I Wasn't expecting this!

I really wasn't expecting to be confronted by this sight again so soon - only 2 years since the last time the Kholo Bridge was flooded! This is the way I drive home (viewed from my 'home' side of the river!!) I went to Sydney for the weekend (will post about that later!) On Sunday I'd heard the news about ex-tropical cyclone Oswald (who chooses these names?!!) wreaking havoc down the Queensland coast. And I emailed my neighbour who confirmed that the bridge would inevitably be closed by the time I got home on Sunday night.

But I really wasn't prepared for the unbelievably scarey drive home I had. For starters - below is the Mount Crosby weir with one-lane bridge over the top. Which I for some unknown reason decided to drive over, in the pitch dark of Sunday night. (It wasn't in that state when I drove over it, obviously - must have happened later that night!)

Having successfully navigated that, I then headed up to the Lake Manchester Road - the back road to get home. And it was completely terrifying! (Before I go any further - there are no rivers crossing this road, only tiny little creeks. I knew there was virtually no chance of me getting 'swept away' or anything!) So it all started when I came round a corner and down a little slope, when all of a sudden I was in water with a whole wave of water washing up over the front windscreen - completely obscuring any vision! And all I could think to myself was - don't stop, don't take your foot off the accelerator. Don't allow any chance for the engine to stall! That was actually the worst of it - that wall of water! I still had to go through several places where big pools of water were completely covering the road, quite deeply. And there were trees down all along the way - luckily only covering half or two-thirds of the road.

And this was all at around 8pm at night - absolutely pitch dark, no traffic lights or anything out there! However, I did get home safely! And even better - this time around the electricity was still on, unlike 2 years ago when I lost power for 5 days ...

And now, 2-3 days later, those bridges are still the same, but I have managed to get in to work for the last couple of days on the back road. Most of those huge pools of water had completely disappeared the next morning. so it's not too difficult to drive ...

Another Kholo adventure!!!