Rain Rain Rain

Australians have a strange attitude to rain - whenever there's even the slightest shower or downpour everyone from news reporters to shop keepers declare how 'beautiful' it is. Having grown up with grey rainy skies even in the height of summer, I don't delight in getting wet in quite the same way as the locals. I've lost count of the number of barbecues in the UK that I've attended where I've stood by the grill with an umbrella in hand.

After a long hot summer Canberra experienced 48 hours of non-stop rain this weekend. the town received over 100mm in 3 days. Looking at the rain teem down 'beautiful' probably wasn't one of the adjectives that sprung immediately to mind. The temperatures kept up though and it was around 20 degrees throughout. Canberra isn't meant to be tropical...

The deluge finally dried up on Sunday afternoon, just before we were due to send the dove out, and we ventured outside. The air was fresh, the dust of summer washed away and the grass that had browned throughout the last few hot months looking happy to have received a soaking. Here's some pics

Scrivener Dam, opens the floodgates (for the first time in 8 years) to release some of the water downstream

I realise this doesn't look like much, but this drainage channel is usually empty

The memorial of the Woden floods which occurred in 1971 killing 7 young people (the land and road around has been significantly changed since that time). The memorial was unveiled a couple of weeks ago to learn more, click here