So 258mm so far for the year with most of that yesterday afternoon in a 2 hour torrential deluge that caused as much flash flooding as the height of the 300mm plus days recently...

and yeah lots of ammo their SM but the matchs and dynamic shooting disciplines as well as practise use a lot of rounds in a short time on paper and steel...and Bunyip you are right..Building relationships with suppliers and understanding that they have to make a living but still be be competative is key ..I did talk to the new owner of CRM( now lock and load)..Dan i beleive his name is..talking to him personally he was willing to do deals on bulk but couldnt match that super price on the shipment of 9mm that Halls have been able to source..nonetheless its encouraging that he is open to "do a deal"on bulk stuff..I just rang around half a dozen shops between cairns and Townsville with a list of what i was after ...

anyway overcast but dryish today as we all wait to see what the impending low will bring...

I wonder if its just a cycle of nature that we have had three back to back years with a massive wet season december start...I hope it doesnt become the norm unless it means a doozy of a wet followed by a more dryer and defined dry like the Darwin monsoon season..

How are you going with it 28...?.. it must be quite a change from Chilligo weather..!

Edited by user Sunday, 4 January 2026 8:57:44 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Thank you Scott.

The weather up here is good... Looked like it might be sunny to start with. Then it started sprinkling. Now it's sunny again.

I'm effectively "relocating" to Mareeba tomorrow. I've finally got my van fitted out, and almost packed up.

I need to be in Mareeba for a few weeks before heading south for a couple months. Impeccable timing, not. A possible cyclone end next week, and rain everywhere. I'd thought of going out to Chillagoe, but they're getting more rain now than I saw there in 15 years.

With all this rain around I thought of heading south earlier, if necessary - but I can't see anywhere in SEQ or NSW where it's not raining, flooded, or if dry likely to be cut off.

Something to think about. In both situations we do not know whether it was accidental or intentional.
Comparison from Chat GPT:
Guns: ~250-300 deaths per year.
Automobiles: ~1,100-1,300 deaths per year.

Thank you Scott for posting that well thought out reply.
I logged out on reading it, so as not to offend with my first thoughts.

Monkey dude, seriously it's not the gun. Try saying Radical Islam, I know it's hard for some,
the prime minister can't bring himself to say it either.
Bondi didn't happen because of gun's, it happened because of 2 things, that have been pushed on our country
and I don't ever remember getting asked at the polling booth if I supported incompatible migration or radical Islam.

Our country is being changed by this and past governments but by this one the most, and it is not for the better.
Our infrastructure is being over run, schools, hospitals, roads, water, telecommunications ect ect are all under
funded and over stretched but still these muppets import more filth from the third world, we are approaching
breaking point as a nation, and these terrorist will use that to divide us further, these knee jerk reactions of
banning private property from individuals who , by being licensed are subject to full police background
check and found to be fit and proper will do nothing to stop the next attack on our soil.

Did you see that China has put a tariff on our beef, after only a month or 2 back saying our free trade agreement
was good and strong? China did that because they can see that our country is being led by a weak spinless grifter
and by doing so they have an advantage over us. They play the long game & while we are being led by Albo they are
in the drivers seat.


Now to the weather :)
15mm in the gauge this morning, a very humid morning but managed to get some spraying done.
Looking at the radar I don't think the first showers will be to far away.


Cheers

Edited by user Sunday, 4 January 2026 11:28:06 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Good morning weather folks :)

62mm in the gauge this morning up here.

How you getting on down that end Scott, radio reporting good falls down to the North of T'vile again..
Hope the water supply is holding up, gravity systems are great most of the time but always that chance
of something moving or getting washed out in the real big flows.


Cheers

Ended up with 56mm here. The forecast for White Rock is up to 60mm on each of the next 3 days so more could be on the way.

This morning the GFS has the low/cyclone 975hpa crossing near or north of Cairns on Friday.

Jan: 136mm
YTD: 136mm

just 26mm here which is a nice break from what we have been getting...

Cairns doesnt get cyclones does it SM..?

I agree with weary..the actual rainfall amounts that are predicted really are a waste of time..10-20, 40-80 etc its really all quite pointless IMO...

and 28 what breed of van did you get and did you do much of the fit-out yourself...My son has a transit van thats practically decked out and even has a mains power air-con unit on top..its surprising spacious but its currently sitting at RACQ Tully waiting on a part though...

