of sleep (only when the rain stopped). The forecast was for more heavy rain and I didn't feel that I could cope with any more water torture. Instead of staying another night (as planned), I decided to head back to Sydney before the next downpour so I was not trapped by any flooded rivers on the way out.

Prior to my depature, I sealed up the outside of one side of the shed with expanding foam. Hopefully this will stop the insects getting in.


I also took at quick look at the dams after the heavy rains. I was pleased to see that all the dams had about an extra 2 foot of water. The dams were not overfull, but it was sure a step in the right direction.


Prior to my departure to the farm, approximately 20.8mm of rain had fallen at the farm for December (better than than the driest total of 3.0mm for December 1995). By the end of the trip, 128.20mm of rain had fallen - making for a soggy adventure!!! A huge 60.2mm of rain fell on Boxing day alone!!!! As of 28 December, 128.2mm of rain fell for December - not far off the record of 192.8mm, which was made in December 2001. There's still some rain predicted for the rest of December 2009 - so the record may be broken yet.

The floor was (finally) finished just in time for our visit to the farm over the New Year break. The plan was for Kath and myself to stay over for New Year's eve and return to Sydney on 3 January 2010. We are cautious of our overnight stays at the farm as we have not been lucky with the weather in the past. Fingers crossed!

Happy Xmas and New Year to all!