Home sweet home, after a glorious week of family time in Mildura...ahh, the place someone very cleverly named 'Sunraysia', the place that acts like a tropical balm to my itchy, outback feet...
And what does any well-researched holiday maker do when planning a trip to the 'sunny' city in Victoria's north? You book a house with a pool, near a park, on the river, so that you can splash happily with one and all...
The planned splashing and frolicking just happened to coincide with the wettest December the city has seen in its history, and so while the sun did come out occasionally, the pool visits were very opportunistic indeed, and the shopping was made the more interesting with the shop workers tales of flooding and pelting rain at the very moment you were trying to return to the car.
It's interesting the different mind set on rain when you're away from the property. If we had experienced the same thundering rain at home we would have dashed to the rain guage first thing in the morning, excited as Christmas babes to see 'how much we got!' The week ahead would have been firm in the knowledge that we would be homeward bound/stuck/entrenched until the roads cleared of water....and a power walk for the next few days would be a fantasy or a muddy joke!
But in the land of concrete and serious road structures it's easy to be detached...
One night I lay in bed listing to the rain on the roof - the third such night, and while the steady strum was a delight, it didn't have the same impact as it would at home. I didn't lay away guessing at the millimetres falling, nor worry about the animals. Instead, I just relaxed in the safety of my warm cocoon dreaming of the planned shopping frenzy that would be unaffected by all precipitation the next day. It's an easier life with concrete!
And as always, the end of the adventure was not without challenge. The overflowing Reservoir in nearbye Silverton meant that whole creeks of water were flowing across our 'drive-way'. Dean had to be flown into the Station to make sure that it was safe to drive the car in. So 'adventure mum' saddled up the kids, put the car in 4WD and in we came, home through the mud, through the rivers, creeks, with water splashing above the bonnet, and the windscreen wipers going full pelt...
Ahh, it's good to be home...