Totally agree with your sentiments Bunyip...My family members that fought for this country including an uncle that survived a Japanese POW camp would really be rolling in the graves seeing how quickly we have let this country turn to [censored]..I think we need a good war or at least a scare to wake people up to appreciate what we have here and what we stand to lose...I dont think any of the morons currently running the place ever came from the private sector or had real jobs in their whole lives...It just makes me mad to see how easily they can splurge money on feelgood BS while my kids cant afford to buy a home, working class and elderly struggling to pay the power bill and live, working class being on years long waiting lists to get basic medical procedures done and emergency departments that cant cope with the workload as well as all the failing and inadequate infrastructure you mention....

We will really come to regret not using the riches of our natural resources and mining royalties to set the country up long term...Fancy a government whose leaders fly all over the globe crowing about net zero and how green we are all the while living off the proceeds of sending our coal and gas to others countries to use and outcompete us....Didnt Albo get in by promising to lower energy costs and start up more manufacturing here...What an absolute Joke..!

We are the LARGEST exporter of coal on the planet and the 2nd larger exporter of gas yet we wont allow ouirselves to use it...Someone please tell me how that works...it just blows my mind..!!!!!

Ahhghh...It hurts my brain to think about whats happening here..

After he's finished in Venezuela I wish Trump would bomb Canberra and whisk Albo away to a prison far away..

Anyway yeah the gravity feed is great I hadnt been up to the intake in over 10 years and the pipe was still tied to a rock in the water..must have just been a couple of small landslides that meant the first 50m section of pipe near the top fell down and created some airlocks with the dirty water in it..we just tied it back up straight and started the siphon again....Dont know if I mentioned it or not but National parks are revoking ours and 18 other landholders in this area permits that operate such a system..So our clean green state government will be stopping us using such a low impact sustainable system and forcing us to bulldoze the creekbanks to bring in power and pumps and dig out part of the creek on a regular basis after each high flow event to maintain an intake...
I'm just about over the way we are headed..I've actually though about selling up but as we dont have enough to live on we would have to move to Thailand or somewhere cheap where we could live off the proceeds of property sale..

I dont know whats happening to the rights of the working class folk in this country anymore..its disgraceful..!

Anyway rant over but I really am worried about the life my kids stand to inherit in the country.....

What do you other guys reckon..are you happy with the direction we are heading in..?

Edited by user Monday, 5 January 2026 5:51:22 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

That 100 years might be right for a direct hit. My Dad's family had a cane farm at Aloomba. The family left for Sydney in 1921 after being wiped out by cyclones 3 times. My grandfather had had enough.

The van is a 2010 Hi-Ace DX, a little tradie van. A friend put a single bed frame in it, and a locker over the other wheel well. I wanted to keep it simple. I bought a car fridge and power bank, now I have to figure out how to use them...

In Mareeba currently. Had a good storm not long after I checked in.

I agree with you Scott.
Australia is not a sovereign nation. Sometimes envy Hungary, but think they're lucky to get away with it. I sometimes think of leaving the country, but there's nowhere unaffected, even the East is going digital fast, and so is Africa. I couldn't bear to leave Australia permanently.

Back to cyclones. ECMWF has it crossing on Saturday :


Then, should I stay, should I go, and eheres not flooded. 🙄

No rain at Mareeba overnight. First night was a good one. I'd really like to be travelling south right now, but need to be here for at least another two weeks.

Depends where it crosses.

I see that BOM now have the possibility of two lows forming over FNQ. Prepare yourselves for every weather website/ Facebook site mentioning the Fujiwhara effect 🤪

Just a lonely 9mm in the gauge this morning.

Had to go into town to pick up antibiotics for my Mrs who has Golden Staph and is on 24hr a day IV antibiotics.
Did a quick lap through Woolies and already some empty shelves starting. Why do people behave like idiots ???


Scott, what is needed is some strong charismatic middle aged fella to join One Nation and lead this country out of
this death spiral. Pauline can not be PM and that little fella Roberts (crooked coal mine inspector) is not suitable,
they have the numbers climbing and their heart is in the right place but they need a real leader.
They also need to have a total plan and costed polices to take to the next election.
Overhaul energy, immigration, tax system, build new dams and infrastructure to support our country going into the
next 50 years.
It could be done, but I'm not holding my breath that I will see it.


Cheers