How fantastic is it to see some great rain in many parts of drought stricken Queensland? I am so pleased that so many people have received a great start to 2016. Unfortunately not everyone has had good falls though. Let’s hope that they do get under the rain soon.

Please remember that one good fall of rain doesn’t break a drought. The ground is so parched that good follow up rain will be needed very soon to keep the grass growing that germinates after this fall and then it will need more on top of that. It will also be a long haul to overcome the financial and emotional burden that this very long drought has had on so many people and their businesses both on farms and in regional towns.

Thinking of the rain falling reminds me of a story from years ago …. My father was looking at cars in a dealer’s yard with the view of deciding what he would buy when the drought broke and seasons improved enough that he could afford to buy a new car. It was probably more to boost his morale than anything as he knew that he wouldn’t be buying anything any time soon. Anyway the sales person was giving him the usual sales pitch and being very pushy. Dad dutifully told that him that he wouldn’t be able to buy anything until it rained. Low and behold several weeks later there was a shower of rain – sadly it wasn’t enough to even look like breaking the drought at that time.

You wouldn’t believe it …. The next day, who should he get a call from but the salesperson from the car dealership!! “It’s rained yesterday so I thought I would give you a call to see if you would like to buy that car you were looking at” he said! My father very politely informed him that it didn’t rain money and it would take more than the small amount of rain they received to break the drought and therefore enable him to be able to buy that new car that he was hoping for!!

(Photo credit: Judy Treloar, Cooladdi, Qld)