FINALLY - some rain (sort of!)

So - here it is - the end of November and finally we get some rain in town!!

Not much - but enough to cool it down a bit (before making it really humid again) and make things a bit shiny and clean!!

It helps to settle the dust just a little bit too.

Solar Eclipse - November 2012

In celebration for our middle child's 7th birthday - we got her a Solar Eclipse - she was wrapt!  Not!! Actually she could not have cared less!

This particular eclipse was best viewed from Cairns, North Queensland - but us here in the North West of Queensland still managed to see a pretty good show.

This photo is not the greatest shot to show the full effect of the 'darkness' we had between 7 and 8 am - but it is my record of the day!

FIRE!!! Not too far from Town

In November we had some pretty terrible fires - some that even came close to town and threatened people's homes to the east of town.

I took a drive south - on the Duchess Road - to see what I could find.

The results were pretty amazing.  The black smoke is mostly from the spinifex.   The white or grey smoke is from the grass and other vegetation.  For most of the Cattle owners around here - thats a lot of feed up in smoke.

The image below shows the fire scar from that one fire in apricot.  I was taking photos along the road (in red) towards Three Sister (see arrow).  It is beautiful country and soon with some rain (if we get rain) plants that have not grown for some time will start to sprout, flourish and flower - all due to the extreme and the smoke that sets some seed pod to waken and germinate!

Lightning Show Over The 'Curry

Yet another storm comes and goes with no relief for us in The Isa!

These shots are taken from what is colloquially called "Telstra Mountain" - in the old day (that is before Telstra!) I think it was called "Sunset Hill" - possibly because of the awesome view of town and the sunset!

This storm was a fascinating one for me - all the lightning was internal - that is - inside the clouds!  Very few strikes were hitting the ground.

With the sun setting and the moon rising - the light over to the east of town was magnificent. 

Internal Lightning

That's the Moon!  Not the sun!!!

I call this one "The Funky Chicken" 

This is my "Beastie"  can you see him???

So..... This is Christmas!!

Xstrata - Mount Isa Style!!

Aside from the usual frivolity of free food and wine - there was a few bits and pieces for the kids and 

F I R E W O R K S!!!

Does your boss throw up 10mins of fireworks at your Christmas doo!! Nah!  Didn't think so!!

How Lucky are We!!!

Has the Wet Season Begun????

So.............. has it?

Well NO!  The West Season has not begun!  As I type this it is now mid January 2013 and still no rain to speak of!!

The Dam is around 60% full!  for January that is not good - it means that unless we get a decent rain in the the next 6weeks - there will be no watering of gardens - no 'long' showers (why would you want to when the cold water is hot anyway!) and certainly no playing 'slippy slide' on the tarpaulin with washing detergent!

Anyway - here are some shots taken from what is commonly known as "Telstra Hill" - due to it housing the Telstra Tower.  But, now that it houses the  BOM "lollypop" will it now be called the "BomTel Hill"?? 

and - why can't we just call it "Sunset Hill" like it used to be called in the old days - when everyone would go on up there to see the sun set over town!??

If you look  carefully - you will see Santa and his Boomers on his way through town!!

Walk This Way!!

This cute little critter - scared me witless!!  I could hear the scritching and scratching and some grunting going on while I was patiently trying to dodge the lightning - and this was the culprit!!!

I think it is some sort of "Rock Wallaby"  really must find out what sort!!