Sunraysia's Big Wet - February 2011

I have lived in the Sunraysia district all my life and I have never seen the amount of rain that happened here on Friday 5th February.

The morning was very humid due to the tropical cyclone Yasi that had crossed the Queensland coast several days before. I went cycling with a friend and by the time I got home a storm was brewing.



Late afternoon the heavens opened up and dumped 150ml of rain over Mildura and surrounding areas. Houses and streets were flooded over the district and worst affected areas of Irymple and Red Cliffs had in excess of 200ml. The rain was so heavy at times you couldn't see across the street and reminded me very much of a tropical thunderstorm.

It continued to rain all night and all of Saturday when it finally ceased. The official rain total was 189ml but some areas measured 250 to 300ml.

Sunraysia had its yearly rainfall in 2 days.

Sunday dawned and was clear and cool and we went on our usual Sunday morning cycle ride.
It was amazing to see all the water lying around. The Murray river that is very swollen at the moment, had risen about 8 inches. Mildura's Apex Park which has a lovely sandbar has been underwater for many weeks now, the water there is very close to going over the road and inundating the park, and could still do that with a lot more flood waters to come down the Murray yet. Many parts of our cycling track are under water and huge holes have appeared.



I am sure it will take several weeks to clean up the streets and houses that were flooded. The effects of this rain will be felt around the district with devastating results for our grape industry. Many fruit properties were almost completely underwater and many growers were already dealing with the worst outback of Downy Mildew in the area for many years, and I am sure this rain will be the last straw. Tropical cyclone Yasi didn't just affect Queensland, it's affects were felt all over Australia.



2011 has certainly been the year for amazing weather events.

The photo's that I have included are of Apex Park and the bike track that follows the Murray around to the Marina. If you look back at some of my older blogs on cycling, you can see the difference in the river.

The ride continues...but here's a little something I prepared earlier

With all of this rain lately, the rivers are flowing and I do hear the fish are also coming back. Apparently, now is a great time to try your hand at fishing. Some friends went fishing the other day and the river looked amazing.



I'm not a big fisher myself, but I love the atmosphere of being down by the water and the peace and quiet. Diesel loves a swim to cool down, although this year summer is not quite here yet. All of this rain is a blessing but also a disaster for many people on the land. The wheat farmers & fresh fruit producers have what appears to be a great season only to be hampered by the wet conditions. I hope with the windy conditions and keeping the vines trimmed and thinned out, the air will dry out the vines and prevent things like downy mildew. It's the humidity that is so harmful.

My thoughts are with everyone and I will look forward to seeing the lush green country side of Mildura (that's if I haven't seen enough of course whilst riding 500 + kms!)

Training by the Murray.

Sunday morning was one of those Sunraysia mornings that makes you glad you are alive. Started off a little overcast, a bit chilly but half an hour into our ride, sunny and gorgeous with a light breeze. Perfect cycling weather. We can only hope we have weather like this on our big ride.

We have been stepping up our cycling distances as we only have 8 weeks to the Great Victorian Bike Ride. My fitness has improved heaps, mainly due to the spin classes and the extra distances we have been completing on the bike.

Mildura doesn't have many hills but the ones that were bothering me months ago I can tackle confidently now. I am sure that I will struggle through the Strathbogie ranges though.

This morning we have ridden through the bike tracks between Johnsons Bend and Apex Park then onto the Mildura Marina and back through the streets to the must have coffee, before going home.



The Murray River looked magnificent this morning. The sun was shining off it, and due to flood waters upstream it is quite high and flowing strongly. The Sandbar at Apex Park has disappeared completely and a lot of boat owners have moved the position of their boats. There seemed to be a lot more paddle boats moored this morning and they are a lovely site.



Apparently we are in no danger of a big flood, but it is a long time since the Murray has had that much water in it, due to the prolonged drought. It is lovely sight to see.

Fruit cake!

This morning it was raining and I decided it was the perfect time to whip up a fruit cake. I adore this recipe and make sure I use all local Sunraysia dry fruit products.

Sunraysia Easy Mix Fruit Cake

Ingredients:
1kg of mixed Sunraysia dried fruit
600 ml carton of Iced coffee
2 cups of self raising flour

Method:
Turn oven to 180 degrees Celsius for a fan forced oven.
Soak fruit in iced coffee overnight.
Following day, sifted the flour into the fruit and iced coffee mixture.
Pour into a greased and paper lined cake tin. (Approx 20cm tin)
Cook for 1 hour approx or when the skewer is clean.

It always turns out lovely and moist. I have used this cake served with a dollop of fresh cream or ice-cream as a dessert.

Otherwise, I have a piece with my morning tea.