5 May 2011 - Koramba Cotton, NSW

Today dawned in sync with all the days prior to the last two, clear skies, birds all squawking or singing on cue as the alarm went off.  

Chris kissed me goodbye as he headed off to work just before 7.30 am but was back soon after I had put the dried dishes away and made the bed. Daryl was concerned about the dew damp on the cotton, and avoids where possible having men stand around idle in the field, thus eligible for pay. A nine o’clock start was the order of the day, and then just before 8.30 he came around hollering for everyone’s timesheets and saying he wanted everyone in the fields by nine, so everyone should be at the gate for transport at 8.30. I imagine The American is still here and will be viewing the troops at nine or soon after and Daryl wants to put on a good show. Chris and I were working through a Sudoku puzzle, competing as usual. Unlike our Scrabble contests, we are more evenly matched and today he had to abandon unfinished and head for the second time to work.

The last two days have been very frustrating for the workers. On Tuesday, they lined up at the gate for the pickup only to be told that it looked like rain so they’d hold off going for half an hour. At eight fifteen they were all still perched on the gate waiting when I set off for my walk. Indeed it did look like rain, so I thought I’d better head off early rather than risk getting wet. After a quarter of an hour, I turned back when I heard claps of thunder not too far away. On returning I found that everyone had gone to work after all, despite the approaching thunder and the gathering dark clouds. No sooner back than the rain started. I put the kettle on expecting the men back at any moment, but no, it was probably another hour before they returned quite rain sodden, by which time the rain had well and truly set in.

There was much grumbling among the ranks; why had they been called to work in the first place? Most headed off to Moree or Goondiwindi, three or four to a vehicle, to replenish their supplies of tobacco and booze, and some to find internet cafes, disgruntled that their trips would be shortened because of the morning’s stuffing around. They mostly returned before dark, their vehicles camouflaged under a casing of orange mud, and the tyre treads filled with the same.

Chris and I spent the day together which made a nice change, just reading, enjoying a roast dinner at a more civilised hour that we have been eating and discovering we could get the ABC National Radio! The first news we heard was of the tornado having struck Auckland, and not just Auckland, but Albany. The children in their day-care! I was anxious about them, however I am sure not 100^th as anxious as their parents must have been. I tried rigging up the internet again but the rain would not allow even my aerial on its long extension, to work, and neither of our cellphones worked here. I was so glad the next morning to be able to access the internet once more and see Jess’s comment on Facebook that they were all okay. I hoped wee Charlie would not be too traumatized by having seen the whirling monster head his way before he was evacuated to safety.

The rain abated Tuesday evening, and on rising with the alarm the next day, we noted that the mist was rising to reveal a watery sun, but one that promised to burn off the fog and dry everything out. When Chris checked in for work, he was told it would not be until midday that they would have the all clear. The farm roads were treacherous and the edges of the fields where the harvesters had to turn were not workable. Midday came and went, another hour, then another. Everyone just sat around in their work clothes ready to go, and then finally close to three o’clock, the word went out: No Work.

Chris and I jumped into the cruiser and went to town, this time across the border to Talwood, where we drove up and down its main street, calling in to the store where we purchased a newspaper, a loaf of bread and a half cabbage, having eyed up the shelves for future purchases. While its prices may be a bit high, it does carry a fair variety of stock, and is well worth the 18 kilometre trip, instead of the 12 kilometres back down to Boomi. I am hoping however that we can hang out until Monday’s trip back to the big smoke of Goondiwindi. While we do like to get the Saturday edition of The Australian, the cost of fuel on top of the $2.50 for the paper does make it a bit of a luxury!!

Again we had the pleasure of an early dinner and caught the news on radio. Having just driven up beside several kilometres of cotton farm levee banks that very afternoon, we were interested in the conversation regarding those very same banks being touted to be the fault of the flooding of residences in this area. The woman interviewed said that she lived near levees seven metres high, and when the river rose during the recent floods, they had acted as a barrier to the water otherwise spreading across the pain and alleviating the seriousness of flooding her home. Contrary to that argument, Daryl had told us on the first night of our stay that the cotton irrigation system had minimised the severity of flooding because the pumps were able to take up that extra water into the reservoirs rather than leaving it to flood the residential areas. But then he would say that, wouldn’t he.

I had foregone my walk yesterday, partly to keep Chris company while he waited for the work call, and partly because I did not want to get bogged in some remote place. This morning however I struck out, glad to be once more doing so. The birds were delighted with the change of weather, and so too were the flies. I spent much of the time doing the Australian wave as I walked and considered sewing corks on the front of my straw hat. 

Each day I have ventured out, I have gone a little further, and today I was cheeky enough to enter the cropped part of the farm through the open gates, noting that there were no “No Entry” signs and walked up past the waterway I had hitherto considered to be The Reservoir, to mount an iron stairway to peep over the levee to see the harvesting taking place. What an absolute surprise I got when all I saw was a great expansive lake, this being the real reservoir, or at least one of about four on the property. My “reservoir” was just a holding channel between the river pump and the real one! I had also thought that the levee banks visible from the camp were the edge of Field No 1 where Chris is currently working. Not so; the cultivated fields start long after that. No wonder the workers are transported by vehicle.

It was on these same levee banks that Chris and I saw at last a dozen kangaroos gambolling early this morning, just after sun up, through our kitchen window. This is indeed a marvellous place.